E. H. Broadbent. The Pilgrim Church. 1931. Edited by Paul A. Norman et al, Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2020.

I received a recommendation about this book though, to be honest, I cannot recall whom from. It might have been something I read or it might have come from a conversation. The Pilgrim Church is rooted in history. At the same time it involves some historical detective work.

The author’s basic premise tells us that historically there have been six different ways Christian churches have been organized and operate, especially in how they view Scripture and the Bible’s history of the early church. One is typical of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. They acknowledge the truth of the Bible but add tradition which, they believe, makes their practice an improvement over the original Christian churches.

The second has been typified by some churches in the last two centuries that emphasize rationalism. Since man is the measure of all things, to go back to earlier forms of belief is a “retrogression.” Scriptures are historically interesting but of no “abiding authority.”

The third involves a rediscovery of Biblical truth followed by an attempt to reform existing churches and follow their patterns. Broadbent often uses Lutherans and Anglicans as examples of this.

The fourth Broadbent calls the Mystics. They emphasized personal communion with God in spite of what churches may say or do. This includes a variety of people from Mme. Guyon, to the Quakers, to Darby. Some monastic orders began this way.

The fifth type of church rediscovers the Gospel and emphasizes conversion and meeting practical needs. This type would include the Wesley Methodist Societies or the Salvation Army. If the book were written later it might have included other evangelistic organizations like those of Billy Graham or Joyce Meyer.

The sixth—and clearly the one Broadbent claims is the most authentic—are the congregations of people who “have been one in their faithful endeavour to act upon the New Testament and to follow the example of the New Testament churches.” This is the “pilgrim church” of the title.

The Pilgrim Church focuses on the Old World. American and sub-Saharan African churches and movements are only mentioned as they affected European or Asian Christianity. For example, when discussing the Wesleys, we learn much about their mother as well as their ministries. America is mentioned because John Wesley went to America and was impressed by the Moravian missionaries there.

It does mention the Plymouth Pilgrims, who were a separatist group, but mostly it discusses their experiences in England and Holland. New England is beyond the scope of the book. So are the Puritans, generally, because they were working within the established Church of England.

This, then, is a history of the Christian movements apart from the “established” churches. In many cases they were persecuted, either by other Christians or by the governments. In some cases, Broadbent defends groups that have traditionally been seen as heretical. This is especially true of older movements before the invention of the printing press. History is written by the winning side, they say. So the non-established movements often are dismissed or castigated.

For example, people of a certain age remember the unusual hit song “Dominique” about St. Dominic, the founder of an order of friars and nuns. One of the lines says, “Dominique, notre père, combattit les Albigeois”: Dominic, our father, fought the Albigenses. This Christian sect persisted in Northern Italy and Southern France and some bordering states in spite of the persecution by both religious and secular authorities.

Since virtually all my understanding of them came from that one line in the song, I assumed they were some kind of heterodox group. While there are few remaining writings from them, Broadbent makes a case from their writings and testimonies of others that they were more like the Pilgrims. They emphasized the Bible and biblical practices and operated outside the established Catholic Church.

So were other groups including the Nestorians. I was reminded of The Lost History of Christianity which also emphasized the orthodoxy of Nestorian beliefs, but that group ultimately was also on the wrong side of history.

In Asia and the Near East, for example, the iconoclasts seriously attempted to reform Eastern Orthodoxy. Political power got involved. They flourished as long as the Byzantine ruler sympathized, but eventually the church went back to its own established ways.

One recurring theme through many of the stories of evangelism, reformation, and/or rediscovery of the Bible is persecution. It is remarkable that some of these groups survived at all. Some did not.

We read about various groups. Some of the better known ones are the Moravians and various Mennonite, Brethren, and Baptist groups. We read how the Baptists like John Bunyan managed to survive in England in spite of persecution and some social intolerance.

I was struck by the description of nineteenth-century Englishman J. N. Darby. He became involved in one of the “nonconformist” Brethren groups. He was extremely pessimistic about the survival of the Christian Church in general. He saw things getting worse and worse, Christianity becoming more marginalized and unbiblical, until finally God would “rapture” the remnant to Heaven.

While Darby did not invent the pre-tribulation rapture dogma, he popularized it. His pessimism seems to run counter to the Lord’s own declaration that

And this gospel of the kingdom will be throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

That sounds like a vigorous Christianity, able to present the gospel to the whole world! It is certainly not weak! And that is a sign of the end of time. Believers are not to be conformed to the world (Romans 12:2), but they are not to escape the world either (see Mark 16:15).

Perhaps there is a streak of pessimism in the presentation of this book. But the author also notes and repeats numerous times that true believers, true children of God are found in all Trinitarian churches that respect the Bible, not just “type six.” He understandably is appalled that in many cases Christians could not recognize their brethren to the harm of the body as a whole. And we are reminded that the real power of the Holy Spirit is not institutions but in people who have Him and operate in His power according to His Word.