V.2 
 
IRVINGISM. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY AND DOCTRINES 
 
 OF 
 
 IRVINGISM, 
 
 OR OF THE 
 
 SO-CALLED CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 EDWARD MILLER, M.A., 
 
 VICAR OF butler's MARSTON, 
 AND FORMERLY FELLOW AND TUTOR OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 IiV TWO VOLS.— VOL. IL 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 C. Kegax Paul & Co., i, Paternoster Square. 
 
 187S. 
 
!¥inng3n 
 
 CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS. 
 
 The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved. 
 

 CONTENTS OF VOL. II. 
 
 DOCTRINES. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DOCTRINES, 
 
 Introduction — § I. Immediate expectation of the Second Advent — § 2. Doc- 
 trine of the Incarnation — § 3. Bible Symbolism — ^^ 4. The Church — 
 § 5. The Fourfold Ministry — § 6. The Restored Apostolate — $ 7. Pro- 
 phets — § 8. Evangelists — § 9. Pastors — <J 10. Hierarchy — § 11. Church 
 Services — § 12. Other Doctrines — § 13. Finance . . . . i — 75 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GENERAL EXAMINATION. 
 
 I. Irvingism now an anachronism — II. Its failure — comparison with the 
 Early Church — futile objection — III. Deadness and dulness — IV. 
 Destructive internal forces — opposition between Apostles and Prophets 
 — iron rule — unwieldy Hierarchy — dreamy mysticism . . 76 — 93 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 EVIDENCE AND CATHOLICITY. 
 
 Objection considered — right use of human intellect — sanctified intellect — 
 judging by the fruits — objection — literature and enquiry— constructive 
 objection — not a bare question between Heaven and Hell — good points 
 admitted — good life in the Members does not prove the system trae — 
 three standards of appeal — English and Roman Catholicity — Irvingism 
 not Catholic — Doctrine — continuity of life . . . . 96 — ilS 
 
vi Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 APOSTLES. 
 
 Fourfold Ministry — types and symbols no proofs — the two passages incon- 
 sistent—Catholic interpretation — other passages condemnatory — no real 
 foundation — credentials of the Twelve— rest mainly upon our Lord — 
 their association with Him — St. Paul — call and direct appointment 
 from our Lord— St. Matthias — St. Barnabas — four credentials — Irvingite 
 Apostles can only claim one — futility of this claim — self-condemned 
 — by seventeen centuries of Church history — Irvingite plea 1 19 — 153 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BISHOPS THE SUCCESSORS OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 DiiTerence between Apostles and Bishops — when equals appoint equals — 
 local and general jurisdiction — nature of the Bible testimony — threefold 
 Ministry — in the Jewish Church — in our Lord's time — after His Ascen- 
 sion—early indistinctness of terms — Bishops appointed by the Apostles 
 — Clement of Rome — Ignatius — ^Hegesippus — Irenseus — TertuUian — ■ 
 Council of Carthage — -Cyprian — Firmilian — Eusebius — Augustine — 
 Jerome — Ambrose — Optatus — universal Doctrine — Cardale's position — 
 utterly unsound — why people fancied Apostles would come 154 — 187 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PROPHETICAL GIFTS. 
 
 Gifts in Apostolic times — after the Apostles' deaths — Montanism — ■ 
 about the era of the Reformation— Quakers — Camisards — Wesleyans — 
 Swedenborg — Joanna vSouthcote — Shakers — Mormons — Plymouth 
 Brethren — Agapemonites — Mrs. Girling — credentials of Prophets — 
 Moses —schools of the Prophets — Samuel — Elijah— Elisha — Amos — 
 Isaiah^Ezekiel — Daniel — Jonah — ^Jeremiah — John the Baptist — our 
 Lord — later Prophets — coincidence with Truth before revealed — 
 miracles— verified predictions . . . . . . 188 — 222 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ARE THESE MEN PROPHETS ? 
 
 Duty of reverential enquiry — Irvingites receive a great part of Catholic 
 Truth— but in characteristic points contravene it — surrender the proof 
 from miracles — their "miracles" not wrought publicly — can be ex- 
 plained naturally —illustrations — no verified predictions — vapidity of 
 
Contents. ^jj 
 
 tliese "prophecies "-treatment of their Prophets - travesty of the 
 Pentecostal events-nusunderstanding of the passage in x clZ^^l 
 
 smiulation of D.vine g.fts - concentrated attention - constructive 
 objec .v.ty-weakness of will-imagination-reflex power of prayl 
 - infection -expression of covert sentiment - hysteria - ecstasv 
 Satanic influence-Theology and Physiology- oriinarrsup^^::;.;; 
 
 • • 223—258 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 EXPECTATIOx\ OF THE GREAT ADVENT 
 
 I^teS iVcT" '';^^ °' ''^ su^,,,,,-l. Futurists -II. 
 l^i-^terists-III. Continuous Historic Scheme-IV. Spiritual Exe<.esis 
 
 ■ ■ 259—281 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE INCARNATION. 
 
 '''''-r.to "f 'S~r'f^" °', the Doctrine-combination with Deism 
 
 neglec of Church Festivals-Present rendering of the Doctrine 
 
 -Hypostatic Umon-Unfallen Nature -sanctificafon of St Ma"- 
 
 Zr:Zn^'''"^\ T^^"^"^ "°"^^P^-" rejected-^;:.! 
 trench upon His-unscnptural - opposed to Patristic opinion -our 
 Ws^tnie but unfallen human nature - danger of fo Jing our oln 
 
 . . 282-305 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TYPES AND SYMBOLISM. 
 
 ''"t:?; ;: ;;;: {^-------glected-strong feCings about-how 
 
 -ttllu t VJ~J f-tures-necessitated by human nature 
 ^jaught in the Mosaic Law - erroneous teaching - Catholic 
 
 • • 306—315 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 EFFECT OF THE EXAMINATION. 
 Fairness -the demand made upon all Christians -good characteristic, 
 enumerated-condemned by the Catholic Churchlby Holy ^^^^^^ 
 
viii Contents. 
 
 — at variance with Catholic Doctrine— no continuity of hfe — not real 
 Apostles — cannot answer to the four credentials — numerous prophetical 
 claims — three canons — these Prophets condemned — and accounted for 
 — other considerations — Irvingite reply — candid and reverent enquiry 
 both permissible and demanded — materials for it exist — recent advance 
 in the Church of England— prejudice — misconception of change — the 
 chimera of Romanism — the English as a Branch of the Catholic Church 
 — national acceptations of Christianity — resort to the Undivided Church 
 — Ecclesiastical Legislation in England now abnormal — the i^eform of it 
 before us — contemporaneous infidelity — its weakness — the causes of it — 
 a new Christian Philosophy — a new School of Theology — the strength 
 of the Faith . . . . . . . . . . 316—354 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 General lessons— expostulation — return to our Mother-Church — Catholic 
 Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . 355-360 
 
 The two Smaller Testimonies . . . . 361 — 3S0 
 
 The Mystery of the Candlestick .. .. 381—382 
 
 List of Offices in the Liturgy or Prayer-book 383 — 386 
 
 Selections from the Catechism . . . . 3S7 — 390 
 
 Passages from Manual . . . . . . 391 — 394 
 
 Account of the Catholic Apostolic Church 
 
 in the Census of 185 1 . . . . . . . . 395-397 
 
 Appendix VIII. The Tabernacle . . . . . . 398 — 403 
 
 Appendix IX. The Regulations for Distribution of Tithe 404 — 413 
 
 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . 415—420 
 
 Appendix 
 
 IL 
 
 Appendix 
 
 III. 
 
 Appendix 
 
 IV. 
 
 Appendix 
 
 V. 
 
 Appendix 
 
 VL 
 
 Appendix 
 
 VII. 
 
i 
 
 DOCTRINES OF IRVINGISM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DOCTRINES. 
 
 HE history of this sect of reh'gionists, which 
 has been gradually unfolded in the first volume 
 of this work, shows them to be a remarkable 
 Body of Christians. Their system of doctrine 
 and discipline has been worked out with the utmost 
 labour and ingenuity. For the short period of its ex- 
 istence, it is really a marvel of intricacy and of careful 
 adjustment of force and counterforce. Yet an examin- 
 ation reveals defects which are plainly fatal to the 
 entire conception. It is only suited for those who have 
 education enough to enable them to enter into its intri- 
 cate details, if we pass by those who are ready to accept 
 a new system with unquestioning credulity. But it fails 
 to arrest such as have been previously well instructed 
 and brought up in the wider doctrines of the Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 Irvingism is emphatically the child of the nineteenth 
 
 VOL. II. B 
 
2, Doctrines. 
 
 century. It has arisen out of the throes and seething 
 thought of the earHer part of this eventful period. And if 
 logic wins its way in the realms of religious belief, if long 
 habit does not remove from the disciples of these doctrines 
 the power of candid judgment, and usages and interests 
 do not become too deeply rooted to yield when their 
 raiso7i d'etre is no more, it must die, when, if the pro- 
 vidence of God so orders, the present age is swallowed 
 up in the next. 
 
 But I must not anticipate the criticism, which I hope 
 to make with all the candour at my command, after my 
 readers are put in possession of the chief facts of the his- 
 tory of this Community, and of the doctrines which they 
 profess. 
 
 § I. Immediate expectation of the Second Advent. 
 
 The mainspring of their system is their belief in the 
 ' near approach of our Lord's second Coming. This belief, 
 as is well known, they share wdth a large number of 
 Christians who do not participate in the peculiar views of 
 these people. But the members of this Community have 
 carried it, if not in their authorized documents which 
 they keep wholly to themselves, yet in the wide-spread 
 tenets of their members, to applications peculiar to them- 
 selves. 
 
 This belief arose, as has been narrated, out of the 
 extraordinary events which accompanied the entrance 
 of the present century. The wonderful career of the first 
 Napoleon, painted in the terrified imaginations of those 
 who anticipated coming evil as much more wonderful 
 
Expectation of Second Advent. 
 
 than it really was, led people to fancy that still greater 
 commotions and changes were at hand. " The French 
 Revolution of 1793 was but the partial outbreak of that 1 
 universal convulsion which is now preparing, the first 
 shock of that earthquake which will throw down every 
 civil and ecclesiastical fabric." ^ These striking occur- 
 rences, added to the fact that a great change in society 
 generally was then setting in, caused many good and 
 earnest people to attribute to passing events an import- 
 ance which concerned all history and all time. The dis- 
 turbances in France and in other countries in 1830, the 
 revolutions almost throughout Europe in 1 848, the various 
 wars in Europe or in India, the war in America which 
 has been waged since that era, the internal struggles 
 between contending parties in the united kingdoms, 
 have thus been regarded, each in its own time, as ominous 
 of the approaching end. These were supposed to be 
 the foretold "wars and rumours of wars," and plenty of 
 signs were discovered of " the love of many waxing cold." 
 The grievous state of the Catholic Church, with yawning 
 abysses between the several Branches of it which ap- 
 peared to defy all attempts to fill up or abolish them by 1~ 
 bringing their banks together, the prevalence of wicked- 
 !ness and crime, the increase of ungodliness, as it was 
 judged to be, seemed to betoken that period of falling 
 away which was to precede the Advent of the Lord. 
 
 Accordingly, to many troubled spirits which have 
 been cast down at present sinfulness and at the advance 
 
 * Testimony to the patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, (See, p. 71. See 
 Appendix I. 
 
A Doctrines. 
 
 and development of evil principles, and which have 
 yearned for a vast improvement, the idea of the nearness 
 of the Lord's second Coming has been inexpressibly 
 grateful. The longings of the Christian heart have 
 found rest in this contemplation of futurity. Whether it 
 be justified by facts and by revelation is another question. 
 Many, as is well known, in this and the last generation 
 have felt it a sacred duty to quell all doubts in their own 
 minds about the grounds of this expectation, and to 
 expect the Lord's Advent in their own days as an 
 acknowledged prospect. "He must be manifested 
 speedily ; for amid the increasing tumults and confusion 
 of all people in every country of Europe, in this distress 
 of nations with perplexity, the time foretold in God's 
 Word rapidly approaches, when the Son of Man shall 
 come in the clouds of heaven to judge the nations, and 
 to set up that kingdom which shall never be destroyed." ^ 
 Before our Lord's coming. Antichrist is expected. 
 " Lawlessness shall pervade and prevail, tossing men to 
 and fro as the waves of the sea, until it shall put forth 
 its concentrated energy in that ' wicked,' that lawless one 
 who shall be revealed, ' the man of sin,' ' who opposeth 
 and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that 
 is worshipped ; whose coming is after the working of 
 Satan, with all ' power, and signs, and lying wonders.' " ^ 
 This belief, too, is shared by many others, as is well 
 known. Indeed, various treatises have issued from the 
 press, proving, as the authors imagined, that different 
 public men of note, such as the late Emperor Napoleon, 
 1 Testimony, p. 72 ; Appendix I. ^ Ibid. p. 72. 
 
Second yidvent. 
 
 were severally, as each autlior made out, Antichrist, or 
 the Beast of the Revelation. This is a subject of great 
 mystery, demanding- anxious but cautious attention on 
 the part of Christians. The special point which these 
 people insist on is, not that Antichrist shall be revealed, 
 whoever or whatever he is to be, which every believer in 
 the Bible must hold, but that some personage is coming 
 at some time in these our days. And they promulgate -p 
 this as a dogma of faith. 
 
 In preparation for these events, and as harbinger of 
 our Lord's coming, they believe that He has sent what 
 they call " an Klias-ministry." For as Elias came to 
 prepare for our Lord's first coming, and is said by the 
 prophet iVIalachi to be coming before " the great and 
 dreadful day of the Lord," and came formerly only " in 
 spirit and power," they suppose that he has now appeared, 
 though not as a single individual, in the new ministry of 
 apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors, who are thus 
 the messengers preparing the way before the Lord. 
 
 The Coming of the Lord is expected by these people 
 to take place before the great outburst of Antichrist. 
 The Testimony states " when He cometh, that lawless one 
 stands already revealed ; for it is written that ' the Lord 
 shall consume him with the spirit of His mouth, and 
 destroy him with the brightness of His coming.' " ^ 
 But this more rudimentary teaching was carried out 
 into further detail in later times. After the Church is 
 first warned we are told - that those who sleep in Christ 
 
 ' Testitnony, p- 72 ; 2 Thess. ii. 3 ; Appendix I. 
 ' Creation and Redciiiplion, p. 263. 
 
6 Doctrines. 
 
 shall be raised. Then those who are alive at the time of 
 His coming, together with the dead who have risen, 
 will be caught up to meet Him in the air, before His 
 descent upon the earth. By this time the fourth empire 
 has^ assumed its complete form, as having ten horns. 
 The man of sin, or Antichrist, who is the eighth and last 
 head of the beast, has now^ appeared, accompanied by 
 the false prophet. There will now be a war in heaven, and 
 Satan will no longer be allowed to appear before God, or 
 to act as the " accuser of our brethren," or to hinder the 
 Lord in His spiritual operations in the Church.^ But he 
 is cast down to the earth, and, finding that to be his only 
 place, will seek to do as much injury as he can to the 
 Church. Yet the Lord will not leave Himself without 
 witnesses against Satan. Accordingly, He will raise 
 up " the two witnesses," who after fighting for the 
 truth will be slain by the Beast, but only to his own 
 destruction. 
 
 Then the Beast with his ten kings is to destroy 
 Babylon. The seven vials are to be successively poured 
 out, and the other events recorded in the early part of 
 the Revelation which have not yet been fulfilled are to 
 be accomplished. Then is to ensue the great battle of 
 Armageddon, between the Lord and His saints on the 
 one side, and Antichrist and the false prophet with all 
 their hosts on the other, followed by vast results. The 
 Beast and the false prophet are to be cast alive into the 
 
 • The exact time of these, however, whether antecedent or consequent 
 upon the good being caught up into the air, appears not to be settled. 
 ^ Creation and Redemption, p. 290. 
 
Second Advent. 
 
 lake of fire, and their followers slain. Satan is to be 
 bound in the bottomless pit. The Jews and the tribes 
 of Israel are to be settled again in Palestine. But the 
 restoration of the Jews is to take place in successive 
 stages. Some of them will repair to the holy city before 
 His second Coming, after the first-fruits are " caught up," 
 and before the Lord descends. Then Antichrist and his 
 hosts will besiege Jerusalem. 
 
 At this moment the Lord appears, delivers His city 
 and people, and destroys Antichrist .and his hosts, as 
 has been just related. Then all the Jews and the ten 
 tribes will be restored to their own land by the mighty 
 hand of God.^ These events usher in the millennium, 
 or the reign of our Lord with His saints on earth for 
 a thousand years. This is the " intermediate stage 
 between " the present dispensation and the one in 
 which the new heaven and the new earth, the eternal 
 kingdom of God, shall be established.- At the end of 
 it they say will be "the last rebellion of the nations;" 
 for Satan will be loosed, and another terrible conflict 
 will follow, but the end of it will be that Satan will meet 
 his final doom. He will be cast for ever into the lake of 
 fire, where the beast and the false prophet are. And now 
 comes the end. 
 
 Almighty God is revealed, seen on the great white 
 Throne. All those will rise at this, the second resurrection, 
 who were not thought worthy to attain to the first resur- 
 rection. " The last enemy, Death," will be destroyed. 
 The great day of judgment will have arrived, and [the 
 
 ' Creation aud Redemption, p. 318. ^ Ibid. p. 306. 
 
8 DoctJ'ines. 
 
 awful scene of the judgment of all nations and people 
 will be transacted. The heavens and the earth will pass 
 away. New hea\*ens and a new earth will be created. 
 And the Lord will deliver up His kingdom to the Father 
 for ever and ever.^ 
 
 It will be observed that the chief periods in this con- 
 summation are the following : — First, the great tribula- 
 I tion, reaching from the appearance of the Lord in the 
 heavens till His descent upon the earth for victory, and 
 for the establishment of the millennium. During this 
 time the first-fruits have been caught up to Him in the 
 air, and continue with Him, having been sealed till the 
 / day of redemption.- Secondly, the millennial reign of the 
 Lord on earth. Thirdly, the last rebellion of the nations. 
 And lastly, the eternal kingdom over new heavens and 
 the new earth. There are three gatherings : — First, of 
 the first-fruits of the harvest, the wise virgins who follow 
 the Lamb whithersoever He goeth ; next, the abundant 
 harvest gathered afterwards by God ; and lastly, the 
 assembling of the wicked for punishment. 
 
 I do not mean to say that all the details of this 
 teaching, and the many more details into which it is 
 pursued, are regarded as Dc Fide, the necessary belief of 
 every member of the Catholic Apostolic Church who 
 would be saved. But this sketch which is taken from 
 one of their accredited works, ascribed to a deceased 
 apostle, gives an idea of the manner in which Irvingites 
 have worked out into a definite order of events the 
 mysterious pictures in the Revelation and hints from 
 
 1 Creation and Redcinption, Part IV. - Ibid. p. 262. 
 
 /■ 
 
Second Advent. 
 
 other parts of Holy Scripture. This is their moving 
 doctrine, the mainspring of their rcHgious Hfe. They 
 teach their people, as has been said, to pray to God at 
 night that the Lord may come before morning.^ Many 
 keep their affairs wound up and in perfect order, as a 
 matter of religious duty, that they may be ready at any 
 time to be caught up to meet the Lord. Frequently at 
 their various periods they expect the Advent in the next 
 month, or the next week. It is easy to see what tre- 
 mendous moral power such a persuasion, if it is embraced 
 with all the heart and soul, must perforce exercise over 
 the whole life — thoughts, words, and actions. The be- 
 lief that without all doubt the Lord Himself is coming 
 immediately, and that He has already in the special 
 arrangements of His Church vouchsafed for the very 
 purpose, made preparations for His Advent, and that 
 titles of precedence in His kingdom are within reach of 
 the faithful and may now be had, must constitute a most 
 powerful engine of influence — perhaps the most power- 
 ful in the world for those few who can accept the slender 
 force of argument by which it is built up. 
 
 It has been already stated that in spite of difficulties, 
 and, in later times, of previous errors, there has been a 
 strong tendency in the Body to fix upon definite dates 
 for the coming of the Lord. Such was July 14, 1835, 
 when the apostles were separated. Such were also the 
 tenth, twentieth, thirtieth, and fortieth anniversaries of 
 that day. Such again was Christmas Day, 1838, the 
 
 ^ Consecration of (he Catholic Apostolic Church, Constitution Road, 
 Dundee, p. 10. 
 
lo Doctrines. 
 
 1260th day after the day of the separation. The multi- 
 ples of seven were also brought into requisition. But 
 more than all, perhaps, the year 1866 was looked upon 
 as fulfilling- the numbers of the Apocalypse, because 1260 
 years from the decree of Phocas in A. D. 606 would end 
 at that time. In fact, ingenious calculations of almost 
 all sorts have found their place in the imagination of 
 one or other of these people, the fundamental article in 
 whose creed is that the Advent is to occur in our own 
 days. 
 
 Upon this foundation, therefore, not only historically 
 as matter of fact, but by a development of thought, the 
 building of Irvingite doctrine is reared. The near ap- 
 proach of the Lord necessitates preparations for His 
 reception. Hence came the idea and the phrase of " the 
 Elias-ministry," though the expression is, I believe, less 
 commonly used now than it was during earlier stages of 
 their career. The phrase speaks for itself, showing how 
 the passages in the Bible which relate to the great Fore- 
 runner of the Lord are applied to a special ministry sup- 
 posed to be sent " as couriers before Him " at the end of 
 the present dispensation. "There was an EHas-work to 
 
 the Jews ; there must be an EHas-work in the 
 
 Christian Church previous to the final restoration and 
 establishment in the kingdom. In everything the type 
 and the antitype go double."^ 
 
 1 Creation and Redemption, p. 310. 
 
TJie Incarnation. ii 
 
 § 2. Doctrine of the Incarnation. 
 
 The other grand Feature in the peculiar Tenets of 
 these people is their mode of holding the Doctrine of 
 the Incarnation. This great Doctrine, as has been 
 already pointed out, was placed very much in the back- 
 ground in the Theology of the eighteenth century. The 
 beautiful system of observances in the Catholic Church 
 had lost its vigour and had become pale ; and the 
 earliest revival in England under the Evangelicals^ and 
 Wesley had only fixed itself with a narrow and indeed 
 an exclusive grasp upon the wondrous Scene enacted on 
 Calvary. The recovery of the grand truth of the In- 
 carnation with its marvellous detail and amazing features 
 is perhaps the great characteristic of the onward move- 
 ment made in Theology during the present century. It 
 is the glory of Irving and his friends — not so much his 
 followers — Messrs. Campbell, Story, Scott, and others, 
 that they were the pioneers of the advancing march. 
 But the chief of the labour and success was wrought in 
 the Oxford movement. Excesses have been found 
 in the cases of Irving himself and of his followers in the 
 " Catholic Apostolic Church," and practically as I believe, 
 if not theoretically, in the Roman Catholic adorations to 
 Parts of our Lord's Human Nature, and — owing to a too 
 exclusive contemplation of the Humanity apart from the 
 Divinity — in the celebrated Treatise Eccc Homo. 
 
 Amongst the Religious Body of which we are now 
 
 1 That the Evangelical movement in the Church was independent of the 
 Wesleyan, and had an origin of its own, was proved by Venn. See Dean 
 Hook's Sermons on the Catholic Church. 
 
 i^ 
 
12 Doctrines. 
 
 concerned, the tendency to outstep the proper bounds 
 circumscribing this grand Doctrine has arisen from their 
 anxiety to bring out with full relief the powers of ex- 
 altation communicated to human nature through the 
 Incarnation, and the Grace which has flowed through 
 that wondrous channel. Hence Irving insisted so 
 strongly upon the taking of man's nature and the close 
 relationship effected between the SON of GOD and our- 
 selves, that he asserted that the nature that He took 
 r was not our nature purified through His Heavenly 
 Birth, and planted again in a fresh growth, — but our 
 fallen nature, corrupt since Adam through sin, though 
 cleansed by its attachment in Him to the Divine Nature, 
 and so preserved without sin.^ He lowered too much 
 the Human Nature of our Lord, in order to bring the 
 closer to Him sinful and erring, though penitent people. 
 This special tenet, viz., that our Lord took our fallen 
 nature at His Birth, not purified and renewed human 
 nature, is to some extent in words repudiated in the 
 " Catholic Apostolic Church." But there is nevertheless 
 a tinge derived from it which has coloured the entire 
 System professed by these Religionists. And it has 
 coloured this both in the Doctrine held, and in the 
 nature and working of their entire constitution. 
 
 First, there is amongst them an imperfect apprecia- 
 tion of the Doctrine. Such an appreciation really 
 
 ' See Vol. i. p. 85. "Sin inhered in the Human Nature of oin- Lord ; 
 as He was made under the law. He must have been inclined to all those 
 things which the law interdicted." — The 07-thodox and Catholic Doctrine 
 of our Lord's Human Nature, by the Rev. Edward Irving, M.A., London, 
 p. 127. 'BtWsti^i Dialogue on J}vingis7n, p. 14. 
 
TJie Licaniation. 
 
 13 
 
 requires, it should be said, professional study. No one 
 should attempt without such study to speak or teach 
 upon this mysterious subject, any more than an amateur 
 should discourse upon the anatomy of the human body. 
 Now such a professional study has not fallen to the lot 
 of most of the Ministers in this Community. It is not 
 surprising therefore to find such teaching as the following : 
 " Being God, He is infinite in all Divine attributes. 
 Being Man, He is in His human nature perfectly, that is 
 to say entirely, a creature." This expression can only 
 imply, that our Lord has human personality, which is of 
 course only in His Divine Nature, because otherwise He 
 would have two Persons. Else what can be the meaning 
 of our Lord " being perfectly, that is to say entirely, a 
 creature ? " And when the same writer, speaking dog- 
 matically, goes on to say that " the Human Nature of 
 our Lord is, as we have said, our common human 
 nature," and with the knowledge of Irving's error, adds 
 no guard, or limitation, or explanation of the phrase to 
 exclude that error, we are plainly upon unsafe ground. 
 That this is actually the case, the Author of Apostolic 
 Lordship, who has recorded the teaching given, positively 
 shows.^ When it was maintained that our Lord offered ^ 
 sacrifice for His oiun sins, and the thesis was supported 
 by others in high office besides the original promulgator, 
 it is clear that sin was being brought perilously near to 
 His spotless Nature. 
 
 Again, the following teaching expresses the objection- 
 able doctrine without any concealment : — "so that, 
 
 ' Apostolic Loi'dship, pp. 36 — 42. 
 
14 Doctrines. 
 
 despite it was fallen flcsh^ He had assumed^ He was, 
 through the Eternal Spirit, born into the world the 
 Holy Thing ; and ever continued, through the same 
 Eternal Spirit, by the perfect faith which He had 
 also begotten, and so sustained, to present our fallen 
 flesh, rescued out of Satan's hand, and without spot, 
 unto the Father — approving Himself to be indeed 
 the Word made flesh, the Truth, God's Holy One." ^ 
 At the same time, it appears that such a heresy has been 
 condemned by others amongst them, and would probably, 
 if presented in an undisguised form, be opposed by most 
 of the influential people in the Body. 
 
 The undue stress laid upon the Human Nature of 
 
 your Lord as apart from His Divine, both in teaching 
 
 I and in their general system, constitutes also a chief 
 
 _ / result of Irving's error. This is found generally. They 
 
 come insensibly to look upon the " Son of Man " more 
 
 than upon the Son of God. But this feature in their 
 
 teaching is exemplified more than all in the rigid, 
 
 intensely human character of their general Doctrine and 
 
 their Ministry. They teach that after the pattern of the 
 
 I Incarnation, everything is done in the Church by living 
 
 ^ agency. They insist strongly that Almighty God sends 
 
 His Salvation and His Blessings by the hands of men. 
 
 1 These Italics are mine. 
 * God: Christ: The Church, a Discourse, 1863 ("delivered to the 
 Ministers — printed for circulation among us"). So "this act of the 
 Son . . . coming into the very lowest position of our flesh to work out 
 literally and truly our restoration." — The Word made Flesh, a sermon, &c., 
 by the Rev. G. Freer, A.M., &c., London: Bosworth, 1865, p. 11. Our 
 Lord came into a low position in the world, but not into "the lowest 
 position oi our flesh.'" 
 
TJie Incarnation. 15 
 
 Hence comes their strict and hard ecclesiastical system, 
 reduced to an elaborate machinery', burnished, stififencd, 
 hardened to the last degree of imperative necessity. 
 
 The nature of this elaboration will be explained after- 
 Avards. The idea of it came from making the human 
 arrangements of the Church, which our Lord set up on 
 earth through His Incarnation, as perfect as possible. True 
 that the Catholic Church has ever had perfect arrange- 
 ments also. But the recollection of the Divinity has 
 ever been present with Her maintenance of the Human 
 system bequeathed by our Lord, and has tempered and 
 moderated all Her machinery of outward rites. For she 
 has ever taught, that necessary as outward order and 
 ceremonies are to all who are constituted with human 
 bodies, and essential as they are for conveying and 
 ensuring Blessings which are promised in no other way, 
 yet there is a Divine Power also above which is superior 
 to all finite agencies, which will overreach their weak- 
 ness, and supply their unavoidable absence. The im- 
 portance of this outward machinery has been, and is 
 being, gradually taught in this our day ; but not with 
 the heedless impetuosity of Irving, not by newly- 
 invented methods, but upon the old lines which have 
 been proved and accepted throughout the Church's 
 existence. 
 
 § 3. Bible Symholisvi. 
 
 Various instances of the manner in which the Sym- 
 bolism of the Bible is employed and extended has 
 been '-ecorded in the course of this work. A good 
 
1 6 Doctrines. 
 
 exemplification may be found in the " Mystery of the 
 Candlestick,"^ and in the application of the various parts 
 of the Jewish Tabernacle to the Ministries in this Body. 
 This is one of the most remarkable characteristics of 
 their System. 
 
 Symbolism presents great charms for minds which 
 are of a poetical or dreamy cast ; and in some pro- 
 vinces of the religious movement in the earlier part 
 of the present century was pursued with eagerness and 
 ingenuity. Indeed as long as symbolism is kept within 
 bounds, and is merely the interpretation or the legitimate 
 application or even the expansion of doctrines otherwise 
 ascertained, it is not open to objection. . And if the 
 tyranny of matter-of-fact minds, prone sometimes to 
 condemn and scout all that they cannot themselves 
 realize, prevailed so far as to ostracize all symbolism, 
 not only the poetry of Christians would suffer in- 
 estimably, but a cold preciseness would repel many 
 warmer hearts, and the free flow of the numerous springs ' 
 of reverential and loving thought in the Catholic Church 
 would be dangerously impeded. 
 
 But symbolism merely of this moderate and guarded 
 kind is not pursued amongst these people. They 
 employ types and symbols not merely as the application .i 
 or the corollaries of doctrines otherwise established, but 
 as the grounds upon which those doctrines are adopted 
 and recommended for adoption. Such for example is 
 the reference to the four streams of Paradise, the four 
 colours in which the cherubim were embroidered on the 
 
 1 Appendix III. 
 
Symbolism. 17 
 
 Tabernacle, the four ingredients of Incense, and the four 
 living creatures in the Apocalypse, for typifying the 
 Four Ministries.^ Similar to these were the interpreta- 
 tions of the bullock offered for a sin-offering as symbol- 
 izing the priesthood, and the goat as showing forth the 
 whole Church ; ^ of the two lights at the Altar as 
 standing for Apostles and Prophets ; ^ and of the 
 "ministry" of the Angel every morning, addressed 
 principally to the Elders, and the " united Ministry of 
 Adoration " every evening by the Seven Elders, as 
 being foreshadowed by the trimming of the seven- 
 branched candlestick in the morning by Aaron, and the 
 lighting of it before the Lord every evening by the 
 priests. 
 
 Nearly all the observances of the Catholic Apostolic , 
 Church are built upon types or symbols, some of which 
 are sound and good, but others and perhaps the great 
 majority are far-fetched or fanciful. A large number of 
 these are derived from the observances of the Jewish 
 Law. The same idealistic method of interpretation 
 which has led to the application of passages in the 
 Apocalypse to current or past events, has prompted this 
 symbolical system. Such for example is the employment 
 of gold-colour for the Apostles' and Elders' stoics, of 
 blue for the Prophets', scarlet for the Evangelists', white 
 for those of the Pastors. For gold is held to be the 
 symbol of Faith, of which the Apostles and Elders are 
 
 ^ Driimmond's Discourses, p. 98. 
 
 - Three Discourses on Certain Symbols used in Worship, &c., 2nd 
 Edition. London : Thomas Bosworth, 1874, p. 19. 
 3 Ibid. p. 7. 
 VOL. n. , C 
 
1 8 Doctrines. 
 
 supposed to be the guardians ; blue marks the heavens into 
 which the Prophet soars hke the eagle ; scarlet is taken to 
 designate the Evangelists' message, peace through the 
 blood of the Lamb ; and white, as the emblem of right- 
 eousness, indicates the Pastor. Besides these, purple, as 
 the symbol of rule, may be worn by the Angel, except at 
 the Holy Eucharist, or in the presence of the Apostle, 
 when he wears white ; and also by an Elder or by any 
 priest when preaching or presiding.^ 
 
 § 4. T/ic CJin7xJi. 
 
 After considering the great motive which is presented 
 to all the members of the " Catholic Apostolic Church," 
 so called, and the general principles of their mode of 
 interpreting the Incarnation, and of their fondness of 
 pressing out of almost everything that can be found in the 
 Bible, references to the system constructed, we now come 
 to the various features which that system presents to our 
 consideration. I do not find in their conception of the 
 Church anything different from the ordinary Catholic 
 doctrine, unless it be that there is an exaggerated stress 
 laid upon the undoubted need of human ordinances and 
 Jiuman agencies, with the exception that they include all 
 the baptized, without let or distinction, within the fold of I 
 the Catholic Church. 
 
 They maintain the doctrine of regeneration and 
 incorporation with Christ, and accept lay baptism with 
 the necessary restrictions, and the Theological distinc- 
 tions of " form " and " matter." But they carry their 
 
 ^ On Sytnlwls, pp. 36, 37, 
 
TJic ChurcJi. 19 
 
 idea of the indelible character of baptism so far as 
 to deny in consequence the possibility of apostatizing. 
 " Every baptized man is a Catholic, and as he cannot 
 be unbaptized, so he cannot cease to be a Catholic. 
 Where the room for heresy and schism, and excision 
 from the Church, is to be found under such conditions, 
 or how St. John could speak of certain whilom disciples 
 as ' going out from us, because they were not of us,' are 
 questions we have often asked, but to which we have 
 never elicited a reply." ^ 
 
 In consequence of this fundamental tenet, we arrive 
 at the attitude in which they stand towards other Chris- 
 tians. In their eyes the Roman, Greek, and Anglican 
 Communions, Alt-Katholiks, members of the Swedish, 
 Norwegian, Danish, and Dutch Churches, Presbyterians, 
 Lutherans, Calvinists, the various Nonconformist Bodies 
 in England, America, and elsewhere, Armenians, 
 Jacobites, Copts and other IMonophysites, Nestorians, 
 and all who have been once baptized, however much 
 they may have abjured the Catholic faith, or violated 
 their baptismal nature by deadly sin, are within the pale 
 of the Universal Church. Upon this broad way of 
 viewing other Christians, and taking account of their 
 various stages in the direction of what they deem to be 
 the highest type of Christian, and upon their really 
 tolerant manner of treating all who differ from them, 
 unless they are of their own communion,'- they rest in 
 great measure the claim which they make strongly and 
 
 I ^ Union RrcirtV, No. 81, p. 42. 
 
 - The penisal oi Apostolic Lordship compels me to add this limitation- 
 See also McXeile's Letters, p. 125. 
 
20 Doctrines. 
 
 emphatically, of being pre-eminently Catholics. Their 
 largeness of mind in dealing with other Christians has 
 been pointed out in the last Volume, and several exem- 
 plifications of it have been given. | 
 
 The position which they maintain is mainly this : — 
 they assert that the Church Catholic has by degrees 
 sunk deeply from the condition in which it was left by 
 our Lord, when the Holy Spirit, according to His 
 pre-arrangement and promise, came upon it on the 
 Day of Pentecost. At that time He descended not 
 upon the Church generally, but upon the Apostles 
 alone.^ The Apostles therefore were " the link be- 
 tween Him in the Heavens, and His body on the 
 earth." At this time the intention of the Lord was, , 
 according to His words on the Mount of Olives foretell- 
 ing the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the 
 world, to come to His Church during the first ages of its 
 existence. Accordingly preparations were begun for the : 
 consummation of all things. A Gentile Apostleship 
 must be added to the Jewish College of Twelve. St. 
 Paul and Barnabas were therefore called and separated. 
 But then, notwithstanding the various words of the 
 Apostles, speaking of the return of the Lord as drawing ■• 
 nigh, the faith of the Church waxed feeble. People 
 began to give up waiting for the Lord. Therefore His 
 purpose was changed. No more Apostles were ap- 
 pointed. The early sproutings of the Gentile Apostle- 
 ship were nipped. And in course of time the Jewish 
 Apostles died, one by one. Then the Church was 
 
 ^ Apostolic Lordship, p. 6}^. 
 
 
The Church. 2,1 
 
 maimed of its most important ministry, for the Apostles 
 were not only the link between Heaven and the Church 
 on earth, but they were also the channel through which 
 grace flowed down from the former into the latter. 
 
 When therefore the original Apostles were removed, 
 the link " being snapped by the loss of Apostles," the 
 Church " fell as a dead thing to the ground." ^ The minis- 
 try of Apostles to the Church being interrupted, she drifted 
 from Christ.- Hence, inasmuch as less grace now was 
 bestowed from Heaven, there ensued various defects and 
 evils. The Bishops, who alone now remained to guide 
 and rule the people of God, not being successors of the 
 Apostles, but only holders of an inferior office, as these 
 people assert, and having only local duties over their own 
 Dioceses, not universal prerogatives or responsibilities 
 reaching throughout the Church, that part of the original 
 constitution which was meant for keeping God's people 
 in one, was now wanting. What wonder therefore, they 
 ask, if the Church fell asunder .? If sad schisms followed, 
 and the love of many waxed cold } But then, when 
 centuries of this maimed and mutilated state had elapsed, 
 ; how could the diseases of the Church be healed, or the 
 ; schisms closed, except by the restoration of the long-lost 
 j ministry .? Since the Lord is now, as they imagine, 
 evidently coming. He has called and separated His 
 Gentile-Apostles so that they may prepare His Church 
 for His approach, and so present it to Him when He 
 arrives. 
 
 1 "A Ministry," quoted in Apostolic Lordship, p. 63. 
 2 T7-uthsfor our Days, ^o.v\. The Apostlcship. Apostolic Lordship,-^. 1^. 
 
22 Doctrines. 
 
 This sketch will show the relation in which the 
 members of this Body believe that they stand towards 
 the several Branches of the Catholic Church. They 
 look upon themselves as alone possessing plenary grace. 
 They think that others have grace increasing in abund- 
 ance according as they approach nearest to the perfect 
 constitution which they themselves display. Bishops 
 have the succession from the first Twelve, and can there- 
 fore bestow valid ordination. Therefore Priests and 
 Bishops ordained or consecrated by them are real Priests 
 and Bishops. But they do not possess the same amount 
 of grace which they would have if an Apostle's hands 
 were laid upon them. Therefore these people have an 
 office for Confirmation by the Apostle of the Orders 
 bestowed by a Bishop.^ It is under this belief in the 
 essential, though inferior, position of other Bodies in the 
 Universal Church, that they are often unwilling to 
 remove Clergymen from the work which they are doing 
 outside of their Community into offices directly under 
 Apostolic guidance. 
 
 But if the standard of action is thus marked by 
 tolerance and liberal consideration towards those who are 
 
 ^ I regret that in a letter to the Guardian newspaper written in the 
 Autumn of 1875, I stated through some inadvertence that Irvingites re- 
 ordain those who have been ordained elsewhere. This is entirely a mis- 
 statement, the truth being as explained in the text. But the other part of 
 my sentence is true, "they suffer themselves to be re-ordained." That is to 
 say, Priests or Angels, holding "Catholic Apostolic" orders, accept, when 
 wishing to get employment in the Church of England, ordination from a 
 Bishop. What can be more un-Catholic than re-ordination? Especially 
 when, as in this case, ordination by a supposed "inferior" is accepted by 
 one who has been according to his own belief validly ordained by 
 minister of the superior order. 
 
The Church. 23 
 
 outside their pale, there is no lack of strict discipline 
 within the Body itself. Upon the question of obedience / 
 to authority, these people have ever been the highest of 
 high Tories. They are among the strongest in animad- 
 verting upon lawlessness [avojx'ia) as a glaring fault in 
 our times. They will permit nothing such themselves. 
 If their chief Rulers are appointed directly by the voice 
 of prophecy, if Apostles are " not of man nor by man, 
 but by Jesus Christ," ^ then their official commands have 
 indeed a high sanction and imperative force. The strong 
 rule of the Apostles has been exercised over many 
 opponents of their imperious sway, and has led several 
 thoughtful men to secede from communion with them. 
 
 §5. TJic Fourfold Ministry. 
 
 The evidence of the Fourfold Ministry is based first 
 upon certain passages and types in Holy Scripture and 
 upon other considerations, and secondly upon the fact, as 
 these Religionists deem it, that Apostles, Prophets, Evan- 
 gelists, and Pastors have been duly appointed with Divine 
 promptings and sanction. " When He ascended up on 
 high, He received gifts {h6\x.aTa) for men ; and He gave 
 some men (rovs }xkv, not to. — men, not gifts), apostles ; 
 and some men, prophets ; and some men, evangelists ; 
 and some men, pastors and teachers." '■^ This is the 
 rendering of the Testimony. The passage too in the 
 First Epistle to the Corinthians mentions apostles, pro- 
 phets, and teachers, which latter designation may, it is 
 contended, reasonably include evangelists as the teachers 
 1 Gal. i. I. - Eph. iv. 11. 
 
24 Doctrines. 
 
 of the world without, and pastors as the teachers and 
 trainers of the members within the Church. 
 
 Then there are the types, viz., the Four Cherubim 
 mentioned by Ezekiel,^ and the Four Beasts in the 
 Revelation." " The Prophet in the visions of God beheld 
 figured forth under the form of the Cherubim, each with 
 four faces, the fourfold ministry of the Lord in His 
 Church, by which ministry the Glory of God is revealed. 
 The vision is a vision of the appearance of the glory of 
 the Lord, the Incarnate Word. 
 
 " The whirlwind out of the north is the emblem 
 of spiritual power manifested in the cold death of 
 nature; the great cloud, God hiding Himself; the fire 
 infolding itself, and the brightness about it, the purity 
 and holiness of God reflected in His instruments, which 
 like a fire at once consumes and purifies. The colour of 
 amber is the savour of truth, as St. Paul says, ' by mani- 
 festation of the truth commending ourselves to every 
 man's conscience in the sight of God.' 
 
 " The likeness of four living creatures coming forth out 
 of the midst of this vision is the fourfold ministry of the 
 Lord in men, for they had the likeness of a man : the four 
 faces and four wings represent the character of the minis- 
 tries, and the endowment by which they are borne up above 
 the earth into the spiritual region, into the heavenlies. 
 
 " Their feet being straight feet, and their motions 
 straightforward, represent the uprightness of their walk, 
 and their progress towards the fulfilment of the purpose 
 of God, without any turning aside. 
 
 1 Ezek. i. lo. 2 j^gy^ \^^ 5 — 3^ 
 
Fourfold Minis/n/. 25 
 
 " The sole of the foot hkc a calf's foot, the patience 
 and pastoral care of their ministry; the burnished brass, 
 the spiritual understanding wherein they minister. 
 
 " The hands of a man under their wings, the power 
 of taking hold of men and lifting them up into the 
 spiritual region wherein they move ; the joining of the 
 wings one to another, the unity of purpose wherein they 
 work harmoniously together, always pressing straight 
 forward. 
 
 " The faces represent the characteristics of that four- 
 fold dignity and office of the Great Shepherd which are 
 exercised by them. 
 
 "The lion, the symbol of the Ruler, full of majesty 
 and dignity, calm and quiet in his motions, who walketh in 
 his dwelling and none maketh him afraid, represents the 
 authority, dignity, and supremacy of the Lord, the Lion 
 of the Tribe of Judah (the royal tribe, to whom the 
 sceptre belongs) ; and such ought to be the demeanour 
 and character of those by whom this His office of rule and 
 authority is to be manifested and exercised — His Apostles. 
 
 " The eagle, soaring up into the heavens, dwelling 
 on high, living solitary, keen-sighted to see the things 
 afar off, represents the Lord as the Prophet, the 
 foreteller of things to come ; and this His office He 
 exercises through the Prophets. 
 
 " The man, having sympathies and affections in com- 
 mon with suffering humanity, represents the character of 
 the Lord as the Evangelist, the herald of mercy, peace, 
 and reconciliation ; and this His office He exercises 
 through the Evansrelists. 
 
i6 Doctrines. 
 
 " The ox or calf, patient, strong to labour, bearing 
 the yoke, treading out the corn, represents the character 
 of the Lord as Pastor and Teacher; and this His office 
 He exercises through the Pastors. 
 
 " The appearance of the burning coals of fire and of 
 lamps, indicate their ministry as being a ministry for 
 cleansing and for enlightening. 
 
 " Their running and returning as a flash of lightning 
 represents the suddenness of the fulfilment of the differ- 
 ent steps or stages in the purpose of God, and the want 
 of any sign or appearance which is left behind, so that 
 as God's purpose shall go forward towards its fulfilment, 
 it shall appear, even to the spiritual, but as a flash of 
 lightning, which passes and leaves no trace behind ; and 
 thus shall the coming of the Son of ]\Ian be, — as light- 
 ning in the heavens, seen for a momient by the dwellers 
 upon the earth, causing a temporary fear, and straight- 
 way forgotten (Luke xvii. 24 — 30). 
 
 " The wheels upon the earth beside the living creatures, 
 having the form of a wheel within a wheel, being of the 
 colour of beryl, with their rings full of eyes, so high that 
 they were dreadful, — this, which the Prophet saw while 
 contemplating the living creatures, represents the work- 
 ings of the Providence of God in the affairs of the world, 
 whereby He orders all things according to His purpose 
 in the Church. The wheel within a wheel represents the 
 complicated movements of the Providence of God ; the 
 dreadful rings represent the shadow of the eternal pur- 
 pose of God, of which every specific act of His Provi- 
 dence, whether to human eye having the appearance of 
 
Fourfold Ministi-y. 27 
 
 accident or design, is a small but certain portion ; and 
 the drcadfulness of the rings full of eyes expresses the 
 indescribable awe and reverence which results from the 
 workings of the Providence of God, in all that occurs, and 
 arc the visible results of the incomprehensible, unseen 
 purpose of Him who seeth all things, and whose eyes are 
 everywhere beholding the evil and the good. The 
 spirit of the living creatures in the wheels, shows the affairs 
 of the world following the purpose of God in His Church. 
 The beryl is the colour of the sea, and signifies the 
 workings of God's Providence, having the appearance of 
 being the result of the workings of man, according to 
 that expression. Vox popnli, Vox Dei ; man thinking he 
 is working when God is working by him. 
 
 •' The likeness of the firmament over their heads, 
 like unto crystal, is the eternal condition of the heavenly 
 things, — that state of purity, whereof the saints who 
 shall have part in the first Resurrection shall be made 
 partakers, and whereunto they aspire (Rev. xv. 2; 
 iv.6). 
 
 " The noise of their wings is the spiritual utterances 
 and manifestations accompanying the going forth of the 
 Fourfold Ministry. 
 
 "The throne of the colour of sapphire, the colour of 
 Heaven, the body of Heaven in his clearness (Exodus 
 xxiv. 10), is the depth and intensity of that heavcnly- 
 mindedness, whereby it is seen that the Heavens do 
 rule, and that all things on earth are ordered by Him 
 who sitteth upon the Throne, as exemplified in the vision 
 of Stephen at his martyrdom ; the appearance of a man 
 
2 8 Doctrines. 
 
 on the Throne is the continual seeing by the spiritual of 
 the Man Jesus at the Right Hand of God, who as our 
 forerunner is entered into the Heavens for us. 
 
 " The appearance as of the bow in the clouds in the 
 day of rain, the sign of the covenant of God with us, is 
 the continual remembrance of His promise, and the hope 
 of its fulfilment ; for by hope we are saved. 
 
 " This vision is not discerned by man's eye, it is a 
 vision of God ; it is the form wherein the pure in heart 
 see God in his waking, and it belongs to this dispensa- 
 tion, and to those only who see His glory " (John xvii. 
 24) .1 
 
 This passage, which I have quoted from the N'arra- 
 tivc, shows us in the words of a leader in this Body 
 what is the nature of the evidence for a Fourfold Ministry 
 which is derived from the visions of Ezekiel and St. 
 John. And it is a good instance of the ingenious sym- 
 bolism which has extracted the application and dis- 
 covered, as is supposed, recondite features of adaptation. 
 Besides this, we learn that other types are believed to 
 set forth the same doctrine. 
 
 " The four ministries of Apostles, Prophets, Evan- 
 gelists, and Pastors,'^ says Drummond,'' " are obviously 
 typified by the four streams which watered the garden 
 of Eden ; by the four colours in which the cherubim 
 were embroidered on the curtains of the tabernacle ; by 
 the four ministries (the bestower of the Comforter, the 
 
 1 Narrative of Events, pp. 71 — 73. 
 
 2 Drummond' s Discourses, tfcc, Bosworth and Harrison : London, 1858, 
 p. 98. 
 
Fourfold Ministry. 29 
 
 Voice crying in the wilderness, the teller of good tidings, 
 and the feeder of the flock) by which Isaiah (xl.) calls 
 on the Church in the latter days to arise and shine ; by 
 the four living creatures in the Apocalypse. These bind 
 into unity the different Churches presided over by their 
 respective independent bishops, and carry on the whole 
 Church, as one, to perfection. These are typified by the 
 Cherubim." 
 
 To these types we may add " the cherubim, placed 
 at the gate of the garden of Eden ;" " the four standards 
 of Israel's host which came in triumph out of Egypt, 
 with the ark of God in the midst of them;"^ "the 
 same four-foldness of things subsidiary, the bowls, 
 the dishes, the covers, the spoons;"- "and the four 
 carpenters," and " the spirits of the earth," mentioned by 
 Zechariah.^ 
 
 Such are the Scriptural types, which are supposed to 
 represent the Fourfold IMinistry. But besides this kind of 
 evidence, these people believe that they find arguments 
 to support their conclusion from man's own nature, and 
 from the provinces of work which they say naturally 
 divide into four distinct groups. 
 
 They urge that our mental and moral being may be 
 divided into the Will, the Imagination, the Understand 
 ing, and the Affections. Of these the Will is placed by 
 them as " the highest faculty in man, the great parent of 
 his active and distinctive character;"'* according to its 
 strength or weakness the decider whether a man is 
 
 ^ Groser's Four Mitmlries, p. 7. ^ Groser, p. 8. 
 
 ^ Zech. i. 20 ; vi. 5. Croscr, p. 9. *■ Groser, p. 9. 
 
30 Docti'ines. 
 
 resolute and influential, or vacillating and inauthoritative. 
 The Will of the Church is therefore embodied in the 
 Apostolic Ministry. The Apostles are "heads under 
 Christ, and supreme rulers of the Catholic Church ; the 
 fountains and teachers of the doctrine of the Church ; 
 and lastly, the bestowers of the Holy Ghost by the laying 
 on of their hands, whether for sealing all who believe, or 
 for ordaining ministers of the House of God."^ 
 
 Next to the Will comes the Imagination, which 
 "ranges and expatiates over the fields of knowledge and 
 of fancy — soars into the heaven of sublimest thought and 
 feeling — is the parent of invention, of eloquence, and 
 poetry ; and this is the portion of our nature which the 
 Prophet addresses."- He gives utterance to the "living 
 word." And such is the power of this living word, that " it 
 touches a cloud, and behold ! a rainbow. It strikes upon 
 a stone, and turns up heaps of gold and jewellery. It 
 opens mines of wealth and wonder, such as Oriental 
 fancy never pictured, and that where drossy scurf and 
 barrenness alone had hitherto appeared. It is not a 
 matter of theory ; we speak of what we have seen and 
 heard, and experienced."^ The Prophet is therefore 
 " the channel whereby the secret mind of God is brought 
 into the Church by revelation;" for the purpose of 
 conveying the light of God, and for opening hidden 
 mysteries.'^ 
 
 1 A Manual or Sninmary of the Special Objects of Faith and Hope in 
 the Present Times. For the use of the Catholic Churches in England. 
 London : Printed by Moyes and Barclay, 1843, p. 22. (Testimony.) 
 
 - Groser, p. II. ^ Ibid. 
 
 * Alafiual (Testimony), p. 30. Appendix I. 
 
Fourfold Miiu'.s(nj. 31 
 
 Thirdly, \vc have the Understanding, the intellectual 
 faculty, " by which we lay hold of principles, both of 
 truth and action ;" which draws logical inferences, and 
 deduces general conclusions from particular cases ; 
 which " in the schools originates scientific analysis ; in 
 the ordinary intercourse of life is called common sense." ^ 
 This faculty is supposed to find exercise pre-eminently 
 in the ministry of the Evangelist, whose business it is 
 with keen and brightened weapons to fight the battles of 
 the Lord, and with all the resources of reason and illus- 
 tration to convince the minds of men. The field of the 
 Evangelist lies without the fold. He is to preach the 
 Gospel, to convert, to prepare for admission into the true 
 flock, and to receive by baptism. When admission is 
 effected, his office is fulfilled, and that of the Pastor 
 succeeds. 
 
 Lastly come the Affections, as a constituent of our 
 mental and moral nature. " Sorrow and joy, love and 
 hatred, fear and hope, desire and aversion, all that is 
 kept in such continual commotion and unrest by the 
 various changes and chances of this mortal life — all this 
 is the region of Pastoral care."^ The Pastor's scene of 
 operation lies inside of the fold. His duty is " to de- 
 scend into the interior of Christian experience — to com- 
 fort the mourner — to admonish the guilty — to soothe the 
 penitent — to receive the confession of sin, and sprinkle 
 the conscience with atoning blood — to unloose the 
 heavy burdens and bid the oppressed go free — to exer- 
 cise the care of the Good Shepherd over His flock — to 
 
 1 Groser, p. 12. - Ibid., p. 13. 
 
1 Groser, p. 13. See also Readings upon the Liturgy, Vol. I. Part I. 
 pp. 148 — 152, p. 263, note. 
 
 ^ At Albuiy there are twenty-four carved stalls round the Sacrarium 
 which are said to be set in preparation for the Lord's Coming, though I 
 cannot vouch for this. See Union Review, No. Ixxi. p. 41, note. 
 
 0^1 Doctrines. 
 
 see that they do not stray — to watch that they be never 
 over-driven ; " for if they be over-driven one day," said 
 Jacob, "they will die" — to gather the lambs in his arm, 
 and carry them in his bosom ; if need be, to lay down his 
 life for the sheep; — all this pertains to the Pastor's work."^ 
 We see here the grounds upon which the doctrine of 
 a Fourfold Ministry is reared. I have thought best to 
 represent them mainly in the words of the maintainers 
 of this doctrine, in order that they may not suffer from 
 inadequate explanation. We can now pass on to the 
 consideration of each Ministry separately. 
 
 § 6. The Restored Apostolate. 
 
 In the fourth chapter of the Revelation, twenty-four 
 seats are represented as encircling the Throne of the 
 Lamb, and upon the seats twenty-four elders were seen in 
 the vision to be sitting. These twenty-four, who are thus 
 admitted into honoured proximity to the Lord, are sup- 
 posed to consist of the Jewish and Gentile Colleges of 
 Apostles. St. Paul and St. Barnabas, being the only 
 products of an attempt to form a Gentile College in 
 the lifetime of the first Apostles, which proved unsuc- 
 cessful through the want of faith enough in the Church 
 for the Lord to close this dispensation at that time ac- 
 cording to His pre-existing desire, are excluded from the 
 favoured Twenty-four.^ The first College marks the 
 
 I 
 
Restored Apostolate. 33 
 
 c immcnccmcnt of the life of the Christian Church ; the 
 hist College, or more correctly, the second division in 
 the main Apostolic College, is sent in order to present 
 the Church to the Lord on His return. Ilcnce arose the 
 belief, only shattered by the stern arrival of inexorable 
 death, that the twelve Apostles would be preserved by 
 supernatural power all together in their entire number, or 
 when that was impossible, in the person of at least one 
 representative, till His long-desired appearance. 
 
 " Men ought to demand a proof," writes Drummond,' 
 "of the mission of Apostles, because, whilst all other 
 ministers exercise their office in virtue of the authorityj 
 conferred upon them, they exercise their office by immc-l 
 diate appointment from Christ. The proofs then rest 
 jupon two grounds : first, the method of their original 
 isending forth ; and secondly and above all, that to which 
 ithe Apostle Paul, the first Apostle of the Gentiles, ap- 
 pealed when he wrote to the Churches which he had 
 [planted : — ' Ye are my Epistle,' /. c. my testimonials, my 
 'letters of orders, 'seen and read of all men.' If they 
 have not planted and established Churches, fulfilling all 
 the conditions which the New Testament declares to be 
 characteristic of Christ's Church : — if there is not found 
 :ombined in these Churches all the truths which are found 
 separately in all the different sects, then truly there are 
 no Apostles ; and we should pray to God continually to 
 aise up Apostles to guide us, in the full confidence that 
 He will hear and answer us, because we can never be 
 juided truly in His ways, never can be prepared to be 
 :aught up to meet the Lord in the air, never can be 
 
 VOL. II. D 
 
34 Doctrines. 
 
 baptized with the Holy Ghost, never can be sealed from 
 the great destruction that is coming, never can be filled j 
 with all the truth of God, but by Apostles, as the spiritual 
 instruments of God, and the means by which He will give 
 us these blessings."^ 
 
 Of these two grounds of Apostolic credentials, the first ' 
 which concerns their appointment, claimed to be Divine, 
 is clear from the course of this history. As St. Peter, St. 
 James, St. John, and their companions received on the 
 Day of Pentecost a descent of the Holy Spirit, which was ; 
 attested by tongues and by other supernatural signs, so 
 these Apostles were appointed through Prophets who 
 had spoken with tongues, and had exhibited strange 
 signs of an unearthly character. And as St. Paul was 
 confident that he had received his appointment directly 
 from the Lord Himself, so each of these Apostles had his 
 own settled conviction that he was sent forth by the same 
 Lord. Again, as SS. Paul and Barnabas, though Apo 
 sties " not of man, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ," were 
 yet formally " separated " for the active duties of their 
 office by the Church at Antioch, guided thereto directly 
 by the Holy Ghost ; so under the orders of the Lord 
 through His Prophets, the Church of the faithful " separ-^ 
 ated," with due circumstances of formality, the Gentile 
 Twelve. When the Lord speaks, who can gainsay it .'' 
 
 Materials too for estimating Mr. Drummond's seconc 
 reason for concluding that these men were really Apo- 
 stles, have been supplied in the course of this history 
 Their adherents point to their wisdom in managing the|| 
 
 1 'DrummonA's Discourses, p. 117. 
 
