HISTORICAL REFERENCE
[p. 413] HISTORICAL REFERENCE
Mr. James Taylor was born January 6th, 1870, at Coolaney, near Sligo, Ireland, and at the age of fourteen left for Paisley, where he served his apprenticeship. He came into fellowship at Paisley, having been helped to commit himself to the Lord through Mr. John Coulter of Sligo. He came to St. John, Newfoundland, in 1888, and to New York in 1889, where he made his home for over sixty years.
The following year, 1890, most of the meeting in New York was lost through a brother being allowed into fellowship (although this was opposed by Mr. Taylor), who undermined the saints as to Mr. F. E. Raven. The bitter feelings of those opposed to Mr. Raven were shown in their unseemly conduct at the Lord’s supper, when Mr. Taylor and those in accord with Mr. Raven left and broke bread in another place. It was at this critical time that these brethren fasted, actually abstaining from food. Mr. Taylor made a vow to the Lord at that time also to commit himself fully to His interests and be responsible for them in New York. He received much help from Mr. Raven, on the latter’s two visits to America, and also when he attended the Quemerford meetings. Mr. Joseph Revell, who ministered much throughout America, was also a great help to him.
What generally became known as the ‘Chicago Notes’ was the subject of Mr. Taylor’s first conflict as to his ministry. These were notes of meetings held in Chicago, Illinois, December, 1904, and January, 1905, the subject taken up being the House of God and the gospel (see Volume 1). What was ministered as to the Spirit and the assembly became the subject of much criticism, but this ministry was shown to be the truth from Scripture and the Lord made it to stand. The letter to ‘Brethren in America’ from T.H.R. said that the root of the ‘Minneapolis trouble’ had now come to light; it was, the letter stated, the wrong teaching promulgated by Mr. Taylor in Chicago (the Chicago Notes, Volume 1). Letters of September 1st and December 29th, 1903, of the collection give the account of the ‘Minneapolis trouble’. T.H.R. withdrew the letter he wrote to the ‘Brethren in America’. When the Glanton matter arose (1908), the supporters of Glanton’s action referred to Mr. Taylor’s ministry at Chicago,
[p. 414] 1904 and 1905, as a perversion of God’s truth. As remarked, the Lord made what was ministered in Chicago, 1904 - 1905, to stand. See Volume 1, page 64 in the letters for J.T.’s remarks as to Glanton.
The letters as to ‘In the Midst’ and our heavenly calling and position will show that the whole scope of the service if God was in our beloved brother’s mind.
The Lord ordered-that from 1910 and onward he should make frequent visits to Great Britain, where much of the truth was brought out. There was serious trouble in the Brooklyn meeting in 1910, and by it the enemy sought to discredit Mr. Taylor in the eyes of some of the brethren in England, but the Lord overruled all this and he was received amongst the brethren, and his ministry, in the Spirit of Christ, won him a place in their hearts, and the authority of the word thus ministered became increasingly apparent.
The letters as to ‘fulfilled responsibility’ brought out an important feature of the truth. [The paper by Mr. A. M. Hayward (see Volume 1, page 173) is pertinent in this connection]. Mr. J. S. Giles, supported by others, contended against this ministry as to ‘fulfilled responsibility’, and then later as to the formula for dealing with evil. Mr. Giles contended in regard to the latter that it should be carried out according to 1 Corinthians 5 and he was supported in this by others. Mr. F. E. Raven had ministered that 2 Timothy 2 was the ground we should take in dealing with evil. Both Mr. J. Taylor and Mr. C. A. Coates had followed this teaching of Mr. Raven in their own ministry, but Mr. J. S. Giles and others would not support this view. The matter came before the saints in Park Street, London, in 1920. Mr. C. A. Coates was unable to attend. There were two readings (on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, March 16th and 17th) at which time the Lord indicated His mind. The answer Mr. Taylor gave to Mr. Giles’ question ‘which scripture do we use (in dealing with evil) 1 Corinthians 5 or 2 Timothy 2?’ was, ‘Both’, and this settled the matter. Appeal was made to Mr. Giles to accept this, but he would not. There was a private meeting on the Wednesday morning attended by Mr. Taylor and Mr. Giles and others, but no result was reached for good as to Mr. Giles. Shortly afterwards Mr. Giles withdrew, taking with him about thirty-five (most of them were later recovered). He issued a circular condemning certain ministry [p. 415] of Mr. Taylor and also mentioned faulty ministry of J.D. in Canada. Mr. Taylor had to combat this faulty ministry in 1920 and had face-to-face talks with J.D. in Indianapolis, U.S.A., at the end of 1920 during special meetings there (see readings on the Acts, 1920, Volume 53), which helped J.D. to adjust himself. He had been made the centre of a party in America from which he got free.
The London boundary question occasioned much conflict for the brethren there, and Mr. Taylor’s letters indicate how important the settlement of this question was.
The great matter of the Lord’s sonship arose from a question by Mr. S. J. B. Carter at the Barnet special meetings (1929). Mr. Taylor thought that it was of the Lord that Mr. Carter raised the question. It will be interesting to note the letter written to Mr. P. R. Morford in 1921 (see Volume 1, page 189 and also pages 182 and 186). The many letters on this holy matter will indicate the transcendent importance of it in Mr. Taylor’s mind.
