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CHAPTER XVII
1832.
"Bedlam" and " Chaos."
THE next
year began with but a gradual increase of darkness to the devoted
household, from which old friends were failing and old ties breaking every
day. It was no lack of affection which necessitated those partings; but
utter disagreement in a point so
Page 447
"BEDLAM"
AND "CHAOS." 447 important, and the growing impatience of the sensible,
"practical" men around him for that impracticable faith which no motive of
prudence nor weight of reasoning could move, inevitably took the heart
from their intercourse, and produced a gradual alienation between Irving
and his ancient brethren. Other friends, it is true, came in to take their
place-partisans still more close, loyal, and loving-but they were new,
little tried, strangers to all his native sympathies and prejudices,
neither Scotch nor Presbyterian, and, with equal inevitableness, took up
an attitude of opposition to the older party, and made the pathetic
struggle an internecine war. On all sides the friends of years parted from
Irving's side. His wife's relations, with whom he had exchanged so many
good offices and tender counsels, were, to a man, against him; so were his
elders, with one exception. His friends outside the ecclesiastical
boundaries were still less tolerant. Thomas Carlyle and his wife, both
much beloved, not only disagreed, but remonstrated; the former making a
vehement protestation against the "Bedlam" and " Chaos" to which his
friend's steps were tending, which Irving listened to in silence, covering
his face with his hands. When the philosopher had said, doubtless in no
measured or lukewarm terms, what he had to say, the mournful apostle
lifted his head, and addressed him with all the: tenderness of their
youth-" Dear friend!"-that turning of the other cheek seems to have
touched the heart of the sage almost too deeply to make him aware what was
the defense which the other returned to his fiery words. None of his old
supporters, hitherto so devoted and loyal, stood by Irving in this
extremity; nobody except the wife, who shared all his thoughts, and
followed him faithfully in faith as well as in love to the margin of the
grave. In the midst of all these disruptions, however, he snatches a
moment to send the good wishes of the beginning season to Kirkealdy Manse:
" I desire to give thanks to God that He has spared us all to another
year," he writes, " and I pray that it may be very fruitful in you and in
us unto all good works. We have daily reason to praise the Lord. He gives
us new demonstrations of His presence among-us daily. There is not any
Church almost with which He hath dealt so graciously. May the Lord revive
and restore His work in the midst of you all! I would there were in every
congregation a morning prayer-meeting for the gifts of the Spirit." These
brief words mark, however, the limits to which he is now reduced in those
once overflowing domestic con
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ROBERT BAXTER. fidences. He can but utter with an unexpressed sigh the
still affectionate good-will, and make a tacit protest against harsh
judgment by fervent utterances of gratitude for the manifestations of
God's presence. Sympathy of thought and spiritual feeling was over between
those close friends. Very early in this year, the little band of " gifted"
persons, whose presence had made so much commotion in Regent Square, and
of whom we have hitherto had no very clear and recognizable picture, is
opened up to us in the narrative, which I have already referred to, of one
of the most remarkable among them, Mr. Robert Baxter, then of Doncaster.
Having but recently appeared within the inspired circle, this gentleman
had made his utterances with so much power and authority, that already
adumbrations of an office higher than the prophetic overshadowed him, and
he seems to have taken a leading place in all the closest and most sacred
conferences of the prophets. He had been for some years known to Irving;
his character for godliness and devotion stood high; and he was so much in
the confidence and fellowship of the minister of the Church in Regent
Square as to have been, before any gifts had manifested themselves in him,
permitted occasionally to conduct some part of the service in the morning
prayer-meetings. At length he spoke, and that with a force and fullness
not yet attained by any of the other speakers. "In the beginning of my
utterances that evening," he says in his narrative, "some observations
were in the power addressed by me to the pastor in a commanding tone, and
the manner and course of utterance was so far differing from those which
had been manifested in the members of his own flock* that he was much
startled.... I was made to bid those'present ask instruction upon any
subject on which they sought to be taught of God; and to several questions
asked, answers were given by me in the power. One in particular was so
answered with such reference to the circumstances of the case, of which in
myself I was wholly ignorant, as to convince the person who asked it that
the Spirit speaking in me knew those circumstances, and alluded to them in
the answer." This further development of the gift, after a momentary
doubt, was received with still fuller gratitude and trust by Irving, who
comforts himself in his desertion by communicating the news as follows to
his distant friends, one of whom was in perfect accordance with him, while
he had still hopes of the sympathy of the * Mr. Baxter was a member of the
Church of England.
Page 449
THE, TWO
WITNESSES. 449 other. To Mr. Macdonald he conveys the intelligence in
haste, and with perfect confidence of being understood: "London, 24th
January, 1832. "The Lord hath anointed Baxter of Doncaster after another
kind, I think the apostolical; the prophetical being the ministration of
the Word, the apostolical being the ministration of the Spirit. He speaks
from supernatural light, and with the choice of words. Neverth'eless, the
word is sealed in the utterance. It is more abiding than the prophetical,
though sometimes for a snare he is locked up. It is authoritative, and
always concludes with a benediction." In more detail, and with pathetic
appeal and remonstrance, he communicates the same news to Mr. Story,
transmitting the message itself, as well as the claims of the messenger to
increased honor and reverence.' London, 27th January, 1832. " MY DEAR
BROTHER,-It has been said in the Spirit by a brother (Robert Baxter, of
Doncaster; he has written several papers inll the Morning Watch) that the
Two Witnesses are two orders of anointed men, the prophets and the
priests, the one after the Old Testament, the other after the New
Testament form; -the one those who speak with tongues, and to whom the
Word of the Lord comes without power to go beyond or fall within; the
other the apostolical, in whom the Spirit of Jesus dwells as in Jesus
Himself for utterance of every sort with demonstration of the Spirit and
with power. For the last six months the Spirit hath been moving him, and
uttering by him privately; but his mouth was not opened till Friday week,
when he was reading the Scripture and:praying at our early service. From
that time for more than a- week he continued [among us*] speaking in the
power and demonstration of the Spirit with great authority, always
concluding in the Spirit with a benediction. To me it seems to be the
apostolical office for which I have had faith given to me to [pray] both
publicly and privately these many months. I gave him liberty to speak on
the Lord's day, but God did not see it meet. A clergyman of the [Church]
had the faith to give him his pulpit last Sunday, when he prayed in the
Spirit. He said in the Spirit that the two orders of witnesses were now
present in the Church, the 1260 days of witnessing are begun, and: that
within three and a half years the saints will be taken up, according to
the 12th chapter of the Apocalypse. (This is not to date the Lord's
coming, which is some time after His saints are with Him.) Also, he said
in the Spirit, that ordination by the hands of the Church is cut short in
judgment, and that God Himself is about to set forth by the Spirit a
spiritual mninistry, for which we ought to prepare the people. That both
the Church and the State are accursed; that the abomination of iniquity is
set up in this land, and that here the witnesses will be slain; that many
people, multitudes, will be gathered of the people, a goodly number of the
nobles, and the king himself given to the prayers of his people; * This
letter is torn and partly illegible. The few words in brackets are filled
in from the evident meaning of the context.
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BAXTER'S NARRATIVE. but that the nation and the Church will be else
destroyed. That the pestilence and the sword will overflow the land, but
the people of God preserved; and that those who are looking for the coming
of the Lord should set their house in order, and be sitting loose. These
things I believe, some of them I understand, others I have not yet
attained to. I write them for your reflection; do not make them matter of
news, but of meditation. The Lord greatly blesses my ministry. His way is
wonderfully opened among us, and those that know Him gather strength
daily. I have no doubt that He is preparing the way of a great work in my
church, through much reproach and apparent foolishness. My own soul hath
greater entrance unto God. The Lord is leavening this city with His truth.
