Irving, Edward

Latest revision as of 23:44, 12 February 2024

Edward Irving

Edward Irving was a noted Scottish clergyman generally regarded as the founder of the Catholic Apostolic Church. His followers were sometimes called Irvingites. Irving was a flamboyant pulpit orator, who became one of London's most famous preachers in the nineteenth century for his sermons on the topic of the Last Days. Many of his followers received revelations, saw visions, and spoke in tongues.

Irving is sometimes referred to as a forerunner of the Charismatic Movement. He was eventually excommunicated from the Church of Scotland for deviating from church doctrine. He claimed he was the new "John the Baptist" and emphasized the humanity of Christ. Today, Irving is remembered for being a leader of the pre-millennialism movement in the nineteenth century, an early originator of the doctrine of the Rapture, and a pioneer of modern Pentecostalism.

His youth

Irving was born in the town of Annan in the Scottish county of Dumfries and Galloway on August 4, 1792, and died on December 7, 1834. His father, Gavin, worked as a tanner and was a descendant of Huguenot refugees from France. His mother came from the Lowther family, who were farmers or small proprietors in the Annan area, and it seems that from her, he may have derived the most distinctive features of his personality. His early education took place at a school run by Margaret (Peggy) Paine, an aunt of Thomas Paine (who wrote Age of Reason). As a boy, Irving studied at the Annan Academy.

Work in Scotland

At the age of 13, he entered the University of Edinburgh and graduated in 1809. A year later, on the recommendation of the physicist Sir John Leslie, Irving was chosen as master of an academy newly established at Haddington, East Lothian, where he became the tutor of Jane Welsh, afterwards famous as wife of essayist Thomas Carlyle.

He was engaged in 1812, to Isabella Martin but fell in love with Jane Welsh. He tried to get out of his engagement with Miss Martin, but was prevented by her family, marrying her in 1823. After completing his divinity studies, Irving was licensed to preach in June 1815, but continued to focus on his scholastic endeavors for three more years. While studying mathematics and physical science, he also began to read the old classics, including works from the theologian Richard Hooker, who became his favorite author. At the same time, he became fond of Arabian Nights. He also reportedly carried a miniature copy of James McPherson's cycle of poems, Ossian, in his waistcoat pocket, which he would often recite passages from.

In the summer of 1818, Irving resigned his teaching position, and in order to increase the probability of obtaining a permanent appointment in the Church of Scotland, he took up residence in Edinburgh. Although he was well known for his public speaking, his prospects of becoming a minister in the church looked dim. Irving was about to go on a missionary tour in Persia when he finally found work in the church as an assistant and missionary to Dr. Thomas Chalmers in St. John's Parish, Glasgow.

Irving's passionate and lively style of preaching—which Chalmers, the first moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, compared to Italian music—found little interest among the congregation of St John's. However, as a missionary among the poorer classes in Glasgow, Irving was well received. He was welcomed into people's homes, where his benediction, "Peace be to this house," was greeted warmly. His ability to preach in homely settings won him many admirers and by many who were taken up by his embracing personality and vibrant spirit.

His rise in London

In the winter of 1821, Irving again turned his attention toward missionary work in the East, but received an invitation from the Church of Scotland congregation at the Caledonian Church in Hatton Garden, London, to minister to the small gathering there. He was ordained as a Presbyterian Church minister in July 1822. In previous years Irving had expressed a desire to preach to the leading figures in society, arts, and literature. Suddenly, he found himself in exactly such a situation, as important members of society flocked to hear him preach. His sudden leap in popularity may have been occasioned in part by a reference to Irving's striking eloquence made by George Canning, a leading member of the House of Commons, who had attended Irving's church.

It became clear that Irving was a brilliant preacher and orator. His intellect and theological arguments made an impression on the political, legal, and scientific men of the era. Irving was controversial as well as popular. He preached that the Christian church was entering a period of judgment in preparation for Christ's imminent return. These ideas did not often sit well with the more conservative leaders of his church.

In 1825, Irving was invited to preach to the Continental Society, where he met the influential banker Henry Drummond, who was to become a key figure and sponsor of the future Catholic Apostolic Church (the Drummond family to this day still funds the few remaining Catholic Apostolic churches in England).

Irving was now one of the most popular preachers in London. He had the intellectual capabilities to discourse with some of the great minds of England, while at the same time an ability to capture his audience with his passionate expression of emotions. He was a deeply spiritual man who appealed to his audience with his vision and zeal. Irving felt he was specially prepared to teach his prophetic and apocalyptic message to the leading figures of the age. However, he faced a fire of criticism from pamphlets, newspapers, and reviews for his volume of Orations, published in 1823, which was dedicated to the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who was viewed with suspicion by the church. In his writings, Irving stated with certainty that, based on numerology derived from the Book of Revelation, humankind had entered the Last Days and that Christ would return soon.

