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CHAPTER XIV
1829.
Degree of D.D.
THE
following year opened with unabated activity. The courage and hopefulness,
equally unabated, with which Irving entered upon it, will be seen from a
letter addressed to Dr. Chalmers, and apparently written in the very
conclusion of December, 1828 (the date being torn off), in which it will
be seen that the laborious man, not weaned, among all his other triumphs,
from academical ambition, proposed, and was ready to prepare for an
academical examination, in order to obtain the highest title in theology.
This letter was written immediately after Dr. Chalmers's entrance upon the
duties of the Divinity Chair in Edinburgh. " MY DEARl AND HONORED
FRIEND,-I desire to congratulate you upon the welcome which you have
received in the University of Edinburgh, in which I pray that you may have
much wisdom and long life to labor. I agree with that which I have
gathered of your sentiments with respect to the excessive duties of the
chair, beyond the reach of any single man to discharge them aright.
Biblical criticism should be the chief object of the Hebrew chair, not the
teaching of the letters and the grammar; and, certainly, of the three
years spent in the Greek class, at least one should be occupied in the
critical study of the New Testament. There is no University in Europe
(always excepting the thing called the London University) which would be
so ashamed of God and theology as yours, against which I ought not to
speak, for she is my Alma Mater. Then the Church History, instead of
dawdling over the first four centuries, should especially be conversant
with the history of the Church of Scotland, and the duties incumbent upon
a parish priest; in short, what belongs to the Churchman rather than the
theologian, and the Hebrew what belongs to the scholar. Then it would be a
theological faculty indeed; but what pretensions these two classes have at
present to that title I am at a great loss to discover. This is spoken in
your own ear, for it but ill graces what I am now to turn to. "I have, you
know, a great reverence for antiquity, and especially the antiquity of
learning and knowledge:} the venerable honors of the academy have ever
been very dear to me. At the same time, I love the discipline of a
University, and set a great value upon a strict examination before any
degree is conferred. On this account, when Sir John Sinclair volunteered
more than five years ago to obtain for me the degree of Doctor in
Divinity, I rejected his offer, because I held it against all academical
discipline. While I would not have the thing thus attained or thus
conferred, there is no honor upon earth which I more desire, if the
ancient discipline of sitting for it with my theses and defending them in
the Latin tongue, submitting to examinations of the learned professors,
were restored. Now I wish you to inquire for me what is the ancient
discipline of the University in respect to this degree; and whether it be
the privilege of a Master of Arts to ask and demand examination for his
degree; and how long he must have been an MI.A. to entitle him to do so. I
took my degree of A.M. in the year 1809, that is nineteen years ago. If
the privilege were granted me of appearing in my place, and submitting
myself to trial, I should immediately set about diligent preparations, and
might be ready before the next winter, or about that time. I leave this in
your hands, and shall wait your answer at your convenience. "We have had
another Albury meeting, and are more convinced than ever of the judgments
which are about to be brought upon Christendom, and upon us most
especially, if we should go into any league or confederacy with, or
toleration of, the papal abomination. I intend, in a few days, to begin a
letter to the Church of Scotland on the subject. They intend setting forth
quarterly a Journal of Prophecy, which may stir up the Church to a
consideration of her hopes. I think there is some possibility of my being
in Edinburgh next Miay. Will any of the brethren permit me the use of
their Church to preach a series of sermons upon the Kingdom, founded upon
passages in the New Testament? Sandy Scott is a most precious youth, the
finest and the strongest faculty for pure theology I have yet met with.
Yet a rough sea is before him, and, perhaps, before more than him. I trust
the Lord will give you time and leisure to consider the great hope of the
Church first given to Abraham:'That she shall be heir of the world.'
Certainly it is the very substance of theology. The second coming of the
Lord is the'point ce vue,' the vantage-ground, as one of my friends is
wont to word it, from which, and from which alone, the whole purpose of
God can be contemplated and understood. You will sometimes see my old
friend and early patron, Professor Leslie: please assure him of my
grateful remembrances. I desire my cordial affection to Mrs. Chalmers and
the sisterhood. Farewell. The Lord prosper your labors abundantly, and
thereto may your own soul be prospered. "Your faithful and affectionate
friend and brother, " EDWARD IRVING."
This
letter, sent by the hand of a relative, Dr. Macaulay, who was " desirous
of paying his respects to one whom he admires and loves very much," was
followed, at a very short interval, by another, asking advice on a very
delicate point of ecclesiastical order, which Irving states as follows:
"London, 5th January, 1829, 13 Judd Place, East. "MY DEAR SIR, —This case
has occurred to us as a Session, on which it has been resolved to consult
you, our ancient friend, and any other doctors or jurists of the Church
with whom you may please, for the better and fuller knowledge of the
matter, to consult. It is, whether the Church permit baptism by immersion
or not. The standards seem not to declare a negative, but only to affirm
that baptism by sprinkling is sufficient. In the Church of England the
rule of baptizing infants is by immersion, and the exception is by
sprinkling. I sought counsel of our Presbytery in this matter, which once
occurred in an adult, as it has now occurred in an infant. They seemed to
be of the mind that there was no rule, but only practice, against it, and
advised, upon the ground of expediency, to refrain. The father, who is a
member of the Church, is a most pious and worthy man, full of forbearance
to others, but very firmly, and from much reading, convinced of the duty
of baptizing by immersion only. He has waited some time, and the sooner we
could ascertain the judgment of the Church the better.... My own opinion
is, that our standards leave it as a matter of forbearance, preserving the
sprinkling; the Church of England the same, preserving immersion. I am
sorry to trouble you who have so much to do, but the mere writing of the
judgment would satisfy us. And as you are now the head of the theological
faculty, as well as our ancient friend, the Session thought of no other,
at whose request I write.... - "Your affectionate friend, EDWARD IRVING."
So dutiful and eager to know the mind of the Church was the man whose long
conflict against her authorities was now just commencing. If Dr. Chalmers
answered these letters, the answers have not been preserved; nor have I
the least information what the head of the theological faculty said to
that old-world application for an examination and trial by which the
candidate for theological honors might win his degree. Irving was never to
get within sight of that testimony of the Church's approval; far from
that, was verging, had he but known it, upon her censures and penalties.
