As if to augment the difficulties already in his way, in his candid and straightforward manner, he further estranged his friends of the Scottish Church by extend- ing his sympathy to a minister of his native Church, a Mr. Campbell, of Row, who was just then under the odi- um of teaching false notions on the Procrustian high- Calvinistic doctrine of the Atonement as set forth in the Westminster Confession.
But tlie grand and final divergence from his mother Church further resuUed, not from the eommimication of any doctrinal excitement, from the baidis of (iuirloch, but from a very strange phenomenon wliich al)out this time took its rise along the quiet l)anks of this river. F^or some time Irving had been pondering on the heri- tage of the fiift nf't()Tir;7ie.i (q. v. ; see also (iiKTs), and was inclined to believe this spiritual gift to have been not only possessed by the apostolic Church, but an act- ual heritage of the Church of all times ; indeed, a neces- sary condition for the healthy state of any Church of Christ. These thoughts of his became convictions when seconded at this juncture by some remarkable instances. In the locality of Row, celebrated for the piety of its inhabitants, there had lived and died a young woman, Isabella Campbell by name, of rare and saintly charac-
ter. A memoir which her minister had written of her attracted the attention of people far and near, and many of them came as pilgrims to visit the spot -where she had lived and prayed. These visits to the earthly dwelling-place, as well as the noble reputation, if not example of a departed sister, had a wonderful influence on the surviving sister Mary—" gifted with the same spiritual temperament, with powers of mind of no ordi- nary character, and, moreover, with the personal fasci- nation of beauty." For a long time she had been af- flicted with the same disease which had made a prey of her sister, and while lying, as all believed, at the point of death, she professed to have received " the gift of tongues," and, " as she lay in her weakness," the Holy Ghost, they said, had come upon her with mighty pow- er, and " constrained her to speak at great length, and with superhuman strength, in an unknown tongue." Similar cases occurred in other neighboring places, and the news of the wondrous phenomena soon reached the ears of Irving. To him, of course, these indicated " an approaching realization of his prophetic dreams." Not for an instant was he to hesitate to acknowledge them as the natural answer of his aspirations and pray- er ; and many of his own flock, prepared by his pre- vious teachings, seconded his leanings in favor of these long-lost spiritual gifts. Manifestations of a similar character soon appeared in his own Church, at first pri- vately, then at the week-day matins, and finally even in the public service on the Sabbath. " The die" had truly been " cast, and from that time the Regent Square church became a Babel." His oldest and most discreet friends one by one deserted him, finding that their coun- sel was of no avail. Even a visit of Chalmers and Coleridge, both his friends, could not in the least stay the current that was fast hurrying him to a most frightful abyss. A collision between the pastor and his flock was ine^'itable, though some of his people shared his views. Against the continuation of the " new proph- ets" even his own brother-in-law voted, and the inev- itable result was of course the ejectment of the minis- ter and his believers in the " gilt of tongues" from Re- gent Square Church. But it must not be supposed that a man of Irving's great abilities, though his course was now downward, was surrounded only by a few weak fol- lowers. Among those who faithfully followed their pas- tor were some of London's most distinguished charac- ters, and when on the following Sunday he met his ad- herents in the hall of the great infidel Owen, no less than 800 were there to partake of the Lord's Supper. Indeed, the place they had temporarily secured was far too small to contain all that stiU flocked to hear Irving, and they removed to a large gallerj^ in Newman Street, generally designated as West's Gallerj', because it had formerly belonged to West the painter. The denoue- ment of tlie play had now fairly begmi, and it rapidly hastened to its close. The "gifted ones" at Newman Street had things in their own hands, and everj-thing proceeded by " vision," and " prophecy," and in the "Spirit;" to all which Irving gave the most reverent and obedient attention. The Presbytery of Annan, by which body Irving had been first licensed to preach, but not ordained, " by a remarkable stretch of power" con- demned him as guilty of heresy, and excommunicated liim from the Church of Scotland. But as if his cup of sorrows was not yet sutriciently bitter, to add to the con- demnation which he had just received at the hand of his mother Church, which he so dearly loved, he was, on his return from Annan to London, deprived even by his own adherents of the authority which by reason of his superiority had universally been granted to him, and, in accordance with a " revelation," was interdicted " from exercising any priestly function, or administering the sacraments, or even preaching, excepting to those less sacred assemblies to which unbelievers were admitted. Astounded, he yet uttered no murmur, but sat in the lowest places of the Church which he himself had cre- ated, in silent and resigned humility," Mr. Andrews, in