Autumn 1837
To Messrs Guers, l’Huilier, Empeytaz
(This letter, addressed by the brethren of the Church of Bourg-du-Four to the above-named pastors, has been discovered in JND’s papers and is entirely in his hand[1].)
Dear brothers and beloved pastors
We desire to assure you, in replying to the setting out of the principles which have had the kindness to give us, that we receive with thanksgiving to our God and Father, and as coming from His goodness, all the gifts that have been given to you. We pray to Him earnestly that, according to His wisdom and this goodness towards His children on which we rest, He will make these gifts grow day by day. The only thing that we have to say to you on this subject is that you also pray that you attend more to the exercise of these gifts, as it is said in Acts 6: 4: “to persevere in prayer and in the ministry of the Word”.
We believe that the burden of all the church’s business that weighs entirely on you hinders you in this regard. And more, dear pastors, while having the full assurance that your intentions and desires have been good and that perhaps a guilty negligence on our part has contributed to it, we believe that the free action of the Holy Spirit has been restricted in the church. We do not seek at all – it would be to hinder our own happiness, and God keep us from it – to put hindrances in the way of free action of the Holy Ghost in our pastors and by our pastors in the midst of the church. But we desire also that His free action in the church should not be hindered, or suppressed, or restricted, but that however if it may be manifested, it should reign freely, acting whether in the pastors or in other brothers, according to His holy power and the sure word of our God.
May the church, including the pastors with all their light and their experiences, act in all the business which is necessary for its wellbeing according to their respective gifts. We think that this has been prevented, and that is what we claim, and it is on this principle that we desire to act from now on, and that we want that you act, so that love and confidence, in a word the Spirit of our God may reign and act freely in the midst of us, His poor children. We do not wish at all to trust ourselves or man, whoever he is. We trust only in the free action of the Holy Spirit and having consulted the holy Word, we think that what we say is according to this Word. Let us give therefore full freedom to the action of the Holy Ghost in the church, and everything will go well; and if the flesh acts, in whoever it is, let him be judged as having acted in the flesh.
This is what we feel and answer to your setting out of principles. There are several questions on which we want more coherent and broader scriptural education, and on this we desire in consequence to deepen in this Word even more. It is to this end that we have continued our meetings, so that, if these questions should be discussed in the church, we will be more able to judge and pronounce on them according to the word of God. For now, we only want to tell you of our desires on things which seem to us to be the basis of the peace and happiness of the church.
[1] This letter is part of the story of a division in an independent church in Bourg-du-Four, otherwise known as the l’Eglise de La Pélisserie, with which Mr Darby had associated. Place Bourg du Four is in the old part of Geneva. It is recorded that, on 3 March 1842, about sixty brothers and sisters, sharing the views of Mr Darby, broke off fellowship with this church, and left it. The church, and the three pastors addressed – with others, became part of the Swiss Evangelical Free Church: Emil Guers (1794-1882) was one of two initial pastors (who had been consecrated at ‘Poultry Chapel’ near Mansion House in London in 1823); Henri Empeytaz (1790-1853) was the third.