But, though this year upon which he had just entered was one of the most
strenuous and incessant defense and assertion of doctrine, though its
whole space was occupied with renewed and ever stronger settings forth of
the truth, which with growing fervor he held to embody the very secret of
the Gospel, his position, to his own apprehension, was in no respect that
of a heretic assailed. On the contrary, he conceived himself to stand as
the champion of orthodox truth against a motley crowd of heretics; and
with this idea, calmly at first, and with more and more vehemence as he
began to discover how great was the array against him, devoted himself to
the assertion and proof of a doctrine which, when he stated it, he knew
not that any man doubted. Throughout all his contentions he never
abandoned this position. First surprised, then alarmed, not for himself
but for the Church, afterward, and not till a long interval had elapsed,
indignant, he continued steadily to hold this attitude. Even when the
Church uttered her thunders, he stood dauntless, the Church's real
champion, the defender of her orthodox belief, the faith once delivered to
the saints. Such was his position, to his own thinking, in the struggle
which was beginning. He did every thing that man could do, privately,
calmly, with unparalleled forbearance sometimes, sometimes with vehemence
and rashness, to set forth fairly and fully before the world the doctrine
he held. He supported it with an array of authorities difficult to get
over; with quotations from the fathers and standards of entire
Christendom, with arguments and appeals to Scripture, almost always with a
noble eloquence which came warm from his heart. In private letters, in
sermons, in every method by which he could come into communication with
the world, he repeated, and expounded, and defended, this momentous matter
of belief. It is unnecessary that I should give any account of a question
which he states so fully and so often in his own words, nor is it my
business to pronounce upon the right or wrong of a theological question.
But I think I am warranted in pointing out again the deeply disingenuous
guise in which this matter was first set before the public. When the
difference appears thus, according to his own statement of it, "Whether
Christ's flesh had the grace of sinlessness and incorruption from its
proper nature, or from the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, I say the
latter," it is a difference which certainly may exist, and may be
discussed, but which can not shock the most reverent mind. But when, on
the other hand, it is stated as an heretical maintenance of the
"sinfulness of Christ's human nature," the matter changes its aspect
entirely, and involves something abhorrent to the most superficial of
Christians. But in this way it was stated by every one of Irving's
opponents; and attempts were made to lead both himself and his followers
into speculations of what might have happened if the Holy Ghost had not,
from its earliest moment of being, inspired that human nature, which were
as discreditable to the questioners as aggravating to men who'held the
impossibility of sinfulness in our Savior as warmly and entirely as did
those who called them heretics. The real question was one of the utmost
delicacy and difficulty; a question which the common world could only
alter and travestie; re-presenting and re-confuting, and growing indignant
over a dogma which itself had invented. Only by such a statement of it,
which, if not distinctly false, was thoroughly disingenuous, could it at
all have been brought into a platform question for common discussion
before the untrained and inexact public. In the early spring, the first
number of the Morning Watch, a quarterly journal of prophecy, to which he
alludes in his letter to Dr. Chalmers as meditated by the leading members
of the Albury Conference, came into being. Its editor was Mr. Tudor, a
gentleman now holding a high office in the Catholic Apostolic Church. (I
take, without controversy, the name assumed by itself, gladly granting, as
its members maintain, that to designate it a sect-o' Irvingites is equally
unjust to its supposed founder and itself,) JIr. ving took advantage by
this publication to explain and open,~p the assailed doctrine, already
popularly known as the doctrine/-'f the Humanity, reasserting all his
former statements with renewed force and earnestness. Besides this, the
chief thing which appears to me remarkable in these early numbers of the
Morning Watch is the manner in which Irving pervades the whole
publication. Amid eight or ten independent writers, his name occurs, not
so much an authority as an all-influencing unquestionable presence,
naturally and simplyrsuggesting itself to all as somehow the centre of the
entire matter. They speak of him as the members of a household speak of
its head; one could imagine that the name might almost be discarded, and
"he" be used as its significant and unmistakable symbol. To realize the
fullness of this subtle, unspoken influence, it is necessary to glance at
this publication, which has fallen out of the recollection of the greater
part of the world. I do not remember to have met any similar instance of
unconscious, unquestioned pre-eminence. No man there but is ready to stand
up for every word he utters, for every idea he advances; ready, even
before knowing what the accusation is, to challenge the world in his
behalf2 It is hero-worship of the most absolute, unconscious kind-all the
more absolute that it is unconscious, and that neither the object nor the
givers of that loyal allegiance are aware to what extent it goes. I can
not pass over the beginning of this year without quoting some portion of a
letter of consolation addressed to his friend Mr. Bridges, in Edinburgh,
who had just then lost his wife. Irving's own wife was at this time
subject to the ever-recurring ailments of a young mother, and often in a
state of health which alarmed her friends; and it was accordingly with
double emotion that he heard of the death of another young mother, she
who, timid of his own approach, had forgotten all her alarm at the sight
of his reception of her babies. The news went to Irving's sympathetic
heart. " MY DEAR AND WORTHY FRIEND,-NOW is your hour of trial, and now is
your time to glorify God. Out of all comparison, the heaviest trial of a
man is upon you. Now, then, is the time for your proved faith to show its
strength, and to prove it unto honor and glory in the day of the Lord. The
Father plants us, and then says,'Blow every blast, and root up the plant
which I have planted:' our faith standing fast proves that He has planted
us to bring Him honor and glory against a fallen world, which we overcome
without any visible help. The Father gives us as sheep unto Christ, and
says,' Now, ye wolves, snatch them if ye can.' The afflictions and
adversities of the world, yea, and the hiding of the Father's countenance,
also come against us; our faith, however, stands fast in the Lord. Christ
is glorified as the good Shepherd. As affection is proved by adversity,
sois faith in God proved by trial; as a work is proved by enduring
hardship, so is the work of the Spirit proved by sore visitations of God.
God sendeth them all in order to bless us, and glorify Himself in our
blessedness with Himself. Oh, my brother, I write these things to you
because I know you are of the truth; your faith standeth not in man, but
God.... I believe the time of tribulation is at hand, and that God will
spare us that wait for Him as one that spareth his own son that serveth
him... Oh, how my loving and beloved friends are removed! They are taken
from me whom God gave me for comforters. My own heart is sore pressed;
what must yours be, my excellent and bountiful friend? But I wait His
coming, and wait upon His will. May the Lord comfort you with these words
which I have written, with His own truth, with his own spirit. "Your
faithful and affectionate friend, EDWARD IRVING." These letters are all
dated from Judd Place, another street in the same locality, where he had
again entered upon the possession of his own house. Here he remained as
long as he occupied the Church in Regent Square. There are various
doubtful traditions in existence which describe how he used to be seen
lying upon the sooty London grass of the little oasis in Burton Crescent,
his great figure extended upon the equivocal green sward, and all the
children in those tiny gardens playing about and around him, which was
most like to be the case, though I will not answer for the tale. This
entire district, however, most undistinguished and prosaic as it is,
gathers an interest in its homely names, from his visible appearance amid
its noise and tumult. His remarkable figure was known in those dingy,
scorched streets, in those dread parallelograms of Bloomsbury
respectability. The greater number of his friends were collected within
that closely populated region, to which the new Church. in Regent Square
now gave a centre, as it still gives a centre to a little Scotch world,
half unaware, half disapproving, of Irving, who tread the same streets,
and pray within the same walls, and are as separate and national as he.
