APPENDIX II. 377 



that his brother should be present on one of my evenings. I was 

 charmed wiih William Thomas Berger : his meekness and gentle- 

 ness, his exceeding love and grace — the manifest image of Christ 

 in him — drew to him my whole heart ; and then began a mutual 

 esteem and friendship, which no cloud has ever shadowed from 

 that day to this. 



It was about the beginning of the year 1843 ; and presently 

 William Berger told me that he was on the eve of marriage, and was 

 then just about starting on a wedding tour, but that on his return 

 he would be pleased to welcome me to their house. Accordingly 

 he and his bride (who had been Miss Van Sommer) renewed the 

 invitation in the following May, and I became immediately a 

 welcome visitant. She was a very sweet, simple Christian lady, 

 very lowly and very loving ; they were indeed true yoke-fellows, 

 of one heart and soul, constantly overflowing in kindness towards 

 me. Both of them had been for some time prominent in the little 

 band in Hackney wdio, discerning the evil of sectarian division 

 in the Church of God, had associated together in the Name of 

 Jesus only, refusing any distinctive title but that one common to 

 all believers, of " Brethren," and including under this appellation 

 all who, in every place, love the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever their 

 measure of light or scripturalness of practice. That the Church of 

 God, and every believer in particular, was called to separation 

 from the world, they perceived ; and hence, the connection of the 

 Church with the State was totally repudiated. The energy of the 

 Holy Spirit m the assembly of the Church was acknowledged, and 

 maintained to exist now in the same amplitude as in the 

 Apostolic age ; and it was inferred that the liberty of ministry in 

 the Church at the present age is exactly that seen in i Cor. xiv. 

 In this I judge they were in error ; for this supposes that the 

 miraculous gifts (xapto/xara) are still extant, of which there is no 

 evidence. 



All this, however, became known to me only by degrees. Until 

 I knew the dear Bergers, I was not aware that a movement of this 

 character was in existence ; nor had I so much as heard, during 

 my three years' residence in Hackney, that in a little retired 

 building, called Ellis's Room, a body of Christians holding these 

 views met every Lord's day. 



Quite early my new friends invited me to take part in a meeting 



