College, Oxford, in 1826, with the intention of taking orders—an intention never fulfilled. Wigram’s fortune was considerable, and he spent it freely on the worthiest objects. It is to his enterprise and munificence that the Church at large owes the Englishman’s Greek and Hebrew Concordances. In some respects the part he subsequently played in the history of the Brethren is unfortunate; and it is therefore the more incumbent on us to keep in mind from the first the strenuous, costly, and most disinterested labours by which Christians in general have so greatly profited. He remained for close upon fifty years Darby’s most unwavering supporter.
A very different man was Percy Francis Hall, and singularly independent was the course he pursued throughout. He had attained the rank of Commander in the navy, but (apparently about the time of which we are speaking) he resigned his commission for conscience’ sake, though he could ill afford the loss of his pay. In a tract entitled Discipleship he defended this course. The courage, the conscientiousness, and the devotion of the writer command respect; but some of his views certainly illustrate the extravagant side of Brethrenism. War is nationally authorised murder; and the magistracy is an unfit office for a Christian man.
“For what is a Christian magistrate to do when a broken-hearted man pleads for his wife and starving family, acknowledges the sinfulness of his heart, … and prays for pardon? Will he say, ‘No, you are guilty, and I am not the minister of mercy, but of law; you must go to the hulk, or the jail, or it may be to death?’ Would Jesus have done so? Will He do so now? Is this grace? and is such a person a servant of the Lord Jesus in the act? is he doing all things for His glory, glorifying his Lord in his body and spirit, which are His?”[1]
- ↑ Discipleship, pp. 25-26—quoted by W. Reid, Plymouth Brethrenism Unveiled, etc., p. 30 (third edition).