Irving's passionate oratory increased his popularity, and his congregation in London grew so much that in 1827, he moved into the larger Regent Square Church.

Irving believed that the early spirituality of the Church had become stagnated. As his sermons began more and more to emphasize the supernatural and the imminent return of Christ, Irving faced criticism, especially on his views concerning the human nature of Christ.

Forerunner of the Catholic Apostolic Church

In 1826, Irving was introduced to the ideas of Manuel Lacunza, a Spanish Jesuit who, under the assumed Jewish name of Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra, had written a book entitled, "The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty." Irving was so taken by the ideas of Lacunza that he mastered Spanish and, in 1827, published a translation of Lacunza's book with a 203 page preface.

It was through Irving that Lacunza's apocalyptic interpretation of the Book of Revelation was introduced to the early leaders of the Plymouth Brethren. At this time, Irving also discussed his ideas on millenarianism with Coleridge, who he viewed as an eloquent mystic.

The seeds for the establishment of the Irvingite or the Catholic Apostolic Church, were laid when the banker Drummond, in 1826, opened up his house at his estate in Albury Park to a select group of churchmen, including noted Anglican, Church of Scotland, Moravian, and Non-conformist ministers, who discussed unfulfilled prophecies and Irving's new ideas. Leaders of the Plymouth Brethren, such as John Nelson Darby, attended one of the conferences on biblical prophecy at Powerscourt House, the home of Lady Powerscourt. The meetings at Drummond's estate, which drew many of the great minds of the time, continued each year until 1830.

Excommunication

In 1828, Irving wrote his book, The Last Days: A Discourse on the Evil Character of These Our Times, Proving Them to be The 'Perilous Times' and the 'Last Day'. "I conclude," wrote Irving "that the last days… will begin to run from the time of God's appearing for his ancient people, and them together to work of destroying all Anti-Christian nations, of evangelizing the world, and of governing the Millennium…"^[1] Irving now began to focus his preaching exclusively on the prophetical books and especially of the Revelation. In a series of sermons on prophecy both in London and other towns in England he spoke to large crowds and filled some of the largest churches of Edinburgh in 1830.

It appeared Irving had tapped into the popular imagination concerning the Book of Revelation and the Last Days. However, his exercise of the gifts of prophecy and healing, his interpretation of the Gospel, and his absolute certainty that Christ was returning in 1868, soon stirred controversy. Most of all, it was his doctrines on the humanity of Christ that got him into trouble. While he taught that while Christ was sinless in thought, word, and deed, Irving emphasized the human side of Jesus' nature to a degree that many churchmen found unacceptable. He also believed the "absence of miraculous gifts was the fruit of the Church's long unbelief" and that the established churches had stagnated as a result.^[2]

In 1830, Irving was excommunicated by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. In the following year, he was declared unfit to remain the minister of the National Scotch Church of Regent Square. Following these events, Irving's followers began to describe themselves as the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church. In 1832, they moved to a new building in Newman Street. In March 1833, Irving was deposed from the ministry of the Church of Scotland by the presbytery of Annan on the charge of heresy.

The Newman Street Congregation, however, re-ordained him and retained him as their pastor. Irving had now in fact created his own church, which would develop its own creed and rites. The Catholic Apostolic Church grew out of this congregation in Newman Street and at its height had 50,000 worshipers and numerous churches throughout England.

Irving was later consecrated as an "Angel" in the Catholic Apostolic faith, which built a huge church, known as the Church of Christ at Gordon Square in London. The church recruited established men in society to take on the role of Christ's new disciples. It was open to new prophecies and the practice of speaking in tongues. In the basement of the Church of Christ, known as London's "third cathedral," the group prepared splendid robes and capes for the coming Messiah and his disciples.

Irving returned to Scotland in 1834, due to illness and hoped to recover there. He died of consumption, still in the prime of life, on December 7, 1834, at the age of 42. He left behind a widow and three children.

Legacy

Edward Irving was the founder of the Catholic Apostolic Church, and his followers were sometimes called Irvingites. He was a pioneer of the pre-millennialism movement in England and the forerunner of modern Pentecostalism.

There is a statue of Edward Irving in the grounds of Annan Old Parish Church in Dumfriesshire.