This spring was once more occupied by thoughts and preparations for
another visit to Edinburgh, on the same high errand as had formerly
engaged him there. A letter of anxious instructions to his friend Mr.
Macdonald, about the necessary arrangements for the course of lectures he
meant to deliver, shows that he had already more difficulty than on a
former occasion in finding a place to preach in. " I yesterday received a
most fraternal letter from Dr. Dickson," he writes, "most politely and
upon very reasonable grounds of damage and danger to the house, refusing
me the use of the West Kirk, and I am perfectly satisfied. Indeed, it is
as it should be, and as I anticipated it would be. The subject I have to
open is too common and concerning to be confined to the walls of a house:
it ought to be open as the day to all hearers from-the streets and the
by-ways, and from every where.... You who know law, and are wise as
concerneth this world as well as concerneth the world to come, see if
there be any thing to prevent me preaching in the asylum of the King's
Park; and, if not, then signify by public advertisement in one or two of
the papers, and by hand-bill and otherwise to this effect:'I hereby give
notice that, God willing and prospering, I will preach a series of
discourses, opening the book of the Revelation in regular order, beginning
on Tuesday, the 19th of May, at six o'clock in the evening, and continuing
each evening that week; but in the week following, and to the end of the
series, at seven o'clock in the morning (not to interfere with the hours
of the General Assembly); and earnestly entreat as many of my fellow
Churchmen as love the exposition of the holy Word, and that Book which is
specially blessed and forbidden to be sealed, to attend on these
discourses designed for the edification of the Church. The place of
meeting will be in the open air (here insert the place), where our fathers
were not afraid nor ashamed to worship. EDWARD IRVING, A. M., "' Minister
of the National Scotch Church, London.' "Let this be stuck up on the
corner of every street; and for the rest we will trust to God. I believe
the Lord will not fail me in this purpose, from which nothing on earth
shall divert me. I will do it, though they should carry me bound hand and
foot to prison; so awfully necessary do I now see it to be.... Let there
be no tent; a chair on which I can sit and stand. Choose a place where the
people may slope upward, and so that we can wheel with the wind. Pray much
for me. I never undertook so much or so important a thing. Ask the prayers
of all who will not laugh it to scorn." These arrangements were, however,
unnecessary. Edinburgh did not see that sight which might have been as
striking as any of the modern occurrences endowed with double
picturesqueness by her noble scenery. The last representative of the
ancient prophets, heroic antique figure, noways belonging to vulgar life,
did not utter his message under the shadow of the hills, with his audience
ranged on the grassy slopes above him. A place was provided for his
accommodation, more convenient, if less noble, in Hope Park Chapel,
situated in what is commonly called the south side of Edinburgh; and there
he preached this second course of lectures, which he seems to have come
to, in spite of all obstacles, with a still deeper sense of their
importance than the first. Before going to Scotland, however, he paid a
short visit to Birmingham, with which place, or rather with the Scotch
congregation there, he appears to have had a great deal of intercourse. He
seems to have preached three sermons there during his short stay; but I
refer to it only for the sake of the following letter to his little
daughter: "MY owN MEGGY,-Papa got down from the coach, and his large book,
and his bag, and his cane with the gold head. And a little ragged boy, and
his little sister, with ballads to sell-not matches, but ballads-trudged
and trotted by papa's side. The boy said,'I will carry your bag, sir.'
Papa said,' I have no pennies, little boy, so go away.' But he would
follow papa, he and his little sister, poor children! So papa walked on
with his bag under his cloak in one hand, and his book and his staff under
his cloak in the other. It was dark, and the lamps were lighted, and it
wqs raining, but still the little ragged boy, and his little sister with
the ballads, followed papa; and the boy said,'I will find you where Mr.
Macdonald lives.' So we asked, and walked through very many streets, and
came to a house. And the door was open; and I said to the woman,' Is Mr.
Macdonald in?' The woman said,' No, sir, he is dining out.' Papa said,'
What shall I do? I am come to preach for him to-morrow.' She said,' There
is no sermon to-morrow-till Saturday.' Papa said,' Are you sure?' She
said,'There is mass in the morning.' Now, my dear Meggy, the mass is a
very wicked thing, and is not in our religion, but in a religion which
they call papacy. So papa knew by that word mass that this was not the
right Mr. Macdonald's, but another one. So away papa trudged, his bag, his
book, and his staff under his cloak, and the little ragged boy, and his
sister with the ballads. Papa was angry at them because they would not go
away, and had brought him to a wrong place. But papa had pity upon them,
and asked them about their papa and mamma. Their papa was dead, and their
mamma was in bed sick at home. So papa took pity upon them, and gave them
a silver sixpence, and they went away so glad. I heard them singing as
they ran away home to their poor mother. Now papa trudged back again, not
knowing where to find the right Mr. Macdonald. And papa took his bag, and
put his cane through it, and swung it over his shoulder upon his back, as
he does when he carries Meggy down stairs.... Now, after mamma has read
this, tell it over to Miss Macdonald, and ask her to write papa with his
stick and his bag over his back, and then tell the tale over to little
brother, and kiss him, and say,'This is a kiss from papa."' The
picturesque individuality which is inevitable to the man wherever he goes,
shows in the most tender light in this little letter. The big,
tender-hearted stranger, in his mysterious cloak, with the little vagrants
wandering after him in the wet Birmingham streets, paints himself more
effectually than the kind domestic friend, whose custom it plainly was to
make pictures for his little Maggy, could have done; and who will not
believe that this silver sixpence must have brought luck to the poor
little balladsellers so unwittingly immortalized? Irving went to Edinburgh
as usual by Annan, from which place he writes to his wife: " Annan, 14th
May, 1829. " I am arrived safe by the goodness and grace of God.... I have
been to see the minister and provost, and, as usual, find every thing
ready arranged to my mind. This night I begin my preaching at seven
o'clock, and to-morrow at the same hour. On Saturday I go up the water to
New Bridge village, on General Dirom's property, to preach to the people
on that hand..... This will serve the Ecclefechan and Middlebie people. On
Sabbath I preach twice in the open air, if there be not room in the
church. Give God praise with me that I am counted worthy to preach His
truth. "I made a strong endeavor to gain my point of faith over the points
of expediency at Manchester; I can not say that I succeeded, and yet I am
not without hopes that I have. They incline not to have the minister till
they have the house respectably set forth; I protest against that, because
I see no end to it. One thing, however, I have prevailed in, for which I
doubt not I was sent to Manchester. I have received a full commission to
provide a minister for Mr. Grant's church at the works, and I have already
chosen Mr. Johnstone, your father's assistant. He will have ~100 from the
Grants themselves (munificent princes that they are!), with a house and
garden, and their favor, which is protection from all want..... "
Edinburgh, 19th May, 60 Great King Street. "At Annan I went on with my
labors on Thursday and Friday.... But the assembly on Sunday passed all
bounds. The tent was pitched in the church-yard; and that not holding the
people, we went forth to Mr. Dickson's field, where it is believed nearly