Restored ylpostolale. ot 
 
 Body, the largeness of their Catholicity, the compact and 
 wcU-considercd system of doctrine which they liavc 
 consolidated and completed, the ingenious and perfect 
 machinery of the different Ministries which in detail at 
 least has grown up under their superintending care, their 
 Liturgy and elaborate Ritual, and the high character 
 which their Members have borne, and the zeal universal 
 among them, which must be a proof of the soundness of 
 their Faith, and of the presence of the Divine Blessing. 
 So high is the appreciation of these services, which is 
 general throughout the Body, that if people who have 
 never heard even the names of these Twelve men remark 
 that if Apostles indeed, they have effected marvellously 
 little, the surprised answer is that they have achieved 
 marvellously much. The original appointment of them 
 is referred to as if it was without doubt the Lord's doing ; 
 and the success which is supposed to have attended them 
 is quoted as the proof from actual experience that this 
 was no mere human agency. 
 
 If indeed they are not duly appointed, but have 
 usurped so high an office, they must, as the INIembers 
 assert, have been actuated by Satan. What could be 
 more presumptuous and wicked than to have professed 
 to bestow the Holy Spirit as they have done without 
 being duly authorized .? Such awful profanity could not 
 co-exist with such a manifest production of the fruits of the 
 Spirit as have been seen in this Body. And as this sup- 
 position appears to be preposterous, we are perforce led 
 -so they allege— to conclude that these men are really 
 Apostles. 
 
36 Doctrines. 
 
 ' Their great characteristic is taken to be that they are 
 the channels of the influx of the Holy Spirit into the 
 Church. This involves all their functions.^ They are 
 next to Heaven. The gift of the Holy Ghost is imparted 
 to them to divide to every man severally. Accordingly, 
 they ordain all the other Ministers, and they " seal " the 
 faithful. The effect of imposition of hands in the former 
 case is to confer ordinary ordination, only that Apostles do 
 so with plenary grace. The latter has acquired a higher 
 sense, in not being merely Apostolic Confirmation, but 
 being supposed to be the conveyance of a talisman of 
 security against the great tribulation, and of a title of 
 membership in the immediate suite of our Lord on His 
 Approach. Their " functions none other can fulfil, as 
 far as is revealed in Scripture, save Apostles, and those 
 only who are immediately and personally delegated by 
 them." 2 
 
 Then the Apostles are also " the fountains and 
 teachers of the Doctrine of the Church." They are the 
 ultimate court of appeal in cases of dispute about Doc- 
 trine. In Drummond's time, proceedings were conducted 
 as follows : " In the ultimate court of appeal, the Twelve 
 Apostles are assisted by the Twelve Prophets. The 
 Senior Apostle presides to preserve the order of the 
 Council ; six sit as judges, and five open the proceedings 
 by laying down the principles on which the matter is 
 bound to be decided. The elders and deacons give their 
 opinions ; the angels and bishops collect the light which 
 
 1 Testimony in Manual, p. 22. 
 - Ibid., p. 23. 
 
Restored ApoUolale. 37 
 
 has come up from all ; if the Holy Spirit please to speak, 
 He does so through the Prophets ; and after all is con- 
 cluded, the Twelx'e Apostles apart consider the judgment 
 ■which is ultimately to be delivered to the Churches." ^ 
 This description, which of course could only be true 
 throughout during the survival of all the Twelve, and 
 indeed during the short period of their unbroken unity, 
 shows the relation in which practically the Apostles stood 
 to the other Ministers upon questions concerning doctrine 
 and the faith.- 
 
 And indeed in practical matters also. They are the 
 heads under Christ, and supreme Rulers of the Catholic 
 Church. This position has never been abandoned ; and 
 time and prescription have rather heightened relatively 
 the eminence on which they stand, than brought them 
 more upon a level with their followers. 
 
 Indeed, as the difference claimed between the Apo- 
 stleship and the other Ministries amounts to a difference 
 of kind rather than degree, — for all the others are by 
 them, and they alone by the Lord Himself, — it is clear 
 that every occasion of collision must leave them only the 
 more securely established. For the strength of the title 
 of the one — supposing it to be acknowledged — and the 
 comparative weakness of the titles of the others, wdiich 
 draw all their virtue and force from the first, must be 
 made gradually more conspicuous. Apostles move 
 upon a higher platform, and claim to do so, however 
 much they and their immediate friends may disguise 
 the fact. 
 
 ' Drummond's Discourses, p. 107. * See Appendix IV, 
 
38 Doctrines. 
 
 That Apostles ought to have this pre-eminence, they 
 consider to be proved, not only from the nature of their 
 office, but also from the manner in which our Lord treated 
 the original Twelve. He retained them near to Himself, 
 for instruction, not only private, but public. He cleansed 
 them by His blood, and went in to and out from them be- 
 tween His Resurrection and His Ascension. "Apostles, 
 and Apostles alone, are in Scripture declared to be the j 
 centre of authority, of doctrine, of unity, in all things, to 
 the visible Church of Christ on earth, until His second 
 and glorious appearing to those who look for Him with- 
 out sin unto salvation." ^ In the Acts of the Apostles, we ,' 
 hear of " continuing in the Apostles' Doctrine and i 
 Fellowship," of " laying things at the Apostles' feet," of 
 the Twelve appointing the Deacons, of the Apostles, 
 when persecution drove away the rest, abiding at Jerusa- 
 lem. Apostles are foundations of the Church, which re- 
 ceives from them the title " Apostolic." 
 
 § 7. Prophets. 
 
 The position of Prophets in the Church is defended 
 upon the grounds that Prophets existed in the days of 
 the First Apostles and for some time after their decease, ' 
 and that in fact they were so well known, and so essential 
 a part of the Church's life, that St. Paul gave in a long | 
 and important passage directions about the exercise of j 
 the prophetical gift. 
 
 The position of Prophets in the Jewish dispensation 
 cannot be doubted. They were the means during a " 
 
 ' Testimony in Jlfanital, p. 24. Appendix I. 
 
Prophets. 39 
 
 lengthened period of the conveyance of the revelations of 
 the Holy Spirit about Divine Truth, and of guidance in 
 various cases of practical business. If these prophetical 
 gifts were the evidences and the means of the continued 
 action of the Holy Spirit in the inferior state which was 
 to minister to the introduction of a better order of things, 
 why should they not be conspicuous when confessedly 
 the Holy Spirit came to dwell in the Church in the 
 higher dispensation ? 
 
 And such was actually the case. On the Day of 
 Pentecost the descent of the Holy Ghost was evidenced 
 by the use of tongues, and by a vast development of the 
 small germ of the Church which had met during the 
 week before in the upper Chamber. The inspired 
 account says that this was in fulfilment of ancient 
 prophecy, which said : — " It shall come to pass in the last 
 days, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh : and your 
 sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young 
 men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream 
 dreams : and on My servants and on ]\Iy handmaidens 
 I will pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they 
 shall prophesy."^ 
 
 And so they did prophesy. " God hath set some 
 in the Church, first Apostles, secondly Prophets." ^ 
 The Church " is built upon the foundation of the 
 Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being 
 the Head Corner-stone."^ There were Prophets at 
 Jerusalem in the first days ; for the passing account 
 
 1 Acts ii. 17, 18 ; Joel ii. 28, 29. 
 = I Cor. xii. 28 ; Eph. iv. ll. ^ Eph. ii. 20. 
 
40 Doctrines. 
 
 states that they went " from Jerusalem to Antioch." ^ 
 There were Prophets in the Church at Antioch; for 
 through them the Holy Ghost ordered that St. Paul and 
 St. Barnabas should be sent out on their celebrated 
 journeys.2 The twelve disciples of St. John the Baptist, 
 upon the imposition of St. Paul's hands, " prophesied." ^ 
 We know the names of some of the prophets, such as j 
 Judas, Silas,* Agabus,^ besides those who were mentioned 
 at Antioch as " prophets and teachers." Accordingly 
 St. Paul warns the Thessalonians : " Despise not pro- 
 phesyings." ^ And to the Romans he says : " Having 
 then gifts differing^ according to the grace that is given 
 to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to 
 the proportion of faith." ' St. Peter uses very much the 
 same language, though the actual term " prophesy " is 
 not employed by him. " As every man hath received 
 the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as 
 good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any 
 man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God." ^ St. 
 John speaks of " false prophets " ^ which presumably 
 would not exist, unless there were also true prophets : 
 " Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits 
 whether they are of God : because many false prophets 
 are gone out into the world." And St. Paul tells the 
 Ephesians that " the mystery of Christ " " is now being 
 revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the 
 Spirit." i« 
 
 1 Acts xi. 27. - xiii. I, 2. ^ xix. 6. 
 
 * XV. 32. ■ 5 xi. 28. ^ I Thess. v. 20. 
 
 '' Rom. xii. 6. '^ I Pet. iv. 10, il. 
 
 9 I John iv. I. ^° Eph. ii. 4. 
 
Prophets. 41 
 
 So too the early records of the Church show that the 
 spirit of prophecy was continued for some time, even 
 after the first Apostles died. But when their quickenint; 
 power was removed, this spirit gradually waned, and at 
 last ceased from the Church. It is clear, so they assert, 
 from the writings of Justin Martyr, Irena^us, Tertullian, 
 Origen, and Eusebius, that spiritual gifts remained in 
 the Church for about a century and a half following the 
 departure of the Apostles, and that then they gradually 
 disappeared.^ 
 
 But the most important passage by far is that which 
 is found in the First Epistle to the Corinthians. St. 
 Paul comes gradually into this subject in the course of 
 his long and weighty letter. In the eleventh chapter he 
 speaks of both men and women " praying or prophesying," 
 as if the latter were almost as common an occurrence as 
 the former. In the twelfth chapter he first really 
 grapples with the subject. He says, "Concerning 
 spiritual gifts {~epl rcov Trz-er/xartKojr), brethren, I would 
 not have you ignorant." Afterwards, " But the manifesta- 
 tion of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 
 
 ' Jits/in I\[artyr, Apolog., i., p. 45. Dial, cum Tryph., pp. 30S, 315, 
 516. Ad Orth., Q and R, v., &c. 
 
 Irenitus, Hceres., ii. 57 ; iii. ii ; and v. 6. 
 
 Tertullian, Apolog., xxiii. ; Ad Scapul., iv. ; De Anima, ix. ; Frrescript., 
 X., &c. ; De Charism. in Apostol. Conslit., xiii. i, published in the work 
 ittributed to Hippolytus. 
 
 Origc-n, Contra Celsum, lib. ii. and iii. 
 
 Eusebius, lib. iii. c. 37 ; iv. 15 ; v. i, 7, 24 ; vi. 40 ; and vii. 7, 9. 
 
 See also Dodwell's Dissert, in Iremrum, ii., and Biscoe's Boyle Lecture. 
 
 These references are taken from a Pamphlet On Miracles and Miraculous 
 Pincers. Three discourses delivered in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, 
 ordon Square, London. Bosworth and Harrison, 1856, p. 40, note. 
 
42. Doctrines. 
 
 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ; to 
 another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit ; . . . I 
 to another prophecy." And after showing how all these | 
 gifts are to be exercised, not by the individual for him- 
 self, or at his own will, but by each for the good of the 
 Body, and in subordination to authority in the Body, he 
 ends after the passage relating to " first apostles, second- 
 arily prophets," by asking " Are all apostles ? are all \ 
 prophets ? are all teachers ? are all workers of miracles ? " i 
 Then, after first exhorting all Christians to " covet earn- i 
 estly the best gifts," he passes off into the beautiful 
 digression about Charity, before pursuing the subject of ' 
 prophecy into more practical detail. 
 
 On his return to this subject, he urges us to " desire 
 spiritual gifts [ra TTi-eu/xariKa), but rather," he says, " that 
 ye may prophesy." A distinction is thus drawn between 
 the two, spiritual gifts and prophesying. Spiritual gifts 
 are shown in the next verses to be chiefly exemplified in 
 the use of tongues, which are also declared to be not for 
 the intelligence of man, but to be primarily addressed to 
 God. " He that speaketh in an unknown tongue 
 (yAwcro-?/) speaketh not unto man but unto God : for no 
 man understandeth him ; howbeit in the Spirit he 
 speaketh mysteries." What can be clearer.'' Prophesying, 
 on the other hand, which is here not taken in the popular 
 acceptation of foretelling future events, which latter is 
 indeed only a striking application of the general power 
 of prophetic insight, is open in meaning and communi 
 cative. It is addressed to man, not to God. " He that 
 prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and ex 
 
Prophets. 43 
 
 hortation, and comfort. He that spcakcth in an un- 
 known tongue cdificth himself; but he that prophcsicth 
 edifieth the Church. I would that yc all spake with 
 tongues, but rather that ye prophesied : for greater is he 
 that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, 
 except he interpret, that the Church may receive 
 edifying." 
 
 This character of tongues (yAwo-o-at, — the word " un- 
 known " in our English version having no Greek 
 equivalent) in being primarily addressed to Almighty 
 God, and having only a secondary purpose as being for 
 signs to men to attract them to a supernatural manifest- 
 ation, is further shown repeatedly by St. Paul. He speaks 
 of the probability of words being uttered in the tongue 
 which arc hard to be understood {jxi] €vai]ixov AJyor). He 
 ends an amplification upon this subject by the conclu- 
 sion, " Wherefore let him that speaketh in' an unknown 
 tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an 
 unknown tongue," he adds, " my spirit praycth, but my 
 understanding is unfruitful." And after further discus- 
 sion and explanation, he says : " Wherefore tongues are 
 for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that 
 believe not : but prophesying ser\'eth not for them that 
 believe not, but for them that believe." He then in con- 
 trast to this gives a striking description of all prophesy- 
 ing, and of an unbeliever or an ignorant man coming 
 into the assembly, and being convinced by the disclosure 
 of the secrets of his heart, and falling down prostrate 
 before God in conversion and repentance. 
 
 After this, St. Paul, still taking for granted that 
 
44 Doctrines. 
 
 tongues and prophesying would exist in Churches, gives j 
 rules for the employment of these spiritual gifts. Notij 
 too many are to speak in a tongue ; and some one is to 
 interpret. If there be no interpreter, no speaking 
 publicly in a tongue is to be permitted. Prophets also i. 
 are to speak in limited numbers, and are to be subject to I 
 judgment. For " the spirits of the prophets are subject 
 to the prophets." He winds up the subject by saying to 
 the Prophets, that any one who thinks himself a prophet, 
 or spiritual, should admit that the Apostles' direc- 
 tions are the commandments of the Lord. And to 
 Churchmen generally, that they should " covet to pro- 
 phesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues." And 
 generally, that order and decency should govern all pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 This long and weighty passage is thus supposed by the 
 Members of this Body to enjoin and regulate prophesying 
 in all ages of the Church. For it cannot be doubted 
 that prophesying formed a very real and important part 
 of the religious proceedings in the Corinthian Church at 
 the time when St. Paul wrote. There is also no expres- 
 sion which might lead people to infer that he was speak- 
 ing of ephemeral gifts. Accordingly, prophesyings have 
 been attempted to be exercised and regulated after the 
 rules and principles which the Apostle here unfolds. 
 
 If it be asked why, although Prophets, as they 
 assert, belong to the essential constitution of the Church, 
 they have failed to be present from the third century of 
 the Christian era till the outburst of the spirit of prophecy 
 in Scotland in 1830, the answer is, as they maintain, clear. 
 
I 
 
 Prophets. 45 
 
 " The second of the two ministries, the Prophetic minis- 
 try, has necessarily ceased with the first. Prophecy is a 
 gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, for the fulfil-* 
 ment of ministry, is conferred by the imposition of hands/ 
 of Apostles. The suppression of the Apostleship carried 
 with it necessarily the suppression of prophecy." ^ Pro- 
 phecy was restored, when the Lord, seeing the rising faith 
 of some amongst His people, began through His faithful 
 to make preparations for His second coming. 
 
 Prophets are " men of high spiritual characteristic, 
 whose intellectual energy naturally moves in a spiritual 
 region of the thing in hand ; whose ministry is of a 
 quality by which it is adapted to go straight to the spirit, 
 and from thence embrace the reason and affections and 
 will ; whose natural gift it is to invest authoritative 
 dogma with the attractions of heavenly benignity and 
 supernatural majesty; to steep the intellectual form of 
 the truth in heavenly unction, and in the depths of men's 
 own spiritual consciousness, so that they shall possess in 
 the spirit that which they know in the mind." - 
 
 " The gift of prophecy may be exercised in the Church^/ 
 by any of its members." ^ But to be a Prophet is dif-f 
 ferent from mere prophesying. Prophesying must ba 
 
 1 Appeal to all rvJio believe on the Lord Jesus CInist (mostly translated 
 from the French), p. 6. London : Bosworth and Harrison, 1859. 
 
 ^ The Present Sorrows of the Lord Jesus and the poiver of the English 
 Church to meet them. London. The Author of this tract has since writing 
 this tract returned from the Body to the English Church. 
 
 ^ A Short Discourse on Prophesying, &c., printed for the use of the 
 Churches in England, p. 6. This tract is known to possess as much 
 authority as anything not issuing from the united Apostolic College can 
 enjoy. 
 
46 Doctrines. i 
 
 exercised in subordination to the authorities existing in : 
 the Church : to the Angel in each Church, and to the 
 Apostle of the Tribe over him ; but prophesying does 
 not make a Prophet. A Prophet is one who has been 
 duly ordained to the office of Prophet. And a Pro-; 
 phet in a particular Church is under the Angel, and 
 must be careful to act in submission to him, and not to 
 transgress the " border " of his ministry. " Prophets set 
 in the particular Church receive from the Angel the 
 things revealed ; they feed upon them in their hearts, and 
 bring them forth in such form as to give light thereon to 
 the Angels and ministers, and to all the people." ^ 
 
 The gift of prophecy may be easily abused. In the 
 first place, false prophets may arise, who ought to be 
 detected and silenced by the Angel in each Church. 
 Secondly, the people " may hear words of prophecy in- 
 timating new and strange things, conveying new matters 
 of faith and views of doctrine, new revelations, new 
 facts, hitherto unknown to the Church, and of which the 
 proper evidence is the senses." ^ To prevent the accept- 
 ance of these false prophecies, no prophecy is received as 
 binding or valid till It has received the impress of legi- 
 timate authority, recognizing and stamping it as part of 
 the lawful and true coinage. That is to say, all pro- 
 phecies must be submitted to the Apostle of the Tribe 
 before they are acknowledged as valid and authoritative. 
 
 The functions of the Prophets embrace three provinces. 
 First, they have to convey the light of God to enable 
 Apostles and others to " direct their course in exercising 
 
 ^ Short Discourse, p. 8. ^ ibid., p. 11. 
 
Prophets. 47 
 
 rule in the Church of Christ." Secondly, they open " the 
 hidden mysteries contained in the law and in the pro- 
 phets of the Old Testament, in order that Apostles may 
 minister them forth in holy doctrine to the Churcl,!." 
 * Lastly, they " declare the mind of God concerning His 
 servants whom He would call in the ministry, which 
 predicted mind the Apostles may effectuate by ordin- 
 ation." ^ That is to say, as St. Timothy received the gift 
 of his Ministry " by prophecy, with the laying on of the 
 ■i hands of the presbytery," so; the Prophets previously 
 call those who arc afterwards ordained. 
 
 This is effected as follows : — Certain persons present 
 themselves for ordination. On an appointed day. The 
 Office for Presentation and Dedication for the Holy Ministry 
 is used. During that service, after prayer that the Lord 
 may make known His Will, some are chosen or not by the 
 Voice of Prophecy, /. e. through the Prophet or Prophets, 
 out of the Candidates for the Ministry who have solemnly 
 presented themselves. This choice is generally made in 
 prophetic language, e. g. to a future prophet : " The Lord 
 hath numbered thee among His Prophets : thou shalt 
 , offer His word." When the call has been confirmed by 
 ; the Apostle, he proceeds to the ordination. A Prophet i 
 . is attached to each Church,- and takes part in the Ser- 
 vice, as has been and will be further explained. 
 
 § 8. Evangelists. 
 
 The term Evangelist is not taken in the restricted 
 meaning with which it is applied to St. Llatthew, St, 
 
 1 Testimony in Manual, pp. 30, 31. 
 
48 Doctrines. 
 
 Mark, St. Luke, and St. John, but in the wider sense, < 
 which includes all the official bearers of the glad tidings 
 of salvation through the Lord. Under this acceptation 
 the name is applied to Philip the Evangelist ; and St. ! 
 Paul tells St. Timothy Ho " do the work of an Evangelist," I 
 and " make full proof of his ministry." So, it is main- ] 
 tained, the word is employed by St. Paul in his mention 
 of the four ministries.^ 
 
 The office of Evangelist was also called into action 
 when our Lord sent out His first Twelve to preach the 
 Gospel. And again, when the Seventy went through 
 Samaria and Galilee, towards the end of His Minis- 
 try. From the passages in the Gospels relating to 
 these two events are derived the chief instructions about 
 the work of Evangelists. Thus the Evangelist is one 
 kind of " Teacher." ^ But his province is chiefly out- 
 side, not inside the Church. His teaching is especially 
 addressed to the understanding and common sense of 
 his hearers, whom he tries to convince, rather than 
 persuade.'^ He is the preacher of the Gospel. He 
 carries " forth both the light of the truth and the 
 power of the life ; " he bears " the tidings of the coming 
 kingdom, and so of the coming judgment, and the 
 news of the ordained refuge, the Church of Christ,, 
 wherein alone is salvation."^ According to the Testi-' 
 mony, he was to " heal the sick, cast out devils, raise the 
 dead," as he went. When he has converted people, and 
 taught, and baptized them, then his work ceases, and '1 
 
 1 I Tim. iv. 5. - Eph. iv. 11. ^ \ Cor. xii. 28, 29. 
 
 * Matiual, p. 33. Note K. ^ Testimony, § 39. 
 
Evangelists. 49 
 
 they come under the Pastor. Evangelists are thus cither 
 members of a company who are constantly engac^ed in 
 doing the work of preaching the Gospel generally in the 
 Tribe, or else they arc attached to each Church. Each 
 Tribe should have sixty Evangelists, who are divided 
 into five bands, each of which is headed by an Angcl- 
 Evangclist, answering to the sixty Pillars encompassing 
 the Court of the Tabernacle, and the five Pillars at the 
 entrance. 1 Each Church too has an Evangelist, who 
 takes an appointed part in the Service, and finds his 
 duty in seeking for converts, and preparing catechumens 
 within the sphere of that Church's operations. 
 
 There is thus a province, defined by its own " border," 
 "or Evangelists. And it is urged that the work of the 
 [iihurch must suffer if there be not a duly-ordaincd Minis- 
 :ry to attend to this province. 
 
 § 9. Pastors. 
 
 The oversight of the Church was provided for from 
 he earliest times. Men were appointed as " Bishops " or 
 ■ overseers," who should " watch for souls, as they that 
 nust give account." The Lord Jesus Christ included 
 his duty especially in the commission which He gave to 
 -lis Apostles, And they in turn delegated it to others. 
 That there is thus a definite office and province for the 
 I'astors to fulfil and occupy cannot be disputed. 
 
 Following then their acceptation of the Fourfold 
 linistry, and assigning special duties to Pastors as well 
 
 ' Readings upon the Liturgy, Vol. I. Part I. p. 260. See Appendix 
 'III. 
 
^o Doctrines. 
 
 as to Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists, the Members 
 of the so-called Catholic Apostolic Church consider 
 them to possess the supervision and care of the Church 
 and of the baptized, and to be the guardians of the souls 
 of the latter. They are thus placed in every Church by 
 the Apostles, and consist of two grades. The lowest of 
 these includes those Priests who are Pastors. Such a 
 Pastor in each Church " has the especial supervision and ,, 
 care of the children of God ; he is the immediate and 
 intimate guardian of their souls." All the direct pastoral 
 care of the flock is in his hands. The second or highest 
 grade consists of the Angels or Bishops of Churches. 
 Each Church has its Angel, who has (i) the higher 
 supervision and care of all the flock, (2) the supervision 
 and care of the Priests under him, and (3) the care of 
 the Church itself. The Pastor of the Church works in the 
 pastoral office under the Angel. Accordingly, he is the 
 channel for the conveyance of rule, and of instruction, 
 and of ministrations of the Spirit from the Apostles to 
 those who are placed under him.^ 
 
 § 10. Hierarchy. 
 
 Such are the four kinds of Ministers. They have 
 their several places in the complete Hierarchy of the 
 Church. 
 
 First, the old Orders of BiSHOPS, PRIESTS, and 
 Deacons are preserved in the Irvingite Body, only that 
 Bishops are designated by the Scriptural name, which is 
 not applied in the Bible to Priests, viz., Angels.^ 
 
 1 Testimony, § 40. Manual, § 41. M. 2 j^gy_ jj_^ jjj_ 
 
Hierarchy. 5 ^ 
 
 Of these, Angels have the power of imposition of hands 
 
 in the ordination of Deacons, and if specially deputed 
 
 ; by the Apostle, in the ordination of Priests. Angels 
 
 t celebrate the Holy Eucharist, absolve, and bless. Priests 
 
 ; celebrate the Holy Eucharist in the absence of the Angel, 
 
 : and absolve, and bless. Deacons are excluded from the 
 
 Choirs in Churches, sitting at the head of the laity, and 
 
 , are chiefly engaged in distributing alms, searching out 
 
 members of the Congregation, providing and taking care 
 
 of the externals of worship, and generally acting under 
 
 the direction of the Angel and Elders. 
 
 It must be understood that the Fourfold Ministry has ^ 
 no special reference to these Orders. The two are " cross 
 divisions." Apostles, Angels, Priests, and Deacons con- 
 stitute a Fourfold Order of degree, each step being 
 higher than the previous step. But Apostles, Prophets, 
 Evangelists, and Pastors constitute a Fourfold Ministry 
 of kind, each kind being different from the others. The 
 relation of the three subordinate Orders or Ministries 
 may be illustrated from the Army. We may suppose 
 for a moment, though with not too close a resem- 
 blance, the Cavalry, Infantry, and Artillery to correspond 
 to the three Ministries of Prophets, Evangelists, and 
 Pastors. It Avill be readily seen how the three latter may 
 have their Angels, Priests, and Deacons, just as in the 
 Ithree branches of the Military Service respectively we 
 find Colonels, Captains, and Subalterns. Only as the 
 sphere of labour for Prophets and Pastors is usually 
 the same, we do not find that their Orders have any 
 distinctive title, beyond the title of their jurisdiction or 
 
< 
 
 52 Doctrines. 
 
 mission. But the names Angel-Evangelist, Priest-Evan 
 gelist, and Deacon-Evangelist, which tell their own storyj 
 are very common. 
 
 It should be noticed next that Apostles are distinct 
 from all the rest. They with their staff may be con- 
 sidered as the general officers of the Church Militant 
 But they have also a most remarkable distinguishing 
 feature. All other Ministers, of whatever kind or grade, 
 receive their Ministry'or Orders from the Apostles. The 
 Apostles are supposed to receive their Apostleship im 
 mediately from the Lord Himself. Thus the Apostle; 
 consecrates Angels, and ordains Priests ; and Deacons 
 are ordained by Angels in their authority derived from 
 Apostles. But Apostles are " not of man, nor by man, 
 but by Jesus Christ." They therefore stand at the head 
 of all, and upon a platform exclusively their own. This 
 point is brought out strongly and repeatedly in the 
 Testimonies, and has been asserted and maintained over 
 over and over again in practice in the face of all opposi 
 tion. The supreme rule is in the hands of the ApostleSi 
 
 The staff of each Apostle consists of a Prophet, Evan- 
 gelist, and Pastor. Each of these is the head under the 
 Apostle of the Ministry to which he belongs in th' 
 Tribe. All appeals pass to and fro through him. Sup- 1 
 pose for example that any complaint or difficult question 
 is referred to the Apostle of the Tribe from any Prophet. 
 The paper of particulars is sent to the " Prophet with the 
 Apostle," — such is the official phrase, — who lays it be- 
 fore the Apostle, and afterwards forwards the decision. 
 There is no direct communication between the Apostle 
 
 
Ilierarclnj. 53 
 
 and Members of the Church except througli the author- 
 ized channels, which in some instances may involve some 
 six or seven stages. 
 
 The number of Clerg\' in a Church, wlicrc there is a 
 full complement, is what would be considered very large. 
 The ideal complement is as follows, but it presupposes a 
 congregation of 3000 communicants : — 
 
 I. Angel, who has an Angel's Help . . 2 
 
 II. Six Elders, each with an Elder's Help 
 
 III. Six Prophets, each with a Prophet's Help . 
 
 IV. Six Eivangelists, each with an livangelist's Help 
 V. Six Pastors, each with a Pastor's Help 
 
 VI. Seven Deacons, each with a Deacon's Help 
 
 64 
 
 Besides these, there might be more Deacons, if desired. 
 
 But this ideal has never been realized. At Gordon 
 
 Square, which ever since the days of Irving has been by 
 
 ar their largest Congregation, only one of the six 
 
 ;oIumns of Elders, so to speak, exists. That is to say, 
 
 nstead of there being six Elders to correspond to the 
 
 six lateral lamps of the Candlestick, there is only one. 
 
 But he has his colleagues of the Prophetical, Evangelist, 
 
 md Pastoral Ministries respectively, he with them 
 
 epresenting in their order the Fourfold Ministry. In 
 
 his state of the development of the Hierarchy of a 
 
 .Church, the four Priests, viz., Elder, Prophet, Evangelist, 
 
 md Pastor, are rather considered as holding four of the 
 
 ix places designated for the Priests officially assisting 
 
 he Anerel. 
 
54 Doctrines. 
 
 There is a provision also for affiliated Churches or 
 Chapels. Such an offshoot of a parental Church is 
 ^called " the Horn." It may be presided over by an 
 Angel with four Priests, one of each Ministry, under 
 him, in which case it is considered to have a full comple- 
 ment ; or an Angel with an assistant Elder, or even an 
 Elder alone without an Angel, may preside over and 
 conduct the Services held there. The Services in the 
 Horn are dependent upon the size of the Staff of 
 Clergy. 
 
 A Horn is supposed to have a quasi-independent 
 existence. When a Congregation assembles entirely 
 under the Mother Church, or even under the Horn, it 
 may be committed to a single Priest, either alone, or 
 with Assistant-Priests, and is then called a " Helpship." 
 A " Helpship " may be under the general charge of some 
 Elder of the Mother Church, with only a Deacon upon 
 the spot. 
 
 But the Ministry of the Body does not end here. 
 There should be seven Deacons for each Church, and 
 more may be added according to the needs of the Con- 
 gregation as decided by the Angel. The members of 
 the Congregation elect Deacons into the seven places. 
 Additional Deacons are appointed by the Angel. 
 
 Helps {avTiXyxl/eis'^), a general name for Assistants, 
 
 vone of which may be provided for each official Minister, 
 
 have been already explained. These " Helps " are 
 
 chosen by the Minister whose coadjutor each respectively 
 
 is to be, but only with the sanction afterwards given of 
 
 ^ I Cor. xii. 28. 
 
Hicrarclnj. 55 
 
 the Angel of the Church. Upon a similar principle, the 
 Angel's Help is chosen by the Angel, but his choice 
 must be confirmed by the Apostle. 
 
 The above include the Hierarchy of the Church, and 
 are included amongst the Clergy. There are also several 
 Offices for the devoted amongst the laity. 
 
 Deaconesses assist the Priest and the Deacon in 
 their several ministrations towards the women of the 
 flock. A Deaconess is considered to possess " no original 
 or independent jurisdiction." Her office is not to be 
 taken as constituting any distinct order in the Church, 
 nor does she cease to be one of the laity, and conse- 
 quently ranks after all the Ministers of the Church. She 
 must carefully attend to the directions of the Priest or 
 Deacon under whom she is serving. But — and this is 
 remarkable as showing the'/strictness which prevails in 
 the regular transmission of orders, or messages, or 
 questions, or appeals, step by step, without any leap from 
 any one even to the next but one — the Priest is specially 
 allowed to direct the Deaconess without the intervention 
 of the Deacon, Deaconesses are chosen with reference 
 to fitness of age, and opportunities of service. They are 
 nominated, and subsequently elected by the " Angel in 
 Council." After which due notice is given in the Con- 
 gregation for objections, if any, to be stated. They are 
 admitted with the use of a special Service provided in 
 the Liturgy. They do not require re-admission on 
 removing to another Church. 
 
 UndeR-Deacoxs are nominated and subsequently 
 elected by the Angel of the Church in Council. As in the 
 
^6 Doctj-ines. 
 
 case of Deaconesses, notice is given in the Congregation 
 after the Communion at least two Sundays, or as 
 these people say, " Lord's-days," before proceeding to 
 the election, in order that objections, if there be any, 
 may be stated. Only communicants are entitled to 
 advance objections, and these are made through the 
 Deacons of the Church, Under-Deacons are either em- 
 ployed under the seven Deacons of the Church, or not. 
 In the former case, they ought to be heads of families, 
 and are chosen by preference from the candidates for the 
 Ministry. The Under-Deacon's duty is to assist the 
 Deacon in keeping order in the Lord's House ; to take 
 oversight of the walk and conversation of those who are 
 within the Deacon's charge ; and to visit according to the 
 Deacon's instructions. Under-Deacons not wholly under 
 the seven Deacons of the Church are to be chosen 
 exclusively from the " Candidates for Ministry." They 
 are all admitted with a special Service, and do not require 
 re-admission upon moving to another Church. 
 
 Lay-Assistants are such lay-people as voluntarily 
 undertake works of charity and piety under the Ministers 
 of the Church, and are regularly organized, the men 
 under the Deacons, and the women under the Deacon- 
 esses. At least once in every year the Angel of the 
 Church invites members of his Congregation to devote 
 their spare time to charitable and pious purposes. They 
 are searched out by the Deacons, and their names with 
 the particulars of the services which they can render are 
 entered in a book kept in the vestry for the purpose. 
 As long as their names remain there, they are held to 
 
Hierarclni. 57 
 
 be bound to render the services specified. But their 
 names can be removed, or their services altered, when- 
 ever they choose to make appHcation. They are pre- 
 sented to the Angel for special Benediction by him, at 
 some time to be appointed by him for the purpose, which 
 should be by preference Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, 
 or All Saints' Day. 
 
 If either Deacons, or Deaconesses, or Under-Deacons, 
 or Lay-Assistants are going to work under the Angel- 
 Evangelist, they are presented to him, instead of to the 
 Angel of the Church. 
 
 None of the Clergy of this Body take any title or 
 address in ordinary life from the office which they bear. 
 If a Clergyman joins them, and becomes Elder or Angel, 
 he is still addressed under the conventional title of 
 Reverend. But even an Apostle, if regarded as a Lay- 
 man outside of the Sect, notwithstanding his presumed 
 promotion to a post above all Patriarchs and Archbishops, 
 repudiates everything beyond the ordinary Esquire or*^ 
 his legal title. Whether this neglect of outward distinc- 
 tion, which extends also to their dress, be wholly due to the 
 modesty which has undoubtedly marked all their public 
 action, or in part also to a secret want of that confidence 
 in the truth and reality of their mission which, in a case 
 of such enormous and universal importance as is involved 
 in their claims, would perforce bear them, even if un- 
 consciously, to a high degree of inahenable magnifying 
 of their office, may well afford matter for consideration. 
 
 § II. Church Services. 
 The regular hours of Divine Service are six o'clock 
 
5 8 Doctrines. 
 
 A.M. and five o'clock p.m. daily. Besides these, Services 
 are held at ten o'clock A.M. and at two o'clock P.M. 
 These hours are regulated strictly by the central au- 
 thority. Also, the Holy Eucharist is to be celebrated by 
 the Angel immediately after the ten o'clock Service on 
 every Lord's Day, and the Communion is to be admin- 
 istered immediately after the two o'clock Service. This 
 is the order to be observed in Cathedral Churches, 
 which have a sufficient staff of priests. In these, if the 
 number of priests and deacons admits, there is to be 
 daily Service also at nine and three, and at such other 
 hours as the Angel, with the sanction of the Apostle, 
 may appoint. 
 
 But in smaller Congregations, this number of Services 
 may be lessened, according to the strength of the staff of 
 Clergy. If there are not enough for more, there may be 
 Services only at ten o'clock and in the afternoon on 
 Sundays, — the latter at what hour is most convenient, — 
 with no week-day Services. In that case the Holy 
 Eucharist is to be celebrated in the morning, but there 
 is to be no afternoon Administration. If there is only a 
 Deacon in charge, there must be no Celebration, and the 
 Service in that case should be later than ten o'clock, lest 
 the members of the Congregation on their return meet 
 other people going to their own places of worship. 
 
 Two forms are given in the Liturgy for the Office of 
 the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The longer of 
 these is to be used only in Cathedral Churches, or 
 Angels' seats, and on the Lord's Day. And even then 
 it is to be used only by the Angel, or by some one duly 
 
CJiurcli Services. 59 
 
 qualified and authorized to act for him, assisted by two 
 Ministers. It will be remembered that Deacons are not 
 technically " Ministers." The Shorter Form is to be used 
 in smaller Churches, and when there is not any one duly 
 authorized to take the Angel's place, or two assistant 
 Ministers are not present. 
 
 On the Lord's Day a sufficient quantity of both Ele- 
 ments are consecrated at the Holy Eucharist, and re- 
 served during the week for three purposes, viz., (i) "pro- 
 position," before the Lord at Morning and Evening Prayer, 
 which act is supposed to bring all the Worship of the 
 Church nearer to the One great Sacrifice for Sins, by 
 means of the weekly Celebration; (2) for Communion on 
 Sunday afternoons, and after Morning Prayer ; (3) for the 
 communion of the sick. The Sacrament thus reserved 
 is kept in a " Tabernacle," and a lamp is kept burn- 
 ing before it, as in Roman Catholic Churches. What- 
 ever remains of it is to be taken into the Vestry on 
 the succeeding Sunday after the Celebration at the Fore- 
 noon Service, and is then to be consumed upon the re- 
 turn of the Priests. But when there is no Angel to make 
 the daily Intercession, only so much is consecrated as is 
 sufficient for communicating the sick during the ensuing 
 week. In this case, no " proposition " is made, nor is 
 there any Communion apart from the Celebration. The 
 Afternoon Communion is intended for those who cannot 
 attend at the Forenoon Service. It should be conducted 
 by at least one Priest, — if the Angel be not present, 
 — assisted in the administration by another Priest, or 
 in the absence of such, a Deacon. The Priest must 
 
6o Doctrines. 
 
 have himself received the Holy Sacrament before in 
 the day. 
 
 " The Shorter Office for the Celebration of the Holy 
 Eucharist " ought, when it is used on the Lord's Day, or 
 on any Feast or special occasion, to be performed by not 
 less than three Ministers, the Celebrant and two Assist- 
 ants. But on ordinary occasions, on week-days, there 
 should be only one Assistant. The Office is of a simpler 
 character than the longer one. 
 
 In the Morning Prayer on each day, the Angel de- 
 livers what is technically called his " Ministry." This 
 Ministry, which is specially addressed to the Elders of the 
 Church, should relate to " the Faith of the Church, or the 
 works and goodness of God therein. He should seek to 
 set forth matter rather suggestive of meditation, than 
 calculated to draw forth from the Elders systematic 
 reasonings, teachings of doctrine, or exhortations to 
 duties." The Elders on hearing this Ministry are sup- 
 posed to feed in thought upon it during the day, and in 
 the evening at the Service they deliver " Ministries " 
 grounded upon it. These Ministries ought to be in the 
 form of meditations, " uttered as before God, and not ad- 
 dressed directly to the people, though delivered in their 
 hearing, that they may participate therein." 
 
 The various arrangements of all these Services are 
 regulated with great care and minuteness. Each Minis- 
 ter has his copy of " General Rubrics," answering to the 
 Roman " Directorium," which is replete with authoritative 
 directions about all Services and most ministerial pur- 
 poses, and extends beyond 1 50 pages. 
 
C/iurc/i Seriices. 6i 
 
 Provision is thus made for all the occasions that may 
 occur when either at the " Horn " or a " Hclpship " fewer 
 Clergy are present than are required for conducting the 
 service. 
 
 There are four chief Feasts in the year, Christmas, 
 Easter, Pentecost, — " Whitsuntide " and its cognate terms 
 are seldom used, — and All Saints' Day. Besides these, 
 the" days of Observance " in this Body include Christmas 
 Eve, the Circumcision, the Presentation in the Temple, 
 the last four days in Holy Week, — which, after the 
 fashion that prevailed in the earlier part of the pre- 
 sent century, and still remains in many quarters, they 
 call Passion-Week, — Ascension-Day, and All Angels. 
 They also commemorate Advent. Lent is marked by 
 them as Quadragesima, as in the case of the First Sun- 
 day in Quadragesima, the Second Sunday in Quadra- 
 gesima, &c., but only the last quarter of it is observed. 
 Indeed, the only fast-day in the year is Good Friday. 
 Ember-days, Fridays, and the other ordinary fast-days, 
 receive no recognition, except that the Litany is to be 
 used on Fridays. The Epiphany is not found in their 
 calendar, and the Sundays up to Septuagesima are 
 reckoned in order after the Circumcision, There is no 
 Trinity Sunday, the place of that Festival being taken 
 I. by the " First Sunday after Pentecost." Succeeding 
 Sundays follow with the same reckoning as far as the 
 " Sunday before Advent." Octaves are attached to the 
 Feasts, except to " All Angels ; " but strange to say, the 
 use of the Proper Prefaces for the Feasts of Easter, 
 Ascension, and Pentecost, is authorized on the Sunday 
 
62 Doctrines. 
 
 succeeding each of those Festivals, but not on the other 
 days within the Octave. 
 
 There is a special I^ectionary, calculated for Matins, 
 Forenoons, Afternoons, and Vespers, throughout the 
 year. The series of Lessons for the Forenoon Service 
 is arranged for two successive years ; the Lessons for 
 the other Services are repeated every year. The Psalms 
 are gone through every month in the four Services. 
 " Days of Observance " have their proper Psalms and 
 Lessons. 
 
 Proceeding with the Services in the Prayer-book, 
 after the Forenoon Service, the Form for removing the 
 Holy Sacrament, and the Form for the Benediction of 
 Holy Water,^ we come to the Litany. The Form used is 
 the English Litany with the following alterations : — 
 I. The invocation of the Ever-Blessed Trinity conjointly 
 is omitted. 2. The three versicles relating to the Sove- 
 reign, and those referring to the Royal Family, the Privy 
 Council and the Nobility, and the Magistrates, are left 
 out. 3. A new versicle is inserted praying for the four- 
 fold Ministry, in words taken from Eph. iv. ii, 12. 
 4. The Collect, " O God, Whose Nature and Property," 
 together with one relating to the Departed Saints and 
 made up from the end of the Prayer for the Church 
 Militant, are introduced before the Prayer of S. Chry- 
 sostom. The Litany is to be used " on Wednesdays and 
 Fridays, and on other occasions when appointed." It is 
 therefore not used on Sundays. 
 
 ^ A list of the various Offices in the Prayer-book is given in Appendix 
 IV. 
 
Church Senices. 6^ 
 
 The other Services, as their titles show, afford 
 considerable variety for times and occasions. We find 
 a fair array of additional Prayers and Thanksgivings, 
 though several of these are well-known Collects for 
 Sundays from the English Prayer-book ; for the Collects 
 are not changed every Sunday, as the Epistles and 
 Gospels are, but only every Season, 
 
 There are proper Services for all Holy Days, 
 including " the Anniversary of the Separation of the 
 Apostles," and " Prayers for the Three Seasons." 
 These " three Seasons " precede Christmas, Easter, and 
 Pentecost, being respectively, (i) "From the i6th to 
 the 23rd December ; " (2) " From the Wednesday 
 preceding to the Wednesday in Passion Week ; " (3) 
 " And from the day after the Ascension to the Friday 
 following, both inclusive." We find also " The Form for 
 Consecrating Chrism ; " Various Forms to be used in 
 celebrating the Holy Eucharist, as by an Apostle before 
 a Solemn Council, for a Tribe, and others ; for Receiving 
 and Dedicating Catechumens, for Baptism, Benediction 
 of new Communicants, Ordination of and Receiving or 
 Inducting the several grades of Ministers ; and various 
 Offices for Private Occasions, such as the Benediction of 
 a House, of a Chamber-lodging, and a Ship ; Absolution 
 of Penitents, Benediction of Holy Oil. The Order for 
 Anointing the Sick, the Commendation of a Departing 
 : Soul, and Prayers on Passing an Altar. The Catechism ^ 
 and the Psalter close the Volume. 
 
 Strange to say, there is no Office for the Burial of the 
 
 1 See Appendix V. 
 
64 Doctrines. 
 
 Dead. This absence of provision for the departed at the 
 time of their departure, over which the Christian Religion 
 sheds such a beautiful and glorious halo of hope, has 
 probably risen from two sources. First, their continual 
 expectation of the Lord has, as has been related, made 
 them almost ignore the possibility of death. And 
 secondly, the smallness and numerical insignificance of 
 the Sect would become thus more apparent, and has 
 therefore restrained them from making special provision 
 for themselves. They fall back upon their true mother 
 Church. 
 
 Those Services which have been mentioned appear 
 generally to present the most salient points, on which 
 any one would fix in a description of the Tenets of the 
 Body under consideration. But the Ofiice for the Laying- 
 on of the Apostle's hands demands more consideration, 
 inasmuch as " Sealing," both in the Rite itself, and still 
 more through the vast privileges which it is supposed to 
 confer, constitutes one of the most striking characteristics 
 of the Community. 
 
 In anticipation of the Apostolic imposition of hands, 
 Baptismal Vows are solemnly renewed within ten days 
 previously. This Rite, for which a special Office is 
 provided in their Prayer-book, is conducted by the 
 Angel, accompanied by four Priests, and includes the 
 Renewal itself, and a solemn " Benediction of Peace " 
 bestowed by the Angel. But when a Candidate cannot 
 attend on the day appointed, he is allowed to appear e 
 personally before the Angel and to renew his vows " by 
 responding to the interrogatories " set forth in the Office. 
 
Sealing. 65 
 
 Upon the day appointed for the Seah'nt^, ^\hcn the 
 Angel and his attendant Ministers have entered into the 
 Sanctuar\-,they take their seats, and the Angel proceeds to 
 call over the names of the Candidates. As their names 
 are severally recited, they come within the lower Choir, 
 accompanied by their sponsors. Then the Apostle with 
 his Ministers, after the list is received, kneels in private 
 prayer before the Altar. 
 
 After this, the Angel, standing in front of the 
 Candidates, presents them to the Apostle, " that they 
 may receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost." Then the 
 Apostle addresses the Angel and the Candidates, in 
 a prescribed form of words, first reciting the Baptismal 
 Gifts of the latter, that they " have been made children 
 of God, members of Christ, and partakers of the Holy 
 Ghost," then adding that they have come to " be estab- 
 lished, strengthened, and settled, by the anointing of 
 the Holy Ghost, which is the sealing of the Lord ; " and 
 that, " through the strength and power of the same 
 Spirit, they may be made perfect in Christ Jesus, and 
 complete in all the Will of God." The Apostle also 
 urges them, inasmuch as " this holy Seal, which is the 
 very Seal of God by the Holy Ghost, will also confirm 
 and bind upon the unclean the chain of those sins, which 
 are not put away with indignation and abhorrence," to 
 humble themselves in faith and repentance before 
 Almighty God. Then they all kneel, the Apostle and 
 lis attendants turning to the Altar, and the Angel leads 
 :he general Confession of sins by the Candidates : after 
 ivhich the Apostle pronounces Absolution and Peace. 
 
 VOL. II. F 
 
66 Doctrines. 
 
 A prayer for the validity of the performance of the 
 Rite follows, and then, the introductory part of the Service j 
 being completed, the Apostle and Ministers having 
 vested, the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist begins, 
 the Apostle acting as Celebrant. At the Offertory, after 
 the Elements have been placed on the Altar, the Arch-i 
 deacon brings up the vessel containing the holy Chrism, 
 and the vessel to be used in the administration of the oil. 
 After the Eucharistic part of the Service, which is here 
 and there adapted to the occasion, and before the Admin- 
 istration of the Holy Communion, " the Apostle rises and 
 covers the Holy Sacrament with a veil." 
 
 Then the Pastor with him pronounces the invita- 
 tion, " Let all who are to receive the Blessing of the 
 Lord draw near," and the Candidates are led up by 
 the Angel to " the access of the Sanctuary." First the 
 Apostle, extending his hands over them, says, "The 
 Holy Ghost come upon you, and the power of the 
 Highest overshadow you." ^llen succeeds a prayer, the 
 Apostle kneeling at the Altar, that the Candidates may 
 receive six Gifts of the Holy Spirit, that they may be 
 sealed with " the seal of the Living God," and have 
 written upon them the " Father's Name, the name of the 
 city of our God," the Lord's " new Name ; " and may 
 "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." After 
 which the Apostle lays his hands on each, and signs him 
 or her on the forehead with the Chrism. Then he 
 addresses all, telling them that they are washed, and / 
 sanctified, and "anointed with the unction from the Holy 
 One." 
 
Other Doctrines. 67 
 
 And after a few more prayers and a Psalm,^ the 
 Communion is proceeded with, in which " the newly- 
 confirmcd " receive immediately after the Priests and 
 Deacons. So the Service concludes. 
 
 § 12. Other Doctrines. 
 
 It remains now to add some remarks upon a few 
 Doctrines held by these people, which have not yet 
 passed under review. 
 
 Readers of the last section may have noticed the 
 rather slighting manner in which they treat the Doctrine 
 of the Ever-Blessed Trinity. They are not, so far as I 
 can discover, unsound upon this all-important point. 
 Their refusal to follow the Church of England in smaller 
 recognitions of this Doctrine seems to have arisen from 
 their tendency in the early part of their career to take as 
 their guide the Bible, and nothing but the Bible; and so 
 to reject, where they could, even a word which, though 
 it expresses what is amply taught in Holy Scripture, is 
 nevertheless itself not found in the sacred Volume. But 
 the fact of their not laying the stress upon this great 
 Doctrine, which the Members had learnt to lay in their 
 younger years, when in communion with the English 
 hurch, marks also a tendency which will receive due 
 otice at the proper time. ]\Iore remarks are needed 
 pon the subject of the Sacraments. And first of the 
 oly Eucharist. 
 It has been already shown that they have adopted 
 
 ' Members of the Church of England or other Bodies, who do not 
 latend to enter into full membership, are here allowed to withdraw. 
 
68 Doctrines. 
 
 the Doctrine of Eucharistic Sacrifice. There can be no 
 question to any one who has really studied this question, 
 and probed it to the foundations upon which it rests, that 
 they are right. People are led into error in imagining 
 that, if the Doctrine of Eucharistic Sacrifice is acknow- 
 ledged there must be an iteration of the One Sacrifice 
 made once for all. But it must be remembered, that such 
 a position is really maintained by no true Theologian. 
 The Offering in the Eucharist is the correlative of the 
 Lord's perpetual Offering of His One Sacrifice — the 
 Lamb that has been slain — before the Throne of God, in 
 the true Holy of Holies. The Offerings made by the 
 Church on earth do not one whit more trench upon 
 the peerless unity and dignity of His Offering, than the 
 prayers of His Saints trench upon His Effectual Inter- 
 cession. The one is in word, the other is in deed. So 
 far Irvingites in their maintenance of a Melchisedec 
 Priesthood are right. 
 
 But their carrying out of this Doctrine, as was 
 to be expected in a Religious Community which has 
 attempted to cut out new ways for itself, has led 
 them into error. They speak too much of " proposi- 
 tion " before the Lord, and make the Holy Sacrament 
 partake far too much of the nature of an opus 
 opcraluni. But this error arises more from the want 
 of a complete grasp of the nature of the Doctrine of 
 the Real Presence. 
 
 They appear not to understand the Theological 
 distinctions of a Virtual and a Real Presence. Thus ir^ 
 Xh^ Readings on the Liturgy we. read as follows: — "We 
 
IIolij E licit (I rist . 69 
 
 believe that that bread and that wine, which in their 
 original condition were, so far as we know, without any- 
 spiritual properties whatever, are now chanj^^cd into 
 certain holy bodies, which, without losing their former 
 physical conditions — being in that respect unchanged — 
 are now virtually and spiritually, by the power of the 
 Holy Ghost, the Body and Blood of Christ. When we 
 say virtually, we mean more than it is as good as, or to 
 the same effect as, if the Body and Blood of Christ were 
 present. We mean that in power, in efficacy, and virtue 
 — that is to say really and eff'cctually — His Body and 
 Blood are present. When we say spiritually, we mean 
 that they are not present by a change of place from 
 heaven to earth, nor after any such manner as is proper 
 to mere matter : but after a spiritual manner, a manner 
 proper to a spiritual and immaterial substance, that is to 
 say, without change or notion of parts ; and that this 
 presence is effected through the operation of the Holy 
 Ghost. So that we believe that the Body and Blood 
 of Christ are capable, in fulfilment of the will of God, 
 through the ministry of Christ, and by the power and 
 energy of the Holy Ghost, of being present elsewhere 
 than in the place where are the material substances of 
 His flesh and blood in their ordinary physical condition ; 
 and that by reason of His presence the bread and 
 wine are changed into the Sacrament of the Body and 
 Blood of Christ; in which Sacrament, under the outward 
 [figures and signs of bread and wine, are present, after 
 a spiritual manner, the Body and Blood of Christ. 
 But what we have said is no explanation of this 
 
7o Doctrines. 
 
 great spiritual mystery; it is a mystery, and we cannot 
 explain it."^ 
 
 There is an evident confusion in the eadier part of 
 this passage between the terms " virtual " and " real," 
 which, as all know who are acquainted with this subject, 
 have widely different meanings. And this confusion is 
 further illustrated by various particulars in the usages of 
 these people towards the Holy Sacrament, which argue 
 a defective sense of the Presence of the Lord therein, 
 and a tendency to regard it in too formal a mode of 
 observance, and more as a matter of religious routine. 
 
 All the Congregation of full age partake of the Holy 
 Sacrament. None leave the Church : none who are of 
 sufficient age omit to receive. It can hardly be that 
 every one without exception is always prepared for 
 reception. Again, all who have already communicated 
 sit invariably till their brethren have partaken. Kneeling 
 is not only not the rule, it is positively discountenanced. 
 Again, communicants hasten out of Church as soon as 
 the Service is over. The Author of Apostolic Lordship 
 pointed out this irreverent habit to some of the authorities, 
 but found no sympathy — no remedy was suggested or 
 attempted. The fact is that there is a too exclusive 
 consideration of the Consecrated Elements, and far too 
 little attention paid to our Lord in the Eucharist as a 
 Personal Being. That close approach to, and loving 
 though humble communion with Him, which is so inex- 
 pressibly dear to those who realize the Holy Sacrament 
 
 1 Readings on' the Liturgy, Vol. I. pp. 165, 166. Italics as in original. 
 See also Union Review, LXXI. pp. 44, 45. 
 
//oZ/y Rncliarist. ^i 
 
 in its true Catholic sense, fails of obtaining adequate 
 appreciation in Ir\ingitc teaching or practice. Ilcncc in 
 their reservation of the Sacrament — a custom to be most 
 carefully fenced and protected — these people do not pay- 
 that outward reverence, which, moderately and wisely 
 rendered, should be the indispensable adjunct of this 
 practice if it be adopted ; and the Jewish notion of 
 shew-brcad, not the Christian Doctrine of the Lord's 
 own Presence, mainly reigns over their use of the reserved 
 Sacrament in their Public Worship.^ 
 
 The practice of communicating begins at an early 
 age. Infants are communicated once, at the age of 
 about two years. When the " apprehension " of children 
 is supposed to be sufficiently advanced and awakened, at 
 about the age of eight or nine, with a wide margin, 
 they become occasional communicants ; that is, they 
 communicate upon the four great Feasts. At this time 
 they receive the Benediction of the Angel, which is given 
 to " such as having been fully instructed in the Faith, 
 are about to be received to the Holy Communion." 
 This Rite in practical effect answers to our Confirmation, 
 only that there is no actual Doctrinal similarity, as the gift 
 of the Holy Spirit is not supposed to be therein conveyed. 
 Afterwards, at the age, say, of fourteen, — again with a wide 
 margin, since all depends upon "apprehension," — the 
 young people become regular Communicants ; and at the 
 sage of twenty they may be admitted to the privilege of 
 being Sealed by the hands of the Apostle. 
 
 * Readings on the Liturgy, Vol. I. p. 395. See also throughout the 
 \rticle in the Union Review before quoted, LXXI. pp. 42 — 47. 
 
72 Doctrines. 
 
 The doctrine held on Sealing has been explained in 
 the last Volume.^ Inasmuch as this ceremony is supposed 
 to convey the inestimable privileges of escape from the 
 Coming Tribulation, and such a proximity to our Lord 
 that the sealed are to " follow Him whithersoever He 
 goeth," it is evident what seeds of danger to the spiritual 
 life both of conferrers and recipients it must contain. 
 Sealing is conferred upon those who have been confirmed 
 by Bishops, not however as involving a denial of the 
 validity of such Confirmation, but from the idea, that 
 Sealing by Apostolic hands brings privileges and bless- 
 ings which are beyond the power of any Bishop to con- 
 vey. This Doctrine will receive a closer examination 
 afterwards. 
 
 The teaching maintained and given in the Body 
 upon Baptism itself is, as has been said, sound and 
 Catholic. The practice of having sponsors to answer 
 for the child is retained from the English Service. 
 Perhaps an exaggerated stress is laid upon Satanic 
 agency in the prayer that Almighty God will " now and 
 for ever expel all power and wickedness of Satan from 
 the body, soul, and spirit of this child (or person) ; " and 
 will " for ever preserve him from that wicked enemy, and 
 for ever preserve him from his invasions." 
 
 Confirmation is almost wholly abrogated by Sealing. 
 The blessing given by the Angel before becoming 
 communicants includes no supposed gift of the Holy 
 Spirit, not even the Renewal of Baptismal Vows, but 
 only the bestowal of peace. When therefore we read of 
 1 Vol. I. pp. 248—254. 
 
 1 
 
Baptism, Conjirmation, and Confession. 73 
 
 Drummond saying that Confirmation is of two kinds, 
 the first by the Angel or Bishop as preparatory to Holy 
 Communion, and secondly, the Sealing by the Apostle, 
 we can only infer that he had an inadequate notion of 
 the true nature of Confirmation.^ 
 
 Private Confession and Absolution arc maintained in 
 theory in the " Catholic Apostolic Church." An Office 
 is provided in their Prayer-book for the purpose : but it 
 is to be used only " if the sins confessed be of such a 
 nature, and the person in that state of mind as shall 
 render it fitting." Otherwise the Pastor or Elder " shall 
 give to such a person as may make known to him a 
 burden of sin and a desire for Absolution, as soon as 
 may be, full opportunity for making particular confession 
 of his sins, and upon receiving such confession shall .... 
 give the person proper ghostly counsel and advice, and 
 also dismiss him with a blessing." But when private 
 Absolution is to be formally pronounced, the penitent is 
 directed to " use abstinence and fasting." " And any 
 Priest pronouncing Absolution should do so fasting : 
 remembering the words of the Lord, who condemned 
 those that sat in the seat of judgment, for that they 
 laded men with heavy burdens, but touched them not 
 themselves with one of their fingers ; and the words of 
 the Apostle, that we should restore them that are 
 overtaken in a spirit of meekness, considering ourselves 
 also : and that we should bear one another's burdens, 
 and so fulfil the law of Christ." ^ This direction, it is 
 
 * Drammond's Substance of Lectures delivered in the Churches, p. 35S. 
 
