THE IRVINGITES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2356, 20 April 1899, Page 55

THE IRVINGITES.

It is somewhat hard to realise (says "M.A.P") that an age so materialistic as this, with its decay of faith all around, should still see such* an organisation as that of the Irvingite sect, or to give it its own name — the Catholic and Apostolic Church. The sect was founded, as readers of Mrs Oliphant well know, by Edward Irving — the young Scotch clergyman, who was the teacher, and then the sweetheart; who ought to hive been Ihr husband of Jane Wehh Cailylo The lu-g> story has often been told — iinou,: otiiOi > Lv my unworthy self. Irving !„», c i r ( pp c Wclsl^ and Jane Welsh lovctl mm; a; <J m l>oth cases they probably ]<;\e<l uu'..h i the: to the very end. But Irving had bvui cnua^cd to a "young

woman, the daughter of a fellow minister, ' before he had met the bright, black-eyed, olive-skinned gipsy with the sharp- tongue, the domineering character, the comfortable fortune, the fiery and vehement nature of" Jane Welsh ; and the lady and her father held the young fellow to "Ms bond.

Sick at last, tired of suspense, stung in her pride by the suggestion of an interfering but well-meaning friend that she was still dying for love of Irving, Jane Welsh was precipitated into her marriage with Carlyle. — The sequel of the 'story was as tragic as its opening ; Jane Welsh led what I have always regarded a life of hell with Carlyle, and in the end her heart burst, and she died in her carriage in Hyde Park without a moment of preparation or warning: and Froude, looking at her face, from which Death's effacing fingers had cleared away the heavy and harsh lines of sunless days and sleepless nights, of unsatisfied longings and mute revolts, declared that- it was the most impressive on which he. had ever looked. And Carlyle was left to loneliness and remorse, to that vain appeal to the deaf to hear, to the - dead to feel, and to the harshly-treated" to forgive, by- which so many of us pay the penalty of om unkindness to the living. Irving ended, to my mind, almost as tragically. Popular preacher for a while," with churches crammed to suffocation, and all the blare and tumult of the clerical celebrity, he ended by losing his senses, and then — why, then he founded a new religion! There was to be a second coming of the Saviour; the gift of tongues was supposed to come to the second race of Apostles as to the first; and the officers of the congregation were called angels and archangels.

I have always held that a man's religion was something aloof and apart from everything else in his life and being. You can never tell what a man thinks on religion from what he thinks on any other subject. Some, not only of the shrewdest, the most realistic, and the most humorous men I have known, have belonged to this creed. The late John Lovell was a friend of many journalists of to-day. He began life, 1 believe, as a blacksmith ; and to the end of his days he had the splendid sturdiness, the capacious breadth, the oxlike strength of his original trade. A man of extraordinary originality of mind_, he taught himself ; became a great political thinker, a magnificent journalist, one of the finest masters of figures — especially on economic subjects — I ever met. And to the consideration of every man and every topic, -he bi'ought a calm, detached, realistic, somewhat cynical mind. Most journalists are detached, realistic, cool, and cynical — it is the inevitable result of their training,- with their peeps behind the scenes and into the green rooms of all professions and organisations and creeds-; but Jolin Lovell I should put — though the best hearted of fellows — as more than usually cool, detached, realistic, and cynical, and yet this man lived and died an Irvingite. * •

Lord Macdonald, now one of the judges in Scotland, was one of the most humorous and realistic members of the House of Commons I have ever known. He is a fine tall man, with a clean-shaven face, a humorous twinkle in his eye, a dry wit, a certain contempt for his fellow men that makes you sometimes think he is really a Frenchman of the Voltairean school rather than a modern Scotchman. He was always amusing to the House of Commons, mainly because he remained cool, good humoured, witty in all possible contiugertcies. During the session, when he was Lord Advocate, he was in charge of a bill about roads and bridges in Scotland. The very mention ot the bill made the House a yawning desert except for the Scotchmen ; but the Scotchmen who remained made up in their fervour for this general absence and lack ot interest. They thundered, foamed, uttered tremendous phittipics with regard to the bill, and one night their holy, rage reached the heights of a sacred war among the Dervishes when they discovered that the Lord Advocate was absent from his place, and that the cause of his absence was the very ignoble one that he was eafeing his dinner.