ten thousand people listened to the Word, from twelve o'clock to half past
five, with an interval of only an hour. It was a most refreshing day to
all of us. I passed on to Dumfries with Margaret and her baby that night,
in order to get the mail next morning, and so I arrived safe, leaving all
my friends well, praised be the Lord. Before I left Annan, letters came
from Dr. Duncan Dumfries, and Mr. Kirkwood, entreating me to preach there;
and considering it was so ordered of God as that they should be the first
to ask for my vacant Sabbath, I consented at once, and shall therefore
return there the last day I am in Scotland. For in that part there is a
strength; Kirkwood, and the Dows, and Burnside are firm as to the human
nature of Christ, which none here is except Thomas Carlyle. James Haldane
has written a pamphlet against me, but there is no strength in it. I
called at Dr. Thompson's last night, and fixed to have an hour with him
for conversation. Now for the matter which I have to do in Edinburgh. Hope
Park Chapel is the place I am to preach in, if it will hold the people. My
commission every body pronounces a good commission. But it will be stiffly
called in question, and I fear will have a hard battle of it. Let the Lord
decide what is best and wisest..... Sometimes I am troubled by the
reproach of men, but never forsaken or overcome. I desire an unwearied
interest in your prayers, and the prayers of all the flock. My letters
will be regular, but, I fear, short, for very much is laid on me." The
commission referred to above was a commission from the borough of Annan,
by which Irving was empowered to represent it as an elder in the
approaching General Assembly. It was the only way in which he could sit in
that ecclesiastical Parliament; and, though somewhat contradictory to his
own lately expressed opinion that the position of ministers and elders
corresponded to the orders of bishop and priest, was in entire conformity
with the ordinary Presbyterian idea that ministers were but preaching
elders, and were, in reality, members of the same ecclesiastical class. A
warm discussion arose in the General Assembly when his commission was
presented. It was one of those questions which, without being really
matters of party difference, are invariably seized upon as party
questions. One side of the house contended for his admission, the other
against it. His defense was undertaken by Dr. Andrew Thomson, one of the
leaders of the Evangelical party, who very shortly after entered the lists
against him in matters of doctrine, but manfully stood up now for the
friend of Chalmers and Gordon; a man who, if not actually belonging to his
own side, was leagued in the warmest amity with many of its members.
Irving himself, before the matter was put to the vote, appeared, by
permission of the Assembly, at the bar to speak for himself. His speech is
too long to quote; nor does he make any very vehement stand for his
rights; very probably feeling that it was at best a side way of
approaching that venerable assembly, which he held in so much honor. The
appearance he makes is, indeed, more for the purpose of supporting the
claims of his constituents, and their right to elect the superior instead
of inferior degree of ruling elder if it so pleased them, than on his own
account. But he takes the opportunity, the first and the last which he
ever had, of recommending to the Assembly " to take a parental care of the
hundreds of thousands of their children who are now dwelling beyond their
bounds." In this appeal he waxes warm. He, too, is "beyond their bounds;"
but is he not subject to their oversight and authority-? "If I disobey,"
says the great orator, who could see into the mysteries of prophecy, but
not into the slowly opening mists of the immediate years, "can you not
call me to your bar? and, if I come not, have you not your court of
contumacy wherewith to reach me? If I offend in any great matter-which I
would fain hope is little likely-can you not pronounce against me the
sentence of the lesser or the greater excommunication?" These words detach
themselves from the context to us who know what came after. He spoke then
all unaware what significance time was preparing for the unthought-of
expressions, evidently fearing nothing of such a fate. " I was enabled to
deliver myself with great calmness and respect, in a way which seemed very
much to impress the house," he tells his wife "stating how I sought not to
intrude, but had advertised my constituents to consult authorities upon
the subject." And when' the matter was at length decided against him,
personal disappointment scarcely appears at all in the record he gives:
"Edinburgh, 26th May, "It gave me no pain at all to be cast out of the
Assembly, except in as far as it wronged the burgh of Annan, and all the
burghs in their rights, which we proved beyond a question are to send a
minister or elder.... The attention and favor which I received was very
marked, especially from the commissioner and the moderator; and unbounded
was the wonder of men to find that I had not a rough tiger's skin, with
tusks, and horns, and other savage instruments... Upon the whole, I am
very well satisfied with this event in my life.... My lectures are
decidedly producing an impression upon the people. The work of the Lord is
prospering in my hand. The glory be unto His great name.. It is the custom
for the moderator to choose two ministers and an elder to walk down from
the Assembly-house to the Levee-room in Hunter Square, and inform the
commissioner* when the Assembly is waiting for him. He honored me on
Saturday with this duty, and the commissioner asked me to dine with him,
when I enjoyed myself vastly with the solicitor general and Sir Walter
Scott, who were sitting over against me. The moderator has sent me an
invitation to attend the Assembly, and sit in the body of the house.... It
is hard work standing forth, with an extempore sermon of two hours, every
morning at seven o'clock. "29th May. "I remain here till Friday night,
when I go to Dumfries in the mail, and from there I come to Glasgow on
Wednesday to preach, then to Paisley, and finally to Row. Above all
things, I rejoice that I shall completely open the Apocalypse. I am
wonderfully strengthened. The people come out willingly, and are very
patient. They are generally assembled froni seven to half past nine. It
tries my strength, but I have strength for it.... There is a great work to
be done here, and I think God has chosen me for the unworthy instrument of
doing it. The number of ministers who attend is very remarkable. I could
say much, but am weary, and am going to the Assembly. I desire my love to
Mr. Scott and Miss Macdonald, my brotherly love to Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton,
my blessing upon the head of my children, and my whole heart to you, my
faithful wife. " 4th June. "' To-morrow I finish my lectures, which I can
with assurance say have produced a strong and lasting impression. The one
thing which I have labored at is to resist Liberalism by opening the Word
of God." So concluded this second course of Edinburgh lectures. Hope Park
Chapel was crowded; and quiet country people, trudging out to the suburban
villages in the evening, or into the busy town in the early summer
sunshine, remember vaguely still, without remembering what it meant, the
throng about the door of the place; but it was remote, and out of the way,
and very different from the West Kirk, in the heart of Edinburgh life,
which he had occupied the previous year. The same amount of excitement
does not seem to have surrounded him on this second occasion, though he
himself appears to have been even more satisfied than formerly with the
effect his addresses produced. And now another course of ceaseless
preaching followed, principally in his native district, where thousands of
people went after * It may be well to explain, for the information of
readers unacquainted with Scotland, that the commissioner is the
representative of her majesty in the Scottish Assembly; and that by way of
making up for a total want of any thing to do in that Convocation itself,
this high functionary holds a sort of shadow of a viceregal court outside.
