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misconstructions and the injustice , the coldness and the calumny , which are his inevitable portion on the path he has chosem The history of Edward Irving , of one of the most eloquent and earnest men who ever , in the Church ' s history , while losing her devoutly , mourned over her lethargy , and sought to infuse into her cold and outworn formulas the spirit of the living present , -will ever be interesting on these grounds ; but is especially so while many yet live who can , from personal recollection , verify the portrait drawn in these pages by one who , though an ardent admirer , is not a follower of Mr . Irving . We place it here as a fit preface to any considerations-on this Biography . He -was impatient of creeds , and yet would not altogether dispense with them . His intellect was at once too strong to permit a form of words to fetter it , and too justly distrustful of its strength to refuse such guidance . He would say " I believe , " but would not , therefore , cease to think . The formula , which he subscribed was as the
jjreen sod from which the lark takes its joyful , viewless flight—not as the hole of a rotten tree or ivied wall , from which the owl hoots its terror at the light . He rested his faith and devotion upon facts that may be expressed in words , but could no more limit them thereto than he could keep his eyes upon the ground that sustained his feet . His was a religion of the heart—and such a religion has " evidences" as well as beliefs , of which creeds can make no mention . It is its own authority and its own interpreter : it will assert reasons not set down hi books , and discern meanings that escape the torturhxgs of commentators . Hence it was that Irving was perpetually at war with a generation that was nothing if not logical—out of joint with churches that had been shaken out of the sleep of formalism only to be put into the fetters of literalism—could , find no rest in that jarring chaos , " the religious world , " where nothing is perfect because everything Ls content to be alone . He had affinities and sympathies with all—and ; therefore , was by all , in turns , attracted and repelled . In all forms of polity , in all sets ef doctrine , he recognised a part of himself : and when he claimed
xt , was forthwith repudiated- by sorne undisceming bxother—as the cygnet , drawn by its own- image to the stream , affrights its foster brother fowl . In quick succession , if not-all at once , Presbyterian and Prelatist , ultra-Pfotestant and Catholic , Republican and Tory , "he seemed , not one , but all mankind ' s epitome . " The glorious eclecticism of his intellect , delighting equally in mathematics and poetry , ill action and in meditation—the breadth of his scholastic training and literary recreations—the keenness of-his social sympathies and of his love of nature—the intensity of hi * consciousness , . that exaggerated the importance of his every undertaking , and magnified the defects of his every performance—the proud humility that made hint pray rather to be taken from the service of God on earth , than be too much- loved by those he served 1 —the profound- piety which felt a Providence in every Incident—the lofty ideas of duty which gave a Spartan rigour to bis virtue—the tenderness which gushed out over women and children , beauty , helplessness , and sorrow—all these coloured his religion . till it seemed : a fantastic and even lunatic thing to the men who had each some one or two of his qualities , but-only one or
two-With the peculiar tenets ' of Irving we have little to do ; it . is " rather by the character of his religion , its earnestness and -wide toleration , its rigid standard of self-judgment and Catholic charity towards the errors of others , its recognition of the Spirit and rejection of the Formula , that our sympathies are awakened . Born in the district of Annan , which the name of C&rlyle has rendered classic ground , educated at Edinburgh , and subsequently ; seZ /* -educated ( the second . and the more important education ) , while holding , the rectorship of an academy in the little town of Kirkaldy , there is mo outward trace in his early life of the determining influence which gave bis . energies their peculiar bent . Powers of mind such as his would meet with little intellectual companionship—alone he studied , alone he doubted And . decided . Till he was thirty years of age , no career had opened to him , no congregation had recognised his power and usefulness . But these lonely years had not been wasted ; he had lived alone with the great departed ,, the gjant intellects of former days had been his companions , and had informed him with their spirit ; and now the time was ripe , and his inward
