destined to end sooner or later in misery and scandal. For the present, in the common glow of the new enthusiasm, all hearts blended, and latent rivalries were held in profound abeyance. Even the two brilliant and imperious ecclesiastics, whose duel à l’outrance fifteen years later shattered the new community and scandalised Christendom, were cooperating with perfect harmony in laying the foundations of the vigorous and aggressive church that was to give its name ere long to the whole movement.
There is really no mystery about the term “Plymouth” Brethren. The Plymouth meeting was the first in England to be recognised as a meeting of Brethren. It had before long a membership of over a thousand, and it attracted the ministry of all the English leaders. Newton was there, whenever his Fellowship at Exeter College did not detain him in Oxford. Hall was resident there for a time. Wigram and Darby worked there frequently. The result was that “Plymouth Brethren” became an almost inevitable designation for the new sect in England. In Ireland, on the contrary, they were known as Darbyites, until the usage of the “predominant partner” at last prevailed.
Darby’s letter introduces three men who afterwards played considerable parts in the story of Brethrenism. George Vicesimus Wigram, the twentieth child of Sir Robert Wigram, merchant and shipowner, of London and Wexford, was born in 1805. He came of a clever family, one of his brothers being fifth wrangler and vice-chancellor, and another sixth wrangler and Bishop of Rochester. For a short time he held a commission in the army. In 1824 a remarkable spiritual ecstasy left a deep and abiding impression on his life. This probably led to his abandoning the army, and entering at Queen’s