Every night there are several places at which the men of the congregation
gather the poor to discourse to them. I seldom preach less than seven
times a week, and we meet more than two hundred every morning for prayer
in the church at half past six o'clock, and continue till eight, and have
done it the winter through. I intermingle it with pastoral admonitions,
and the Spirit speaks almost every morning by the prophets and
interpreters. Oh, Story, thou hast grievously sinned in standing afar off
from the work of the Lord, scanning it like a skeptic instead of proving
it like a spiritual man! Ah! brother, repent, and the Lord will forgive
thee! I am very much troubled for you; but I rejoice in your returning
strength. God give you unmeasured faithfulness!... " Your faithful friend
and brother, EDwD. IRVING. " Mrs. Caird is a saint of God, and hath the
gift of prophecy." Mrs. Caird thus referred to, the gifted Mary Campbell
of the Gairloch, who appears to have been again in London, and to whom
Irving bears such emphatic testimony, had by this time failed to satisfy
the expectations of her former pastor and oldest friend, the minister of
Rosneath; and the sentence of approval pronounced with so much decision
and brevity at the conclusion of this letter addressed to him was Irving's
manner of avoiding controversy, and making his friend aware that, highly
as he esteemed himself, he could hear nothing against the other, whose
character had received the highest of all guarantees to his unquestioning
faith. Our history has little directly to do with this remarkable woman,
who does not appear distinctly even in the revelations of Mr. Baxter; but
I am happy to have it in my power to refer my readers to the biography of
Mr. Story, which has been already mentioned, for many most interesting and
powerful sketches of the secondary persons who crossed and influenced in
different degrees the faith of Irving. None of all the prophetic speakers
who at this time wrought into the highest dramatic excitement the little
world of Regent Square appears before us in such recognizable personality
as does Mr. Baxter. He tells his strange story with all the intens
Page 451
THE
INNER WORLD REVEALED. 451 ity of passion, and that unconscious eloquence
which inspires a man when he chronicles the climax and culmination of his
own life. In the wonderful sphere revealed to us in his little book, the
detail of ordinary circumstances scarcely appears at all. Outside, the
office-bearers are holding melancholy consultations how to deal with this
Church, in which practices contrary to the usual regulations of the Church
of Scotland are undoubtedly taking place every day-how to soothe or
persuade the friend and minister, so dear to them all, into moderation,
conformity, indulgence for their scruples, if not into their own
common-sense view of the entire matter. We have already noted this side of
the question; how they consult and reconsult-how they invite to sad
argumentative meetings the tender heart which, torn by every fresh
argument, would surrender every thing, even his life, but can not
relinquish his duty and conviction; how, as the lingering days wear on,
his position, his daily bread, his children's subsistence, and, dearer
still, his honor and good fame, and that standingground within the Church
of Scotland which in his heart he prizes more than life, hang in the
balance, no one knowing when the sad assailants may open the last'parallel
and the final blow may fall. Nothing of this outside scene, though it
proceeds at the same moment with all its real and pathetic particulars,
wringing some hearts and grieving many, is visible in the closer sanctuary
within, where Mr. Baxter draws the curtain. There life lies rapt in
ecstatic flights of devotion, yet with an inward eye always turned upon
the movements of its own heart-there sudden supernatural impulses, fiery
breaths of inspiration, seize upon the expectant soul-there, in a
mysterious fellowship, prophet after prophet,'with convulsed frame and
miraculous outcry, takes up the burden and enforces the message of his
predecessor, by times electrifying the little assembly with sudden
denunciation of some secret sin in the midst of them, over which judgment
is hanging, or of some intruding devil who has found entrance into the
sacred place. The fact that these awful assemblies are in the first place
collected to dinner makes an uncomfortable discord in the scene, till the
chief seer of the company becomes himself uneasy on that score, and
declares "in the power" that this assembling with a secular motive is
unseemly, and must be no longer continued. But the meetings themselves
continue daily, nightly, the record flowing on as if life itself must have
come by the way, and these reunions alone have been the object of
existence. I quote at length
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IRVING RETAINS HIS INFLUENCE AS PASTOR. in the Appendix from this most
remarkable narrative. The passionate closeness of the tale, the reality of
the scene, the longdrawn breath and gasp, scarcely calmed out of that
profound emotion with which the speaker tells his story, are more emphatic
witnesses of his truthfulness than any proof. In this strange drama Irving
appears more than a spectator and less than an actor. He is there
listening with fervent faith, trying the spirits with anxious scrutiny,
his own lofty mind bringing to a species of ineffable reason and proof
those phenomena which were entirely beyond either proof or reason, both to
the ecstatics who received them unhesitatingly, and to the skeptics who
could not receive them at all. In the case of Mr. Baxter above described,
"the pastor" was " troubled," fearing that this new development of the
utterance resembled the case of "two children in Gloucestershire who had
been made to speak in wonderful power, and who afterward were found to
speak by a false spirit." " He came up to me," says Mr. Baxter,' "and
said,'Faith is very hard.' I was immediately made to address him, and
reason with him in the power, until he was fully convinced the Spirit was
of God, and gave thanks for the manifestation of it."- At another time
this prophet, having been directed by the mysterious influence within him
to proceed to the Court of Chancery, where a message was to be given him,
found, on proceeding there, with tragic expectations of prison and
penalty, that the impulse was withheld. Deeply disappointed, he came to
Irving in his discomfiture, and the pastor soothed the impatience of the
inspired speaker, and re-established his failing faith. In the midst of
another exciting scene, in which the exorcism of an evil spirit is
attempted without success, where Mrs. Caird and Baxter himself stand over
the supposed demoniac, adjuring the devil to come out of him, and another
prophetess of weaker frame has fainted in the excitement, Irving once more
appears exhorting:them to patience, suggesting, as our informant
significantly says, that " this kind goeth not forth but with prayer and
fasting." Such is his position in that strange atmosphere where hectic
expectation is always on tiptoe, and where the air throbs with spiritual
presence. No prophetic message comes from his lips:; but he has not
relinquished his authority, the sway of a spirit which is roused, but not
intoxicated, by the surrounding miracle. Amid the agitation and tumult he
stands, preserving all the tender humanity of which nothing could deprive
him, ready to cheer the ecstatic souls in their
Page 453
MYSTIC:
ATMOSPHERE. 453 intervals of depression, ready to moderate the absolutism
with which the more profoundly agitated struggle for results, leading
their prayers, listening with devout faith to their utterances,
understanding some part of them, though "others," as he himself says with
touching humility, "I have not yet attained to," and never ceasing to
mingle with "pastoral admonitions" the prophetic addresses. When an
unlucky neophyte stumbles into the sacred inclosure, believing himself
endowed with power to interpret the unknown tongues, in the midst of the
somewhat rough handling which he meets from the prophets themselves and
the immediate by-standers, he has nothing but kindness to report of
Irving, who overpowers him with awe by solemnly praying for him that the
gift he had imagined himself to have received might be perfected. The
position and scene is altogether wonderful; and through the often-varying
voices, through the cries and thrills of prophetic ecstasy, through the
frequent agitations which convulse that company, waiting the impulse which
comes and goes "as it listeth," no man being able to say when it will
enter or when go forth, the great preacher stands wistful-silent, never
able to shut out from his heart the sad world and the sadder desertions
outside, yet thanking God with pathetic joy for the revelations, of which
he believes all and understands something, within. Never was a more
affecting picture; and it is only in the remarkable disclosures of Mr.
Baxter that this strange inner circle rounds out of the darkness with its
"appalling utterances," its intruding demons, its breathless, absorbed
existence full of rapture and revelation. In the Church itself the
warnings and admonitions of the new prophets had borne more wholesome
fruit. A new body of evangelists sprang up among the spiritual men of the
congregation, who went preaching every where, sometimes even bringing upon
themselves the observation of the alarmed protectors of the public peace,
and "being called up before the magistrates on account of it," as Mr.
Baxter informs us-a harmless kind of persecution, which naturally the new
preachers, in the exuberance of early zeal, made the most of. Irving
himself, always so lavish in labor, was not behind in this quickening of
evangelical exertion. IHe describes himself as preaching "seldom less than
seven times a week;'" besides which, he had the morning meeting constantly
to attend, children to catechise, conferences to hold, and a close
perpetual background of private expositions, prophesyings, and prayers, in
which, without any metaphor, his entire life seems to
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INEVITABLE PROGRESS. have been occupied. Rent asunder as he was by the two
companies between which he stood —the one, whom he would have died to win,
importuning him to relinquish his faith for their sake, and gradually
withdrawing from him, as he resisted, all the human supports upon which he
had most leaned; the other, with whom he had no choice but to cast his
lot, perplexing oft his noble intelligence, sometimes wounding his heart;
bound to him, indeed, by close links of love and fellow-feeling, but not
by ancient brotherhood-the bonds of long mutual labor, hope, and
sorrow-nor by the tender prejudices of nationality and education, it is
yet no' divided man who appears =amid all the agitation and tumult without
and within. Constant, steadfast, without a vacillation, he goes upon his
heroic way. No new honor has come to him; rather the contrary; for other
voices of higher authority than his echo within the walls once consecrated
to his voice, while he, the foremost to believe, bows his head and thanks
God, and bids his people listen to that utterance from heaven. But nothing
that he encounters, not even that hardest trial of all-the anxiety that
moves him when "faith" becomes "hard," when spiritual accusations begin to
rise, and evil influences are suspected to mingle with the inspiration of
God-can disturb the unity of his being or make him waver. He has prayed,
and God has answered; he has tried the spirits, and with solemn
acclamations they have answered the test, and owned the Lord; and now let
all suffering, all opposition, all agony come. If his very prophets fail
him, his faith can not fail him. And thus he goes forward, feeling to the
depths of his heart all the remonstrances and appeals addressed to him,
yet smiling in sad constancy upon those importunate voices, and hearing as
if he heard them not. Notwithstanding, however, the reluctant affection of
the managers of the Church, affairs made inevitable progress. Though it is
perfectly true, on one side, that there were no direct laws of the Church
of Scotland against the exercise of an entirely unexpected endowment for
which no provision had been made, and equally certain that to every man
who believed these gifts genuine, no sin could be more heinous than a
willful suppression of them, yet it was still more apparent, on the other
side, that nothing could be more unlike the reserved and austere worship
of the Scotch Church, so carefully. abstracted from every thing that could
excite imagination or passion, than the new and startling intervention of
voices, unauthorized by any ecclesiastical rule, which introduced
Page 455
THE
TRUSTEES TAKE COUNSEL'S OPINION. 455 the whole round of human excitement
into those calm Presbyterian Sabbath-days, stirring into utter antagonism,
impatience, and opposition the former leaders of the community, who found
themselves thus defied and thwarted on their own ground. For their
minister's convictions they had the utmost tenderness and reverence, but
they would indeed have been more than men could they have seen with equal
forbearance the new influence, twenty timnes more engrossing and exacting
than theirs, which had become absolute with him, and through him exercised
unbounded sway in all their public religious services. Feelings less
tender and Christian came in. Men who little more than a year before had
pledged their honor to Irving's support against the petty persecution of
the Presbytery, and maintained him in his withdrawal from its
jurisdiction, now began to bethink themselves of the capabilities of that
very Presbytery against which they had protested. That court only could,
with any ecclesiastical consistency, arbitrate between them and their
minister; and at length they seem to have reached the pitch of indignation
and impatience necessary to induce them to take the humiliating step of
asking the intervention of the authority which they had renounced against
the man for whose sake, a little while before, they had thrown off
their.allegiance. This painful conclusion was, however, reached by slow
degrees. The first step toward it was taken in the beginning of the year,
when-still with a forlorn and indeed most hopeless hope of breaking
Irving's resolution, if they were clearly demonstrated to have the law on
their side-they submitted the whole facts of the case to Sir Edward Sugden,
and obtained that eminent lawyer's opinion in their favor. This decision
gave an authoritative answer to the assumption that the direction of the
order of worship in Regent Square Church was entirely in the hands of the
minister, which Irving seems to have been advised to set up in answer to
their remonstrances. Armed with this document, a deputation of the
trustees went to Irving, asking his final determination. "He received them
cordially," writes Mr. Hamilton; "expressed himself much gratified with
the kind manner in which they had always treated him, and promised to give
them his answer in a few days." A Sunday intervened before this answer was
given; and on.that day, after each service in the church, Irving
forestalled the formal intimation, which, indeed, so thoroughly were his
sentiments known, was nothing more than a form, by a public statement from
the pulpit, which Mr. Hamilton, follow
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IRVING'S ADVICE TO HIS PEOPLE. ing the course of events in anxious and
minute detail, reports to Kirkcaldy. "I have something of great importance
to say to you," said the preacher, according to his brother-in-law's
report: "I do not know whether I may ever look this congregation again in
the face in this place, and whether the doors of the church will not be
shut against me during this week. If it be so, it will be simply because I
have refused to allow the voice of the Spirit of God to be silenced in
this church. No man has any thing to say against me. I have offended no
ordinance of God or man, and I have broken no statute of man. No one has
found any fault with me at all except in the matter of my God-nay, on the
contrary, every one has pronouncedc me even more abundant in my labors and
more diligent in my duties of late, and also that my preaching has been
more simple and edifying than formerly. The Church has been enlarged; many
souls have been converted by the voice of the Spirit; the Church has
fallen off in nothing; and altogether the work of the Lord has been
proceeding. But because I am firm in my honor of God and reverence for His
ordinances we are come to this. Now I must provide for my flock. What are
you to do? You must not come here. Here the Spirit of God has been cast
out, and none can prosper who come here to worship. Go not to any church
where they look shyly on the work of the Spirit. We must'not forsake the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.' This, then, I
advise for the present, that each householder who is a member of this
flock do gather around him those in his neighborhood who are not
householders, and joining to them the poor, do exhort them and expound to
them the Word of the Lord..... And if he has no gifts, there are plenty of
young men in this Church who are gifted, and who are willing to be so
employed, and I myself am willing to be helpful in all ways in this work.