 * Rubrics to Office, 
 
74 Doctrines. 
 
 evident, must restrain the employment of Private Con- 
 fession and Absolution, and can only be based upon the 
 intention that it should be only in occasional use. 
 Otherwise, the burden upon a Confessor who had to 
 hear numerous Confessions in a day would become 
 insupportable. As it is such Confessions are rare : and 
 when made they take place after the six o'clock Morning 
 Service. The rule of fasting therefore does not weigh 
 very heavily upon either party.^ 
 
 They also practise Unction, in obedience to S. James' 
 direction, but it is not Extreme Unction. The Anoint- 
 ing is made with much ceremonial dignity by the 
 Elder in charge, who is asssisted by other Elders, and 
 accompanied by the Pastor and Deacon. It is admin- 
 istered only to those, who have some time or other 
 received the Holy Communion. The leading idea of the 
 Rite is supposed to be deliverance from death, which is 
 expected to be accomplished by miraculous agency. It 
 is thus connected with the supposed miraculous cures, 
 which Irving and his friends were thought to have 
 effected at the rise of the movement. 
 
 § 13. Fina?ice. 
 
 The Body has no endowments. Their churches have 
 been built by means of special offerings, as for example, 
 the Apostles' Chapel in Gordon Square was built by two 
 sisters as a place of intercession " for the Churches of 
 
 ^ Union Reinetv, LXXI. p. 48 ; to which I am indebted for several 
 hints throughout this chapter. But 1 have much more authority for my 
 statements. 
 
Finaiicp. 75 
 
 Britain," according to the record on a brass which is 
 set up in the Eastern wall of that church. Their 
 Ministry and Services are supported by the Tithes, which, 
 to the great credit of the Members of the Body^ are paid 
 regularly and as voluntary offerings. They have no 
 regular offertories, no positive solicitations by word or 
 deed for offerings or gifts of money. Boxes are affixed 
 to the walls near to the doors of churches: and in these 
 are regularly deposited the tenth part of the property 
 wherewith God blesses their people. 
 
 At the same time, the principles of the Body on the 
 subject of payment of tithe are exceedingly strict, and 
 are enforced on moral grounds in numerous ways. Those 
 who did not pay would be scouted as unworthy Members, 
 and dcfraudcrs of Almighty God by withholding His 
 just due. Nevertheless, the regularity in their offerings, 
 into which there is no scrutiny, and the self-denial which 
 is necessarily implied by those offerings, are worthy of all 
 I praise. The special arrangements are given elsewhere,^ 
 and will not bear epitomizing. The income of Ministers 
 varies from ^^loo to ji'300 a year. 
 
 Such is the Irvingite system of Doctrine, so far as it 
 varies from the Catholic Doctrine of the Church. It has 
 been elaborated with extreme care, and with vcr)' con- 
 siderable ingenuity. It is a s}'stcm which, we should not 
 go too far in saying, could not possibly have been made 
 up in the eighteenth century. It will bear study, and is in 
 many points instructive, and suggestive of much truth. 
 
 * See Appendix IX. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 GENERAL EXAMINATION. 
 
 jE have now passed through the History and 
 the Doctrines of Irvingism, or of the so-called 
 Catholic Apostolic Church. And as the 
 entire Body, both in the Tenets which it 
 maintains and disseminates, and in the career which it : 
 has run since its growth about the year 1830, — inclusive 
 of its gradual development, the struggles for very life 
 which it has undergone, the earlier and later phases of its 
 existence, the wild hopefulness of its youth, and the less 
 aspiring calmness of its old age, — is now before us, we 
 are in a position to try it " by the Law and by the 
 Testimony," and examine it as a whole, and in its 
 several parts. 
 
 I. The first feature that strikes us is perhaps what 
 has been shown all along the history which has been 
 gradually traced, viz., that Irvingism — to give the system 
 its broader name — is emphatically the child of the 
 earlier half of the nineteenth century. The strength of 
 the system has consisted in the advocacy by it of prin- 
 ciples before neglected. Its weakness is shown in an 
 incomplete grasp of those principles, or in an exaggerated 
 
The Nineteenth Century. 77 
 
 stress laid upon them to the exclusion of other modif}'inij 
 truths. 
 
 Take for example the Doctrines of the Incarnation, 
 of grace bestowed through the Churcli, of the necessity 
 of a duly authorized Ministry with plain credentials in 
 unbroken line from the Lord Jesus, of the Catholic 
 Church throughout the world, of the place of the Holy 
 Eucharist in worship as the connecting link with the 
 Atonement, of a regular mode of making offerings out 
 of our substance, of supernatural life in contradistinction 
 to false spiritualism, of true Scriptural Symbolism, and 
 of preparedness for the great Advent : — take any one of 
 these Doctrines or Subjects, which have all received 
 great attention during the present century, counter- 
 balancing the neglect which they generally experienced 
 in the preceding period ; and it \\\\\ be found, that the 
 power which Irvingism has had, has been involved in 
 the maintenance of these, and that its failures have 
 been mixed up with an inability to assert them with 
 moderation, and in not knowing where to stop in the 
 assertion, or how to grasp them thoroughly. 
 
 The nineteenth century has been characterized 
 by tendencies in an Ecclesiastical direction. Besides 
 Irvingism, another sect may be taken in illustration 
 which presents several similar features, though Members 
 of this Body have always reasonably regarded it with 
 contempt. Looking back to the stern simplicity of 
 ritual and organization which is so conspicuous in 
 previous post-Reformation sects, the grand ritual and 
 imposing hierarchy of Mormonism — to put out of sight 
 
78 General Examination. 
 
 for the moment its abominable drawbacks — help also 
 to reveal the quarter towards which the religious waters 
 of our age have been drifting. 
 
 Accordingly, up to perhaps 1830, Irving and his friends 
 were in the forefront of the advance of the religious mind 
 of the period. And even after that, so far as the system 
 which we are considering was really Catholic, for a time it 
 was found in the first ranks. It was the harbinger of the 
 Oxford movement, and in its turn learning from that great 
 advance in the English Church, and being fettered by 
 no traditions strong enough to impede its steps, it rushed 
 on, though with a great internal struggle, and again 
 almost contended for the prize. Hence arose its chief 
 excellence: hence came also that strong opposition which 
 besets all who, in matters round which violent prejudice 
 gathers, move on faster than their age. 
 
 But then, what can be said of the system now } It 
 is plainly an anachronism. What was pardonable, and 
 may even have been to a certain extent praiseworth}% 
 thirty or forty years ago, is unmeaning at the present 
 day. How are the Apostles to present the living 
 Church to our Lord on His arrival, when, to say 
 nothing of failure and internal dissension, only two 
 are just alive, one of whom at least is utterly incapaci- 
 tated .? For presenting at our Lord's approach must 
 mean also active preparation for His arrival. For the 
 truth of this teaching, our Lord ought to have come 
 long ago. Time and death have proved these people 
 wrong over and over again. Unfortunately for their 
 position, the Apostles have died, and the Lord has not 
 
 li 
 
Irviugism nmv an Anaclironism. 79 
 
 come. Who of their company in 1832 would have 
 imagined that neither in 1835, nor 1838, nor 1845, "or 
 1850, nor in 1866, nor in any other of the long years up 
 to 1877, the Lord would not appear? The entire system 
 of prophecy, which is in stern historical fact the founda- 
 tion of their fabric, depends upon the application of 
 the prophecies in the Revelation to the first French 
 Revolution. That was taken to be without doubt the 
 beginning of the end. And not the beginning of the 
 end in any extended sense, such as the post-fact recon- 
 ciliations of the present time may represent : but on the 
 score, that the Lord was expected within the life-time of 
 twelve middle-aged men. What is the meaning of an 
 "Apostolic" Church — emphatically, pre-eminently so 
 styled — without Apostles } Or with one wholly incapa- 
 citated, and one nearly so .'* Making all fair allowance, 
 throwing into the other scale all that I generously can, I 
 ask the adherents of this system in all seriousness before 
 our common Lord, whether they are not clinging to the 
 fondling of a past age which no one at the present day 
 would have selected for exaltation .-* 
 
 IL Then again, what a dark shade is cast over this 
 Body by its admitted failure. I say admitted failure, 
 ; because even the Members of the "Catholic Apostolic 
 .Church" acknowledge and lament it.i In making a fair 
 
 1 "The Apostles and those with them confess the failure." — Creation 
 and Redemption (by the late Mr. Sitwell), p. 365. " It is vain to disguise 
 it from ourselves, that the Ministers whom the Lord has sent to His Church, 
 and His work in their hands, after nearly forty years of expostulation and 
 entreaty, are rejected by His baptized people." — Mr. Cardale. in a 
 'Ministry" at Liverpool in 1871. 
 
General Examination. 
 
 estimate of the extent of this failure, we cannot but take 
 into account the high expectations which the lofty 
 pretensions of the Body naturally raised in the early part 
 of its career. The Christian Church in this land was in 
 a sad state, — broken up into fragments, — infected with a 
 dull torpor, — careless of unity, — unconscious in great 
 measure of the truth. The cure for this grievous and 
 hopeless malady was supposed to be specially vouchsafed 
 to these people. Well then, it is an axiom in creation, 
 that means are calculated with reference to their ends. 
 No one would dream of putting the engines of the Great 
 Eastern into a steam-tug ; and it would be ridiculous to 
 attempt to navigate that enormous product of Brunei's 
 daring conception with the boilers and machinery of a 
 small river-steamer. Are the special schemes devised 
 by Almighty God in the spiritual world, or the particular 
 contrivances of the Lord in His Church, to be ranked 
 lower than the ordinary laws of nature, and to be 
 supposed to be destitute of well-calculated proportion of 
 cause to effect, and of forces to results ? The answer 
 to such a question would best be found in a parallel, the 
 more exact the more valuable, with the phenomenon 
 which is immediately before us. Such a parallel is 
 ready to our hands, and fortunately the various details 
 in it are clear beyond dispute. 
 
 We naturally recur for materials of judgment upon so 
 important a question to the early origin of the true 
 Catholic and Apostolic Church. There we find Apos- 
 tles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers ; — in 
 what relation to one another is nothing to our immediate 
 
Marvellous Growth of the Early Church. 8i 
 
 purpose. There was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 
 In short, we find the exact pattern after which these 
 people claim to have made up their system. The Church 
 counted only 120 Members, when she is first presented 
 to our view. But what was the result ? Passing by the 
 3,000 converts of the Day of Pentecost, we come upon a 
 rapid, continual, extended growth. Opposition, cold- 
 ness, violence had no effect, unless it was that often they 
 appeared to stimulate the development of the amplitude 
 of the Church. Various particular Churches were 
 planted in numerous parts of the civilized world. Apos- 
 tolic journeys brought marvellous effects. Nothing 
 could quench the zeal of those primitive converts to the 
 Faith of Christ. They left their mark in every place 
 that they frequented ; till at last, not to go beyond 
 some forty or forty-five years after the Ascension of 
 the Lord, v\^e gather the following results : — Churches 
 were assembled in Jerusalem and several places in 
 ijudea, Samaria, and Galilee ; at Damascus and Antioch; 
 t numerous places in Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece, 
 Dalmatia, and Italy ; at Alexandria ; in Arabia, Cyprus, 
 Mesopotamia, Chaldea, Parthia, Scythia, and India ; 
 probably in France, perhaps in Spain and Britain, and 
 Host likely in the northern part of Africa. Indeed the 
 growth of the Church in the centuries immediately suc- 
 eeding her first rise was so rapid and complete, that we 
 re led to conclude, that we could fill in striking details 
 the sketch just given, and could extend the outline so 
 s to include more countries, if only our history of the 
 imes were more detailed. 
 
 VOL. II. G 
 
General Examination. 
 
 Turning now to these modern Apostles and Prophets, 
 what show can they make for their forty and more years 
 of labour? First in 1847 we find apologies for small 
 results, and lamentations over want of success. The 
 Apostles could do so little in their " maimed and weak- j 
 ened" condition. Earnest exhortations are given in 
 order to counteract low spirits and halting faith. The 
 Apostles are " reduced in number and weakened by 
 trials and disappointments."^ In 1851 they were the 
 smallest of the Sects in England, according to their own 
 returns for the general Census. For a long period their 
 Evangelizing labours were not far from being suspended. 
 Few people in England, comparatively speaking, know 
 even the names of the chief leaders. They are really 
 an obscure Sect. In 1858 all that could be said in a 
 general Appeal was, " Particular Churches have risen 
 up in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, j 
 Switzerland, America; in every place where God's Word 
 is read, and men love to obey it." ^ The Body shows no 
 inherent power of growth and development. 
 
 All this want of vigorous life, and this failure in 
 bringing about those very results which were originally 
 looked to by the founders of the Body, and which in 
 their anticipated realization formed the very raison d'etre 
 of its existence, stands in strong contrast with the claims 
 now put forth. When pretensions are set up of authority 
 
 1 Narrative of Facts, pp. 84, no, Postscript, &c., &c. I 
 
 ' Appeal to all who believe in the Lord jfesiis Christ (mostly translated ! 
 
 from the French). London: Bosworth and Harrison, 1858, p. 27. The( 
 
 hand of Mr. Drummond is very evident throughout this Tract. 
 
 h 
 
Ifant of Growth in this Bodij. 83 
 
 extending throughout the Universal Church, those pre- 
 tensions cannot be emptied of the meaning necessarily 
 implied in them, by any amount of personal modesty, 
 however sincere, or by any resting of them upon the 
 supposed Will of God. Such pretensions either exist, 
 or they do not. If they are real and well-founded, they 
 must of very necessity have a wide and powerful signifi- 
 cance. The analogy of Divine operations positively 
 forbids any other assumption. Consequently, remarks 
 about " idolatrous notions entertained in these days " 
 respecting Apostles, or about any presumed expectation 
 on the part of outsiders of seeing " a halo " round the 
 heads of these " Twelve," unless they are meant in a very 
 restricted sense, savour in the eyes of impartial men of 
 playing at Apostleship. 
 
 But it is said, that success comes only at the beginning 
 of a dispensation, not at the end. For " when did the 
 means the Lord used ever succeed in recovering a dis- 
 pensation that had failed ^ If they did, the end of it 
 would not come." ^ 
 
 In the first place, we may remark that this plea takes 
 for granted the supposition that the end is certainly at 
 hand. Reasons will be given afterwards for concluding, 
 that while no one can say at any time whether the end 
 f the Church may not come immediately, and it is the 
 uty and the wisdom of every one to live in loving hope 
 nd reverent fear of the Lord's appearing, yet that 
 ogmatizing upon the subject involves that presumptuous 
 eering into the hidden designs of Almighty God which 
 
 ^ Creation and Redevtption, p. 365. 
 
84 General Examination. 
 
 our Lord rebuked.^ Argument grounded upon such 
 sandy premises cannot be worth much. But how httle 
 does it account for the failure in question. For what 
 does that failure mean 1 It means, that in an age, full 
 of change, when people are everywhere reviewing tra- 
 ditional tenets, and when therefore they are more than 
 usually open to religious convictions presented to them 
 with high credentials, this Body with a separate Evan- 
 gelistic agency, and with a flourishing start, has been 
 hardly able, notwithstanding a special interposition of the 
 Lord, and special gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to 
 their claim, — this Body has been hardly able, if it has 
 been able, to keep the place it held before its system was 
 developed. 
 
 And more than this. If the Church, as the world in 
 the days of Enoch and Noah, had been moving further 
 and further away from God ; and if, as in the time of 
 John the Baptist, it had been refusing more and more to 
 accept the Lord Jesus Christ; then something might be 
 said for the small remnant of the faithful amongst 
 prevailing infidelity and wickedness. But during the 
 period of Irvingite existence, the Church has been more 
 than usually active. Acknowledging the general good 
 lives of Members of the so-called " Catholic Apostolic 
 Church," yet no one would think of comparing in the 
 aggregate the amount of zeal and holiness without and 
 within their pale. To call them the small remnant which 
 the Lord reserves to Himself amidst the sinfulness of the 
 Church could have no other meaning than to make 
 
 1 Acts i. 7. 
 
This Failure not to be Excused. 
 
 belief in these Apostles and Prophets the test of salva- 
 tion, or at least the title to precedence in the King^dom 
 of Heaven. Here again, — to pass by higher questions, — 
 we should be taking for granted the moot point of our 
 controversy. The fact remains, that over and over again 
 in these days, earnest and good Churchmen, whose only 
 wish has been to learn the Truth of God, and to submit 
 themselves to the yoke of the Lord Jesus Christ, have 
 candidly, and with much prayer for guidance, examined 
 the claims put forward by these people, and have been 
 unable to accept them. It is idle to blink this fact. 
 Had such men as these, who were learned in the Holy 
 Scriptures, and acquainted with the History and the 
 Principles of the Catholic Church, accepted the teaching 
 of Irvingite Evangelists, the Body would have achieved 
 many times its actual success. The battle has been 
 fought over and over again in the study and in the 
 closet, with every advantage which could be demanded 
 for securing acknowledgment of the Truth. That defeat 
 under such circumstances, be it observed, has more often 
 ensued than victory, is a serious item in countervailing 
 proofs. 
 
 HI. Besides this failure in numerical development, 
 we find another reason to make our decision on a general 
 , survey adverse to Irvingite demands, viz., an amount of 
 dulness and deadness extending over the Body, which is 
 , fatal to such high spiritual claims. 
 
 In the first place, this deadness and dulness are 
 exactly what Irving and his friends did not expect. 
 They were on the look-out for striking spiritual gifts, and 
 
86 General Examination. 
 
 the " Baptism by fire." The latter, it is well known, 
 never came ; and the exercise of the supposed Pro- 
 phetical Gifts is now confined within such narrow limits 
 as to constitute something wholly inferior to early hopes 
 and expectations. As a matter of fact, the curtailment 
 of the Prophet's province by Apostolic authority has led 
 to secession, where earnestness and zeal were above 
 suspicion. In fact, as has been shown over and over 
 again in the course of their history, the tendency of the 
 Prophets to outstrip bounds has led to such a restraint 
 of the employment of the so-called Prophetical Gifts, as 
 to make them almost generically different from what 
 they were when they first came into exercise. The 
 result has been a tameness and dulness, which is quite in 
 place in a small sect, but is inconsistent with the claim 
 of directing generally the Church. 
 
 This is not the place to examine into the nature of 
 these " Gifts," or to see whether they ever came up to the 
 level of their conception. What we are concerned now 
 to notice is, first, that they have from whatever cause 
 sunk to a still lower level than what they first occupied, 
 and that this descent involves an inconsistency with the 
 spirit, if not with the form, of their early principles ; 
 and secondly, that no distinguished altitude has been 
 reached either by individual Members, or by any portion 
 of their Community, which could be in any wise taken 
 to be in harmony with the loftiness of their pretensions. 
 
 I know that I shall be met with the reply, that 
 such height of pretension is repudiated by the Heads of 
 this Religious Community ; that they only do their best 
 
Dccnbicss and Ditlncsx. 87 
 
 as Almighty God has ordered and enabled them to do; 
 that they do not court publicity. But what is the mean- 
 ing of authority over the Church of Christ, if those who 
 claim authority are not openly to claim it, openly to 
 exercise it, openly to maintain it ? What would be the 
 value of a claim to the throne of England, if the Claimant 
 repudiated the responsibilities and consequences of the 
 claim ? But the claim under consideration is not founded 
 on hereditary succession, so that the mantle of a long line 
 of distinguished ancestors might have fallen upon one 
 who is unequal to a part, which has been decorated and 
 ennobled by those who have gone before him. These men 
 have been chosen on account of their special fitness for 
 the work before them : — this they must allege, or retire 
 from the contest. Yet notwithstanding, we search in vain 
 through the records of the Body for any traits of com- 
 manding genius, for features of real distinction ; in short, 
 for anything of a striking or extraordinary character, 
 that would be in unison with, as it is of necessity 
 demanded by, the lofty ambition of the Sect. Taking 
 their own principles, — ranging in thought over the 
 Church's existence, — having regard to its origin and its 
 presumed close, — searching for the spiritual machinery 
 which is supposed to regulate the retinue of the Son of 
 God on His return, and to affect powerfully the entire 
 Catholic Church, — we expect to find a Body endowed 
 with exceptional holiness, with a superiority of faith 
 and doctrine that unfolds more excellence the more we 
 examine it, with vast and increasing powers of influence 
 and growth, full of intellect and sacred learning, — we 
 
88 General Examinatio7i. 
 
 expect at the very least a wonderful epitome of the 
 Church of Christ; — we find a respectable, but little, 
 English Sect, 
 
 Such are the chief impressions which strike those 
 who carefully examine the pretensions of the so-called 
 Catholic Apostolic Church. And in any sound estimate 
 of the validity of the claims put forward, these are very 
 important considerations, which if not fatal, are at any 
 rate so imperatively strong, as to demand a heavy weight 
 of evidence in the opposite scale to make even an equal 
 balance. Because, if there is admitted failure ; if the 
 internal forces, as proved by a long period of operations, 
 are unequal to the production of the results demanded 
 by the principles of the Body ; and if their principles, so 
 far as they are peculiar to themselves, are now out of 
 date ; must there not be unsoundness somewhere in 
 their system "i 
 
 So much as this could never be said of the Church 
 of Christ. However small She was. She was always 
 making progress. However humble a position She held 
 at first. She had a marvellous pent-up power within. 
 She has always been, in Her principles, at least upon 
 a level with the advancing flood of public thought, so 
 far as it has ever been really advancing. Her position 
 has ever been such as to command the respect which 
 belongs to greatness. 
 
 IV. Passing now in our examination within the 
 Community, we discover various points that arrest our 
 attention. Before entering into particulars we should 
 pay a deserved tribute to the zeal of most of the 
 
 I 
 
lJisscnsi())is beticcen ^'Ipostles and Prop/ic/s. 89 
 
 Members, their regularity at Tublic Worship, their 
 sedulous attention to their Religious duties, and their 
 upright lives. These characteristics have been pointed 
 out before, and should be borne in mind throughout an 
 examination. To be impartial, wc must look upon both 
 sides. Truth is reached by comprehensive scrutiny. 
 
 But there arc several dangerous principles in the 
 system which interfere gravely with its operation. The 
 first that strikes us, is the internal dissension that must 
 be perpetuated between Apostles and Prophets. Apostles 
 are the Rulers : but Prophets are the vehicles of Divine 
 speech. It is a transparent inference, that two such 
 divergent influences must tear asunder from one another. 
 If Prophets speak from Heaven, plainly every one must 
 give way, Apostles as well as others. If others decide 
 whether the Prophet speaks from Heaven or not, then 
 Divine Speech is made subject to men who may or may 
 not be Prophets.^ There is an ingenious and plausible 
 I way of reconciling the two principles, but it amounts to 
 what is practically the emasculation of the Prophetical 
 office. Many persons amongst them feel this acutely : it 
 has lost the Body several Members. But we should 
 examine the mode of reconciliation. 
 
 " The Holy Ghost does not annihilate or suspend the 
 personalityof those who prophesy. The question therefore 
 
 * This is no mere surmise or logical inference. A claim has actually 
 been advanced for the Apostles, to "control God the Holy Ghost." 
 Whatever the Author might mean as to discrimination of false from true 
 prophecies, or in reference to a supposed administrative action of the great 
 Lord of the Church, it is impossible to remove the charge of blasphemy 
 from these presumptuous words. 
 
90 General Examiiiation. 
 
 with reference to their utterances is whether they give 
 vent to their own thoughts, or to the inspiration of the 
 Holy Ghost. Prophets receive from the Angel, or from 
 some one else who is set over them, the things revealed ; 
 they feed upon them in their hearts, and bring them 
 forth in such form as to give light thereon to the Angel 
 and Ministers, and to all the people." 
 
 Whether therefore their utterances are in consonance 
 with " things revealed " or not, is decided by the Rulers, 
 that is, by the Apostles. Again, the office of the Prophets 
 is " to give light, not to teach or correct, not to fulfil 
 the duty of Elder, Evangelist, or Pastor." ^ 
 
 The history of this Sect shows that it has been found 
 to be absolutely necessary to restrain the Prophets in 
 their career, or they would inevitably have wrecked the 
 vessel. But see how the two institutions clash. In 
 working, the restrictions just mentioned would amount to 
 this : " You may prophesy, but recollect that you shall 
 prophesy as we determine : otherwise your prophecies 
 will be no prophecies at all." In fact, it is difficult to 
 discover what room there is for prophecy of an extra- 
 ordinary character, when the routine of the Church's life 
 i£ set in order and perfected. 
 
 We shall consider these two subjects more in detail 
 afterwards. The internal struggle is all that catches 
 our eyes in this general survey. The bickerings and 
 struggles in their history show that the two opposing 
 
 ^ Short Discourse on Prophesying and the Ministry of the Prophet in the 
 Christian Church. Printed for the use of the Churches m England, 1 868, 
 pp. 4—6. 
 
 I 
 
Iron Rule. 91 
 
 principles will not work satisfactorily together. One 
 must succumb : and according to the ordinary course of 
 human affairs, the weaker party goes to the wall. 
 
 For there is also another feature to be observed, and 
 that is the iron rule which sways the Body, of which some 
 of those who have come under it assert, that it surpasses 
 the ultramontane imperiousness of the Vatican. It must 
 be borne in mind, that this strength of authority is the 
 natural effect of the system. As long as rule is exer- 
 cised by men who are taken for only ordinary men, and 
 the ultimate source of their authority is either a Nation 
 or a Community, or else a long-established order of 
 ancient pre-eminence, which seems to have the sanction 
 of Almighty God in the distance, liberty and freedom 
 of speech and action are naturally found, even if they 
 ead by inevitable human degeneracy to self-will and 
 icence. But where a special interposition from Heaven 
 is claimed, and the Lord of the Church is supposed in 
 these latter days, not only to have appointed fresh 
 officers over His people, but to be making His Will 
 continually known through their instrumentality, it is 
 dear that if the Lord speaks, the field of free choice 
 must be so far narrowed, and every word of authority 
 must be enforced by a spiritual powder which is literally 
 tremendous. The delicate questions attending a con- 
 scientious exercise of free-w^ll, even in minuter points of 
 life and in public matters outside of admitted Revelation, 
 re resolved into the simple virtue of child-like obedi- 
 ence, except in the case of those who wield the sceptre, 
 and have to determine whether God really speaks, or 
 
92- General Examination. 
 
 whether it be the voice of man simulating the Divine 
 accents. 
 
 So we are again brought back in amazement at the 
 vastness of the authority which these " Apostles " claim. 
 No wonder then, if under an overpowering load of 
 responsibility they make that authority to be even more 
 stiff and unbending than they need make it. No wonder, 
 if they are deficient in that largeness of grasp which was 
 shown by our Lord, when He rebuked a similar spirit 
 in the Pharisees of His time. But when we thus excuse 
 so far, as there seems reason to excuse, the administrators 
 of the system, for showing an imperiousness which is 
 proved by numerous testimonies on the part of those 
 who have suffered from it, we are thrown back upon the 
 system itself Here is a sad blot, intimately connected 
 with the machinery at work, which makes a serious 
 addition to the drawbacks upon a favourable judgment. 
 
 But it is time to take a wider view. Let us suppose 
 that this Body were vastly enlarged, and that the 
 scope of its action included a pressing demand upon the 
 Church and nation for general acceptance. We may see 
 how the system would act. 
 
 Each Church, to be complete, should have an 
 Angel, with another in Episcopal orders to assist him, 
 and forty-eight Priests, besides fourteen Deacons of 
 the Church, other Deacons ad libitum, Deaconesses, 
 and Under-Deacons, to say nothing of Lay-Assistants. 
 It is true that this complete staff presupposes a 
 body of 3,000 communicants. But then, children must 
 be reckoned among this number; and to estimate 
 
Unwieldy Ilierarcluj. 93 
 
 the working of any system it is only fair, and indeed 
 it is necessary, to take into account an ideal state 
 of things in which the system would have full play. 
 What a formidable hierarchy there would then be. 
 Fifty Clergy^ besides Deacons, for each Church having a 
 full complement ! How are the necessary affairs of the 
 world to be carried on, if such complex and unwieldy 
 machinery as this is to be provided ? We should have 
 the pre-Reformation times of numerous monasteries 
 and convents over again, with idleness as a powerful 
 inducement for embracing a religious life. Such a vast 
 establishment of honourable and fairly lucrative offices 
 may indeed convey great advantages for making converts 
 to a Body that continues small, by means of the numerous 
 openings offered for reaching a presumed episcopal or 
 priestly rank. But it is evident that if the Body were 
 to reach an advanced stage of development, it must 
 become practically unwieldy in itself, and unsuited to the 
 imperative business of life. We can hardly restrain our- 
 selves from imagining, that a great motive in instituting 
 these several offices was a desire to make berths for 
 as many adherents as possible. Be that as it may, 
 we see herein another drawback, as we proceed in our 
 scrutiny. 
 
 There is yet another, which would stand in the way of 
 
 any wide acceptance of these Tenets. We find a feature 
 
 in the system which is attractive to many minds, but is 
 
 repellent to many times as many more. A dreamy 
 
 ■ mysticism pervades it. 
 
 Take, as an instance of this, the symbolism which is 
 
94 General Examiiiation. 
 
 traced all through Scripture, and which is supposed to 
 represent Irvingite Tenets. For example : — " The stone 
 which Jacob set up and named Bethel, the house of God, 
 where he saw the ladder on which the angels ascended 
 and descended, even the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ 
 Himself (John i. 51), before he departed to seek his wife : 
 this stone he anointed with oil (Gen, xxviii.). So at the 
 first foundations of the Church at Pentecost, the bride 
 which Jesus had been seeking. He now having gone to a 
 far country, in which He is waiting for both bride and 
 kingdom, the Church received an anointing. On Jacob's 
 return from seeking his wife, he came again to Bethel, 
 erected a stone, and anointed it: indicating a purification 
 of the Church at the close, as well as at the beginning of 
 the dispensation (Gen. xxviii.)."^ It is true that almost 
 in the same breath the author adds : " Symbols are not 
 proofs, nor can the meaning of any symbol be proved. 
 They strengthen faith in facts proved from other sources, 
 but by themselves they can prove nothing, because their 
 meaning has to be discovered not in themselves, but in 
 other Scriptures." Most sound and good : but take 
 away symbolical proof, and what weak support will be 
 left for many Irvingite points of belief The passage 
 quoted above is the very first part of the proof of the 
 Restoration of the Church. The symbolical part of t 
 Scripture is most beautiful : it is essential to the free 
 play of the dogmatic poetry of the Church. But none 
 the less is it above many minds : and to place it in the 
 forefront of evidence, as in this system it must necessarily 
 
 ' Appeal to a' I who believe, p. 20. 
 
Mi/sticism. 95 
 
 be, is to cn\-clopc Divine Truth with a mystic covering, 
 which must deter a vast number of people. 
 
 But be it again observed that tliese people have no 
 choice. Symbolism and mysticism are almost the air 
 which they spiritually breathe ; their system is full of it. 
 To such an extent do they deal in symbolical intricacies, 
 ingenious contrivances, nets of complication, subtleties, 
 balancings, mystifications, concealments, as to make 
 practically a border between themselves and the rest 
 I of mankind, which it is in the highest degree unlikely 
 that the latter will ever cross. For the truth of this 
 statement I appeal confidently to those who have had 
 intimate experience of the working of Ii-vingism. Though 
 distinctly the blame must be cast upon the unsound 
 system, which its adherents try to prop up by frail 
 supports, I am far from wishing to bring any accusation 
 against individuals, the earnestness of many of whom 
 we cannot but respect. The system must bear the 
 responsibility ; and here I find a serious symptom of 
 unsoundness. 
 
 We have now from a general view of Irvingism dis- 
 covered several points which, if not fatal to the peculiar 
 claims made by the adherents of it, form at the least very 
 strong presumptions against its acceptance. At this point 
 we are met by certain pleas put forward in its favour, 
 the consideration of which will carry us further on into 
 the heart of the subject. 
 
 1 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 EVIDENCE AND CATHOLICITY. 
 
 AVING got all these counts of an accusation, 
 each of which seems to rest upon grounds, 
 which if not irrefragable are yet very difficult 
 of removal, the question naturally occurs, what 
 would the Members of the Body themselves advance in 
 answer to them. It is not perhaps easy to anticipate 
 exactly what course w^ould be pursued by an adversary, 
 at a particular|stage in a controversy. But the following 
 argument is pleaded frequently and with much earnest- 
 ness and vigour. If I fail to represent it favourably 
 enough, it is not from want of desire to do it full justice. 
 "All this method of judging upon so sacred a matter 
 is wholly out of place. Spiritual things are spiritually 
 discerned. It is not from an outside estimate, by examin- 
 ation of fringes, or appendages, or appearance, that any 
 trustworthy inference can be drawn. This is Divine 
 action, and can only be known by those who are in the 
 midst of all that goes on. These are the operations of 
 ' The Spirit of truth : Whom the world cannot receive, 
 because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him.' The 
 mind must be purified from worldly tendencies and 
 
Intellectudl Judi^mciit. 97 
 
 judj^micnts, in order to be in a posture to receive the 
 
 Lord's message. Pride of intellect, not the humility of 
 
 God's children, is inseparably attached to inexorable 
 
 I reasoning. Let people go into the centre of the Lord's 
 
 [ work, with docile hearts, as earnest seekers after truth, 
 
 ; and they will see that all this handling and examination 
 
 k of the husk and shell is mere superficial trifling; that 
 
 the kernel is pure and supernatural, and that there is 
 
 found an answer to all cavils." 
 
 Now if we take away the element of truth in which 
 this reasoning is wrapped, and by which it is recom- 
 mended, we shall find two factors, viz., that we must not 
 use our intellects to enquire whether a presumed Revela- 
 tion is really Divine or not, and secondly, that the outside 
 of religion may be objectionable whilst the inside may be 
 Divine and holy. We had best consider these two factors 
 in order. 
 
 Are then the maintainers of God's Revelation to take 
 their stand upon the principle, that the things of God are 
 only spiritually discerned, and that man's intellect is to be 
 shut out from all consideration of them } Is every honest 
 seeker after Truth to be told that he must not think, or 
 question, or scrutinize, or investigate, with caution, and 
 prudence, and care } 
 
 We should be on our guard against any ambiguity 
 here. We learn in the Bible that " the wisdom of this 
 world is foolishness with God;" that we should judge 
 not " as man's wisdom teacheth, but as the Holy Ghost 
 jieacheth ; " that " the natural man receiveth not the things 
 if the Spirit of God." There is therefore plainly a 
 VOL. n. H 
 
98 Evidence and Catholicity. 
 
 meaning in which the use of the intellect is excluded 
 from Holy subjects. But that is not the employment of 
 true intellectual power, but of debased intellect. 
 
 And we must carry our admissions further. The 
 debased use of the intellect in sacred matters is an abuse 
 into which it is not hard to slide. When any one 
 commences an investigation by saying or thinking, that 
 under no circumstances would he acknowledge the 
 subject of his investigation ; when he is governed by an 
 overmastering prejudice, or by a persistent incapacity 
 for reverence, or for devotion of himself; or when he is 
 deficient in the finer and higher powers of judgment; 
 then, and so far as these exist, there is the use of debased 
 intellect in things spiritual, which is reprobated in the 
 Bible. The reason is plain. If a man has made up his | 
 mind irrevocably before he enters upon the examination; 
 if he is devoid of the feelings which the love and 
 goodness of God would properly evoke ; if he is too | 
 much influenced by self-indulgence or supposed worldly 
 interest to be ready to answer the demands upon him | 
 which the religious questions before him if proved would 
 make ; if he is unable to apprehend the delicate distinc- 
 tions which are plain and evident to minds accustomed 
 to such investigations : — just as mathematical calculations 
 are beyond those who are no mathematicians, colours 
 are undistinguishable to the colour-blind, and beautiful 
 melodies and harmonies are unappreciated by those 
 who have no musical taste : — then such prejudice, ocj 
 want of reverence, or incapacity for self-devotion or for' 
 spiritual apprehension, must argue a practically foregone 
 
Use of Sanctified IntcIlccL 99 
 
 conclusion, and render the examination nugatory, and, if 
 the case be well-grounded, positively injurious. 
 
 But wc must also acknowledge another point. The 
 best and highest, and by far the most satisfactory manner 
 of recognizing God's Truth, — indeed the manner which 
 is essential to the Christian, — is to discern it with the spirit 
 and to embrace it. No other evidence is so strong. The 
 heart and life are thus brought near to God's Revelation, 
 the intellect bows down to His Heavenly Teaching, the 
 Spirit "discerns" and flies to His Sacred Treasure. 
 
 But here the case is different. It is whether the 
 sanctified intellect of Christians, who are anxious to 
 learn all God's Holy Truth, may not carefully weigh the 
 grounds upon which it is proposed to their acceptance. 
 Nay more : whether they are not in prudence, in 
 reverence to Him Who has committed His revealed 
 Truth to the keeping of His People in His Church, out 
 of anxiety to do nothing wrong, bound to make as 
 careful an examination as they can of all the features 
 presented to their view. 
 
 When the question, thus cleared of overlying and 
 eally extraneous matter, is thus before us, there can be 
 10 real doubt about the answer. The intellect is God's 
 ift to us, and next to the Spirit which He has given us, 
 rlis noblest gift. All evidences coincide in His Sacred 
 Truth. If we were to admit for a moment that the 
 ruest and strongest intellects of the world were not with 
 he Christian Faith, we should allow that God's Holy 
 .Revelation was unreasonable and incongruous. Supposing 
 ny new dogma claiming Divine authority were pressed 
 
loo Evidence and Catholicity. 
 
 upon the acceptance of Members of the so-called 
 " Catholic Apostolic Church," they of course, or those 
 who are in authority amongst them, would jealously 
 scrutinize all its features, to see whether it was incon- 
 sistent with the analogy of the Faith, whether it had the 
 signs of Truth, or not. Such is the purpose of the 
 present enquiiy, in which all particulars and all aspects 
 are placed before the reader, to enable him with caution, 
 humility, and godly fear, to form his own judgment 
 thereupon. 
 
 But then, secondly, are we to grant that the obvious 
 details of Religion, — the husk and shell, if it may be,— 
 are not to be examined, and have no germane connection 
 with the kernel and inner life } " To the Law and to the 
 Testimony." " By their fruits ye shall know them." 
 Does this refer solely to Christian deeds, and to the lives 
 of the professors of any creed .'' Has it not also a wider 
 meaning .'' What characteristic of our Lord's Teaching 
 was more remarkable, than the thoroughness with which it 
 extended all over the lives and thoughts and Tenets of 
 His Members .? It seems needless here to linger over so 
 well-known a truth. To wrap up His Faith in a covering 
 of a different character, would be plainly to dishonour 
 the sacred deposit by a glaring contrast. If upholders of 
 any system were really to maintain such a defence as 
 this is when stripped of its disguises, the rest would 
 naturally beg to be saved from their friends. It is clear 
 that no Member of this Religious Body can seriously 
 justify such a plea. 
 
 We may therefore move onwards upon our way so 
 
 tc 
 
 I 
 
yire Outsiders unaHe to form OpitiiotisF loi 
 
 far unmolested. No bar can with justice be put in the 
 way of a fair examination, if conducted with moderation, 
 submission, and with an honest and earnest desire for 
 truth. 
 
 But, say objectors, " you must not go on so fast. It is 
 impossible for any one who does not hear our Evangelists 
 speak, and come into our churches and join with us, to 
 form any trustworthy judgment upon this matter. You 
 do not really see and know what is going on. You are 
 like some one who at a distance has watched a race, and 
 without being able to see the several competitors, tries 
 to tell the story of the start, the vicissitudes, and the 
 final struggle. And beyond this parallel, the Christian 
 Church advances reasons of her own against you. By 
 the law of the Incarnation personal agency has been 
 made the means of spreading God's Truth and Blessings. 
 It is not by the mere influence of books, but by the 
 action of man upon man, that the Faith is fairly 
 represented and promoted." 
 
 There is again here an element of truth, and a 
 considerable amount of misapplication. Is it really 
 contended seriously, that no one can judge about Irvingite 
 doctrine by the light of the voluminous literature which 
 has gathered round this subject during the last forty 
 years .-' That if to this be added also careful enquiry 
 n many quarters, including discussion with some of 
 the chief Evangelists in the Body, besides others, it is 
 mpossible to come to a right conclusion ? See what 
 narrow grounds of support are left. If the verdict 
 collected from their literature and this enquiry be against 
 
I02 Evidence and Catholicity. 
 
 them, how Httle remains behind to reassure a doubter, 
 or convince one who has been thus led astray ! Is it 
 true, or is it not true, that for more than forty years 
 past, this cause has been advocated in the midst of this 
 England of ours, with no inconsiderable ability, and with 
 an earnestness which — at least in a part of that time — 
 no one could challenge ? The system itself has a definite 
 objective character, which can be explained as well in 
 writing as orally, and can be examined at least as well 
 in the study or the closet as under the persuasive influence 
 of the tongue of an Evangelist. In the present day, 
 when writing is so common, it is nothing less than 
 preposterous to imagine that the advocates of these 
 opinions, who have shown no lack of ability, have been 
 unable to expound them adequately to the world in 
 their numerous publications. We cannot indeed wonder 
 at people who are sincerely convinced themselves, and 
 are pained at finding how little their publications effect 
 for them, clinging to such a refuge as this. But it is 
 really a refuge : and the very fact of putting forward 
 such a defence shows the poverty of weapons remaining 
 in the armoury. 
 
 I fear that these may seem strong words, and may 
 appear to betoken a ruthless logic. I ask my reader to 
 weigh them carefully, and to judge whether the conclu- 
 sion is not involved in the premises. If it be so, is it 
 not our duty to advance to it } 
 
 We are now confronted with a positive argument of a 
 constructive nature, which may be put effectively in the 
 following form : — " You have quoted our Lord's words. 
 
 1 
 
Three-fold Pica in Rcj)li/. 103 
 
 in which He says, ' By their fruits ye shall know them.' 
 Bo so good as to apply this text to our Body. The 
 excellent character of our Members is well known, and 
 you have yourself acknowledged it. Their regularity in 
 attending Public Worship is celebrated : it is a theme of 
 comment at public meetings.^ Their earnestness in the 
 affairs of the Body is remarkable. They are in constant 
 expectation of the Lord's Advent. They are absorbed 
 in the thought of religion. Self-denial amongst them is 
 very striking. No glaring sins such as are known often, 
 alas ! amongst professing Christians can be laid to their 
 charge, nor any unbelief in the Sacraments, or in any of 
 the general Doctrines of the Christian Religion. They 
 are thus the ' crown in the Lord of the rejoicing ' of the 
 Apostles. Surely then these fruits must betoken a 
 tree planted, watered, and tended by the Lord. If not, 
 these prophesyings and this teaching must come from 
 Satan. Surely that is out of the question. It is 
 monstrous to suppose that Satan could thus be the 
 Author of holiness, of Catholic teaching, of large-minded 
 moderation, of attempts to unite the rended Church, and 
 to present Her to the Lord at His appearing. For 
 be good enough to look especially at the Catholic 
 character of the ' Catholic Apostolic Church.' We 
 include the whole of Christendom within our purview. 
 We use no such un-Catholic expression as ' the Church 
 of England ; ' we have no secular alliance with the 
 
 1 It was referred to by the Right Hon. J. G. Hubbard, M.P., at a 
 meeting at Birmingham in the autumn of 1876, in a speech which was 
 printed and sent round to Members of the National Society by the courtesy 
 of its distinijuished Author. 
 
104 Evidence and Catholicity. 
 
 State ; we allow no usurpation of universal sway by a 
 single Bishop of a Church. We are pre-eminently 
 Catholic : and as Catholicity cannot possibly come from 
 the Author of quarrels and war, see here a conspicuous 
 proof of the Divine Origin of our system." 
 
 There are here in the main three different pleas, 
 which are more effective when combined together as the 
 co-factors of a powerful argument than if they were 
 taken singly. They are these : — The good character 
 of all Members of the Body is a certain proof of her 
 Divine origin : she must necessarily come either from 
 Almighty God or, if not, from Satan, the latter horn of 
 which dilemma is absurd : the Catholicity also of the 
 Body proves that she is from God. Perhaps, in arguing, 
 I may be allowed to change the order here given, and 
 to begin with the second of these three allegations. 
 
 It is strongly urged, then, that manifestations amongst 
 these Religionists have been such, that the authorship 
 must be found either in Heaven or Hell. Here I must 
 observe, that the collocation of these two terms, and still 
 more the bringing the Author of sin into such close 
 proximity to the Name of Almighty God, demands an 
 expression of reverence, and of a humble hope that it 
 may be pardoned from a consideration of the exigencies 
 of argument. To resume : the supernatural element, it is 
 thought, is found so unquestionably in the prophesyings, 
 in the general management of the Body, and in this 
 history throughout, that the source of all must be 
 looked for in that dread power which is engaged in 
 sullying and perverting the good plans of Almighty 
 
 I 
 
The Clui'sdou not between Heave)) (Did Hell. 105 
 
 God, if it is not to be found in the Lox^c of the Lord for 
 His Church and people. The nature of these propliesy- 
 ings is supposed to be unearthly, as it claims to be. If 
 the Lord does not really speak in them, it must be awful 
 blasphemy, the work of His enemy. There is no middle 
 course. 
 
 Now, in the first place, I must here be allowed to 
 claim the liberty which belongs to every man of inter- 
 preting my own meaning. I can accept no such 
 dilemma. I believ^e, and I think that I have shown, that 
 the whole course of the history of these people — not 
 from any colouring of mine, but from the plain witness 
 of facts about which is no question — teaches us that 
 their system has mainly arisen from the assertion of 
 truths and principles which had fallen into not only 
 undeserved, but rather into grievous neglect. There has 
 been in this assertion, as I maintain, exaggeration and 
 misinterpretation, and the assumption of an utterly false 
 position. And so far as these abuses are concerned, wc 
 must trace the working of the Author of all the confusion 
 which has marred the fair work of the Lord. But in the 
 main I believe that this has been a well-meant attempt 
 to remedy patent evils in the Church. 
 
 The Reformation, doubtless, introduced many advan- 
 tages. For bringing the Bible into the homes and hearts 
 of the people we can never, I hold, be too thankful ; 
 nor for the demonstration then made of the necessity 
 of personal faith and holiness in the case of every 
 single individual, which greatly overflowed the bounds 
 of Protestantism. And it seems probable, that the 
 
io6 Evidence and Catholicity. 
 
 Catholic Church in the future will have more reason to 
 be grateful than even we have for the stand made 
 against a despotism, which was inevitably narrowing the 
 Western Church, and had revolutionized her ancient 
 constitution. In England, too, we professedly fall back 
 upon the old lines of Doctrine and practice. 
 
 But no one who is alive to the lessons of these days 
 can refuse to admit that the clipping and pruning was 
 carried too far. The mental apprehension of Catholic 
 Doctrine which prevailed at the time was, generally 
 speaking, too superficial and restricted. And when 
 to the bequests of those days we add the inevitable 
 consequences of the insular position of our country, and 
 the more than insular state at one time of the Branch 
 of the Church amongst us, there is no wonder, that when 
 the Reformation-period was becoming effete, and its 
 power was dying out, there should be much of the 
 building of the Church which required re-construction. 
 Truths which had sunk into oblivion or neglect were 
 to be re-asserted. Principles were to be applied, not 
 to the society of the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries, 
 but to the exigencies of the present and the future. 
 No wonder if many with the best intention of repairing 
 built unwisely. No wonder if Irvingites could find 
 cracks in the walls, or holes in the roof, or rotten timbers, 
 or awkward communication, much more easily than they 
 could discover the right way of planning and conducting 
 the needful repairs. 
 
 Of course then, as far as they have been led a wrong 
 way, we must acknowledge the operation of evil. But 
 
Good Features to he acl;u(}wled<]^e(l. 107 
 
 in all that is good, in the earnest waiting for the Coming 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, in their attempt in common 
 with very many others to induce people to make the 
 expectation of the Great Advent a moving principle in 
 life, and in their desire to unite the Church, and to 
 recover a more perfect machinery in her action, and 
 a more primitive method of worship according to ancient 
 principles and practices — here I believe that we see the 
 Hand of God working in this generation. 
 
 And having thus explained my own belief, and the 
 grounds for arriving at it, I venture to put the question 
 to my readers, whether it be not well-founded. Is it 
 really a fair issue, to hang the question upon the horns 
 of such a dilemma.' Generally speaking, when any one 
 proposes to us a dilemma, we are inclined to suspect 
 that he is more clever in arguing than trustworthy in 
 convincing. If we find parts of a system which, among 
 much that is good, are positively objectionable in our sight, 
 is there no other opening left to us, than to condemn 
 everything wholesale, and to suppose that it is a piece of 
 repulsive wickedness, devised in and sent out from Hell.-' 
 
 Such is, when nakedly stated, the real question. 
 Doubtless, in this instance, the so-called prophesyings 
 seem to many to exhibit undeniably signs of super- 
 natural agency. Into this question we shall enter, when 
 the course of our examination leads us to enquire into 
 the so-called spiritual gifts. Referring onwards to that 
 chapter for the consideration of this important Tenet, 
 I must now content myself with repeating, that the 
 mixture of truth and excellence with error, which we 
 
io8 Evidence and CatlioUcity. 
 
 have already discovered in the course of this treatise, 
 forces us to refer the origin of the system which we are 
 discussing mainly to a general movement in the Religious 
 world, whereby the sacred features of the entire Catholic 
 Faith are being elucidated, and the fragments into which 
 the Universal Church has been shivered are now being 
 gradually influenced by the forces of mutual attraction, 
 instead of being driven further asunder by the discordant 
 elements of hostile repulsion. 
 
 These considerations also point out the answer which 
 we must make to the plea, that the excellence of life in 
 the Members of this Body proves that the system is true. 
 No one can gainsay the principle that the tree is known 
 by its fruits, even if we could divest it of the authority to 
 which we all alike bow down. But we are constrained 
 to ask, what is to be included under " the fruits" "^ Nearly 
 all the comments in this book, if not all, have been based 
 upon this very principle. What is the growth or waning 
 life of the Body but the " fruit " of the soundness or the 
 unsoundness of its Doctrine, and of the presence or the 
 absence of the Divine blessing upon the labours of its 
 Members } What is the Liturgy and mode of worship, 
 but fruit which shows the healthiness or weakness of its 
 general principles .'' What is the working of the Apostolic 
 College, but an evidence to the wisdom or unwisdom of 
 the original institution .? What is the difficulty experi- 
 enced in restraining the Prophets, but a strong suggestion 
 that practice has revealed serious miscalculations in the 
 theory propounded .'' These questions might easily be 
 increased. 
 
Goodness a/oiic icoiild prom too viiicli. 109 
 
 And if stress is laid upon personal goodness of life 
 alone, then the argument would prove too much. Because 
 in that case Wesley and his friends, the Moravians of 
 his time, and numerous other sects, would all be proved 
 to be right, — a conclusion which Ir\'ingites arc too well 
 acquainted with the necessity of the unity of the faith to 
 admit. So that this argument about the tree being known 
 by its fruits yields the following results. If we are at 
 liberty to follow a nariow application of the rule, and to 
 scrutinize solely the manner in which the Members of 
 the so-called Catholic Apostolic Church carry out their 
 own principles, and act in ordinary life, then our verdict 
 upon this particular must be in their favour. But upon 
 this principle we must also pronounce various other 
 Bodies of religionists to have been right ; such as the 
 Montanists, Members of the Society of Friends, Plymouth 
 Brethren, and many others. But if we apply the rule 
 widely and generally, as indeed we are obliged to do, 
 then we find the system to be amply condemned. The 
 entire history of the Community supplies weights which 
 must be placed in the opposite scale. The failure of the 
 Apostolic College, the weakness of the Prophets, and the 
 restrictions which it has been found necessary to place 
 over them, the want of growth manifested by the Body, the 1 
 lack of success in making up the Members of the sealed,/ 
 the disagreement with Catholic rules and traditions, and 
 the various drawbacks which their career has revealed, 
 must all be taken into account, and furnish a formidable 
 array of fruits whose taste is not sw^eet but bitter. 
 
 We need not therefore linger any longer upon this 
 
no 
 
 Evidence and Catholicity, 
 
 fact or in the argument under discussion. The last, which 
 concerns the assumption of Cathohcity by the so-called 
 Catholic Apostolic Church, will demand a much longer 
 examination. 
 
 This has been a very favourite argument during \\\\dX 
 may be called the second period of their history. " This 
 work is no sectarian work," is the conclusion of a chapter 
 in the Narrative of Events : ^ and the words are repeated 
 in the next chapter, and a supposed proof of tliem is 
 added, which is rested upon their large-hearted aims, and 
 their liberal and moderate treatment of other Christians. 
 So in numerous other places, in published works - and 
 in oral persuasion, the presumed Catholicity of the Body 
 is contrasted with descents from this high principle in 
 the English and Rom.an Communions, and is adduced 
 and pressed as a strong engine of influence to those who 
 are outside, and to many within their Communion. 
 
 Now, acknowledging with commendation and grati- 
 tude the several Catholic tendencies of these people, 
 nevertheless I venture to assert that their supposed 
 Catholicity, as a really dominant principle, is a pure 
 delusion. And I do so upon the following grounds, 
 which I submit with confidence will bear out fully that 
 assertion. 
 
 We must first enter briefly into the domain of the 
 leading elementary essentials of belief upon the subjects 
 of religion. 
 
 What is the standard of ultimate appeal for every 
 
 ^ Chapter vii. p. iii. 
 
 ^ See, e.g., Creation and Redemption, pp. 346 — 354. 
 
Jf'itat is Cat/io/ici/i/ P i i i 
 
 one of us in questions of belief? Do we refer, professedly 
 or practically, to the words of the Bible, to the decisions 
 or well-authenticated teaching of the Catholic Church, 
 ! or to the reasoning of the mind of man ? Here we 
 i have three chief standards, on coincidence with one or 
 more of which the decision must rest. Of these the 
 Protestant accepts solely the Bible, according to the 
 well-known saying of Chillingworth, that " the Bible, and 
 the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." And he 
 points to inconsistencies in Romanist Doctrine with the 
 teaching of the Bible, as his justification for adhering to 
 the written Word, which can never be developed or altered. 
 The Roman Catholic again, pointing out that the books 
 of the Bible are clearly not didactic treatises, but generally 
 written to those who were well acquainted with Christian 
 Doctrine before those books were indited, and that the 
 Church therefore both possessed and taught her deposit 
 of Divine Truth before the New Testament was yet in 
 existence, holds that these books are writings of the 
 Church, and that the Church therefore is above what has 
 issued from itself, and is the sole decider as to what Faith 
 is, and what it is not, both in general and in its several 
 particulars. The Rationalist — to use a generic term of 
 wide comprehension — judges, at least in all ultimate cases 
 of appeal, by man's own powers of reasoning, holding 
 that it is impossible that anything can exist as a truth 
 which contains inconsistency, or is not warranted by 
 the premises, or violates justice or the law of mutual 
 kindness, or is at variance with known realities. 
 
 Such are the three standards. In the Church of 
 
112 Evidence and Catholicity. 
 
 England, whilst we never for a moment would go against 
 any principles of morality, or just reasoning, which we 
 maintain are ensured by our standards of proof, we 
 refer for Religious Doctrine both to the Church and to 
 the Bible. We admit entirely that the Faith was 
 committed to the Church wholly independently of any 
 written Word in the New Testament, which was not then 
 in existence ; and that the earliest Christians held their 
 belief without reference to the several books, which were 
 not recognized till many years afterwards, as constituting 
 a whole possessed of authority, and then only by the 
 sanction of the Church. Still, knowing the flux and 
 movement of earthly things, w^e believe that under 
 God's Providence the Written Word was inspired, in 
 order to keep the Church firm to her moorings. So we 
 accept both, the Bible witnessing to the Church, and the 
 Church maintaining and interpreting the Bible. The 
 two come to us together bringing a Testimony which 
 must always be consistent. If there is doubt about the 
 Doctrines of the Church, we turn to the Bible for confirma- 
 tion and proof. If we cannot understand any of the 
 hard passages in the Bible, we survey them under the 
 light of the Church's teaching, and are thereby prevented 
 from wandering into any new and alluring paths of 
 error. 
 
 It appears therefore that there are two theories of Ca- 
 tholicity abroad. For Catholicity means the acceptance 
 of the Doctrines of the Catholic Church, — submission to 
 the authority of the Catholic Church as the decider about 
 the nature of the Faith which has been committed to her 
 
Rornan and English Theories. 113 
 
 charge by our Lord. Now the authority of the Cathohc 
 Church can be only taken b}' itself, or in combination 
 with one or other, or with both, of the two remaining 
 standards. There is positively, as is evident, no other 
 way of taking it. 
 
 How the Catholic Church could be combined with 
 reason, to the exclusion of the Bible, as a standard, is 
 hard to see. And indeed, if the expressed Tenets of the 
 Catholic Church are sought for, it is not easy to discover 
 how mere reasoning could possibly be introduced, 
 except as implied in the axiom that the Catholic Faith 
 cannot but be, and actually is, only reasonable, and as a 
 guide to find out Tenets which, as is taken for granted by 
 implication, cannot violate any law of reason. 
 
 It is clear therefore, that by a process of exhaustion, 
 we are driven back upon the Roman and English theories 
 of Catholicity. It is not within the scope of my purpose 
 now to compare or examine these. Our object is to 
 weigh the plea of Catholicity made for Irvingism. 
 
 The question then is a simple one. Is the Doctrine 
 of the Catholic Church, as ascertained either from the 
 documents of the Church alone, or from them in con- 
 Junction with the Bible, or is it not, the standard of 
 jappeal in the Irvingite Body } 
 
 If the answer is yes, they are not sectarians, they 
 really have Catholicity. If the reply is in the negative, 
 it is idle to insist upon mere fringes and appendages 
 land appearance, and to pretend to what they have not 
 got. The truth of a claim like this, which, if it means 
 anything, must permeate the life, and regulate the sources 
 
 VOL. II. I 
 
114 Evidence and CathoUcitij. 
 
 of the spiritual existence of the Body, is not proved 
 by points of ritual, or by the acceptance of separate 
 Doctrines, or even by a spirit of comprehensiveness 
 reaching to the very boundaries of the Universal Church, 
 Because a false system might simulate Catholic life in 
 separate particulars of more or less importance, and 
 might by a bastard comprehensiveness try to thrust 
 itself into the extensive heritage of the Church of Christ. 
 But the tests are mainly two. First, does the 
 Body in question submit itself to the Catholic Rule of 
 Faith, not only as declared in the Three Creeds, but 
 in the documents of her authoritative Councils, and 
 besides this, in her ascertained life, while she was as yet 
 undivided by vast schisms ? But even this question, if it 
 meets with a sufficient reply, will not satisfy the needs 
 of the case. There must be a further question, whether 
 the unbroken life of the Catholic Church has been 
 handed on to the Body under examination. A plant 
 that grows on another tree is called a parasite. The 
 true parts of the tree are only those which have unbroken 
 connection with the roots, and into which the sap runs 
 through the regular channels up from the roots. The 
 indispensable condition of such an union of a particular 
 Church with the Catholic Church, is evidently a duly j 
 authorized Ministry, deriving credentials and titles in 
 uninterrupted succession through the first Apostles from 
 the Lord Himself. For how else can there be union ? 
 How else can there be authority in the Church, except 
 as conferred outwardly and openly .-' And outwardly and 
 openly according to His orders and directions, by the 
 
Obedience to the Catholic Rule of Faith. 115 
 
 agency of those whom He appointed and authorized ? 
 If scrupulous, honest, and sincere obedience in His 
 outward arrangements is paid to Him, He is sure to 
 bless such action inwardly by His Holy Spirit. 
 