The leaven of the China matter was discovered mainly in conversation between our beloved brother and Mr. W. N. on board ship from England to New York. Certain other brothers had grave doubts of Mr. W. N. He broke bread secretly at an independent meeting near Hartford, Connecticut Mr. Taylor sought to help him by many face-to-face talks and subsequently by letter. It also came out that he had broken bread with an independent meeting in England. It was with much contrition before the Lord that it had to be owned to Him how we had failed in linking on with those who had such little regard for the principles that govern the fellowship of God’s Son.
As there had been concern with some brethren that the saints should be able to get Bibles and printed ministry that, as to price, should be free from the profit element, some volumes were printed on this basis by several of our brethren. The Stow Hill Depot took on this service, and continual written ministry has come to the saints that has been free from the commercial element. Letters of Mr. Taylor indicate that he supported the view that the Depot should return to London after the war, but subsequent to those letters at a meeting on October 7th, 1945, attended by representative brethren, it was concluded that as most of the business was transacted by mail, the location in Kingston, England, was a right one.
[p. 416] The personal glory of the Holy Spirit, and the place He has in the economy had been much in the mind of our beloved brother from the beginning of the century (see Volume 2, New Series, page 27). While he had held to the truth of Numbers 21: 17 being objective, yet he had ministered that the Spirit should not be prayed to, as had Mr. J. N. Darby. However, Mr. Darby had written, ‘The Holy Spirit is a divine Person and in the unity of the Godhead adored and worshipped’, in 1870 (Letters, Volume 2, page 86), and found no fault with those who called the Holy Spirit Lord. In his Collected Writings, he says that Eliezer (type of the Spirit) ‘talks to Rebecca ... . precious conversation for the soul that needs to be encouraged’ (Volume 16, page 195). Mr. Taylor said in a reading in New York on March 10th, 1942, as to Numbers 21:17, 18, ‘The lawgiver is still there, because the principle of rule must be always present. His name is not mentioned. It is the lawgiver. But the singing is not to him, but to the well, the Spirit of God. Miriam ... dies; her voice is now silent. It is another voice now — sing to the Spirit’. At the meetings in Toronto in 1942 (Volume 162), ‘The Spirit viewed objectively in the book of the Acts’ was taken up. Five years later at Newcastle, N.S.W. (1947) he brought forward the rightness of addressing the Spirit, not only singing to Him, but addressing Him in assembly service. On his return to New York in February, 1948, our beloved brother, using great wisdom and levitical skill, did not immediately press this important matter, but addressing the Spirit was referred to in nearly every City Reading, and service to Him publicly in the meetings here began toward the end of 1948. At Detroit, September 1st, 1948 (Volume 184) he said that the Spirit, being God, could be worshipped, prayed to, and spoken to. As we finished the book of Hebrews in the New York City Readings at the end of 1948, an allusion was made to the Spirit in Ezekiel. Mr. Taylor enlarged on this, saying that he had been going through that prophet tracing references to the Spirit and had become so interested that he started over again even more carefully scrutinising every passage that referred to the Spirit, and recommending that the brethren do the same. “Say to the wind” (the Spirit), Ezekiel 37: 9, bore weightily with our beloved brother in his conclusions as to this transcendingly important and holy matter. There was a certain reluctance with some to accept what Mr. Taylor was [p. 417] bringing forward as to the Spirit. The readings in London and in Bristol (1949) not only confirmed what we had earlier, but consolidated the truth. Aside from the types, which Mr Taylor said should be given their full authority, such as Genesis 24, Numbers 21, Ezekiel 37, and others, we saw that in Acts 10 Peter addresses the Spirit, calling Him Lord and also that “God amongst you of a truth”, 1 Corinthians 14: 24, 25, is the Spirit, and homage is done to Him. As to this great phase of the truth, the Spirit being a divine Person, the Old Testament is substantial authority to establish the truth as to the Spirit being God and an Object of worship (Genesis 1: 2) and other passages.
The revision of the hymn book (1950) provided for our service to the Spirit in the addition of hymns to Him. More details are already in print, but it is well to emphasise that Mr. Taylor went over each hymn with Mr. Myles and he approved all of them.
Concurrently with the Spirit’s place objectively, the place of the sisters amongst us was brought up by our beloved brother at Bristol (1949), Volume 180. Sisters prominent in the testimony were referred to: Lydia, Rhoda, and the nine sisters mentioned by Paul in Romans 16. In Acts 1 the sisters were present in the upper room and they had been with Jesus — ministering to Him of their substance. The sisters have attended the three-day meetings since the Bristol meetings. Following this, the matter of sisters attending care meetings also came up. Mr. Taylor had mentioned it in Bristol, but it was not until the special meetings at Toronto in October, 1950, that under the Spirit’s guidance the subject was introduced. Acts 15 was examined in this connection, and the “multitude” (verse 12) would include them. It was impressed upon us that a care meeting, though deliberative and investigative only, must be regarded in the dignity of the assembly. The sisters were much in our beloved brother’s mind, that they might all be in the testimony as the Lord would have them.
The Lord left our beloved brother amongst us to see and enjoy the working out of the final ministry He gave him for the assembly before He took him to Himself.
R.W.S.
J.T. Jr.
1954.