All the other meetings of the Church will be held in my house. Let no one
be troubled for me; I am not troubled. -When I came to London, I said,'Let
me have the liberty to preach the Gospel without let or hinderance, and I
am ready to come without any bond or money transaction; and if there is
any difficulty, let me come and be among you from house to house.' To
these kind friends I am beholden. They have ever provided me with what was
needful; but I have never counted my house my own, nor my money my own;
they have been for the brethren. And now I am ready to go forth and leave
them, if the Lord's will be so. If we should be cast out for the truth,
let us rejoice; yea, let us exceedingly rejoice." Such was the sorrowful
elder's account of this address, which comes through his memory evidently
dimmed out of its natural eloquence, but touching in the perfect
truthfulness of its appeal to the recollection at once of the hearers and
of the speaker himself. Many of those who heard Irving speak these words
could prove from their own remembrance the lofty disinterestedness with
which he had begun his career, and none more than the men who
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IRVING'S
ANSWER TO THE TRUSTEES. 457 now felt it necessary to take from him the
house and income which, as he says, " he never counted his own." What
prospect of compulsory silence to himself or dispersion to his flock had
been in his mind, prompting that singular piece of advice to "every
householder," it is impossible to tell. Perhaps, when he spread the
lawyer's judgment before the Lord, dark indications of future trouble bad
trembled on the prophetic lips, and nothing which he could interpret as a
clear indication of the Divine will had made light in the darkness of the
future. But, however that mightbe, his course was decided. If even he had
to be silent from that work of preaching which had at all times been his
chosen occupation, he who would have come to London ten years before
without "bond or money transaction," only to have "the liberty of
preaching the Gospel," was now ready to relinquish not only all his
living, but that dearer privilege, the very power of preaching, if so it
must be, rather than put any limit upon the utterances which he believed
divine. The next day, after this intimation to the people, he gave the
formal answer which had been demanded from him to the trustees of the
church: " 13 Judd Place, East, 28th February, 1832. "MY DEAR BRETHREN,-I
have read over the opinion of Sir Edward Sugden which you were so kind as
to submit to me, and I have taken a full week to consider of it. The
principle on which I have acted is to preserve the integrity of my
ministerial character unimpaired, and to fulfill my office according to
the Word of God. If the trust-deed do fetter me therein, I knew it not
when the trust-deed was drawn, and am sure that it never was intended in
the drawing of it; for certainly I would not, to possess all the churches
of this land, bind myself one iota from obeying the great Head and Bishop
of the Church. But if it be so that you, the trustees, must act to prevent
me and my flock from assembling to worship God, according to the Word of
God, in the house committed into your trust, we will look unto our God for
preservation and safe keeping! Farewell! may the Lord have you in His holy
keeping! "Your faithful and affectionate friend, EDWD. IRVING." After this
he was vexed with no more of those affectionate and importunate arguments
which had tried his tender heart for months before. The division was now
accepted as final; compromise was no longer possible: and nothing remained
but to prove his divergence from the rules of Presbyterian worship, and to
close the church doors upon him. "The trustees," said Sir Edward Sugden, "
ought immediately to proceed to remove Mr. Irving from his pastoral
charge, by making complaint to the Lon
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458 THE
FOREGONE CONCLUSION OF THE PRESBYTERY. don Presbytery in the manner
pointed out by the deed." It was now understood by both parties that this
was the only course to be adopted; and the minister who had withdrawn from
the censures of that Presbytery a year before, disowning its jurisdiction,
and the men* who had rallied round him.then, and solemnly declared their
entire approval at once of that act and of the sentiments which had roused
the Presbytery into censure, had now to approach that obscure tribunal to
have the matter between them decided; the one to stand at the unfriendly
bar, the others to prosecute their charge against him. Considering all
that had passed before, Irving had not the shadow of a chance before the
ecclesiastical court which had already delivered judgment on him, and the
authority of which he had cast off,almost haughtily. It was a foregone
conclusion.to which that little group of ministers were asked to come over
again. If such a wonder had happened as that the case of the trustees had
broken down, the Presbytery itself, now that he had been dragged back
within its grasp, had matter enough on which to condemn him. If any thing
could have embittered the matter in dispute, it would have been the
selection of these judges. When, in the earlier stages of the argument, it
was proposed to appeal to the arbitration of the Presbytery, Irving "
begged" the elders, as Mr. Hamilton tells us, not to take this step. But
things had progressed far in these few months. Now he said nothing on the
subject, and was apparently indifferent as to who might judge him. The
matter had resolved itself, indeed, into mere question and answer; any
other trial, however exciting it might be at the moment, was but a
necessary form. The simple fact was, that he had been asked to silence
those strange voices which the trustees proclaimed to be mere outcries of
human delusion and excitement, but which he held to be so many utterances
of the voice of God, and had answered No; would answer No, howsoever the
question might be asked him; opposing to every argument of reason, to
every inducement of interest, to every taunt of folly, a steadfast front
of faith unbroken. The trial before the Presbytery, considering the ground
taken by the trustees, and the hopelessness of any real and grave inquiry
into the merits of the question, was little more than a form. But,
notwithstanding that, bitterness had to be encountered; and, whenever it
became inevitable, Irving awaited it calmly, making no far* The trustees
and Kirk session were not identical, but the most influential of Irt
ving's opponents were members of both.
Page 459
THE LIFE
OF TIIE ACCUSED. 459 ther appeal against the cruelty and humiliation. If
he had carried matters with a high hand once, when, secure of support and
rich in friends, he shook off the dust from his feet in testimony against
the arbitrary condemnation of his former brethren, the reverse that befell
him now, when forced to return and plead his cause before them, would have
been mortification enough to any ordinary man. He accepted it, however,
with lofty composure, and without a complaint, throwing no obstacles in
the way of those for whose relief.and satisfaction this trial was to be
inflicted on him. It was not till the 22d of March that the Presbytery
received the complaint of the trustees. An entire month consequently
elapsed between the solemn intimation made by Irving to his people that
their church would probably be closed upon them and the commencement of
the proceedings. This month passed in the ordinary labors-the
extraordinary devotions common to his life. Every wintry morning dawned
upon the servant of God amid prayers and prophesyings, while he stood, the
first to hear and to worship amid the early company, never intermitting,
notwithstanding his faith, the pastor's anxious care that admonition
should be mingled with revelation, and that the spirits should prove
themselves to be of God, by acknowledging the name that is above all
names; every laborious evening fell filled up till its latest moments with
his Master's business. Day by day he preached, day by day sent forth other
men into the streets and highways to preach-if not like him, yet with
hearts touched by the same fire; over those perpetual evangelist
proclamations without, and that wonderful world of expectation within, in
which at any moment God's audible voice might thrill the worshipers, the
days passed one by one, mingling the din of busy London, the incidents of
common life, the domestic voices and tender tones of children, with the
highest strain of human toil and climax of human emotion. Such a cadence
and rhythmical overflow of life few men have ever attained. The highest
dreams of imagination, trembling among things incomprehensible, could
realize nothing more awful, nothing so certain to take entire possession
of the fascinated soul as those utterances of the Spirit if they were
trueand they were true to Irving's miraculous heart; while, at the same
time, no laboring man could imagine a more ceaseless round of toil than
that by which he kept the mighty equilibrium of his soul, and
counterpoised with generous work the excitement and
Page 460
460
"REPROACH HATH BROKEN MY HEART." agitation which might otherwise have
overwhelmed him. Between those two consuming yet compensating spheres, the
man himself, not yet exhausted, stands in a pale glow of suffering and
injured love, wounded in the house of his friends, with a hundred arrows
in the heart which knows no defense against the assault of unkind words
and averted looks. He makes no outcry of his own suffering. There, where
he stands, the dearest,.voices murmur at him with taunts of cruel wisdom
or censures of indignant virtue. They say he seeks notoriety, courts the
wild suffrage of popular applause; they cast at him common nicknames of
enthusiasm, fanaticism, delusion; they call him arrogant, presumptuous,
vain-even, with more vulgar tongues, religious trickster and cheat. In the
very fullness of that lofty and prodigal existence, the blow strikes to
the fountains of life. A friend had once said to him that Christians ought
to rejoice when the outside world despised and contemned the Church. "Ah!
no," answered with a sigh this soul experienced in such trials; " reproach
hath broken my heart 1" These words breathe out of his uncomplaining lips
at this crisis with ineffable sadness, sometimes breaking forth in
pathetic outbursts of that grief which, in its passion and vehemence,
sounds almost like the lofty wrath of the old prophets, and giving
sometimes a momentary thrill of discord to his undiminished eloquence.