him wherever he appeared, and through which he passed, boldly preaching
his assailed doctrine before the multitudes who wondered after him, and
the " brethren" who were shortly to sit in judgment upon him. "We arrived
at Dumfries," he writes, "by six in the morning, when, having breakfasted
with the Fergussons, I took some rest, and prepared myself for meeting a
company of clergymen at Miss Goldie's, and preaching in the evening for
Dr. Scott, to whom I had written for the old church, which he readily
granted. This I took as a great gift from Providence, for it is like the
metropolitan church of our county. I opened the Apocalypse as far as in
one lecture could be done. Next day I preached in the Academy grounds,
upon the banks of Nith, to above 10,000 people, in the morning, from the
eighth Psalm and the second of Hebrews. In the afternoon I preached at
Holywood to about six or seven thousand, upon the song of the Church in
heaven, Rev., v. The surveyor at Annan had the curiosity to measure the
ground and estimate the people. He made it as many as thirteen thousand;
and there were more at Dumfries. My voice easily reached over them all.*
At Holywood I was nearly four hours, and at Dumfries three hours in the
pulpit; and yet I am no worse. Next day I went to Dunscore, which
stretches away up from the right bank of the hill toward Galloway. I
visited Lag, the persecutor's grave, by the way, and found it desolate;
though surrounded with walls and doors, it was waste, weedy, and foul.
There is not a martyr's grave that is not clean and beautiful. At Dunscore,
Thomas Carlyle came down to meet me. It is his parish church, and I rode
up with him to Craigenputtock, where I was received with much kindness by
him and his wife.... My dearest wife, what I owe you of love and
gratitude! The Lord reward you, and enable me to cherish you as my own
self. From Craigenputtock I rode down with Carlyle on Wednesday morning,
and met the coach at the Auldgarth brig, and came on to Glasgow that
night. Alexander Hamilton I saw at Langholm. He and his sister are both
well. And at Mauchline I stopped to ask for Mr. Woodrow's parents, who are
also well. I slept at Mr. Falconer's last night, and am now, after many
calls, seated in James Stevenson's, beside the chapel where I am to
preach. Collins spoke this morning to me as a heretic, and I rose and left
him with offense. I have much, much to bear. Let patience have her perfect
work. There were assembled at Dunscore, though it be a lonely place, full
two or three thousand people. These are my comforts, that I have the
privilege of addressing so many of my beloved brethren. To-night I preach
in the chapel of ease, proceed to Paisley, and preach to them to-morrow;
thence to Rosneath, where I preach on Saturday at four, and at Row on
Sabbath. I travel back to Edinburgh on Monday, and preach at Kirkcaldy on
Tuesday night; after which, on Wednesday, I take shipping for home-sweet
home! * It is recorded that when preaching ae Monimail, in Fife, in the
open air, his sermon was heard distinctly by a lady seated at her own
window a quarter of a mile off; and his voice was audible, though not
distinctly, at double that distance. -the dwelling-place of those whom I
am most bound to and beholden to in this world. My worthy father and
mother came to Dumfiies and Holywood all well.... The blessing of the Lord
be with all the flock. God help me this night. _Fiday. I was much
supported in preaching at Glasgow, and did the cause some service, as I
hope. The Calton weavers came, soliciting me to preach on Monday night for
the destitute among them. This I agreed to, and shall travel in the mail
at eleven o'clock, and reach Kirkcaldy on Tuesday forenoon.'" It is
difficult to realize the fact that these intense and incessant labors were
all entirely voluntary, the anxiously premeditated offering of his summer
holiday to his Master and the Church. A local paper of the time confirms
and heightens Irving's brief account of the crowds which followed him in
Dumfries. The journalist, with the license of his craft, describes
(-Dumfries Courier, June, 1829) those audiences as "innumerable
multitudes," and adds that not less than 12,000 or 13,000 people attended
both the Sunday services. In Glasgow, however, for what reason I can not
tell, or whether it is simply for want of evidence, he does not seem to
have gained the ear or the heart of the community. Glasgow, absorbed in
the prose of life, had perhaps less patience than other places for the
most impracticable of theologians; or, still more likely, never could
forget that he had once been assistant at St. John's, and that nobody had
discovered the manner of man he was. A lady who knew him well, and was at
the moment with him, describes with graphic vivacity an incident in this
Glasgow visit. He had preached to a disturbed and restless audience,
crowded but not sympathetic; and when about to leave the church, found a
crowd waiting him outside, full of vulgar incipient insult. Some of the
by-standers addressed him in vernacular taunts: "Ye're an awfu' man, Mr.
Irving: they say you preach a Roman Catholic baptism and a Mohammedan
heeven;" and the whole position looked alarming to his troubled female
companion. Irving, however, faced the crowd calmly, took off his hat,
bowed to them, and uttered a " fare ye well" as he went forward. The
multitude opened, swinging back "like a door on its hinges," says the keen
observer, who, half running to keep up with his gigantic stride,
accompanied him through this threatening pathway. It was the only place in
which popular friendliness failed him. One great cause of this, however,
is said to have been the warm support which he gave to Mr. Campbell, of
Row, whose "new doctrine" had been for some time alarming the orthodox
society of the West, so that in Irving's person the theological crowd of
Glasgow saw a type of all the heresies which put the Church and
country-side in commotion. But after all this lapse of years, after the
strange, lofty political principles which he had come to hold so firmly
and speak out so boldly, the Calton weavers, Democrats and Radicals to a
man, still remembered and trusted the old friend who shared their miseries
without ever learning to distrust them, ten years before, in the dismal
days of Bonnymuir. His jus divinumn did not frighten those critics, it
appears: by a diviner right, long ago, he had possessed himself of their
hearts. After this he seems to have again paid a flying visit to Bathgate,
the residence of his brother-in-law; for to this year belongs a beautiful
anecdote told of him in that place. A young man belonging to the Church
there was very ill, " dying of consumption." Mr. Martin had promised to
take his distinguished relative to see this youth, and Irving's time was
so limited that the visit had to be paid about six in the morning, before
he started on his farther journey. When the two clergymen entered the
sick-chamber, Irving went up to the bedside, and, looking in the face of
the patient, said softly, but earnestly, " George M', God loves you; be
assured of this —God loves you." When the hurried visit was over, the
young man's sister, coming in, found her patient in a tearful ecstasy not
to be described.' "What do you think? Mr. Irving says God loves me," cried
the dying lad, overwhelmed with the confused pathetic joy of that great
discovery. The sudden message had brought sunshine and light into the
chamber of death. An incident of a similar kind occurred about the same
time in the Manse of Kirkealdy. When the family were going to prayers at
night, a messenger arrived, begging that Irving would go to visit and pray
with a dying man. He rose immediately to obey the call, and left the room;
but, coming back again, called one of the family to go with him. On their
return, inquiries were naturally -made about the sufferer, who had either
been, or appeared to have been, unconscious during the devotions offered
by his bedside. "I hope there was a blessing in it to the living, at
least," said the mother of the house. " And to the dying also," answered
Irving; "' for it' is written,' If two of you shall agree on earth as
touching any' thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them'of my
Father which is in heaven. " It was for this sublime reason, holding the
promise as if it had been audibly spoken to himself, that the Christian
priest turned back to call the other, whose brotherhood of faith he was
assured of, to hold their faithful Master to His word. When these
laborious travels were concluded, Irving returned to London so
unexhausted, it would appear, that he was able immediately after to
prepare another bulky volume for the press. This was a work on Church and
State, founded upon the vision of Daniel, and tracing the line of antique
history, the course of the Kings and of the Church, through
Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Alexander, up to fated Rome, in all its grand
developments. He himself explains the book to have been an expression of
his own indignant sentiments in respect to the late invasions of the
British Constitution, which, according to his view, destroyed the standing
of this country as a Christian nation; these being specially the abolition
of the Test and Corporation Acts, and the repeal of Catholic disabilities.