 These then being elementary principles of Catholicism, 
 which must commend themselves to all who bring impar- 
 tial minds to the investigation, how far does the system 
 of the " Catholic Apostolic Church " square with them ? 
 
 First as to Doctrine. When the leading Tenets of 
 the Body were ascertained and embraced, before the 
 Apostles went on their great evangelizing tour, was it 
 a decisive question with them, whether the Catholic 
 Church approved or sanctioned their dogmas respecting 
 restored Apostles and Prophets, or not } On the con- ■ 
 trary, does not the course of their history, as detailed 
 even by themselves, show that their great idea of 
 Catholicity was an after-thought ; that after the fashion 
 of Protestant sects, they first sat down with the Bible 
 in hand, hoping to discover what the Church had not 
 discovered, and eager to construct their own theories of 
 doctrine and discipline out of undiscovered truths by 
 mining below the surface of Holy Scripture, and by 
 collecting treasures which they thought had escaped 
 notice ? What was the meaning of those assemblies 
 at Albury, where the so-called Apostles and Prophets 
 met together daily, and read through the Bible from 
 beginning to end, except that illumination would 
 come to them amidst the darkness that enveloped 
 the Church, and that they would thus shed a new 
 light for which they were indebted to no Councils or 
 
ii6 Evidence and Catholicity. 
 
 Fathers of the Church, or to existing or preceding 
 CathoHc life ? 
 
 When they acted otherwise, be it remembered that 
 their building was mainly raised. And if they were 
 then led by this new line of study, and by a sense 
 of the responsibilities which they had assumed, into 
 the region of Catholic Principle, and thenceforward 
 discarded to a great extent their Protestant bricks, and 
 mostly used Catholic stone to complete their edifice, 
 and to case the lower part of it, which now exhibited 
 too common an appearance to their chastened taste, they 
 cannot therefore escape the imputations, unless in deed 
 and in effect they discard the Doctrines, which were the 
 results of their earlier career. Are they ready even now 
 to say, that if the Tenet of the Restored Apostolate has 
 no warranty in the teaching of the Catholic Church, 
 they are ready to give it up } 
 
 Here is a plain issue. Here would be a test of the j 
 reality of their claim to a Catholic character. For if 
 they are unwilling thus to submit to Church authority, 
 it is clear that they are only one amongst the many 
 Sects, however they may attempt to veil their sectarianism 
 in their own eyes, and in the eyes of other people. 
 
 But these people have also another difficulty. How 
 can they show that theirs is not essentially a new life, 
 separate from and independent of the life of the Catholic 
 Church .-• It is true that their Apostles acknowledge the 
 correctness, and allow the validity, of the authority which 
 duly ordained Bishops, Priests, and Deacons derive in j 
 unbroken succession from our Lord through His Apostles. 
 
 i 
 
Parasitic Life. 1 1 7 
 
 But the argument here depends, not upon their attitude 
 towards others, but upon the nature of their own office. 
 They admit that, accordini,^ to their own explanation, a 
 new start was supposed to be made when Mr. Cardale 
 and his friends were appointed and separated. But 
 what a break in the Catholic transmission of spiritual 
 blessings in the Church, to find not one Bishop amongst 
 the new " Apostles," only two Priests on whom Episcopal 
 hands had been placed, and the rest, with the exception of 
 one in Presbyterian orders, English gentlcmea who had 
 passed their time in politics, or in some other secular 
 occupation. We must remember too that none put their 
 hands on these Apostles, who had been authorized by 
 any external authority. The Angels who separated 
 these Apostles had been themselves appointed by these 
 Apostles. There was an abyss between them and the 
 old sequence : a new sequence of Ministers was supposed 
 to be introduced. How alien to all Catholic principle 
 I were such proceedings ! 
 
 It is quite open to these men to adduce any argu- 
 ments which they fancy they find in the Bible, or in the 
 depths of their own reason : but Catholic arguments,: — 
 never. We cannot but put up our hands in amazement, 
 when we find them so oblivious of the sectarian character 
 of their past history, as to seek to parade a few Catholic 
 weapons, as if they constituted the complete armoury of 
 the Universal Church. 
 
 Indeed, they cannot defend their opinion about the 
 necessity of a Fourfold Ministry, without passing by 
 implication a sweeping condemnation over every century 
 
ii8 Evidence and CatJioUcity. 
 
 of the Church's existence, except a few years in the first. 
 If they were to maintain, that, so to speak, they out- 
 Catholic Catholics, we could understand their position, 
 however much we might demur to their arguments. 
 But when it is as clear as the day, that they form an 
 essentially new Body, and when upon their disputed 
 Tenets — for we are not now concerned with what they 
 hold in common with the Church — they ignore the 
 authority of the Catholic Church, it is time for them to 
 remove this plea from their defence of their position, lest 
 they continue, however unwittingly, to practise deception 
 upon themselves and others. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 APOSTLES. 
 
 E have now completed our general survey of 
 
 the Rehgious System, which has been and is 
 
 now being offered to the acceptance of people 
 
 of this generation. And without going 
 
 furtlicr, we are led upon sure grounds to the following 
 
 esult : — that no well-instructed Churchman, who has 
 
 earnt what is implied in the Three Creeds, and especially 
 
 has been brought thoroughly to understand the meaning 
 
 of the Article which tells about the Holy Catholic Church, 
 
 ould in the face of this general evidence accept the 
 
 l^uidance of these new Apostles. 
 
 They come to us with the very loftiest pretensions. 
 No men in the Church hav^e been, as they assert, invested 
 with such authority since St. John died. They bring 
 with them, as they say, the cure of all the diseases which 
 have afflicted and paralyzed the Church, and torn her 
 isunder into numerods parts. Not only so ; they have 
 A^orked for more than forty years, proclaiming the 
 Lord's immediate Coming, and professedly preparing 
 the Church to meet Him, on the grounds that it was 
 
I20 Apostles. 
 
 their duty to present Her to Him when He comes with 
 His brilliant retinue upon earth. 
 
 Yet at the present time all the Apostles have retired 
 except one, or at most two, though the Lord has not 
 come. Their efforts have ended in failure. Numerous 
 Christians, at least as learned in Holy Scripture and in 
 religious lore, and as holy and earnest as any of them 
 or their adherents, have rejected them. Their teaching 
 and life are alien to the Catholic Church. They have 
 tendencies within their Body which are irreconcilable 
 or difficult of reconciliation. They have an unwieldy 
 mechanism. There is a dulness and deadness about the 
 action of their elaborate system which is referrible to 
 their separation from the true Church. Taking all these 
 points into consideration, it is evident that no well- 
 educated Churchman at the present day could admit 
 their advances. 
 
 But it is time now to bring our examination to bear 
 upon the several parts of Irvingism. And first of all, 
 the central Tenet of the Restored Apostolate demands 
 our attention. For if these Apostles be indeed true 
 Apostles, they ought to be received. If they are only 
 pretenders, then the whole system of which they are the 
 mainstay falls and crumbles into dust. 
 
 The grounds upon which they appeal to us to submit 
 to their sway have been already explained.^ The Tenet 
 of a Fourfold Ministry rests upon the two passages in 
 St. Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians and Ephesians, 
 and upon divers types and symbols, and a supposed 
 1 See above, Vol. II. chap. I. \\ 5, 6. 
 
 1 
 
Krif/ciirc Adrancrd. I 21 
 
 adaptcilion of provinces in ihc nature of the work to be 
 done, and of internal faculties recognized in Psychology. 
 The Restored Apostolate is upheld by reference to the 
 twenty-four Elders in the Revelation round the Throne, 
 by the validity of their appointment as attested by Pro- 
 phetic Voice from Heaven, and of their separation by the 
 Church, after the pattern of St. Paul and St. Barnabas, 
 and by the work which they have executed, their large- 
 hearted zeal, and their wisdom in government. There 
 is also another argument grounded upon the supposed 
 necessity of the case, inasmuch as these Apostles are 
 supposed to appear at the end of the dispensation to 
 close the Church's period with advantage, and to present 
 Mer to the Lord when He arrives. 
 
 We may now consider the wilue of these credentials. 
 
 And first of the passages quoted from the Bible as 
 bearing upon this immediate subject. The two passages 
 are these : — 
 
 Kat avTo<i eScoKe rom fiev a-orrrukovs, tov^ 6e 7rpo(/))/ra9, 
 Tovs 8e cuayyeAtcrras, tovs be ~OLixivas koll bLbaaKukovi, 
 
 irpos Tov KaTapTLa[xuv Tdv ayioov, ets epyov 5taKortaj, ets 
 oiK.oboiJ.iji' TOV trwjuaros rod X/noroi;. — Eph. iv. II, 12. 
 
 " And He gave some. Apostles ; and some. Prophets ; 
 and some. Evangelists ; and some, Pastors and Teachers; 
 
 " For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
 ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ." — 
 Englisli Version. 
 
 Kat ovs \iXv tOiToo 0eos iv tT] €KK\i]crLa' irpCoTOV a-ocTTokovi} 
 
 ' Observe, as Alford in this passage remarks, that it is not rorc ottoit- 
 ToXovQ, as of a definite number, but without the article, as including other 
 
122 Apostlea. 
 
 bivT€pov TTpocfi-^Tas, TptTOV OLbaorKakovs , eiTi.LTa bwajxets, etra 
 yap'^Tp-ara iapLarMV, avriXi'j^reLS, KvjiepvijcreLS, y^vr] yXuxrcrQv. 
 — I Cor. xii. 28. 
 
 " And God hath set some in the Church, first Apostles, 
 secondarily Prophets, thirdly Teachers, after that miracles, 
 then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of 
 tongues." — EjiglisJi Vcrsioi. 
 
 I pass by the types and symbols with a few pre- 
 liminary remarks, because in a passage already quoted 
 Mr. Drummond said that "symbols are not proofs ; nor 
 can the meaning of any symbol be proved." • Indeed 
 symbols and types are of so uncertain and impalpable a 
 nature, that they can bear by themselves the stress of no 
 argument, though they afford valuable confirmation to 
 anything that has been already proved. 
 
 Besides this general remark, the symbols or types 
 in question really afford no sound footing. The four 
 beasts of Ezekiel and the four living creatures of the 
 Apocalypse have generally been interpreted of the four 
 Evangelists, or the four Gospels. And indeed, what is 
 there in the Church, which is so worthy to be thus 
 represented as the four Gospels .-• Instead of witnessing 
 to the Lord for only some 150 years, as these people 
 would have us suppose, they have been the mani- 
 festations of Him for well-nigh eighteen centuries. 
 This interpretation is attested by an unbroken line 
 of expounders beginning with St. Irenzeus, and con- 
 
 " apostles " besides the Twelve. On this inclusive meaning of the word 
 see next chapter. In the earliest ages of the Church, the word was applied, 
 as is well known, to many others besides the Twelve Apostles of our Lord. 
 1 Appeal to all that believe, p. 21. 
 
IncoJisistenci/ in Scrip/ural Tcstinioni/. 123 
 
 tinuinL; through St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, and St. 
 Gregory. And it is accepted in the later ages of the 
 Church, which, as increasing years have the more separ- 
 ated tliem from primitive times, have learnt to value in 
 proportion this imperishable record with its fourfold 
 history of our Lord's life. The four streams of Paradise, 
 the four colours on the tabernacle, the four standards 
 of the host of Israel, the four spirits of the earth, and 
 such like, are evidently capable of other interpretation 
 at least as apt as that which applies them to a Fourfold 
 Ministr}'. We therefore turn to the consideration of the 
 two passages above. 
 
 And first, is it so clear that St. Paul meant to 
 speak of an organic part of the Church's constitution .'' 
 The second passage does not coincide with the first ; for 
 in the latter instance we read of only three kinds of 
 Ministers, not of four ; for (StSao-KaAovs) "teachers " are 
 there put in the third place, not in the fourth. It is 
 !strange then that the passage in the Epistle to the 
 Ephesians should be the only one to teach this Doctrine, 
 if it is one which is of such vast importance as Irvingites 
 represent. 
 
 But is it again so certain that the Apostle intends 
 in these passages to speak of a distinct difference of 
 office .'' May he not refer with quite as much propriety 
 to a difference of function } These people themselves 
 allow a man to hold two offices, as Messrs. Cardale 
 and Drummond were supposed to be Prophets as well 
 as Apostles. Now in the second of the two passages 
 St. Paul includes in his list not four, but eight functions. 
 
1 24 Apostles. 
 
 There is nothing here of the sharply-cut preciseness of 
 the Doctrine, which these people try to rear upon these 
 passages. Indeed the absence of precision which marks 
 the free and flowing speech of the eloquent Apostle, is 
 shown in the words immediately succeeding the second 
 passage. 
 
 M)/ Trai'res aTroWoAot ; /x»; 'navT€^ TrpocprjTai, ; /x?/ iravTes 
 bibaaKaKot ; ju,?; irdvTes hvvajj.€is ; 
 
 M/) ixavTes )(api(T\iaTa l\ov(nv lajxarMV ; fxi] Travres ykuxrcrai'i 
 XaXov(n ; jixt) irdi'Tes ot^pixi-jvevovcn ; 
 
 " Are all Apostles .? Are all Prophets > Are all 
 Teachers .-' Are all Workers of Miracles } 
 
 " Have all the gifts of healing ? Do all speak with 
 tongues ? Do all interpret .'' " — EnglisJi Version. 
 
 The Apostle, it will be observed, here deviates from 
 the course which he first followed. He omits reference 
 to " Helps " {avrLXri\l/eis) and to " Governments " (KD/3ep- 
 v7](T€i^), and introduces " Interpreters," with what exact 
 reference is not quite clear ; so that from his expressions 
 alone it would seem most probable that he was not 
 speaking with scientific precision, but following the free 
 flow of his easy style. 
 
 The tendency of evidence then on a close examina- 
 tion of the passages goes to show, that St. Paul had no 
 intention of putting forth exact dogmatic truth when he 
 penned them. He spoke as he did in the Epistle to the 
 Romans, where he said : — 
 
 " Having then gifts differing according to the grace 
 that is given to us, whether prophecy (let us prophesy), 
 according to the proportion of faith ; 
 
Negaiiied on Calholic Grounds. 123 
 
 "Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he 
 that teachcth, on teaching ; 
 
 " Or he tliat exhorteth, on exhortation ; he that 
 givcth (let him do it), witli simpHcity ; he that ruleth, 
 with dihgencc ; he that sheweth mercy, witli cheer- 
 fuhiess." ^ 
 
 Upon what a slender Biblical foundation of passages 
 directly expressing it does this Tenet rest. But even 
 this foundation is absolutely taken away, without any 
 question whatever in the eyes of a Catholic-minded 
 man. The interpretation which these people try thus 
 to foist upon these words has absolutely no authority 
 at all from the Church. If we were to grant, as 
 the foregoing considerations certainly forbid us to do, 
 that the balance of evidence lay evenly between the 
 two interpretations, who that acknowledges Catholic 
 authority would not say that this was exactly a case 
 which would be decided according to that authority? 
 Yet in all the references made by Members of the Catholic 
 Apostolic Church to this subject, I cannot find a single 
 one which makes any claim whatever for any Council, 
 Liturgy, or writer of ancient repute, taking the view of 
 these words which they attempt to support. 
 
 With reference to the twenty-four Elders in the 
 Revelation who are represented as being round the 
 Lamb of God, what reason is there to conclude that they 
 represent (i) St. Peter and the Eleven with him, and (2) 
 Mr. Cardale and his eleven Friends ? Where are St. 
 Paul and St. Barnabas ? Why should they be left out ? 
 
 ^ Rom. xii. 6 — 8. 
 
[26 Apostlefi. 
 
 Who in the eyes of Christians has been more ilhistrious 
 than St. Paul ? Or was Mr. Mackenzie allowed to be 
 faithless to make way for him .■' If so, what about St. 
 Barnabas.^ or the symmetrical division into Jewish and 
 Gentile Apostles .'' 
 
 But again I set one passage against another. In the 
 twenty-first chapter of Revelation we are told about the 
 " New Jerusalem." It is represented as having twelve 
 gates — not twenty-four — with twelve angels stationed at 
 them, and the names written on them of the twelve 
 tribes of Israel. There are no tribes of any Gentiles 
 mentioned. And the wall of the city has twelve founda- 
 tions, upon which are written the names of the twelve 
 Apostles of the Lamb. Observe that this passage occurs 
 towards the end of the book, where all would be pre- 
 sumed to be mentioned in the grand consummation. 
 Yet the number twelve comes over and over again, 
 beyond the passage which I have described as well as in 
 it. When the Apostles are mentioned, we do not read 
 of twenty-four, but of a sternly exclusive Twelve. If the 
 former passage were supposed to exclude St. Paul and 
 St. Barnabas, according to an application which at the 
 least was doubtful, how are not Mr. Cardale and his 
 Friends shown here by the clearest inference that their 
 presumptuous claims are grounded upon no certain 
 warrant of God's Word .-' 
 
 Again, in the Old Testament we do not hear anything 
 of two numbers of twelve, or a total of twenty-four,^ ! 
 
 ^ Except Numbers vii. 88, " twenty and four bullocks ; " 2 Sam. xxi. 20, ! 
 the Philistine giant who had twelve fingers and twelve toes ; i Kings xv. 
 
Too Feeble to rear auij Doctrine upon. 127 
 
 which niii;ht bear a typical mcaniiig^, though according to 
 the claim here advanced we should Cxpect such a type to 
 be tjivcn. But we are told of the twelve Patriarchs, the 
 twelve tribes, the twelve spies, the twelve jewels in the 
 IIiL;h-Priest's breast-plate, besides minor instances in 
 which the same number was included in an order, such 
 as for sacrifice, with reference to the stones taken up out 
 of Jordan, or the brazen bulls taken away by Nebuchad- 
 nezzar. 
 
 If it be urged that St. Paul speaks of the Church 
 being " built upon the foundation of the Apostles and 
 Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Head Corner- 
 stone," the reply is ready, that it is not necessaiy for us 
 to have recourse to new Apostles and Prophets, to find a 
 most real application of the Apostle's words. 
 
 The Scriptural arguments therefore in favour of a 
 Fourfold Ministry or a Restored Apostolate are too feeble 
 to supply a basis fit to support a Doctrine of such import- 
 ance, as this would have if it were established. The 
 subsidiary arguments derived from a supposed diff'erence 
 of province coinciding with Apostles, Prophets, Evan- 
 gelists, and Pastors respectively, or from an imaginary 
 fourfold division of the faculties of the human mind, are 
 of too fanciful a nature to stand by themselves against 
 strong counter-arguments. Indeed the psychological 
 division in the latter case appears to be defective, since, 
 passing over the fact that no distinction is made between 
 Reason and Understanding, wc find no notice taken of 
 
 33, Baasha's reign ; liaggai ii. i8, " four-and-twcntieth day of the ninth 
 month." 
 
128 Apostles. 
 
 the Passions or Desires. It is clear that dogmatic state- 
 ments cannot rest upon such insecure speculations. 
 
 It is time therefore to take a more general view of 
 the chief arguments which are put forward by such men 
 as Mr. Drummond. Be it remembered, that the question 
 is, whether these restored Apostles are really Apostles or 
 are not. Have they satisfactory credentials.? 
 
 Now we are not left in doubt as to what credentials 
 have been required for Apostles. There are two chief j 
 specimens to our hand in Holy Writ, the original Twelve, 
 and St. Paul. I will take them in order. 
 
 Great stress is laid in these discussions upon the 
 wonderful events of the great Day of Pentecost. That 
 was doubtless a marvellous occasion : and it will require 
 a closer scrutiny when we come to the subject of !. 
 prophecy. The effect of the gifts of the Holy Spirit 
 was most striking. The immediate addition of 3,000 
 souls to the small company of the Apostles showed 
 what a miracle had been wrought. And the amazing 
 growth of the infant Church proved the extraordinary 
 power of that more than world-wide Spirit, which was 
 humanly speaking pent-up in the small Community at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 But there was a particular in the account which is at 
 first sight small, but is really of great importance. The 
 manifestation was visible. " Cloven tongues appeared , 
 as of fire, and sat upon each of them." This visibility of 
 the gifts was strictly according to the law of the In- 
 carnation, and is their safeguard against having their 
 peerless privileges invaded by supposed imitations. 
 
Credentials oj' die ^1 pasties. 129 
 
 I wish to draw particular attention to this feature in 
 the account, because Irvingites have learnt the existence 
 of this law of the Incarnation, and, if I mistake not, do not 
 know how to apply it. Inasmuch as the Blessed Son of 
 God did not redeem us by a mere spiritual movement 
 from Heaven, but by outwardly assuming man's nature, 
 He thereby inaugurated a system, according to the laws 
 of which something outward and definite is presented to 
 our senses, to which a Spiritual Grace and Blessing is 
 attached. Hence the outward arrangements of the 
 Church: hence the Sacraments: hence all externals. And 
 the better appreciation of this law in the present century 
 has led to a serious diminution of number amongst the 
 ' Society of Friends." Members of the " Catholic Apos- 
 tolic Church " know this truth generally ; but they do 
 not yet understand entirely the application of the law, 
 its co-extensiveness with the Life of the Church, and 
 Lhe limitation of it by the Spiritual Essence and Action 
 af Almighty God. The entire circle of the Doctrine 
 f the Universal Church is the only sure guide to this 
 cnowlcdge. 
 
 Well then, the Apostles had this outward Ordination 
 Dr Consecration. But was this their only credential } 
 
 It is remarkable that the names of all the Apostles are 
 lever mentioned together in the Bible records of events 
 jifter the great Day of Pentecost. We know them from 
 he lists which are given in the earlier accounts ; so that 
 ve are sent back to the appointment which was made by 
 )ur Lord Himself 
 
 Indeed if we were concerned with the events of 
 
 VOL. II. K 
 
130 Apostles. 
 
 the Day of Pentecost alone, there would be no reason 
 for singling out the Apostolic College from the rest ! 
 of the Church. The Holy Spirit descended upon all i 
 of those who were assembled together. A cloven i 
 tongue " sat upon each one of them " [eKaOiai re ecf)^ 1 
 era eKaaTov avrwv). And as if to exclude the notion that« 
 the Pentecostal gifts were confined to any order or caste ; 
 amongst them, it is said that they were " all together ' 
 with one accord in the same place," and " all of them 1 
 were filled with the Holy Ghost." If they were all i 
 there, it must mean all the 120 who were assembled at 
 the election of St. Matthias, since the words used on 
 both occasions are mainly the same, except that in the 
 latter case the universality of their meeting is denoted by 
 a stronger word.^ It is therefore a perfectly gratuitous 
 assertion that the Holy Ghost descended only upon the 
 Apostles, on the assumption that otherwise God, in the 
 very act of founding His Church, would have disregarded 
 a law of Her being, that the Holy Ghost passes through 
 the Apostles to the other Members."^ As an argument 
 this pleading is of course valueless, because it is based 
 entirely upon 2l pctitio priucipii — the assumed truth of the] 
 controverted point. But beyond that, the idea is simply 
 without foundation, since the parallelism of the passages, 
 and the continuity of the narrative, plainly show that 
 all of those who were present at the election of St. 
 Matthias were in the assembly on the Day of Pentecost, 
 
 ' a-KavTtc, — not -nnvTic,. 
 
 - Tliis argument is quoted by Mr. Grant in Apostolic Lordship, p. 63. 
 The author of the argument was really Mr. Cardale in one of his "Ministries. 
 See Mr. Grant's argument. 
 
Converse iritli the Lord. 131 
 
 and that the IIol)' Ghost sat upcMi every one without 
 exception. 
 
 We must therefore look elsewhere for the main 
 credentials of the TweKe Apostles, as Apostles, and 
 not as Members of rank in the Church. And we fall 
 back naturally upon their con\erse with the Lord. It 
 was the Ten — for Judas Iscariot had fallen and St. 
 Thomas was absent — to whom He said, " Receive }'e the 
 Holy Ghost : whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted 
 to them ; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are 
 retained."^ No doubt has been cast upon the participa- 
 tion of St. Thomas in the Grace of this Ordination, which 
 was therefore probably repeated to him ; and the case of 
 St. Matthias stands by itself. But the original appoint- 
 ment of the Twelve upon the mountain reveals the 
 primar}' source of their credentials. On that occasion, they 
 were openly designated and made Apostles. It was a 
 clear, definite, public act. And their position was main- 
 tained by their constant association with the Lord, who 
 liabituall}- treate'd them as Apostles, and sent them all out 
 on an Apostolic journey about a year before He suffered. 
 
 Accordingly, there never was any question- as to 
 whether they were Apostles or not, either singly or 
 ponjointly, any more than there is any doubt as to 
 Whether our present gracious Queen is the Sovereign of 
 England, or the Emperor y\lcxander the Czar of Russia. 
 They were duly appointed by our Lord, when He was 
 present on earth outwardly in the flesh. And accord- 
 ngly, such outward acts, dating from His own outward 
 
 ' St. John XX. 22, 23. 
 
132 Apostles. 
 
 acts, and from those alone, have ever been considered 
 to be essential to any appointment to the Ministry in 
 His Church. To do otherwise would be to break a 
 fundamental law of His Incarnation. 
 
 It is indeed very remarkable, that the entire founda- 
 tion of the Church, and the provision for its transmission 
 to future ages, was effected by directions given to certain 
 chosen men. Unlike Mohammed, or Buddha, or Zoroas- 
 ter, or even Moses, our Lord was not an author. He 
 did not see fit to assume any literary character. He 
 only left a Form of Prayer, and the recollection of oral 
 discourses, and private viva voce Teaching. He delivered 
 no written code of laws : He drew up no treatise. His ■ 
 Disciples treasured up His sayings, and in course of time 
 published them to the world. It appears that these were 
 by degrees, including also the chief scenes of His career,; 
 reduced by the frequent intercourse between His followers 
 into recognized and authoritative stories, which were 
 repeated by believers in almost identical words, and thatJ 
 this cabala, having been the more easily formed owingf 
 to Jewish reverence for sacred things, became the 
 groundwork at least of the three Synoptic Gospels, if 
 not of that of St. John. But it is much the most probable, 
 to say the very least, considering the nature of things 
 and the events of subsequent history, that our Lord 
 added to His public Teaching exact directions to Hisj 
 Apostles about the organization of the Church, the order 
 of Public Worship, and Dogmatic Truth.^ And it is 
 
 ' He did not tell them till after His Resurrection ra nipi tij^ (iaaiXiiag 
 Tov &tou, and particulars have not been recorded. 
 
 tl 
 
Chosen by our Lord in Person. 133 
 
 this which gave to the Apostles, whose credentials present 
 no possible flaw, the eminent position which they held, 
 connecting.the Church with the Lord, — a position which 
 from the principles of the Incarnation it is simply impos- 
 sible that any other men should hold, till He personally 
 appears on earth. 
 
 So that for the true title of the Twelve Apostles, and 
 their credentials for their office, we must have recourse, 
 not to the events of the Day of Pentecost, strong 
 confirmation as those events gave to the validity of the 
 appointment, but to the choice of them made personally 
 by our Lord, and to their personal association with the 
 Lord. After they were once chosen, and the fact of the 
 choice was made public, — whatever were the outward 
 signs of the accomplishment and conveyance of the 
 choice, of which we know nothing, — thenceforward there 
 was no room for questioning. They were Apostles till 
 death, unless they fell like Judas. Their qualification 
 "or holding their office was derived from their personal 
 converse with the Lord : because they thus learnt what 
 vas necessary for becoming, according to the Revelation, 
 :he twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem.^ Thus, 
 coo, further confirmation is derived from the wonderful 
 juccess which attended their labours. The extent of 
 hat success has been described, so far as it was shown 
 luring their life-time. The advance made in the 
 ;enturies immediately succeeding their death added to 
 he testimony already borne to their faithfulness and wis- 
 lom. And indeed throughout the ages of the existence 
 
 ' Rev. xxi. 14. 
 
134 Apostles. 
 
 of the Catholic Church, their names have always been 
 mentioned with peculiar honour. So that their position, 
 though they were after all only men with like passions 
 as we are, though full of Divine Grace, is unassailed 
 and indeed unassailable. 
 
 Before we estimate the value of the credentials which 
 are claimed for Mr. Cardale and his Friends, we must 
 consider also the title of St. Paul to the Apostleship 
 which he held. This is a very remarkable case, because 
 his appointment was not outwardly notified, like that of 
 the Twelve : nor was he designated by our Lord in the ; 
 days when He was in the flesh. It was long therefore ; 
 before he was recognized as an Apostle. 
 
 Before searching into St. Paul's credentials, we should i 
 take note of his outward circumstances as he comes 
 before our eyes. In many respects, his figure stands ; 
 towering above all his associates and colleagues. His 
 own record of his labours, which was wrung from him 
 through impediments placed before him in his work, 
 declares what he went through. He stands at the head 
 of the Gentile Church, not only on account of having 
 founded more local Churches than any one else, but 
 also from the stand which he made and the victory! 
 w^hich he won for Gentile liberty. He was actually the 
 author of fourteen^ out of the twenty-seven books of 
 the New Testament, and as is probable virtually the 
 author of two more. If an exception was to be made 
 
 1 I include the Epistle to the Hebrews, because the evidence in favour 
 of the authorship of no one else seems to me to approach in strength 
 the evidence, internal and external, in favour of its having been written 
 by St. Paul. But this is not essential to my argument. 
 
Credent'utls of St. Paul. 135 
 
 in favour of any one, St. Paul would assuredly be the 
 favoured man. 
 
 Now it should be remembered that St. Paul was 
 never included in the Twelve, unless it be true, as has 
 been supposed, that he was the successor of St. James, 
 when the latter had suft'ered mart}-rdom at the hands 
 of Herod Agrippa. He stands, according to general 
 opinion and according to every other except the improb- 
 able h}-pothcsis just mentioned, upon a different platform 
 from that which is occupied by St. Peter, St. John, and 
 the remaining Ten. How then did he become an 
 Apostle ? 
 
 Now we should observe first the great stress which 
 he lays upon his Apostleship, and upon the fact that he 
 was not called to be an Apostle by man, but by God. 
 In every single Epistle, except those to the Philippians, 
 both to the Thessalonians, to Philemon, and the Treatise 
 addressed to the Hebrews, he uses introductory words to 
 this effect : " Paul, called to be an Apostle " — " by the 
 Will of God " — " according to the commandment of 
 God " — " and of Jesus Christ " — " not of man nor by 
 man, but by Jesus Christ and God." ^ It is clear there- 
 fore that he claimed to have received his office direct 
 from God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 But w'e must advance a step further. St. Paul sets 
 also the greatest store by the fact that he had actually 
 seen the Lord. " Am I not an Apostle.'' " — he says to 
 the Corinthians- — "am I not free .-' Have I not seen 
 
 > See beginnings of the nine Epistles, and Gal. i. 12, ii. 7 — 9 ; Eph. iii. 
 ; I Tim. ii. 7 ; 2 Tim. I — II. - i Cor. ix. i. 
 
136 Apostles. 
 
 Christ Jesus our Lord ? Are not ye my work in the 
 Lord ? If I be not an Apostle unto others, yet doubtless 
 I am to you : for the seal of my Apostleship are ye in j 
 the Lord." This passage is very noticeable, first, because 
 it shows the meaning of his Apostleship, as the Father of 
 the Gentiles in the Faith ; and secondly, because it 
 reveals the ground of his claim to the Apostleship, 
 viz., a personal meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and an actual mission emanating directly from Him. 
 " Last of all " — he says in another place,^ speaking of the 
 Lord's appearances after the Resurrection, — " He was 
 seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.'^ For I 
 am the least of all the Apostles, that am not meet to be 
 called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of 
 God. But by the Grace of God I am what I am : and 
 His Grace which was bestowed upon me was not in 
 vain ; but I laboured more abundantly than they all : 
 yet not I, but the Grace of God that was with me." So 
 that we must take his having actually seen the Lord, as 
 a strong element in the credentials of his Apostleship. 
 
 The question then presents itself, zvhcn and hozv St. 
 Paul received his aJDpointment thus directly from the 
 Lord Himself. There are four possible occasions, viz., 
 his first call, his vision in the Temple, the time when he 
 
 1 I Cor. XV. 8—10. 
 
 2 dxTTTipii Tilt tKTpwuaTt. The Irvingite interpretation of this is given 
 above. Vol. i. p. 164. It is evident from the context, that St. Paul is 
 comparing his own case with that of the Apostles. To them, whose 
 birth as Apostles was regular, He appeared all together. To St. Paul, as 
 " tI> tKrfjwfia," for the article is used, He appeared by Himself and last of , 
 all. Again, if St. Paul is to fKTpojfia of the Family — remark the article — 
 where does St. Barnabas come ? 
 
JVhen he uri.s appoinlcd. 137 
 
 was caught up to the third Heaven, and we may perhaps 
 nclude, though it docs not answer the conditions at which 
 we have reached, the occasion when he was sent forth 
 3y the Church at Antioch. 
 
 I. We may perhaps comprise within his call the three 
 years of his sojourn in Arabia, before and after which he 
 appears to have preached at Damascus. His appoint- 
 ment appears to have now commenced. For first, the 
 Lord says to Ananias, " he is a vessel of choice to me, to 
 bear My Name before the Gentiles"^ ((tk^vos eKKoyi]? fxoi 
 karlv ovTO'i). Again, from the Lord's words to St. Paul 
 himself: "I have appeared to thee for this purpose, to 
 make thee a minister and a witness both of these things 
 which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which / 
 zai/l appear unto thee ; delivering thee from the Gentiles 
 unto whom now / send thee." From some of the 
 xefcrences to the scene on the road, such as Ananias' 
 words, " the Lord who appeared to thee" (6 ocpOeU o-ol),- 
 md St. Barnabas' declaration " how he had seen the 
 Lord on the way"^ (ei8e tov Kvolov), it seems clear that 
 5t. Paul really did see the Lord on that occasion, a 
 particular which we should not gather from the account 
 tself of the event. 
 
 There was therefore in this event one of the necessary 
 elements of a true sending forth of an Apostle. The 
 Drior condition that the Lord Himself was present at an 
 ntcrview with him was satisfied. But did He then 
 ictually send St. Paul ? The few hints which are sup- 
 plied seem to reply satisfactorily in the negative. First 
 
 1 Acts ix. 15. * V. 17. ^ V. 27. 
 
138 Apostles. 
 
 there is the future " I will show hini"/^ (iTroSet^co) ; this 
 was said to Ananias after the event. Next the sequel 
 proves that our Lord did really appear to St. Paul after- 
 wards ; and it seems in the highest degree unlikely, 
 that all in a moment an unbaptized persecutor of the 
 Church should be advanced by a leap over Sacraments 
 to the head of the Gentile Church. We are therefore \ 
 brought to the conclusion, that if there was any other 
 more favourable occasion, which contained less objection, 
 this first Appearance of the Lord would give way to that. 
 Indeed another Appearance is promised in this one : " in 
 the things in the which I will appear- unto thee " {S)v re 
 d(p9}](ro[j.aL (TOi). For the words " the Gentiles unto whom 
 now I send thee " ^ (aTroo-re'AAoj), need give us no difficulty. 
 All scholars are acquainted with the incomplete meaning 
 of the present tense in Greek, relating to current events, 
 at the time to which the verb refers, in the process of 
 being accomplished. In one of the parallel passages,* 
 St. Paul says that the Lord told him to go into Damas- 
 cus, where it should be told him what was appointed 
 him to do — words not quite consistent with a completed 
 Apostolic mission. So that aTroo-reAAo) will mean, " to 
 whom I am now in the course of sending you." 
 
 2. We next come to the trance in the Temple. The 
 whole account of it, as given by himself,^ is evidently j 
 connected intimately with his Apostolic appointment or 
 mission. -In this trance or ecstasy (eKo-rdcret) he both saw 
 and heard the Lord. So that the prior condition is , 
 
 1 Acts ix. 16. ^ xxvi. 16. ^ V. 17. 
 
 * xxii. 10. * V. 17 — 21. 
 
 I 
 
Our Lords ^ippcaranccs lo him. 139 
 
 unquestionably found in the occurrence. The words 
 which rehite to his appointment are, "Depart: for I will 
 send thee far hence to the Gentiles" {-opdvov utl eyw d'i 
 iOvi] jxaKpaf e^a77oo-reAAa> en). Now at first sight this speech 
 seems to shut out entirely any present appointment. 
 And it is decisive against St. Paul being thenceforward 
 an Apostle in the way in which St. Peter and St. John 
 were, after the Lord chose them upon the mountain. 
 Yet in the expression we find both a negative and a 
 positive element. Negatively, St. Paul is ordered not to 
 act as an Apostle till he is at some future occasion 
 authorized so to act. Positively, it is declared that at such 
 a future occasion he would be an Apostle (aTro'trroAos). 
 
 The time when he was caught up to the third 
 Heaven can hardl}' be the time of his appointment, 
 from the very mysterious and indefinite account which 
 ,he himself gives of it. He was to all appearance 
 
 ealously anxious about his title to the Apostolate, and 
 would hardly have omitted an opportunity of bringing 
 out, even amidst other unutterable sights and sounds, 
 anything which added to his authority, and therefore to 
 his power of spreading Salvation. At first sight this 
 event appears to be that of the "ecstasy" in the Temple, 
 and the same interval, " fourteen years before," seems to 
 
 onfirm that view. But in the first case, — if I am right 
 in taking for granted that the visit to Jerusalem described 
 at the end of the first chapter of the Epistle to the 
 Galatians is the same as that in which the " ecstasy " 
 occurred, — the fourteen years dated back from the 
 Council of Jerusalem. In the present case, the fourteen 
 
140 Apostles. 
 
 years count back from the composition of the Second 
 Epistle to the Corinthians. So that this is merely 
 another of a not very uncommon class of curious 
 coincidences. 
 
 3. The Imposition of Hands at Antioch remains for 
 examination. Here it would appear that the Antiochian 
 Church must have acted with the full concurrence of the 
 Church at Jerusalem headed by the Twelve Apostles; 
 for we hear of continual communication between the 
 two. St. Paul and St. Barnabas had lately visited 
 Jerusalem : prophets went to and fro.^ Besides which, 
 we never hear of any question being entertained about 
 the act of the Church at Antioch, and the Council of ^ 
 Jerusalem^ afterwards confirmed, and single Apostles 
 also,^ what the two Gentile Apostles had done in 
 consequence of their Ordination or Mission. 
 
 On the occasion itself we find, first, an order given 
 by the Holy Ghost to separate Barnabas and Saul. This 
 order recites the previous call* (0 Trpo<TK€Kkr]fxaL avT6vs).\ 
 Then comes the imposition of hands. So that (i) the i 
 two Apostles could not enter upon their work till they ,j 
 were thus formally separated ; (2) the imposition of 
 hands was made (a) after a previous call, and (d) under 
 the express orders of the Holy Spirit. j 
 
 Such then was St. Paul's appointment to the Apos- 
 tleship. It included three acts, done upon three several 
 occasions. First there was the Call made with startling 
 and powerful effect, when Saul was in mid career of 
 
 1 Acts xi. 27. ^ XV. 
 
 3 Gal. ii. 9 ; Acts xviii. 23, xxi. 18 — 20. * Acts xiii. 2—4. 
 
St. Matthias and St. Barnabas. 141 
 
 fanatical persecution. The Call is obeyed, and the 
 amazed man surrenders himself to the Lord's Guidance. 
 After three years, the appointment is virtually made by 
 the Lord Himself, but only to take effect several years 
 after, when and according as the Lord should choose. 
 Then the heads of a local Church ordain or consecrate 
 him by express command of the Holy Spirit, and the 
 validity of this consecration or ordination is recognized 
 b)- the Apostolic College. The latter act of the appoint- 
 ment coincides with ordinary Ordination, because there 
 s the previous Call and the subsequent imposition of 
 iiands ; only that on this occasion a special command 
 was given by the Holy Spirit. What makes St. Paul's 
 pase extraordinary are his two interviews with the Lord, 
 resulting in his Call, and in his virtual, though not actual, 
 Appointment. 
 
 Two cases of Apostolic appointments remain, those 
 Df St. Matthias and of St. Barnabas. The qualification 
 of the former was his having " companied with " the 
 other Apostles. But how ^ Merely to enjoy their 
 ociety, or to reap the benefits of doing as they did .' 
 N'o: it was "while the Lord Jesus went in and out 
 imong them," so that he might tell " of that which was 
 rom the beginning, which he had seen with his eyes, 
 vhich he had looked upon, and his hands had handled, 
 Df the Word of Life," and especially " might be a witness 
 vith " the rest " of the Resurrection." We should observe 
 ;hat the number Twelve had been fixed before, and that 
 lis colleagues received him by co-optation in obedience 
 o Divine lot. 
 
1 4-'2 apostles. 
 
 St. Barnabas appears to have been called an Apostle 
 more by courtesy, and because he participated in the act 
 of appointment, by virtue of which St. Paul entered upon 
 his Office. So far as any distinction between Bishops ' 
 and himself is concerned, we cannot find anything to 
 justify it, except that the Holy Ghost definitely ordered I 
 his appointment, and he is one of the fathers in the main 
 of the Gentile Church. It is not certain that he partici- 
 pated in that actual sight of the Lord, especially after 
 His Resurrection, upon which St. Paul lays such repeated 
 stress, and which was regarded as essential to the 
 appointment of St. Matthias. At the same time, he is 
 said to have been one of the Seventy; and it is quite 
 possible that he may have enjoyed this qualification. I 
 his actual acquaintance with the Lord was notorious 
 there was no need for him to speak of it, as St. Paul was 
 obliged to do in his own case. At all events, no argu- 
 ment can be grounded upon his Apostleship, since the 
 nature of it is so little known to us. The term Apostle 
 was loosely applied, as will be shown afterwards. 
 
 These then are the Scriptural materials for judgment 
 in the case of any claims to Apostleship in later days. 
 We are now in a position to see, how far the credentials 
 of Mr. Cardale and his Friends come up to the creden- 
 tials of men whose title is indisputable. 
 
 The true credentials are evidently four in number, 
 
 viz.: — I. appointment by our Lord in person; 2. an 
 
 \, outward act of ordination ; 3. acceptance by the Church* 
 
 4. justifying success. The only exceptions to this are 
 
 St. Barnabas, of whom we really know nothing, certainly 
 
 e 
 
 I 
 
Four Credenlials. 143 
 
 not enough to warrant our dcn}ing anything about him ; 
 and St. Matthias, whose election and appointment was 
 made to fill up a vacancy in the Lord's own Twelve, and 
 perhaps — for here we cannot den\- it — in obedience to 
 some private direction which has not been recorded. His 
 appointment had the united authority of the Eleven 
 remaining Apostles. 
 
 Of these four credentials, I\Ir. Cardale and his eleven 
 Friends can lay claim really to only one, and that in a 
 way which is more than dubious. They have never seen 
 the Lord : they make no pretence to any direct appoint- 
 ment at His own lips. They have never been accepted 
 Dy the Church, or by those who have authority in it in 
 succession from the Apostles, an authority which they 
 ;hemselves recognize. As for any success to bring justi- 
 ication after the event, — why " the Apostles and those 
 vith them confess the failure."^ They are therefore 
 ;hrown back upon their mode of appointment, in which 
 :he case of St. Paul has been imitated. Before I examine 
 :his, some more words are due upon the subject of the 
 ;redentials of the Twelve Apostles of our Lord. 
 
 By the establishment of their unquestionable claim to 
 ictual appointment at His Hands, the question of 
 vidence is removed from them to Him. No one met 
 St. Peter or St. John with the objection, " I do not 
 )elieve in your Apostleship," because the fact was 
 indoubted, and unimpeachable. They stood or fell 
 vith the Lord. They converted people to belief in 
 r{\m, not to adherence to themselves. So that the 
 
 ' Creation and Kcdciiiption, p. 365. 
 
144 apostles., 
 
 grounds of their preaching were generically different 
 from the substance of this new evangelizing. Nor is 
 St. Paul's case unlike theirs. He had the authority 
 of the Twelve to appeal to, and the fact of his own 
 appointment by men who were authorized themselves, 
 besides having his own personal testimony to bear 
 about the Lord whom he had actually seen more than 
 once. 
 
 But to proceed to the claim to ordination made by 
 Mr. Cardale and his Friends. There was first a private 
 conviction and a supposed Call and appointment by the 
 Holy Spirit through Prophets. These will be examined 
 afterwards. Next there was a solemn imposition of 
 hands by the seven Angels of the Churches in London, 
 as representing all the Angels of the Church, and the 
 Church itself. This requires a careful scrutiny. 
 
 Who were these Angels, and what was their Title to' 
 Episcopal Office .-' They were consecrated or ordained 
 mainly, if not exclusively, by Mr. Cardale and Mr. 
 
 . Drummond. So they ordained Mr. Cardale and his 
 Friends, and Mr. Cardale and his Friends ordained them. 
 Where is the primary source of authority ^ " No man 
 taketh this honour upon himself but he that was crdaine^ 
 of God, as was Aaron." Aaron was consecrated b 
 Moses, who was sent by the Voice of God, and had seen 
 Him. The Apostles dated their Apostleship from the 
 Lord. "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I 
 you." The Irvingites move in a vicious circle, the 
 only support of which is the supposed voice of the 
 
 > Prophets without any outward authorization, the absence 
 
Destitute of Catholic Autlioritij. 145 
 
 of which, as I have shown, wholly contravenes the 
 principles of the Incarnation. 
 
 But again, what was the Church, which by its officers 
 
 "separated " these Apostles ? Did that Church derive 
 
 its authority directly, openly, incontrovertibly from our 
 
 Lord ? We have seen that the Church at Antioch, — to 
 
 quote the parallel most favourable to the Irvingites, — 
 
 did so derive their authority, and that their act was after- 
 
 ivards confirmed and adopted by the Universal Church, 
 
 But what was the case with these people in July, 1835 ? 
 
 rhey were in open schism with the Catholic Church, 
 
 lowever it might be taken to be represented. They had 
 
 Jet up altars of their own. They owned no allegiance, 
 
 Mid asked for no authorization. They had no Priesthood 
 
 n succession from the Lord. They were a diminutive 
 
 Jody, calling themselves the Church, In virtue of what ? 
 
 olely upon the strength of a claim to direct Prophetic 
 
 ommunications, by means of which they asserted that 
 
 16 Lord Himself had come to take charge of His 
 
 'hurch by an immediate Personal Rule. In conse- 
 
 ucnce of these prophetic claims, they had been dis- 
 
 wned by other Christian Bodies, and left to themselves. 
 
 That is to say, they assert in effect that a fresh 
 
 eginning has been made in the Church of Christ. 
 
 Vhen we ask for the proof of this, we are referred first 
 
 ') the Prophetic gifts, which I shall examine afterwards, 
 
 nd next to the various signs of a Divine Presence which 
 
 e scattered up and down their history and present 
 
 fe. It is not necessary to repeat all that has been 
 
 ainly proved respecting these fruits of the tree which 
 
1 46 apostles. 
 
 has been thus planted. But a few more evidences must 
 be unfolded. 
 
 First, with respect to the assertion, that each Apostle 
 had, previously to the Prophet's call, a private conviction 
 that he was designated to the Apostolate. Some doubts 
 are thrown upon the nature of this private conviction by 
 the refusal of Mr. David Dow to act, after he had been 
 named by the so-called Prophetic voice. Besides that, 
 such private convictions have been common amongst 
 founders of Sects and other people throughout Christian 
 history. So that any reliance upon such inward impres- 
 sions, which history has shown again and again to have 
 been sources of mistake and error, is out of the question. 
 The organization of the Catholic Church rests upon a 
 much clearer, firmer, and sounder basis. She surrenders! 
 such sandy foundations, if they are to be made founda' 
 tions, to Sectarianism. 
 
 Next, as to the Prophets. We cannot help thinkingf 
 that when the Apostles had mounted up to their own i 
 commanding eminence by their help, they threw down 
 the ladder by which they ascended. Else, what was the 
 effect of that wholesale abrogation of prophecies in 
 1840.'' What has been the treatment of Prophets evej 
 since } What is the meaning of forbidding prophecies 
 to possess any validity till they are confirmed by those 
 in authority .'' What is meant, when it is said that 
 Prophets must not " suppose themselves to be set for 
 giving light to the Apostles and to the Church 
 Universal .^ "^ That they must not imagine "that theyf 
 
 1 Ministry, by Mr. Cardale, p. 8. 
 
No i-alid Call. 147 
 
 arc sot, not merely to give utterance to joy for the liy;ht 
 given to the Church, but themselves to give light " ? ^ 
 And what is the import of such expressions as the 
 following ? " Tlie word of a Prophet ! My dear sir, it 
 has become almost a proverb. The Prophets are a 
 dreamy, do-nothing kind of people — the word of a 
 Prophet ! " Again — " If we were all like the Prophets, 
 jiven up to devotions and meditations, not much work 
 would be done." And further — " The Prophets ! they 
 are all mad!"- So that we have the authority of the 
 entire later period of Irvingism for discrediting the 
 Prophets, who are really the sole foundations of this 
 3uilding.-^ 
 
 But we must remark some more points respecting 
 :he Apostles. They stand before us self-condemned, 
 md condemned by the witness of their own people. 
 Alien they were appointed, the expectation was strongly 
 iherished, and mounted up to a firm belief, that they 
 irould all survive, and be ready conjointly to present the 
 !^hurch to the Lord when He comes. Besides which, all 
 jf them held that the dissent of a single Apostle was 
 atal to the validity of united Apostolic action. How 
 »cre these Tenets verified by facts ? First, all are dead 
 xcept two ; and secondly, Apostle Mackenzie retired 
 om them in 1840, and never afterwards joined in their 
 puncils. So that the Apostolic College, as an unanimous 
 
 Ministry, by Mr. Cardale, p. 8. Apostolic Lordship, p. 52. 
 
 Grant's Apostolic Lordship, p. 51. The two first were the speeches of 
 ;i Evangelist, the last of "another Minister." 
 
 "If there is anything wrong with Taplin," said one of their leading 
 vangelists, "all is wrong." 
 
148 Apostles. 
 
 Body, according to the laws of its foundation, died in 
 1840, or about five years after it was founded. This 
 absolute defection was strengthened by the discontinu- 
 ance of Mr. Dalton for several years to act with them. 
 
 Again, the history of the Sealing is both instructive, 
 and would be decisive in the eyes of most men against 
 claims advanced with such a show of directly Divine 
 Authority. It will be remembered, that after the passag 
 in the Revelation, a definite number of 144,000 was fixed; 
 12,000 to each tribe; and it was determined that each 
 Apostle must seal his proportionate number. The 
 glaring failure, for it can be called no less, of this scheme 
 is its own refutation, which must recoil upon the authors 
 of it. I do not now want to comment upon the strange 
 assumption, which makes a small Body of Christians the 
 monopolizers of the privileges beyond price or estimate, 
 which are supposed to be secured by the Sealing ; nor td 
 linger upon the extravagant and grossly irreverent idea,' 
 which makes acceptance of a few men the title to pre 
 cedence in the Kingdom of Heaven, instead of the degree 
 of devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and to God, as 
 evidenced by holiness of life. It is enough to observe, 
 that most of the Apostles have died without sealing any, 
 or at least only a few, or a few comparatively. This fact! 
 alone is a sufficient condemnation. And that it has ^ 
 been felt to be so by the Members of the Body, it will 
 be remembered that the strange and hardly conceivable j 
 notion arose, that the Apostles who had died before \\ 
 completing their work w^ould finish it in the next world 
 This notion again, being self-condemned, not only on 
 
 P 
 
Condemned by their Failure. 149 
 
 account of the extravagance of it, but because Scaling 
 in the next world could not deliver people from the 
 " great tribulation " in this, has, as I have related, vanished 
 out of sight. So that the Apostles are now passing 
 iway, whilst in only one Tribe the number of Sealed can 
 be anything like approaching the required total, whilst 
 in seven or eight more the reckoning is almost or entirely 
 at zero. 
 
 " By their fruits ye shall know them : do men gather 
 
 grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?" Is such a plan, so 
 
 :arried out, so destitute of promised results, so propped 
 
 up by an unworthy expedient, veritably the Lord's 
 
 ioing ? Who, judging impartially, comparing spiritual 
 
 :hingswith spiritual, fresh from the records of the true 
 
 Apostles of the Lord, can possibly sa}' that this is indeed 
 
 vintage of grapes, or a harvest of figs ? 
 
 To pass on to another point. We have seen that Mr. 
 
 Cardale and his Friends are wholly destitute of Catholic 
 
 [Authority : we may now go further. Not to insist upon 
 
 che truth, that no authority, not dating visibly from the 
 
 Lord through His Apostles, has ever been recognized 
 
 n the Church Catholic ; not now to take cognizance of 
 
 ^he open schism of which these men are guilty ; — our 
 
 ittcntion should be drawn to a very remarkable feature 
 
 n their theory. 
 
 It has been more than once explained, that these 
 people consider, that Apostles are essential to the well- 
 )eing of the Church ; that twelve Jewish Apostles were 
 ent at the commencement of the Church's career; that 
 welve Gentile Apostles were to wind it up, so to speak, 
 
150 Apostles. 
 
 when the Lord comes ; that a beginning was made in 
 the second Twelve by the appointment of St. Paul and 
 St. Barnabas ; but that the faith of the Church was not 
 sufficient, and so that the Church continued in decadence 
 from that time till Michaelmas, 1832, when Mr. Cardale 
 was appointed. 
 
 Now it will be observed at once, that this theory- 
 implies that the so-called Catholic Apostolic Church is 
 bereft of the sanction of more than seventeen centuries 
 of the Church's existence. Upon any principles recog- 
 nizing the Church as a Divine Institution, founded by 
 our Lord, what corollary could be more damaging ? 
 More than seventeen centuries, during which zeal has 
 been more or less earnest, or even at times enthusiastic, 
 during part of which the ablest intellects in the world, 1 
 often combined with rare purity of heart, have been 
 engaged in learning and verifying God's revealed Truth, 
 nevertheless are said to have passed in unconscious 
 ignorance of what these men think they have discovered. 
 In fact, they blot seventeen centuries out of the history 
 of the Church, and still call themselves Catholics. 
 
 For we must be careful to weigh the real effect of 
 this absence of more than seventeen centuries of Catholic 
 teaching from their testimonials. Absence means not 
 merely omission, but condemnation. If seventeen men 
 were to go into a church, and carefully for hours examine 
 it, is it conceivable that it would be necessary for an 
 eighteenth to enter, in order to discover the altar .? For 
 we must remember that according to Irvingite belief, the 
 Apostolate is the most important part of the constitution 
 
Tacjl!}/ condemned d/irins,- Seventeen Centuries. 151 
 
 of the Church. " When Apostles," said Mr. Cardale in a 
 " Ministry," " were taken away from the Church, they 
 beiuL^ the hnk which united Christ the Head of His 
 Church to His Body, it fell like a dead earthly thing to 
 the ground."^ How is it possible, that the Church 
 could have been so " dead " to all knowledge of her state, 
 that she did not know the difference between being joined 
 by a link to the Lord of Glory, and grovelling in the dust } 
 
 Yet no Member of this Body can quote proofs of 
 their theory from any Church writer of repute, or from 
 any of her Liturgies or Prayers. It is inconceivable, 
 that the greatest possible blessings should be lying 
 within the reach of faith, being at the same time attached 
 to part of God's Revelation, and yet that during all that 
 long period no prayer should be offered regularly and 
 publicly in the authorized forms of the Church, embody- 
 ing an earnest desire for the bestowal of the condition 
 upon which alone they could be obtained. The absence 
 therefore of all such teaching from formularies and 
 treatises constitutes in itself another grave condemnation, 
 which by its own unaided weight is sufficient to inva- 
 lidate utterly the claims of these men. The fact is 
 undoubted. No reply has been made to this charge ; 
 nor, unless I am greatly mistaken, can be made. 
 
 There is therefore only one conclusion, viz., that this 
 is an essentially Protestant Sect, implicitly condemned 
 by the Catholic Church, founded upon the presumptuous 
 notion, that some 1800 years after our Lord's time, a few 
 men could sit down with the Bible in their hands, and 
 
 ' Grant's Apostolic Lordship, p. 66. 
 
152 Apostles. 
 
 invent their own system from the hints which they found, 
 and could tlien desert tlie old paths, and follow new- 
 fangled fancies. 
 
 The present age also, in the ruthless advance of 
 time, now finds these people in the very difficulties ; 
 which they say beset the Church at the end of the lives 
 of our Lord's Apostles. What will they do when Mr. J 
 Woodhouse dies, but leave successors behind them .'' Not I 
 Apostles, for that by their own theory is impossible, since 1 
 the twenty-four places are all filled ; but they can be no 1 
 more than the delegates of these Twelve men, just as 1 
 the Bishops were the delegates of the Apostles. The 
 ceaseless march of time has solved the Gordian knot, if 
 such it may for a moment be termed. How upon their 
 peculiar theory there can be an Apostolic Church without 
 Apostles, it is really impossible to see. If they call their 
 successors " Apostolic men," that is very much what the 
 early Church did. They are acting the drama over again, 
 only in a narrow corner, and without the same undoubted 
 authority. If the early Church "fell to the ground 
 as a dead thing" on the death of St. John, this Body 
 must do the same when Mr. Woodhouse is taken away. | 
 They must succeed to all the disadvantages of the early 
 Church, without enjoying her youthful strength and her 
 marvellous growth. 
 
 But strange to say, Irvingites are not content with 
 even this decisive view of the question. Thinking to 
 establish their own system by revealing a flaw in the 
 opposing one, they insist that when the Apostles of 
 our Lord died, they left no successors to themselves. 
 
Successors to False and True yipostlvs. 153 
 
 Bishops, say they, are not the successors to the Apos- 
 tles. For in the first place, an Apostle must be sent 
 directly from the Lord Jesus Christ, a Bishop is not. 2. 
 There is no proof that the Apostles transmitted their 
 powers. 3. An equal cannot appoint an equal : an officer 
 can only be appointed by his superior. 4. The Offices of 
 Apostles and Bishops are distinct : an Apostle is an 
 universal Bishop of the Church, whereas a Bishop's 
 authority is only local ; the authority of Apostles being 
 necessary to hold together in union the entire Church. 
 Each of these four arguments has been actually urged 
 to me on the Catholic Apostolic side. 
 
 This is so important a question, that it is necessary 
 to consider it by itself. With reference to other opinions 
 which are entertained now-a-days,as well as having regard 
 to those which are under consideration, it may be well 
 to exhibit the main heads of the evidence which, as is 
 well known to theologians, establishes the claim of 
 Bishops to be considered the successors of the Apostles. 
 
CHAPTER V. : 
 
 BISHOPS THE SUCCESSORS OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 lEFORE diving into the depths of the subject 
 of this chapter, it will be well to examine the 
 four pillars of the argument against us, in i 
 order that v/e may see what we really have 
 to combat. 
 