Bibliography

The writings of Edward Irving published during his lifetime were:

For the Oracles of God, Four Orations (1823)
For Judgment to come (1823)
Babylon and Infidelity foredoomed (1826)
Sermons, etc. (3 vols, 1828)
Exposition of the Book of Revelation (1831)
An introduction to The Coming of the Messiah, a translation of Ben-Ezra
An introduction to George Horne's Commentary on the Psalms.

His collected works were published in 5 volumes, edited by Gavin Carlyle. The Life of Edward Irving, by Margaret Oliphant, appeared in 1862, in 2 vols. Among a large number of biographies published previously, that by Washington Wilks (1854) has some merit.

Notes

↑ Edward Irving (1850), p. 10-22.
↑ Ian H. Murray (1971), p. 193.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Dallimore, Arnold. The Life of Edward Irving, the Fore-runner of the Charismatic Movement. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1983. ISBN 0-85151-369-7
Irving, Edward. The Last Days: A Discourse on the Evil Character of These Our Times, Proving Them to be The 'Perilous Times' and the 'Last Day.' London: James Nisbit, 1850.
Murray, Ian H. The Puritan Hope: Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1971.
Strachan, Gordon. The Pentecostal Theology of Edward Irving. London: Hendrickson Publishers, 1988. ISBN 978-0943575049
Stunt, Timothy C.F., From Awakening to Secession, Radical Evangelicals in Switzerland and Britain 1815-35. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000. ISBN 0-567-08719-0
Warfield, B. B. Counterfeit Miracles. Banner of Truth, 1996 (original 1972). ISBN 0-85151-166-X

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

External links

All links retrieved February 12, 2024.

Significant Scots - Edward Irving. www.electricscotland.com.
Collected Works of Edward Irving Edited by Gavin Carlyle Vol 2 books.google.com.
The Life Of Edward Irving by Margaret Oliphant Vol 1 books.google.com. & Vol 2 books.google.com.

Credits

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[1] Edward Irving (1850), p. 10-22.

[2] Ian H. Murray (1971), p. 193.

