Further comments on the Exclusive Brethren web site 22 August 2005:-

(1) The Gospel

(a) The first item on the list of down loadable items is Mr. Darby’s paper on Separation from Evil. This is not Gospel. If one preaches separation to non-Christians it will, if it has any effect, lead them to become pharisaical and take up an “holier than thou” attitude (Isaiah 65:5) to those not of the E. B.’s persuasion. See also Luke 15:30, Luke 18:9-14 and Luke 7:36-50. We need to learn something of what Paul says to Titus (see the Epistle to Titus chapter 3). The Gospel that Paul preached is stated clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:3/4; the response required is given in Acts 20:21. Baptism, by which believers were separated from the world is something that follows on this (Acts 16:31-33 and many other passages). Mr. Darby’s paper was addressed to Christians. He went on to write a paper called “Grace, the Power of Unity and of Gathering”. If one is going to use Mr. Darby’s paper on “Separation from Evil God’s Principle of Unity” one ought, in order to get a balance, also to include the other paper as is done in the booklet published by Stow Hill Bible and Tract Depot in 1943 called “The Faith once delivered to the Saints”.

(b) Comparing the downloaded article with the one published one notices a number of differences that call for comment. I leave out of account minor differences in such things as punctuation, the use of capital letters and italics. On page 4 the reference to Colossians 1:16 has been mistakenly said to be “1:1,16". Further down the page “But this” has been written “But his”. On page 5 after authority the words “to evil, and rebellion against His authority” have been omitted. On page 7 (the second line) affection appears to have been originally affections. The bottom line has “Christ here” where my booklet has “Christ still”. Further along the line “enmity” should be “unity”. On page 8 “I am Paul” should be “I am of Paul”.

On page 9 Mr. Darby has St. Paul whereas the St. has been omitted. Personally I do not object to this. Further down it appears the words “that character of God” should be “the character of God”. On page 10 in the last line but one, my booklet has saint rather than saints, though the point is not material. One does not object to the changing of Holy Ghost to Holy Spirit in a number of places.

(c) The paper “What the World is and how a Christian can live in it” I do not possess so far as I know. I understand it was translated from the French and that there is more than one version. The paper is not Gospel. One would comment here that Christians who are not E. B.’s see the need for separation from the World. See for example Jeff Hedges web site

(www.jeffhedges.com) under the “Watering Can”. See his article (Can 2) on relationships.

(d) Mr. Raven’s address headed The Word of God is good. However, it should be noticed that on the last page he maintains that what we have done is the first matter to be dealt with. Change of place must come afterwards.

(e) The second piece by Mr. Raven “Landmarks of Grace in Luke’s Gospel” is found in his New Series Ministry , Vol.14 page 185 et seq. One wonders why the Bible quotes are not given quotation marks as they are in the New Series book. On page 4 the reference to verses 4450 should be 44-50. One wonders why the brackets are left out on the lower part of page 6, the middle of page 11, near the top of page 14 and near the bottom of page 17. “Gods testimony” on that page should be “God’s testimony”. On page 20 (the last page) in about the middle there is a sort of u where there should be a dash.

(f) As to the rest of the papers I will not comment in detail. The J. Taylor Jr. article on “Substitution” is somewhat muddled and some of the doctrine in it highly questionable. However, I will not go into this unless I am asked to. The piece “Have You Found the Right Way?” is much superior, but there is nothing to show when the address was given or where. Unless this information is given one is left wondering whether the piece was in fact by J. Taylor Jr. We know that at least one of the pieces has been wrongly attributed. The piece by B. D. Hales “Have you had a transaction with Christ” appears to be a rather inferior piece at least partly based on Mr. Raven’s address “Landmarks of Grace in Luke’s Gospel”. See the reference to it on page 2. The continual repetition of phrases in Mr. B. D. Hales pieces are largely unnecessary and one would have expected them to have been edited out.

(2) Gospel Halls

Under “Who are They” there is a statement that they preach the glad tidings in Gospel Halls. Their halls which I have seen are not given that name on an outside board. It is a name usually given to the halls used by so-called Open Brethren and appears on a board outside them. Do the Exclusives want to be confused with Open Brethren ? Do they want people to think that Open Brethren are Exclusives ?