John Nelson Darby made a courageous stand against sectarian Christendom. This did not earn him many friends, especially amongst the religious hierarchy.
Some of the things he contended with were:
From W G Turner, ‘John Nelson Darby’ published by Chapter Two
- Apostolic Catholicism/Pentecostalism – Edward Irving
- Oxford Movement – Edward Bouverie Pusey
- Sceptical Modernism – Francis William Newman
- Roman Catholicism – Cardinal John Henry Newman
- Heresy as to the Person of Christ – Benjamin Wills Newton
- Arminianism /Perfectionism – John Wesley
- Free Church Calvinism – Merle d’Aubigné
- Free Chruch of Scotland Rationalism – Robertson Smith
- Various ideas as to the future – annihilation, non-eternity, punishment/purgatory
To this I would add:
- Ecclesiastical Independency
- Clericalism
- Mysticism – Madame de Krudener etc.
- National churches
- Post millennialism etc.
- …
We can be thankful to God for the stand that men like Darby, Wigram, Bellat, Mackintosh etc made.