consciousness bade him go forth upon bis work . The Mission to the Heathen , which has always been so tempting a field to the men of Irving ' s stamp , the energetic and self-devoted , lay open to him , and he hud nearly resolved to embrace it ^ v / heit an appeal from Dr . Chalmers altered hia views ,, and decided his . future destiny . He became the Doctor ' s assistant at Glasgow , and . from whence succeeded to the ministry of the Caledonian Church'in London , where he stepped at . once into a position of the most imbounded notoriety ,, of popularity , as a . preaclwjr almost unequalled , and . of social and intellectual rank enough to dazzle the eyes and bewilder the judgment of a man less pure of hearty and earnest of purpose , less sincere in , hia personal humility , . and'less conscious of the dignity of his mission—for a mission indeed he felt'it . It is impossible to read the extracts from his published . " Orations ?' { from which the author of the present work has-made very judicious selections ) without feeling that Irving , without having crossed the seas to find a congregation , was ever " preaching to the Heathen . " Hear how he spoke to them . We take one extract from a sermon on the duties of all classes :
Merchants , traders ^ and money people—the possessors of capital ' for the omploy of -what tixoy call / tlie " operative classes "—nre next informed . that tho wealth which thoy lm-ve aconmulatod' by the labour of hundreds or thousands , froim all obligation to ¦ whom the employer " considers himself to be free when ho k » s paid theraon Saturday might , " doth bear obligations analogous to those of hereditary wealth . A joint-stock -company , it is stud , with a graphic truthfulness soon to bo demonstrated by the expeorieaco of devastation , iu " a . ropo of sand , a . rock to wreck on , a quieksund to ongulph goods in , " The avarice induced by prosperous commerce ia declared to bo tho root of Aill social evil : " Competency satisfies no man . 11 very man must have a fortune , must distinguish himself , must innko himself a family . Tho merchant must dwell Jbesido the lord , ivnd tho tradesman must have hia villa boaicle tho squire . It la a ruco for Ruin , n scramble for gold ; and , as you cunnot worvo G-od and Mammon , it is tho Jod tho worshi
forsaking of ( , . . pping tho howcat spirit which Ml from heaven . Tho nmnufftoturor ia bound to look with euro and concorn upon tho |) ooplo who labour sfor him , and upon their children . Ho is bouud to guard tliom 1 iKuEn . 1 t extravagance ia good timca , ami then they shall bo provided again-st wont in bad timeti . It is his part to 16 ok ufLor tho comfort of their habitation : ) ( not the cleanliness of hia factory Alono ) , tho instruction of their children , and tho spiritual health of them nil . OH , what a man , what a nofolo man , tho manufacturer might b « ! tho owner , not of fields Kif the eartU , nor of trcoa of tho wood , but tho mantor of ing-onioua inon , of hundreds of most' ingenious mou , who would all render him their lovu if ho would auk it . Such iraiinntfuoturoTs vrere David Dale and others , whoao namoa I do nob mention , aa being < of . yoiiKi own time . It wore very easy for any iuaimfu
times , beating up for workmen by beat of drum , and advertising them to come from distant parts , and immediately in bad times , paying them off to starve if the parish will not maintain them . In good times , allowing them to drink , to live in concubinage , to profane the Sabbath , to blaspheme the Lord , to educate their children in infidelity , and club together for all manner of political disaffection—then , in bad times , turning them over to their unreclaimed wills , ferocious passions , revenue and violent acts ; to be repressed only by the sword . That is the way of it . ' It begins "in the adoration of gold—and it ends in the mediation of steel . Gold , the god the sword , the mediator . That is the religion of Mammon—a hell on earth , the consummation . Oh , it is a system such as the world bath never y « t seen ; ' and it crieth toward heaven for vengeance . It has been Mammon ' s sowing tinie for half a century his harvest is ripe , and his jubilee is at hand . Woe , woe , woe , when he putteth in the sickle ! Tor your money-lenders and capitalists ( who are the lords of this new creation of political economy ) are bringing things to the crisis of old Home , when the
people , who bore the burdens of the state in peace and war , wer « wont to retire to the Aventine Hill , or to dissolve the community altogether ; when the commonwealth went on plunging through peace and war , under the government of tribunes of the people , until it ended in the triumvirates , who proscribed and slaughtered the best blood of Rome . They are hasting and longing to work out of our ancient Christian system of the state the fine web of moral principle , all suspended from the fear of God and the obedience of Christ . They are hasting and longing to work out all obligation of man to man ; all sense of reciprocal duty ; all the dignity , and grace , and obligation of office ; all the grace , and goodlines 3 , and glory of life ; and to reduce everything to the increase of money , the accumulation of wealth ; which , from the Commons ' House of St . Stephen ' s , in the West , to the Exchange , in the East , is the great subject of conversation , the great cause of despatches and expresses from nation to nation , the sinews of power , the . great end of combination , and , I may say , the answer to the first question in our Catechism , ' " What is man ' s chief end ?'—' Man's chief end is to glorify Mammon , and to enjoy him while he can . ' "
