CURIOUS RELIGIOUS SECTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 75, 24 April 1909, Page 3

CURIOUS RELIGIOUS SECTS.

I-TiIKXDK, KAITIMIKAUCUS. AND Plymouth jiketuhkx.

The recent case which resulted in a couple of Peculiar People being sent to prison fo r neglecting \ 0 Ctt ]j j n medical aid to tiivir sick child, on account of their religion- belief that diseases can be cured by prayer and anointing with 0 1 by elder*, auain calls attention to what is perhaps the nioiit remarkable sect ever founded (says a Home paper). It is seventy-one years ago since .lames llanvard, a Methodist local preacher of llochford, Essex, founded the Peculiar People, the title of the sect being suggested bv such text* ft* "The Lord hath 1 hosen thee to be n peculiar people unto Himself (Dent, xiv., 2). The government of the body is eonducted by a committee, consisting of district representatives—three of whom are bishops, viz., Bishops Heddh', Benton, and Chignell—and a council comprising elders from the churches, The bishop*, elders, and deacons receive 110 salary or pav. At public 'worship the women sit on one side of the preacher anil the men on the other. The sect h.ive their own collection of hymns, and do not baptise their children until they are old enough to understand the ceremony and to express consent. The various bodies are mainly composed of very poor working folk, who generally bcuva high character on account of the sincerity and honesty of their-.beliefs, HWSISf) $30,000. 'Hie oilier (jay it was announced that Mr. Henry Baxendale. a young Kentish farmer of \Aesterham, who some months ago rejected a legacy of *30,000 under his fathers will because a condition of acceptance wa»; that he should join the Plymouth Brethren, to which his father belonged, is now to receive a part of the , money under a compromise with the 1 trustees, without .sacrificing a»»v of Ms principles. Like JVculiar' People, the Plymouth Brethren came into existency hj) the 'thirties, j Many quarrels and dissensions have , split up their ranks, although at the present time they are a fairlv stron-r body not only in the United 'Kingdom but on the Continent and in Canada and the States. • ' ' 1

IMTTEU The were mostly brought about by difference*, of opinion between the fr.under, the Hev. »T. X. Darby, and Mr. Benjamin Wills Newton, at the head of the community ut Plymouth, on certain religious points which it is not necessary to enter into here. How bitte\ these quarrels were, however, h vp-l illustrated by the fact U\at v»U OUC ision husband a\\\\ \vif\», who took dif\y\yj_iL side* on these questions, refused to speak or hold any intercourse for years, even refusing to sii down to'eat in company. And such results have been counted by scores. The Plymouth Brethren, it might he .mentioned, brought upon themselves the i common r; proach of being "«hvv.jv stealers rather than ou account of tliy. iVt that they seemed to devote their propagandist efforts t(>-1 people wlio were already member* j of churches, rather than to those who did not pyoiVs* religion. | Kit I ENDS AND HICKSITES, | Amongst the hldiefK of the Society of Friend*, to wliicli the (Plymouth IJreth-> ren have been compared, is that no one should be paid or appointed bv humail authority for th . ■ thu gift of the ministry, le , v -e to this belief, th.ey their n.u-aitgs without any prearranged service or sermons, mid someone* in *i'.*l /lence. It was ,I'Oorge Fox who tV;-!'dc.l the Society of ; Friends, more (.muv.cnly known as Quakers, as long ago us" 1U24. He refused to doff his hat to anyone, high or low, but he ad: 1 s>e l pvervone, rich or poor, high or !<■*. <jreat #v as "thee" and "than Jt i j a matter of history how the protests of the (Quakers against the use of oaths and against the enaction of lithe* and church ratc» them much .suftVrhig »n(i rrequfiit imprisonment dufing the Hrst fifty rears of their existence. Since thosv early days Quaker beliefs have become somewhat modified. There is a membership to-day of over 20.0(H) in the United Kingdom, and something like 100,000 in the States and Canada.

This sect. howevtu\ has not been without }ts and there is in America it numerous body of Friends called "HicksiUis" (front their founder, Klias Flicks), who about eighty years ago separated from the orthodox community, and hul<! luUtudinavlftji views-.