§ 113. The Catholic Apostolic Church (called Irvingites.)
Literature.
I. Sources.
Edward Irving: Works, collected and edited by his nephew, the Rev. G. Carlyle. London, 1864-65, 5 vols.
Michael Hohl: Bruchstücke aus dem Leben und den Schriften E. Irving's. St. Gallen, 1839; 2d ed. 1850.
Mrs. M. O. W. Oliphant: The Life of Edward Irving, Minister of the National Scotch Church, London, illustrated by his Journals and Correspondence. London and New York (Harpers), 1862.
A Testimony to the King of England, and another to the Bishops of England. London, 1836. (Anonymous. Prepared by the Apostles.)
A Testimony addressed to all Patriarchs, Archbishops, and Bishops, and the Reigning Sovereigns of Christendom. 1837. (Anonymous.)
Liturgy and other Divine Offices of the Church. London, 1842. Drawn up by the 'Apostles,' and enlarged from time to time.
C. M. Carré: The First and Last Days of the Church of Christ. London, 1851.
Readings upon the Liturgy. (By one of the Apostles.) London, 1852.
The Catechism. (The English Episcopal Catechism enlarged.)
Thomas Carlyle (one of the Apostles): The Door of Hope for Britain, and The Door of Hope for Christendom. London, 1853. By the same: Apostles Given, Lost, Restored: Pleadings with my Mother.
Rev. William Dow (one of the Apostles, originally a Scotch Presbyt.): First Principles of the Doctrine of Christ. Edinb. 1856. By the same: A Series of Discourses on practical and Doctrinal Subjects. Edinb. 1853; 2d series, Edinb. 1860.
Rev. J. S. Davenport: Edward Irving and the Catholic Apostolic Church. New York, 1863. By the same: Christian Unity and its Recovery. New York, 1866. By the same: Letter to Bishop Whitehouse: The Church and the Episcopate. Montreal, 1873.
W. W. Andrews: The True Constitution of the Church and its Restoration. New York, 1854. By the same: Review of Mrs. Oliphant's Life of E. Irving, in the 'New-Englander' for July and Oct. 1863. By the same: The Catholic Apostolic Church, its History, Organization, Doctrine, and Worship, in the 'Bibliotheca Sacra' for Jan. and April, 1866. Andover, Mass. By the same: The True Marks of the Church. Hartford, 1867.
Rev. Nicholas Armstrong (one of the Apostles): Sermons on Various Subjects. 2d ed. London, 1870. By the same: Homilies on the Epistles and Gospels. London, 1870.
Rev. T. Groser: Sermons, 1st and 2d series. London, 1871 and 1874.
Apostles' Doctrine and Fellowship. Anonymous. London, 1871.
The Purpose of God in Creation and Redemption. Anonymous. 4th ed. Edinburgh, 1874.
Readings for the Sundays and Holydays of the Church's Year. Anonymous. London, 1875.
The Dispensation of the Parousia. Hartford, 1876.
Various writings of Henry Drummond (one of the Apostles), Chas. Böhm, C. Rothe, A. Köppen, Ernst Gaab, Rosstäuscher (author of an essay 'On the Gift of Tongues,' and a history of the movement under the title Der Aufbau der Kirche Christi auf den ursprünglichen Grundlagen), and especially H. W. J. Thiersch (the Tertullian of this modern Montanism, and its most learned minister in Germany, who wrote Lectures on Catholicism and Protestantism, 1848, on the Canon of the N. T., 1845, on the Church in the Apostolic Age, 1852, and other excellent works).
II. Criticisms.
De Quincey, in Literary Reminiscences, Vol. II.
Thomas Carlyle, in 'Fraser's Magazine' for Jan. 1835.
Articles on Irving in 'Edinburgh Review' for Oct. 1862; 'North British Review' for Aug. 1862; 'Blackwood's Magazine' for Nov. 1858, and June, 1862; 'London Quarterly Review' for Oct. 1862; 'Methodist Quarterly Review,' Jan. 1849, 1863.
Philip Schaff: Der Irvingismus und die Kirchenfrage, in his 'Deutscher Kirchenfreund,' Jahrg. III. 1850, pp. 49 sqq, 81 sqq. 161 sqq. 223 sqq. Mercersburg, Pa.
G. W. Lehmann: Ueber die Irvingianer. Hamburg, 1853.
Comp. J. L. Jacobi: Die Lehre der Irvingiten oder der sogenannten apostolischen Gemeinde verglichen mit der heiligen Schrift. Berlin, 1868.
