PLYMOUTH BRETHREN, a community of Christians who received the name in 183o when the Rev. J. N. Darby (1800 1882) induced many of the inhabitants of Plymouth, England, to associate themselves with him for the promulgation of his opinions. Although small Christian communities existed in Ireland and else where calling themselves Brethren, and holding similar views, the accession to their ranks of Darby so increased their numbers and influence that he is usually called the founder of Plymouthism. Darby had been a curate in Wicklow 1825-1827, when he felt himself constrained to leave the Anglican communion; going to Dublin, he became associated with several devout people who met statedly for public worship, and called themselves "Brethren." Among these were A. N. Groves and J. G. Bellett, who deserve to rank among the founders of the movement. In 183o Darby at Plymouth won over many people to his way of thinking, among them the well-known Biblical scholar Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. During the next eight years progress was rapid, and communities were founded in many of the principal towns in England.
In 1838 Darby went to reside in French Switzerland, and made many disciples. French Switzerland has always remained the stronghold of Plymouthism on the Continent, and for his followeis there Darby wrote two of his most important tracts, Le Ministere considers dans sa nature and De la Presence et de faction du S. Esprit dans reglise. The revolution in the canton Vaud, brought about by Jesuit intrigue in 1845, brought persecution to the Brethren in the canton and in other parts of French Switzerland and Darby's life was in great jeopardy.
He returned to England, and his reappearance was followed by divisions among the Brethren at home. These divisions began at Plymouth. Benjamin Wills Newton, head of the community there, who had been a fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, was accused of departing from the testimony of the Brethren by reintroducing the spirit of clericalism. Unable to detach the congregation from the teacher, Darby began a rival assembly. The majority of the Brethren out of Plymouth supported Darby, but a minority re mained with Newton. The separation became wider in 1847 on the discovery of supposed heretical teaching by Newton. In 1848
another division took place. The Bethesda congregation at Bristol, where George Muller was the most influential member, received into communion several of Newton's followers and justified their action. Out of this came the separation into Neutral Brethren, led by Muller, and Exclusive Brethren or Darbyites, who refused to hold communion with the followers of Newton or Muller. The Exclusives, who were the more numerous, suffered further divi sions. An Irish clergyman named Samuel O'Malley Cluff had adopted views similar to those of Pearsall Smith, who preached a doctrine of sanctification called "Death to Nature" as an antidote to the supposed prevalent Laodiceanism, and when these were repudiated seceded with his followers. The most important divi sion among the Exclusives came to a crisis in 1881, when William Kelly and Darby became the recognized leaders of two sections who separated on a point of discipline. This was followed (1885) by the disruption of the strict Darbyite section, two communions being formed out of it upon points of doctrine.
The theological views of the Brethren differ considerably from those held by evangelical Protestants (for a list of divergences, see Teulon History and Doctrines of the Plymouth Brethren). They make the baptism of infants an open question and celebrate the Lord's Supper weekly. Their distinctive doctrines are ecclesi astical. They hold that all official ministry, whether on Episco palian, Presbyterian or Congregationalist theories, is a denial of the spiritual priesthood of all believers, and sets aside the Holy Spirit's guidance. The movement, if it has had small results in the formation of a sect, has at least set churches to consider how they might make their machinery more elastic. The movement spread to the United States where, in 1915, there were 1o.566 communi cants.
Collected Works (32 vols., edited by Kelly, with supplementary volume, 1867-83) ; A. Miller, The Brethren, their Rise, Progress and Testimony (1879) ; Rogers, Church Systems of the Nineteenth Century; Teulon, History and Doctrines of the Plymouth Brethren (1883) ; article "John Nelson Darby," in Contemp. Rev. (Oct. 1885) ; W. B. Neatby, A History of the Plymouth Brethren (London, 5902, 2nd ed.).