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J.G. Bellet

      John Gifford Bellett was an Irish Christian writer and theologian, and was influential in the beginning of the Plymouth Brethren movement. Bellett was born in Dublin, Ireland. He was educated first at the Grammar School in Exeter, England, then at Trinity College Dublin, where he excelled in Classics, and afterwards in London. It was in Dublin that, as a layman, he first became acquainted with John Nelson Darby, then a minister in the established Church of Ireland, and in 1829 the pair began meeting with others such as Edward Cronin and Francis Hutchinson for communion and prayer.

      Bellett had become a Christian as a student and by 1827 was a layman serving the Church. In a letter to James McAllister, written in 1858, he describes the episcopal charge of William Magee, Archbishop of Dublin, that sought for greater state protection for the Church. The Erastian nature of the charge offended Darby particularly, but also many others including Bellett.
      The pair bonded particularly over prophetic issues, and attended meetings and discussions together at the home of Lady Powerscourt, and Bellett and Darby (along with the Brethren movement in particular) were particularly associated with dispensationalism and premillenialism.

      Bellett wrote many articles and books on scriptural subjects, his most famous works being The Patriarchs, The Evangelists and The Minor Prophets.

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J.G. Bellet

The Altar at Bethel

1 Kings 12: 25 - 1 Kings 13. The inspired commentary on Idolatry, which we find in Romans 1, teaches us to know that it had its source in the corruption of the human mind. The haughtiness of the intellect became the parent of it. (verses 22-25.) The Apostle tells us also, that the "heart of unbelief... Read More
J.G. Bellet

Nehemiah 8

This chapter both teaches and illustrates a truth which pervades the Book of God, and on which our salvation depends--that grace prevails; the work of God, through the blood of Christ, over the work of Satan, sin, and death; the Gospel of peace over all the terrors and accusations of the conscience.... Read More
J.G. Bellet

Exodus 35 - 39

Look at Israel in Exodus 35 - 39, bringing their gifts to the Sanctuary, and making the materials for it. Did they know what was to come forth out of it all? No. All that Moses told them was, what they were to bring, and then what they were to make, and that the result would be a Sanctuary. But how ... Read More
J.G. Bellet

Hosea

Hosea prophesied in the prospect of the breaking up of the kingdom of the ten tribes, and near the end of the house of Jehu. He is full of the thought of the ruin that was at hand; but he anticipates scenes of restoration and glory beyond it. As I may express it, the death and resurrection of Israel... Read More
J.G. Bellet

The Atonement Money

Exodus 30: 11-16. The simpler our apprehension of "atonement," or "reconciliation," (the same, thing,) the happier. It implies a change of condition towards God. Instead of being at a distance from Him, we are brought nigh--instead of being in a state of enmity, we are at peace with Him. Such is our... Read More
J.G. Bellet

Quotations

Passages of the Old Testament cited, as they are, in all parts of the New, with many and many a glance, or tacit, unexpressed reference, link all the parts of the Volume together, and give it a character of unity and completeness. The contents themselves of the Volume do the same. They also give uni... Read More
J.G. Bellet

The Lord Jesus in John 1: 43--John 2

The Lord may be traced in this scripture, as One Who ranges, if I may so express it, through different regions of divine glory, in the calm and perfect sense of this, that they all belong to Him, and are fully and properly His own. In His intercourse with Nathanael, the Lord Jesus shows Himself to b... Read More
J.G. Bellet

The Secret of Life

Let me say, with what force does the Spirit of God in scripture teach us the secret of life. With what an intense sense would He impress on our souls, that we have lost it, but that Christ has it for us. The flaming sword in the hand of the Cherubim, keeping every way the way of the tree of life, wa... Read More
J.G. Bellet

Journeys to Jerusalem

The journey of the Wise Men of the East, as we read it in Matthew 2, and the journey of the Queen of the South, as we have it in 2 Chronicles 9, shine with something of kindred beauty and significance before us. They, all of them, go to Jerusalem--but the Wise Men of the East began their journey und... Read More
J.G. Bellet

Walk in the Spirit

Gal. 5: 16. "Out of the eater came forth sweetness" has been the test of divine providence exemplified in all ages of the world. Sin, with all its misery, brought Jesus. In the church at Corinth the misery of the flesh disclosed many a secret. If the eater had not gone to Corinth, a stronger than he... Read More
J.G. Bellet

The Birth of Jesus

Look at one or two features with me in Luke 2; that exquisitely beautiful scripture has more in it, I well know. "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill toward men" (or good pleasure, or delight, in men). At the creation, God was providing for His own glory--for the blessing of the ea... Read More
J.G. Bellet

The Lord's Supper

We should, on divine authority, and in spiritual, scriptural intelligence, hold to it, that the Lord's supper is the due characteristic expression of the Lord's-day--that which should then be made principal. If we read Luke 22: 7-20, we shall learn that the passover of the Jews and the supper of the... Read More
J.G. Bellet

The Shunamite

2 Kings 4 In the Old Testament times we find the Lord bringing out fresh resources on repeated failures, and faith ever ready to adopt them, nay, and at times to calculate upon them and to look for them. Failure of everything under man's hand, or as in his stewardship, is witnessed again and again, ... Read More
J.G. Bellet

Rahab

What an instance does the case of Rahab afford us of the long-suffering of God being salvation, as Peter speaks! The camp of Israel had accomplished their journey, a journey of forty years. At the beginning of it, a mixed multitude followed them out of Egypt. Very soon after they had entered on it, ... Read More
J.G. Bellet

Exodus 6

In Exodus 6 the Lord publishes His Name. It is a Name suited to the then condition of Israel. They were groaning in Egypt. Task-masters and brick-kilns were oppressing them. The Lord lets them learn Him in characters of faithfulness, grace, and strength, exactly suited to such a condition. He tells ... Read More
J.G. Bellet

New Creation

There is a deeper purpose and nobler work in God than creation. Creation occupied His hand, and displayed His power and Godhead, and was then, in some sense, left at man's disposal, so that its condition was to be determined by the allegiance or rebellion of man. But there was another work ordered i... Read More
J.G. Bellet

Interesting Reminiscences of the Early History of "Brethren."

When I call to mind some of the early facts connected with the history of the "Brethren," as for distinction I will call them, I am impressed with a sense of there having been at that time a very independent and original teaching of the Spirit of God. I do not doubt that however they may have aided ... Read More
J.G. Bellet

Boldness in the Day of Judgment

1 John 4: 7. John says, teaching us under the Holy Ghost, "Herein is love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is so are we in this world." A most wondrous and very blessed Scripture (1 John 4: 17). John himself afterwards experienced the boldness, of... Read More
J.G. Bellet

No Fellowship with Dishonour to Christ

I refuse the language used by brethren from whom we have seceded, that we have "excommunicated them." This is not a just expression; and it produces indignation, and immediate determination in the mind to have nothing to do with people or with principles of such a bearing. It is not excommunication.... Read More
J.G. Bellet

The Bitten Israelite

Numbers 21 Very happy it is to be discovering the glories of Scripture; specially in days when the infidel insolence of men is challenging it. Amalek, of old, dared to come out, and withstand the camp of Israel, though at that moment the Cloud which carried the Glory was resting on the camp--and, by... Read More

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