It would be vain to attempt to vindicate Irving from the charges of
illiberality and intolerance which his decided and vehement opposition to
these measures may naturally call upon him. To us, in the present day, it
is so difficult to realize how such restraints ever could have existed,
that to understand the character of any serious opposition raised to their
repeal is almost impossible. But I am not careful to defend Irving from
such imputations. So far as his character may have been set forth in this
history, so far will his sentiments be justified as the natural product of
a high-toned and lofty mind, always occupied with the soul of things. Such
a man is not always right; maybe, in practical necessities, mightily
wrong; but is always in a lofty unity with his own conclusions and
convictions. His divine right, at least, is, if nothing else, a splendid
ideal, always pointing forward to the sublime realization of that personal
reign, the divinity of which no man could question, and giving a soul to
the loyalty he required by converting it into the patience of the saints,
all conscious of a government yet to come, in which right and law should
be the perfection of justice and truth; and, ready for that hope, to
endure all things rather than rebel against the external majesty, which
was a type of the universal King. I repeat, I do not defend Irving for
holding such impracticable, impossible views. The training of the present
generation has been all accomplished in a world from which those ancient
restrictions have passed away; but such as find it possible to consider
the matter from his standpoint, elevated as it was upon the heights of
loftiest ideal right, and can enter into his theory of government, whether
they accept it or not, will need no exculpation of the intrepid champion,
who, holding this for truth, was not afraid to speak it out. The book was
dedicated, with an affecting union of family affection and the loyalty of
a fervent Churchman, as follows: "To the Reverend SAMUEL MARTIN, D;D., My
venerable Grandfather-in-law: The Reverend JOHN MARTIN, My honored
Father-in-law: The Reverend SAMUEL MARTIN, My faithful Brother-in-law: And
to all my Fathers and Brethren, The ordained Ministers of the Church of
Scotland. "Reverend and well-beloved, the peace of God be with you and
with your flocks; the blessing of the great Head of the Church preserve
you from all heresy and schism; and the Holy Ghost give you plentiful
fruit of your ministries. " I, who am your brother in the care of the
baptized children of the Church of Scotland, having written this book upon
the responsibility of the Church and State to God and to one another, can
think of none to whom it may be so well dedicated as to you, the heads of
the Scottish Church, the established ministers of the Scottish kingdom.
Accept, I pray you, the offering of my thoughts and labors, however
unworthy the great subject, as a tribute of my gratitude to the Church of
Scotland, and a token of my fealty to the good cause in which our fathers
labored, many of them sealing their testimony with their blood. "I had
purposed, if God had permitted, to bring before the last General Assembly
of the Church some measure which would have embraced my doctrine, and
represented the sense I have of the late acts of the kingdom respecting
Dissenters and Papists, and to have done what in me lay to clear the
Church of the guilt of acquiescence, or of silence, when such great
wickedness was transacted by the estates of the kingdom, whose counselors
we are in all things which concern the honor and glory of Christ. But the
Providence of God, which is wisest and best, saw it good to prevent this
purpose of my heart, and likewise to. forbid that any other member should
bring forward such a measure. Whether this was permitted in judgment or in
mercy, time will show; but my present conviction is, that it was in
judgment. Of this my purpose, having been prevented by an all-wise
Providence, I feel it to be the more my duty now to dedicate the substance
of my thoughts on these subjects to you, my reverend fathers and brethren,
and through you to present them to the mother Church, of which you are the
representatives. * I e 8 = e *e **.e "I can not conclude this dedication
without one word of a more personal and domestic kind, addressed to my
excellent kinsmen, the representatives of three generations, grandfather,
father, and son, all laboring together in the vineyard of the Lord. It
recalls to our minds some shadow of the Patriarchal times to behold a man
within one year of ninety fulfilling the laborious duties of a Scottish
minister, by the side of his son and his son's son, and with as much vigor
as they; adhering to the constant practice of the fathers in giving a
double discourse in the morning, and anotheri' in the afternoon of the
Lord's day.:It is like the blessing of Caleb, whose natural force was not
abated by forty years' journeying in the wilderness, and by the wars of
taking possession of the promised land. So mayest thou, venerable sire, by
strength of faith and strength of arm, gain for thyself thine inheritance;
and may the mantle of thy piety, and faithfulness, and joy descend unto
thy children and thy children's children, and their children also. " Now
fare ye all well,\my fellow-laborers. The God of grace and consolation
bless your persons, your wives, your little ones, your flocks, and make
you ever to abide the faithful watchmen of the spiritual bulwarks of Old
Scotland, which have been strengthened of God to stand so many storms, and
to come out of them all strong and mighty, rooted in the truth, and
adorned with the beauty and the faithfulness of an intelligent, upright,
and religious people. Farewell, my beloved brethren; remember me in your
love, faith, and hope, and in your prayers make mention of those from
among your children who are sojourning beyond your borders, and
endeavoring to preserve in all regions of the world the honors of your
great and good name. EDWARD IRvING. "National Scotch Church, London, July
6, 1829." While Irving was in Scotland, Mr. James Haldane, of pious
memory, published a pamphlet entitled A Refittation of the tHeretical
Doctrine promulgated by the Rev. Edward Irving respecting the Person and
Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, which Irving referred to slightly in
one of the above letters as having "no strength in it." This, and the
other still slighter, but more painful mention, that " Collins spoke to me
as a heretic," were the only marks of the gathering storm in Scotland,
unless the stifled demonstration of the Glasgow mob might be regarded as
such. The position which Irving assumed in the above dedication and in his
speech in the Assembly was clearly that of a man certain of his own
position, and Iresolute that the name of heretic was one that could with
no justice be applied to him. This certainty he never relinquished. Slowly
and unwillingly the fact dawned upon him at last that he was called a