Already he had entered deep into the pangs of martyrdom. The following
letter will show how even the bosom of domestic affection was ruffled by
these assaults. It is addressed to Dr. Martin, who, watching the progress
of affairs from a distance, had not hesitated to make emphatic and
repeated protests against what appeared to him delusion: "London, 7th
March, 1832. "MY DEAR FATHERn-IN-LAW,-Your letters concerning the work of
the Holy Ghost in my church, and my conduct in respect thereto, do trouble
and grieve me very much, because of your rashness in coming to a
conclusion on so awful a question without the materials for a judgment,
and because of the unqualified manner in which both you and Samuel and all
condemn me, without any adequate information, and, as seems to me, without
due tenderness and love. If this be the work of the Holy Ghost, the voice
of Jesus in His Church, who am I that I should interdict or prevent it any
way? I believe it is so, and that is the only reason iwhy I have acted as
I have done, and will continue so to do until the end..... I am
responsible to the great Head of the Church in virtue of being the angel
of the Church; the elders and deacons have an authority derived from and
delegated to them by me, but not to the dividing or deprivation of
Page 461
IRVING
COMPLAINS TO DR. MARTIN. 461 mine. The grounds of this doctrine I laid out
before this came to pass in my Lectures on the Apocalypse, and I have
acted thereafter according to previous conviction, and as a course of
conduct, and not from the particular case, as you and Samuel unkindly and
unjustly suppose. I never made any agreement, at any time, to suppress the
voice of the Spirit in the public assemblies of the Church, and never will
do. For one week, while I thought the people were turbulently set against
it, I wavered about its proceeding in the evening till I saw my way
clearly. "Moreover, dear father, know and be assured that the Lord
prospers my ministry and my flock more abundantly than ever; that more
souls than ever hear the Word at my mouth, and more souls are converted
unto the Lord Jesus;.... and for myself, and my wife and children, fear
nothing, because we serve the Lord, and suffer for righteousness' sake.
What you misname my imagination is my spirit, which surely you would wish
to see triumphant over the understanding of the natural mind.... Oh, my
dear sir, look to your own dead, and heretical, and all but apostate
Church at home, and see what repentance and humiliation can be offered for
it. Rejoice that there is one Church in this land whlere the voice of the
Holy Ghost, speaking in the members, is heard. Give thanks, and judge no
rash judgments; for, however they be well meant, they are: far, far from
the truth, and add much to the burden which I have already to sustain....
Farewell! God keep you faithful in such times! "Your affectionate and
dutiful son, EDwD. IRvING." Over this letter wise heads were doubtless
shaken and sorrowing tears shed in the Kirkcaldy manse, where the family,
in their mutual letters, full of Edward, confide to each other a certain
distressed and excited impatience of his weakness, mingled with
involuntary outbreaks of love and praise, which, uttered evidently to
relieve their own hearts, give an affecting picture of the wonderful hold
which this brother, straying daily farther out of their comprehension and
sympathy, had of their hearts. With strange calmness, after these
utterances of emotion, yet giving example of the common feeling, Mr.
Hamilton's sensible, regretful voice interposes once more in the
narrative;, telling over again, with the sigh of impatient wonder natural
to a man so sagacious and unexcitable, those same prophecies and
revelations given by Mr. Baxter, which Irving had reported in full
conviction of their importance. "I merely mention the above to give you
some idea of the nature of the manifestations which have been made in the
Church," he writes. "There have been others, however, of a much more
comforting tendency. I believe that a large proportion of the present
congregation agree with Edward in the belief of the reality of those
manifestations, and that they will fol
Page 462
462
FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION INVOLVED. low him wherever he may remove to; and I
must say that they are in general very pious people, zealous for God, and
most exemplary in the discharge of their religious duties. As for Edward'
he continues unwearied and unceasing in his labors; indeed, it is a marvel
to me how he is able to bear up under them all. I never knew any man so
devoted to the service of his Master, or more zealous in the performance
of what he conceives to be his duty." Such being the condition of affairs,
the question came before the London Presbytery to its final trial. "Is
there any thing in the constitution of the Church which forbids the
exercise of the prophetic gift, supposing it to be real?" asks Mr.
Hamilton, with sudden acuteness, in the letter above quoted. Such a
question would indeed seem to be the first and most urgent, seeing that
the emergency was distinctly unexpected and unprovided for by the original
legislators of the Church of Scotland. But, so far as I am aware, nobody
attempted to give an answer to this fundamental inquiry. In the trial
which followed, it does not seem ever to have been taken into
consideration at all. The matter was contracted and debased, at the very
outset, to a superficial inquiry into facts, the complaint of the trustees
being entirely confined to the assertion that unauthorized persons,
"neither ministers nor licentiates of the Church of Scotland," and in some
cases " neither members nor seat-holders" of the individual congregation,
had been permitted to " interrupt the public services of the Church." The
Presbytery, of course, did not confine themselves to the proving of this
simple issue; but, amid all the inquisitions that followed, no one seems
to have been sensible that the first question to be asked in the matter
was that put by Mr. Hamilton, or that, supposing the strange possibility
of Irving's belief proving true, it was necessary to find out whether God
Himself might not be an unauthorized speaker in His too well-defended
Church. This hypothesis the little ecclesiastical court did not take into
consideration for a moment. They put it aside arbitrarily, as it is always
so easy to do, and, indeed, never seem to have thought, or to have had
suggested to them, that this profounder general question lay under the
special case which they had immediately in hands, and that no radical
settlement could be made of the individual matter without some attempt, at
least, to establish the general principle. Before, however, these final
proceedings were commenced, Ir
Page 463
LAST
REMONSTRANCE. 463 ving addressed yet another letter to his opponents. It
is without date, but was evidently intended to reach them on the occasion
of a conclusive meeting, of which he had been informed; and, while less
familiar and more solemn than his former letters, still overflows with
personal affection. " MEN'AND BRETHREN, —A a man and the head of a family,
bound to provide for himself and those of his own house, I am enabled
of.God to be perfectly indifferent to the issue of your deliberations this
night, though it should go to deprive me of all my income, and cast
me-after ten years of hard service, upon the wide world, with my. wife and
my children-forth from a house which was built almost entirely upon the
credit of my name, and primarily for my life enjoyment, where also the
ashes of my children repose. ~' As a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath been honored of Him to bring forth from obscurity a whole! system
of precious truth, and especially to proclaim to this land the glad and
glorious tidings of His speedy coming, and strengthened of Him to stand
for the great bulwarks of the faith, ofttimes almost single and alone, I
am still indifferent to the issue of this night's deliberations, which can
bring little addition to the burdens of one groaning under the reproach of
ten thousand tongues, in ten thousand ways put forth against his good and
honorable name. For I am well assured that my God whom I serve, and for
whom I suffer reproach, will support and richly reward me, even though ye
also should turn against me, whom the Lord set to be a defense and
protection round about me. As the pastor of a flock, consisting of several
hundreds of precious souls, and the minister of the Word unto thousands
weekly, nay, daily congregating into our beautiful house, though it hath
cost me many a pang, I am also entirely resigned to His will, and can cast
them all upon His rich and bountiful providence, who is the good Shepherd
of the sheep, and doth carry the lambs in His bosom, and gently lead those
that are great with young. On no account, therefore, be ye assured,
personal to myself as a man, as a minister of Christ, or as a pastor of
His people, do I intrude myself upon your meeting this night with this
communication; but for your sakes I wait, even for yours, who are, every
one of you, dear. to my heart. Bear with me, then, the more patiently,
seeing it is for your sakes I take up my pen to write. "I do you solemnly
to wit, men and brethren, before Almighty God, the heart-searcher, that
whosoever lifteth a finger against the work which: is proceeding in the
Church of Christ under my pastoral care:is rising up against the Holy
GGhost; and I warn him, even with tears, to beware and stand back, for
he.will assuredly bring upon himself the wrath' and indignation of the God
of heaven and earth if he dare.to go,forward.: Many months: of most
painstaking and searching;observation, the- most-varied proofs of every
kind, taken with' all the skill and circumspection which the Lord hath
bestowed upon me; the substance of the doctrine, the character of the
Spirit, and the form and circumstances of the utterances tried by the Holy
Page 464
464 NOT
THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT. Scriptures, and whatever remains most venerable in
the traditions of the Church; the present power and penetration of the
Word spoken over the souls of the most holy persons, with the abiding
effects of edification upon hundreds who have come under my own personal
knowledge; the nature of the opposition which, from a hundred quarters,
most of them entirely indifferent, infidel, and atheistical, hath arisen
against it, together with the effects which the opposition hath had upon
the minds of honest and good persons who have stumbled at it; their haste
and headiness; their unrest and trouble of mind; the attempt of Satan, by
mimicry of the work, and thrusting in upon it of seduction and
devil-possessed persons to mar it, and the jealous holiness with which God
hath detected all these attempts, and watched over His own work to keep it
from intermixture and pollution; and, above all, the testimony of the Holy
Ghost in my own conscience, as a man serving God with my house; the
discernment of the same Holy Ghost in me as a minister over His truth and
watchman over His people-all these, and many other things, which I am not
careful to set out in order or at large, seeing the time for argument is
gone by, and the time for delivering a man's soul is come, do leave not a
shadow of doubt on my mind that the work which hath begun under the roof
of our sanctuary, and which many of you are taking steps to prevent from
proceeding there, is the WORK of God-is verily the MIGHITY WORK of God,
the most sacred work of the HIoly Ghost; which to blaspheme is to
blaspheme the Holy Ghost; which to act against is to act against the Holy
Ghost. This is the guilt of the action you are proceeding in; whether
there be sufficient cause for bringing dclown such a load upon your heads,
dearly-beloved brethren, judge ye. For my part, I would rather, were I a
trustee, lose all my property ten times told than move a finger in
hinderance of this great work of God, which God calleth on you to further
by all means in your power, and to abide the consequences of a
prosecution, yea, all consequences between life and death, rather than
hinder. Oh,' what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose
his own soul; or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?' "You