 That there is an important difference between 
 Apostles and Bishops, and that the former alone were i 
 sent directly by our Lord Jesus Christ, it would ill become 
 the author of this treatise to deny. For it is precisely 
 one of the charges already brought against these new 
 Apostles, that they pretend to be sent directly from the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, but are found upon a close examina- 
 tion not to be so sent. To be sent directly is to be sent 
 by Him Personally, that is, after visible and audible 
 ntercourse with Him in Person. In the present case, 
 there is no pretence put forward of such personal inter- 
 course. The allegation is, that these men were sent by 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking by the Holy Ghost, Who 
 again spoke through a Prophet. That is, where there 
 ought, from the admitted meaning of the Ofhce in 
 question, to be no intervening channel, there are actually 
 
Difference betiveen Apostles and Bishops. 155 
 
 two, as maintained, viz., the Holy Spirit and the 
 Prophet. 
 
 lUit if we examine the other side, this arijument 
 which is advanced by these people is really true of 
 Catholic Apostles and Bishops as contrasted with one 
 another. Apostles are those in the line of succession 
 who are in immediate contact \\\\.\\ the Lord, while 
 Bishops are not. This is exactly the point of difference 
 between them. Apostles were " not of man, nor by 
 man, but by Jesus Christ." Bishops were outwardly by 
 Apostles handing on the succession which they themselves 
 had received. 
 
 So that we may dismiss the first of these four argu- 
 ments, inasmuch as being perfectly true, it is really 
 destructive of Irvingite claims, and favours the Catholic 
 Doctrine. 
 
 The second argument is the main subject of this 
 chapter, but the third had better form part of our 
 preliminary investigation. Can equals ordain equals ^ 
 No, says the Irvingite, because it is only a superior 
 who can bestow power : an equal cannot give plenary 
 authority to an equal. 
 
 There is a speciousness about this plea, which occa- 
 sionally imposes upon people. It is quite true in all 
 subordinate Offices. A priest cannot ordain a priest, an 
 officer in the army can only appoint non-commissioned 
 officers, a judge cannot make another judge, but can 
 authorize his own clerks. 
 
 But it is not true of the highest sources of authority. 
 The grandfather of the present Emperor of Austria 
 
156 Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 abdicated and appointed the Emperor Francis Joseph, 
 and no one seriously questioned the vaHdity of the act. 
 Before him, the celebrated Emperor Charles V. abdicated 
 in favour of his son Philip II. A father, as the head of 
 his family, can bestow his estates, and all his possessions 
 which are not granted him from the Sovereign, such as 
 his title, upon whom he pleases. 
 
 This dictum is therefore true of all the subordinate 
 positions of life, so far as they are subordinate ; but 
 it is not true of the highest of all. And for the follow- 
 ing reasons : — Because if the supreme authority could 
 not hand on position, power, or property to a successor, 
 they could not be handed on at all. And secondly, 
 because the supreme authority thus acting, whether by 
 solitary impulse, or with the concurrence, help, or con- ; 
 firmation of the Body Politic or the Body Catholic, is i 
 presumed so to act, not in personal independence, but 
 in a representative character. 
 
 It is therefore wholly a mistake, and a very grave 
 mistake, to imagine that Bishops are able of their own 
 free-will, or of their personal or arbitrary choice, to appoint i 
 other Bishops. They do so, not as equals investing equals, 
 but as men entrusted with a solemn responsibility by the 
 Lord, and acting as representatives of the Church, or 
 rather of Him — and thus handing on a high Office which: 
 they have been ordered so to hand on, but only under 
 certain conditions and in a fixed and authorized manner. 
 Just as in all Sacraments, the Bishop or Priest simply 
 does as he has been commanded, and God the Holy 
 Ghost, we are sure, bestows the Grace which has beeni 
 
J J 'hen Equals maij appoint R(iuah. 157 
 
 promised to attend such simple obedience. To import 
 personal questions of dignity, or ambition, or caste, or 
 Avhat not, into what is merely a careful observance of the 
 Lord's commands, secured from neglect or abuse by 
 there being a duly authorized set of men to maintain it, 
 is simply irrelevant and pernicious. I do not make this 
 implied charge upon Members of the Catholic Apostolic 
 hurch except in very pale hue ; but, especially as 
 they have virtually surrendered by acknowledging up 
 to a certain point the validity of Episcopal Succession, 
 it is not necessary to linger longer upon the difficulty 
 which they urge about a supposed impossibility of equals 
 ordaining equals. 
 
 We must now consider the last of these four argu- 
 ments, viz., that the Office of an Apostle and a Bishop 
 s different, inasmuch as a Bishop has jurisdiction only 
 Dver a local Church, whereas Apostles have universal 
 rule — not confined to cities or districts — over the entire 
 Church of Christ. In urging this plea, these people go 
 3n to say, that inasmuch as there is such a plain distinc- 
 ion of province between the two Offices, the loss to the 
 3hurch of one, and that the higher of the two, has been 
 ;learly apparent. And inasmuch as the Church has 
 jeen bereft of the Ministry which was meant to hold 
 ogether in unity her several parts, she has naturally 
 md necessarily lost cohesion, and schisms in consequence 
 lave rended her asunder. 
 
 Now we may readily acknowledge, that there is 
 ■ketched out here a plain distinction of province which 
 s intellectually discernible. And if we were now 
 
158 Bishops the Successoj's of the Apostles. 
 
 founding the Catholic Church, it would be quite open to 
 any one to argue that a constitution which recognized 
 this distinction would be the best to adopt, although a 
 closer consideration of the question would show that the 
 difficulty would be better met in another way. But we 
 are concerned in this nineteenth century, not with the 
 inquiry as to what measures might best be adopted in 
 the main organization of the Church, but in investigating 
 as to this organization what have actually been the most 
 prominent parts in it. We have to consider, whether the 
 Church when she reached her full development had 
 Apostles as well as Bishops ; whether in her original 
 constitution a fourfold or threefold Ministry was con- 
 templated and set on foot ; whether the Apostles died 
 out without successors, or whether the Bishops of the 
 period immediately after their demise succeeded to 
 them; and lastly, whether any provision, and if so, what! 
 provision, has been made for the universal government! 
 of the Church, as apart from the local administration of 
 Dioceses. 
 
 Before entering upon the evidence which makes up 
 the proof of all this, two observations are necessary 
 upon the nature of the proof offered to us. 
 
 In the first place, it is a proof derived partly from 
 the Bible, and partly from the testimony of ecclesi- 
 astical writers of the earliest ages. If any one imagines 
 that such a proof must be derived from the Bible alone, 
 he entirely misapprehends the nature of the case beforq 
 us. And for two strong reasons. How can the Bible, 
 which was written before the Apostles went to their rest 
 
Nature of the Proof. 159 
 
 tell us what happened after they were removed from the 
 
 Church ? St. John, the last survivor of them, was in his 
 
 writings singularly undidactic upon questions of Church 
 
 organization and discipline. Again, it is absurd to 
 
 suppose that the New Testament within the confined 
 
 imits of a few treatises and letters, not written with a 
 
 primary intent to teach all about the doctrines and 
 
 discipline of the Church, should not omit numerous 
 
 matters of interest, and indeed of importance, which 
 
 might be gathered from other sources. It is simply a 
 
 preposterous idea, that an exhaustive and exclusive 
 
 knowledge of the state of the Church in the Apostles' 
 
 days can be obtained by merely putting together dark 
 
 hints and scraps of information scattered up and down 
 
 the books of the New Testament. Whatever comes to 
 
 us upon this subject from other trustworthy writings, 
 
 which is consonant with the language and spirit of the 
 
 Bible, if established by sufficient evidence, claims our 
 
 belief, even if it is not dc fide, — to be required of every 
 
 man as necessary to salvation. Indeed so well was this 
 
 truth understood in times much nearer than ours to the 
 
 Apostolic age, that we find it laid down that " what is 
 
 held by the Universal Church, not from innovations 
 
 Df Councils, but by unbroken tradition, is rightly 
 
 believed to have been handed down no otherwise than 
 
 by Apostolic authority." ^ Really to deny this Canon 
 
 Df Church Evidence, is to refuse to hear the witness of 
 
 the Holy Catholic Church. 
 
 ' "Quod Universa tenet Ecclesia, nee conciliis institutum sed semper 
 retentum est, non nisi auctoritate Apostolica traditum rectissime creditur." 
 — August, contra Donatist., lib. iv. cap. 24. 
 
i6o Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 The second observation is, that in the ensuing proof 
 that Bishops are the successors of the Apostles, no 
 attempt is made to show that there has been a valid 
 succession of some sort, because Irvingites acknowledge 
 this. They do not gainsay the belief that the first j 
 Bishops were validly ordained by St. Peter, St. James, 
 St. Paul, and other of the Apostles by means of imposi- 
 tion of hands, or that the succession has descended j 
 without flaw or break to our own days. The only'' 
 question is, whether the Bishops who came after the| 
 Apostles were of a lower order than the Apostles, or i 
 formed the continuance of the same line of Ministry. 
 We may now proceed to the proof itself. 
 
 We find a probability that there would be a three- 
 fold Ministry in the Christian Church, set forth in the 
 fact that there were three ranks of Ministers amongst 
 the Jews. The High-Priests — for as in the instances of 
 Eleazar and Ithamar, of Zadok and Abiathar, Zadok 
 and Ahimelech, and Annas and Caiaphas, there were 
 always two — the ordinary Priests, and the Levitcs made ; 
 up this triple order. And if we search into the origin of 
 this arrangement, we shall not find it in any fanciful 
 resemblance, as in the case of the four living credtures, : 
 which have been always taken to typify the four Evan- 
 gelists, nor again of the four rivers of Paradise, but in 
 the evident carrying out in the Church of the time that , 
 perfection of number which finds its highest exemplifi- 
 cation in the Ever-Blessed Trinity in Unity. This fact 
 of course affords only a presumption that in the Christian 
 Church there would probably be found a three-fold 
 
Threefold Mi)iis/n/ — /;/ //le Old Tcsidmrnt, 16 r 
 
 Ministr}'.^ But inasmucli as tlic main principles of the 
 two Dispensations, of which one was preparatory to the 
 other and both issued from Heaven, might be expected 
 to be the same, and inasmucli as in point of fact the 
 members of both are addressed under the same title of 
 ' a royal priesthood," - we may with reason assign a 
 greater weight to this presumption than we could with 
 justice do to mere signs or symbols. 
 
 But if symbols are required, they are ready to our 
 hand. The Ev^er-Blessed Trinity have impressed Their 
 number all over the provinces of Creation and Grace. 
 The number itself implies unity as well as plurality, 
 priority even amidst equality. But the number four 
 has no such characteristic, but rather implies division 
 and independence. The four rivers of Paradise flowed 
 n four distinct directions. If they had one origin it was 
 ndcpcndent of them. The four Evangelists give us 
 emersions of the Gospel each of which possesses separate 
 and peculiar merits, and rests upon its own foundation. 
 From the sons of Noah, through the period of the 
 Patriarchs, in the enactments of the law, and throughout 
 he general histor}' of the Old Testament, the number 
 hree is found much oftcner than the number which 
 [rvingitcs are so forward to honour. There are three 
 3arts of man's nature, body, soul, and spirit : and there 
 ire three Christian graces, faith, hope, and charity. The 
 
 ' " Ut sciamus traditiones apostolicas sumptas de Veteri Testamento ; 
 uod Aaron et filii ejus atque Levitre in templo fuerunt, hoc sibi episcopi, 
 iresbyteri et diaconi, vindicent in ecclesia." — Hieronynus ad Ezangelum 
 ^resbytcniM, i. 1083 (Migne). 
 
 ' Ex. xix. 5, 6 ; coll. I Pet. ii. 5, 9 ; Rev. i. 6, v. 10. 
 VOL. II. M 
 
;i 
 
 162 Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 English Constitution and an army in the field present 
 each a triad. The number three is the ground-work of 
 most architectural combinations, the leading secret of 
 symmetry, the best passport to associated action. But 
 considerations of this kind, though of some weight when 
 balanced against similar considerations, are too vague 
 and general to establish any point of doctrine or 
 discipline. 
 
 The three-fold Ministry is represented even in the 
 germinal state of the Church of our Lord's days. Our 
 Lord Himself, Who alone ordained, the Twelve Apostles 
 and the Seventy Disciples, make up the triple rank 
 They had indeed been typified by the twelve chief; 
 princes, and the seventy elders, who under Moses 
 governed the Children of Israel. When the Lord 
 ascended into Heaven, it would appear that the two 
 Orders, that were now left on earth, were each advanced 
 a step by His Resurrection-act of bestowing the Holy 
 Ghost upon His Apostles, and possibly by some other 
 unrecorded rite — unless Ordination was involved in the 
 Mission of them all before His Ascension, or else by 
 the general descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of 
 Pentecost. But at all events, after the Ordination of 
 the Seven Deacons, we find three Orders in existence. 
 These will now require a separate notice. 
 
 The Apostles had evidently special privileges or 
 
 duties, which are proved by the Sacred Volume to 
 
 include the following acts. They ordained, as in the 
 
 case of the Deacons and Elders.^ They confirmed, as 
 
 ^ Acts vi. 3, xiv. 23. 
 
/;/ u-Jpo.sfo/ic times. 163 
 
 in Samaria and at Ephesus.^ They ruled the Church,^ 
 thoufjh with tlic help of the Elders.^ They charged the 
 Elders, as St. Paul did the Elders of Ephesus.'* Excom- 
 munication was also pronounced by them, as is shown in 
 the instance of the incestuous person at Corinth.^ 
 
 In the history of the Acts of the Apostles Elders 
 seem to come unexpectedly upon us. We suddenly find 
 them in the Church, and as if they had been for some 
 time in possession.^ St. Paul and St. Barnabas ordain 
 Elders in every Church towards the end of their first 
 journey." Elders join with the Apostles in the Council 
 of Jerusalem.^ They are found at Ephesus^ and various 
 other places. They assist St. James in the audience 
 which he gave St. Paul at the end of the third journey 
 of the latter Apostle. They are plainly a distinct order, 
 and considering that we hear in the Acts of the Apostles 
 and in the Epistles nothing about the Seventy, we cannot 
 be wrong in supposing that the origin of their order was 
 made in the last year of our Lord's Ministry and at His 
 'Hands. Otherwise He would be the institutor of an 
 ephemeral Ministry, and His Apostles of a perpetual. 
 
 Deacons are found, besides the ordination of the 
 Seven, also at Philippi,^" at Ephesus,^^ and in other places.^^ 
 
 ' Acts viii. 14—17, xix. i— 6. 
 
 - 2 Cor. xi. 2, 20, 34 ; Ep. to Titus ; I Cor. xvi. i ; 2 Cor. xiii. 2, 3, 
 xiv. 27—29, 34, 35, 37; I Tim. i. 3, 4, iii. 15, iv. 11, 12, v. 11, 14, 19— 
 22, vi. 13, 14. ' Acts XV. 6, (S:c. 
 
 ' XX. 17 — 35. ^ I Cor. v.; 2 Thcss. iii. 4, 6, 14; i Tim. i. 20. 
 
 * Acts xi. 30. ' xiv. 23. 8 XV. 6, &c. 
 
 ^ Acts XX. 17 ; I Tim. v. i, 2, 19 ; Tit. i. 5 ; i Pet. v. i, 5. 
 
 '" Phil. i. I. II I Tim. iii. 8, 10. 
 
 *• I Pet. iv. 10, II, SiaKovovvTig, haKovtl. 
 
164 Bishops the Successors of the apostles. 
 
 We know the names of some, as Epaphras,^ Tychicus,^ 
 and Archippus.^ Their office was evidently partly 
 secular in distributing alms, and partly religious for 
 preaching and baptizing. 
 
 The three Orders are found in Jerusalem, Ephesus,^ 
 and, according to general opinion, at Philippi.^ 
 
 Thus much is evident in Apostolic times. We have 
 now to see how these three Offices were handed on. Did 
 the Apostles die out without leaving any legitimate 
 successors, or did Bishops gradually rise up, and then 
 duly enter upon the places of their Chiefs when the latter 
 were taken away to be nearer Christ .'* 
 
 Nowave must bear in mind that the Church was in a 
 rudimentary state of organization in those early days. 
 It could not be expected that all things would settle 
 down at first into the regular order which they assumed 
 afterwards. Our Lord had taught His Apostles many 
 things which they did not understand *" at the time, and 
 which for a period slipped from their memories.'' These : 
 dormant recollections were revived, and understanding 1 
 about them was bestowed according as the needs of the 
 Church called them forth, under the inspiring influence 
 of the Holy Spirit. But the gradual development of 
 
 1 Col. i. 7, SiaKOvog. "^ Col. iv. "J, SiaKovog ; Eph. vi. 21. 
 
 ^ Col. iv. 17, StaKoviav. * I Tim. iii., v. 
 
 ^ Epaphroditus is thought to have been Bishop {cnrocrToXog) of Philippi, 
 Phil. ii. 25, i. I. Tov dk ye fiaKapiov 'ETracppoSirov iv Ttj aiiTy tTricrroX^ 
 CLTTOcrToXov aliTuJi' KSKXriKtv' vjxil)v yup, <pr}Tiv, UTToaToXov, Kai cvvspyov 
 r^t' XP'''*^ juoi'. ^afpwg Toivvv iSiSaKiv, wf t})p iTri(7KowiKt]v oiKorofiiav 
 avTOQ iTTiTriaTtvro t^aiv aTTocToXov Trpu(jr]yoc)iav.— 7^kc'odord, in Epist. ad 
 Philipp., i. 
 
 ^ St. John xiii. 7. '' St. John xiv. 26. 
 
Rudimentary state of the Early Church. 165 
 
 the Church, in constitution as well as in numbers, was 
 gradually worked out in a human way, and according to 
 the ordinary rules of earthly things. 
 
 There was the usual indistinctness of Terms. Common 
 Terms in daily use were employed to designate new 
 Offices and acts of worship, and only received their 
 peculiar technical meaning as time passed on. 
 
 Thus the name " Deacon," which properly means 
 minister, and is often rendered by " minister " in our 
 English Version,^ is applied to our Lord,- and to St. 
 Timothy.^ " The terms Elder or Presbyter, and Bishop 
 are used indiscriminately of the second order in the 
 Ministry* as equivalent terms, the one of office and the 
 other of age, as the Fathers repeatedly tell us ; or it 
 may be (as has been conjectured) the former a Gentile, 
 the latter a Jewish name." ^ And in like manner the 
 appellation of Apostle is variously applied. 
 
 The word itself means simply an " emissary," and 
 is thus used appropriately of our Lord, the foretold 
 " Shiloh," who said of Himself, " As My Father hath sent 
 Me, even so send I you." ° It is applied also to St. 
 Barnabas,^ to Epaphroditus,^ to some brethren of St. 
 Paul, perhaps St. Luke and St. Timothy,^ and as seems 
 probable, to Andronicus and even to Junia,^''and perhaps 
 also in another place to Silas and Timothy.^^ If we come 
 
 ' See e.g. Matt. xx. 26 ; Rom. xiii. 4; 2 Cor. xi. 15, &c. 
 
 2 Rom. XV. 8. ' I Thess. iii. 2. ■« e.g. Acts xx. 18, 28. 
 
 * Haddan's Apostolical Succession, p. 74. 
 
 * Heb. iii. I ; St. John xx. 21, a-nkaTuXKi. 
 
 ' Acts xiv. 14, coll. xi. 22. ^ Phil. ii. 25. 
 
 ® 2 Cor. viii. 23 ; 18, 19, 22 ; i. I. '" Rom. xvi. 7. 
 
 » I Thess. ii. 6; coll. i. I. 
 
1 66 Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 to view the word as one which was merely affixed to 
 those who were definitely sent forth, — as indeed the 
 Seventy were/ though in the short account of them given 
 in St. Luke we do not hear of this name being given 
 them, — then, although the Apostles might possess it pre- 
 eminently, we are nevertheless not surprised to find it 
 employed in other cases, where a high office might be held, 
 or even where it merely designated, as probably in the 
 end of the Epistle to the Romans, the general company 
 of those who were sent with the glad tidings and means 
 of salvation. In this sense our English Version trans- 
 lates the word, " Neither is he that is sent greater than 
 he that sent him." ^ 
 
 This vagueness in the application of the title "Apostle " 
 continued after Scriptural times. Thus Ignatius dis- 
 claims speaking as an Apostle, though it Avas competent 
 to him to do so.^ Eusebius states that several of our 
 Lord's disciples were called Apostles besides the Twelve.* 
 In the interpretation of the passages which speak of 
 Epaphroditus as an Apostle, and Timothy, Archippus, 
 and the rest, it was taken as a principle that the name 
 was in a wider sense applied to all who were sent by our 
 Lord, and not to the chosen Twelve alone. " Apostles of 
 the Churches," says Theophylact, gathering up in later 
 times the information scattered through earlier years, 
 " that is, those who were sent and appointed by the 
 Churches." ^ The name is attributed to the Seventy ^ 
 
 ^ St. Luke X. I, aTTic^Tiikiv. 
 
 ^ ovSe cnroaroXog /iii^ojv too irin^pavTos avrov, St. John xiii. l6. 
 3 Ep. ad Trail., § 3 ; AiVRom., § 4. * Eccles. Hist, i. 12. 
 
 ^ Theophylact on 2 Cor. viii. 23. ^ Suicer on the word ' K-KoaroKoq, 3. 
 
I'agitc use of the name Al)ostle. 167 
 
 by others besides Eusebius, and indeed he represents a 
 custom in the use of the word. So that, although 
 pecuHar honour was paid to the Twelve as having been 
 chosen by our Lord, and placed at the head of the 
 Church, and designated by a name which set forth their 
 special mission, yet they were not supposed to be so 
 fenced off from the rest of tJie Church as to bear a name 
 which could not be used of any besides themselves.^ 
 
 But the Apostles were also Bishops, and exercised 
 local, as well as general Episcopal powers. The general 
 voice of Catholic Antiquity points out St. James the 
 Less as Bishop of Jerusalem. St. Peter is said by St. 
 Jerome - to have been the first Bishop of Antioch, and 
 after that to have held the first bishopric of Rome. 
 Whether this was so or not, or whether, as Epiphanius ^ 
 says, he divided the bishopric of Rome with St. Paul, at 
 least it marks the general belief that the Apostles were 
 also Bishops of churches or dioceses. " The Apostles 
 are Bishops," says St. Ambrose.'* And in earlier times 
 St. Cyprian asserts, that " Deacons ought to remember 
 that the Lord chose Apostles, that is. Bishops and Pre- 
 lates."^ " In the earliest days," writes Theodoret, " they 
 called those Apostles who are now named Bishops,'"' and 
 those who are now called Bishops they named Apostles : 
 but as time advanced, they left the name of Apostles to 
 
 ' "Bollinger's expression, that the Episcopate was from the first latent 
 in the Apostolate." — Haddan's Apostolical Succession, p. So. 
 * Catal. Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum in Fetro, i. 262. 
 ' Advers. HiEres., i., IPizres., 27. * In Ephes. cap. iv. 354. 
 
 ' Episcopos et prccpositos, lib. iii. epist. 9 (or ep. 3, p. 6). 
 ® Theodoret on l Tim. iii. 
 
1 68 Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 those who were truly Apostles, and applied the appella- 
 tion of Bishops to those who were of old called Apostles." 
 No doubt some of these latter expressions are used of 
 the general position of the Apostles, rather than of any- 
 local post which they undertook. Still, besides the 
 instance of St. James, they undoubtedly express the 
 opinion of Catholic Antiquity, that during the infancy of 
 the Church the Apostles were in the place of Bishops, 
 and if they did not in the rudimentary state of the 
 Church's constitution remain permanently at any one 
 place, nevertheless they did often exercise locally 
 Episcopal powers. 
 
 We may now advance a step further, and show that 
 the Apostles appointed Bishops in various places. Of 
 this there is no doubt. St. Timothy was the first Bishop 
 of Ephesus, St. Titus of Crete, and were both appointed 
 by St. Paul. Linus, mentioned by St. Paul in his Second 
 Epistle to St. Timothy, was appointed by St. Peter 
 Bishop of Rome, Dionysius the Areopagite was the first 
 Bishop of Athens. Euodius succeeded St. Peter at 
 Antioch. Annianus came after St. Mark at Alexandria. 
 St. James was followed at Jerusalem by Symeon. And 
 St. John consecrated Bishops in several places in the 
 neighbourhood of Ephesus. The general appointment 
 of Bishops by the Apostles can really meet with no 
 doubt, if historical evidence is at all trustworthy. And 
 we may remark, that in view of death, and on considera- 
 tion for the needs of the Church, this is exactly what we 
 should have expected those who were entrusted with the 
 management of the Catholic Body to have done. The 
 
Successors of the Apostles. 169 
 
 natural presumption would be.that the men thus appointed 
 would be their successors. Is it possible that they were 
 not really so ? 
 
 Here again the early writers of Catholic Antiquity, 
 who ought to be able to know what occurred of import- 
 ance in their own time, supply us with positive assertions. 
 Clement of Rome, who is mentioned by St. Paul,^ and 
 was Bishop of that city after Linus, and was therefore in 
 a position to judge, tells us distinctly that the Apostles 
 appointed the Bishops as their successors. "Our Apostles" 
 he says, " knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there 
 would be disputes about the name of the episcopacy. 
 Therefore having perfect foreknowledge, they appointed 
 the aforesaid Bishops, and committed to them the order 
 of succession,- so that if they themselves were taken to 
 heir rest, other approved men might succeed to their 
 Ministry. Those therefore who were appointed by the 
 Apostles, or afterwards by other men of reputation with 
 he consent of the whole Church, and who ministered 
 lamelessly and humbly to the flock of Christ, and 
 eceived frequent witness to their faithfulness from all, 
 re rightly judged by us not to have lost their Ministry." 
 Here it is plainly shown, first, that the Bishops appointed 
 heir own successors, secondly, that these successors 
 ucceeded to the Apostles' Ministry, and thirdly, that 
 hose successors, by virtue of the power conferred on 
 lem, in their turn appointed others to succeed them. 
 Zan we resist the inference, that Clement had his own 
 
 > Phil. iv. 3. 
 
 ' fiira^v iTCivofir]v. — Compare Iladdan's Apostolical Succession, p. lo6. 
 i". CUmentis ad Corinthios, § 44. 
 
170 Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 call foremost in view, remembering that he was ordained 
 by Linus, and Linus by St. Peter and probably St. Paul ? 
 
 But Clement's testimony does not stand alone. The 
 next of the Apostolic Fathers, St. Ignatius, though he 
 does not speak so unmistakably to the point under 
 examination as St. Clement, nevertheless reiterates 
 emphatic witness in the same direction. " Do nothing 
 without the Bishop," he urges again and again, so as to 
 excite wonder, did we not recollect that, while Bishops 
 had all the responsibility of the Apostles, they could not 
 present the claims to obedience which their predecessors 
 had, who had been entrusted with the management of 
 the Church by the Lord in Person. "Wherever the 
 Bishop appears," he adds in one place, " there let the 
 multitude of believers be present ; just as, wherever 
 Christ Jesus is, there the Catholic Church is present." ^ 
 He had said just before, " Let all follow the Bishop, as 
 Jesus Christ follows His Father," — a saying which would 
 be meaningless, if Bishops held subordinate offices. 
 
 Again, in the middle of the second century, Hegesippus, 
 after mentioning the roll of Bishops in several places, 
 adds : " In fact in every line of succession, and in eVery 
 city that custom prevails, which is proclaimed by the 
 law, the prophets, and the Lord." ^ 
 
 But we shall find more precise expressions if pos- 
 sible than those of Ignatius or Hegesippus, as we trace 
 the testimony further down. Irenaeus, who lived later ^ 
 
 ^ .S". Ignatii ad Stnyrnoos, $8. ' Hegesippus in Eusebius, iv. 22. 
 
 ' Ignatius suftered martyrdom in A. D. 1 15. Hegesippus flourished about 
 A.D. 152. St. Irenxus succeeded Pothinus as Bishop of Lyons in A.D. 177. 
 
Earh/ Testimoni/. 171 
 
 in the second centur)-, sa)-s : " \Vc can reckon up those 
 wlio were made Bishops in the Churches by the 
 Apostles, and their successors as far as our own times. 
 If the Apostles had known any hidden mysteries, 
 which they taught to the initiated secretly and apart 
 from the rest of their converts, they would deliver 
 them above all to those men into whose keeping they 
 committed the Churches themselves. For they wanted 
 those men to be thoroughly perfect and unreprovable 
 in every way, whom they left too as their successors, 
 bequeathing to them their own place of teaching." ^ And 
 again : " The true acknowledgment of this is in accord- 
 ance with the teaching of the Apostles, as is also the 
 ancient constitution of the Church throughout the world 
 according to the succession of the Bishops, to whom they 
 delivered the Churches in each several place."- How 
 could the constitution of the Church throughout the 
 world under Bishops be in accordance with the teaching 
 of the Apostles, if it were a mutilated constitution ? The 
 first quotation requires no comment. 
 
 Or again, take Tertullian, in the opening of the next 
 century. " Let them exhibit the origin of their Churches, 
 let them trace the succession of their Bishops in descent 
 one after another from the beginning, so that the first 
 had as ordainer and predecessor one of the Apostles, or 
 some apostolic man, who had been a faithful companion 
 
 ' "Quos et successores relinquebant, suum ipsorum locum magisterii 
 tradentes." — Iren. ad. Hares., iii. 3. 
 
 * Irenceiis ad. Hares., iv. 63 (33, Migne). See also c. 43. " His, qui 
 successionem habent ab apostolis, sicut ostendimus, qui cum episcopatus 
 successione, " &c. 
 
172 Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 of the Apostles. In this way the Apostohc Churches 
 present their rolls ; just as the Church of Smyrna had 
 Polycarp placed there by St. John ; as the Church of 
 Rome shows Clement ordained by St. Peter ; as the rest 
 also point to men who were made Bishops by the Apos- 
 tles, and hand on in their turn the line of apostolic 
 descent." ^ Again : " The chief Priest has the right of 
 bestowing baptism, that is the Bishop." ^ How could a 
 bishop be called with justice " the chief Priest " — suninius 
 saccrdos — if he ought to have an Apostle over him } 
 
 Later on in the same century, we come upon a 
 remarkable testimony borne by the Council of Carthage 
 in 256 A.D. The Bishops there assembled say: "The 
 intention of our Lord Jesus Christ is plain when He sent 
 His Apostles, and gave into their hands alone the power 
 which had been given Him by His Father ; to whom we 
 have succeeded, governing the Church of God by the 
 same power, and baptizing faithful believers." ^ St. 
 Cyprian, who presided at that Council, speaks in his 
 writings of the Bishops " who succeed the Apostles by 
 successive ordination.""* Again: "We ought to take 
 pains to hold fast the unity given by the Lord and 
 handed on by the Apostles to us their successors." 
 
 Again, Firmilian in a letter to Cyprian says: "The 
 power therefore of remitting sins was given to the Apos- 
 tles, and to the Churches which they constituted by 
 virtue of their mission from Christ, and to the Bishops 
 
 1 Tcrtiillian. De Pniscript. Hard., TXfJ(\. Cf. cc. xxxvi., xxxvii. 
 
 2 Tertullian. De Baptism., xvii. 
 
 3 See also Fh-milian, ep. 75, ap. Cypr., p. 225. 
 
 * St. Cyprian ad Florent., ep. Ixix. (Migne), 4, "vicaria ordinatione." 
 
Value of till s earhj Testimonij. 173 
 
 who succeeded to them by successive ordination. But 
 the enemies of the One Catholic Church in which we are 
 placed, and the adversaries of us who have succeeded to 
 
 the Apostles what else are they than Korah, 
 
 Dathan, and Abiram ? " ^ 
 
 We have now descended throuc^h the sparse Christian 
 writers of the time down to about 200 years after the 
 life-time of the Apostles, or to little more than a century 
 and half after St. John's death. We may add to these 
 testimonies the frequent witness of Eusebius, when in 
 collecting with laborious accuracy the records of the 
 time, he speaks of the " earliest succession to the Apos- 
 tles," - and often alludes to Bishops as being appointed 
 in various stages of succession to the Apostles. And 
 what affords the strongest confirmation to the argument 
 is, that amidst all these passages, and a large number of 
 others which allude to general doctrine of Apostolical 
 Succession, but not specially to that particular point of 
 it which is now under consideration, not one word is 
 found which can be said to afford a proof that Bishops 
 were in their time lower officers than the Apostles, or 
 that the Church had lost the chief order of her Ministry 
 when the Apostles were taken to their rest. 
 
 The case might well be allowed to depend solely 
 
 > Firmilian ad S. Cypriauiim, xii. 
 
 * Eusc'd., ii. 22, iii. 4, heading of chapter, inpi rj/j Trpuirtig tUv 
 airoffroXoji' CiaCoxi]<i- — Cf. end of the same chapter. The words which he 
 uses are ftn^t x«rnt and SiaCox'], the same that he applies to the succession 
 of one Emperor of Rome to anotlier. See too iii. 36, r»}(; (car' 'Ai'ri6\(iav 
 Tl'irpov Ciacoxijc, 37, Tiji; rwv ciTroaroXwv SiaSoxijQ, t))v Trpwnjv rwv uttoo- 
 Tokiiiv diaCox>lf ; iv. I, irifnrTijv inro Tl'irpov Kui TlavXov £iuCoxi)v; 5» 
 t^SoitoQ dird rwv anoaroXwv ciacixtTai, Sec, 
 
1 74 Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 upon the testimony which has been already adduced. 
 But we cannot neglect that of the Universal Church of 
 all ages. 
 
 Bishops have always been treated as the supreme 
 rulers of the Church. The idea that they are subor- 
 dinate, and that there ought to be Apostles over their 
 heads, has not indeed been condemned at Councils, 
 simply because the question has never been mooted. 
 Councils have only rejected error that has been from 
 time to time pressed upon the acceptance of the Church. 
 Nobody has presented this Tenet to the consideration of 
 the assembled Church, and it has accordingly received 
 no notice. But her leading Doctors, whose names are 
 held in never-ceasing remembrance, have used language 
 which though not aimed at the supposition which Irving- 
 ites have advanced, is nevertheless destructive of it. 
 
 For example, St. Augustine says : " The Apostles 
 begat thee : they were sent forth in person, they preached 
 in person, they were themselves thy fathers. But could 
 they be for ever with us in the flesh } And if one of 
 them said, ' I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, 
 which is far better : nevertheless to abide in the flesh is 
 more needful for you,' he said so indeed, but how long 
 was it in his power to abide here ? Could he have done 
 so to the present time .-• Could he have stayed beyond 
 this age ? Is the Church then deserted by their depar- 
 ture .-* God forbid. ' Instead of thy fathers thou shalt 
 have children.' What is the meaning of this, ' Instead 
 of thy fathers thou shalt have children .? ' The Apostles 
 were sent as thy fathers: instead of the Apostles, 
 
The great Fa/Iicrs. 175 
 
 children have been born to thee, and made Bishops. 
 For where were those Bishops born, who are now scat- 
 tered through the world ? The Church herself calls 
 them fathers, she herself bare them, and she herself 
 placed them in the seats of the Fathers." ^ 
 
 St. Jerome, commenting upon the same passage in 
 the forty-fifth Psalm, writes : " ' Instead of thy fathers 
 thou shalt have children.' The Apostles were thy 
 fathers, thou Church, because they begat thee. But 
 now, because they have retired from the world, thou hast 
 instead of them Bishops for sons, because they were 
 made so by thee. They are also thy fathers, because 
 they exercise rule over thee. * Thou wilt make them 
 princes in all lands.' Christ put His Saints over all 
 nations. For in the name of God the Gospel was spread 
 to all the boundaries of the world, over which the princes 
 of the Church, that is, the Bishops, were set up." - In 
 another place writing against the Montanists, who like 
 the Irvingiteshad degraded Bishops, he says : " Amongst 
 us Bishops occupy the place of the Apostles." ^ And 
 again, speaking of Bishops : " They all," he says, " arc 
 the Apostles' successors."'* 
 
 Such has been the universal doctrine. " In the 
 Bishop," says St. Ambrose, " all orders are comprised : 
 for he is the first Priest, that is, the chief of the Priests."^ 
 
 * S. Augustine in Psalm xlv. i6. See also his Epistle a(i Fratres 
 Madaurcnses (xlii). " Christiana .Societas per sedes Apostolorum et succes- 
 siones Episcoporum certa per orbem propagatione diffunditur. " 
 
 ^ Ilieron. in Psalm xlv. l6. 
 
 ' Hieron. ad Marcellam adv. j\Iontanu>?i, ii. 128. 
 
 * Huron, ep. 85 (lOi), § I. 5 Com. in Eph. iv. 11. 
 
176 Bishops the Successors of the apostles. 
 
 St. Chrysostom says of St. Paul that he was " entrusted 
 with the whole world ; " and uses similar words of St. 
 Timothy, that he was " entrusted with the supremacy of 
 the world," and of the office of a Bishop, that it is " a 
 work of supremacy." ^ 
 
 And Optatus in his work against the Donatists makes 
 indeed four orders in the Church, but under an arrange- 
 ment which excludes Apostles as holding a rank by 
 themselves : " There are four classes in the Church, viz., 
 Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and the Faithful." - Again : 
 "Why should I speak of the laity, who at that time 
 possessed no dignity in the Church .-* Why of numerous 
 servitors ? why thirdly of Deacons, why of Priests, who 
 occupy the second rank in the Priesthood .'' There were 
 even Bishops, the very heads and princes in everything, 
 who impiously gave up to the flames the copies of God's 
 law." ^ What does the expression so frequently found 
 amongst Ecclesiastical writers — " Apostolic Sees " {scdes 
 ApostoliciE) — mean, but that their holders were supposed 
 by the entire Christian world to sit in the seats of the 
 Apostles } Or passing onwards to the ninth century, we 
 find Amalarius ^ quoting a passage from St. Ambrose 
 which says, that " those who are now named Bishops 
 were originally called Apostles." 
 
 Now what is the purport of all this evidence .'' Why, 
 plainly this. It was an universal tradition in the Church, 
 never questioned, never brought into dispute, that the 
 
 1 Horn, xvii., p. 241 ; Horn, vi., Adv. Jud., p. 541. In i Tim. Horn. 
 X. npocTTaaiav. 
 
 - Optatus adv. Parmenianum Dc Schismate Donatistaram, ii. p. 54. 
 
 2 Id. i. p. 14. * Atnalarius De Offic. Eccles., ii. 13. 
 
^■1)1 luiivcrsal Iraditiuu. I'j'j 
 
 Apostles of our Lord, in obedience to the commands 
 which they had received from the Lord Himself, 
 ap[)ointed their successors before their death. 
 
 As St. Augustine has told us in the passage already 
 quoted, there was a considerable unwritten tradition which 
 the Apostles handed down. They had enjoyed the ines- 
 timable advantage of religious and theological training 
 under the immediate care of our Lord. What was 
 necessary, they wrote down under the inspiring guidance 
 of the Holy Spirit. But that this was not even a tithe 
 of the whole, the remarkable words of the latest survivor 
 amongst them, as if anticipating the narrow views of 
 later generations, teach us infallibly.^ How we may prove 
 as much as can be ascertained of this body of tradition, 
 is told us by St. Augustine. It is found embedded in 
 the teaching, not of particular Churches, still less in the 
 unattested sayings of individual men, but in the consen- 
 tient Doctrine of the Universal Church. It is therefore 
 :nshrined in her Constitution, her Liturgies, her Divine 
 ife. And while the utmost care and caution are em- 
 ployed in searching for and checking the details of this 
 :radition, the fact is clear that Bishops did succeed to the 
 f\postles, — not by usurpation, not unforeseenly, not unin- 
 entionally, — but by express provision, in obedience to 
 he Lord's own directions, and with plenary Apostolic 
 A.uthority. 
 
 This fact, thus attested by Catholic tradition, derives 
 ilso, as we have seen, a very powerful confirmation from 
 rioly Writ. When in the full light of what the Church 
 
 1 St. John xxi. 25. 
 VOL. II. N 
 
178 Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 has taught us, we read the Bible, we find witness borne to 
 its vaHdity, in the arrangements of the law foreshadowing 
 the Gospel, in the provisions made by our Lord during 
 His life-time, in the Constitution so far as it is made 
 known to us of the infantine Church, and in the ordin 
 ations made by St. Paul and the other Apostles. So 
 that, especially since no countervailing evidence can be 
 brought forward which does not crumble in the grasp, 
 the fact of Bishops succeeding to Apostles is settled as 
 strongly, as any historical fact can be expected to be 
 established. 
 
 Yet the Church has ever, as the difference ,of name 
 shows, distinguished between Bishops and Apostles. The 
 first Apostles wielded an authority which Bishops never 
 can employ: they enjoy a dignity in the remembrance 
 of the Church, which can never be conceded to Bishops 
 however eminent for learning or piety. The cause is 
 evident. Not merely from the fact of their association 
 with our Lord, but from the fruits of that intercourse 
 they had a message to deliver which they alone could 
 define, — fresh from the fount of salvation. Vast as had 
 been the honour involved in their intercourse, it was not 
 barren. They are called by a name peculiar to them 
 selves, because they were able beyond all other men tc 
 say, whether our Lord had really taught anything which 
 might happen to fall under dispute, or whether it was 
 alien to His Revelation. Nor is St. Paul to be exempted 
 from the sweep of this distinction. His peculiar message 
 was the admission of the Gentiles, and the acceptance 
 and delivery of this message in obedience to oui 
 
liishops cnllcclivchj have universal rule. 179 
 
 Lord's Personal commands constitutes His title to 
 Apostlcship. 
 
 And if any questioning still lingers on the subject of 
 local and universal rule, it must be remembered, that very 
 soon in the early ages of the Church the Episcopate was 
 naturally developed to meet the need. In the words of 
 St. Chrysostom, Bishops were supposed to be " appointed 
 to the provostship of the world." ^ And St. Cyprian often 
 speaks of there being but one Bishopric in the Church, of 
 which every Bishop has a share, so as to have an interest 
 in the whole. He speaks of this as being a diffusive 
 power, which resided in the entire College of Bishops.- 
 Accordingly, we are soon told of Dioceses being consoli- 
 dated into Provinces with Primates or Metropolitans at 
 their head.^ And in course of time, Provinces were 
 included under Patriarchates, with a Superior holding 
 the title of Archbishop, Ex-arch, and later on as it seems, 
 of Patriarch.* So that, as the Church grew, there was a 
 natural development of the Episcopal order in corre- 
 spondence with her requirements. 
 
 But to pursue this part of the present enquiry further 
 would be to enter upon a wide field of information. It 
 is enough to point out, that the fancied distinction 
 between Bishops as having only a local jurisdiction, and 
 
 ^ Ti)v ti)q olKovfievTic VQaaTaaiav iyKtxiiQKTfi'ivoQ. — Hom. vi., ad yud. 
 i. p. 542. See also Gregory Nazianzen in Laud. Athanasii, xxi. p. 377. 
 Basil, ep. 72, ad Athanasium. 
 
 ^ Cyprian De Unitate Ecclesiae. Episcopatus unus est, cujus a singulis 
 in solidum pars tenetur. — Bingham, Orig. Ecdcs., ii. 5. 
 
 ' There were signs of them as early as the second century. — Bingham, 
 ii. 16, § 4. ■* Bingham, ii. 17. 
 
i8o Bishops the Successors of the y^postles. 
 
 Apostles as possessing universal authority, is without 
 warrant either from Holy Scripture, or from the teaching 
 or traditions of the Church. Bishops succeeding into 
 the places of the Apostles, as has been proved, inherited 
 both their local and their universal sway. Bishops of 
 course are taken here as an entire order, as Apostles 
 cannot be taken singly, but as constituting one College. 
 The great Councils of Nice, Constantinople, and the 
 rest, afford unmistakable evidence to the position here 
 maintained. 
 
 How then, it may be asked, when the evidence is so 
 strong that' Bishops were the successors of the Apostles, 
 could these people assert so firmly that such a position 
 could not be proved } The answer is, that first, the 
 question has not been seriously argued on the Catholic 
 side, and secondly, that a superficial view has confirmed 
 them in their erroneous supposition. The majority 
 appear to have been content with the broad assertion 
 in the Letter written in answer to the Articles in the Old 
 CJmrcJi Porch. The passage runs as follows : — 
 
 " In the next place we maintain that, in point of fact, 
 you can bring us no proof that Apostles did appoint their 
 successors. You can bring proof that they appointed 
 men to be Bishops, which Bishops became their success- 
 ors : but you can bring no proof that Apostles appointed 
 them to be their successors. In Scripture you knozv 
 that there are none. There is not a syllable in any 
 of the words of our Lord, or in the writings of His 
 Apostles, which can be distorted into the remotest hint 
 even of the removal of Apostles, still less that Bishops 
 
Cardalrs coiotter-dri^umoiit. i8r 
 
 were appointed to succeed them. Neither can you 
 show from Scripture, that authority was at any time 
 given to the Apostles to appoint successors to them- 
 selves. This being the case, it is very difficult to con- 
 ceive how any statement, not contained in Holy Scripture, 
 can avail to prove that Apostles had any such authority : 
 and it requires the most explicit statements, and from 
 persons testifying of their own personal knowledge, to 
 prove that any such appointment was ever made. Now 
 there is no such testimony in existence anywhere. 
 There is no account in any author, inspired or uninspired, 
 of any formal act by which Apostles constituted Bishops 
 to be their successors in the Office of Apostleship — no 
 notice that any such act ever took place. I am aware, I 
 believe, of all the passages from St. Clement downwards 
 to the end of the fourth century, which could be alleged 
 as bearing upon this point : they are all written in 
 vindication of the existing priesthood and episcopacy, 
 against sedition or schism, or else in vindication against 
 heresy, of the Doctrine handed down from the Apostles 
 through the Bishops. And the Fathers do this (naturally 
 and most truly) on the ground that the then existing 
 Ministers had been duly admitted to their Offices 
 according to the ordinances of the Apostles {kiTivoij.i]v, as 
 St. Clement has it), and that when the Apostles departed 
 they left Bishops their successors ; which, as a matter of 
 fact, I have not the slightest idea of disputing." ^ 
 
 Coming fresh from the perusal of the testimonies just 
 quoted from the works of the early Fathers, one is struck 
 
 > Litter, Sic, pp. 24, 25. The italics are in the original. 
 
1 82 Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 with amazement at the hardihood of some of these 
 assertions. St. Clement tells us that the Apostles, 
 with a foreknowledge of future difficulties, appointed 
 Bishops with a power of later succession to succeed to 
 their Ministry. After we have passed by St. Ignatius^ 
 assertions of the dignity of Bishops, and Hegesippus' 
 declaration of the unbroken continuity of custom, St. 
 Irenseus tells us, that the Apostles committed the 
 Churches to certain men, and left them as their success- 
 ors. After hearing Tertulliah's evidence in confirmation, 
 we listen to the Council of Carthage announcing, that they 
 as Bishops have succeeded to the Apostles and governed 
 the Church by the same power as the latter did, and we are 
 told both by Firmilian and by Cyprian, that the Bishops 
 succeeded the Apostles by successive ordinations. And 
 all this testimony is welded together and strengthened 
 by Eusebius, who reiterates again and again phrases 
 expressing the fact that Bishops were the successors to 
 the Apostles. And it has been shown that Holy Scrip- 
 ture, which was written before the deaths of the Apostles, 
 foreshadows this arrangement in many ways, and affords 
 no proof of the theory set up against the Catholic 
 Doctrine. How then can the author of this Letter put 
 forward so gratuitous an assertion .'' 
 
 He says, first, that although the Bishops became the 
 successors of the Apostles, the latter never appointed 
 them; and secondly, that there is nothing in Holy Scrip- 
 ture to show that the Apostles had the authority to appoint 
 their own successors; and that " it requires the most ex- 
 plicit statements, and from persons testifying of their own 
 
Groundlessness nf Jiis assert ions. 183 
 
 personal knowledge, to prove that any such appointment 
 was made." The first of these is simply contrary to the 
 express assertions of St. Clement, the Council of Carthage, 
 and others. And with respect to the second, the absence 
 from Holy Scripture of any such express authorization is 
 by no means fatal to its existence. Could Mr. Cardale 
 bring forward any passage from Holy Scripture stating 
 that the Apostles had no such authority .'' 
 
 When our Lord sent them forth. He contemplated a 
 continuance of His Church " to the end of the world," and 
 told His Apostles that He would be with them till then. 
 So that the burden of proof lies upon those who maintain, 
 that the Apostles and the Church had no power to provide 
 for the perpetual government of the Church. St. John 
 too declares, that the Apostles knew very many things 
 which had not been written down : and St. Augustine 
 expresses the opinion of the Church, in sa}'ing that some 
 of these were enshrined in her universal and unanimous 
 traditions. The Apostles taught by deed as well as by 
 word ; in the habits, laws. Liturgies, and the parts of the 
 Constitution of the Church which they instituted or 
 regulated. To suppose that the Church of the first three 
 centuries was so ignorant of her own Constitution, as not 
 to know whether the Bishops succeeded to the Apostles 
 plenarily or not ; or so dishonest, as to conceal the fact 
 if they succeeded only upon a lower platform, is so 
 insulting to the Primitive Church, that we should have 
 imagined it must have proceeded from those who have 
 no veneration for her, not from people who maintain 
 and glory in the honoured title Catholic. While many 
 
1 84 Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 passages run right against the statement just quoted, 
 no Irvingite can bring forward a single passage which 
 proves either that the Apostles had no authority to 
 transmit their powers, or that the Bishops who as a 
 matter of fact succeeded tliem, were not their true suc- 
 cessors upon an even line. 
 
 So that the idea that an order of Apostles is essential 
 to the integrity of the Church's Constitution, meets with 
 no support from Ecclesiastical authority, and indeed 
 stands condemned by the tacit or declared opinion of the 
 Church in all ages of her history. We have already seen, 
 that the Scriptural authority upon which it has been 
 supposed by Irvingites to rest is purely imaginary, and 
 is counterbalanced by much stronger testimony upon 
 the other side. In fact this Tenet is a baseless figment 
 supported only by an imagination which has laid hold 
 of one passage which seemed to suggest the conception, 
 wrested a few others from their natural signification, and 
 has attempted to prop up this reasoning by plausible 
 arguments, which when closely examined, melt away 
 before the view. Whereas the failure which has from 
 the first attended these so-called Apostles, the incon- 
 sistencies revealed in their action, and the fact that they 
 have passed away from the earth before they have finished 
 the work, " which," as they say, " was given them to do," 
 prove that there has been error somewhere, and that they 
 have been induced to believe in what is really not true. 
 
 How is it then, people may ask, that this Tenet has 
 ever been entertained and accepted by men of education 
 and earnestness, if the grounds upon which it stands are 
 
Jflnj heap I e looked for ^^i /jostles. 1 85 
 
 so unsafe and indeed visionary ? The answer to this 
 question appears to be not uninstructive. 
 
 For many centuries, there has been a tendenc\' in the 
 Western Church to exaggerate the position and power 
 of individual agents. The origin of this tendency may 
 be discovered in the condition of Europe, when wliole 
 countries had been flooded by hordes of barbarian 
 infidels, and learning, faith, and holiness were confined to 
 Churchmen. The truths of Christianity and civilization, 
 in the absence of a spread of literature, could be learned 
 only at the lips of ecclesiastics ; and conversions of large 
 numbers of people, seeming to partake of the miraculous, 
 led minds to overweening conceptions of the capabilities 
 of single men. Bishops and Priests were, for a long period, 
 like beings of a superior order amidst ordinary men. 
 
 Hence followed two results. On the one side the 
 Clergy became too highly exa:lted : and on the other, 
 by the inevitable revulsion of human habits, many 
 people came in course of time to refuse to acknowledge 
 any right at all in the duly ordained clergy to guard the 
 faith, or to teach and govern the Church. Not to insist 
 now upon the wisdom and the necessity of avoiding both 
 extremes, we find at the opening of the present century 
 both these principles at work, viz., neglect of the duly 
 authorized clergy, and undue exaggeration of the power 
 of individual agents. 
 
 Hence in the early days of Ir\'ingism, when the 
 adherents of the nascent sect were not led along the 
 old Church ways into Catholic channels, and they were 
 anxiously longing for some new power to reinstate the 
 
1 86 Bishops the Successors of the Apostles. 
 
 Church in her pristine prosperity, they anxiously strained 
 their eyes in the direction of the entrance upon the earth 
 of men endowed with vast spiritual powers. Whether 
 their thoughts took definite shape so far or not, they 
 had an indistinct anticipation, prompted by their long- 
 ings, of the appearance of twelve spiritual Napoleons. 
 For even in the time of the Macdonalds, and at the 
 first manifestations in Scotland of an appearance of 
 prophecy, these people were praying that Apostles might 
 be sent. Irving's own wonderful success in his earliest 
 preaching in London made several people, who were not 
 close observers, to anticipate marvellous results from his 
 matured strength. So prayers for the coming of Apostles 
 were offered continually, not only by Irvingites, but by 
 many more who never cast in their lot with this Sect. 
 
 But such Apostles as they expected never came. 
 Thereupon many persons were sensible enough to per- 
 ceive that the idea was a delusion, and withdrew from 
 the fellowship of the rest. But these people were 
 afraid, or declined, to draw back ; and when no man 
 appeared equal to their needs, or to the pictures which 
 they had drawn, fancied that they themselves had 
 indulged in misconceptions, and made it a point of 
 faith to smother doubt, and to acquiesce in the only 
 course left open, if they were to go on, and to ascribe 
 all to God's Providence. Accordingly, twelve men were 
 appointed, who though men of unexceptionable life, 
 and thoroughly devoted to their work, were both in 
 their capacities and their careers far below the antici- 
 pations that had been formed, and utterly unequal to 
 
The tu'clre exl)ected heroes never came. 187 
 
 the really grand effort which was demanded of them. 
 Then came failure, weakness, want of unanimity ; and 
 collapse was only averted b)- the determined will of their 
 real leader, the moderation that marked their manage- 
 ment, the skill which prompted the formation of their 
 system and the adaptation of it to pressing wants, their 
 steering into a forward place in the spiritual current of 
 the age, and the real religious earnestness which actuated 
 many at least among them. 
 
 But at the present time, when only one of these 
 Apostles is really capable of any effort at all, and ten 
 have passed away, how people can believe in Apostles 
 when there is no Apostolic College is strange indeed. 
 Nor less strange is the infatuation, which in spite of strong 
 argument induces them in other respects to hold fast to 
 this Tenet. What answer, it may be asked, do they make, 
 when they are driven victoriously from point to point .-' 
 In what citadel do they entrench themselves .-' 
 
 " It is the Lord's work. Whatever He does is right, even 
 if He goes contrary to the expectation of man. Does not 
 He ' destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing 
 the understanding of the prudent ? ' The Apostles have 
 been appointed from Heaven. That one fact is sufficient." 
 
 So that we are now brought to the only argument 
 which has not been already overthrown in this work, the 
 validity of the appointment of these Apostles by the 
 voices of the Prophets. Did these Prophets after all 
 really speak from Heaven ? 
 
 An examination into this question will form the 
 subject of the next two chapters. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PROPHETICAL GIFTS. 
 
 EFORE we commence an examination into 
 the nature of Irvingite prophecies, it will be 
 well to gather some fruits of experience from 
 the history of the Church. While Doctrines 
 comprehended in the Christian heritage have found a 
 home in some part at least of the Catholic Church, after 
 they have been expelled temporarily from elsewhere, 
 heresies and mistakes have occurred again and again, 
 and history has repeated itself in the several returns of 
 an exploded error. 
 
 That there were Christian Prophets in the first ages 
 of the Church as distinct from those of the Jewish period, 
 has been shown already,^ and may be easily proved 
 from the Acts of the Apostles, and from St. Paul's I 
 writings, and notably from his First Epistle to the 
 Corinthians. The latter book affords us an insight into 
 the actual operation of the gift of Prophecy in a local 
 Church which was yet in early youth. There was a 
 remarkable enthusiasm, accompanied by an imperfect 
 estimate of the nature of the new Religion, and of the ! 
 
 1 Abuvc, II. i. § 7. 
 
Extranrdincuii Gifts in (he earliest times. 189 
 
 character of the means of Grace. People who celebrated 
 the Holy Eucharist with such unseemly ceremony as 
 marked the Corinthian assemblies, who formed themselves 
 into sects under the names of Christ, Paul, Cephas, and 
 Apollos, who tolerated with satisfaction the presence of 
 the incestuous man among them, were likely to revel in 
 a self-pleasing possession of spiritual gifts. Accordingly, 
 St. Paul explains the nature of these gifts, and especially 
 of the gifts of Tongues and Prophecy, and endeavours to 
 lead the Corinthians into a proper employment of them. 
 
 If therefore we would really understand the true oper- 
 ation of these gifts in the early Church, we must subtract 
 something from the picture of their rudimentary use, 
 which is revealed in this Epistle as existing amongst these 
 neophyte Christians. Still, making all due allowance, we 
 undoubtedly do find prophesying in a prominent place at 
 this time at Corinth : and the Apostle, so far from rebuk- 
 ing the practice, exhorts his correspondents to " covet 
 earnestly" the best gifts. It is true that he keeps them 
 subordinate to Charity, and that the group of gifts 
 includes more than one kind. Miracles, gifts of healing, 
 kinds of tongues are conjoined with the exercise of 
 prophecy. 
 
 We need not here linger upon the other evidence of 
 prophesying which is scattered through the later historical 
 parts of the New Testament. It was appropriately 
 summarized in the presentment already given of the 
 arguments for present prophesying advanced by Irving- 
 ites.^ Early Ecclesiastical Writers tell us that these 
 
 1 Above, II. i. § 7, pp. 39—41. 
 
IQO Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are usually termed 
 "extraordinary," remained in the Church after the 
 Apostles' period. Ouadratus, the author of an Apology 
 which was well known but has unfortunately perished 
 with the exception of a fragment preserved by Eusebius, 
 was associated with the daughters of St. Philip in the 
 possession of prophetical powers.^ Irenseus tells us of 
 prophesyings and tongues still remaining in the Church 
 in his time. When the echo of the Apostolic age died 
 away, these gifts too died away as a matter of fact. St. 
 Chrysostom expresses the general opinion when he says 
 that many of the Miraculous Gifts had since ceased, such 
 as the Gift of Prophecy, the Gift of Wisdom, the Gift of 
 healing the sick, the Gift of raising the dead, the Gift of 
 Tongues, the Gift of Prayer, which was then distinguished 
 by the nLme of the Spirit.^ In advancing this opinion, 
 no Ecclesiastical Writer of repute questions the possi- 
 bility of the revival of these Gifts in the Church, should 
 it seem good to Almighty God so to restore them. We 
 presume that it will not seem good to Him, unless there 
 is an occasion demanding their employment. For the 
 principle of the Heathen Poet appears unimpeachable 
 even beyond his immediate survey, — 
 
 " Nee Deus intersit, nisi dignus Vindice nodus." 
 
 Nor should Heaven interfere, 
 Unless a feat too vast for man be there. 
 
 ' The first claimants to extraordinary spiritual powers 
 
 1 Eiiseb., iv. 37. 
 
 2 Chrysost. in Ep. ad Rom., viii. 26. See also Bingham, Ong. EccL, 
 
 xiii. 6, § 9. 
 