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-'''Edward Irving''' ([[August 4]], [[1792]] &ndash; [[December 7]], [[1834]]), [[Scotland|Scottish]] clergyman, generally (but wrongly) regarded as the founder of the [[Catholic Apostolic Church]], was born at [[Annan, Dumfries and Galloway|Annan]], [[Annandale]].
+[[Image:Edward Irving.jpg|thumb|Edward Irving]]
+'''Edward Irving''' was a noted Scottish clergyman generally regarded as the founder of the [[Catholic Apostolic Church]]. His followers were sometimes called Irvingites. Irving was a flamboyant pulpit orator, who became one of London's most famous preachers in the nineteenth century for his sermons on the topic of the [[Last Days]]. Many of his followers received revelations, saw visions, and [[glossolalia|spoke in tongues]].
+{{toc}}
+Irving is sometimes referred to as a forerunner of the [[Charismatic Movement]]. He was eventually [[excommunication|excommunicated]] from the [[Church of Scotland]] for deviating from church doctrine. He claimed he was the new "[[John the Baptist]]" and emphasized the humanity of Christ. Today, Irving is remembered for being a leader of the [[pre-millennialism]] movement in the nineteenth century, an early originator of the doctrine of the [[Rapture]], and a pioneer of modern [[Pentecostalism]].
 ==His youth==
-By his father's side, who followed the occupation of a [[tanner]], he was descended from a family long known in the district, and the purity of whose [[Scottish lineage]] had been tinged by alliance with [[France|French]] [[Huguenot]] [[refugee]]s; but it was from his mother's race, the [[Lowther]]s, farmers or small proprietors in Annandale, that he seems to have derived the most distinctive features of his personality. The first stage of his education was passed at a school kept by Peggy Paine, a relation of [[Thomas Paine]] of the ''[[Age of Reason]]'', after which he entered the [[Annan Academy]], taught by Mr Adam Hope, of whom there is a graphic sketch in the ''Reminiscences'' of [[Thomas Carlyle]].
+Irving was born in the town of Annan in the Scottish county of Dumfries and Galloway on August 4, 1792, and died on December 7, 1834. His father, Gavin, worked as a [[tanner]] and was a descendant of [[Huguenot]] refugees from [[France]]. His mother came from the Lowther family, who were farmers or small proprietors in the Annan area, and it seems that from her, he may have derived the most distinctive features of his personality. His early education took place at a school run by Margaret (Peggy) Paine, an aunt of [[Thomas Paine]] (who wrote ''[[Age of Reason]]''). As a boy, Irving studied at the Annan Academy.
 ==Work in Scotland==
-At the age of thirteen he entered the [[University of Edinburgh]]. In 1809 he graduated [[Scottish MA|M.A.]]; and in 1810, on the recommendation of [[John Leslie (physicist)|Sir John Leslie]], he was chosen master of an academy newly established at [[Haddington]], [[East Lothian]], where he became the [[tutor]] of [[Jane Welsh]], afterwards famous as Mrs Carlyle.
+At the age of 13, he entered the [[University of Edinburgh]] and graduated in 1809. A year later, on the recommendation of the physicist Sir [[John Leslie]], Irving was chosen as master of an academy newly established at Haddington, East Lothian, where he became the tutor of [[Jane Welsh]], afterwards famous as wife of essayist [[Thomas Carlyle]].
-He became engaged in 1812 to Isabella Martin, whom in 1823 he married; but it may be at once stated here that meanwhile he gradually fell in love with Jane Welsh, and she with him. He tried to get out of his engagement with Miss Martin, but was prevented by her family. It was Irving, ironically, who in 1821 had introduced Carlyle to her.
+He was engaged in 1812, to [[Isabella Martin]] but fell in love with Jane Welsh. He tried to get out of his engagement with Miss Martin, but was prevented by her family, marrying her in 1823. After completing his divinity studies, Irving was licensed to preach in June 1815, but continued to focus on his scholastic endeavors for three more years. While studying [[mathematics]] and [[physical science]], he also began to read the old classics, including works from the theologian [[Richard Hooker]], who became his favorite author. At the same time, he became fond of ''[[Arabian Nights]]''. He also reportedly carried a miniature copy of James McPherson's cycle of poems, ''[[Ossian]],'' in his waistcoat pocket, which he would often recite passages from.
-His appointment at Haddington he exchanged for a similar one at [[Kirkcaldy]], [[Fife]], in 1812. Completing his divinity studies by a series of partial sessions, he was licensed to preach in June 1815, but continued to discharge his scholastic duties for three years. He devoted his leisure, not only to [[mathematical]] and [[physical science]], but to a course of reading in [[English literature]], his bias towards the antique in sentiment and style being strengthened by a perusal of the older classics, among whom [[Richard Hooker (theologian)|Richard Hooker]] was his favorite author. At the same time his love of the marvellous found gratification in the wonders of the ''[[Arabian Nights]]'', and it is further characteristically related of him that he used to carry continually in his waistcoat pocket a miniature copy of ''[[Ossian]]'', passages from which he frequently recited with sonorous elocution and vehement gesticulation.
+In the summer of 1818, Irving resigned his teaching position, and in order to increase the probability of obtaining a permanent appointment in the [[Church of Scotland]], he took up residence in [[Edinburgh]]. Although he was well known for his public speaking, his prospects of becoming a minister in the church looked dim. Irving was about to go on a missionary tour in [[Persia]] when he finally found work in the church as an assistant and missionary to [[Dr. Thomas Chalmers]] in St. John's Parish, [[Glasgow]].