have determined to lodge a complaint against me to the London Presbytery
for no immorality of conduct, for no neglect of duty, for no breach of
good faith, for no change of ordinance proper to the Church of Scotland,
for no departure from the constitution of the Church of Scotland, for no
cause, in point of fact, which was or could have been contemplated in the
formation of the trust-deed, but simply and solely because God, in His
great love and mercy, hath restored the gifts of Providence to the Church
under my care, and I, the responsible minister under Christ, being
convinced thereof, have taken it upon me to order it according to the mind
and will of Christ, the only Head and Potentate of His Church, as the same
is expressed in the Holy Scriptures. I ask ye before God, and as ye shall
answer at the great day, if the trust-deed could have been intended to
prevent the spiritual gifts from ever being exercised within the building,
or from being ordered according to the Word of God? May I go farther, and
ask whether the constitution of the Church of Scotland, or of any church,
could be intended to keep the voice of Jesus
Page 465
IMPASSIONED APPEAL. 465 from being heard, as heretofore it was wont to be,
within the assemblies of His people? Oh, beloved brethren, how can you
find it in your hearts to complain against one who hath been so faithfil
among you to declare the whole counsel of God, and to do every thing by
night and by day for the good of the flock and of all men, merely because
he hath been faithful to his Lord, as well as to the people of the Lord,
and would not by a mountain of opposition be daunted from acknowledging
the work and walking by the counsel of his God? I beseech you to search
your hearts, and examine how much of this complaint ariseth from a desire
to do your duty as trustees, how much from dislike and opposition to the
work, from the influence of the popular stream, and the fear of the
popular odium, from your own pride of heart and unwillingness to examine
any thing new, from the love of being at ease in Zion, and from other evil
causes over which I have a constant jealousy in myself and in my flock,
whom I should love better than myself. I do not judge any one in this
matter; but I would be blind indeed if I did not discern the working of
these and the like motives of the flesh in many of you, and I would be
unfaithful if I did not mention them. I fear lest I may have been
unfaithful in time past; if so, God forgive me, and do you forgive me, and
take this as the last and complete expression of my love to all of you.
Oh, my brethren, take time and think what tenant may be expected to come
and take up his abode in that house from which the Holy Ghost hath been
cast forth! It will never prosper or come to any good until it hath been
cleansed from this abomination by sore and sorrowful repentance. How can
you make a fashion of calling it a house of praise or prayer any longer,
after having banished forth of it the voice of Jesus lifted up in the
midst of the Church of His saints, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost?
Surely disappointment and defeat will rest upon it forever. God will not
bless it; the servants of God will flee away from it; it will stand a
monument of folly and infatuation. Nay, so much hath the Lord made me to
perceive the iniquity of this thing, that I believe it will bring down
judgment upon all who take part in it, upon their houses, upon the city
itself in which the National Scotch Church hath been a lamp, yea, and a
light unto the whole land, and to the distant parts of the earth. Oh, my
brethren, retrace your steps; leave this work in the hands of the Lord.
Come forward and confess your sin in having thought or spoken evil against
it. Come to the help of God against the mighty. I beseech you to hear my
words. They have been written with prayer and fasting; and when I read
them over about an hour ago in the hearing of one gifted with the Spirit,
that the Lord, if He saw good, might express His mind, the consequences
which he denounced upon the doing of this act were frightful to hear. I
had little thought of mentioning this to any one, but it seemeth to be not
right to hide it in my own breast. If you desire, dear brethren, any
personal communication with me upon this awful subject, I beseech you to
sendE for me, and I will be at your call; for I could stand to be tortured
from head to foot rather than any one of you should go forward in such an
undertaking as to prevent the voice of God from being heard: in any house
over which you have any jurisdiction. Go
Page 466
466 THE
TRUSTEES' COMPLAINT. c" May the Lord preserve you from all evil, and lead
you in the way of His own blessed will! Amen and Amen! "Your faithful and
loving pastor and friend, "EDWD. IRVING." This wonderful letter proves
over again, if more proof were needed, how impossible it was for Irving to
open his mouth without unfolding his very heart and soul. The trustees of
the church received this impassioned appeal, knowing better than any other
men how true were those assertions of his own purity and faithfulness to
which Irving was driven; but, with such an address in their hands, went
forward calmly to the Presbytery and presented the complaint, which he
marvels, with grieved surprise and wounded affection, how they could "find
it in their heart" to prefer against him. This complaint, which begins by
setting forth the character of the trust-deed, and the rigid particularity
with which it had bound the Regent Square Church to the worship of the
Church of Scotland, finally settles into five charges against the
minister. Perhaps it was in tenderness for him that every hint of
divergence in doctrine, or even of extravagance in belief, was kept back
from this strange indictment; but it is impossible to read, without
wonder, those charges upon which the existence of a congregation, and the
position of a man so notable and honored, now depended. They are as
follows: "First. That the Rev. Edward Irving has suffered and permitted,
and still allows, the public services of the Church in the worship of God,
on the Sabbath and other days, to be interrupted by persons not being
either ministers or licentiates of the Church of Scotland. "Second. That
the said Rev. Edward Irving has suffered and permitted, and still allows,
the public services of the said church, in the worship of God, to be
interrupted by persons not being either members or seat-holders of the
said church. " Third. That the said Rev. E. Irving has suffered and
permitted,'and also publicly encourages, females to speak in the same
church, and to interrupt and disturb the public worship of God in the
church on Sabbath and other days. " Fourth. That the said Rev. E. Irving
hath suffered and permitted, and also publicly encourages, other
individuals, members of the said Church, to interrupt and disturb the
public worship of God in the church on Sabbath and other days. "_Fifth.
That the said Rev. E. Irving, for the purpose of encouraging and exciting
the said interruptions, has appointed times when a suspension of the usual
worship in the said church takes place, for said persons to exercise the
supposed gifts with which they profess to be endowed."
Page 467
MEETING
OF THE PRESBYTERY. 467 After all the agitation and excitement, after the
sorrowful struggle which had just come to an end, and all the depths of
feeling and suffering involved, this bald statement comes with all the
effect of an anti-climax upon the interested spectator. Was this, then,
all? these mere matters of fact-this breach of common regulation and
decorum? Was this important enough to call for all the formal
paraphernalia of law-the reverend bench of judgesthe witnesses and
examinations-the pleas of accuser and defender? The court, we may be sure,
had no mind to confine itself to the mere proof of charges so trifling in
themselves. A month after the presentation of this indictment the
Presbytery assembled for "the hearing of parties." There were present six
ministers and three elders, and the place of meeting was the old Scotch
Church in London Wall. With that odd simulation of legal forms, and
affectation.of scrupulous rule and precedent, joined to all the
irregularities of a household examination, which characterize a
Presbyterian Church Court in a country where Presbyterianism has no
acknowledged authority, and where the unrecognized tribunal is without'
professional guidance, the-judges took their places, and the process
began. A Mr. Mann, one of the trustees, appeared for the complainers;
Irving stood by himself'on his defense - Mr. Cardale, a solicitor,
accompanying him, and making'what hopeless attempts he could, now and
then, to recall the precautions of a court of justice to the recollection
of the assembly. The witnesses called by the complainers were three of
Irving's closest supporters; one, a 4" gifted person," who had himself
taken a very decided part in the "interruptions" which he was called to
prove. Thus, with wonderful and apparently causeless cruelty, in very
strange contrast to the consideration they had hitherto shown him, his
opponents contrived his downfall by the hands of those who not only
believed with him, but one of whom had been an actual instrument of his
peril. On this same eventful April morning, before coming with those three
witnesses, whom a common faith made his natural defenders, but whom the
selection of his adversaries had chosen to substantiate their case against
him, to the court where he was to take his place at the bar, a still more
cruel and utterly unexpected blow fell upon Irving. He who, of all the
prophetic speakers, had spoken with most boldness and claimed the highest
authority; he who, "in the power," had expounded the most mysterious
prophecies of the Apocalypse, and pronounced the very limit of
Page 468
468
RECANTATION OF BAXTER. time, the three years and a half which were to
elapse before the witnesses were received up to heaven; he whose
utterances only a month or two before, Irving, in all the assurance of
utter trust, had sent to his friends, that they too might be edified and
triumph in the light which God was giving to his Church, Robert Baxter,
came suddenly up from Yorkshire to intimate the total downfall of his own
pretensions, and to disown the inspiration of which so short a time before
he had convinced the troubled pastor, who for that once found it "'hard"
to believe. "I reached him on the morning of his appearance before the
Presbytery of London," writes this penitent, apparently as impetuous and
absolute in his renunciation as in his former claims. " Calling him and
Mr. J. Cardale apart, I told them my conviction that we had all been
speaking by a lying spirit, and not by the Spirit of God." A most
startling and grievous preface to the defense which was that day to be
made. The little group went doubtless with troubled souls to that
encounter, knowing well how strong a point this would be for their
opponents, and themselves dismayed and brought to a sudden stand-still by
a desertion so unlooked for. Had Irving's heart been discourageable, or
his faith less than a matter of life and death, such a blow, falling at
such a time, might well have disabled him altogether. There is no trace
that it had any effect upon him on that important day. When they had
reached London Wall, and the Moderator of the Presbytery was opening the
sitting with prayer, a message suddenly burst, with echoing preface of the
" tongue," from one of the three witnesses. Perhaps it comforted that
heart torn with many sorrows, which, when needing so emphatically all its
strength, had been subject to so overwhelming a. discouragement. At all
events, it was with dignity and steadfastness unbroken that Irving met the
harassing and irritating process which now opened. As an example of the
manner in which this so-called trial was conducted, I quote a passage here
and there from the report: "The first witness called was Mr. Mackenzie.* "
"Mir. JMann (the spokesman of the complainers). You are an elder of the
National Scotch Church? "I am. A jurat proof of oath before a Master in
Chancery was here put in. "You were an elder of the Church prior to
October, 1831? Yes, I was. * This gentleman was the only elder who
entirely sympathized with Irving, and went with him when shut out from
Regent Square.