EDWARD IRVING.
Edward Irving, the herald and pioneer of the 'Catholic Apostolic Church,' was born at Annan, in Scotland, 1792, and died in the vigor of manhood at Glasgow, Dec. 8, 1834, where he lies buried in the crypt of the cathedral. He belonged to the Presbyterian Church, and for several years (1819-1822) labored in Glasgow as the assistant of the great and good Dr. Chalmers.
In 1822 he accepted a call to the Caledonian Chapel, Hatton Garden, London, and at once became the most powerful and popular preacher of the metropolis. He was at that time overflowing with bodily and spiritual life and energy. He excelled in the noblest gifts of eloquence, cultivated on the models of Hooker and Jeremy Taylor. Lofty thoughts clothed in gorgeous, semi-poetic language, devotional fervor, a solemn manner, a sonorous voice, a quaint antique style, a broad Scotch accent, an imposing figure, bushy hair flowing down in ringlets, a beaming face (which reminded Sir Walter Scott of that of the Saviour on Italian pictures), all combined to attract large and intelligent audiences, and to secure their closest attention, as if they listened to a messenger from the presence of the great Jehovah. De Quincey judged him to be, more than any man he ever saw, 'a son of thunder, and unquestionably by many degrees the greatest orator of our times.' He attracted people from all classes--noblemen, statesmen, and authors. When on a visit to Edinburgh and Glasgow, he roused the population at sunrise from their beds to hear his discourses. He shook the kingdom with his eloquence.
While he ruled like a monarch from his pulpit, he was a docile pupil of Coleridge, and received from the suggestive conversations of the old sage seeds of truth which seriously modified his Scotch Calvinistic creed. He now made more account of the incarnation and the true humanity of Christ, maintaining that he assumed our fallen, i.e., temptable, mortal, corruptible nature, yet without sin itself, into complete fellowship with his divine person. This exposed him to the charge of denying the sinlessness of our Saviour, which was far from his thoughts. He also gave a large place to the hope of the glorious return of Christ, and the revival of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit in the Church.
In these views he was greatly strengthened by the sudden reappearance of what he believed to be the supernatural gifts of tongues, prophesying, and healing. These manifestations first occurred in the spring of 1830 in the west of Scotland, on the shores of the Clyde, among some pious Presbyterian men and women, who believed that their organs of speech were made use of by the Spirit of God for the utterance of his thoughts and intentions. Several persons from London, on hearing of these things, visited Scotland, and, on their return, held prayer-meetings in private houses, attended by devout members of different denominations. They united in supplications for the restoration of spiritual gifts. In April, 1831, the same manifestations took place among members of the Church of England and friends of Irving in London. The 'prophesyings' were addressed to the audience in intelligible English, and resembled the solemn exhortations of Quakers moved by the Spirit. The speaking in tongues consisted of soliloquies of the speaker, or dialogues between him and God which no one could understand. The burden of the prophetic utterances was the judgments impending on the apostate Church, the speedy coming of Christ, and the duty of preparing his way. [1715]
Similar manifestations of ecstatic utterances in seasons of powerful religious excitement appeared among the Montanists in the second century, the persecuted Protestants in France, called the 'Prophets of Cevennes,' and among the early Quakers.
These extraordinary proceedings naturally led to a rupture between Irving and the Presbytery of London (1832). He was turned out of the church built for him in Regent Square, and ultimately deposed from the ministry of the Church of Scotland by the Presbytery of Annan (1833), from which he had received his first license to preach.
On being driven from Regent Square, he was followed by the larger part of his congregation to Newman Street; and the following year, when his Presbyterian orders had been taken from him, he humbly submitted to reordination by one whom he received as an apostle. He never rose beyond the position of an 'angel,' or pastor, in the new Church, and, after less than two years of great labors and sufferings, passed from this world of trial into the regions of light.
He is little mentioned in the writings of his followers, and is regarded by them merely as a forerunner or John the Baptist, not as the founder of their community. His brilliant meteoric career, lofty character, and sad end created profound interest and sympathy. Dr. Chalmers, on hearing of his death, said that 'he was one in whom the graces of the humble Christian were joined to the virtues of the old Roman.' Thomas Carlyle, his countryman and early friend, thus characterizes Irving: 'He was appointed a Christian priest, and strove with the whole force that was in him to be it. I call him, upon the whole, the best man I have ever, after trial enough, found in this world, or now hope to find.' [1716]