Of course the very excess of Irving's popularity stimulated the vehemence of critics and opponents- The Times went into unqualified opposition , abusing alike style , taste , and doctrine , and denying the orator , whom all London was crowding to hear , the smallest claim even to intellect or originality ! ' John Bull ., and some few other papers , followed in the'Times wake ; but the Morning Chronicle , a journal of no small reputation , upheld him , and the Examiner , —conducted by Leigh Hunt , the liberal and the truthldving , —warmly defended . the possessor of kindred qualities . We trace with interest this origin and rise of living ' s fame , as a very graphic record of one of those spiritual " revivals , " which form from time to time such striking episodes lit the history of the Church . They tell , more eloquently than the attacks of any adversary could do , the story of her decadence , under the benumbing influences of formula and conventionalism . Her only chance of retaining her disciples , lies in . their indifference ' ; if they were once
stimulated to search and to inquire , they would recognise the barrenness of her teachings , an < l what Irving forcibly calls " the unsarctioning coldness of her priesthood , " and seek elsewhere for the comfort she can no longer afford them , understanding not their wants and exigencies . From time to time men are so stimulated , do so search and inquire , andseelc for comfort , which , having found ( and be that faith what it may , having found it , it is a reality to them , and as such , a thing of power , and worthy of our reverence ) , they seek to awaken other men , and lead them to the same source of consolation . Very notable are all such instances , and to be rejoiced over by thoughtful minds . For any sincere and vital belief is better for man than lethargy and indifferentism , will bring forth fruit , elicit truth of some sort , and , if it do no other good , tend to wean men from what Mr . Newman has so nobly
termed " the only true Atheism , " the worship of Self . Limited in our space , we have necessarily regarded , the book from the point of view which appeared to us most useful and interesting ; but had we room , we would gladly make many extracts from a biography so curious . On the doctrines of Irving , on which the sect bearing liis name ( which they now repudiate ) lave founded their Church , wo would not touch ; but there is many a lesson of humility and patient endurance in the story of his conduct when evil days fell upon him , and he became a sufferer for his lakh ' s sake . For the general reader , the account of the singular , and , as that Church holds tliem , supernatural manifestations , known usually as tho Unknown Tongues , will , doubtless , possess an interest . Mr . VV ' ilks has discharged his office well , and we recommend his little volume to all .
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A . BATCH OF . NEW BOOKS . ENGLISH HOOKS . Poetical Works of Jidmund Waller . Edited by Uobert Bell . Parker and Son . Cambridge University Transactions during the Puritan Controversies of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries . Collected by James Heywood , M . P ., and Thomas Wright , M . A . Dohii . The Stcam-EngbiGy its History and Mechanism . By llobcrt Scott Burn . Ingram and Co . The , Watering-Plate . i of England . By Edwin Leo . Third Edition . Churchill . A Visit to the Saa-t of War in tho North . Translated from tlio German , by LuhcoIIch Wraxall . Chapman and Hall .
AMERICAN HOOKS . Party Leaders ; Sketches of Distinyiushtd American Statesman , By J . G . Baldwin . Trubnor and Co . Na Motw ; or , llaej-Ravings in the / Smith Seus , My lidwnrd T . Perkins . Trltbner and Co . Immeasurably inferior to Oldhain , as a mim , and below him also in merit , as a pout , WuLler has , nevertheless , descended to posterity us a ruinous Englishman . Ha was the first careful mulcor of smooth versos , and tho moat amorous fine gentleman of hia time , iu a poolioul way ; : uvd ho ia , iiv consequence , stilt fur too celebrated a man to require any such introduction .
to tho reader at our hands , us wo very gladly accorded a low weuka ago U > his loss successful predecessor . In rulbronco to th « hist now volume ot Mr . llobert Bell ' s Annotated fJ !< lition of the fonts , avo have only , therefore , to report that tlio Editor ' s labours continue to bo moat carefully , conscientiously , and intelligently oonductuu . Tho toxtof Waller is uxculliMiLly illustrated by not . ua , tho poems uro olearly and riensilny arranged , and tho prefatory lifu of tho Pout is especially noteworthy for an industrious collection of biographical facts , and for a thoroughly pleasant and readable manner of imparting thoiu to othuru . Members of . tUo general public who may moot with tho Cambridge Uni-
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I 05 ° THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 4, 1854, page 1050, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2063/page/18/
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