Page 469
BEGINNING OF THE TRIAL. 469' Will you, to save the time of the Presbytery,
detail some of those exhibitions which you witnessed in the Scotch Church
betwixt November and March last? " Moderator. That is too leading a
question. Y ou may ask if he has witnessed any thing in the church which
is a breach of order prior to that date. "3kMr. Mann. I admit this is not
right, but I ask him the detail of the proceedings, and the persons
concerned in them. If he declines, I will put the question seriatim. To
the witness: Detail the occurrences different from ordinary worship prior
to that time, if any? There have certainly occurrences taken place in the
church since the period stated which had not taken place in the church
before. "State what they are? Certain persons have spoken who bad never
spoken in the church before." A detailed account of the persons who had
thus spoken was then drawn from the witness, along with the fact that
interruptions of the worship, consisting of objections to points of
doctrine, made by strangers, had occurred previous to October, 1831, and
been promptly put down. The examination then proceeded. "C Moderator. Do
any members of the court wish to put questions to the witness? "J Mr.
Mlaclean. Pray, Moderator, will you allow me to ask whether the witness
considers, from what he had previously heard there, that there were new
doctrines taught? "ASolicitor. I object to the question: this is not an
examination into Mr. Irving's doctrines. " Mioderator. It is a valid
objection.'Mr. Miller questioned this opinion, and pressed the question.
Mr. Maclean waived it. " Mioderator. I wish to put one other question. You
have alluded to interruptions that have taken place as being objections to
the doctrines taught at the time. Now you are a party on oath; has there
ever been declared in that church a connection between that doctrine and
the manifestations in question.? I do not perceive the connection of that
question with the previous question. It was a stranger that objected to
the doctrine. " Moderator. Have you heard the manifestations adduced as a
support to that doctrine? I do not recollect what the doctrine was that
was objected to, so I can not answer your question, sir." After much more
of the same loose and confused interrogations, Irving, doubtless as
informal as his judges, himself took the witness in hand, and by means of
broadly suggestive questions established their concurrence of belief that
the interruptions complained of were utterances not "made by the persons
themselves," but " in the strength and by the power of the Holy Ghost." He
then proceeded to ask, "So far as you have been. able to search,
Page 470
470
EXAMINATION.-THE PROPHET TAPLIN. does it agree with the things written in
the Scripture or not?" when immediately a tumult of opposition arose. The
Moderator interfered at once to declare the question irregular, as no
doubt, under any pretense of adherence to legal forms, it was. The
objection of the Presbyterial president, however, was not that the
witness's opinion was asked where only his evidence as to matters of fact
was admissible, but that the matter in dispute was not whether these
"interruptions" were according to Scripture, but whether they were in
accordance with the standards of the Church. A hot but brief discussion
followed, in which, with a courage for which they certainly deserve
credit, every clerical member of the court declared, individually, in
opposition to Irving's protest, that "the reverend defender was quite out
of order in appealing to the Scriptures," and that "the question was not
the Word of God, but the trust-deed and the doctrines of the Church- of
Scotland." This matter being settled, the business proceeded, and the
second witness, Mr. Taplin, one of the " gifted persons," who had already
given practical evidence on the subject by the utterance with which he had
interrupted the opening prayer, was called. After eliciting from this
witness the fact of his own frequent exercise of the prophetic gift, and
that he had been once reproved by "a sister" for speaking by " a spirit of
error," the following questions were put: "L MJi Mann. When you have thus
spoken, has it been during the public service of the Church on Sunday? I
do not remember ever speaking but once on the Sunday. "Was that during the
service? It was at the close of Mr. Irving's sermon." The Moderator now
interposed with what seems, considering the transparent and candid
character of the accused, an inconceivable insinuation. " Now, sir," said
this Christian judge, " was it not by a previous arrangement with Mr.
Irving that you then spoke?" The amazed witness answered with natural
indignation, "Do you think, sir, we stand before you knaves? I should have
abhorred the idea of it. I could not have entered into such an arrangement
had Mr. Irving been willing; but I believe his heart is too pure to have
been a party to such a proceeding." " Was there not an arrangement that
the speaking should not take place till after the sermon? I understand
you. to ask if it was by concert or private arrangement previously entered
into, whereas the arrangement was made some time afterward.
Page 471
A
DISTINCTION OF NAMES. 471 "By this answer now given, the witness
recognizes an arrangement to have been afterward entered into? The
arrangement was not made with the gifted persons; it was Mr. Irving's own
order; and in making it he never consulted with us; and when I heard of it
afterward, I said in my heart, Will he set bounds to the Spirit? Will the
Spirit of the Lord submit to speak when he pleaseth? "lifMr. Irving. For
the honor of a Christian minister, I must say one word here. I made an
order that the speaking should be permitted after the service, because I
did not wish to agitate the feelings of the congregation; I was desirous
of feeling my way tenderly toward them, and yet not to prevent the Spirit
speaking at other times. "L Moderator. Did you hear any conversation any
where respecting the revival of these gifts before you exercised them? I
heard Mr. Irving, I believe, first teach that he saw no reason why the
gifts of the Spirit should have been withdrawn from the Church; and I was
led by that, and hearing of their revival in Scotland, to read the
Scriptures for myself on the subject; and I found in the last chapter of
Mark, the Lord had promised'that signs should follow them that believe;'
and I thought, What is a Church, or the authority of a Church, if it set
aside the plain promise of Scripture?" To this explanation the Moderator
replies significantly, "Sir, you have answered quite enough," and proceeds
to pursue the question, which it will be apparent has no connection
whatever with the matter-of-fact complaint in proof of which the witness
was examined, into farther metaphysical depths. " Do you consider that all
persons not having these manifestations in themselves have not the seal of
faith? I can not answer that question. "'I ask you in the sight of God,
upon your oath. f" Mr. Irving. It is a deep theological question, which I
could not answer myself; he means not that he will not answer it, but that
he is not competent to answer it. "lMr. Taplin. I read that these signs
shall follow them that believe; and although I have not a positive
conviction, I am inclined to believe that persons may have the seal of
faith who have not received these gifts. "l Moderator. Proceeding on this
answer, that persons may have the seal of faith without these
extraordinary gifts, I ask you whether it is just to condemn any Church or
any one who does not believe them? Do I condemn any one? or have I
condemned any man? "l Mr. Miller. I object to such a question. " MlF.
Irving. The witness has only deposed that I said they were in error on
that subject. " Mffr. Mann. Were the exhibitions of tongues in the church
by you and others similar to the exhibition you made this morning? It was
no exhibition, and I will not answer the question if you use that word.
"Well, display, then? It was no display, sir.
Page 472
472
EXAMINATION CONTINUED.-DEACON KER. "Well, manifestations, as you call
them; for I do not admit them to be of the Spirit of God; I call them an
outrage on decency. (General disapprobation, with cries of order.) I shall
not answer your question. "Well, I will put it in a different form: Were
the manifestations in the church by you and others similar to that we
heard this morning? Our gifts differ in some respects, although they are
similar in kind. We speak each a different tongue. "Did you understand
what you spoke this morning? I understood the English. " _Mr. Maclean. I
object to the question. " Solicitor. Such questions, I submit, have
nothing to do with the subject." Such questions, however, continue to be
put for some time longer, the witness being required to declare whether he
believes these manifestations to be of the Spirit of God; whether he
believes them in accordance with the standards of the Church; whether he
would ever have been impelled to speak had not Irving prayed for the
gifts; whether he did not believe his own atterances to be of higher
authority than Irving's preaching; and, finally, by a dexterous side wind,
whether any of these utterances " referred to the humanity of our blessed
Lord." This new question, altogether alien to the inquiry, and which the
Presbytery were perfectly well known to have publicly concluded upon long
before, was, however, reserved for the next witness, Mr. Ker, a deacon of
the National Scotch Church, and devoted adherent of Irving, concurring
with him in all his belief. His examination, after a few questions as to
points of fact, was conducted by the Presbytery, who proceeded to ask him
whether he had heard various matters of doctrine, in the first place the
second coming of Christ and the millennial reign, confirmed by the gifted
persons as the message of the Spirit. " Solicitor. I object to such
questions as irrelevant. ".Mr. Irving. Although my solicitor considers the
question irrelevant, I desire that all technical objections may be waived;
and whatever tends to bring out what I have taught, let itibe promulgated
to the world. I desire no concealment or reserve in respect to my
doctrine." Upon which the examination proceeded: "Have you heard such a
statement as this-That Christ's humanity was fallen and corrupt humanity.
