I. Eitiary,—Towai&B tbe end of the first quarter of this century there began to be an increased spirit of prayer in Great Britain for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in promoting which the labors of the Bev. I. Haldane Stewart (of the Church of Enghind) were most helpftil. About the same time the Bev. Edward Irving (q. v.) was called up fh>m Glasgow to London, where for a number of years he preached with great power and efiect on the coming and kingdom of Christ, his true humanity, and his work as the baptiser with the Holy Ghost. In respect to the last, he taught that the Church is now, and at all times, entitled to the spir- itual endowments of the primitive age, because **the gifts and callings of God are without repentance ;'* but he had no clear conviction that they would be rest<H:ed, nor did he urge his flock to pray for their restoration. The missionary employed by his Church to preach to the poor of the dty. the Rev. A. J. Scott, had much stronger faith that they would be recovered than Mr. Irving himself, and, when on a visit to his friends in the west of Scotland in *28 or '29, he labored to con- vince them of the permanency of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Among them was Miss Maiy Campbell, sis- ter of Isabella Campbell, whose Mtmoin were widely circulated more than thirty years ago, then living at Femicany. Through the carefbl study of the New Testament, she became convinced that the promise of the Comforter was for all generations, and she was led to pray, in concert with some fHends, that God would again manifest himself as of old in the gifts of his Spirit In March, 1830, when engaged in prayer with her fHends, the power of the Holy Ghost came might> ily upon her, and she was made to speak in tongues and prophesyings. Very soon afterwards, the same spiritual phenomena appeared in a £unily by the name of Macdonald, living at Port Glasgow, who, like Miss Campbell, were Presbyterians, and distinguished as well for purity of life as for zeal and devotion. One of the sisters, who was dang^rousl}' ill, was restored instantaneously to health through the faith of her brother, by whose instrumentality Mary Campbell was also raised up fhmi what seemed to be the very brink of death. These occurrences naturally excited much attention not only in the Immediate neighborhood, but throughout Great Britain, and in the summer of that year several persons — almost all of them members of the Church of England — ^went down from London and spent some weeks at Port Glasgow, to satisfy them- selves as to the true character of these spiritual utter- ances. Being convinced by what they saw and heard that they were the work of the Holy Ghost, they met together after their return, with others of like £uth, to pray that God would pour out his Spirit upon his whole Church. These meetings, which were held weekly at private houses, were continued throughout the winter, and it was not until April of the following year (1831) that any spiritual manifestation appeared. Then the mouth of a pious lady of the Church of Eng- land, under the pastoral care of the Bev. Baptist Noel, was opened in power, and she too spake in tongues and prophesyings. In the course of that year other per- sons, both men and women, received like spiritual gifts. Some of them were members of the Establish- ed Church, and others were Presbyterians and Dissent- ers ; but it was chiefly in the congregation of Mr. Ir- ving (and that after long and careful examination) that liberty was given to speak in spiritual power. This, together with his prominence in the eyes of the world, led to the connecting of his name with the work, al- though he and all who were of the same faith with liim never ceased to protest against the name of Irvingites as a designation of the body.
These utterances, accompanied by many and strik- ing cases of healing, contitfued in great power and f^ quency until the end of the year 1882, when a new form was given to the work by the restoring of the of- ^oe of aposUe. This was done, not by popular elec-
tion, nor by any act of man, but by tiie Toioe of t^ Holy Ghost speaking through prophets, and thus ex- pressing the mind and will of God, that one who had been a godly member of the Church of England, and had stood as a faithful witness to the woriL of the Holy Ghost, should serve him in this highest ministiy. Oth- ers were afterwards, from time to time, called to the same office, untO, in the year 1885, the full nnmber was completed. Mr. Irving was not one of them, nor, with a single exception, any of his original congrega- tion ; three of them were clergymen, three were n>em> bers of the bar, two of them had been memben of Par- liament, and all were men of high religious character.
At this time there existed a considerable number of congregations which had been gathered by the preadi- ing of evangelists, and organised by the apostles pre- viously called. When the number had been fiUed up, they were solemnly separated to their work witk prayer and benediction in an assembfy of the church- es, as was done in Antioch in the case of Barnabas and SauL They were then bidden, in the word of proph- ecy, to go to a secluded village in the south of Eng^ land — ^Albury, the residence of Mr. Henry DmmmoDd — and there read the Scriptures together fn. the pres- ence of the prophets, that light mi^t be thrown upon them by the word of the Holy Ghost. They were also directed to prepare a testimony of what (iod was do- ing, and to present it to the bishops of the Church of England and Ireland, which was done in Jan. 18S€. A larger testimony was presented in 1838 to the Pope, the Emperor of Austria, and the King of the French, as the representatives of the great principles of gov- ernment existing in Christendom — priestiy rule, abso- lutism, and popular election — and afterwards to otben of the chief rulers in churdi and state throughout En- rope. In these testimonies (especially in 1^ latter) the sins of Christendom in 4epaiting fitm the ways of God were pointed out, his approacMng judgments pro- claimed, and the coming of the Lord (for which the restoration of the Church was the preparation) held up as the only hope of deliverance to the sin-burdened and weary creation.