224 RECALLS THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND TO HERSELF.

height she had fallen. Had he been prudent, he might have found some better way of deprecating the censures that threatened him; but he was not prudent. He came forward boldly, not to correct his own views by her present light, but to recall her to the venerable past, the early Reformation glory, her true individual national standing-ground before she had begun to borrow doctrine or authority from other communities. At this very moment, when, on the brink of excommunication, and accused of every kind of ecclesiastical irregularity, he once more fervently proclaimed himself truly loyal, and his assailants the heretics and deniers of the faith. Forlorn, with his friends and brethren dropping off from him, and all the ties of his life breaking in pieces, shortly to be left among a new community which had no filial relationship to Scotland or her Church, he planted again this old national Reformation standard beneath which he was ready to live or to die, and under that antique emblazonry prepared to fight his last battle. It was the neglected, forgotten banner of the Church which assailed him that waved over his martyr head, as he sadly lifted his arms to defend himself against those who sadly took up their weapons against him. But the Church did not pause to recognise her own ancient symbols; took no notice, indeed, of the sorrowful, indignant offering by which her grieved but loving son sought to recall her to herself. I am not aware whether the publication attracted any special degree of attention from any portion of the public. Few people were so much interested as Irving was, in proving that, whatever might be her temporary errors, the foundation of the Church of Scotland was sound, and her ancient heart pure. His

PAPERS IN THE "MORNING WATCH."

225

new followers endured the solemn reading of those antiquated articles, which were associated to them with no sacred recollections, and smiled aside at his national fervour. His old adherents were too deeply engaged in the more exciting interest of the present conflict to observe this pathetic re-assertion of orthodox faith.

Throughout the year the Morning Watch carried on, without intermission, the two great controversies in which Irving was engaged. Papers on the Humanity of our Lord, which, by over-exposition and explanation, confuse and profane the question, appeared in every number, along with inquiries into the new spiritual gifts, some of which bear the mark of Irving's own hand-and accounts of miraculous cures, so detailed and minute that it is difficult not to think of the parallel cases cited by Professor Holloway and other vendors of miraculous universal medicine. Irving's series upon Old Testament Prophecies fulfilled in the New, runs through the entire volume; where, too, there appears now and then a human, personal glimpse of him in the affectionate testimony of a friend; as, for example, when the Morning Watch, taking part, for some wonderful occasion, with the Record, begs its adherents to support that paper, irrespective of "its conduct on another subject." "We exhort all such to overlook the trespass against a brother, dear as he deservedly is to all who know him," says the prophetical journal, confident that nobody can mistake whom it means, and speaking with a warmth of personal feeling unknown to the abstract dignity of the Press. "There is no breast on earth more ready to pardon than he who has most reason to complain, or who would more regret that

226

66

IRVING AND THE RECORD."

personal feelings towards him should impede the promulgation of such sentiments as those of which we have shown the Record to be now the advocate." Such

a reference to an individual, assumed to be so entirely well-known and held in such affectionate regard by an audience considerable enough to keep a quarterly review afloat, is, perhaps, unique in literature.

were over now.

As the days darkened, and the end of the year approached, matters became more and more hopeless in the little world of Regent Square, where still the daily matins gathered crowds of curious worshippers, and where, at almost every service, the voices of the prophets were heard, filling up the pauses which the preacher had appointed for the purpose, and crowding with an excited and miscellaneous auditory the church which was to have been a national rallying point and centre of Christian influence. Such hopes The inspired circle which surrounded Irving was not of the nation which gave his church its name; those who were of that race were deserting him day by day. It was no longer to a national influence, but to a remnant saved from all nations, a peculiar people, that his earnest eyes were turned. The trustees of the church, to whom he had addressed his letter concerning the new order of worship, continued, while firmly opposed to that novel system, to hope that something might yet be done by reason and argument to change his mind. They met again in December, and had a solemn conference with Irving, who was accompanied by Mr. Cardale (a gentleman whose wife and sister were both among the gifted persons) as his legal adviser, and by Mr. Mackenzie, the only one of his

elders who believed with him. Mr. Hamilton reports, for the information of Dr. Martin, that "a compromise was attempted by some of the trustees, who strongly urged Edward to prohibit the gifted persons from speaking on the Sabbath, leaving it to him to make such regulations regarding the weekly services as he might think proper." When this proved vain, the trustees, "being exceedingly unwilling, from their great reverence and respect for Edward, to push matters to extremes, resolved again to adjourn, and to leave it to the Session, at their meeting on Monday, to reconsider the subject." "The Session "-the same Session which, not a year ago, came forward spontaneously and as one man to take up their share of their leader's burdens, and declare their perfect concurrence with him-"accordingly entered into a very lengthened discussion, during which quotations were made from the Books of Discipline and the Acts of the Assembly to show the inconsistency of the present proceedings with the discipline of the Church. An intimation was given, which I was pained at, that an appeal would be made to the Presbytery of London, according to the provision of the trust-deed. This Edward most earnestly deprecated, and begged that he might not be carried before a body who are so inimical to him." Mr. Hamilton proceeds to confide to his father-in-law his own melancholy forebodings for everybody and everything concerned; his fears of Irving's "usefulness as a minister being lamentably curtailed," of the scattering of the congregation, and "ruin" of the church, which had been, from the laying of its earliest stone, an object dear to the heart of the

zealous Scotch elder, who now was about to see all his own laborious efforts, and those of his friends, comparatively lost. How such repeated entreaties, urged upon him with real love by his most faithful and familiar friends, must have wrung the heart of Irving, always so open to proofs of affection, may easily be imagined. He stood fast through the whole, a matter more difficult to such a spirit than any strain of resistance to harsher persecutions. The next meeting he does not seem to have attended; but, on hearing their decision, wrote to the Session the following letter, full of an almost weeping tenderness, as well as of a resolution which nothing could move :

"London, December 24, 1831.

"MY DEAR BRETHREN,-There is nothing which I would not surrender to you, even to my life, except to hinder or retard in any way what I most clearly discern to be the work of God's Holy Spirit, which, with heart and hand, we must all further, as we value the salvation of our immortal souls. I most solemnly warn you all, in the name of the most High God, for no earthly consideration whatever, to gainsay or impede the work of speaking with tongues and prophesying which God had begun amongst us, and which answereth in all respects, both formally and spiritually, to the thing promised in the Scriptures to those who believe; possessed in the primitive Church, and much prayed for by us all. I will do everything I can, dear brethren, to lead you into the truth in this matter; but God alone can give you to discern it, for it is a work of the Spirit, and only spiritually discerned. It cannot but be with great detriment to the church over which we watch, and much grieving to the Spirit of God, that any steps should be taken against it. And I do beseech you, as men for whose souls I watch, not to take any. I cannot find liberty to deviate in anything from the order laid down in my former letter, received by the trustees, the 22nd of November, which is according to the commandments of the Lord, and in