return of Christendom to New Testament principles. Like the Dublin assembly, which originally was anti-sectarian in that it was open to all Christian believers, the Plymouth assembly in 1832 began defining qualifications for membership and insisting that fellowship could only occur after severing any other fellowship with a denominational church. The shifting to a sectarian position was detected by Anthony Norris Groves after visiting the Brethren in Plymouth. Relations with Darby John Nelson Darby was the dominant force in the early Brethren movement. Newton saw him as his mentor whilst Darby saw Newton as a prized disciple. It was Newton who had first invited Darby to the Plymouth Assembly in 1831 in order that the Plymouth assembly could be modelled on the assembly in Dublin. Darby, eager to evangelise and teach throughout Europe, appointed Newton as the primary elder in Plymouth. Although they were in agreement over many issues, such as the rejection of the pentecostal teachings of Edward Irving, by 1834, cracks began to develop in their relationship. In 1834, a dispute arose over their friend, Francis Newman, who had started to hold heretical beliefs in regards to the divinity of Christ. Darby excommunicated Newman, but Newton allowed Newman to keep fellowship with the Plymouth assembly in the hope that he would be restored. In 1835, demonstrating his increasing independence of Darby, Newton stepped down as presiding elder, believing that elders should not be elected by the authority of man, as had been the case at Plymouth. Although no longer the presiding elder, his influence and leadership of the assembly continued to grow. A bigger dispute also began to arise in the 1830s over their differing views of future events predicted in the Bible. Although both were premillennialists, Newton believed the church would go through the tribulation, whilst Darby, who previously also believed in a post tribulation rapture, began to shift positions and became increasingly convinced in a pretribulation rapture. Newton also had a different view on dispensationalism and believed the present dispensation consists of three concurrent parts. Firstly the dispensation from Noah to the second coming of the Lord (Genesis 9:1-6), secondly the Gentile dispensation commencing with Nebuchadnezzar and also terminating with the 2nd coming of the Lord, and thirdly the New Covenant dispensation. Newton was particularly critical of Darby's belief that future events in Matthew 24 relate primarily to the Jews, after the church had been secretly