heretic, and the stroke went to his heart; but that he never acknowledged
himself to be so-always, on the contrary, was confident in the perfect
orthodoxy of his belief-is apparent through all his works. He returned to
London, to his "beloved flock," with all the comfort of a man who knows
himself undoubted and unrivaled in his own special field. There no
mutterings of discontent assailed him. His congregation stood round him,
shoulder to shoulder, in a unanimity of affection rarely bestowed upon one
man. The prophetic brotherhood, to whose company he had gradually drawn
closer in late years, especially under the stimulus of the Albury
Conferences, seem, like the congregation, to have been charmed by the
magical influence of a heart so tender and so true, and to have given
themselves up to his half-conscious sway with a loy. alty and simplicity
perhaps as remarkable as any circumstance of his life. Out of that beloved
native country, which had been but a step-mother to Irving, but which he
could never keep his heart or his fated footsteps from, it was natural
that he should go back with a sense of relief to the people who knew him,
and whom he had led entranced and enthusiastic, unconscious whither, into
all those vivid openings of truth which startled unaccustomed eyes with a
hundred side-gleams of possible heresy. He returned to his pastoral labors
always more zealous and earnest in his work, if that were possible. I
insert here a curious document, undated, and evidently intended solely for
distribution among the class to whom it is addressed, which I imagine must
belong to this period of his life, and which will show how minute as well
as how wide was his observation, and how prompt his action in all the
varied enterprises of his calling. It is addressed To the Scottish
Journeyman Bakers resident in London and its neighborhood. Social Science
did not exist in those days, but Christian charity seems to have
forestalled statistics, so far, at least, as the vast field of Irving's
labor was concerned. "MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN,-I have been at pains to make
myself acquainted with the peculiar circumstances of your calling, and do
enter very feelingly into the hardships and danger of your condition, from
being deprived in a great degree of the ordinances of our holy religion,
which are God's appointed means of grace and salvation. While I know that
many of you do your best endeavor to profit by the means of grace, I know,
also, that many more have a desire to do so, if only it was in their
power; and I am sure the most of you will regret with me that not a few of
you are fallen into carelessness, and some into entire neglect of their
invaluable privileges as baptized members of Christ's Church. Moved by the
consideration of your peculiar case, and desiring, as a minister of the
Church of Scotland, to spend myself for the sake of her children in these
parts, I have come to the resolution of setting apart two hours of the
second Saturday evening in the month, from seven till nine o'clock, for
the express purpose of meeting with as many of you as will be entreated to
come together, and holding some profitable discourse with you conperning
the things which belong to our everlasting peace. These meetings we will
hold in the Session house of the National Scotch Church, Regent Square, of
which I am the minister; and, God willing, we will begin them on the
evening of the 14th March, at seven o'clock. "Take this in good part, my
dear countrymen, and believe that it proceeds from a real interest in your
welfare, especially in the welfare of your souls. I do not forget that,
like myself, you are separated from father, and mother, and tender
relations; that you are living in a city full of snares and temptations;
that you are members of Christ's Church, for whom He died; and that I am
appointed one of those who should watch for your souls. Do, therefore, I
entreat you, receive this invitation with a welcome, and come with a
willing mind to meet one who, though unknown to you in the flesh, can with
the heart subscribe himself your faithful and true friend, "EDWARD IRVING.
"P. S.-Though this be written specially with a view to the young
Scotchrmen of the baker trade, and accommodated to meet their
circumstances, other bakers of other nations will be welcome even as they;
for are we not all the disciples of one Lord and Master? and other young
Scotchmen of other trades, who may find this suitable to their
circumstances, will be likewise welcome." Whether any thing came of this
brotherly invitation I am unable to say, but it is an indication of the
extent of those toils which only the inevitable hour and day, time and
space, and nothing else, seem to have limited. In the month of August
another cloud passed over the household —one of those events which tell
for so little in the history of a family, but which make all the
difference, at the moment, between a light heart and a sad one, and deepen
all other shadows. A child, just born to die, came and went on one of
those August days. Save the mention of its name,.nothing is said, even in
the family letters of this hour-long life,'as, indeed, nothing could be
said; but it had its share in obscuring' that personal happiness, which,
though it can never be the end of life, is the most exquisite of all
stimulants and earthly supports in its great conflict and battle. A month
later another death occurred in the kindred: that of the old man, to whom,
in conjunction with his descendants, Irving's last book had been
dedicated, the " venerable patriarch" of his former letters. His love for
the patriarchal constitution of the family, as well as for the grandsire
dead, breathes through the following letter, addressed to Dr. Martin, of
Kirkcaldy: " 13 Judd Place East, 1st Sept., 1829. "MY DEAR
FATHER-IN-LAW,-I do from the heart sympathize with you, and all your
father's children and grandchildren, in the visitation of God taking from
you your venerable head; that most dear and precious old man, for whom all
that valued venerable worth and long-tried service had the greatest esteem
and admiration. To me he was most dear in every respect, as the faithful
and diligent minister of the New Testament, as the reverend patriarch, as
the scholar and the gentleman; and I honored him much as the head of my
wife's house.... Your father was the last of the old and good school of
Scottish Churchmen. That race is now gone, and we have now a new character
to form for ourselves according to the new exigencies of the times. God
grant us grace to meet His enemies and establish His testimony as
faithfully as our fathers did.... We set out to-morrow for Brighton. Miss
Macdonald goes with us. Isabella is getting well; and I hope Brighton,
where Elizabeth is, will do them both good. Margaret's eye is better by
God's goodness... Samuel is well; and they are all God hath spaled with us
—Edward, and Mary, and Gavin are beyond worldly ailments. " I had much to
say to you concerning the Church, but I must wait another opportunity.
