BRETHREN, THE (or Plymouth Brethren). Those to
whom this appellation is applied, receive it only as descriptive of their individual state as Christians—not as a name by which they might be known collectively as a distinct religious sect. It is not from any doctrinal peculiarity or definite ecclesiastical organization, that they have the appearance of a separate community; but rather from the fact that while all other Christians are identified with some peculiar section of the church of God, the persons known as Brethren refuse to be identified with any. Their existence is a protest against all sectarianism. They see no reason why the church, which is really one, should not be also visibly united, having as its only bond of fellowship and barrier of exclusion, the reception or rejection of those vital truths by which the Christian is distinguished from the unbeliever. The Brethren, therefore, may be represented as consisting of all such as, practically holding all the truths necessary to salvation, recognise each other as on that account alone true members of the only church. In their assemblies they have no pre-appointed person to conduct or share in the proceedings; all is open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit at the time, so that he who believes himself so led of the Spirit may address the meeting. When, however, gifted men are found among the Brethren, they are in general actively engaged in preaching and expounding on their individual responsibility to the Lord, and quite distinct from the assembly. The number of places of worship returned in the government census as frequented by the Brethren in England and Wales is 132. This number, however, is believed to be below the truth.
BRETHREN of the Christian Schools (Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes), a religious order founded at Rheims in 1679, by the Abbé de la Salle, approved in 1725 by Pope Benedict XIII., and legally recognised by the French government in 1808. In 1840, the number of their houses in France was upwards of 300, the number of members 1600. Their course of education comprehends religious instruction, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, and geography. At the date above mentioned they had 584 schools in Paris, attended by 141,550 scholars, young and old. The costume of the Brothers is peculiar, consisting of a coarse cassock, a hooded cloak with hanging sleeves, and a very wide hat. The rules of the founder restrict their diet to the simplest necessaries of life. They are also sometimes improperly called Frères Ignorantins, as their teaching is confined to the poor, and one of their rules forbids them to learn or teach Latin; Frères de St Yon, from the name of their principal house (in Rouen) Frères à Quatre Bras, &c.
BRETHREN and Clerks of the Common Life, a religious fraternity towards the close of the fifteenth century. They lived under the rule of St Augustin, and were eminently useful in promoting the cause of religion and learning. Their society was formed in the preceding century, by Gerhard de Groot, a native of Deventer; but it did not flourish till about the period above mentioned, when it obtained the approbation of the council of Constance, after which it became very influential in Holland, Lower Germany, and the adjacent provinces. It was divided into two classes; the lettered Brethren or clerks, and the illiterate. They lived in separate habitations, but maintained the closest fraternal union. The former applied to the study of polite literature, and the education of youth; whilst the latter were employed in manual labour and the mechanical arts. The Sisters engaged in similar pursuits. They were frequently called Beghards and Lollards, by way of reproach.
BRETHREN and Sisters of the Free Spirit, a religious sect which sprung up towards the close of the thirteenth century, and gained many adherents in Italy, France, and Germany. They derived their name from the words of St Paul, Rom. viii. 2, 14, and maintained that the true children of God were invested with the privilege of perfect freedom
from the law. Some of their professed principles resembled those of the Pantheists; they held that all things emanated from God; that rational souls were portions of the Deity; that the universe was God; that, by the power of contemplation, they were united to the Deity, and thereby acquired a glorious and sublime liberty, both from the sinful lusts and the common instincts of nature; and that the person who was thus absorbed in the abyss of the Deity, became a part of the Godhead, and was the son of God in the same sense and manner as Christ was, being freed from the obligation of all laws human and divine. Many edicts were published against this sect; but, notwithstanding the hardships which they suffered, they continued till about the middle of the fifteenth century. They were called by several other names, such as Schwestrones (i.e. sisterers), Adamites, Beghards, Turlupins, &c. (Mosheim, Cent. xiii. ch. 5, &c.)