This is an interesting account of a group who worshipped outside denominations to get closer to God. They were known as Brethren, but that may have been for want of knowing what they were.
A LORD'S DAY AT OLD RAYNE.
It was on a summer Lord's Day morning that four of us started on foot to Old Rayne, where we had heard that a company of believers had begun to gather, outside of all denominations, to worship God and show forth the Lord's death in the breaking of bread. We had seen this to be our privilege in the Word, and we were anxious to see it in practice. After a delightful eight-mile walk, a rest by a spring of clear water, a psalm from the Word, and a little season in prayer, we started on the last stage of our journey and arrived at the village a quarter of an hour before the hour of meeting. We were told the gathering was in the joiner's shop, which was easily found.
A few brethren were standing at the door, who gave us a hearty welcome. A brother who had been in Inverurie during the work, and had gone to reside in that district, introduced us to the elder brethren, and we were received as "young believers from Inverurie, where as yet there is no gathering," and we got a royal welcome. "Receiving" nowadays is often a very mechanical affair, but then it was a welcome to heart and home as well as to all the privileges and persecutions shared by those who had assembled. We had scarce been seated, when who should come in but Mr Ross, who had only just seen from the Word his place "outside the camp," and his privilege and responsibility of gathering with fellow believers in the Lord's Name alone. When his eye fell on us, he held up both hands in astonishment, saying, " What! have Inverurie folks become heretics too?"
It was a wonderful gathering - the first of its kind we had ever seen. The place was a country joiner's shop, with whitewashed walls, plank seats supplied by cut logs of wood, a plain deal table covered with a white cloth, on which the bread and wine stood near the centre; there was no platform, no chair, no chairman. We had often gone to hear the Lord's servants, and to seek His blessing on the Word spoken by them; here we had come to meet the Lord Himself to hear his voice, to see no man save Jesus only. The seats filled up, mostly by middle-aged country people, all plainly clad; there were no flowers or feathers, no gold ornaments or sparkling jewels there. When all had assembled, the door was shut, and we felt that we were shut in with God.
Solemn silence prevailed. There was no haste, but a season of true waiting upon God. We had come there to worship God - not to get, but to give, and the Spirit was there to guide.
There was true worship there that day, such as has to be shared to be understood: it cannot be explained. Never before had we heard such singing - possibly never shall we hear it again till we go to Heaven - not the music, but the heart that was in it - true melody, produced by the Spirit operating in the hearts of the worshippers. It is not to be expected that everything was done "after the due order," for these believers were groping their way out of the mazes of worldly Christianity, and following light as it dawned upon them from the Word. A "critic" would have seen plenty to find fault with. But there was heart and soul in all that was said and done; the prayers led you right into the presence of the Lord, the praise was like a fountain springing up, and whatever words of ministry were given were fresh as the manna freshly gathered from the dew and newly fallen from heaven. The bread and wine passed round - it was the first time we had handled the sacred symbols. We stood as we partook of them, like Israel in Egypt - some of the old farmers literally staff in hand - and when the hymn was raised and sung, still standing -
"Come, Lord, come, we wait for Thee,
We listen still for Thy returning; Thy loveliness we long to see,
For Thee the lamp of hope is burning-, Come, Lord, come!
it actually seemed as if we were on the move upward we certainly were waiting for the call. `
Mr Ross took little part; his heart seemed too full for utterance, but he did pray with great earnestness at the close when old Sandy Stewart, the joiner, asked the prayers of fellow believers that "God might go with him," while he went to "the parish minister's with a word from God," which, said he, "I got for him while sitting at the Lord's Table, and I'm going away to give it to him." And, sure enough, he rose and went, lest by delaying he might grieve the Spirit of God.
Mr Ross preached that afternoon in Andrew Clark's barn, standing on a box in the door, half of his congregation being inside, the other half in the farmyard. He spoke on "Honouring God," and made the following remark, which stuck to us, "Go in for pleasing God; He will never let you be the loser. Keep in with God, no matter whom you displease; it pays to keep on good terms with Him. The folk will tell you that if you leave the Kirk your trade will gang awa, and your wife and bairns will be left to starve. But it's a lie of the devil's and he is the father of it. God never let any man starve that honoured Him." Then, unbuttoning his coat, and putting his thumbs in his vest under the arms, he said, in a voice like thunder, "Do I loiok like as if I were starved? "The effect was wonderful; we came away strengthened and cheered, determined, through grace, to "stand like the brave, with our face to the foe."
GATHERING UNTO THE NAME OF THE LORD.
That first taste of the sweets of Christian fellowship left no desire whatever to return to the dreary waste of Presbyterianism, with its motley throng of unconverted worshippers and its human arrangements, which rendered inoperative the truth of the priesthood of all believers, and put one man up to be in himself evangelist, pastor, teacher, and everything else, the only channel through which the Spirit of God could work or act, either in worship or ministry. For several weeks a company of believers, old and young, met several nights a week to search the Scriptures and " seek a right way" for ourselves in God's fear. There were many difficulties to be faced. Some of the older ones feared disorders and suggested that certain should be appointed as " elders," to control things a little, after the fashion of the old "Scotch Baptists," whose elders call on those whom they consider fitted to take part - a kind of half-way house between one-man ministry and the recognition of the priesthood of all believers guided by the Spirit of God. That did not satisfy some; they wanted to see a "thus saith the Lord" for it, and would not be satisfied without it. But none could be found; so that had to go. In the autumn of 1871 the first gathering of believers in the Name of the Lord Jesus alone, outside of all sects, was formed, meeting first in a disused shoemaker's shop, later in a small meeting room, where, with churchgoers scowling as they passed, urchins throwing missiles, cabbages, and sometimes live crows inside, and pushing sticks through the windows while the meetings were going on, a few believers began to gather, the greater part of whom are now in Heaven, while some of that little company remain till the present time.
From, "Donald Ross, Pioneer Evangelist," pages 169-174.