-In the summer of [[1818]] he resigned his mastership, and, in order to increase the probability of obtaining a permanent appointment in the [[Church of Scotland]], took up his residence in [[Edinburgh]]. Although his exceptional method of address seems to have gained him the qualified approval of certain dignitaries of the church, the prospect of his obtaining a settled charge seemed as remote as ever, and he was meditating a missionary tour in [[Persia]] when his departure was arrested by steps taken by Dr [[Thomas Chalmers]], which, after considerable delay, resulted, in October [[1819]], in Irving being appointed his assistant and missionary in St John's Parish, [[Glasgow]].
+Irving's passionate and lively style of preaching—which Chalmers, the first moderator of the [[Free Church of Scotland]], compared to Italian music—found little interest among the congregation of St John's. However, as a missionary among the poorer classes in [[Glasgow]], Irving was well received. He was welcomed into people's homes, where his benediction, "Peace be to this house," was greeted warmly. His ability to preach in homely settings won him many admirers and by many who were taken up by his embracing personality and vibrant spirit.
-Except in the case of a select few, Irving's preaching awakened little interest among the congregation of St John's, Chalmers himself, with no partiality for its bravuras and flourishes, comparing it to [[Italian music]], appreciated only by [[connoisseur]]s ; but as a missionary among the poorer classes he wielded an influence that was altogether unique. The benediction "Peace be to this house," with which, in accordance with [[apostolic]] usage, he greeted every dwelling he entered, was not inappropriate to his figure and aspect, and it is said he took the people's attention wonderfully, the more especially after the magic of his personality found opportunity to reveal itself in close and homely intercourse.
+==His rise in London==
+In the winter of 1821, Irving again turned his attention toward missionary work in the East, but received an invitation from the Church of Scotland congregation at the Caledonian Church in Hatton Garden, [[London]], to minister to the small gathering there. He was ordained as a [[Presbyterian Church]] minister in July 1822. In previous years Irving had expressed a desire to preach to the leading figures in society, arts, and literature. Suddenly, he found himself in exactly such a situation, as important members of society flocked to hear him preach. His sudden leap in popularity may have been occasioned in part by a reference to Irving's striking eloquence made by [[George Canning]], a leading member of the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]], who had attended Irving's church.
+It became clear that Irving was a brilliant preacher and orator. His intellect and theological arguments made an impression on the political, legal, and scientific men of the era. Irving was controversial as well as popular. He preached that the Christian church was entering a period of judgment in preparation for Christ's imminent return. These ideas did not often sit well with the more conservative leaders of his church.
+In 1825, Irving was invited to preach to the [[Continental Society]], where he met the influential banker [[Henry Drummond]], who was to become a key figure and sponsor of the future [[Catholic Apostolic Church]] (the Drummond family to this day still funds the few remaining Catholic Apostolic churches in England).
-==His rise in London==
+Irving was now one of the most popular preachers in London. He had the intellectual capabilities to discourse with some of the great minds of England, while at the same time an ability to capture his audience with his passionate expression of emotions. He was a deeply spiritual man who appealed to his audience with his vision and zeal. Irving felt he was specially prepared to teach his prophetic and apocalyptic message to the leading figures of the age. However, he faced a fire of criticism from pamphlets, newspapers, and reviews for his volume of ''Orations,'' published in 1823, which was dedicated to the poet [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], who was viewed with suspicion by the church. In his writings, Irving stated with certainty that, based on [[numerology]] derived from the [[Book of Revelation]], humankind had entered the [[Last Days]] and that Christ would return soon.
-This half-success in a subordinate sphere was, however, so far from coinciding with his aspirations that he had again, in the winter of 1821, begun to turn his attention towards missionary labour in the East, when the possibility of fulfilling the dream of his life was suddenly revealed to him by an invitation from the [[Caledonian Church]], [[Hatton Garden]], [[London]], to make trial and proof of his gifts before the remnant of the [[congregation (worship)|congregation]] which held together. Over that charge he was ordained in July [[1822]]. Some years previously he had expressed his conviction that one of the chief needs of the age was to make inroad after the alien, to bring in the votaries of fashion, of literature, of setiment, of policy and of rank, who are content in their several idolatries to do without piety to God and love to Him whom He hath sent; and, with an abruptness which must have produced on him at first an effect almost astounding, he now bad the satisfaction of beholding these various votaries thronging to hear from his lips the words of wisdom which would deliver them from their several idolatries and remodel their lives according to the fashion of apostolic times.