I have heard it declared that His flesh was fallen.' Mr. Miaclean to the
Clerk noting the evidence. I-e has heard it declared that our Lord's flesh
was fallen and corrupt. "1Mr. Irving instantly rose and said, He has not
said any such word,
Page 473
SUDDEN
BLANDNESS OF THE EXAMINERS. 473 sir, as corrupt; why will you make
additions of your own to the evidence? "The Witness to Mr. Miaclean. I did
not say corrupt; the addition of one such word will alter the whole
meaning." A multitude of other questions follow, in which it is endeavored
to drive the witness to a declaration that the fact of these
manifestations sealed as perfect every word taught in the Church -a
statement from which, however, he guarded himself. When this was over, the
examination relaxed into a generosity as irrelevant and out of order as
the inquisition which preceded it. "In case we may not have got the whole
truth of this case," said the president of the court, with a blandness
which, followed as it was by renewed questions, looks quite as much like
an attempt to entrap the unwary speaker into some rash admission as to
extend to him a grace and privilege, " is there any thing which you wish
to add in exoneration of your minister?" "I thank you, sir," answered the
surprised witness, with a kind and anxious simplicity most characteristic
of the man, and which his friends will readily recognize. "I would only
say that I believe nothing could be so painful to Mr. Irving as that any
one should interrupt the public services of the Church except those
persons through whom the Holy Ghost speaks." A renewed flood of questions
as to who is to be the judge whether the Holy Ghost speaks, etc., etc.,
followed this affectionate and natural speech, and the whole concluded
with a return to the question of doctrine. "Mr. MJacdonald. It has been
said that the doctrine taught respecting the Lord's humanity is that He
came in fallen flesh; has the witness said that the manifestations
commended this doctrine particularly? Yes. " Moderator. Have the
complainers finished their case? " Mr. Manne. We have. "The court was then
adjourned till next day at eleven o'clock." This was the entire amount of
evidence taken. Some time after, the *Times, taking the trouble to
interfere in an elaborate leading article, congratulated the public that,
after a " laborious investigation," the Presbytery had decided
unanimously. This one day, however, of theological fence, varied with such
occasional insolences as few men endowed with the temporary power of
crossexamination seem able to deny themselves, is the total amount of the
inquiry so ostentatiously described. Had the reverend judg
Page 474
474
UNANIMITY OF THE WITNESSES. es confined themselves to the real evidence
which the complaint demanded, their sitting need not have lasted above an
hour or tvo; but the greater part of the day engaged in this "laborious
investigation" was occupied with personal inquisition into the thoughts
and opinions of the three witnesses, which had no bearing whatever upon
the case. So easy is it to give with a word a totally false impression
even of a contemporary event. I need not draw attention to the very
peculiar character of the evidence, which must strike every one in the
least-degree interested. The three witnesses thus examined upon oath
proved, so far as a man's solemn asseveration can, not that unlawful and
riotous interruptions had taken place in the Regent Square Church, but
that the Iloly Ghost had there spoken with demonstration and power. This
was the real evidence elicited by the day's examination. Nobody attempted
to impeach the men, or declare them unworthy of ordinary credit; and this
was the point which, according to the common principles of evidence, they
united to establish. I can not tell what might be the motive of the
complainants for keeping back all who held their own view of the question,
and resting their case solely upon the testimony of believers in the
gifts; but the fact is apparent enough, and one of the most strange
features of the transaction, that the witnesses, upon whom no imputation
of falsehood was cast, consistently and solemnly agreed in proving an
hypothesis which the court that received their testimony, and professed to
be guided by their evidence, not only negatived summarily, but even
refused to take into consideration.* From this day's work, anxious and
harassing as it naturally must have been to him, Irving went home, not to
rest, or refresh among his loyal supporters the spirit which was grieved
with the antagonism of his former brethren, but to meet with Mr. Baxter,
and to be assailed by that gentleman's eager argument to prove * I can
scarcely express the painful surprise with which, born a Presbyterian, and
accustomed to regard with affectionate admiration, scarcely less than that
which animated Irving himself during almost all his life, the economy of
the Church of Scotland, I have discovered, and the reluctance with which I
have felt myself constrained to point out, the singular heedlessness,
haste, and unfairness of these Presbyterial investigations. The discovery
was as novel and as painful to me, who have in former days been very
confident on the other side of the question, as it can be to the most
devoted lover of Presbyterian discipline and order. I can not allow, even
now, that it is necessary to the system, which is surely capable of better
things; but that the Presbytery of London were not singular in their
manner of exercising their judicial functions is proved by the voluminous
proceedings of the Presbyteries of Dunbarton and Irvine in the cases of
Messrs. Campbell and Maclean.
Page 475
UNMOVED
BY DISCOURAGEMENTS. 475 himself in the wrong, and attempts to overthrow
the fabric which he had done so much to bring into being. "I saw him again
in the evening, and on the succeeding morning I endeavored to convince him
of his error of doctrine, and of our delusions concerning the work of the
Spirit," says the prophet, so suddenly disenchanted, and so vehement in
his abrupt recantation, "' but he was so shut up he could not see either."
This evening and morning, which were vexed by Mr. Baxter's arguments,
might well have been spared to the all-laboring man, who was now to appear
for himself at the bar of the Presbytery, and make, before the curious
world which watched the proceedings in that obscure Scotch church at
London Wall, his defense and self-vindication. Fresh from the endeavors of
Mr. Baxter to convince him that the most cherished belief of his heart was
a delusion, Irving once more took his way through the toiling city in the
April sunshine, which beguiles even London into spring looks and hopes.
Little sunshine, only a lofty constancy and steadfast composure of faith
was in his heart-that heart which had throbbed with so many heroic hopes
and knightly projects under those same uncertain skies. Another of the "
gifted," who had woven so close a circle round him, had just then lost
heart, and wavered like Baxter in her faith. With such discouragements in
his way, and with all the suggestions of self-interest (so far as he was
capable of them), and a hundred more delicate appeals, reminders of old
affection and tender habitude, to hold him back to the old paths, he went
to the bar of the Presbytery. The speech he was to make to-day must tear
asunder, in irrevocable disruption, the little remnant of life which
remained to him from all the splendid past-must throw him into a new
world, strange to all his associations, unacquainted with those ways of
thought and habit he was born in, totally unaware of the extent and
bitterness of his sacrifice. That intrusive apparition of the prophet
penitent, declaring his own prophetic gift a delusion, makes the strangest
climax to the darkness, the pain, and the difficulty of the position.
Irving, however, shows no signs of hesitation-betrays no tumult in his
mind. His faith was beyond the reach even of such a blow; and, in full
possession of all that natural magnificence of diction, noble reality, and
power of moving men's hearts, which even his enemies could not resist, he
presented himself to make his defense. This speech, which is a thoroughly
characteristic production, I give at length in the Appendix, only
indicating here the nature
Page 476
476
ORDER OF IRVING'S DEFENSE. of the argument. After declaring that it is
"for the name of Jesus, the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost, that I now stand
here before you, and before this court, and before all this people, and am
called in question this day," he announces the order according to which he
intends to make his explanation: First. As I am to justify the thing which
I have done, it is needful to show the grounds on which I did it; and to
show the grounds on which I did it, it is needful to show the thing in the
Word of God, which I believe God has given us. Next. It is needful that I
show you that the thing which we have received is the very thing contained
in the Word of God, and held out to the hope and expectation of the Church
of God; yea, of every baptized man. Thirdly. That I show you how I have
ordered it as minister of the Church; and show also that the way in which
I have ordered it is according to the Word of God, and in nothing
contradictory to the standards of the Church of Scotland. Fourthly. To
speak a little concerning the use of the gifts; and, finally, to show how
we stand as parties, and how the case stands before this court." He
accordingly proceeds to set forth the scriptural grounds on which, some
years before, he had been led to conclude that the extraordinary gifts of
the Spirit might be legitimately looked and prayed for; and then coming
down to the real course of events, relates, with all his wonderful power
of close and minute narrative, the first circumstances of their
appearance; his own anxious trying of the spirits; the long and careful
investigation to which he subjected them, and the final entire
satisfaction and belief of his own mind and of many others. I have quoted
so largely from this narrative in a previous chapter that it is
unnecessary to go over it again, and I proceed to the more personal
defense, only pausing to remind the reader of the lofty ingenuousness with
which Irving declares his own mind to have been biased, to begin with, by
his perfect conviction that God-from whom he and his disciples had daily,
with an absolute sincerity and fervor of which the leader of these
entreaties has no doubt, asked the baptism with the Holy Ghost-would not
give them a stone instead of bread. He then enters into a lofty
vindication of his own office and authority: "It is complained by the
trustees.... that I have allowed the worship of God to be interrupted by
persons speaking who are neither ordained ministers nor licentiates of the
Church of Scotland. Now, respecting the ordering of it, which is here
complained against as a violation of the trust-deed, and a violation of
the constitution of the Church of Scotland, I can say, with the Apostle
Paul, when he went to Rome to his countrymen,' That unto this day not only
have
Page 477
THE HEAD
OF EVERY MAN. 477 I done nothing contrary to the Word of God, but, men and
brethren, I have done nothing against the people or the customs of our
fathers.' I lay it down as a solemn principle that as a minister of Christ
I am responsible to Him at every instant, in every act of my ministerial
character and conduct, and owe to Him alone an undivided allegiance; and I
say more, that every man is responsible to Jesus at every instant of his
life, and for every act of his life, and not to another, in an undivided
allegiance. He is the Head of every man, and upon this it is that the
authority of conscience resteth; on this it is that toleration resteth; on
this it is that all the privileges of man rest; that Jesus is the Head of
every man; and this is His inalienable prerogative..... And if any person
or court, or the Pope of Rome, or any court in Christendom, come between a
man, or a minister, and his Master, and say,' Before obeying Jesus, you
must consult us,' be they called by what name they please, they are
anti-Christ. I say no Protestant Church hath ever done so. I deny the
doctrine that was held forth yesterday,* that it is needful for a minister
to go to the General Assembly before he does his duty. I deny the doctrine
that he can be required to go up to the General Assembly for authority to
enable him to do that which he discerneth to be his duty. " Moderator. Let
these words be taken down. "gMr. Irving. Ay, take them down, take them
down! I repeat the words: I deny it to be the doctrine of the Church of
Scotland that any minister is required to go up to the General Assembly
for authority to do that which he discerneth to be his duty. Ye are
pledged to serve Jesus in your ordination vows. Ye are the ministers of
Jesus, and not ministers of any assembly. Ye are ministers of the Word of
God, and not ministers of the standards of any Church." He then explains
the "arrangements" he had made to allow room for the utterances, which had
been largely commented on, partly by way of showing that he had encouraged
the interruptions, and partly that, taking his own view of the subject, he
had himself, in some measure, been guilty of limiting the Spirit. "It is
charged that I appointed set times for the suspension of the worship in
order to encourage and allow these interruptions. This needs a little
explanation. When I saw it was my duty to take the ordinance into the
church, I then considered with myself what was the way to do it with the
greatest tenderness to my flock-so as to cause the least anxiety and
disturbance..... I observed, therefore, what was the manner of the Spirit
in the morning meetings, and I found generally it was the manner of the
Spirit when I, the pastor, had exhorted the people, to add something to
the exhortation, either * This refers to a statement made by the
Moderator, that in case of any new development of doctrine unprovided for
in the standards, the constitutional mode of procedure for a Scotch
minister was to call the attention of the General Assembly to it by means
of an overture from his own Presbytery. I despair of making the
phraseology of Scotch Church courts intelligible to English readers.
