[testallthings]

I LOVED THAT BROTHER VERY, VERY, MUCH


One extraordinary fact about the Brethren was the multitude of their publications. Anyone of them could publish his own study of the Scriptures. The difference with the One Publication policy in the Lord's Recovery and the Brethren practice could not be more striking.

One of the most enduring publication was the Synopsis of the book of the Bible.
I like what Darby writes in its Preface.

“A few words only are needed to introduce the reader to the present publication. He is not to expect a commentary, nor, on the other hand, to suppose that he has a book which he can read without referring continually to the word itself in the part treated of. The object of the book is to help a Christian, desirous of reading the word of God with profit, in seizing the scope and connection of that which it contains. God has given to the commentator to understand in the main the intention of the Spirit of God, or to furnish philological principles and information, which facilitate to another the discovery of that intention; yet if it pretend to give the contents of scripture, or if he who uses it seeks these in its remarks, such commentary can only mislead and impoverish the soul. A commentary, even if always right, can at most give what the commentator has himself learned from the passage. The fullest and wisest must be very far indeed from the living fullness of the divine word. The Synopsis now presented has no pretension of the kind. Deeply convinced of the divine inspiration of the scriptures, given to us of God, and confirmed in this conviction by daily and growing discoveries of their fullness, depth, and perfectness; ever more sensible, through grace, of the admirable perfection of the parts, and the wonderful connection of the whole, the writer only hopes to help the reader in the study of them... What the reader is to expect, consequently, in this Synopsis, is nothing more than an attempt to help him in studying scripture for himself. All that would turn him aside from this would be mischievous to him; what helps him in it may be useful. He cannot even profit much by the following pages otherwise than in using them as an accompaniment to the study of the text itself. ”

Here again, the difference between this Preface and the the one in the New Testament Recovery version is self evident.

As much as I love Darby and the Brethren (and all those who have been used by God throughout the entire Church history) I have personally met with very few of them. I remember with gratitude and commotion an old farmer and his little assembly. I tank God that among all the saints He has allowed me to have fellowship with in my Christian path I had the privilege to spend many hours with this truly man of God. His love for God, men, and the Scriptures was something I will remember until I live. I loved to visit him and just sit and listen to whatever he had to say. Though I have met many saints in the LC, I remember for example the humble and kind spirit of John So, only one touched my heart so deeply as that old farmer. That brother belonged to an “Open” Brethren assembly.