Meanwhile the Lord .Advocate, aim*. 1 Falstaffian in the amplitude of his prop tiom: and sunniness of his temper, went <■>'■> eating his dinner, either ignorant or careless of these thundering phillipics^ and when he returned everybody "was prepared for an elaborate defence and a tempestuous refusal on the part of his indignant countrymen to be appeased. Nothing of the kind occurred. The Lord Advocate blandly made the remark that it was quite true he had tarried over his meal ; the reason was that he had found it necessary to take a double allowance of food so as to be equal to th« arguments of the hon. gentlemen opposite ! What more could be said? And this genial cynic also — this perfect man of the world — is an IrvingHe.

Henry Drummnd was the godfather of the Irvingite Church ; and as he was the father-in-law of the late Duke of Northumbeiland, he was probably responsible for the entrance of the Duke into the household of the Irvingite faith, Henry Drummond is a character unknown to this generation ; it is a pifcy ; he was a most interesting man. Member of the House ot Commons for a great number of years, he never took office, and yet he was one of the unseen and most influential wire-pullers of the Tory party. His shrewdness, his freedom from -prejudice, his cynicism, his judgment of men made him an invaluable adviser ; and he was constantly consulted by his leaders. Yet this man of the "world was also an Irvingite ; indeed, the sect owed its foundation almost as much to his wealth, strength of character, and influence as to the tangled genius of Irving.

The Duke, I have seen it stated, adhered to his Irvingite views, -with quiet inflexibility, to the end. Though he subscribed liberally to the Church of England, he never attended the Anglican services in the private chapel in his own house ; and during the lifetime of the late Duchess, according to one of the papers, there was always at the uir-ncr table the vacant chair, which was to signify ihaf-, when the Second Coming occurred, the disciples were there.

ready to receive Him. And these are tht strange customs and curious ideas that live around- us -in -the midst of all oiu whirling and unbelieving age. Many years ago, when- travelling on the Continent, the lately deceased Duke ot Northumberland paid a visit to a Brigittine convent Jiear Ghent, attracted largely by the fact that it bore the same title as his magnificent jplace at Isleworth — Sion House. To his surprise, and profound interest, he found that he had chanced upon the veiy house into which the Isleworth Brigittinea had jni grated when they were unceremoniously bundled out of their nunnery at Sion House, Isleworth; by Elizabeth, soon after the death of her sister- Queon Mary, who had re-established them in their old community house. In conversation with the Mother Abbess, he told her that he was, rightfully or wrongfully, the actual possessor of the old domains of her order, and added playfully that he was keeping everything, in beautiful ordei for her in case the '* conversion of England" came in his time. .The abbess— an Englishwoman, I believe — was as ■ interested as. the Duke, and showed him such of Hhe archives of Sion. House as had Been, brought over to Belgium by her order in their flight. Finally she handed him a large, antique key. " You see, "my lord," she said', " when the time comes we can walk into our own housfe, without troubling you -to Jeave the maia door unlocked ! " With characteristic femininity, it seems, the Mother Abbess of threa centuries ago had locked 'the front door of Sion House, and pocketed the key, as a sort of -woman's protest against the disestablishment of the ancient faith! And here ifc was, in the hands of the descendant (albeit in the female line), of the man who had been obliged to break the door open to get in! It was a humorous situation, -with its pathetic side. The Duke, when he related the incident afterwards* used to say that he felt quite sorry for telling his hostess, as he gave her Hack the key, that unluckily the ancient doorway of Sion House, no longet existed, and that of ' course her key M'culd hardly fit any of his modern locks.. There is, by-the-bye, a Taranch of the Percy family still flourishing in Belgium, descended from that Earl Percy who was attainted by Queen Elizabeth and sought re* fuge at Brussels. The family is still in possession of a great quantity of magnificent silver plate of the sixteenth century, which has engraved upon it the arms of the Northumberlands. There is also a village near Brussels, said to have heen. founded by the Percys, and also called Percie.