-This sudden leap into popularity seems to have been occasioned in connection with a veiled allusion to Irving's striking eloquence made in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] by Calming, who had been induced to attend his church from admiration of an expression in one of his prayers, quoted to him by [[Sir James Mackintosh]]. His commanding stature, the symmetry of his form, the dark and melancholy beauty of his countenance, rather rendered piquant than impaired by an obliquity of vision, produced an imposing impression even before his deep and powerful voice had given utterance to its melodious thunders; and harsh and superficial half-truths enunciated with surpassing ease and grace of gesture, and not only with an air of absolute conviction but with the authority of a prophetic messenger, in tones whose magical fascination was inspired by an earnestness beyond all imitation of art, acquired a plausibility and importance which, at least while the orator spoke, made his audience entirely forgetful of their preconceived objections against them. The subject-matter of his orations, and his peculiar treatment of his themes, no doubt also, at least at first, constituted a considerable part of his attractive influence.
+Irving's passionate oratory increased his popularity, and his congregation in London grew so much that in 1827, he moved into the larger Regent Square Church.
-He had specially prepared himself, as he thought, for teaching imaginative men, and political men, and legal men, and scientific men who bear the world in hand ; and he did not attempt to win their attention to abstract and worn-out theological arguments, but discussed the opinions, the poetry, the politics, the manners and customs of the time, and this not with philosophical comprehensiveness, not in terms of warm eulogy or measured blame, but of severe satire varied by fierce denunciation, and with a specific minuteness which was concerned primarily with individuals. A fire of criticism from pamphlets, newspapers and reviews opened on his volume of ''Orations'', published in [[1823]]; but the excitement produced was merely superficial and essentially evanescent. Though cherishing a strong antipathy to the received ecclesiastical formulas, Irving's great aim was to revive the antique style of thought and sentiment which had hardened into these formulas, and by this means to supplant the new influences, the accidental and temporary moral shortcomings of which he detected with instinctive certainty, but whose profound and real tendencies were utterly beyond the reach of his conjecture. Being thus radically at variance with the main current of the thought of his time, the failure of the commission he had undertaken was sooner or later inevitable; and shortly after the opening of his new church in Regent Square in 1827, he found that fashion had taken its departure, and the church, though always well filled, was no longer crowded. By this desertion his self-esteem, one of his strongest passions, though curiously united with singular sincerity and humility, was doubtless hurt to the quick; but the wound inflicted was of a deeper and deadlier kind, for it confirmed him finally in his despair of the worlds gradual amelioration, and established his tendency towards [[supernaturalism]].
+Irving believed that the early spirituality of the Church had become stagnated. As his sermons began more and more to emphasize the supernatural and the imminent return of Christ, Irving faced criticism, especially on his views concerning the human nature of Christ.
 ==Forerunner of the Catholic Apostolic Church==
-For years the subject of prophecy had occupied much of his thoughts, and his belief in the near approach of the second advent had received such wonderful corroboration by the perusal of the work of a [[Jesuit]] priest, [[Manuel Lacunza]], writing under the assumed Jewish name of Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra, that in 1827 he published a translation of it, accompanied with an eloquent preface. Probably the religious opinions of Irving, originally in some respects more catholic and truer to human nature than generally prevailed in ecclesiastical circles, had gained breadth and comprehensiveness from his intercourse with [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Coleridge]], but gradually his chief interest in Coleridge's philosophy centred round that which was mystical and obscure, and to it in all likelihood may be traced his initiation into the doctrine of [[millenarianism]].  It was through Irving that Lacunza's theory was introduced to the early leaders of the [[Plymouth Brethren]]  whose early leaders such as [[John Nelson Darby]] attended one of the conferences on biblical prophecy at [[Powerscourt House]] (the home of [[Viscount Powerscourt|Lady Powerscourt]]) and various other localities in County Wicklow from 1830 to 1840. The Letters and Papers of Lady Powerscourt have been published by Chapter Two Publishing Trust, London [[http://www.chaptertwobooks.org.uk]].
+In 1826, Irving was introduced to the ideas of [[Manuel Lacunza]], a Spanish [[Jesuit]] who, under the assumed Jewish name of Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra, had written a book entitled, "The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty." Irving was so taken by the ideas of Lacunza that he mastered Spanish and, in 1827, published a translation of Lacunza's book with a 203 page preface.