JMontanism. 191 
 
 that came up, were the Montanists. About the year 
 173, A.D., at Ardaba, a village in Phrygia, Montanus, as 
 Eusebius tells us/ began to prophesy. He is said to have 
 joined the Church under the idea of rising to a high post 
 of dignity. He affected to speak in the Spirit, and to be 
 suddenly brought into a state of enthusiasm and ecstasy. 
 He spoke in strange tongues in a manner unknown at 
 that time in the Church. This drew to him a crowd of 
 people. Some tried to put a stop to his proceedings, 
 but others were attracted upon the supposition of his 
 utterances being the genuine prophesyings of the Holy 
 Spirit. He was soon joined by two noble ladies, 
 IMaximilla and Priscilla, who deserted their husbands, 
 and by a man named Theodotus, and their united efforts 
 drew to them a considerable following. The Bishops of 
 Asia, thinking that some action must be taken, met 
 together, and formally condemned the prophecies of 
 Montanus, and excommunicated those who propagated 
 them. They then followed up their measure by writing, 
 according to the custom of the Church at that time, a 
 full account of all that they had done, and sending it to 
 the Western Churches, which had been out of the reach 
 of united action. Although in some parts of the West 
 the new teaching was at first well received, the ultimate 
 consequence was that the prophecies of Montanus and 
 his followers were generally condemned. 
 
 Upon this, finding themselves exposed to the censure 
 of the whole Church, Montanus and his followers separated 
 themselves into a distinct society, and caused a schism. 
 
 ^ Euscb., Hist. EccUs., v. i6. CVmlons /'as/i A'owafii, A. D. 173. 
 
192- Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 They adopted the ordinary creed of the Church, except 
 on one main point. They held that the Holy Spirit had 
 spoken directly by Montanus, and had delivered through 
 him a more perfect discipline than had been bestowed 
 through the Apostles. They called themselves the 
 spiritually-minded {-nvevixaTiKol), and the opponents of 
 these new revelations carnal-minded (x/Au^t/cot). They 
 condemned second marriages as being impracticable for 
 those who are going to heaven, they forbad flight from 
 persecution, and cast out all who were guilty of notorious 
 crimes without hope of restoration. They encouraged 
 celibacy, allowed divorce, and observed three Lents in 
 the year. We should especially notice here the main- 
 tenance of the Catholic Creed by these sectarians, with 
 the exception of their own pet dogma. 
 
 Montanism for a time spread widely, and made a 
 large number of converts. Even after Montanus' death, 
 which happened early, they continued as a separate set 
 of Christians, though they split up into various sections, 
 such as the Quinctiliani, Priscilliani, and others, and slid 
 into Sabellian views on the Doctrine of the Trinity. 
 The chief lustre which attended them arose from no less 
 a man than Tertullian becoming a convert to their teach- 
 ing. Late in life, whether attracted by the austerity of 
 their discipline, or repelled by want of sympathy in 
 others, he adopted their Tenets, and boldly advocated 
 them in many of his treatises. The higher character of 
 the standard which they placed before them, and the 
 yearning for a present Revelation, added to the general 
 orthodoxy of their views, appear to have imposed upon 
 
Montanism — the Rcfonnalion Period. 193 
 
 him. It is needless to point out, how Montanism died, 
 and left no defender. 
 
 As a principle, general outbursts of prophetical claims 
 are confined to periods of great religious excitement. 
 They require a powerful impetus to set them in motion. 
 Added to this, there must be a strong tendency to the 
 exaltation of the individual, who is thus supposed to be 
 made a vehicle of Divine inspiration. Montanists stand 
 by themselves, as claimants on a large scale in the ancient 
 Church of special gifts of prophecy. Nor do we meet 
 with many others till we reach the approaches to our own 
 era. Various appearances indeed of inhabitants of the 
 next world to holy people, whether technically saints 
 or not, were supposed to have taken place. But we do 
 not meet with the claim of inspiration by the Holy Spirit 
 as regularly and widely put forward, till we come to the 
 period of the Reformation. 
 
 The Anabaptists of Miinstcr claimed that they had 
 supernatural powers of foresight by means of dreams 
 and visions. And about that era we hear, amongst 
 others, of Elizabeth Barton the Holy Maid of Kent 
 (1533), of the Celestial Prophets in Germany (1520), of the 
 Ursulinc Prophetesses in France (1640); of Christopher 
 Kotter (1625), Christina Poniatowski (1627), Nicholas 
 Drabicius (1657), all connected with the Moravians; 
 besides Hachet Swenckfield, David George, and others. 
 The supposed near approach of the Millennium consti- 
 tuted the staple of much of the prophecies of these 
 people. Millenarianism had been embraced by the 
 Montanists. 
 
194 Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 The origin of Quakerism was very much hke that of 
 Montanism. George Fox thought himself a Prophet with 
 an especial inspiration from Heaven, and the main object 
 of his system was to make all the people of the Society 
 of Friends to be organs, through whom the Holy Ghost 
 was to speak, so that it should not be they that speak, but 
 the Holy Ghost that speaketh in them. It is true that 
 no ecstatic effort is affected, but that all is quiet and 
 self-composed. But in the expectation for the heavenly 
 breeze, in the refusal to speak unless " the Spirit moves 
 them," in the assumption that what is said is uttered 
 under the moving impulse of that Holy Person, we see 
 the Montanist principle again at work. j 
 
 Towards the end of the same century we meet with 
 enthusiasts of more pronounced character. In the year 
 1688, A.D., several persons, amounting to some five 
 or six hundred, inhabitants of Dauphiny and Viverais, 
 asserted that they were Prophets, and were inspired by 
 the Holy Ghost. They were of all ages and of both 
 sexes, but were principally young people. Their pro- 
 ceedings were wild and violent. They had strange fits, 
 in which they stretched out their hands and feet, and fell 
 to the ground, beating themselves violently. There they 
 would stay for a long time, affirming that they were in a 
 trance, and saw heaven opened, and the angels moving 
 about, and Paradise. When this agitation of body had 
 continued for some time, they began to prophesy. The 
 burden of their announcement was, " Amend your lives, 
 repent ye; for the end of all things is at hand." They 
 shouted out so loud for mercy that the very hills are said 
 
 li 
 
Quakerism — Camisards. 1 9^ 
 
 to have resounded. And with their cries were mixed 
 imprecations against the Pope and the Priests, and pro- 
 phecies of the speedy downfall of the Papacy. They 
 also announced the approach of the Millennial rciL,ni of 
 Christ. 
 
 These habits and doctrines spread so widely, that 
 through three Dioceses the Papal religion seemed to be 
 all but annihilated. They met however with great oppo- 
 sition from the Church and the Government of France, 
 and in the beginning of the next century they raised the 
 standard of revolt. From the shirt which they wore 
 they were called Camisards, a shirt being in the dialect 
 of Languedoc, Camisa. A bloody contest ensued, marked 
 by great cruelty and perfidy towards these unfortunate 
 and misguided people. The war was carried on first 
 under the Marquis de Montreval, and afterwards under 
 no less a general than Marshal Villars. Three of the 
 leaders of the Camisards were burned alive, several 
 others broken on the wheel, and many fled across to 
 England, where they preached their doctrines under the 
 name which was given them of French Prophets. There 
 they were joined by several people, amongst whom was 
 one John Lacy, who published in three parts, amounting 
 together to some vjo pages, a collection of the pro- 
 phetical warnings which he delivered when in a state of 
 ecstacy. 
 
 The movement of the Wesleyans in the eighteenth 
 ccntur>-, though the direct action of the Holy Spirit 
 upon the soul was recognized and brought out into 
 prominence, nevertheless did not include any direct 
 
196 Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 instances of prophecy to an appreciable extent. Never- 
 theless, the idea of individual action being prompted by 
 the influence of the Holy Ghost, exercised consciously 
 over the heart, was so strongly and generally propagated, 
 that men's minds were ready for a belief in a general 
 outpouring of the Spirit, at the end of the last century 
 and the beginning of this. 
 
 First, perhaps, we meet with the instance of Emmanuel 
 Svvedenborg, the son of Jesper Swedborg, Bishop of, 
 Skara in Westrogothia. He was born at Stockholm in 
 January, 1688. The early part of his life was spent in 
 the study of physical science. In 17 19 he was ennobled 
 by Queen Ulrica Leonora under the name of Sweden- 
 borg, and in course of time he established an European 
 reputation by his numerous treatises upon scientific 
 subjects. These works have been styled "a grand con- 
 solidation of human knowledge — an attempt to combine 
 and re-organize the opinions of all the schools of medicine 
 since the days of Hippocrates." But about the age of 
 fifty-eight he assumed a new character. In his own 
 account he says : — " I have been called to a holy office 
 by the Lord, Who most graciously manifested Himself in 
 Person to me His servant in the year 1745, and opened 
 my sight into the spiritual world, endowing me with the i 
 gift of conversing with spirits and angels." The event ' 
 to which these words relate occurred at an inn in London. 
 " A man appeared to him in a strong, shining light and 
 said, ' I am God the Lord, the CREATOR and REDEEMER. 
 I have chosen thee to explain to men the interior and 
 spiritual senses of the sacred writings. I will dictate to 
 
EnimanucI Swedenborg. 107 
 
 thee what thou oughtcst to write.'" He immediately 
 returned home, and devoted himself to Hebrew and a 
 dili-ent study of the Holy Scriptures. After this, he 
 frequently and consistently made and maintained the 
 assertion of his spiritual intercourse. 
 
 He does not appear to have laid claim to inspiration, 
 in the sense which prophetical inspiration is ordinarily 
 supposed to bear ; but to have imagined that his spirit- 
 ual sight was opened, so that he witnessed and could 
 describe the action of the spiritual world. Thus in the 
 year 1757, Swedenborg asserts that he saw the first judg- 
 ment descend upon the Christian Church, after whidi 
 commenced the descent from the new Heaven of the new 
 Church and her doctrine, signified by the New Jerusalem 
 of the Apocalypse. The system which he introduced 
 was of a somewhat complex character, the only point 
 that comes under our present survey being the claim 
 advanced by him to be a " Seer," endowed with a gift of 
 Spiritual intuition, which enabled him to be the channel 
 Df a new Revelation. 
 
 In course of time, other people went far beyond 
 Swedenborg. As the eighteenth century closed, we 
 all upon the case of Joanna Southcote, a servant-girl at 
 Exeter. She was subject to paroxysms of weeping, and 
 o trances attended with convulsions. Sometimes she 
 hought that Satan came to her. On other occasions 
 he imagined that she was visited by the Lord. She 
 leclared that she received prophecies from the Holy 
 ^host, and conversed with good spirits, as well as with 
 •ad ones. She gave out to her followers sealed papers, 
 
198 Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 which she called her " seals," to protect them in this 
 world and in the next. 
 
 At last, in 18 14, having from indulgence and want 
 of exercise fallen into a gross habit of body, she gave 
 out that she was pregnant with the " Shiloh," Who was 
 then about to come a second time. The day fixed for 
 the birth was the 19th of October, 18 14, and it was 
 to take place at midnight. Large sums of money 
 were subscribed in order that preparations should be 
 made worthy of the Prince of Peace, and amongst 
 other things an expensive cradle was provided. On 
 the night of the 19th of October a large crowd of 
 persons assembled in the street to receive the expected 
 announcement : but the hour of midnight passed over, 
 and the people were only induced to disperse by being 
 informed that Joanna had fallen into a trance. She was 
 then sixty-four years old, and died soon after, on the 
 26th of December in the same year, having previously 
 declared that " if she was deceived, she was at all events 
 misled by some spirit, either good or evil." Her body 
 was opened after her decease, and the appearance which 
 had deceived her followers, amongst whom was Dr. 
 Reece, a medical man who examined her during her 
 supposed pregnancy, and perhaps herself, was found to 
 have arisen from dropsy. Belief in her remained after 
 her death, — and her followers, who were at first very 
 numerous, continued to exist for a long time, — and has 
 not yet died out. 
 
 Somewhat similar to Joanna Southcote and her 
 followers were the Shakers. This Sect professes to 
 
Joanna Snntlicote—SJiahers — Mormonism. 1 99 
 
 believe that our Lord made His second appearance on 
 earth in the person of one Ann Lee, daughter of a 
 Manchester blacksmith. They existed a few years 
 before she joined them in 1758. In 1770 she laid 
 claim to Divine inspiration, and called herself " Ann 
 the Word." Persecution in England drove her and her 
 followers to America, where they settled and flourished. 
 In 1830 they numbered 6,000. Many among them 
 profess to see God, the Lord Jesus, and " Mother Ann." 
 They assert that they are taken into the spiritual world, 
 and there are introduced to good spirits, and even sit 
 at table with Almighty God. Besides their character- 
 istic shaking, they speak in unknown tongues, and use 
 various repulsive ceremonies. 
 
 But the most remarkable Sect, which in the present 
 century has taken rise from supposed spiritual manifesta- 
 tion, is that of the Mormons. Joseph Smith, the Prophet 
 of this fanatical body, was born in Sharon, Windsor 
 County, Vermont, in 1805. His story was, that on the 
 2 1st of September, 1823, while he was praying to God, 
 a sudden light, like the light of day, only much purer 
 and more glorious in appearance and brightness, burst 
 into his room. In a moment a Personage stood before 
 him, surrounded by a glory exceeding the previous light. 
 On Joseph Smith's enquiring who it was that appeared 
 to him, this Personage announced himself to be an 
 Angel sent to make certain revelations to him. The 
 visit was repeated, and at length disclosures were pre- 
 sented to him, written on plates which looked like gold. 
 They were said to be in Egyptian characters, and bound 
 
200 Prophetical Gifts, 
 
 together in a volume with three rings running through 
 the whole. The characters of the writing were to be 
 interpreted by means of the " Urim and Thummim." 
 
 Mormonism therefore arose about the same time as 
 Irvingism. It is true that there is a vulgarity and a 
 coarseness about Mormonism, which is wholly wanting 
 in Irvingite life and teaching. And we cannot be sur- 
 prised at the soreness which adherents of the latter feel 
 when a comparison is drawn between these two Bodies, 
 nor at the asperity with which they meet the charge of 
 similarity, even when it is brought temperately and 
 distantly against them, as it was by the late admirable 
 Bishop Forbes of Brechin. No doubt Joseph Smith 
 was an illiterate propagator of a new system, besides 
 being guilty of crimes^ which no one would ever 
 dream of imputing to Members of the Catholic Apostolic 
 Church. Besides that, the polygamy of Mormonism 
 alone, to say nothing of other characteristics, opens a 
 wide and impassable chasm between the two. 
 
 No comparison therefore between Irvingism and 
 Mormonism is here intended to be drawn, when we 
 nevertheless notice the same religious currents moving 
 in both cases. ^ First there is the prophetical origin, — the 
 claim made by Joe Smith of a Divine appearance, and 
 of a new revelation. " Unknown tongues " are found 
 
 ^ See Article on "Mormonism and the Burial Office " in the Ecclesiastic 
 for October, 1850. p. 201. 
 
 - Though as a matter of fact there was a leakage from Irvingism to 
 Mormonism. One of the Members of the former Body left it, and brought 
 with him to the then nascent Mormonism several Tenets and points of 
 organization which, he had learnt amongst his first friends. — Compare 
 English Rezdew, xxviii. , pp. 262, &c. 
 
Mormonism. 201 
 
 amongst these people contemporaneously with the claim 
 made to them by Irvingites in England. Calamy 
 describes the tongues in their case as " syllabical with a 
 distinct heave and breathe between each syllable ; but 
 it required attention to distinguish the words." ^ Next 
 we have a system of Priesthood founded upon the Old 
 Testament, the Melchizedechian and the Aaronic, accom- 
 panying the outburst of the spirit of prophecy. The 
 earlier converts " saw visions and prophesied, devils were 
 cast out, and the sick healed by the laying on of hands." 
 This reminds us irresistibly of the original claim to 
 miracles made by Irving and his followers. Besides 
 ordinary prophesying, a set day was appointed for the 
 descent of the Holy Spirit, the account of which as given 
 by Dr. Caswall ^ reads like a travesty upon some of the 
 early Irvingite Ceremonies. 
 
 Mormons have a large hierarchy. There are the 
 Twelve Apostles, who however were always subordi- 
 nated to the " Prophet," besides bodies of Seventy 
 Elders called " the Seventies," Bishops, Priests, and 
 Deacons. Again, we find stronger views of the Incar- 
 nation prevailing, carried indeed in Mormonism so far 
 as to end in a pronounced anthropomorphism,^ which is 
 
 ^ Blunt's Dictionary of Sects (Irvingism). 
 
 ^ Prophet of the Nineteenth Century, p. 124. 
 
 ' " The trae God exists in time and space, and has as much relation to 
 them as man or any other being. He has extension, form, dimension, as 
 well as man, — has body, parts, and passions; can eat, drink, talk, &c. , as 
 well as man, — is like man in form, and features, and size ; even the wicked 
 have seen Him, when on earth as one of their own species (!) The Father 
 is wholly material ; He cannot be in two places at once ; all spirits are 
 material; the Holy Ghost is very similar to Spirit of Father and Son, 
 
202 Frophetical Gift.<i. 
 
 of course in stronij contrast with the orthodoxy of the 
 Cathohc Apostohc Church. Great stress is laid upon 
 Baptism, — the Baptism by fire is found in a prominent 
 place, — the sick are anointed with oil, and there is a 
 grand ceremonial. 
 
 But the chief point in Mormoni.sm which here comes 
 under notice is the prophetical spirit which is at the very 
 foundation of it. In fact, there was a meeting of three 
 religious currents at the opening of the present century, 
 viz., first, the tendency to look for a new outpouring of 
 the Holy Spirit upon the minds of chosen individuals, 
 apart from the traditionary Indwelling of the Holy 
 Ghost in the Catholic Church; secondly, the yearning for 
 a more perfectly realized continuance of the Incarnation 
 by means of complete Church machinery and worship ; 
 and thirdly, a tendency to expect immediately the 
 Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. At present 
 we are concerned with the former of these three ; and 
 Mormonism, with the rapid spread of her Doctrines 
 amongst the lower orders here and in America, affords a 
 strong example of a claim to special gifts of prophecy. 
 
 Many other instances of this claim have presented 
 themselves during the progress of the present century. 
 
 First, Plymouth Brethren believe that the Holy Spirit 
 speaks often amongst them. Perhaps their chief peculi- 
 arity, though they share this with Quakers, is, that they 
 have no separate Ministry, but that every " brother " and 
 " sister " may prophesy or preach whenever he or she is 
 
 but this {sic) is Omnipresent by existing in inexhaustible quantities." — 
 Ecclesiastic, Oct. 1850, p. 196. 
 
Plymouth Brethren. 203 
 
 moved by the Spirit so to do. This Sect also arose 
 about the same time as Irvingism. Almost simultane- 
 ously in 1S30 at Dublin and Plymouth, some people met 
 together and called themselves " The Brethren," for the 
 addition of " Plymouth " to their name has not been made 
 by themselves, but by the outside world. As in the 
 case of many sectarians, they began operations without 
 the intention of separating from the Church. Their 
 chief founders were a clergyman who had been a 
 barrister, named Darby, from whom they have received 
 the appellation " Darbyites," and a Fellow of Exeter 
 College of the name of Newton. Mr. Darby gave up 
 his ministrations in the Church of Ireland, and having 
 established in Dublin a small Sect under the name of 
 Separatists, came to England, and preaching in several 
 places, organized small societies at Plymouth, Bristol, 
 and elsewhere. The large Orphan Asylum on Ashley 
 Down, near Bristol, owes its origin to Messrs. Craik and 
 Miiller who belonged to this persuasion. 
 
 Plymouth Brethren have a strong Calvinistic leaven, 
 and enter into speculations often divergent, about the 
 Second Coming of our Lord. In their own phraseology, 
 they are " the Assembly of God," not meeting together 
 by human will, but "gathered to Jesus by the Holy Ghost." 
 Accordingly, they imagine that no human Ministry is 
 necessary, but that they can meet together under directly 
 Divine Presidency, in fulfilment of the promise, " Where 
 two or three meet together in My Name, there am I in 
 the midst of them." The natural sequel of this Doctrine 
 is, that inspiration is capable of being extended to each 
 
204 Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 individual. So that Plymouth Brethren present another 
 instance of the special claim of the Prophetic Spirit 
 made by religionists in this century. They call their 
 system that of the " many-men Ministry," in contra- 
 distinction to the " one-man Ministry," which they hold 
 to be characteristic of ordinary congregations. 
 
 The same period — so pregnant was it with wild 
 religious movement — saw the rise of another Sect of 
 more extravagant fanaticism. In 1832, Henry James 
 Prince, then a young man of twenty-one years of age, 
 was Home Surgeon to the General Hospital at Bath. 
 Wishing to change his profession, he made an unsuc- 
 cessful attempt to gain admission at Durham. University. 
 After this he went to Lampeter College in March, 1836, 
 and whilst a student there organized a band who went 
 by the name of the " Lampeter Brethren." On leaving 
 Lampeter in 1840, he married an old Roman Catholic 
 lady, and was ordained to the curacy of Charlinch near 
 Bridgewatcr. Here he gradually adopted the notion that 
 the Holy Spirit had taken entire possession of him, 
 " so as to unite him to Himself." His Rector, Samuel 
 Starkey, .became a convert to his views, and when Mr. 
 Prince's wife died, the latter married a sister of Mr. 
 Starkey. Revival meetings were held with great excite- 
 ment amongst women and children. Prince called 
 himself "The Holy Ghost personified." 
 
 These proceedings were brought before the Bishop, 
 and Prince's license was revoked. He then moved to 
 Ipswich and proceeded to form a Sect, being joined by 
 six ladies named Nottidge, and possessed each of a nice 
 
Agapenionites. 205 
 
 little independence. He did not however stay long here, 
 but shifted his quarters to Brighton, and in 1845 to 
 Weymouth. Here he made some converts in the neigh- 
 bourhood; but in 1847, finding the place too hot for him, 
 he set up a permanent home at Spaxton, called " the 
 Agapemone," or the abode of Love. Some of his own 
 associates at Lampeter joined him, together with Starkey, 
 and some other former clergymen of the Church of 
 England. They lived in much luxury, and at the Great 
 Exhibition in 185 1, the former " Evangelical Curate of 
 Charlinch was to be seen driving about Hyde Park in a 
 carriage and four, preceded by hatless outriders, the 
 latter riding uncovered because they were in attendance 
 upon ' the Lord ' in the person of Prince." ^ It is not 
 necessary here to repeat the extravagances which this 
 Sect of " Princeites " or " Agapemonites " have success- y 
 ively adopted. Prince is said to have gone even further, 
 to a new Incarnation. Prayer was at one time abolished, 
 " because it would be interfering with the sufficiency of 
 God to save." What has been told of him, viz., that he 
 asserted that he was the personification of the Holy 
 Spirit, — though not without the precedents of the Amal- 
 ricians in the twelfth century, and the Wilhelmians of the 
 thirteenth, — shows the culminating point of fanatical 
 extravagance, to say the least, which the arrogation of 
 spiritual gifts has reached in the present century. Human 
 presumption could hardly go further. There ought to be 
 some broad lines of demarcation to separate such 
 fanaticism from the legitimate exercise of spiritual gifts. 
 ^ Blunt' s Dictionary of Sects. 
 
2o6 VropheUcal Gifts. 
 
 But the roll of those who have laid claim to an 
 extraordinary Heavenly favour in this century would 
 not be complete, if we omitted various eccentric indi- 
 viduals, and oddities, who have pretended to receive 
 direct communications from above, or to be sent upon 
 special and definite missions, or, as some females have 
 fancied, to be the chosen Bride of our Lord. The strange 
 doings of Mrs. Girling and her followers show, that these 
 spiritual imaginations have not yet ceased to assume 
 novel forms of exhibition. 
 
 Having now completed our survey, the first conclusion 
 that strikes us, upon an impartial view of the cases pre- 
 sented, is, that it is impossible that they can be all 
 genuine outpourings of the Holy Spirit. The excesses 
 in some cases, and the varying witness borne, prove to 
 demonstration, that they cannot all proceed from the 
 " One and the self-same Spirit." 
 
 This point being settled, for it requires no further 
 comment, the question ensues, how we are to distinguish 
 between genuine and spurious prophecies. 
 
 Now the prophetical periods of the Old and New 
 Testaments supply us with materials for estimating the 
 credentials of Prophets. The only firm ground, therefore, 
 is found by drawing from these two sources canons of 
 universal criticism, features which were exhibited in the 
 prophets calling for acceptance of their prophecies by 
 those to whom they severally prophesied. We shall then 
 be in a position to judge whether all or any of these 
 Sects, which have been mentioned as advancing claims, 
 
True Propliels — ]\Ioses. 207 
 
 may be admitted as true Prophets, and especially, we 
 shall be furnished with tests to put to the Prophets of the 
 Body under consideration. 
 
 Moses may for our purpose be regarded as the first, 
 as he was, excepting of course our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
 most remarkable, of the Prophets. For Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob, though they possessed the characteristics of 
 converse with Divine Beings, which is the peculiarity of 
 the highest class of Prophets, and of becoming the media 
 of prophecies, were Prophets only to themselves and 
 to their own families. And the records of Noah and 
 Enoch are too curt and indistinct for us to gather any 
 precedents for successors in the prophetical line. The 
 account of Moses on the other hand, as detailed by him- 
 self, is singularly copious and complete. The salient 
 points in his history are the following : — 
 
 Having been marvellously saved from death, he was 
 brought up in the highest school of education then ex- 
 isting, and became " learned in all the wisdom of the 
 Egyptians," and developed great literary and practical 
 talents. Expelled from Egypt, he passed many years in 
 seclusion, which, as we may reasonably infer, were spent 
 in holy and studious pursuits, by means of which he 
 added to his knowledge, followed out deep investigations 
 and matured plans for the government of Israel, should 
 the reins be ever placed in his hands. At length the 
 moment arrived, and the Lord Himself, not one of the 
 inferior Beings of the spiritual world, " appeared " to him. 
 Not that Moses saw the Lord, who has been always 
 taken for the Second Person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity 
 
2o8 Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 drawing near to men in anticipation of the Incarnation, 
 yet there were visible signs of His Presence and the 
 sound of His Voice. 
 
 As soon as Moses received the command to go to the 
 children of Israel, his first reply was, " But, behold, they j 
 will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice : for they 
 will say, The Lord hath not appeared to thee." What 
 then were the credentials with which he was armed, in 
 order to win and force confidence in his mission and 
 compliance with his orders > Miracle following upon 
 miracle, an ascending series of wonders and judg- 
 ments ; for to suit the circumstances of the case, the 
 miracles performed took the nature of judgment rather 
 than of mercy, or, except in the first miracle, of mere 
 marvel. 
 
 Not however that Moses was insensible to the value 
 of another kind of proof. When giving directions about 
 putting false Prophets to death, he replies to the question, 
 " If thou shalt say in thine heart, How shall we know the 
 word which the Lord hath not spoken ? "— " When a Pro- 
 phet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing 
 follow not, nor come to pass, that is, the thing which the 
 Lord hath not spoken, but the Prophet hath spoken it 
 presumptuously ; thou shalt not be afraid of him." So 
 that we have here a second credential, the fulfilment of 
 the prophecy given. This credential was employed by 
 Almighty God to produce faith in Moses : " This shall 
 be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee : When thou 
 hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve 
 God on this mountain." And Moses could appeal to 
 
Moses — Samuel. 209 
 
 this credential as the miracles proceeded, because he 
 foretold several of them to Pharaoh. 
 
 The spirit of prophecy was also poured out more 
 widely than usual in the days of Moses, as is shown by 
 the Seventy Elders who were enlightened by the Spirit of 
 the Lord so that they might help Moses in governing 
 the people, and " prophesied." ^ But they formed part of 
 the Mosaic economy, they were introduced and accredited 
 by Moses. Therefore they did not come forth by them- 
 selves, depending for acceptance upon proof which they 
 supplied. They were fathered by Moses, and could 
 refer to him for credentials. They could rest therefore 
 upon the external signs of prophesying which Eldad 
 and Medad, for example, exhibited, but which were 
 easily simulated by false Prophets. 
 
 After the age of Moses, prophecy appears to have 
 been almost silent. The very name of a Prophet did 
 not exist in the ordinary language of the day. Should 
 the heavenly inspiration light for a moment upon any 
 one, or should he be held to possess greater powers of 
 apprehension and judgment than other men, he was 
 called a Seer.- " In those days the word of the Lord 
 was precious, there was no open vision." 
 
 But a new era opened with Samuel. From a child 
 he enjoyed the incalculable honour of living near to God 
 and of being the medium of Divine utterance. When 
 le grew up, besides prophesying himself, he took mea- 
 sures for keeping up a Body of educated and official 
 Prophets. He established the Schools of the Prophets 
 
 ^ Numbers xi. - ns", not X''53. 
 
 VOL. n. P 
 
2IO Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 in various places, where men could be trained for the 
 purposes of prophecy. Of these there appear to have been 
 five or six. Their stations respectively were at Ramah, 
 Bethel, Jericho, Gilgal, perhaps Gibeah, and afterwards 
 Jerusalem. The pupils were called " the Sons of the 
 Prophets ; " and they reached the number— occasionally 
 at least, if not always — of several hundreds. For on one 
 occasion Ahab collected 400, independently, as it appears, 
 of those who belonged to the Kingdom of Judah, where 
 there was a College certainly in later times at Jerusalem. 
 About the same time, Obadiah " hid a hundred of them 
 by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water." 
 This was in troublous days. 
 
 The chief Prophet of the age seems to have presided 
 over them. Elijah held this office: and before his 
 miraculous ascent into heaven, he anointed Elisha as 
 the " High-Prophet," if he may be so called, in his own 
 stead. In these Schools a regular course of instruction 
 was given, which embraced the following subjects: — 
 music, which formed an important element in public 
 worship, and was closely connected with prophesying 
 —both of which truths are exemplified in the life and 
 career of David ; the composition of lyrical poetry, which 
 constitutes the. staple of the greater part of the prophetical 
 portion of the Old Testament, amongst which must be 
 ranked the productions of David and Solomon ; and 
 finally the laws and institutions of Moses.^ 
 
 1 I must express my obligations to the Ven. Archdeacon Lee on 
 The Inspiration of Holy' Scripture, pp. 158—167, a work full of learned 
 information. 
 
The Schools of the Prophets. 21 1 
 
 It is clear therefore, that for our purpose these Prophets 
 must in the main be taken in the lump, not singly and 
 individually. The effusion of the Prophetical Spirit once 
 proved, it was a vast deal easier for any single Prophet to 
 show that he belonged to the band. And it follows that the 
 sixteen Prophets, whose prophecies have descended to us, 
 did not stand alone. For besides them, we hear of Samuel, 
 Gad, Nathan, Ahijah, the Prophet who warned Jeroboam, 
 the old Prophet who dwelt at Bethel, Elijah, Elisha, the 
 Prophet who came to Ahab, Micaiah, the Prophet sent 
 to Amaziah, Oded, Baruch, and others. We are told 
 also of Bodies of Prophets, and of Prophetesses. There 
 was evidently an unbroken series, reaching beyond the 
 return from Captivity. 
 
 Therefore to estimate the nature of their credentials, 
 we must take a few eminent specimens. Samuel at the 
 beginning, Elijah and Elisha at a period of general 
 scepticism, Amos not a trained Prophet, Isaiah at a 
 critical point of danger, Ezekiel in a foreign land, Daniel 
 and his fellows amidst unbelievers, will supply us with 
 satisfactory evidence of the nature of a Prophet's creden- 
 tials. Now in all these instances, besides the internal 
 evidence of coincidence with the course of Divine 
 Revelation, conspicuous purity of thought, and remark- 
 able strength as evinced in the prophecies so far as we 
 are in possession of them, we find also a contemporaneous 
 fulfilment of certain predictions, and events at least 
 partaking of the miraculous, and generally issuing in 
 judgment. 
 
 Thus Samuel is introduced with a prophecy of the 
 
212 Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 fate impending over Eli and his sons, which was soon 
 fulfilled. He afterwards promised success to the 
 Children of Israel against the Philistines at Mizpeh, and 
 accordingly a signal victory with lasting consequences 
 ensued. After the Kingdom was substituted for a 
 Theocracy, he brought down by his prayers, as he 
 foretold, thunder and rain in representation of the 
 judgments of the Lord. He anointed Saul and David, 
 and'' they were afterwards duly appointed kings. The 
 pregnant words of the brief record lead to the conclusion, 
 that he presented more credentials of his mission than 
 have been recorded in detail.^ 
 
 Elijah, besides privately raising the child of the 
 widow of Zarephath, publicly proved himself to be a 
 true Prophet by bringing down fire from heaven. After 
 this he prophesied a heavy fall of rain after the long 
 drought, that Plazael and Jehu should succeed to the 
 Kingdoms of Syria and Israel respectively and Elisha 
 to the post of chief Prophet, that Ahab should win 
 victories over Benhadad, that dogs should suck the blood 
 of Ahab in Naboth's portion, and his own death. 
 
 EHsha performed various smaller miracles, cured 
 Naaman, raised the Shunammite's son, and posthumously 
 an Israelite. He foretold the birth of the Shunammite's 
 child, the wicked intention of Jehoram, the deliverance of 
 Samaria, an approaching famine, the succession of 
 Hazael, and of Jehu, besides victories, and defeats. 
 
 The instances of Elijah and Elisha deserve the more 
 attention, because they vindicated their claims against 
 
 1 I Sam. iii. 20, 21. 
 
Elijah, Eliska, jimos, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. 213 
 
 scepticism, and cannot be said to have inherited an 
 ascertained and trusted position. 
 
 The case of Amos demands enquiry, because he was 
 not brought up as one of the accredited race of Prophets. 
 But to go to the other extreme, and to place him on a 
 par with a man who had to win his acceptance with no 
 precedents or no contemporaries, would be equally untrue 
 to the real circumstances. Amos made his appearance 
 as an alien to the prophetical Body ; but that Body was 
 in active existence, and afforded therefore strong moral 
 support to a true claimant. But special credentials were 
 essential. Accordingly, Amos foretold the earthquake 
 two years before, and appealed to this prediction verified 
 by fact for the proof of his mission.^ He also issued a 
 judgment against Amaziah, the slanderous priest of 
 Bethel, which affords an instance of a fulfilled prediction, 
 and in some sense of a miraculous judgment. 
 
 At a critical time Isaiah found it necessary to inspire 
 confidence by a sign, which combined judgment and 
 prediction. The birth of a child, and the deaths of two 
 kings, were surely enough to establish his credit. Yet 
 afterwards he foretold the deliverance of Jerusalem from 
 the investment by Rabshakeh by means of the utter 
 destruction of Sennacherib's host, and by the subsequent 
 death of the Assyrian monarch. He also predicted 
 Hezekiah's recovery from a dangerous illness. 
 
 Ezekiel, prophesying to the Jews in Captivity, required 
 also credentials, besides the commanding weight and the 
 moral strength of his prophecies. His prediction of the 
 
 ^ Amos ii. 14 — 16, i. i ; Zech. xiv. 5. 
 
214 Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 siege of Jerusalem with such extraordinary circumstance, 
 and of the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar ; the 
 judgment pronounced by him against himself in the 
 sudden death of his wife, and against Jerusalem, were 
 supernatural accompaniments of his words, which forced 
 them upon the acceptance of all who were not bereft of 
 spiritual understanding. 
 
 The instances of Daniel and the Three Children are 
 more germane to our enquiry, because the scene of their 
 action lay where an appeal to prophetical precedents was 
 impossible. Accordingly, the miraculous deliverance of 
 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the flames in 
 the sight of all the people, the predictive interpretation 
 of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and of the writing on the 
 wall, both of which were verified by immediate fulfilment, 
 and the wonderful preservation of Daniel from the lions, 
 supplied credentials which could not be gainsaid by 
 reasonable people. 
 
 No reliance can be placed upon Jonah's case, which 
 at first sight seems fit to be cited. And for this reason. 
 The book is evidently a brief account of events, and 
 Jonah's own preaching is given only in the curt 
 summary, " Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be over- 
 thrown." What were the arguments which he employed, 
 and what was his method of persuasion, we are not 
 told ; yet a miraculous deliverance preceded his 
 preaching, and we can hardly imagine that he did not 
 make use of it, to help him to influence the inhabitants 
 of Nineveh. 
 
 The rest of the Prophets, if we may except Jeremiah, 
 
Daniel, Jonah, and the Prophets generally. ii^ 
 
 who threw his aegis of miraculous ^ judgment and verified 
 predictions over the others, were found amongst the 
 accredited band, who contributed grounds of behef, so 
 to speak, to a common fund. 
 
 A few words are now necessary to gather up the 
 inference. 
 
 The chief source of persuasion lay in the testimony 
 delivered. Had it the water-mark of Heaven .-' Was it 
 consonant with ascertained Revelation, pure, holy, truth- 
 ful, consistent, full of moral weight both in itself and in 
 the mode of delivery? If so, it possessed the main 
 essentials for winning its way. But besides this, in 
 order that there might be no mistake, in order that 
 belief might rest, not upon the sands of human opinion, 
 but upon the rock of God's Truth, fulfilled predictions 
 and miracles, often wrought in judgment, were invariably 
 vouchsafed. For Prophets must be taken in the lump, not 
 in individual isolation. 
 
 We now pass on to the New Testament. And here 
 we must observe, that inasmuch as prophecy had ceased 
 during a period of some 400 years, stronger evidence was 
 plainly required of the reality of the outbreak, than if the 
 prophetical spirit had continued in action from some 
 acknowledged origin. Although Samuel is spoken of as 
 the first of the Prophets, yet supernatural manifestations 
 
 • Predictions of the fate of Shallum, Jehoiakim, Coniah, and Zedelviah ; 
 of Pharaoh-hophra ; of the Babylonish Captivity, and the complicated 
 miseries which preceded and characterized the desolation of Jemsalem. 
 Jer. xxii. 11, 12, 18, 19, 24 — 30, xxxiv. 2 — 5 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 20 ; 2 Kings 
 3LXV. ; Jer. xix. 6, 7, lii. 11, xliv. 30, xiv. I— 12, xxi. 8—10, xix. 6, 7. 
 
2i6 Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 had never entirely ceased after the time of Moses. 
 Joshua, Deborah, Gideon, Manoah, Samson, and others, 
 handed on the tradition of heavenly intercourse. The 
 change in Samuel's time, and by Samuel's institutions, 
 was from the Roeh to the Nabi — from the Seer who 
 received impressions from outside and communicated 
 what he saw and heard, to the Prophet who became 
 the vehicle of Divine inspiration, and by means of 
 his natural organs uttered what the Holy Spirit 
 prompted. 
 
 We should err, too, if we were to restrict the field of 
 prophecy to foretelling events. Verified predictions are 
 a clear and convincing method of establishing the 
 character of a Prophet : but they form only a portion, 
 and that not the most important portion, of a Prophet's 
 province. The Prophet deals with the supernatural, and 
 declares it. Past, present, and future come beneath his 
 survey. Spiritual mysteries, — important truths about 
 Almighty God and Heaven, — weighty verities respecting 
 human nature and life, — form the region of his intuition, 
 and the topics of the revelation conveyed by him. Faith, 
 which remains as our inheritance bequeathed from times 
 strictly prophetical, is the " evidence of things not seen," 
 as well as " the substance of things hoped for." 
 
 John the Baptist laid no claim to prophecy. In 
 ringing tones he bid people repent and believe on Him 
 Who should come after him, declaring himself to be not 
 a Prophet, but only a Voice. What credentials then did 
 our Lord present .-' 
 
 He appealed first to the Old Testament Scriptures, 
 
Our Lord's Credentials. 217 
 
 and to John the Baptist, and then to His miracles and 
 verified predictions. After His first miracle in Cana, 
 " His disciples believed on Him." At His first passover, 
 " many believed in His name when they saw the miracles 
 which He did." Nicodemus acknowledges that He was 
 " a Teacher sent from God," because no one could do the 
 miracles which He did without God being with him. Of 
 Himself He said at a later period, about the end of the 
 great Galilean year^ of His Ministry, " The blind receive 
 their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, 
 and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor 
 have the gospel preached to them." And probably soon 
 after, " The works that I do bear witness of Me, that the 
 Father hath sent Me." Indeed no one can possibly deny 
 that the truth of our Lord's Mission as a Prophet was not 
 amply proved by His miracles, unless he denies the facts 
 of the miracles as miracles. 
 
 Of verified predictions He gave not a few. At His 
 first passover in His Ministry, He offered the sign of His 
 Death and Resurrection. He repeated this prophecy after- 
 wards as " the sign of the prophet Jonas." Probably not 
 less than nine times as recorded, He foretold His Passion 
 and Resurrection to His disciples. He announced a 
 
 ' I say this advisedly. It is to me a matter of wonder how in the face 
 of the internal evidence, the Cambridge School of interpreters of the facts 
 of our Lord's Life should restrict our Lord's Galilean Ministry to less than 
 a year, or even, as the learned Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol does, to a 
 few weeks [Hulsean Lectures). The proof to the contrary is too long to 
 give here. The Galilean Ministry with its wonderful success was, judging 
 outwardly, the grand feature in our Lord's earthly career. The records of 
 the Gospel are confessedly short (St. John xxi. 25). How for example can 
 we conceive our Lord pronouncing woe against Chorazin, Bethsaida, and 
 
2i8 Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 distinct fact taking place at a distance to the Capernaite 
 nobleman. He used words which were tantamount 
 to a prediction of the resurrection of Jairus' daughter. 
 His prophecy of the rising of Lazarus was clear and 
 plain. He sent forth the Twelve and the Seventy 
 with implied predictions, which were justified by their 
 success. He foretold the miraculous draught of fishes 
 on two occasions, the discovery of the stater in the 
 fish's mouth, the finding of the ass, the fall of St. Peter, 
 and the treachery of Judas. The prophecies which He 
 delivered about events of a later period need not be 
 enumerated here. 
 
 From our Lord's time. Prophets continued, as we 
 have seen, in unbroken succession, till after the echo 
 of the Apostles' footsteps had died away. They were 
 therefore introduced by our Lord : and their greatest 
 credentials were derived from Him. The chief proof 
 required was that what they prophesied was a part of 
 His Revelation, and that they themselves were really of 
 His Company. St. John gives a test which was to be 
 applied to each of those who claimed the gift. " Believe 
 not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of 
 God : because many false prophets are gone out into the 
 world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God : Every 
 spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the 
 flesh is of God : and every spirit that confesseth not 
 that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God : and 
 this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard 
 that it should come ; and even now already is it in the 
 world," This test may have been given by the Apostle 
 
Prophecies must he consonant icith the Faith. 2ig 
 
 with two intentions, either that it should have only a 
 temporary application, or that it should be an universal 
 rule for trying spirits till the end of the present dis- 
 pensation. 
 
 If the words be taken only in their bare literalness, 
 the test might nevertheless be efficacious in those early 
 days, when faith and unbelief were separated by broad 
 lines of demarcation. But in later times, when belief 
 and unbelief are combined together in a thousand ways, 
 a hard and fast rule of curt significance could hardly 
 baffle the forces of evil. If therefore we are to under- 
 stand the Apostle's formula to bear a perpetual applica- 
 tion, we must receive it in a meaning as pregnant as the 
 ways of evil are manifold and mutable. What is that 
 meaning ? Evidently a belief in the Doctrine of the 
 Incarnation. But then, the Doctrine of the Incarnation 
 includes all that is involved in the coming of our Lord 
 in the Flesh, — the Revelation which He made, and the 
 means for the salvation of mankind which He established. 
 Accordingly, we enumerate in this short formula, by 
 successive steps, each necessitated by the previous step, 
 the entire circle of Doctrine which has been handed down 
 in the Church by writings, and especially in the Holy 
 Scriptures, and by continuous life. So that the first test 
 to put to a claimant or claimants to the Gift of Prophecy* 
 is whether the utterances put forward as prophecies are 
 , consonant with Catholic Truth ; whether the profession 
 of belief, verbally and practically, coincides with " the 
 Faith once for all delivered to the saints." 
 
 But the early Christian Prophets appealed to more 
 
220 Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 witness than this. First observe that to all intents and 
 purposes, except that they did not seek any individ- 
 ual exaltation or separate position, the Apostles were 
 Prophets. They had seen the Lord, they were inspired, 
 they declared a Revelation. First then, they all witnessed 
 to the great miracle of the Resurrection, a fact which is 
 especially apposite to them, because their great object 
 was to testify not to themselves, but to the Lord. Next, 
 the miracles of healing the impotent man, of working 
 signs and wonders, of the judgments against Ananias 
 and Sapphira, besides the detection of them, of raising 
 Dorcas and Eutychus, as well as other miracles, brought 
 a powerful testimony to the action of the prophetic 
 Spirit. Besides this, the wonderful descent of the Holy 
 Spirit upon them on the Day of Pentecost, not, as so 
 many of these pretenders to spiritual gifts have supposed, 
 without sensible signs, but with a noise that was heard 
 and fiery tongues that were seen, adds a vast weight of 
 evidence. For this descent was attested not merely by 
 the partakers of the gift, though here we have 120 
 witnesses instead of one — but by the miraculous conse- 
 quences of it. People of various countries heard unlearned 
 men speak in numerous languages which they had never 
 before acquired. 
 
 Nor were there wanting verified predictions, though 
 in the presence of the testimony from numerous miracles 
 this class of evidence was not so much needed. Here 
 again the prophecies of the Resurrection by our Lord 
 must be especially included, inasmuch as all that the 
 early Christian preachers wanted, was to induce people 
 
Three Necessary Credentials. iii 
 
 to believe in Him. His credit once established, theirs 
 would follow, if they ever thought of it. But the pro- 
 phecies of the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, those by 
 Agabus of the famine, and of St. Paul's imprisonment, 
 and the one to St. Paul of his being taken to Rome, and 
 several others which were verified in the fulfilment, 
 proved the soundness of the claims of these people to 
 be Prophets. 
 
 The examination therefore of the instances of 
 undoubted Prophets as recorded in the Old and New 
 Testaments affords these results. For the credentials of 
 any one Prophet, or set or race of Prophets, who appeal 
 to us for acceptance, we must demand three kinds of 
 testimony, viz., the coincidence of the prophecies 
 delivered with the Faith already revealed, miracles 
 betokening the movement of supernatural inspiration, 
 and predictions verified by the event. For if the first of 
 these were wanting, it might be inferred that Almighty 
 God was the Author of confusion and inconsistency ; if 
 there were no miracles, the force exerted would fall short 
 of being supernatural ; and if no verified predictions 
 : could be produced, the sphere would be only ordinary 
 ihuman. 
 
 It is evident at first sight that these characteristics 
 
 place a large gulf between the real Prophets of the Old 
 
 sand New Testament and their legitimate successors of 
 
 the first age of the Church on the one side, and on the 
 
 lOther the persons put forward as Prophets in the various 
 
 Sects which have been briefly enumerated. But to enter 
 
 I. 
 
 iinto any minute examination of the several claims which 
 
2,22 Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 they advance, is beyond the scope of this treatise, and 
 would be considered unnecessary by the majority of the 
 readers of these pages. It remains now to weigh all that 
 can be brought forward of importance in favour of 
 Irvingite Prophets. Do they belong to the votaries of 
 the Sects condemned .? Or are they to be considered as 
 standing upon real and strong grounds when they say 
 that the Lord has indeed spoken by them .> 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ARE THESE MEN PROPHETS? 
 
 HE enquiry upon which we are about to embark 
 is unfortunately one which must inevitably 
 cause pain to many, who honestly and con- 
 scientiously believe that our Lord Jesus Christ 
 really declares His Will through these people who 
 "prophesy" in His Sacred Name. Such people are in 
 the habit of listening reverentially and submissively to 
 what are to them Voices from God. Such an enquiry as 
 this therefore naturally seems to them to be a rude 
 profanation, and indeed to be more than perilously near 
 to that sin against the Holy Ghost, which can never be 
 forgiven. 
 
 But we must not obey one precept, or even a cluster 
 of precepts, of Holy Scripture, and pay no regard to 
 others. St. John tells us " to try the spirits whether 
 they are of God." How indeed are false Prophets to be 
 distinguished from true, unless they be subjected to a 
 searching examination ? If the Canons by which they 
 are examined are those which Holy Scripture and the 
 Church sanction and authorize, how can we go wrong, 
 always supposing that reverence, moderation, candour, 
 
 ! 
 

 2 24 -^^^ these Men Prophets? 
 
 eagerness for truth, and readiness to follow God's Will, 
 however it may be declared, govern our enquiries ? While 
 upon this subject it is my duty to shrink from no plain- 
 ness of speech or of argument, or from a conclusion where 
 such is found to be necessary, I am anxious to say nothing 
 that may needlessly wound, or give offence. Discussion 
 upon the action of God's Most Holy Spirit is one which 
 eminently requires reverence, and caution, and keenness 
 of apprehension, and prayer. 
 
 Before entering upon this enquiry, I may point out 
 that the Prophets of the Body under consideration stand 
 in favourable contrast to many that have been men- 
 tioned. They are under careful restriction, they are 
 trained for their work, and vulgar inappropriateness 
 is sedulously excluded. They are regularly ordained, 
 and their very prophecies are subjected to a rigorous 
 examination before they are duly received. 
 
 We may now go on to examine the credentials which 
 they offer. The results of the last Chapter point out the 
 line which our examination may best take. Accordingly 
 the first question is, udiether the prophecies delivered 
 coincide with, or keep within the limits of, " the Faith 
 once delivered to the saints." 
 
 Irvingites assert that they do, as a general body of 
 prophetical teaching. All that contravenes the faith, or 
 infringes upon its analogy, they lay aside as being only 
 the production of the man, not the utterance of the Holy 
 Spirit. They point to the manner in which they have 
 revived much Catholic Truth and custom, to their 
 careful maintenance of the Creeds, to the holiness of life 
 
The Question to be decided upon clear Grounds. 225 
 
 inculcated by them, and then infer that such good efifects 
 as these could not have been produced by an inexcusable 
 pretension to sacred gifts, or a profane playing with 
 holy things, or blasphemous imposition. The general 
 tendency and character of these spiritual gifts has been 
 far too good to admit of their having been anything else 
 than Divine. If, say they, people instead of arguing would 
 come in a teachable spirit — the spirit of little children 
 which our Lord described so tenderly and sweetly — 
 and thus examine the real phenomenon for themselves, 
 they would see how holy a matter is thus being rudely 
 handled. This is a subject of faith, not at all fit for 
 public, and perhaps heedless, certainly unprofitable, 
 discussion. 
 
 Yet, as we have seen, faith in these matters is not 
 made to depend upon impalpable distinctions. We 
 are not expected to put our intellects, so to speak, 
 into our pockets, by Him who gave them to us as most 
 valuable possessions. It was never intended that the 
 way of faith should be made unreasonable, and that its 
 difficulties should be thereby grievously enhanced ; that 
 ntelligence should be taken out of the scale of religion, 
 md transferred into the balance of the world. There 
 nust be some sure handposts, definitely decipherable, to 
 ooint out our road when gloom settles over our paths. 
 
 So too with respect to the first part of this argument. 
 Ne may readily allow much that Irvingites advance, and 
 ve do so gladly, because it amounts to a clear mitigation 
 f sentence. If there is reason to conclude that they 
 lave erred, many doubtless, we may trust that a large 
 
 VOL. II. Q 
 
226 Are these Men Prophets? 
 
 majority at the very least, have made the mistake in 
 honesty and sincerity. How far this is so, and how far 
 it is not, an unerring Judgment will decide. We are 
 concerned only with the question, — Do these Prophets 
 speak from God, or have they spoken of themselves ? 
 
 Dine hunc ardorem mentibus addunt, 
 .... an sua cuique Deus fit dira cupido ? 
 
 Does God indeed Himself impart 
 Such glowing ardour to the heart, 
 Or passion surging past control 
 Seem all Divine to each one's soulP^ 
 
 I 
 
 The real question therefore with respect to the first 
 Canon is not whether a great part, or indeed by far the 
 greater part of these prophecies, is true to the standard 
 of the Catholic Faith, but whether they all are, that is, 
 all which have been stamped with the seal of the Com- 
 munity's approval. A small amount of error is quite 
 consonant with human excellence, but none can be I 
 admitted into Divine utterance. When therefore Dr. 
 McNeile inferred from Mr. Taplin's faulty reading of 
 the Word of God that it could not be the Holy Spirit 
 that read through that human channel, his argument 
 and conclusion were sound and unimpeachable, as 
 relating, that is, to that single utterance. Accordingly, 
 if we find that in any important particulars these 
 prophecies — confining ourselves to those which are 
 acknowledged — offend against the Catholic Faith, we ilc 
 are not only justified in condemning them, — we are 
 
 * f7r^. y£'«., ix. 184. The English Version is altered from Conington s 
 Translation to suit the dignity of the present subject. ~ 
 
Their Teaching contravenes the Faith. 227 
 
 imperatively called upon by our reverence to the Faith 
 to condemn them. 
 
 What then can be said, in the first place, of their 
 appointing an order of Apostles, which has not only not 
 j been sanctioned, but, as has been shewn, has been 
 1 excluded, by the teaching of the Catholic Church ? The 
 [ balance of evidence from Holy Scripture has been proved 
 I to be against such a theory, as has been propounded by 
 these so-called Prophets. And the witness of the Church, 
 both negative and positive, has been shewn to be unan- 
 swerably destructive to its validity ; so that, if the 
 Apostles say, that whatever may be the difficulties in the 
 way of our acceptance, we are nevertheless Apostles, 
 because God has declared us to be such through the 
 ; voice of the Prophets, the answer is evident. Such a 
 supposition is impossible. 
 
 fiovov yap avTOV xw Ofbg ffTcpioKiTai, 
 ayii'ijTd TTOttlv iiaa av y ntTrpayiiiva.^ 
 
 One thing alone e'en God Himself can't do, 
 To make what's done undone. 
 
 It is no curtailment of the power or privileges of 
 Almighty God, but rather a tribute to His inalienable 
 Iperfections, to say that no inconsistency is possible with 
 Him, whether of word or action. He has " no variable- 
 ness," nor even " a shadow of turning." Inasmuch 
 therefore as He has declared by the Voice of His 
 Church, implicitly perhaps but unmistakably, that the 
 theory of Apostles as here put out is alien to the " Faith 
 once delivered to the saints," it is evident that those 
 
 ' Agathon in Aristot. Eth. Nic, vi. 2. 
 
2,28 Are these Alen Prophets? 
 
 who profess to put it forth in His Name cannot be 
 moved or authorized by Him. It is not here denied, 
 that He might send Apostles or Prophets or any other 
 special emissaries whom He might choose. To dogmatize 
 about the future would be presumptuous : we know not 
 what is in the womb of time, or what God may here- 
 after do ; and we should be ready to submit to any 
 regulations or institutions that are really His. Our 
 question now is solely about the theory before us of 
 Apostles and a Fourfold Ministry as essential to the 
 integrity of the Church, with the various details which 
 have been before unfolded. Upon these, the verdict of 
 our first Canon is clear. They cannot be of God ; and 
 these therefore must be spurious prophecies, and the 
 deliverers of them cannot be true Prophets. 
 
 Have they then any powerful external testimony .-' 
 Have we reason shewn us by miracles to accord to them 
 our faith } Now the history of Irvingite miracles is 
 remarkable. 
 
 At first it appears to have been taken for granted 
 that miracles would naturally attend an outpouring of 
 the Holy Spirit. At the opening of the history of this 
 movement we find a claim advanced of the working of 
 miracles. Margaret Macdonald, Mary Campbell, Eliza- 
 beth Fancourt, and others, recovered from illness in a 
 manner which was certainly strange and astonishing. 
 Other cures of the same sort abounded. Miracles in 
 fact were claimed, and were advanced as a proof of the 
 outburst of supernatural power in preparation for our 
 Lord's Advent. 
 
Claim of Miracles surrendered. 229 
 
 But as time has gone on, this appeal to miracles has 
 been surrendered to such an extent, that we find now care- 
 fully-drawn arguments put forward to show that miracles 
 are not necessary to prove the restoration of Apostles 
 and Prophets. Thus in some Discourses delivered in the 
 Catholic and Apostolic Church in Gordon Square, in the 
 year 1856,^ an elaborate argument is presented in proof 
 of miracles not being required as evidence. In the first 
 Discourse, which asserts that " miracles are not the 
 ordinary credentials of God's Messengers, nor the proper 
 credentials of Apostles in the Christian Church," stress is 
 laid upon the instances of Enoch and Noah, though the 
 Scripture accounts are too short to support any negative 
 arguments. Old Testament miracles are slurred over : 
 no notice is taken of the continuity of the race of 
 Prophets : the great instance of our Lord Himself is 
 
 , utterly unnoticed : and the " signs and wonders " of St. 
 Paul are professedly explained away. But what is most 
 
 ; noticeable with reference to our present position is this : 
 at least two Discourses, if the third is not to be included, 
 are devoted to the proof that miracles are not needed as 
 credentials of these new Teachers. What can be a 
 greater proof of their surrender of the appeal to 
 miracles ?'^ 
 
 Which then are we to follow ? The earlier or the 
 later lessons of Irvingism .'' Are we to conclude that 
 ^he credentials of these Prophets depend upon miracles, 
 
 ' On Miracles arid Miraculous Powers, Three Discourses delivered in the 
 Catholic and Apostolic Church, Gordon Square. London : Bosworth and 
 Harrison, &c., &c. 
 
 2 This is now a stock argument with Irvingites in reply to objections. 
 
230 Are these Men Prophets? 
 
 or are supposed to be independent of such extraneous 
 aid ? At all events, there is a shifting of front here, 
 which must weaken any confidence felt in these claims. 
 
 If then the allegation of miracles is surrendered, as it 
 appears, beneath the light of increasing experience, these 
 new Prophets fail to satisfy the requirements of our 
 second Canon. They are not attested, as God has 
 always attested His true Prophets, by "signs and 
 wonders." Let there be no mistake here. According to 
 the theory of these people an interval of silence in the 
 prophetical utterance has occurred far exceeding any 
 previous interval, unless it be that between Moses or 
 Abraham and Noah. For 1,600 years, and perhaps 
 more. Prophets, as they say, have ceased from the 
 Church. Precedents tell us, that as in the cases of 
 Moses and our Lord, — for Abraham was not a Prophet 
 to the world generally, only to his own family, — upon a 
 fresh outbreak of the Spirit of prophecy, miracles were 
 abundantly vouchsafed. If then there are here no 
 miracles, the analogy of God's dealings teaches us that j 
 there are no Prophets. | 
 
 But for the purposes of candid judgment, we ought to ] 
 examine also the miracles for which a claim has been 
 advanced. They are, doubtless, not only unusual, but 
 even astonishing events. Yet upon a close enquiry they 
 are found to be lacking in at least two important features. 
 
 The miracles of Moses and of our Lord, of Samuel, 
 of the Prophet who warned Jeroboam, and of Daniel and 
 the others, also of the Apostles, were wrought publicly. 
 The previous conditions of the case, the mode and 
 
Can be explained hij Natural Causes. 231 
 
 evidence of the change, and the sequel, were notorious. 
 All was above suspicion, mistake, or doubt. This was 
 not the case with the miracles claimed by these people. 
 The evidence of them rests only upon their own accounts. 
 Now without imputing any intention to deceive, for 
 which at least in the leading cases there seems to be 
 no evidence, we may yet remark that such secrecy is not 
 the case with God's actions. Pharaoh gave involuntary 
 proof by letting the Children of Israel go. The Chief 
 Priests and the Pharisees acknowledged our Lord's 
 miracles, and afterwards " the notable miracle " of St. 
 Peter and St John. For reasons which are obvious, 
 when Almighty God calls upon His people generally for 
 faith in any manifestation, He addresses them openly by 
 evidence of which all can judge. 
 
