"Soon after we were seated, the chairs below the pulpit were occupied by several respectable men, one of them quite handsome and well dressed. Another man and a woman took their seats upon the benches behind. While we were gazing at these, we heard a heavy tramp along the aisle, and the next moment Irving walked up to the altar, opened the Bible, and began at once to read. He has a noble figure, and his features are not ugly, with the excep- tion of an awful squint. His hair is parted right and left, and hangs down on his shoulders in affected disorder. His dress is laboriously old-fashioned— a black quaker coat and small clothes. His voice is harsh, but like a trumpet; it takes hold of one, and cannot be forgotten. His great aim appeared to be to vary his atti- tudes and appear at ease. He began to read in a standing posture,
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but had scarcely finished half a dozen verses when he dropped into the chair and sat while he read the remainder. He then stepped forward to the point of his stage, dropped on his knees and began to pray in a voice of thunder; most of the people kneeling fairly down. At the end of the prayer he read the Sixty-sixth Psalm, and I now perceived that his selections were designed to have a bearing on the persecutions of his people and himself. The chapter from Samuel was that relating to Shimei. He then gave out the Sixty-sixth Psalm in verse; which was sung standing, very well, Irving himself joining in with a mighty bass. He then began to read the Thirty-ninth of Exodus, with an allegorical exposition, after a short prayer for divine assistance. The ouches of the breast- plate he explained to mean the rulers of the church. While he was dealing this out, he was interrupted in a manner rather startling. I had observed that the elders who sat near him kept their eyes raised to the skylight overhead, as if wooing inspiration. One in particular looked very wild. His face was flushed, and he occa- sionally turned up the white of his eyes in an ominous style. For the most part, however, his eyes were shut. Just as Irving reached the point I have mentioned and was explaining the ouches, this elder . . . burst out in a sort of wild ejaculation, thus, 'Taranti- hoiti-f aragmi-santi ' (I do not pretend to recollect the words); 'O ye people — ye people of the Lord, ye have not the ouches — ye have not the ouches — ha-a-a; ye must have them — ye must have them — ha-a-a; ye cannot hear — ye cannot hear.' This last was spoken in a pretty loud whisper, as the inspiration died away within him. When he began, Irving suspended his exposition and covered his face with his hands. As soon as the voice ceased, he resumed the thread of his discourse, till the 'tongue' broke out again 'in un- known strains.' After these had again come to an end, Irving knelt and prayed, thanking God for looking upon the poverty and deso- lation of his church amidst her persecutions. After he had finished and arisen from his knees, he dropped down again, saying, 'one supplication more,' or 'one thanksgiving more.' He now proceeded to implore the Divine blessing on the servant who had been or- dained as a prophet in the sight of the people. After this supple- mentary prayer, he stood up, asked a blessing in a few words, and began to read in the sixth John about feeding on Christ's flesh. In the course of his remarks he said: 'The priests and churches in our day have denied the Saviour's flesh, and therefore cannot feed upon him.' He then prayed again (with genuflexion), after which he dropped into his chair, covered his face with his hands, and said, 'Hear now what the elders have to say to you.' No sooner was
IRVINGITE GIFTS 299