-The first stage of his later development, which resulted in the establishment of the Irvingite or Holy Catholic Apostolic Church, in 1832, was associated with conferences at his friend [[Henry Drummond (1786-1860)|Henry Drummond]]'s seat at Albury concerning unfulfilled prophecy, followed by an almost exclusive study of the prophetical books and especially of the [[Apocalypse]], and by several series of sermons on prophecy both in London and the provinces, his apocalyptic lectures in 1828 more than crowding the largest churches of Edinburgh in the early summer mornings. in 1830, however, there was opened up to his ardent imagination a new vista into spiritual things, a new hope for the age in which he lived, by the seeming actual revival in a remote corner of Scotland of those apostolic gifts of prophecy and healing which he had already in 1828 persuaded himself had only been kept in abeyance by the absence of faith.
+It was through Irving that Lacunza's apocalyptic interpretation of the [[Book of Revelation]] was introduced to the early leaders of the [[Plymouth Brethren]]. At this time, Irving also discussed his ideas on [[millenarianism]] with Coleridge, who he viewed as an eloquent mystic.
+The seeds for the establishment of the Irvingite or the Catholic Apostolic Church, were laid when the banker Drummond, in 1826, opened up his house at his estate in Albury Park to a select group of churchmen, including noted [[Anglican]], Church of Scotland, Moravian, and Non-conformist ministers, who discussed unfulfilled prophecies and Irving's new ideas.
+Leaders of the Plymouth Brethren, such as [[John Nelson Darby]], attended one of the conferences on biblical prophecy at [[Powerscourt House]], the home of [[Viscount Powerscourt|Lady Powerscourt]]. The meetings at Drummond's estate, which drew many of the great minds of the time, continued each year until 1830.
-At once he welcomed the new powers with an unquestioning evidence which could be shaken by neither the remonstrances or desertion of his dearest friends, the recantation of some of the principal agents of the gifts, his own declension into a comparatively subordinate position, the meagre and barren results of the manifestations, nor their general rejection both by the church and the world. His excommunication by the presbytery of London, in 1830, for publishing his doctrines regarding the humanity of Jesus Christ, and the condemnation of these opinions by the [[General Assembly of the Church of Scotland]] in the following year, were secondary episodes which only affected the main issue of his career in so far as they tended still further to isolate him from the sympathy of the church; but the irregularities connected with the manifestation of the gifts gradually estranged the majority of his own congregation, and on the complaint of the trustees to the presbytery of London, whose authority they had formerly rejected, he was declared unfit to remain the minister of the National Scotch Church of Regent Square.
+==Excommunication==
+In 1828, Irving wrote his book, ''The Last Days: A Discourse on the Evil Character of These Our Times, Proving Them to be The 'Perilous Times' and the 'Last Day'''. "I conclude," wrote Irving "that the last days… will begin to run from the time of God's appearing for his ancient people, and them together to work of destroying all Anti-Christian nations, of evangelizing the world, and of governing the Millennium…"<ref>Edward Irving (1850), p. 10-22.</ref> Irving now began to focus his preaching exclusively on the prophetical books and especially of the [[Revelation]]. In a series of sermons on prophecy both in London and other towns in England he spoke to large crowds and filled some of the largest churches of Edinburgh in 1830.
-After he and those who adhered to him (describing themselves as of the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church) had in 1832 removed to a new building in Newman Street, he was in March 1833 deposed from the ministry of the Church of Scotland by the [[Presbytery]] of Annan on the original charge of [[heresy]]. With the sanction of the power he was now after some delay reordained chief pastor of the church assembled in Newman Street, but unremitting labours and ceaseless spiritual excitement soon completely exhausted the springs of his vital energy. He died, worn out and wasted with labour and absorbing care, while still in the prime of life, on the 7th of December 1834.
+It appeared Irving had tapped into the popular imagination concerning the [[Book of Revelation]] and the [[Last Days]]. However, his exercise of the gifts of prophecy and healing, his interpretation of the Gospel, and his absolute certainty that Christ was returning in 1868, soon stirred controversy. Most of all, it was his doctrines on the humanity of Christ that got him into trouble. While he taught that while Christ was sinless in thought, word, and deed, Irving emphasized the human side of Jesus' nature to a degree that many churchmen found unacceptable. He also believed the "absence of miraculous gifts was the fruit of the Church's long unbelief" and that the established churches had stagnated as a result.<ref>Ian H. Murray (1971), p. 193.</ref>
+In 1830, Irving was excommunicated by the [[General Assembly of the Church of Scotland]]. In the following year, he was declared unfit to remain the minister of the National Scotch Church of Regent Square. Following these events, Irving's followers began to describe themselves as the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church. In 1832, they moved to a new building in Newman Street. In March 1833, Irving was deposed from the ministry of the Church of Scotland by the [[presbytery]] of Annan on the charge of [[heresy]].