 But again, none of these so-called miracles are such 
 as could not under peculiar circumstances be effected 
 naturally, without the intervention of any supernatural 
 power. The influence of the mind over the body, 
 especially in diseases of the nerves, or of the spine, 
 which is the source of the nerves, and more particularly 
 in females, is almost inconceivable to those who have 
 not examined it. Accordingly in religious revivals, or 
 in other religious movements where the feelings are 
 wrought up to a high pitch, the concentrated force 
 of feeling and impulse within has been often turned 
 upon a diseased part, and an undoubted and surprising 
 change has been worked, but all by causes strictly 
 natural. Wesley believed that he wrought miracles : so 
 did the Mormons : and so have many other religious 
 
232 Are these Men Prophets!' 
 
 enthusiasts. Many, as Miss Fancourt did, have ascribed 
 the power of recovery from disease to simple but powerful 
 faith. But the history of similar rehgionists has shewn 
 over and over again, that if the idea is conceived, as it 
 was by Irving, that sickness is simply the result of sin, 
 and can therefore be cured by faith, as time wears on, 
 and the terrible force of disease is encountered day by 
 day, this idea is surrendered, and comes to be regarded 
 as an impracticable notion. The troubles of humanity, 
 like the origin of evil, are mysterious, and cannot be 
 explained by our limited powers of judgment. We must ■ 
 wait for the explanation till we pass from the region of 
 dark vision, to where we shall "see face to face." 
 
 Of the power of the mind in effecting cures of either a 
 temporary or a permanent nature, the following instances 
 may serve as specimens. The first comes from my own 1 
 experience : the others from a medical work of acknow- 
 ledged authority. 
 
 Some years ago, a single lady, who had been confined 
 to her bed for some months, was suddenly awakened in 
 the middle of the night by three men coming into her 
 bed-room, one of whom presented a pistol at her head. 
 They demanded of her where her plate was kept, and 
 after taking all that they could find of value in the 
 house and easily movable, went away. On the next 
 morning. Miss C, instead of lying in bed, got up, and 
 was busily engaged with the help of her friends in 
 searching for traces of the robbery which might lead to 
 the discovery of the guilty men. She continued to move 
 about, and to all appearance had quite recovered her 
 
Instances of Natural Cures. 233 
 
 health. When the burglars were tried at the ensuing 
 assizes, she went into court, and gave her evidence with 
 remarkable clearness. Some time after the conviction 
 and condemnation of the men, her health gradually 
 declined, she took again to her bed, and in about a year 
 afterwards she died. 
 
 This instance is remarkable, because the subsequent 
 death of Miss C. shewed what her neighbours doubted 
 at the time, that she was really ill when the burglars 
 entered her house. Also because her cure, though it 
 proved to be of temporary duration, was nevertheless to 
 all appearance quite complete at the time. As long as 
 the excitement lasted, and her thoughts were taken off 
 herself, she was in excellent health and spirits. She was 
 at the time many years older than Mary Campbell, or 
 Elizabeth Fancourt, or Margaret Macdonald. 
 
 " It is curious enough," says Sir Thomas Watson,^ " to 
 notice how the mind is apt to become affected in some 
 of these cases. After the patient has been lying supine 
 , for some weeks, she is unable to stand or walk, simply 
 because she thinks she is unable. The instant she makes 
 a fair effort to use her limbs again, she can and does use 
 them. Her condition is reversed. Potest quia posse 
 vidctur. 
 
 " Dr. Corfe, the present Apothecary to the Middlesex 
 Hospital (1847), has no little trouble with patients of 
 this kind ; but he generally succeeds in making- them 
 walk, and in convincing them, as well as himself, that 
 
 1 Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Physic. London : Longmans, 
 Green, and Co. Fifth Edition, 1871, p. 725. Italics as in original. 
 
234 -^^'6 these Men Prophets P 
 
 they may do so with impunity. Sometimes, though 
 ordinary authority may not be efficacious in this respect, 
 some stronger influence prevails. 
 
 " A lady told me not very long ago, that an 
 acquaintance of hers, a member of a family of distinc- 
 tion, had been lying I know not how long on her back ; 
 that position having been prescribed to her by some 
 medical man for a presumed disease of the spine. She 
 lost all power of using her legs ; but she got quite fat, 
 as indeed well she might, for her appetite was remark- 
 ably sharp, and she lived chiefly upon chicken ; and 
 the number of fowls she devoured was incredible. 
 She lived at some little distance from town, and at last 
 Sir Benjamin Brodie was sent for to her. Now Sir 
 Benjamin, to use a vulgar phrase, is ?// to these cases ; 
 and he wished her to try to walk : but she declared the 
 attempt to do so would kill her. But he was resolute 
 however and had her got out of bed : and in a few days' 
 time she was walking about quite well, and very grateful 
 to him for his judgment and decision. A medical man 
 of less name, or of less determination, would probably 
 have failed. 
 
 " Dr. Bright has a good example of a somewhat 
 similar kind, shewing the power of another form of 
 influence. He was asked to see a young lady who had 
 been confined to her bed for nine months. If she 
 attempted to move she was thrown into a paroxysm 
 of agitation, and of excruciating agony, affecting more 
 particularly the abdomen. She had almost lost the use 
 of her lower limbs ; and she and her friends seemed to 
 
Natural Cures. i^iS 
 
 have given up all hope of her restoration. But she 
 presented no appearance of important disease ; her 
 countenance bore no marks of visceral mischief ; nor 
 was it possible to discover any proof of organic change. 
 Dr. Bright set the case down in his own mind as one of 
 hysteria. She was thought to have derived relief from 
 some stimulating injection, and from certain pills. As 
 her friends were in moderate circumstances, Dr. Bright 
 talked seriously to the mother, and recommended that 
 simple water should be employed for the injection, and 
 ithat bread pills should be substituted for those the girl 
 had been taking. The mother soon perceived that these 
 means produced the same tranquillizing effects on her 
 daughter which had hitherto been ascribed to the 
 medicine. ' My visits,' he says, ' became less frequent ; 
 I was absent a fortnight ; on my renewing my visits no 
 change had taken place. I attempted to get her shifted 
 gently from the bed to the sofa, but it was impossible ; 
 'the paroxysms almost overcame her. Once (after having 
 [attended altogether about nine months) I called after an 
 absence of nearly a month ; her sister met me at the 
 street door with a smiling face to tell me that our patient 
 was quite well ; and on enquiry she related how three 
 mornings before, under a deep religious impression, she 
 ihad completely recovered all her powers ; and was sitting 
 up and working and amusing herself as if she were 
 icompletely convalescent from some ordinary illness.' " 
 
 Partly then from the nature of the cures asserted to 
 have been wrought, and partly from the evidence of 
 these people themselves, we may safely conclude that no 
 
236 Are these Men Prophets!' 
 
 invincible argument can be constructed in favour of these 
 so-called Prophets from any miracles accompanying the 
 outbreak of " prophecy." 
 
 Yet from the last chapter we see how the two, 
 prophecy and miracles, at least in the beginning of a 
 prophetical period, have ever gone hand in hand. And 
 the reason is plain ; both are supernatural. The Holy 
 Spirit appearing amongst men and striving with men, 
 shows forth His Power in " signs and wonders " which 
 cannot be gainsaycd. He does not make the effort 
 of faith more difficult, than for the sake of men it need 
 be. Faith does not rest upon an undefined basis, and 
 is not intended to sink into credulity. 
 
 The third Canon still remains, viz., that the out- 
 pouring of prophecy is always proved by a contempora- 
 neous fulfilment of predictions. Where shall we find 
 these fulfilled predictions in the history of Irvingism ? 
 Shall we turn to the forty-five prophecies of Mr. Baxter, 
 which are shewn in the CJnirclis Broken Unity to have 
 failed of being verified by the event .'' Shall we point 
 to the numerous predictions of the end of the world, or 
 the Coming of our Lord, which have been successively 
 proved false .'' Shall we appeal to utterances received 
 and acknowledged by the Community, in which the 
 Twelvefold Unity of the Apostles was urged and 
 promised .^ Or to the body of speeches, in consequence 
 of which the Apostles were recalled from their evangel- 
 ization in foreign lands .^ 
 
 But if we cannot find such predictions as shall offer 
 us the evidence of a true foretelling of future events, 
 
[ 
 
 Their Predictions not Fulfilled. 12>1 
 
 will these people themselves supply us with such ? We 
 do not find references to such proofs in the speeches or 
 writings, with which they seek to evangelize the world. 
 
 In the absence then of the production of such 
 instances, and in the presence of various accepted 
 "prophecies" which failed of fulfilment, we are justified 
 in assuming, that these people cannot appeal to fulfilled 
 predictions in support of their prophetical claims. 
 
 And finding that our three Canons are thus proved in 
 negative, we cannot but conclude that there is no ground 
 for supposing that these men are real Prophets. Accord- 
 ingly, the only remaining prop to the Tenet of a Restored 
 Apostolate is taken away, and the Tenet falls hopelessly 
 to the ground. 
 
 This position may be still more strengthened by the 
 following considerations : — 
 
 I. There is nothing in these so-called prophecies which 
 is — not to say superhuman — eminent for originality, or 
 force, or beauty. They are generally vapid, poor pro- 
 ductions, suggesting the idea that they were delivered 
 when the powers of the deliverer were weakened by some 
 over-mastering excitement. They appear more like a 
 distant echo of Old Testament prophecies, or passages 
 from the old Prophets, so to speak, plentifully watered.^ 
 
 ^ " I have heard some thousand so-called prophetic utterances, but (with 
 two exceptions) they have contained nothing beyond the ability of any 
 ordinary man to speak. They were largely composed of quotations from 
 Scripture, and all else they contained has been better expressed from the 
 pulpit. The two exceptions were poetical utterances, and although it is 
 beyond the ability of ordinary men to extemporize poetry, the gift is not so 
 rare as to require us to suppose that any other than human agency was 
 concerned in it. The only thing remarkable about these utterances is the 
 
238 j4re these Men Prophets? 
 
 Yet we are surely justified in inferring from the match- 
 less force of the style of the Bible which has stood the 
 criticism of centuries, that if the Holy Spirit really spoke, 
 it would be with a grandeur and strength and beauty, 
 which of themselves, setting aside the supernatural 
 meaning, would enforce attention. After the death of 
 Mr. Drummond, a critic placed side by side his terse and 
 forcible sentences spoken in the House of Commons, 
 and his utterances as a Prophet, and asked which of the 
 two, laying aside the religious character of the latter, 
 would generally be supposed to be the supernatural 
 speech. Various prophetical utterances are to be found 
 scattered through the first of these Volumes ; which of 
 these, I ask, or what other Irvingite utterance reported 
 exactly as it was spoken, bears the stamp of Heavenly 
 power .-' 
 
 2. Take again the Irvingite treatment of their own 
 Prophets. First the Prophets were all supreme. Irving 
 was forced to give way to them. By degrees they were 
 brought under subjection. First Cardale and Drummond 
 restrained them. Next they were almost en masse 
 silenced at one fell swoop, when the Apostles returned 
 from abroad. Then gradually they were all subdued, 
 so that at the present day the Prophets are but a small 
 power in the Community. What can be a greater 
 sentence of condemnation, virtually passed by these 
 people upon themselves .^ Experience has shown, that 
 
 unnatural way in which they are spoken." — Aly Reasons for retiring from 
 the Catholic Apostolic Church, by H. M. Prior, 1873. (Printed for private 
 distribution.) 
 
Conjirmalori) Proofs. 2^g 
 
 cooler reasons must regulate proceedings, rather than the 
 hot impetuosity of these excitable people delivering 
 themselves in the seasons of their strongest excitement. 
 Yet if the Holy Spirit really did speak, such wisdom 
 would govern the utterance, that there would be no 
 grounds for apprehending danger, but only reason for 
 perfect obedience. 
 
 3. Again, the strange travesty of the events of the 
 Day of Pentecost adds much to confirm suspicion. True, 
 that the " Unknown Tongues " are now things of the 
 past, and are no longer heard in Catholic Apostolic 
 Churches. But this fact only proves the doubt with 
 which they must be regarded by the Members them- 
 selves. For again, why should they be unknown tongues, 
 instead of any of such languages as are spoken and 
 understood ? The account of the great Day of Pentecost 
 shews that the languages then miraculously taught were 
 those which were in use by the people who came to the 
 feast. " We do hear them speak in our tongues the 
 wonderful works of God." The plural is used of the 
 Apostles' speech, — other tongues, not another tongue. 
 Fourteen different languages are enumerated,^ or at 
 least variations in dialect. The force of the miracle 
 would be lost, if what the Apostles said had been 
 unintelligible to the various components of that large 
 concourse of men. 
 
 And so the earliest Irvingites read the passage. The 
 first utterance in tongues was supposed to be made 
 
 ^ Churc/i's Broken Unity (Irvingism), p. I77j &c. irtpaic yXoiaaaiQ 
 not tTtpq, yXwaay, Acts ii. 4. Cf. Irenaus, v. 6, I ; iii. 12, i (Migne). 
 
240 Are these Men Prophets? 
 
 in the language of some South Sea Island, and, as has 
 been related, a collection of these utterances was reduced 
 to writing, and was submitted to Dr. Pusey, Dr. Lee, 
 and Sir G. Staunton. At Irving's trial in London 
 before the Scotch Presbytery, the following answer was 
 given : — 
 
 " Question. You have said that your gifts are 
 different : in what respect do they differ .'' 
 
 " Anszucr. We speak each a different tongue, and 
 as in the Old Testament Prophets and among the 
 Apostles there is found a diversity of style and character, 
 owing to the medium of their own mind, through which 
 the word passed, although they spoke by one Spirit ; so 
 among our gifts there is the same kind of diversity. 
 
 " Question. How do you discover the difference 
 between the tongues 1 
 
 '' Ansiucr. In the same manner as we discern the 
 difference between French and Italian, the Turkish or 
 Hindoostanee ; that is, by the ordinary method by which 
 languages are distinguished." 
 
 But it is well known that no language has been found 
 to correspond with these uncouth sounds. And accord- 
 ingly when they were afterwards assailed, the mode of 
 defence adopted implied that the tongues were unknown, 
 and were intended to be and to remain unknown. The 
 objects of them have been declared to be, to attract atten- 
 tion, and to speak to God. " He that speaketh in a 
 tongue speaketh not to man but unto God : for no man 
 heareth, but in the spirit he speaketh mysteries." ^ The 
 ' I Cor. xiv. 2. 
 
The Real Tongues were knotun. 241 
 
 whole passage, they urge, implies that when the gift of 
 tongues is used, not only the people are ignorant of the 
 meaning, but the speaker himself often does not under- 
 stand what he is saying. 
 
 The Irvingite interpretation of this passage in St. 
 Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians has been already drawn 
 out.^ The close resemblance of their system of prophecy 
 to St, Paul's direction in this chapter and in the twelfth 
 of the same Epistle, constitutes what is perhaps the 
 strongest part of their position. 
 
 But in the first place, let it be remembered, that even 
 if it be shown that these people do copy this chapter 
 exactly, it does not therefore follow that their Prophets 
 are true Prophets. There was a spirit of prophecy 
 abroad in the Church in St. Paul's days, and we know 
 not whether it may appear some time hence. No one 
 denies the possibility of an outpouring. There may be 
 an animal with all the characteristics of a sea-serpent ; 
 but it does not therefore follow, that every creature seen 
 to bear some resemblance to it is really a specimen of 
 that far-famed kind of creature. The present is a question 
 of Divine fact, not of human coincidence. 
 
 Secondly, it will be found that these people really 
 misunderstand this important passage. That there were 
 gifts of tongues at Corinth at the time when St. Paul 
 wrote, and probably in other parts of the Church, is clear 
 from his words. There was much evangelizing to be 
 done then, and the calm action of those early Christians 
 was wholly unequal to the strain laid upon it. Hence 
 1 Vol. II. I, § 7, p, 41, &c. 
 
 VOL. II. R 
 
242. ^re these MeJi Prophets? 
 
 came the need of extraordinary gifts, and especially of 
 gifts bestowed upon them as linguists. But if these gifts 
 were generally granted, is it not likely, is it not certain, 
 that they would be used in practice, in a previous 
 sharpening of weapons and exercising the arms for 
 combat ? 
 
 That there was an irregular employment of them, 
 is clear from the fact that St. Paul found it neces- 
 sary to give laws and directions for their use. These 
 Corinthian converts, in their natural exultation upon the 
 possession of a new and remarkable gift, forgot the true 
 end and object of it. Nor did they remember, that the 
 gift of tongues did not necessarily ensure further gifts of 
 interpretation and of prophecy ; that, at least frequently, 
 some gifts fell to the lot of some people, some to others. 
 
 Irvingites also strain some expressions. When it is 
 said, " He that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself," it is 
 clear that the tongue cannot be unknown to the speaker, 
 or he would enjoy no edification. " He that speaketh in 
 a tongue edifieth himself. How," says St. Chrysostora* 
 " unless he knows what he says ? " ^ But if a Corinthian 
 speak in a tongue before Corinthians, or a Roman in the 
 midst of Romans, or an Alexandrian in an Alexandrian 
 congregation, it is evident that the people present as a 
 body could not understand the speaker, unless he or 
 another interpreted, because the " tongue " was plainly, 
 different from the ordinary speech of the people present. 
 
 Again, in the passage " If I pray in a tongue, - my 
 spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful," thej 
 
 1 Op. iii. 474. ^ idv irpoaivx'^tJLai yXuiaatj, I Cor. xiv. 14. 
 
The C kief Passage misunde stood. 243 
 
 interpretation of the verse turns upon the meaning of the 
 word " unfruitful " (aKapiros). Does it relate to fruitful- 
 ness to the individual, or rather to fruitfulness to others ? 
 Now immediately afterwards when the Apostle has 
 added, " I will pray with the understanding also, ... I 
 will sing with the understanding also," he gives as a 
 reason, — " because (eTrei) if thou blessest with the spirit, 
 how shall he that filleth the place of a private man say 
 Amen at thy giving of thanks, since he knows not what 
 thou sayest .'' For thou indeed givest thanks well, but 
 the other is not edified." So that it is clear that the 
 Apostle's meaning is, that when any man prays in an 
 unknown tongue, he may make a truly spiritual supplica- 
 tion himself, and realize fully the meaning of his prayer; 
 else how shall it be a prayer at all, unless that may be 
 called prayer which is reasonless, and a mere outreach- 
 ing of feeling can be called spiritual .'' But his under- 
 standing is without bearing fruit to others, who cannot 
 say Amen, since they know not what it is to which they 
 attach their assent and co-operation. It seems plain 
 therefore, since the latter is the strongest passage which 
 can be quoted on the other side, that tongues are not 
 supposed to be unknown to those who make use of them. 
 The specimens that we have received of these tongues 
 are indeed little more than such gibberish as almost any 
 one would have at command, if he were willing to indulge 
 in it. Some expressions, like the ainaniiiii, amaniiiwr^ of 
 r. Taplin, suggest the ordinar^^ occupations of the 
 tterer. Indeed, although there has been much contro- 
 jversy upon the subject, especially at the time when the 
 
244 -^^'^ these Men Prophets? 
 
 practice of such utterances commenced, no words have 
 been introduced to notice, which have been ever likely to 
 contribute dignity to this portion of supposed spiritual 
 utterances. It is therefore only what we should expect, 
 when we find that these tongues have been given up, and 
 that the increasing wisdom of later years has led to their 
 disuse. But then this disuse adds to the witness against 
 them. 
 
 There being then so many additional reasons why we 
 should look with more than suspicion upon these prophe- 
 syings, are we not obliged to conclude with the utmost 
 certainty, that there is nothing really extraordinaiy in 
 them .'' The witness of antiquity, as St. Chrysostom and 
 St. Augustine tell us,^ is, that the extraordinary gifts of 
 the Holy Spirit ceased soon after the age of the Apostles, 
 but that His ordinary gifts remained. Accordingly 
 prophesying has in such an ordinary sense been left 
 behind. 
 
 Yet a deep insight into things spiritual, an unerring 
 theological instinct grounded upon study and prayer, 
 keen tenderness of vision fostered by a holy life, are gifts 
 which can hardly ever be overvalued by us. Such we 
 should still earnestly covet. The root and substance 
 remain, when the temporary development of a period in 
 
 1 " T))f Svvaf^iiioQ iKtlpi]c ovtii IxvoQ viroXtXtlTrrat." — Chiysost. De 
 Sacerdotio, vi. 35. Also Dc Vei-a Religione, 25, torn. i. 763. " Primis 
 temporibus cadebat super credentes Spiritus Sanctus, et loquebantur Unguis 
 quas non didicerant, quomodo Spiritus dabat eis pronuntiare. Signa erant 
 tempori opportuna. Oportebat enim ita significari in omnibus linguisj 
 Spiritum Sanctum, quia Evangelium Dei per omnes linguas cursurum erat 
 toto orbe terrarum. Significatum est illud et transiit." — August, in, 
 Evangelum Presbyterum (Evagrium), tom. iii. 868. 
 
Substantial Gifts still remain. 245 
 
 the Church which left nothing Hke itself, has passed away. 
 God the Holy Ghost still animates, more or less power- 
 fully, though in gentle and sober influence, the Temples 
 which He sanctifies, both in the individual souls of the 
 true Members of Christ, and in the Collective Body of 
 the Lord. And so in reading treatises, which like the 
 Apostolical Epistles were addressed, first to Churches 
 of the time, and afterwards to the Universal Church of 
 all ages, a serious question continually arises, whether 
 passages are intended to bear an ephemeral or a per- 
 petual application, — whether they concern only the 
 immediate and primary recipients of the Apostle's 
 words, or those who stand to him in a secondary 
 position. Thus in the present case, whatever relates to 
 extraordinary gifts must concern the Corinthians, and 
 all that bears upon the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit 
 which are permanent in their nature, and are left behind 
 when those others are not bestowed, belongs to the 
 Church of all times. 
 
 But an interesting question still remains for our 
 consideration. How is it possible that powers merely 
 human should simulate Divine gifts ? People who have 
 adopted the views of prophesying here combated, not- 
 withstanding the objections — indeed the fatal objections 
 — lying against them, are nevertheless unable to make 
 up their minds to reject these so-called gifts, because 
 they cannot conceive how they can be anything but 
 Divine. 
 
 Such people really little know what human nature 
 can do. For the question is now, not of cunning human 
 
246 ^re these Men Prophets? 
 
 nature, which of course all people admit to be capable 
 of any amount of deceit or depravity. But here amongst 
 the Prophets are earnest, straightforward persons, who, 
 especially in a matter so sacred as this, would not for 
 the world deceive their friends and neighbours. Can it 
 be possible for such people unwittingly to be the means 
 of deception .'' 
 
 This is a question which we should hardly suppose 
 could meet with an affirmative answer. And yet a close 
 examination of human nature compels us to say, that 
 such a proceeding is not only quite possible, but, under 
 certain circumstances, exceedingly probable. 
 
 For in the first place be it remembered, that these 
 prophesyings — not to speak of the alleged prophesyings 
 of people belonging to other Religious Denominations — 
 confessedly cover not only a large area of utterances 
 taken to be genuine, but also many which are admitted 
 to be false. The latter class are allowed to be wholly 
 human, a Divine claim being put forward only for the 
 former. The exercise of a supreme authority is held to 
 be necessary to distinguish between the two — to stamp 
 the genuine as true coinage, and to cast away the 
 worthless imitations. When so important an advance 
 is made in the admission of an exclusively earthly 
 authorship, more than half the space has really been 
 traversed towards the ascription of the entire body to 
 human origin. The line of demarcation between the 
 human and Divine must be faint indeed, when there is so 
 much difficulty in deciphering it. 
 
 But we must trace the internal movements in the 
 
Referrible to Human Origin. 247 
 
 Prophets in order to discover whether it is possible that 
 
 human nature by itself should be capable of such results. 
 
 I. Now few people, as I imagine, are aware of the 
 
 I power of Concentrated Attention. Dr. Hammond tells us^ 
 that a lady under his professional care " for intense 
 nervous headaches, who is of a very impressionable 
 organization, is able at will to produce a pain in any 
 part of her body by steadily fixing her attention upon 
 it. Even the mention," he adds, " in her presence of 
 physical suffering experienced by other persons imme- 
 diately results in her feeling similar pains to those 
 described in corresponding parts of her own body." 
 The latter feature in this case has frequent parallels. 
 The thought of amputation or of severe suffering will 
 
 ; produce corresponding twitches in the same places of the 
 
 ■ body of an auditor or thinker, if the nervous system in 
 
 ■ him or her is morbidly over-sensitive, notwithstanding tlie 
 presence of good and sound sense. Similarly, though 
 not so strikingly, " an observer gazing anxiously out to 
 sea, or across a vast plain, will scarcely ever fail to see 
 the object of which he is in search ; an expectant watcher 
 (hears every moment the rumbling of wheels, the footstep, 
 or the knock which announces the wished-for or dreaded 
 arrival ; and pains, tastes, odours, and even diseases, can 
 frequently thus be originated." ^ It is a fact well known 
 to members of the medical profession, that people 
 who hypochondriacally imagine that they are afflicted 
 
 ^ spiritualism and allied Causes and Conditions of Nervous Derangement, 
 |by "William H. Hammond, M.D. London : H. K. Lewis, 1876, p. 27. 
 2 Ibid. 
 
248 Are these Men Prophets? 
 
 with any malady, often end in getting it, even though 
 they were absolutely free from it at first. 
 
 This strange power of the human mind over itself is 
 indeed a subject of really awful consideration. The very 
 look, features, and nature, are altered by the action of the 
 inner being. When the internal forces are combined and 
 directed with intense effort upon one focus, we see how 
 much strength is placed by Almighty God under the 
 control of each individual, how on the will depends 
 virtually the construction of our eternal selves, how not 
 only error, folly, and sin, but also health, sickness, and 
 even death, hang upon the exercise of our mental powers. 
 
 " In his book on Hypnotism Mr. Braid says, 
 
 that on one occasion he requested four gentlemen to 
 lay their arms upon a table with the palms of their 
 hands upwards, each one to look at the palm of his hand 
 for a few minutes, and at the same time, concentrating 
 his attention on it, to wait for the result. In about five 
 minutes the first, one of the present members of the 
 Royal Academy, stated that he felt a sensation of great 
 cold in the hands ; another, who is a very talented 
 author, said that for some time he thought nothing was 
 going to happen, but at last a darting pricking sensation 
 took place from the palm of the hand, as if electric 
 sparks were being drawn from it ; the third gentleman, 
 lately mayor of a large borough, said that he felt a very 
 uncomfortable sensation of heat come over his hand ; 
 the fourth, secretary to an important association, had 
 become rigidly cataleptic, his arm being firmly fixed to 
 the table. 
 
Concentrated Attention. 249 
 
 " I am very sure," Dr. Hammond goes on to say, 
 "with the great John Hunter, that it is impossible for 
 any one to concentrate the attention on any part of the 
 body, without having, as the result, a sensation of some 
 kind originate therein." ^ 
 
 These facts, to which numerous others of the same 
 class could easily be added, appear to establish the great 
 power exercised by Concentrated Attention in evoking 
 results imaginary in their origin, but real under continued 
 development. Yox if results comparatively trifling are 
 produced on the moment, days or months of attention 
 habitually concentrated upon the same point would 
 materially increase those results in an ascending ratio, 
 as time went on, till the highest point was reached. But 
 this consideration carries us on to a further degree, which 
 will best come into investigation when we have added 
 another factor to the agency under review. 
 
 2. This factor may perhaps be called Co?istnictive 
 Objectivity. There is a tendency in us to take parts of 
 ourselves or some of our own words and actions, and to 
 regard them as if they had some objective existence 
 apart from our own origination or parentage. Many 
 people, whose will is weak, talk as if much of their own 
 nature, and indeed their own doings, were independent 
 of themselves, and were prompted by motive force 
 and governed by laws, over which they themselves had 
 no control. 
 
 But we may go a step further. Many people are 
 so desirous of alienating the parentage of their own 
 
 ^ Hammond, p. 29. 
 
250 ^re these Men Prophets f 
 
 actions, that they seek to create some imaginary source 
 of origination outside of their own will, reason, feelings, 
 and passions. They toss up when no one else is con- 
 cerned, or consult the Sortcs Vij-giliance or some such 
 suppositive oracle, or count the number of appearances 
 of some chosen phenomenon, or cast the burden of 
 choice upon some other person, or imaginary being or 
 thing. That this tendency is legitimate when not carried 
 out to such extravagances, but when it is guided wisely 
 and calmly, and above all soberly, and is directed towards 
 Almighty God, does not make it less noticeable, or less 
 real and important. Instances of the exercise of it have 
 been far too frequent and common, to need particular 
 illustration here. Enough that this tendency is very 
 common amongst people of ^a certain class, and that 
 when it is combined with Concentrated Attention its 
 power must be evidently great. It receives material 
 support from several other assistants. 
 
 {a) Amongst these stands pre-eminently Weakness of 
 Will. In the brain there are two remarkable portions. 
 First what are called the Convolutions, in which part 
 there are a number of beautiful cells, filled with grey 
 matter. This is the region of the Will. Below it lie 
 the Ganglionic Nerves, the seat in the brain of the 
 emotions. In people whose power of self-control is 
 predominant — strong-minded people, as they are com- 
 monly called — the grey matter is abundant. The 
 contrary conditions are to be found in weak people, 
 and the Ganglia follow suit. That is to say, they are 
 highly developed in emotional people, and are contracted 
 
Constructive o?' Imaginary Objectivity, i^i 
 
 and feeble in the cold and calm-minded. The balance 
 between these two parts is uneven in lunatics, the 
 hysterical, and the impetuous, to the disadvantage of the 
 higher and ruling province. Generally speaking, in 
 these cases of excess, the grey matter is deficient.-^ 
 
 Now it will be found, I believe, that this latter is the 
 usual condition of those people, who amongst Irvingites 
 constitute the Prophets. They have strong emotions 
 but weak wills. So much indeed their writers admit.^ 
 When then these people, with their strong emotions and 
 feebler powers of self-control, are taught and induced as 
 a Divine duty to construct objectivity, and to concentrate 
 their attention determinedly and habitually upon a 
 longed-for consummation, the desired result does not 
 seem to be far off. 
 
 {b) They are assisted also by their faculty of imagina- 
 tion, which is usually strong in them, and by a desire for 
 these supposed Spiritual Gifts, in inculcated obedience to 
 St, Paul's command, " Desire spiritual gifts," and by an 
 overpowering sense of the Divine Presence. The two 
 former of these weights which are now added to the 
 scale, are too evident in their operation to need further 
 notice, but a few words must be said upon the sense of 
 the Divine Presence and Inspiration which is apt suddenly 
 to overmaster these Prophets. 
 
 Indeed the idea of the proximity of Almighty God to 
 us cannot but be overwhelming. And in these cases, 
 
 * I am indebted for this information which I have attempted to explain 
 to my friend H. Tuckwell, Esq., M.D., of Oxford. 
 ^ See above, Vol. II. I, § 5, p. 30. 
 
252 Are these JSlen Prophets P 
 
 the Presence is not general, but special. The individual 
 Prophet is selected from amongst the congregation and 
 other people of the world. And further even than this 
 — the Presence is not outward but inward. The imaginary 
 Prophet is supposed to be made the vehicle of Divine 
 utterance. The Holy Spirit is thus thought to be brought 
 wonderfully near, so that there is even an identity of 
 utterance. It will be seen that the moral strength of 
 this consideration, if received with implicit faith, is enough 
 of itself, without any superadded power, to work wonders 
 on a man. 
 
 (c) Again, such prophesying is preceded by a long 
 period of prayer. The strength of prayer is two-fold. 
 Besides the answer to it which is granted in some way 
 by Almighty God, whether according to the terms of 
 the i^rayer, or in some manner not contemplated by the 
 offerer but better suited to the case by His Infinite 
 Intelligence, there is also the reflex effect which is shed 
 upon the worshipper. According as he throws himself 
 forward upon the objects of his petition, he becomes 
 morally identified with its fulfilment. So that whenever 
 the object of the prayer is some action, temporary or 
 continued, of the offerer, the prayer materially aids in 
 working out its own realization. 
 
 To take parallel instances, how are so-called accom- 
 plishments gained, such as playing a musical instrument, 
 drawing, and so forth, except by the exercise of concen- 
 trated attention, and the practice which follows upon 
 that exercise ? Whether as in Irving's time a company 
 of people assembled daily to unite in supplication for the 
 
ConstJ-iictire or Imaginary Ohjectiiitij. 253 
 
 spiritual gifts, or a single Prophet now-a-days is prepar- 
 ing for his office, it is evident how his daily thought and 
 earnest longings are thus gradually paving the way in 
 him for accomplishing what may be both remarkable 
 and difficult. 
 
 {d) The force of contagion, or rather of infection, is 
 too well known to require more than slight notice. 
 Outbursts, where the powers of men or women break 
 loose from the self-control which belongs to the Will, 
 are strangely catching. That Hysteria, Epilepsy, or 
 Catalepsy, would extend beyond bounds by the influence 
 of example or infection, were they not sternly repressed, 
 is well known. 
 
 {e) Still, some people may wonder how the substance 
 of the supposed prophecies is gathered. We should 
 observe that, with small exception, these so-called 
 prophecies are lacking in originality and talent. It 
 appears that the Prophets lay hold of what is, so to 
 speak, floating about in the religious atmosphere at the 
 time. These prophecies usually relate to some practical 
 precept, or the acceptance of some supposed truth about 
 which there is doubt or hesitation amongst the Members 
 of the Body. The minds of all are turned in the direction 
 where the solution of their difficulties lies concealed. 
 This may have been partially or virtually discovered by 
 some in the company, who nevertheless hesitated to trust 
 to the glimpse which they have caught through the mist, 
 and perhaps indeed do not realize what they have seen, 
 or dare not trust to their own implicit inference. In a 
 moment of excitement, a flash comes upon the mind of 
 
254 -^re these Men Prophets? 
 
 a person with more delicately constructed organization 
 his emotions are roused, he is sure that the idea is com- 
 municated by some power not his own, and he gives 
 expression to the feelings or thoughts of all which are 
 vainly seeking shape and utterance. | 
 
 This short description of what really occurs, and of 
 the several moral factors which variously combine in 
 producing the result, is not meant to be by any means a 1 
 complete account of this class of striking phenomena. 
 These are merely hints towards the solution of this 
 difficulty upon principles of human nature. Of course 
 these manifestations vary largely. In the " Catholic 
 Apostolic Church " they would evince a much more 
 pronounced character, if they were not regulated by an 
 admirably devised body of rules and customs. Still not 
 the less, when they are carefully examined, will they be 
 found to belong to that large class of cases, of which 
 perhaps the most striking belong to hysteria. 
 
 This class includes all those which arise from nervous 
 affections. The nerves are, at least mediately, the 
 springs of physical and moral action. And they have a 
 strong tendency, unless they are kept under firm and 
 habitual control, towards a spasmodic movement which 
 is the parent of morbid disorder, and is itself often 
 caused or intensified by morbid conditions. When 
 therefore the efforts of the central government within 
 us are directed, not towards a restraint of these wild 
 forces, but upon the production of their outbreaks 
 according to a preconceived idea, the realization of which 
 is the object of an earnest longing stimulated by the 
 
Hysteria and Ecstasy. 255 
 
 overwhelming motives of Religion, we can readily see 
 how the result may ensue. 
 
 Hence also amongst other conditions of the kind 
 arises Ecstasy. " The patient is lost to all external 
 impressions ; but wrapt and absorbed in some object of 
 the imagination. The muscles are sometimes relaxed ; 
 sometimes rigid as in slight tetanus : but the loss of 
 voluntary power over them is not complete or universal, 
 for these patients often speak in a very earnest manner, 
 or sing. They are, as the term eKo-rao-t? imports, 
 out of the body at the time, wholly engrossed in some 
 high contemplation. This state is not uncommon as 
 forming a part of religious insanity ; and sometimes it 
 runs into ordinary hysteria. Nervous and susceptible 
 persons are apt to be thrown into these trances under the 
 influence, whatever it be, of mesmerism : and grave 
 authors assure us that the intelligence which then 
 deserts the brain, concentrates itself in the epigastrium ; 
 or at the tips of the fingers : that people in that state 
 read letters which are placed on their stomachs, or 
 applied to the soles of their feet; answer oracularly 
 enigmatical questions; discover and declare their own 
 and other persons' internal organic diseases ; describe 
 minutely and accurately distant scenes which they have 
 never visited, nor previously heard of ; and even foretell 
 future events." ^ 
 
 How far to these physical causes a spiritual influence 
 is also superadded, is a question of great mystery. We 
 
 ^ Watson's Lectures, pp. 737, 73S. The author adds, " Credafjudceiis 
 Apella, non ego." 
 
 
1^6 Are these Men Prophets? 
 
 are told that Satan transforms himself even into the form 
 of an Angel of Light. The simulation of good character- 
 istics, however far it is carried, short of the elimination 
 of every evil feature, simply proves nothing. When 
 the observation of symptoms strictly human has carried 
 us so far, we had better not venture into the region 
 of the unseen and spiritual. 
 
 But it will be said, that to explain away these 
 prophecies upon principles exclusively physiological, is 
 to explain away all prophesying, and to admit principles 
 destructive of everything supernatural. 
 
 The answers to this objection are evident. 
 
 What has been advanced in explanation of these 
 phenomena has not been advanced in disproof of them. 
 They have been already proved to be wanting in super- 
 natural signs. They do not follow the analogy of God's 
 actual dealings when He has wished to convey a 
 Revelation. All that has been just now brought forward 
 has been said in answer to the question, But if these 
 prophecies are not supernatural, how can you explain 
 them .^ To show that the enormous monoliths at Stone- 
 henge were brought there and reared by men, would not 
 involve a proof that the boulders on the Jura were not 
 conveyed there by forces beyond any human control. 
 
 But again, why should not Theologians employ all 
 the observations of Physiologists } All the Sciences 
 come from One Source, though some are pursued by 
 natural investigation, and one of them is grounded upon 
 special Revelations. Jealousies between them belong to 
 the nursery of human intelligence. We can be only in 
 
Ordinanj Supernatural Action. 257 
 
 an elementary stage, so long as Theology shuts her eyes 
 to the deductions of Science, or Physiologists or other 
 Students of Physical Science are so taken up with their 
 own domain as to be unable to look into their neighbours' 
 grounds, or for example because the Will has a separate 
 part of the brain for its functional exercise, to deny the 
 existence of the spiritual part of man. 
 
 The case is widely different, when the supposed 
 supernatural judged by the rules of the really super- 
 natural is driven out of the province of Theology. The 
 question then is, where shall this claimant go .'' Is there 
 room for it within the domain of Physiology } Physiology 
 answers, Yes. 
 
 But we must not therefore be so rash as to infer, that 
 supernatural agency, in its usual operations, is to be 
 excluded from the trials of men. The question here is 
 between the ordinary and the extraordinary, — between 
 the exercise of supernatural power in great emergencies, 
 :and the common employment of it in the Church or in 
 the world. Because we may explain phenomena according 
 to the results of physiological experience, it would be a 
 most unjustifiable and narrow-minded deduction thence 
 to infer, that spiritual agency does not underlie the outer 
 framework of human activities. Although there is no 
 reason to suppose that the corner occupied by the 
 30-called Catholic Apostolic Church is the chosen arena 
 t)f salvation in the present century, yet there are no 
 grounds whatever for imagining that the powers of 
 Heaven and Hell leave it unvisited in their ordinary 
 novements upon earth. 
 
 VOL. II. S 
 
258 Are these Men Prophets? 
 
 The writer of this work again wishes to express his 
 deep sense of the importance, indeed the solemnity of 
 the present investigation. " Try the Spirits " is the Apos- 
 toHc command : but the province of the Holy Spirit is 
 a most holy province ; and it is protected by awful 
 warnings. This is a subject for calm and careful, but for 
 open, speaking. The province itself is indeed a more 
 awful one for those who set foot in it without due 
 authority, than it is for those who, after learning from 
 God's own actions, say seriously to such people, " You 
 ought not to trespass there." 
 
 To those who do so, the writer solemnly commends! 
 the foregoing considerations. He believes that manyi 
 have exceeded due bounds, honestly believing that they 
 were walking in the right path. Such as these he 
 earnestly begs to return as quickly as possible to their 
 places in the ranks of the Church Militant, committing 
 themselves unreservedly to Him who is ever ready to 
 receive back those who return to Him, being convinced 
 of the error of their ways. 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 EXPECTATION OF THE GREAT ADVENT. 
 
 f,FTER an examination of the general character- 
 istics of the so-called " Catholic Apostolic 
 Church," and especially of the two most 
 prominent features in the Tenets therein held, 
 we find that there are absolutely no grounds left for 
 ■secure footing. What seemed plausibly solid at first has 
 •melted away when the light of God's Holy Truth was 
 turned upon it. Apostles are seen to be no Apostles, 
 and Prophets so-called to have no claim to prophetical 
 gifts. But these two are the keystones of the edifice- 
 " We admit," says one speaking in a tone of authority' 
 " that if God hath not spoken to us by His Prophets, nor 
 hath restored to us Apostles, then however free from 
 
 'intentional schism, still in the flagrant commission of 
 
 I 
 
 5chism we are found." ^ 
 
 Besides which, their boasted Catholicity is contracted 
 
 into the narrowness of a modern Sect, with leading 
 
 Tenets newly invented, and with primitive Truths added 
 
 ^ Discourse delivered in the Catholic Apostolic Church, Gordon Sqiia^-e, 
 on the occasion of consec7-ating the Altar, &c. London: T. Bosworth, 1853, 
 p. 7- 
 
26o Expectation of the Great Advent. 
 
 as an afterthought. At the same time, this system has 
 been shown to have grown out of the general tendencies 
 of this century towards the entire Cathohc Faith, involv- 
 ing a wider grasp and a deeper hold of Divine Truth ; 
 and there is reason to believe that most at least of the 
 Members of the so-called Catholic Apostolic Church are 
 honest seekers after Truth, who have been misled by 
 the shadow, mistaking it for the real substance. 
 
 These conclusions have been reached from definite 
 and evident premises. On the one hand, the arguments 
 advanced in favour of this system when probed have 
 revealed their unsoundness within ; and on the other, an 
 artillery of formidable objections has massed itself in 
 position around. 
 
 The mode of argument changes in the present chap- 
 ter. We enter upon a solemn and mysterious subject, 
 which is full of the most interesting speculation for those 
 who look onwards to the future, but has been guarded 
 jealously by no one less than our Lord Himself. 
 
 On the one side, He tells us that " of that day and 
 that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which 
 are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." ^ An 
 extraordinarily strong saying, which excludes even the 
 Son of God from the knowledge of the time of the Great 
 Day. And on the other, we hear from St. John, that 
 " Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the 
 words of the prophecy " in the Revelation, " and keep 
 those things that are written therein." Attention and 
 caution are thus inculcated on us. 
 
 1 St. Mark xiii. 32 ; St. Matt. xxiv. 36. 
 
 II 
 
Reasons for an Examination. i6i 
 
 As Irvingism took its start from the prophetical 
 studies which prevailed at the beginning of this century, 
 so the prophetical teaching of these people is the most 
 prominent in their evangelizing efforts, and the immedi- 
 ate expectation of the Great Advent is the most powerful 
 motive in their lives. Believing, as they do, that the 
 Lord will come at once, and that the faithful amongst 
 them will in a few days " be caught up to meet the Lord 
 in the air," they pass their time on the very tiptoe of. 
 expectation. Terrors are thus intensified to the utmost, 
 and a sanctified ambition is roused to its height. 
 Preaching is enforced by a very mine of awful reasons 
 for shuddering, and on the other hand places in the 
 Lord's own retinue are offered for merely ecclesiastical 
 obedience. I have seen the syllabus of numerous courses 
 of preaching by these Evangelists, and have never found 
 one which has not commenced with the Lord's Coming, 
 and ended with " Believe in the Restored Apostolate." 
 At first sight doubtless, even taking into account the 
 drawback, we are inclined to say, what an incalculable 
 help to Christian faith it must be to be able to have such 
 a belief! How happy these people are to possess such a 
 motive ! is it wise to disturb them } But in the second 
 place, we ask, " But is this belief true 1 Is it healthy .? Is 
 it after all the great Christian motive ? " We must there- 
 fore proceed with our examination. 
 
 And first, we should commence by acknowledging 
 again the vast power here exerted for effecting a holy 
 life, and the coincidence of this watching for the Coming 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ with numerous commands given 
 
262 Expectation of the Great Advent. 
 
 by our Lord and His Apostles. The fervency of expect- 
 ation which characterized the earHest ages of the Church 
 is not a Httle remarkable. The inevitable effect of the 
 elapse of century after century is manifested in the 
 prevalent lack of looking forward to that Great Day of 
 the Lord, which has been declared to be full of so much 
 horror, and especially of such inconceivable blessing. 
 And any putting forward of sound reasons and genuine 
 incentives for watching for the Great Advent, must be of 
 incalculable advantage to individual Christians and to 
 the Universal Church. 
 
 But then on the other hand, even this motive is not 
 after all the great Christian motive. If it were, in what 
 an abyss of disadvantage would all those Christians lie, 
 whose lot was not cast near to the Great Advent ! No : it 
 is the love of God that should abound more and more, it 
 is the love of Christ that should constrain us. It is the 
 realization of our present nearness to God in Christ, it is 
 the apprehension of the incipient, but priceless, privileges 
 of faith, which should carry Christians of all ages, — not of 
 the first and last only, — as far as motives will go, in zeal 
 and faithfulness through the temptations which are 
 spread in their way. True, that the love of the Lord 
 Jesus may be strengthened by the expectation of meet- 
 ing Him soon. But the chief stress in Holy Scripture 
 laid by the nearness of His appearing lies upon His 
 judgment, upon the measures which the Lord of the 
 house will take when He finds His servants not watching. 
 The true love of Christ is a plant which grows best in 
 the open sunshine, away from the turmoil of the winds, 
 
 I 
 
Not the great Christian Motive. 26^ 
 
 sheltered in its own quiet nook. The comparative cold- 
 ness in the Eucharistic Service of this Community when 
 compared with the loving realization of the Lord's 
 Presence in the Church of England, as described by 
 many/ shows a tendency of the system which might 
 have been anticipated from an observation of the exces- 
 sive degree, in which the expectation of the Great Advent 
 absorbs the religious life of these people. 
 
 Connected with this subject, the theory in vogue 
 amongst " Catholic Apostolics " about Sealing presents 
 grounds for grave criticism. Not now to insist upon the 
 inconsistencies already pointed out, — that the arrange- 
 ment of tribes is purely arbitrary, that each Apostle has 
 not sealed his 12,000, and that there is no chance of each 
 tribe affording the proportionate quota demanded of it, — 
 what an extreme of ecclesiasticism is it to imagine that 
 the titles to places in the retinue of the Lord are exclu- 
 sively bestowed by means of one rite administered once 
 for all by one set of men. In what part of the Church, 
 and in what age, was a single rite ever supposed to 
 convey supereminent honours in the next Life ? 
 
 The moderate Catholic Doctrine about outward 
 observances and about the Catholic Church is this : — 
 *' The way of life, as revealed by the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and through the Holy Spirit, is before you: Eternal Life 
 is won by following it, and everlasting perdition is incurred 
 by rejecting it : such is the covenant of God : we can 
 tell you no more : He is the wise, unerring Judge, who 
 will have mercy where He sees reason to have mercy, 
 
 1 Above, Vol. I. pp. 333—335. 
 
264 Expectation of the Great Advent. 
 
 but we warn you to walk in the way which alone He 
 has rev^ealed." That is a broad, intelligilDle issue. 
 
 But in Irvingite " Sealing," one ceremony rises into 
 colossal size. Verily, the patent of precedence is easy 
 of procuring — easier than if it were purchasable, since 
 it is thus within the reach of all. But again, " Sealing" 
 with its tremendous advantages is made really to depend, 
 not upon a true attachment to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 but on an acceptance of twelve men. What is this but 
 in effect preaching Paul, and Apollos, and Cephas .-' 
 When the courses of sermons addressed to outsiders 
 always end with the Tenet of the Restored Apostolate, 
 what is this but to make these Apostles more prominent 
 even than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.'' On his death- 
 bed Irving strongly deprecated any such result. But 
 false principles often lead round to the very point, which 
 at the outset people are above all anxious to avoid. 
 
 Such is the tottering superstructure which has been 
 reared upon the Doctrine of the Expectation of the 
 Great Advent. In all our careful criticism we should 
 be especially anxious not to underrate this attitude 
 of reverent and anxious watching. The last mes- 
 sage of our Lord, when He left the earth before the 
 ardent gaze of His Disciples, was to the effect that He 
 should come again. With affectionate reiteration He 
 bid them and all His people to watch. He has warned 
 us against the dangers of a spiritual slumber. 
 
 So it is, that many outside the Irvingite Body have 
 in this century looked for the Lord's Advent, with quite 
 as much earnest longing and anxious preparation as any 
 
A frequent subject of Study. 26^ 
 
 of these people themselves. Instances have occurred of 
 persons who never received these Apostles or accepted 
 the Sealing, but have kept their affairs wound up in 
 expectation of being caught up into the air. Irvingites 
 indeed are but a small section of those who have specially 
 studied prophecy in our days. A large number of the 
 students who met at Albury never believed in the subse- 
 quent manifestations or appointments. And the entire 
 company of Albury students constituted only a small part 
 of those, who were interested in the prophetical researches 
 of our time, and pursued them to definite results. Who- 
 ever wished to learn what has been maintained and 
 taught in our days, would in fact not turn so much to 
 the teaching of this Community, as to the Books written 
 under the names of Elliott, Wordsworth, Williams, 
 Waldegrave, Bickersteth, Tregelles, Gumming, and others. 
 So that a strong expectation of our Lord's Coming, and 
 a devotion to this Great Event, are by no means neces- 
 sarily mixed up with any exclusive Irvingite Tenets. 
 
 The fact is, that considering the great importance 
 and thrilling interest of the Apocalypse, and of other 
 prophecies in Holy Scripture which regard the future, 
 the study of prophecy is a subject of purely legitimate 
 speculation in the Church. Of course this speculation, 
 like all other speculations, must be kept within due 
 limits. Not only there must be no interference with any 
 authorized Doctrine, the analogy of the faith also must 
 not be traversed or disturbed. Again, an extreme and 
 loving reverence must always moderate and soften all 
 such speculation. Under these conditions, prophetical 
 
266 Expectation of the Great Advent. 
 
 researches are plainly lawful and right. And inasmuch 
 as the subject is mainly speculative in its nature, there is 
 the more room for differences of opinion and variations 
 in investigation. Therefore in such a brief notice of the 
 various schools of interpretation of the Revelation of 
 St. John as I can now give, and in such comments as I 
 am able to offer upon opinions received in some quarters, 
 I shall speak with less confidence as putting forward my 
 own opinions, than when it is my duty, standing upon the 
 firm foundations of the Catholic Faith, to show how 
 parts of it are contravened by the fond inventions of 
 men. 
 
 There are then various Schools of Apocalyptic inter- 
 pretation. These Schools differ in numerous points of 
 general or minute interpretation, and it is difficult to 
 classify them. But perhaps we may collect them into 
 four main groups, each of which however will include 
 several varying acceptations of the prophecies that are 
 found, especially in the Apocalypse. 
 
 I. The first group has been termed that of the 
 Futurists, that is, those who regard all the Revelation as 
 looking to a future fulfilment, except perhaps the Intro- 
 duction, and the Letters to the Seven Churches. 
 
 Amongst these Futurists, using the term in a compre- 
 hensive meaning, but by no sort of means as exhausting 
 the group, come the Irvingites, though they differ from 
 the holders of an extreme future construction. They 
 suppose that we are now in the midst of the accomplish- 
 ment of the details included in what may be considered 
 the Second Part of the Apocalypse, which relates to the 
 
 i 
 
Futurist Interpretations. id"] 
 
 Sealed Book. The present time they consider to be the 
 period of the Seahng of the Servants of God upon their 
 forehead : the four angels meanwhile, at the four corners 
 of the earth, " holding the four winds of the earth, that 
 the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, 
 nor on any tree." ^ Into close criticism upon the exact 
 Tenets of the Members of the Catholic Apostolic Church, 
 we are not now entering. The Apocalypse is a mysteri- 
 ous book, hard indeed to fathom. It is quite within the 
 bounds of legitimate speculation to regard the chief part 
 of it as destined in the future, be it immediately, or be it 
 later, to meet with a literal fulfilment. 
 
 Here of course many Futurists part company with 
 Members of the Catholic Apostolic Church, when the 
 latter assert that we are now without doubt upon the very 
 brink of that seething period, when the Apocalypse will 
 be verified by a succession of events corresponding to 
 the striking descriptions contained in that Book. But 
 even here, again, many other people join with them. 
 And with respect to the hidden preparations of the 
 future, who can say that they are not even now at 
 our very doors, in the every-day meaning of that 
 remarkable expression } Provided that there be no 
 dogmatizing upon these speculative matters, and no 
 interference with the analogy of orthodox belief or 
 with Catholic Doctrines themselves, such opinions are 
 I perfectly allowable, and may be made the topics of 
 reverent discussion within the boundaries of the 
 1 Church. 
 
 ^ Rev. vii. i. 
 
 I 
 
268 Expectation of the Great Advent. 
 
 II. The next group consists of those who have been 
 termed PrcBterists, that is, people who believe that nearly 
 all of the Apocalypse, except the final portion about the 
 New Creation, has been fulfilled already. This group 
 consists chiefly of German Interpreters, though it includes 
 also several Patristic and some Roman Catholic Authors. 
 
 According to this mode of explanation, a great part 
 of the Book is taken up with references to the great 
 Catastrophies, viz., that of Judaism as effected in the Con- 
 quest of Judaea and the destruction of Jerusalem, and the 
 fall of Pagan Rome as accomplished by the advance of 
 Christianity and the inroads of barbarians. The passage 
 from the sixth to the eleventh chapters inclusive, is 
 supposed to be devoted to the former of these subjects ; 
 and the twelfth and thirteenth chapters are applied to 
 the fall of Pagan Rome. 
 
 These opinions have been widely held, and have 
 been maintained with much show of reason. There are 
 several features of resemblance which are very striking. 
 The two great events alluded to were of extreme im- 
 portance, and concerned the whole Church in early and 
 critical periods of her existence. They were near to 
 the time of St. John, — indeed one of them, and the date 
 of the composition of this Book, hang in great measure 
 mutually upon one another, and would well be included 
 within the range of his vision or prophecy. Not to 
 enter into any criticism, such interpretation again is 
 legitimately within the circle of such Christian specula- 
 tion upon mysterious subjects, which belongs to the 
 liberty of the Catholic Churchman, always provided that 
 
Prceterists — Continuous Scheme. i6() 
 
 he do not actually or by implication violate the lawful 
 scope of any Christian Doctrine. 
 
 III. The next group, if it may be called a group, is 
 represented with great ingenuity and completeness in 
 Elliott's Horcs ApocalypticcE. In the words of this 
 Author, it may be called the " Protestant continuous 
 Historic Scheme of Interpretation." 
 
 As the readers of that work are aware, Mr. Elliott has 
 with great learning tried to adapt to the course of the 
 Apocalypse the history of the Church from the begin- 
 ning, supposing that various people w'ho have figured 
 prominently in ecclesiastical events are set forth in some 
 description or expression of St. John. The arrangement 
 is unfortunately to some extent disfigured and distorted, 
 as is too often the case in these speculations, by a 
 narrow-mindedness, which limits the view taken to the 
 survey presented to one, who has taken his stand upon a 
 point not very high in one corner of the Catholic Church. 
 Still, considered generally and as a whole, such a specula- 
 ,tion seems perfectly allowable, even if it be not persuasive. 
 And the fact that there are several people who accept 
 'the laborious conclusions of Mr. Elliott, renders it quite 
 possible that there may be really more in such a system 
 of interpretation than some minds, perhaps differently 
 constituted from others, may discover. There are 
 certainly several curious coincidences, though many of 
 the presumed adaptations seem fanciful and far-fetched. 
 Very possibly a considerable amount of truth may after 
 all lie at the bottom, even when the superficial adjust- 
 'ments appear awkward and incongruous. 
 
270 Expectation of the Great Advent. 
 
 IV. It will have been observed that there is a resem- 
 blance between the first and last of these groups. Both 
 have grown out of the prophetical studies of the present 
 century. And both agree in assigning to the Revelation 
 a literal and matter-of-fact interpretation. The persons 
 therein mentioned are taken to be definite persons, I 
 sustaining a separate personal part in the drama of the 
 Church. Mr. Elliott introduces Wycliffe, Huss, Wesley, 
 and numerous others. It is taken for granted by the 
 Irvingite Evangelist,^ that Antichrist is to be a monarch, I 
 the personal head of a kingdom. J 
 
 That this mode of exposition must be both a difficulty 
 and a snare is only to be expected. A difficulty, because 
 to select personages and special events out of the vast 
 roll of ecclesiastical and other history, as governing 
 the issues of periods, involves a delicate and hazardous 
 exercise of historical philosophy. And that it is a snare, 
 is shewn by recent interpretations of prophecy, which 
 have variously ascribed to the Duke of Reichstadt, to 
 the Emperor Louis Napoleon, to changes of Ministry in_ 
 England, and to Revolutions in France, an importance 
 which is now seen to be wholly disproportionate. A hill 
 seems to one who is at the foot of it to tower into the 
 clouds, which when viewed from a distant height is almost 
 lost amidst the surrounding mountains. The facts of 
 history rise and fall in relative consequence before the 
 reader, according to the tastes and opinions of separate 
 historians. To ascribe to them their true value in such 
 momentous questions, is surely beyond the misty sight 
 
 ^ Sermon in Gordon Square. 
 
Individual applications unsatisfactory. 271 
 
 of this present world. And indeed so generally equal 
 do the more prominent events and persons of various 
 ages and countries appear, when we extend to each an 
 impartial and conscientious consideration, that we come 
 to the conclusion, that it is not true to the real conditions 
 of the cases severally to chose out any special ones, and 
 to ascribe to them the extreme prominence, which would 
 have led to their being singled out from the rest, for 
 representation in the Vision of St. John, as pivots in the 
 history of the Church. 
 
 But then, the question may be asked, whether this is 
 not to reduce the grand Revelations of the Apocalypse 
 to practical nonentity. The answer to this question is 
 found in a description of the fourth and last group of 
 interpretations. 
 
