God, made instrumental in opening to me the whole truth of Holy Scripture concerning Baptism and the Lord's Supper; of which having been convinced, by God's blessing upon these words of my fathers in the Church, upon consulting the venerable companion of my early studies, Richard Hooker, I found such a masterly treatise upon the whole subject of the Sacraments, that I scrupled not to rank as one of his disciples, and to prefer his exposition infinitely to my own: yet to both to prefer that sentence of our own Confession which I have placed as the motto of my book. For this reason it is that I have reprinted those parts of Hooker's treatise which concern the doctrine of the Sacraments.

"And now, my dear wife, as we have been sorely tried of the Lord, by the removal of two such sweet children, let us be full of prayers and fellow-feeling for those who are in like manner tried; and, above all, be diligent in waiting upon those children of Christian Baptism, whom Christ hath committed to my charge as a bishop and shepherd of His flock; unto all whom, even as many as by my hands have been admitted into His Church, I do now bestow my fatherly benediction in the Lord. May the Lord make you the mother of many children to glorify His name for ever and ever! This is the prayer of your loving husband,

"EDWARD IRVING."

The volumes thus inscribed were not published till 1828; but they belong to this period of much quiet, but many emotions, which lay between the death of his two children. He laboured much, and pondered more, during these two years. They were the seed-time of a great and melancholy harvest; and, containing, as they did, the first germs of those convictions which he afterwards carried so far, and the adjuncts of which carried him still farther, they are full of interest in the history of his life. The Albury conference, which drew him into the close and exciting intercourse of a brotherhood engrossed with hopes and expectations unshared by the

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common world, and the opening of his church, which brought him suddenly out of the brilliant, indefinite world of possibility into a certain position, restricted by visible limits of the real, were, perhaps, equally operative in preparing his mind for all that dawned upon it. What that was, and how it began to develop, may be better treated in another chapter.

One of the most noble pieces of oratory which Irving ever produced, the Ordination Charge, which reads like an ode of the most thrilling and splendid music,—was delivered in this spring at the ordination of the Rev. Hugh Maclean to the charge of the Scots church, London Wall. It is a kind of satisfaction to know that the man so magnificently addressed—in a strain to which perhaps no Scotch minister, and few priests of any description, have ever been called to listen had soul enough to follow the leader, who charged him to his duty as one hero might another, out into the conflicts and troubles of his after-life. Such an appeal must have thrilled to the heart of any man capable of being moved to high emotions. I am not aware that any similar ode has ever embellished the ordination service of any other church than that which Irving here describes as "the most severe and uncompromising" of all Christian churches. It is an unrivalled outburst, full of all the lyric varieties and harmonies of a great poem, and must have fallen with startling effect upon the commonplace ears of a quiet company of ministers, no man among whom, except the speaker, had ever distinguished himself, or had a chance of distinguishing himself. Such an address might have given a climax to the vocation of a heaven-born preacher;

VAUGHAN OF LEICESTER.

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but it is only the genius capable of being roused to the utmost by such an appeal that is ever able to offer it; and the heroic strain called forth no answering wonder. But the young preacher to whom it was addressed threw his humble fortunes, in after days, into the same lot as that of his instructor in the office of the ministry; and one feels a certain comfort in knowing that the disciple was faithful to the master who had connected his unknown name with an address which inferred such noble qualities in him who could receive it.

Later in the year, Irving made a short visit to Leicester, to see his friend Mr. Vaughan, with whom, and with "some other ministers of the Church of England there," we hear that "he had some delightful intercourse." "He was expressing to me yesterday," writes William Hamilton, "how much he had been gratified by the harmony which prevailed, and the exact coincidence of their views on almost all the important points which they discussed." The same writer goes on to tell how Irving had visited with him the families under his own charge as an elder, and of "the cordial reception they everywhere met with." "Mr. Irving is very happy and successful on these occasions," writes his admiring friend, "and it is very delightful to see such harmony and good feeling amongst the members." Thus, undeterred by the many absorbing subjects of thought which were rising to his mind-by the engrossing prophetical studies which Dr. Chalmers feared would "unship him altogether "-or even by the impatience and almost disgust which often assailed his own spirit in sight of the indifferent and unimpressible world, he pursued all the varieties of his immediate duty,

420 "THE LIGHT THAT NEVER WAS ON SEA OR SHORE."

carrying through it all a certain elevation and lofty tone which never interfered with the human lovingkindness in which all his brethren had a share. Notwithstanding his unsparing condemnation of evil and worldliness, Irving had so much of the "celestial light" in his eyes, that he unconsciously assigned to everybody he addressed a standing-ground in some degree equal to his own. The "vision splendid" attended him not only through his morning course, but throughout all his career. The light around him never faded into the light of common day. Unawares he addressed the ordinary individuals about him as if they, too, were heroes and princes;-charged the astounded yet loyalhearted preacher, who could but preach, and visit, and do the other quiet duties of an ordinary minister, to be at once an apostle, a gentleman, and a scholar;-made poor, astonished women, in tiny London apartments, feel themselves ladies in the light of his courtesy ;-and unconsciously elevated every man he talked with into the ideal man he ought to have been. This glamour in his eyes had other effects, melancholy enough to contemplate; but even though it procured him trouble and suffering, I cannot find it in my heart to grudge Irving a gift so noble. The harm that comes by such means is neutralised by a power of conferring dignity and happiness, possessed by very few in the common world.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

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