+The Newman Street Congregation, however, re-ordained him and retained him as their pastor. Irving had now in fact created his own church, which would develop its own creed and rites. The [[Catholic Apostolic Church]] grew out of this congregation in Newman Street and at its height had 50,000 worshipers and numerous churches throughout England.
+Irving was later consecrated as an "Angel" in the Catholic Apostolic faith, which built a huge church, known as the [[Church of Christ at Gordon Square]] in [[London]]. The church recruited established men in society to take on the role of Christ's new disciples. It was open to new prophecies and the practice of [[glossolalia|speaking in tongues]]. In the basement of the Church of Christ, known as London's  "third cathedral," the group prepared splendid robes and capes for the coming [[Messiah]] and his disciples.
+Irving returned to Scotland in 1834, due to illness and hoped to recover there. He died of [[consumption]], still in the prime of life, on December 7, 1834, at the age of 42. He left behind a widow and three children.
+==Legacy==
+Edward Irving was the founder of the [[Catholic Apostolic Church]], and his followers were sometimes called Irvingites. He was a pioneer of the pre-millennialism movement in England and the forerunner of modern [[Pentecostalism]].
-==Monument==
 There is a statue of Edward Irving in the grounds of [[Annan Old Parish Church]] in Dumfriesshire.
@@ Line 41: / Line 62: @@
 *''For Judgment to come'' (1823)
 *''Babylon and Infidelity foredoomed'' (1826)
-*''Sermons'', etc. (3 vols, 1828)
+*''Sermons,'' etc. (3 vols, 1828)
 *''Exposition of the Book of Revelation'' (1831)
-*an introduction to ''The Coming of the Messiah'', a translation of Ben-Ezra
+*An introduction to ''The Coming of the Messiah'', a translation of Ben-Ezra
-*an introduction to [[George Horne|Horne]]'s ''Commentary on the Psalms''.
+*An introduction to George Horne's ''Commentary on the Psalms''.
-His collected works were published in 5 volumes, edited by Gavin Carlyle. ''The Life of Edward Irving'', by [[Margaret Oliphant Oliphant|Mrs Oliphant]], appeared in 1862 in 2 vols. Among a large number of biographies published previously, that by Washington Wilks (1854) has some merit. See also [[William Hazlitt|Hazlitt]]'s ''Spirit of the Age''; Coleridge's ''Notes on English Divines''; Carlyle's ''Miscellanies'', and Carlyle's ''Reminiscences'', vol. 1. (1881).
+His collected works were published in 5 volumes, edited by Gavin Carlyle. ''The Life of Edward Irving,'' by Margaret Oliphant, appeared in 1862, in 2 vols. Among a large number of biographies published previously, that by Washington Wilks (1854) has some merit.
-== For further reading ==
+==Notes==
-* Gordon Strachan, ''The Pentecostal Theology of Edward Irving''; London, 1973.
+<references/>
-* Dallimore, Arnold, ''The Life of Edward Irving, the Fore-runner of the Charismatic Movement'',  Edinburgh, The [[Banner of Truth Trust]], 1983. ISBN 0-85151-369-7, (188pp).
-* Stunt, Timothy C.F., ''From Awakening to Secession, Radical Evangelicals in Switzerland and Britain 1815-35'',  Edinburgh, T & T Clark, 2000. ISBN 0-567-08719-0, (402pp).
+== References ==
-* Warfield, B. B., ''Counterfeit Miracles'', Banner of Truth, 1996. ISBN 0-85151-166-X. ''Note: this book is not exclusively about Edward Irving, but discusses him and his ministry critically.''
+* Dallimore, Arnold. ''The Life of Edward Irving, the Fore-runner of the Charismatic Movement.'' Edinburgh: The [[Banner of Truth Trust]], 1983. ISBN 0-85151-369-7
+* Irving, Edward. ''The Last Days: A Discourse on the Evil Character of These Our Times, Proving Them to be The 'Perilous Times' and the 'Last Day.''' London: James Nisbit, 1850.
+* Murray, Ian H. ''The Puritan Hope: Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy''. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1971.
+* Strachan, Gordon. ''The Pentecostal Theology of Edward Irving.'' London: Hendrickson Publishers, 1988. ISBN 978-0943575049
+* Stunt, Timothy C.F., ''From Awakening to Secession, Radical Evangelicals in Switzerland and Britain 1815-35.'' Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000. ISBN 0-567-08719-0
+* Warfield, B. B. ''Counterfeit Miracles.'' Banner of Truth, 1996 (original 1972). ISBN 0-85151-166-X
+{{1911}}
 ==External links==
-*[http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/irving_edward.htm Significant Scots - Edward Irving]
+All links retrieved February 12, 2024.
-*''Collected Works of Edward Irving'' Edited by Gavin Carlyle [http://books.google.com/books?vid=0FKbtdl0ZT2Klj2S&id=CPsCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=%22The+collected+writings+of+Edward+Irving%22#PPP14,M1 Vol 2], [http://www.openlibrary.org/details/collectedwriting00irviuoft Vol 3]
-*''The Life Of Edward Irving'' by Margaret Oliphant [http://books.google.com/books?id=ad8JXXUU-AUC&pg=PR3&printsec=4&dq=life+of+edward+irving Vol 1] & [http://books.google.com/books?id=TAR5bKW7xqEC&pg=PR3&printsec=4&dq=EDWARD+IRVING  Vol 2]
+*[http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/irving_edward.htm Significant Scots - Edward Irving]. ''www.electricscotland.com''.
+*''Collected Works of Edward Irving'' Edited by Gavin Carlyle [http://books.google.com/books?vid=0FKbtdl0ZT2Klj2S&id=CPsCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=%22The+collected+writings+of+Edward+Irving%22#PPP14,M1 Vol 2] ''books.google.com''.
+*''The Life Of Edward Irving'' by Margaret Oliphant [http://books.google.com/books?id=ad8JXXUU-AUC&pg=PR3&printsec=4&dq=life+of+edward+irving Vol 1] ''books.google.com''. & [http://books.google.com/books?id=TAR5bKW7xqEC&pg=PR3&printsec=4&dq=EDWARD+IRVING  Vol 2] ''books.google.com''.
-{{1911}}
-[[Category:History and Biography]]
-[[Category:Philosophy and Religion]]
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+[[Category:History]]
+[[Category:Philosophy and religion]]