Page 478
478
RECORDS OF ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITY. to enforce it, if it were according
to the mind of God, or to add to it, or graciously and gently to correct
it if it were incorrect. I also observed it was the way of the Spirit not
to do this generally, but in honor of the pastor; and that the spirits in
the prophets acknowledged the office of the angel of the Church as
standing for Jesus; and accordingly I said, wishing to deal tenderly with
the flock, let it begin with this order, that after I have opened* the
chapter, and after I have preached, I will pause a little, so that then
the prophets may have an opportunity of prophesying if the Spirit should
come upon them; but I never said that the prophets should not prophesy at
any other time. I did this in tenderness to the people; and feeling my way
in a case where I had no guidance, I did it according to the best records
of ecclesiastical antiquity; and I was at great pains to consult the best
records; and I found Mosheim, in his most learned dissertation on Church
History, declare to this effect: that in the first three ages of the
Church, it was the custom, after the pastor had exhorted the people, for
the congregation to rest, and the prophets prophesied by two or three; so
that I walked in the ordinances of the Church of Christ.". He then
proceeds to show, with large quotations from the first " Book of
Discipline," that a regular " exercise" for " prophesying or interpreting
the Scriptures" had been instituted in the early Reformation Church, by
which it was provided that learned men, or those that had " somewhat
profited in God's Word," should not only be exhorted to meet for joint
exposition of the Scriptures according to the apostolic rule —" Let two or
three prophets speak, and let the rest judge"-but that, "if found
disobedient, and not willing to communicate the gifts and special graces
of God with their brethren, after sufficient admonition, discipline must
proceed against them;" from which he justly argues, that "if our Church
has ruled that in a matter of ordinary gifts there should be liberty given
to speak, can any one believe that if the gifts of the Holy Ghost had been
in the Church, they would not have ruled it for these extraordinary gifts
also?" Then rising into loftier self-vindication as he proceeds, he
declares that, had there been ordinances of the Church of Scotland
forbidding the manifestations (which there were not), he would still have
felt it necessary to disobey them in exercise of the higher loyalty which
he owed to the Head of the Church; and winds up this part of his address
by the following solemn disavowal: "I deny every charge brought against me
seriatim, and say it is not persons, but the Holy Ghost that speaketh in
the church. I do not say what the judgment of the Presbytery might be if
they could * Meaning, in other words, expounded the lesson.
Page 479
THE
CONSCIENCE OF THE PRESBYTERY. 479 say that these persons do not speak by
the Holy Ghost. But this they can not do. This is what I rest my case
upon. This is the root of the matter. This is what I press on the
conscience of the Presbytery; and it is laid before them out of the mouths
of all the witnesses. The evidence is entirely to this effect; not one
witness hath witnessed to the contrary. I say," he proceeds after an
interruption, " I submit this matter to the Presbytery as to a number of
men endowed with conscience-with the conscience and discernment of the
truth-and who are beholden to exercise their conscientious discernment for
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Head of this court, and the Head of
every man, and who are beholden to judge all things according to the law
of Jesus Christ, which is the law of this courtthe law of every man; and I
say that this Presbytery are called upon before the Lord Jesus to see and
ascertain whether that thing which I have declared to them upon the
veracity of a minister, which is substantiated by the testimony on their
table, given by witnesses yesterday, all of their own selection, and which
I will pledge myself to authenticate farther by the testimony of not less
than five hundred persons, of unblemished life and sound faith, that it is
the work of the Holy Ghost, speaking with tongues and prophesying. And as
all the witnesses have borne one uniform testimony to it as the work of
the Holy Ghost, the Presbytery can not —they may not, before God, before
the Lord Jesus Christ, and before all those witnesses, shut their eyes
willfully against such testimony in this matter.... It is instructed
before you (surely the Presbytery will not shut its eyes to the evidence
on the table) that it is by the Holy Ghost that these persons speak. There
is no civil court whatever that would refuse to receive the evidence lying
on your table; and you may not as members of a Christian Church-you may
not as ministers and elders-you may not as honest men, turn aside from the
matter of fact that has been certified to you, and say,' We will leave
that matter in the background; we will not consider it at all; we will go
simply by the canons of the Church of Scotland, and see what they say on
the subject.' They say nothing on it, seeing they could say nothing-seeing
there was then no such thing in being..... It will be a burdensome thing
to this Presbytery if it shall give judgment against that which hath been
instructed before them to be the work of the Holy Ghost, and which none of
them can say, on their own conscience or discernment, not to be the Holy
Ghost, since they have not come to witness it, they have not attempted to
prove it.... Think ye, oh men, if it should be the Holy Ghost, what ye are
doing; consider the possibility of it, and be not rash; consider the
possibility of the evidence being true, of our averments being right, and
see what you are doing! Ah! I tell you, it will be an onerous day for this
city and this kingdom, in the which ye do, with a stout heart and a high
hand, and without examination or consideration, upon any ground, upon any
authority, even though ye had the commandment of the king himself-shut up
that house in which the voice of the Holy Ghost is heard-that house in
which alone it is heard!... I beseech you to pause.... Be wise, men; come
and hear for yourselves, when you will have an opportunity of judging.
Come and hear for yourselves.
Page 480
480
SPEECH OF THE ACCUSER. The church is open every morning; the Lord is
gracious almost every morning to speak to us by His Spirit. The church is
open many times in the week; and the Lord is gracious to us, and speaks
through His servants very often..... I have no doubt in saying it, and I
would be an unfaithful man, pleading not my cause, but the cause of
God-the cause of Christ-the cause of the Holy Ghost in the Presbytery (for
it is not the cause of a man; no, man has no charge against me; I stand
unimpeached, unblemished before them), did I not say it. It is only this
interruption, this new thing (for it is not an interruption) that hath
occurred, which is instructed by the evidence to be the voice of the Holy
Ghost, this speaking with tongues and prophesying, which I have declared
to be the same, which hath given offense. And I sit down solemnly
declaring before you all, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, on the
faith of a minister of Christ, that I believe it to be the work of the
Holy Ghost...." This speech, interrupted two or three times by hot
discussions and calls to order, was replied to on the same day by Mr.
Mann, the spokesman of the trustees, who "considered it his duty to reply
to the unseemly and untimely denunciations with which he was bold to say
the reverend defender had attempted to stem the torrent of justice." And
proceeding in the unequal strife, not content with the manifold
disadvantages under which he labored as opposed to Irving's noble
eloquence, this gentleman did all he could to vulgarize and debase the
whole question, by contending that it was a question of discipline only,
in which the Word of God was no authority; and called upon the reverend
defender to bethink himself of the Confession of Faith which he had
signed, and as an honest man to separate himself in fact from the Church
from which he had already separated in spirit. After this the court
adjourned for a week, during the course of which the " reverend defender"
thus assailed went on with those labors which one of his friends called
"unexampled," in no way withdrawing from his wonderful exertions,
preparing, with all the catechisings and preparatory services usual before
a Scotch communion, for the celebration of the Lord's Supper. On the
following Wednesday the Presbytery again assembled; and with a gleam of
magnanimity, in consideration of the fact that Irving had no appeal from
their decision, but-contrary to Presbyterian usage, which, had he been in
Scotland, would have permitted him a double appeal to the Provincial Synod
and General Assemblymust accept their sentence as final, offered him the
privilege of answering the speech of Mr. Mann, which he did accordingly in
an impassioned and noble oration.* still more intense, because * See
Appendix C.
Page 481
IRVING'S
REPLY. 481 more personal than the former; thrilling with all the
indignation, the grief, the faith absolute and immovable, the injured and
mournful affection which rent his breast. That there are some passages in
this splendid address where the -speaker, flushed with palpable injustice,
and angry in his righteous heart at the superficial basis on which a
question, to himself the most momentous, was thus injuriously set down,
delivers himself of warnings too solemn and startling to chime in with the
mild phraseology of modern days, is undeniable; but the point on which he
insists is so plainly a necessity to any just decision of the matter
involved, that few people who consider it seriously will be surprised to
find that Irving is betrayed into a cert |
