It should be understood that on this website is the availabilty of primary sources for research into the various aspects of the "Brethren Movement" so called.
It does not mean that the one placing the various documents and manuscripts on it agrees with everything expressed in them any more than with the ones in the Christian Brethren Archive in the John Rylands Library at Manchester University. Those who turn to it ought to be aware of that.
It needs to be kept in mind when studying the history of "brethren" that those in every section of it think they are in the right bit! Several companies claim to be the "original brethren" or the "primitive company" - and they cannot all be right on that, can they? Obviously not!
The danger when looking into this matter is to accept the opinions found in secondary sources. Tertiary sources are even more unreliable.
Hence the value of this website in being able to seek out information from those who were there at the time, evaluate from all sides, and importantly, to study the scriptures in the spirit of the Bereans.
Well it is common for the Exclusive groups to believe they are the inherent descendents of the 'primitive company', or the only ones on the 'ground of the One Body' etc. If you look at the circle chart in Noel which shows the 'primitive company' at the center, and every section, bar the one the author is in, as a schism, I would suggest that was, and is, common thinking. Certainly the TWs and the Taylor break-offs hold it. Indeed the Renton section of the Taylors holds that anyone who left before June 1970 was wrong. In theory the KLC's are not mean to hold it, but I've heard it taught by prominent teachers. One said to me 'how could God have two seperate comapnies gathered to His Name in the same place. Many of the conservative Gsopel Hall groups effectively believe the same thing, ie. that they are the only true Church, or they are the actual Assembly in any given place.
By the way, without wantint to sound pedandic or disappoint anyone, another thing I often heard, was the phrase 'Brethren doesn't have a captial B'. In the context it is used in the last two comments, ie. a proper noun, i'm pretty sure it should do according to English gramatical rules!