The Patriarchs

John Gifford Bellett (1795-1864) was an Irish Christian writer and theologian who was influential at the beginning of the Plymouth Brethren movement, a non-conformist, evangelical Christian group who believed that the Bible is the supreme authority for church doctrine and practice, over and above any other source of authority. He was born in Dublin and educated first at the Grammar School in Exeter in England, then at Trinity College, Dublin, where he excelled in Classics, and later in London. By 1827 he was a layman serving the church in Dublin and it was here he first became acquainted with John Nelson Darby, then a minister in the established Church of Ireland. In 1829 the pair began meeting with other Christians such as Edward Cronin, a pioneer of homeopathy and one of the founders of the Plymoth Brethren movement, for communion and prayer. Bellett and Darby bonded over prophetic issues and attended meetings and discussions together at the home of Lady Powercourt. He was the author of many books and articles on scripural subjects, his most famous works being The Patriarchs, The Evangelists and The Minor Prophets. The Patriarchs is comprised of nine meditations on Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, The Canticles, and Heaven and Earth, and is reprinted from the A S Rouse new edition of 1895.