Watch for the Lord as if He were daily to appear-I can not say that it may
not be this night..... I ask your blessing upon me, my wife, and my
children, night and morning. Do not forget us, and plead for us very
earnestly, for ours is no ordinary post.... I pray God to bless and
comfort all the family.... Farewell! " Your affectionate and dutiful son,
EDWARD IRVING." Early in this year (a quaint episode which I had almost
forgotten), Irving's hands had been suddenly burdened by the whimsical
liberality of the missionary Wolff, who, without preface or justification,
and after an acquaintance not very long, if sufficiently warm during the
time it had lasted, sent home to his friend two Greek youths, to be
educated and trained to the future service of their countrymen. They were,
of course, totally penniless, and this extraordinary consignment involved
the maintenance, probably for years, of the two strangers. Irving
announced their coming to his friend Mr. Story, of Rosneath, in whose
parish he wished to place his unexpected visitors, with a certain
chivalrous magniloquence of speech, as if to forestall all comments on the
singular nature of the charge thus put upon him. "Joseph Wolff, my much
esteemed friend," he writes, " and Lady GeorgianaWolff, also my much
esteemed friend, have given me another proof of their esteem by sending me
two Greeks.... These two Greeks has Joseph Wolff sent-wholly intrusted to
me-so that I am to them as father, and guardian, and provider, and every
thing, which also I am right happy to be.... By the blessing of God, poor
though I am, yet rich in faith, by His grace I will take up-on myself the
responsibility of their charges till they return to their native Cyprus
again." The young men went to Rosneath to the parish school there, where
they remained for years. In an after letter Irving unbended from the high
ground he had taken at first, and confessed, though only by the way, that
this charge had been " rashly devolved upon him;" notwithstanding, he
accepted it, and arranged carefully, as well for the economical limitation
of their expenses as for the pastoral care and authority which he exhorted
his friend to wield over them. I do not suppose, as indeed it would be
unnatural to imagine, that the cost of Mr. Wolff's liberality came
entirely, or even chiefly, out of Irving's slender means. Such a thing
could only have been possible had the matter been secret; but he assumed
the responsibility, and undertook all those expenses without any apparent
hesitation, never dreaming, it would appear, of declining the charge so
rashly devolved upon him, or of turning it off on other hands. The family
remained for some time at Brighton in the autumn of the year, but this
arrangement conferred no special leisure upon their head. During the whole
time of their absence from town he continued to discharge his ordinary
pulpit duties, going up every Saturday, to be ready for his work. Indeed,
Irving seems to have at last worked himself into the condition, so common
to laborious men, especially those whose field of toil is in London, of
finding relaxation only in a change of work. Absolute rest appears to have
been unknown to him. During this year he began to issue, in weekly
numbers, his Lectures on the Revelations, afterward to be collected in the
more dignified form. of four octavo volumes. These little rudely-printed
brochures were each prefaced by a sonnet, the sentiment of which is more
perfect than the poetry; that being, indeed, as in every case where Irving
used this vehicle of expression, much less poetical and melodious than his
prose. Notwithstanding, I do not doubt they gave a more grateful utterance
to his own heart at its highest strain of emotion, a use of verse which is
not to be despised. The Morning Watch also contained various papers from
his hand —one series treating of the Old Testament Prophecies quoted in
the New, in which he. takes occasion again and yet again to enter into
that doctrine of our Lord's entire union with us in the flesh, which, the
more he considered and meditated on it, opened up to him ever new and
tenderer lights; and articles treating exclusively of the same subject,
some from his own pen, some inspired by him —authorities, arguments,
eloquent. expositions of this distinctive crown of his belief. In defense
of this he stood forth before all the world, fervently convinced of its
supreme importance; taking infinite comfort in his own splendid but
troubled career-in his contentions with the world-in those still, domestic
sorrows, unperceived by the world, which penetrated the depths of his
heart with ever-returning accesses of exquisite sadnessfrom the thought
that this very throbbing flesh, this very troubled soul, was the same
nature to which the Lord, by conquering all things in these self-same
garments, had secured the victory. It was no dogma to Irving; the reality
of the consolation and strength which he himself found in it is apparent
in every word he writes on the subject; he fights for it as a man fights
for something dearer than life. Another Albury Conference concluded the
year. This was the third; and the yearly meeting seems now to have become
a regular institution, returning with the return of winter. The bonds
formed in this society were naturally drawn closer, and the interest of
their researches intensified by this repetition, at least to a man who
entered so entirely into them as Irving did. Nothing of the position he
himself held in those conferences is to be learned from his own report;
but the significant pre-eminence in which he appears in the pages of the
Morning Watch, their organ and representative, infers that it must have
been a high place. No doubt the little interval of retirement, the repose
of the religious house, inclosed by all the pensive sights and sounds of
the waning year, the congenial society and congenial themes, the
Withdrawal from actual life and trouble in which these serious days
passed, amid the falling leaves at Albury, must have been deeply grateful
to his soul. Whether it was a safe or beneficial enjoyment is a different
matter. There he attracted to himself, by that "magnetic influence" which
Dr. Chalmers noted, but did not understand, a circle of men who were half
to lead and half to follow him hereafter; attracted them into a certain
loyal, all-believing admiration, which he himself repaid by implicit trust
and confidence, as was his nature-admiration too great and trust too
profound. Nothing of this, however, appears in the following record of the
third conference at Albury. "Albury Park, 30th Nov., 1829. "MY DEAR
WIFE,-I have enjoyed great tranquillity of mind here, and much of God's
good presence with me, for which I desire to be very thankful. Our
meetings prosper very well. My time is so much occupied with preparations
and examinations of what I hear, that, except when I am in bed, my Bible
is continually before me, in the margin of which I engross whatever
illustrates my- text. This morning I have been alone, being minded to
partake the Lord's Supper with the rest of the brethren. I find Mr. Dow
agrees with me in feeling his mind clear to this act of communicating with
the Church of England. "We are not without some diversities of opinion
upon most subjects, especially as to the Millennial blessedness, which was
handled yesterday. Lord Mandeville and Mr. Dodsworth take a view of it
different from me, rating the condition of men in flesh higher than I do,
And excluding death. I desire to think humbly, and reverently to inquire
upon a subject so high. Mr. Dow has great self-possession and freedom
among so many strangers. Mr. Borthwick is very penetrating and lively, but
Scotch all over in his manner of dealing with that infidel way of
intellectualizing divine truth which came from Scotland. I myself have too
much of it. Mr. Tudor is very learned, modest, and devout. Lord Mandeville
is truly sublime and soul-subduing in the views he presents. I observed a
curious thing, that while he was reading a paper on Christ's office of
judgment in the Millennium, every body's pen stood still, as if they felt
it a desecration to do any thing but listen. Mr. Drummond says that if I
and Dodsworth had been joined together we would have made a Pope Gregory
the Great-he to furnish the popish quality, not me. I do not know what I
should furnish; but the church bell is now ringing. "We have just returned
from a most delightful service.... Mr. Dodsworth preached from Psalm
viii., 4, 5, 6.... Our subject tomorrow is the parables and words of our
Lord as casting light upon His kingdom, opened by Dodsworth. Next day the
Remnant of tho Gentiles and their translation, opened by your husband; the
next, the Apocalypse, opened by Mr. Whyte; and the last, the Signs of the
Times, opened by our host. This will enable you to sympathize with us...
Farewell! The Lord preserve you all unto His kingdom. " Your faithful
husband, EDWARD IRVING." With this Sabbatical scene, in which Irving was a
simple worshiper, concludes, so far as I have any record, this year of
strenuous labor and conflict. Another illness of his wife's still farther
saddened its termination. The sunshine of household prosperity did not
light up for him that path which went forward into the darkness. But he
went on boldly, notwithstanding, bating nothing of heart or hope.
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