 Observers then of the processes which have been 
 briefly described, find that they can discover no firm 
 standing-ground in them. The upholders of such literal 
 interpretations appear to be wanderers upon a sea of 
 speculation, without trustworthy chart or compass. They 
 cannot agree amongst themselves about the true course : 
 and where they do agree in the main, as for example, 
 about a pre-millennial reign of our Lord, their conclusion 
 is open to grave objection. Is it not then possible, and 
 even probable, that they are in error about their funda- 
 mental principles } 
 
 Now the Apocalypse seems to be pre-eminently a 
 spiritual Book. It contains things which are unearthly 
 and strange. We hear of the Throne in Heaven, — the 
 four beasts, — " the Lamb as it had been slain," — " souls 
 
 
272 Expectation of the Great Advent. 
 
 under the altar," — ^" angels holding the four winds," — 
 stars, — the bottomless pit, — "a woman clothed with 
 the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her 
 head a crown of twelve stars," — Satan and another 
 beast, — an anachronistic Babylon, — and the war in 
 Heaven, — not to carry the list further. And all through 
 the History of Redemption we find the veil, which screens 
 the visible from the spiritual world, occasionally lifted 
 up. The angelic song at the Nativity, the Temptation 
 in the Wilderness, the mysterious dealings with diabolic 
 agency during our Lord's Ministry, and the Agony 
 in the Garden, afford signal instances of this, which 
 are continued through the visions of St. Paul, on to 
 the grand Revelation of St. John. 
 
 That Apostle was therefore translated behind the 
 scenes, and saw the machinery at work. He appears 
 to have been shown seven distinct pictures,^ including 
 the sight in the vestibule. He had first an interview 
 with the Great High-Priest, Who sent His messages to 
 the Seven Churches of Asia. Then in the Sealed 
 Book he learns the Prophetic History of the Church. 
 Thirdly, in the Book that he eats, he views the Mysteries 
 of the Church. Then in the Vials he is taught the Judg- 
 ments of God. In the Vision of Babylon he is shown 
 Unfaithfulness in the Church. Sixthly, the scenes in 
 Heaven reveal Christ with His Elect. And finally in 
 the New Jerusalem he looks onward to the Church in 
 her triumphant condition and existence in Heaven here- 
 after. These successive scenes are taken not to be 
 
 ^ See JVilliams on the Apocalypse. 
 
spiritual Exegesis. 2,73 
 
 necessarily in chronological order, but in some instances 
 to overlap and to intertwine one another. 
 
 The Apocalypse is thus supposed to be a disclosure 
 of what happens all through the existence of the Church. 
 It speaks of principles, and generally of spiritual Beings 
 in the mass, with only occasional reference to individuals. 
 Human and earthly literalness is alien to its tone and 
 tenor. " A thousand years is as one day, and one day 
 as a thousand years." Human agents are no doubt often 
 the outcome upon earth of these spiritual agencies: but 
 they are not the primary verifications and applications 
 of the descriptions in this Book. The grand importance 
 of these descriptions is not weakened, or their wide 
 influence narrowed, by an exclusive reference to any 
 single man of whatever age of the Church. The Apostle 
 tells us of vast spiritual movements which, so to speak, 
 underlie the Church's history, not of the superficial life 
 which attracts the notice, and absorbs the interest, of 
 weak-minded men, whose intellects are occupied with the 
 visible occurrences of this world, and are unable to pierce 
 through them to the mighty operations of the super- 
 natural world. 
 
 Interpreted then by the rule of this central and 
 governing idea, the Revelation, and the other prophecies 
 which are to be taken in connection with it, are not 
 upposed to be full of personal applications. Antichrist 
 is not a single individual, — head of a monarchy or 
 atherwise. He is the manifestation of the spirit of 
 apposition to Christ, whensoever or wheresoever found. 
 If there is to be a special and more violent outbreak 
 
 VOL. ir. T 
 
274 Expectation of the Great Advent. 
 
 before the final consummation, there is no proof that it 
 will burst forth under single guidance, though it is quite 
 possible that one man may in power and influence 
 and excess far out-top the rest. 
 
 Again, as the late Bishop Waldegrave argued with 
 much force and gentle persuasiveness in his Bampton 
 Lectures} the notion of a Millennium, in the light of 
 this idea, will fly away. The entire Reign of the Lord 
 in His Church occupies the place of this superstructure, 
 which seems really to rest upon a slender foundation. 
 And Christians, instead of merely looking forward to 
 expected blessings, will come to realize and value those 
 which they have already got. The Presence of the Lord 
 now vouchsafed, opening out benefits and delights to all 
 
 1 " My principal endeavours have been directed to showing, that the 
 Doctrine of a personal reign is unsupported by Scripture, when rightly 
 understood. 
 
 "That Doctrine perplexes the minds of many of our brethren, who 
 cannot see their way clearly open either for its adoption or for its 
 rejection. It also impairs the usefulness of others who have overcome this 
 hesitation. It may not perhaps in every case occupy a place in their 
 private studies and public ministrations, M'hich belongs of right to more 
 humbling, and withal more edifying, truths of God. But it does most 
 certainly introduce into the whole system of their Scriptural exposition a 
 dislocating principle, which men, not imbued, as they are themselves, with ' 
 the spirit of genuine godliness, may easily apply to the overthrow of the 
 whole fabric of the Christian Faith. Nor is the mischief confined to such 
 extreme and exceptional cases. For certainly, under the semblance of 
 providing for the future, they close against the spiritually-minded some of 
 their richest storehouses of present consolation, and open to the carnally- 
 minded a long vista of speculations, in which they find a welcome refuge 
 from present self-examination. 
 
 " It was a deep and painful conviction, that these serious evils are 
 inherent in popular Millenarianism, which led me to undertake the task 
 which I have so inadequately discharged." — Bainpton Lectures. London : 
 Hamilton and Adams, 1855. 
 
spiritual is Literal. 275 
 
 who truly seek Him, both as He is generally present in 
 His Church, and as He especially condescends to come 
 in His Holy Sacrament, will thus afford a loving fulfil- 
 ment of prophecies to those, who by habitual faith enter 
 into it more and more, and learn to live ever nearer and 
 nearer to Him. 
 
 But perhaps an objection is made to this method of 
 interpretation, that the meaning of the Apocalypse is 
 thus volatilized and dispersed, a well-known rule in the 
 diagesis of Holy Scripture being, that when the literal is 
 possible, the further we stray from the literal the worse 
 the interpretation. Indeed, we cannot doubt that this 
 is an excellent rule, and that rival modes of interpretation 
 of Holy Scripture may be well tested by their violation 
 of it or conformity with it. 
 
 But the method of interpreting the Apocalypse which 
 is now being described does not really violate the rule 
 in question. There is an ambiguity in the word spiritual 
 which must be noticed. Soir.etimes this word is taken to 
 connote vague and misty principles, the product of the 
 intellect, mere abstractions, entities if they may be so 
 called without any real separate existence, capable of 
 alteration or modification according to the opinion and 
 choice of various people. No such meaning is intended 
 here. If the descriptions of the Apocalypse are to be 
 accepted in a spiritual sense, they must yet be supposed 
 to relate to beings or things which have a real existence. 
 If there is a spiritual machinery regulating the Church, — ■ 
 and it is difficult to see how this can be denied without 
 ! erasing whole passages from the Bible, — then this must 
 
 
276 Expectation of the Great Advent. 
 
 be quite as real as any human agents, and vastly more 
 powerful and influential. So that the various parts of 
 the Apocalypse may have the most literal application. 
 
 Much more literal indeed than under any other 
 system, because in other cases it requires the utmost in- 
 genuity to bring together two things which are dissimilar, 
 and when they are brought together and placed side by 
 side the incompatibility is only too apparent. Instead of 
 Constantine, Augustulus, Pope Hildebrand, Luther, Huss, 
 Charles the Fifth, the Napoleons, and the French 
 Revolutions, all magnified into undue proportions 
 according as we stand nearer to them and fix more 
 intensely our gaze upon them, we shall have existences 
 of the next world, which must surely agree with St. John's 
 descriptions. True that we cannot see or say how. 
 But then it is often our greatest wisdom to measure the 
 strength of our faculties, and to recollect that many diffi- 
 culties will be done away when we "see face to face," which 
 we feel when we only " see through a glass darkly." 
 
 Again, be it remembered and reiterated, that within 
 the Church there is room for all such speculation, pro- 
 vided that it is pursued with reverence and soberness, 
 and in cases of difference of opinion with brotherly lo\'c. 
 Taking my stand thus, I find reasons of considerable 
 weight which lead me to urge that such a way of viewing 
 the prophecies of the future in the Apocalypse and other 
 parts of the Bible as has been last described is the truest 
 to calm and sound judgment, to firm and powerful faith, 
 and also to earnest piety. 
 
 Let any one who doubts this think of the constant 
 
Fatal fnconsistencies. 277 
 
 changes which in the last half-century have been forced 
 upon those who have dogmatically taught the nearness of 
 the Great Advent. Which of those men who were assem- 
 bled at Albury, or followed Irving to Newman Street, 
 would have dreamed of the history of those events being 
 written in the year 1877, without any such momentous 
 revelation having occurred in the world as they antici- 
 pated ? Since those times, crisis after crisis, as they were 
 deemed, has passed by, and the Lord has not come. 
 Especially the -car 1866 — an epoch fixed upon by nearly 
 all in this x. . cteenth-century school of prophecy as 
 pregnant with vast changes of a sacred nature — elapsed 
 without any sensible effect. Of course this unexpected 
 postponement is explained as plausibly as ingenuity can 
 manage ; but is the explanation satisfactory.'' Is not the 
 history of the world gradually proving in its steady and 
 majestic roll, though occasionally the surface is somewhat 
 turbid, that such prognostications are without foundation .'' 
 
 Indeed, this is by no means the first period in the 
 career of the Church, when expectations have been rife 
 that the present dispensation was drawing to a close. 
 What could be more natural than that people should 
 imagine that the Church's existence would not be 
 prolonged beyond 1,000 years.? Accordingly, when the 
 first millenary was coming to an end, the opinion was 
 widely spread that the Lord's Advent was at hand. 
 
 " So deplorable was the aspect of the times, that it 
 seemed to offer a spontaneous solution of the prophecy 
 of the Apocalypse which represents Satan bound 1,000 
 years, and afterwards loosed a little season. A thousand 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
278 Expectation of the Great Advent. 
 
 years had elapsed since the birth of our Blessed Lord : 
 and those who looked upon the state of religion, and 
 morals, and society generally throughout the world, saw 
 much to convince them that the ' falling away ' foretold 
 by the Apostle had actually commenced. Accordingly 
 we find that it was beginning to be a general opinion, 
 especially throughout France, that the time of Antichrist 
 had arrived. ' Most of the good and just, candid and 
 simple,' says Aventinus, ' have testified in their writings 
 that the reign of Antichrist commenced in those days, 
 because they saw events accomplished in them which 
 Christ our Saviour had predicted so many years before. 
 The whole world unhinged, as it were, by the storms of 
 war : the whole human race encircled by the whirlwind 
 of arms : Easterns and Westerns hurrying to the fight 
 one with another : all men assailing and wounding each 
 other. Normans, Gauls, Germans, Saxons, Hungarians, 
 Italians, Britons, Christians, mutually worn out with 
 domestic quarrels and intestine feuds : Greeks and 
 Armenians, Turks and Arabians, Spaniards and Saracens, 
 Asiatics and Africans, in battle-array against each other : 
 Jerusalem twice taken, twice stormed !'.... A long list 
 of prodigies and extraordinary calamities follows, which 
 Zonaras, Sigebert, and others describe more minutely."^ 
 This description shows, not only how at that period 
 people imagined that the great revolutions mentioned in 
 the Apocalypse were being inaugurated, but that there 
 then existed grounds for this imagination at least as 
 
 ^ Manual of Ecclesiastical History, chap, xi., by Rev. E. S. Foulkes. 
 Oxford : J. H. Parker, 1S51, p. 323. 
 
Periodical Returns. 279 
 
 strong as any in our own era. It was a critical and 
 anxious time. And many therefore were disposed to 
 magnify events of which they were the witnesses to a 
 degree which we now see to have been full of exaggeration. 
 
 Or pass on to the period of the Reformation, and 
 the same phenomenon is conspicuous. Indeed this was 
 exactly the time when from the changes that were going 
 on, and the excitement that prevailed, we should expect 
 strong expectations to be cherished, that the Lord was 
 then coming, and that events were paving the way for 
 His approach. We have already seen how in the seven- 
 teenth century the supposed approach of the Millennium 
 was the cause of the appearance of several persons 
 claiming to be Prophets. And one of the principal 
 Tenets of the Anabaptists of Munster,w^as the near coming 
 of the end of the world, and included speculations about 
 the manner of the Lord's Advent. In our own country 
 the Fifth-Monarchy men of Cromwell's time present an 
 exemplification of the same tendency. 
 
 The next period which was agitated by these 
 expectations has been the nineteenth century, which 
 ■ indeed has possessed all the essential conditions for the 
 wide spread of these opinions. First the world was 
 shaken and dazzled by the horrors of the first French 
 ; Revolution, the collapse of the entire framework of 
 society in that country, and the extraordinary career of 
 Ithe first Napoleon. These stirring events have been 
 followed by a general popularization of forms of govern- 
 ment, by brilliant inventions, a vast increase in the 
 wealth of the world, and a general examination of 
 
28o Expectation of the Great Advent. 
 
 I 
 
 accredited opinions, followed by a considerable modifi- 
 cation of the principles upon which they have been held, 
 and in some cases by an entire alteration of sentiment. 
 All this time, on the other side of the Atlantic, a colossal 
 nation has been rapidly growing, and vast cities have 
 risen up before their names were even known generally 
 in Europe. What wonder then, if people have been led 
 to exaggerate what they witnessed, and to suppose that 
 the final crisis of the entire world's history was upon 
 them .-* Abounding blessings have brought also abounding 
 evil. At this therefore, at least as much as at any 
 previous period, there has been reason to imagine that 
 the consummation was drawing nigh. 
 
 But then the careful and wise student of history will 
 hesitate to follow, and will see upon what a slender 
 foundation this vast fabric of dogmatic teaching has 
 been reared. He will recollect that his Lord Himself 
 said that God the Father has kept in His exclusive 
 power "the times and the seasons." Not that he will 
 not watch. On the contrary, he will remember that 
 " that day cometh as a thief in the night." His attitude 
 will therefore ever be as of the servant who is waiting for 
 his Lord. For indeed, if we read Holy Scripture 
 thoughtfully and cautiously, we cannot but see that the 
 Lord may appear at any time. It may be ten years 
 hence, or twenty years, or fifty years, or a hundred years, 
 or more, — or again, next year, or this year, or this month, 
 or to-morrow, or to-day, that \\q shall hear the sounds 
 of His approach. The chief features about the Great i 
 Advent are the intellectual uncertainty of the time of 
 
The true Attitude. 281 
 
 its occurrence, and by consequence the practical nearness 
 of it to us all. The boy who may be questioned at any 
 moment by his master must be always ready. And the 
 motives of the Great Advent are clenched in each of us 
 by the fact that death at all events moves us a stage 
 onwards, and because no man knows when his own call 
 may be given. 
 
 Doubtless the motive would be stronger, if we knew 
 that the Lord were at our gates. But this is not the 
 way in which Almighty God deals with Hi>' people 
 generally, and why should we be singled out for ^a easier 
 path of duty } The truly Scriptural attitude of reverent 
 watching is really much higher and better than rash 
 dogmatism and feverish expectation. There is more 
 room for the natural growth under Divine influence of 
 holy graces, and for the training of the Christian in 
 the sincere love of Christ. If it be said that such an 
 attitude is apt to settle down into one of total indifference, 
 the answer is that the latter is impossible for the true 
 Christian, who thoroughly realizes his condition, and 
 knowing " how short his time is," and the imperfection 
 of his present state, has learnt after St. Paul to look 
 eagerly onwards to the time when he shall " depart and 
 be with Christ." 
 
 Such has been the hope of millions of Christians who 
 have been and are quite as faithful and earnest as any of 
 those who are absorbed in the immediate expectation of 
 the Lord's Advent. Free from rash dogmatizing, living 
 in constant waiting, their hopes and hearts are centred 
 in Heaven, and their lives are "hid with Christ in God." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE INCARNATION. 
 
 ^HERE are two grand principles which, as has 
 been aheady explained, underlie and pervade 
 the whole of the system of teaching under 
 consideration. These are the expectation of 
 the immediate Coming of our Lord, and peculiar views 
 ^"respecting His Incarnation. In the latter case as in the 
 former, Irving and his friends were amongst the pioneers 
 of this century. And as is usually the fate of the leaders 
 in exploration, they fell into errors which a maturer 
 experience would have guided them to avoid. 
 
 They were in front of a re-action which asserted itself 
 in two directions against teaching which was more or 
 less prevalent in the eighteenth century. Not only 
 amongst Presbyterians of Scotland, but in many quarters 
 in England also, the idea was entertained which cannot 
 be described as less than horrible, that the Blessings of 
 Redemption are meant to embrace only a chosen few 
 who have been predestinated to bliss. The entire 
 freedom of the mercy shown in the Incarnation, and the 
 all-embracing love of God, limited only by the sin of 
 men, postulating and proved by the liberty of will, which 
 
Calvinism and Moralism. 283 
 
 is one of the glories of the human race, were successfully 
 vindicated by Mr. Campbell of Row, and by Irving him- 
 self. The general acceptance of these Doctrines, at least 
 amongst the best-informed Theologians, owes not a little 
 to the early movement in which Irving was conspicuous 
 as a prominent figure. 
 
 But both he and the Body which has derived its 
 popular name from him, had more to do with the dis- 
 semination of a better understanding of the principle of 
 the Incarnation as distinct from Natural Religion. The 
 pendulum had swung after the period of the Reformation 
 much too far in the opposite direction. In doing so, it 
 had given birth to the Sect which has borrowed one of 
 the terms belonging to the Church, and has dubbed itself 
 with the title Unitarianism. 
 
 This tone of thought left its impress upon the re- 
 ligious phraseology of the time. At the beginning of 
 the present century, people used to hear constantly such 
 terms as " Providence," " an Infinite Goodness," " the 
 Deity," and so forth, which were preferred to more 
 definite phrases that are now generally in vogue. Ques- 
 tionings about the existence of Almighty God had 
 led minds away from the Truths of the Incarnation, — 
 as there is great danger of similar discussions doing 
 at the present day, — to a too exclusive consideration 
 of the moral government of Almighty God. The Church 
 Seasons were neglected. Religion was confined almost 
 to Sunday. The knowledge of the " One Holy Catholic 
 and Apostolic Church " founded by our Lord, and gifted 
 by Him with the sources of order, permanence, grace, 
 
 I 
 
284 The Incarnation. 
 
 and spiritual rule, was to a great degree in abeyance. 
 One School taught sedulously and earnestly, though all 
 but exclusively, the Doctrine of the Atonement. The 
 other Doctrines of the Creeds were held in England by 
 a few faithful secluded treasurers of the old tradition, or 
 else in a dull orthodoxy which had lost its living force in 
 descent from holier times. 
 
 It was when the religious spirit of the age was roused, 
 and was longing after more satisfying sustenance for the 
 weary soul, that Irving settled upon the great Doctrine of 
 the Incarnation. And where he led the way, his followers 
 afterwards advanced. Avoiding in part his error, they 
 have yet only a defective knowledge of that grand sub- 
 ject. Both with respect to the Doctrine at its source, 
 and in the application of it further down the stream, 
 they have as will be seen erred not a little. 
 
 It will be best to take the latter point first. 
 
 Irvingites are so much taken up with the idea of the 
 Incarnation, that they are apt to insist exclusively upon 
 ^the necessity of human agency for the salvation of people. 
 This principle, besides being constantly asserted, is exem- 
 plified in the strong despotism which reigns amongst 
 them ; in their exuberant hierarchy, in the exaggerated 
 stress laid upon ordinances, and in the minute elaboration 
 of their system. It is found in the unelastic stiffness of 
 their operations, of which those complain who have not 
 been administrators of it, and which probably constitutes 
 one cause why their numbers are so small as they really 
 are. Maintaining in opposition to Theistic tendencies, 
 that the Lord has personally interposed, they attribute 
 
Intensification of the Doctrine. 285 
 
 to all rites and agencies which are conducted by men 
 an importance which similar rites and agencies do not 
 possess anywhere in the Catholic Church. 
 
 Where then lies their error ? Their error of principle, 
 that is, for we have seen some of their errors of detail. 
 For it may be urged, that if the Doctrine of the Incarna- 
 tion is true, the results presented by them are involved 
 in the acceptance of it. 
 
 The answer is found in the fact, that the Doctrine of 
 the Incarnation is always, by Catholic Theologians and 
 in Catholic practice, taken in combination with, and 
 balanced by, the Parent Doctrine, so to speak, of the 
 Deity. This it is which renders so utterly objectionable 
 the assertion, that God the Holy Ghost is only in the 
 Church as the Spirit of the Man Christ. True that He 
 did come to the Church on the Day of Pentecost, there 
 ever to dwell as sent by our Lord, and thus He continued 
 and extended, if we may so say, the Incarnation. That 
 again our Lord during His Life on earth established cer- 
 tain definite, outward, palpable agencies and ordinances 
 for being the means of conveying grace to His people : 
 and that He stamped the principle, involved in the Holy 
 Ghost appearing in a bodily form, upon His Church, 
 then founded and endued with the promise of continuous 
 permanence. But nevertheless, any separation of the 
 Holy Spirit from the Divinity, any limitation of His 
 action or nature, except so far as He works specially in 
 the Church in compliance with His mission, is both 
 , dangerous and wrong. Revealed Religion must be ever 
 taken in connection with Natural Reliefion. 
 
2,86 The Incarnation. 
 
 Thus the Incarnation does not supersede true Deism, 
 but witnesses to it, and strengthens it. Grace does not 
 override, but purifies, and invigorates nature. One who 
 has suffered from the dry and dead humanity of their 
 system well says : — " SOLUS CUM SoLO — communion of 
 the spirit close with God. This is the secret of success. 
 No breath of man, Angel, Pastor, Deacon — may come 
 between the soul and God. If it does, sickliness and 
 dissipation of grace will surely be the consequence." ^ 
 
 The incessant preaching of Apostles, as evidenced in 
 numerous publications and by the testimony of those 
 who have left the Body, must keep souls back from that 
 personal communing with God through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, which is the true lesson of the Incarnation, and 
 the inestimable boon of the Church in all her ministra- 
 tions, and especially at the Holy Sacrament. Bishop, 
 Priest, or Deacon stand reverently aside, in self-forget- 
 fulness and self-obliteration, when they have brought the 
 soul to Christ. And even He does not let people rest 
 upon Himself, but presents the prayer or offering with 
 pleading and intercession to Almighty God, He Himself, 
 with the Father and the Holy Spirit forming that 
 Triune BEING. 
 
 It is when this truth of Natural Religion, which lies ; 
 at the source of and above the Incarnation of the Son 
 of God, is forgotten and obscured, that dulness and 
 dryness and narrowness creep over sacred ordinances. 
 That is to say, of course, always supposing that thei 
 Incarnation is received. Because the two Doctrines ' 
 
 1 Apostolic Lordship, p. 33. 
 
To he combined ivitli a true Deism. 2,87 
 
 must go together : and denial or neglect of either is sure 
 to lead to vast spiritual loss. 
 
 But the application of the Doctrine of the Incarna- 
 i tion by these people is also inconsistent and defective. 
 ' Inconsistent, because, as has been already shown, the 
 j: continuous tenor of the Catholic Church would be 
 Droken, if these Apostles were really appointed as they 
 claim to hav^e been appointed. They have had no 
 outward sight of the Lord in the Flesh : they have been 
 recognized by no existing Church authorities : they 
 claim an appointment outside of the line of succession 
 which our Lord initiated upon earth : they have taught 
 Tenets alien to at least seventeen centuries of Church 
 existence. And besides these incontrovertible facts, the 
 balance of evidence from Holy Scripture is against their 
 claims and their peculiar teaching. It is hard to con- 
 ceive a more violent wrench of the continuous machinery 
 of the Church following upon the lines of the Incarnation, 
 than would be wrought if the Lord of the Church so 
 secretly interposed for the benefit of all, in the midst of 
 only a small class of His people in one corner of His 
 domain. 
 
 But besides this, the means adopted by them for 
 
 keeping up the Doctrine of the Incarnation are defective. 
 
 iWe may allow them due credit for their teaching in 
 
 (Ithe main upon Holy Baptism, and upon the sacra- 
 
 ament of the Holy Eucharist. Also for recovering other 
 
 iBpractices, such as perhaps the Scriptural anointing of 
 
 the sick with oil. But if we examine their calendar 
 
 what do we find > No notice of the Epiphany, of the 
 
288 The Incarnation. 
 
 Annunciation, or of Trinity Sunday, or of any Saint's 
 Day except All Saints' Day, or of Fridays, or 
 Ember Days, or of Lent ; — no Fast-days, except Good 
 Friday. 
 
 No wonder, an English Churchman is inclined to say, 
 who traces to the Sacramental part of the year so much 
 of his own personal attachment to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 if more is not made of Him. No wonder, if at the Holy 
 Communion and at other times that warmth of feeling 
 towards Him, and that outward devotion which we our- 
 selves witness, are not evident. No wonder if we are 
 hearing from these people always about Apostles, and so 
 little about the Lord Jesus Christ ; if their Evangelists 
 are busied in teaching about Apostles to those who have 
 come to know Him, instead of about Him and about the 
 riches of His Grace to people who are living in ignor- 
 ance and sin. The closer realization, in these days as 
 compared with the beginning of this century, first of the 
 events in our Lord's Life and the consequences flowing 
 from them, and secondly of His contemporaneous work 
 in pleading for and aiding His people, in Presence as well 
 as Grace, is very remarkable. And this is probably due 
 in the main to the annually increasing observance of the 
 Church's commemorations, and to the growing sense of 
 the Doctrine of His Real Presence at the Holy Com- 
 munion. That Irvingites have generally a defective 
 appreciation of the latter as well as the former has been 
 already shown.^ The Jewish observances about shew- 
 bread have been allowed to lead them astray. Their 
 
 1 Vol. I. pp. 333—335- 
 
Erroneous Teaching. 289 
 
 I attitude is too much towards the ordinance, and too Httle 
 towards the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 
 
 i But it is time that we mount up the stream, and 
 examine the original error at the source, which vitiates 
 the waters all down the channel. 
 
 Though Irving's language is usually condemned in 
 the Body, and his teaching is said to be " not altogether 
 to be defended," yet the opinion which is generally 
 entertained is in effect much what he taught. He 
 maintained, as will be remembered, that our Lord took 
 our fallen nature, though He was without any spot of 
 sin. His sinlessness was referred by Irving to the con- 
 tinued effect of His Divine Nature, the fallen nature 
 in Him thus being preserved from sin. Such in the 
 main was Irving's teaching. The opinion now advanced 
 is as follows : — 
 
 They believe that the Saviour took man's flesh of the 
 seed of the woman as the Blessed Virgin presented it to 
 Him, and thus was in all points as we are, yet without 
 sin : of which He was eminently void both in the flesh 
 and in the Spirit. But then they assert that this void- 
 ance of sin was due, not at all to the flesh which He 
 took : for, they say, unless we adopt the pious but unten- 
 able notion of her Immaculate Conception, St. Mary 
 had nothing to offer but the flesh of Adam under all 
 the conditions of the fall : His freedom from sin was due 
 therefore exclusively to Him who took man's flesh. 
 
 The Examination into the truth and error contained, 
 [n this Tenet involves a very delicate point of Doctrine- 
 and a discussion upon it must traverse one of the chief 
 
 VOL. II. U 
 
290 Tlie Incarnation. ^ 
 
 religious controversies of the present century. It is clear 
 that both Irving, and his followers in the Catholic Apos- 
 tolic Church, have found themselves travelling in a 
 difficult country, without having previously ascertained I 
 the directions of the true Catholic Church. They have 
 followed the track prompted by their own private judg- 
 ment : and now they find it hard to get back into the 
 great high-road. 
 
 In approaching this subject, which, as is well known, 
 has been called the Hypostatic ^ Union, or the union of 
 the Two Natures in the One Person of our Lord, we 
 must first, and indeed always, bear in mind the immea- 
 surable distance between the Divine and human nature, 
 between God and man. The One so Infinitely vast ; 
 Infinite in size, Infinite in duration. Infinite in wisdom 
 and knowledge. Infinite in power, Infinite in purity and 
 holiness. The other a small worm of the earth, subject 
 to sickness, infirmity, and death, vitiated by folly and 
 ignorance, weak and contemptible as regards strength, 
 and defiled by sin. That these two could ever come.' 
 together under one Personality is one of the wonders of 
 Revealed Religion. Yet the whole must stand or fall 
 together. It is welded into one mass by bands which 
 stretch all round. We cannot gainsay it without imputing 
 imposture to the Chief Agent. The way of Faith passes' 
 through fewer obstacles than the road to unbelief. 
 
 The point of union was the Conception and Birth of 
 the Lord. He was Conceived by the HOLY Ghost, 
 Born of the Virgin Mary. Nay, if we could mark theij 
 
 1 From 'YTTOcrracrjf, the Greek term for " Person." 
 
The Hypostatic Union. 291 
 
 particular point of time, accuracy compels us to fix it 
 at the first of these two Events. At that time then — 
 as on the Festival of the Annunciation — the two 
 Natures came together, each in its trueness, each real 
 and genuine. 
 
 Now is it conceivable, that He who shrinks from 
 sinfulness with a horror which we cannot imagine, could 
 so come together with degraded nature, as that it should 
 be united with the Divine under One Person, and that the 
 Very SON of GOD.? A little consideration must surely 
 make this position plain. There must then be a natural 
 revulsion, so to speak, between the two. The opposition 
 between fire and water cannot be more intense than that 
 between sinfulness and Almighty God. It is clear 
 therefore that the union could only take place, if human 
 nature were presented under its most favourable form. 
 What was that ? Its original, unfallen state. 
 
 This is not to assert, that the nature which our Lord 
 took was not perfectly and completely human in all the 
 conditions of His Being, sin only excepted. For this 
 very exception noticed in these last words, which is 
 declared in the Bible, and is admitted by the Members 
 of this Body, really carries with it the whole question 
 under dispute. Because our nature without sin is in 
 fact our original, unfallen nature. A man of trained, 
 theological mind would never have asserted such a 
 contradiction in terms as Irving advanced. How could 
 He be without sin, without being like Adam when first 
 created ? And how could He be a fallen creature, and 
 vet be utterly pure from every stain of sin } And how 
 
292 The Incarnation. 
 
 could He be God, without being perfectly pure, both in 
 His flesh and in His Spirit ? 
 
 These simple questions carry with them the whole 
 decision. Yet we are met with the objection that we I 
 cannot hold this ground without accepting the Doctrine 
 of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Is 
 this so, or is it not } 
 
 This much is clear. That inasmuch as we see that 
 human nature must of necessity have been pure for Him 
 to take it, it must have been purified before He actually 
 took it. The words of the angelic salutation prove this ; 
 Xatpe, K^yapiTwixivi]^ " Hail, thou that art highly favoured," 
 or " thou that hast been endued with grace." Grace 
 therefore must have been shed upon the Virgin before 
 the angel came. And this is only reasonable. If we place 
 ourselves in a position to estimate beforehand without 
 prejudice the state of one who was to be "blessed among 
 women " in this extraordinary manner, we must inevitably 
 include in our estimate the following suppositions : — we 
 should take it for granted that she must come from a 
 very holy family; that at least according to analogous 
 improvement in the human race, each successive genera- 
 tion must have risen in a generally ascending scale of 
 excellence, till at last one was born, who surpassed all 
 who went before her in the graces of her nature. Still 
 even this pitch of excellence would fall short of what 
 was required for such an astounding motherhood. H 
 would fall short, because the traces and stains of the 
 
 ' The same word is used of the grace bestowed upon all Christians 1 
 
The Blessed J^irgin. 293 
 
 infirmity and sinfulness engendered by the fall of Adam 
 would still remain ; whilst on the other hand it is impos- 
 sible that the Divine Nature could be associated under 
 one Personality with a human nature from so vitiated a 
 stock. " Can a clean thing come out of an unclean ? " 
 It follows therefore that some extraordinary sanctification 
 must have been made, before the " HOLY Ghost came 
 upon her, and the Power of the Highest overshadowed 
 her."i 
 
 The time of this sanctification has not been re- 
 vealed. Nothing is said about it in Holy Scripture. 
 The Church Catholic in her entire amplitude has never 
 pronounced one way or the other : all that she has done 
 has been to assign to the Blessed Virgin the name 
 ©eoro'/co? — " Mother of God "^ — at the Council of Ephesus, 
 in order to protect the Doctrine of the Incarnation which 
 had been impugned by Nestorius. And indeed the 
 intention of this name was simply to say that He Who 
 was born of the Blessed Virgin was really God, being an 
 abbreviation of the passages in Isaiah : " A Virgin shall 
 conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name 
 Immanuel. . . . His name shall be called Wonderful, 
 Counsellor, the Mighty God." That is to say, the inten- 
 tion was, to secure the assertion of our Lord's Divinity 
 from the very first moment of His existence upon earth, 
 not primarily to do honour to the Virgin-Mother. For 
 the name was directed against Nestorius, who taught 
 ithat there were two Persons in Christ our Lord ; and 
 
 1 Compare August., De Pcccatorum Mc?-itis, ii. 24. 
 ' See for example Pearson On the Creed, Art, III, 
 
294 The Incarnation. 
 
 that Mary was the Mother of Christ, but not the Mother 
 of God. Hence arose the name, which may perhaps be 
 translated into our language with more exactness " the 
 Parent of God," than " the Mother of God." ^ 
 
 The Catholic Church therefore has never yet pro- 
 nounced upon this subject : for the Eastern and Anglican 
 Branches have never joined in the act of the Roman 
 Communion. The question is left open. 
 
 There appear to be four theories possible upon this 
 subject. The traces of original sin must have been put 
 away, at the very least, contemporaneously with,- or just 
 before, the Angel Gabriel's visit. Or secondly, this might 
 have been effected by a gradual process, extending over 
 some period in the Virgin's youthful life. Thirdly, she 
 may have been sanctified shortly before her birth. Lastly, 
 she may have been conceived Immaculate. 
 
 The first of these seems at first sight to be suggested 
 by the words of the angelic salutation. The Blessed 
 Virgin appears to have been wholly unconscious of any 
 special appropriateness in her for receiving the favour of 
 God. The account in St. Luke suggests the notion of 
 an intensely human creature, receiving upon humiliation 
 
 1 The term is Qiotokoq, not Qionrijrjp, to coin the word which might 
 have been invented and used, but never was. It was a translation of the 
 Latin "Deipara." In course of time, however, Gtoro/cof was translated "Dei 
 Genetrix," which was again translated Qtov Mr]ri]p. But some reason must 
 have prompted the original coinage, — evidently fear of exalting St. Mary 
 too much, and so of suggesting the glaringly untrue sense which another 
 term might have suggested. 
 
 ^ So St. Gregory of Nazianzum, Orat. xxxviii. n. 13, p. 671, repeated in 
 Orat. xlv. n. 9, pp. 851, 852, and St. John Damascene, De fide Orthodox., 
 iii. 2, quoted by Dr. Pusey in his First Letter to the Very Rev. J. H. 
 Newman, D.D, &c., pp. 91, 148. 
 
Sanctification of St. Man/. 295 
 
 a wondrous favour from Heaven. By the operation of 
 a course of " natural selection," so to speak, conducted 
 under the auspices of the HOLY SPIRIT, we find a 
 human creature as near perfection as human nature will 
 allow. Starting then in this way, may she not have 
 been successively purified, till at last the final Touch was 
 given, if we may so say, when the Angel came with his 
 message from Above .'' 
 
 In this manner we might to some extent combine 
 the first and second, and indeed the third of these ex- 
 planations, so as to account for the purity which was 
 necessary for the maternity of the Blessed Virgin. For 
 it is impossible to suppose that she waited till the visit of 
 the Angel for special sanctifying Grace : that she was till 
 then behind the other Saints of God. If Jeremiah and 
 John the Baptist were sanctified before birth,^ why may 
 [f not the preparations for her wonderful future have begun 
 then, supposing that they were part of a continuing 
 process ? - In this way, during all her existence Mary 
 would have been under the special care and training of 
 God, to make her fit to become the Mother according to 
 the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 The third explanation is one which has the sanction 
 
 1 Jer. i. 5 ; Luke i. 41, 44. 
 
 2 This is mainly Thomas Aquinas' view. "He thought that the cleansing 
 I might be twofold ; one preparatory to the Conception of Christ, not from 
 
 any impurity of fault or from the /omes, but rather collecting her mind into 
 one ; but that, secondly, the Holy Spirit worked a cleansing in her, by 
 means of the Conception of Christ, which is the work of the Holy Spirit. 
 And in this way it might be said, that He cleansed her wholly from the 
 fames peccati, or the law in our members." — First Letter to the Very Rez'. y. 
 H. Newman, D.D., &c., by the Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D., 1869, p. 149. 
 
296 TJie Incarnation. 
 
 of many great names. Aquinas lays his chief stress upon 
 it.^ St. Bernard, and the Schoolmen spoken of as a 
 body, accepted it. It has the merit of philosophical 
 simplicity : but most English Churchmen would think 
 that it raises the Blessed Virgin into too great proximity 
 to our Lord. The strength of this supposition lies in its 
 securing her purity from sin all through her life. The 
 weakness of it lies in its apparent want of exact 
 coincidence with the hints given in the Scriptural 
 account. Yet combined with the second and first, as 
 the commencement of a continuing process of sanctifi- 
 cation completed at our Lord's Conception, it would 
 seem to present no grounds for valid objection. 
 
 With respect to the last, — that St. Mary was conceived 
 Immaculate, — while we remember that it is supported by 
 so large a Branch of the Catholic Church, we can never- 
 theless not help seeing that it is open to most grave 
 theological and practical objections. 
 
 In the first place, how it trenches upon the singular 
 grandeur of our Lord's Birth ! His would be no longer 
 the One Immaculate Conception : and hers too would 
 be no longer the One Immaculate Maternity.^ He stands 
 alone since the early days of Adam, as untouched from 
 the very first by any stain of sin. Such is the Doctrine 
 of Holy Scripture, which ascribes sin repeatedly to every 
 human being,^ and repeatedly too exempts Him from 
 
 * " Beata Virgo contraxit quidem originale peccatum, sed ab eo fuit 
 mundata antequam ex uteronasceretur." — Sttmma T/ieoL, iii. Q. 27, A. 2. 
 
 ' Mill's Five Sermons on the Natw-e of Chy-istianity, p. 167. 
 
 3 I Kings viii. 46 ; Ps. cxiiii. 2 ; Prov. xx. 9 ; Rom. iii. 9, v. 12, vi. 
 12, vii. 7 ; Gal. iii. 22, v. 17 ; James iii. 2 ; ijohn i. 8. 
 
 I 
 
Singular grandeur of our Lord's Birth. 297 
 
 it.^ We hear nothing approaching to this about the 
 ^Blessed Virgin. That merely human creature, great as is 
 her human dignity, is lost in the brilliant light that centres 
 in her Divine Son. He is her sole title to eminence. 
 Indeed whenever she is mentioned after His earliest 
 childhood, He alludes to her in terms which at least at 
 first sight appear to be disparaging. Whether it was 
 that she did not understand His early devotion to His 
 Father, or was over anxious to bring Him forward, or 
 sought Him out in the midst of His preaching, or was 
 blessed by one of the matrons who hung entranced upon 
 His words. His reply cannot be said to be such as would 
 have naturally been made by Him to a Being answering 
 to Roman conceptions.^ 
 
 So that the assignment of an Immaculate Conception 
 to St. Mary infringes upon the singular pre-eminence 
 which naturally belongs to the Son of God, Who is Very 
 God as well as very Man. If there is but One Immacu- 
 late Conception, the principle is intelligible, and by the 
 very force of its nature admits of no increase. But if we 
 extend this pre-eminent mode of origination to another, 
 why not also to a third .? If for nature to be pure the 
 parent must be pure, why are not the mother, and the 
 father too, of the Blessed Virgin to be included } A 
 clear and philosophical limit in the nature of things is 
 
 1 Luke i. 35 (that Holy Thing Which shall be bom of thee) ; John i. 
 29, xiv. 30; Acts iii. 14; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Heb. iv. 15, vii. 26 — 28, ix. 14; 
 I Pet. ii. 22 ; i John iii. 5 ; 2 Pet. i. 19. 
 
 ^ The apparent harshness in the term " woman " in St. John ii. 4 is 
 entirely due to the English translation. The word yvvai — better than 
 " lady " or " my lady " — has no such meaning. 
 
2,98 The Incantation. 
 
 attached to the number one, which no other number 
 possesses. And in the present instance, the unapproach- 
 able character of the Being of our Lord renders Him 
 appropriately the solitary exception to the law of original 
 sin which has prevailed since the Fall of man. " As by 
 the disobedience of one many were made sinners, so by 
 the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." 
 
 And in addition to these theological reasons which 
 appear to have commanding weight, this new dogma is 
 not only without any Scriptural ^ or Primitive authority, 
 but besides being opposed to the general drift of Holy 
 Scripture, as has been shown already, runs counter also 
 to the expressed words of many writers of repute in the 
 early Church.^ For example, St. Augustine speaks as 
 follows in a passage which is worthy of being well 
 weighed with respect to the whole of this discussion :^ — 
 " Why do you endeavour with elaborate argument to 
 rise to the height of impiety by showing, that ' the Flesh 
 of Christ being born of Mary, whose virgin flesh like that 
 of all other human creatures had sprung from Adam, ; 
 differs in no wise from the flesh of sin, and that the 
 Apostle should be taken as saying, without making any 
 distinction, that He was sent in the likeness of sinful 
 flesh } ' Nay, rather you should urge ' that sinful flesh 
 does not exist, so as to exempt Christ from it.' What 
 
 1 Except in the Vulgate reading of Gen. iii. 15. " //>sa conteret caput 
 tuum," which, to say the least, is (i) very doul^tful, (2) the premiss of an 
 exaggerated inference. See Dr. Pusey's First Letter to the Very Rev. J. H. 
 Newman, D.D., pp. 382 — 388. 
 
 2 See Dr. Pusey's learned First Letter, &c., throughout. 
 ^ .S". August, contra yulianum Pelagium, V. 52, t. x. 654. 
 
Patristic Opinion. 2,99 
 
 indeed is the meaning of the likeness of sinful flesh, if 
 sinful flesh does not exist ? But you said that I did not 
 understand this expression of the Apostle, though you 
 did not yourself so explain it as that I could learn from 
 your own lips, how one thing could be like another which 
 is non-existent. For if it is positively insane to say 
 this, and without any doubt the Flesh of Christ is not 
 sinful flesh, but only similar to sinful flesh, what prevents 
 us from understanding, that with His sole exception all 
 other human flesh is sinful ? Hence it is evident, that 
 that concupiscence which Christ rejected in His own 
 conception, has produced the origination of evil through- 
 out the human race. Although Mary herself sprung 
 from this, nevertheless she did not transmit it to the 
 Body which she conceived from another Source. But if 
 any one denies that the Body of Christ can therefore be 
 said to have been made in the likeness of sinful flesh, or 
 compare the Flesh of Christ to that of other human 
 creatures who are born in the usual way, so as to attribute 
 I an equal amount of purity to both, he is found to be a 
 detestable heretic." 
 
 These opinions have been expressed by many others 
 of the early Fathers. A large number speak of Christ 
 Alone as being without sin, making no exception in the 
 case of the Blessed Virgin. Many also maintain 
 positively that she had a flesh of sin, or imply this by 
 speaking of her as having been cleansed and sanctified.^ 
 
 ^ E. g. (i) Irenceus, TertuUian, Origen, Cyprian, Jeiome, Hilary, 
 Ambrose, Basil, Chrysostom, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory the Great ; (2) 
 Fulgentius of Ruspe, Fulgentius Ferrandus, Bede, and others. See Dr. 
 Pusey's exhaustive First Letter, &c. Dr. Newman's argument, that because 
 
300 The Incarnation. 
 
 I 
 
 " Supposing," said the acute Thomas Aquinas in later 
 times, " that the parents of the Blessed Virgin had been 
 purified from original sin, nevertheless the Blessed Virgin 
 contracted original sin, because she was conceived in 
 the ordinary manner." ^ 
 
 So that the idea of the Immaculate Conception of 
 the Blessed Virgin is not only against the drift of Holy 
 Scripture, but is opposed to the opinion of those Fathers 
 of the early Church who have spoken upon the subject. 
 And while there is entire liberty in the Church for 
 holding any opinion which does not exempt the Blessed 
 Virgin herself from the consequences of the fall, never- 
 theless the teaching both of Holy Scripture and of the 
 Church point to some purification being wrought in her, 
 when the Power of the Highest was about to overshadow 
 her. " The body of Mary," says St. Augustine, " though 
 it came from the evil stock, nevertheless did not transmit 
 it to the Body which she conceived from another source." - 
 And amongst the writers of the English Church, Heylin 
 remarks : " Some reasons there were why .... Christ 
 
 the antithesis between Mary's obedience and Eve's disobedience was a 
 favourite topic with the early Fathers, so as to become almost a proverb, 
 therefore they thought that Mary resembled Eve in her immaculate origin, 
 pace tanti viri, rests plainly upon an inadequate foundation. — Letter to the 
 Rev. E. B . Pusey, D.D., by John Henry Newman, D.D., of the Oratory. 
 Longmans, iS66. 
 
 1 " Secundum carnis concupiscentiam ex commixtione maris et feminse." 
 — Stimma Tkeologur, iii. Q. 27, A. 2. The ingenious distinction between 
 active conception, effected by man, and passive conception, or the bestowal 
 of the soul by Almighty God, and the confinement of the Immaculate 
 Conception to the latter, minimizes the Doctrine, but if the two are 
 coincident, does not get rid of the objection derived from the inimitable 
 character of the Conception of our Lord. 
 
 ^ August., t. X. 654. 
 
 I 
 
Hers not an Immaculate Conception. 301 
 
 our Saviour should be born of the purest Virgin, though 
 those reasons do not make it to be less a miracle ; for 
 nothing but a miracle and the Holy Ghost could have 
 begotten such a child upon such a mother." ^ 
 
 It is clear then, that it is not at all necessary to 
 adopt the opinion of the Immaculate Conception of the 
 Blessed Virgin, simply because we believe, as we must 
 believe, that our Lord took, not the fallen nature of man, 
 but our nature purified back to the state in which Adam 
 was created. Indeed the chief argument from which 
 this dogma was adopted, viz., that it was demanded by 
 the pious devotion of the Members of the Roman 
 Communion, throw us back, not upon the usual firm, 
 tangible, objective grounds of Doctrine, but upon what 
 Mr. Matthew Arnold has well described as the beautiful 
 and poetic gallantry which has made " our Lady " the 
 object of Roman devotion. Religion in this struggling 
 world is composed of sterner elements. Doctrines come 
 to us from other sources than concentrated and intensified 
 sentiment. The omen is not favourable, when feeling 
 dominates over logical reasoning and ancient authority. 
 Development, even if admitted under limits, becomes 
 abnormal, when the earlier conditions of the faith, — 
 rudimental it may be in conception, yet full of th e 
 genuine forces of fresh life, — are wrenched and warped. 
 The old canon of Catholic authority, Qiwd semper, quod 
 tibique, quod ab omnibus, loses its meaning, when eyes are 
 shut to the past, and attention is fixed exclusively upon 
 the present. 
 
 1 Heylin, p. 193. 
 
302 The Incarnation. 
 
 But on the other hand, all this powerful tendency in 
 one direction adds to the strong light in which Irving's 
 heresy, — for palliate and excuse it as we fairly may, it 
 is really nothing less, — is exhibited before a candid 
 consideration. Our Lord was born of the seed of 
 Abraham, but it was a purified seed, — He was "That 
 Holy Thing," — it is gross profanation to imagine 
 anything else. There was the true and unbroken 
 descent from Abraham, — the capacities of pain and 
 general suffering were there in high perfection, even the 
 infirmities of our nature were not wanting : — but in 
 front of the Approach of the Holy Spirit the human 
 stock must have been purified from sin. 
 
 " This original and total sanctification of the human 
 nature," says Bishop Pearson, " was, first, necessary to 
 fit it for personal union with the Word, who out of His 
 infinite love humbled Himself to become our flesh, and 
 at the same time out of His infinite purity could not 
 defile Himself by becoming sinful flesh. Secondly, the 
 same sanctification was as necessary in respect of the 
 end for which he was made man, the redemption of 
 mankind : that as the first Adam was the fountain of 
 our impurity, so the second Adam should also be the 
 pure fountain of our righteousness. ' God sending His 
 own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin 
 in the flesh ;'^ which He could not have condemned, 
 had He been sent in sinful flesh." "^ " It was necessary," he 
 says afterwards, " we should believe our Saviour to have 
 
 1 Rom. viii. 3. 
 
 - Pearson On the Creed, Art. III., Conceived by the Holy Ghost. 
 
His sympathy derived from perfect Humanity. 303 
 
 been born of a most pure and immaculate Virgin."^ 
 Again : " The Saviour of the world was born of a woman 
 under the law, without the least pretence of original 
 corruption." ^ 
 
 There are therefore two grand truths respecting our 
 nature as it was taken by our Blessed Lord. First, it 
 was the true human nature, subject to all human 
 infirmities, except sin only, and full of all human 
 perfections. He must have had, as Man, the highest 
 capacities, bodily, mentally, and spiritually. The very 
 possession of these perfect capacities must have made 
 Him more alive to impressions, and more susceptible of 
 pain of all sorts. Everything that affects any human 
 being must have affected Him, because His was not an 
 individual nature with idiosyncrasies of any kind, but an 
 exhaustive epitome of human nature generally. So that 
 there is really no reason to go further than this, in order 
 to prove His perfect sympathy with every single human 
 creature. 
 
 In fact, if He had taken our fallen nature, His 
 sympathy would have been limited to certain classes 
 of mankind similar to Himself: because our nature is 
 inevitably narrowed by falls and imperfections. So that, 
 in fact, Irving was cutting the ground from beneath 
 himself, when in order to prove our Lord's perfect 
 sympathy, he attempted to bring Him nearer to us by 
 imagining that He took a nature fallen like ours. 
 Because in that case our Lord would have resembled a 
 
 1 Pearson On the Creed, Art. Ill,, Born of the Virgin Marv. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
304 The Incarnation, 
 
 limited few, not every single human being, however 
 unlike the rest in character. The old Calvinistic leaven 
 was really working in him, at the very time when in 
 company with Mr. Campbell and others he was striving 
 to cast it out. 
 
 Secondly, therefore, and as implied in the first of the 
 two truths, the Nature of our Lord was of the perfect, 
 and not of the fallen stock. An entirely new start 
 was needed, and that was accomplished through the 
 singular character of His Conception and Birth. Hence 
 comes the principle of the new birth in the Members 
 of Christ. Only in them their fallen nature remains 
 till the great Regeneration, whilst in Him it was never 
 found. 
 
 It is impossible to examine these errors upon the 
 great Doctrine of the Incarnation, without seeing how 
 dangerous it is for people to form their own notions 
 about the important parts of Revealed Truth, without 
 previously ascertaining their exact lineaments as hitherto 
 accepted and explained in the Universal Church. The 
 Faith was once for all ^ delivered to the Saints. Those 
 who lived close to the days which our Lord spent upon 
 earth, must have known more about the true Faith than 
 people living now, in the nineteenth century, with only the 
 Holy Scriptures and their own reason to guide them. 
 Even in the fourth and fifth centuries, the tradition must 
 have been strong and ascertainable, whilst the finest 
 intellects in the world were exercised on it, and many of 
 
 ' arra^, Jude 3. 
 
Amateur Theology. 305 
 
 them were rearing invaluable beacons for the guidance 
 of future ages. 
 
 The Members of the Irvingite Body indeed profess 
 to proceed upon principles different from those which 
 are now meriting our condemnation. But inasmuch as 
 theirs is in fact only a Pseudo-Catholicism, the winds 
 which are actually wafting their vessel are really such 
 as are blowing against the Universal Church of God. 
 
 X 
 
CHAPTER X, 
 
 TYPES AND SYMBOLISM. 
 
 ILOSELY connected with the Doctrine of the 
 Incarnation is the employment of illustra- 
 tions derived from types and symbols. For a 
 purely spiritual religion, such as that which 
 was aimed at by the Members of the Society of Friends 
 dispenses as far as possible with outward ceremonies and 
 external signs and tokens. It is when the region of the 
 Spiritual is left, and a descent is made into the visible 
 and palpable, that types and symbols are introduced and 
 sanctioned. No representation can be made of GOD the 
 Father, because no man hath seen Him, nor can see Him. 
 But when the SON of GOD assumed our flesh, He moved 
 into the sight of men. Those who were with Him could 
 declare " that which they had heard, and seen with their 
 eyes, and looked upon, and their hands had handled of the 
 Word of Life."^ The principle of legitimate Symbolism 
 was sanctioned for ever by the Incarnation. 
 
 Accordingly, the shadows of Redemption were cast 
 before in the types recorded in the Old Testament. The 
 system of the Law was a foreshadowing of the great 
 
 1 I John i. I. 
 
Sometimes ignoranthj Rejected. 307 
 
 Work of Christ in all its features. The deliverance out 
 of Egypt, feasts and sacrifices, the doings of the great 
 Day of Atonement, the constant operations in the 
 Tabernacle or Temple, were, as is well known, full of 
 typical meaning. And on the other hand, the period of 
 the neglect of the Doctrine of the Incarnation was also 
 the time when symbols in Divine Worship were neglected, 
 and indeed condemned, as derogatory to the honour due 
 to Almighty God. By a strange misapplication of a 
 small part of the Old Testament, a vast portion of the 
 rest was emptied, at one fell stroke, of all permanent 
 meaning. The second commandment was interpreted 
 as in effect condemnatory of the Law itself. People 
 held themselves up haughtily, as being a long way in 
 advance of the principles of the Law, given though 
 it was from Above, and as moving about in a lofty 
 spiritual region without any need of assistance from 
 outward helps to devotion, or from representations of 
 either Doctrine or Worship. 
 
 No wonder, as we see now, that Doctrine faded into 
 the mist, and Worship became infrequent and cold. 
 
 The natural revulsion from this state of thino-s, 
 heralded by the poetic light which was shed over the 
 relics of olden times, — as shown for example in the 
 Poetical and Prose Romances of Walter Scott, — led 
 Irvingites too far. We can easily imagine how attractive 
 was the building up of a new system suggested by, and 
 coinciding with, the hints given in the Old Testament, 
 and presumed to possess Divine Sanction for all its 
 arrangements. And it is at once evident how minds of 
 
3o8 Types and Si/TntoHsm. 
 
 a certain cast which will readily occur to us would be 
 enamoured with continual discoveries, whether for the 
 first time, or upon an examination of the system, of 
 subtle adaptations, or more open resemblances. This is 
 in fact one of the most fruitful sources of proselytism by 
 these people. For it is most interesting as a characteristic 
 of the present times, to observe the extreme violence on 
 the one hand with which symbolical observances are 
 greeted by some people, and on the other the ardency 
 with which others cling to such observances when they i 
 have once embraced them. It is probable that many in 
 the latter class originally felt all the dislike manifested 
 by the former, when symbols in worship to which they 
 were not accustomed were first presented to their 
 acceptance. 
 
 Part of the teaching and practice about symbols, 
 which has been in vogue amongst the Members of this 
 Body, is excellent. For example, with respect to the 
 difference between types and symbols : — 
 
 " A type is that which foreshadows something absent 
 and future; as for example, Adam was a type of Christ; 
 the sacrifices under the Law were types of the sacrifice 
 of Christ. A symbol, on the contrary, is something used 
 to set forth and signify things really present, but 
 unappreciable by the senses. It may also present a 
 visible memorial of additional important truth. For 
 instance, the light which is kept burning before the Altar 
 when the Holy Sacrament is there, symbolizes to us the 
 Lord's invisible Presence : but it is also from its very 
 nature a memorial to us that He Who is our Life, is our 
 
Hoiv explained in this Body. 309 
 
 Light also ; and not ours only, but ' the Light which 
 lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' ^ 
 
 " Symbolism is not peculiar to the services of the 
 Church ; not a piece of priestly device, as some have 
 imagined, but a principle of universal application. The 
 calling of a soldier, for example, is symbolized by his 
 uniform ; the royal authority of the Queen by her crown 
 and sceptre ; the endless constancy of wedded love by 
 the giving of a ring ; innocence and happiness by gar- 
 ments of white ; mourning and bereavement by a dress 
 of black. All the forms and customs of society are 
 more or less symbolic, that is, arranged so as to express 
 some intention or feeling. In like manner, the passions 
 of the mind — joy, anger, indignation, grief, &c. — are 
 shown by expressions of face or bodily gestures, which 
 are all symbolic." ^ 
 
 Again, as to the place and object of symbols : — 
 *' Symbolism is, in fact, the science of exhibiting invisible 
 truth by visible and appropriate signs, in order that our 
 i senses may be made the helps and handmaids of our 
 spirits, and we may be the better able to worship God. 
 'If this end be not attained, symbols are useless." ^ 
 
 Again, with reference to the dress worn in holy 
 ministrations : " According to every principle of truth 
 . . . the most solemn and holy services should be 
 symbolized by greater beauty and costliness in the 
 
 ^ No opinion is here expressed as to the question of reservation of the 
 'Holy Sacrament — a matter of the extremest delicacy, and requiring the 
 very greatest caution. 
 
 - On Symbols used in lyorship, pp. i, 2. 
 
 ^ Id. pp. 28, 29. 
 
3IO Types and Sijmbolism. 
 
 furniture of the place where they are performed, of the 
 vessels or instruments used, and of the vestments worn 
 by those who officiate. This truth was shown by God in 
 the Tabernacle, where the material principally employed 
 in the outer court was brass. Some small parts were of j 
 silver, but there was no gold. On the other hand> in the 
 Holy Place and the Most Holy, all was of silver and 
 gold, except the five sockets of the five pillars at the 
 entrance of the Holy Place, which were of brass. The 
 Mercy-seat and Cherubim in the Most Holy Place were 
 entirely of gold. There was therefore a gradual increase 
 of costliness from the court to the Holy Place, and from 
 thence to the Most Holy. 
 
 " Doubtless these things typified different degrees of 
 spiritual worship ; but they also symbolized the truth 
 that the more sacred the place and service the more 
 costly should be the means employed. A palace is not 
 furnished like a cottage ; a drawing-room is not furnished 
 like a kitchen. We do not appear before a king in 
 mean raiment. Nature itself teaches us that a distinction 
 according to circumstances is proper, fit, and true. And 
 to attempt to act otherwise in the House of God is to 
 begin with doing violence to a natural instinct, implanted 
 in us by Him Who is all-wise, and must prodtice evil 
 results. If no part of the building is accounted more 
 holy than another, all will at length be reckoned common ; 
 till the thought of its being the House of God having: 
 died out, men will not hesitate to walk into it with their 
 hats on, even to spit upon its floor, and lounge about or 
 sleep — things which they would not dare to do in the 
 
Founded in human Habits and Nature. 311 
 
 presence of an earthly monarch, nay, nor even in the 
 houses of their equals. This is a very serious matter ; 
 for such is the constitution of man, that truth or error is 
 received as much by the sight of the eye as the hearing 
 of the ear ; and it is certain that a false external 
 symbolism will imbue the mind with false doctrine. 
 
 " It is barely possible for purity of heart to co-exist 
 with voluntary impurity, either of our dwellings or our 
 persons. And in Hke manner, it will be very difficult 
 for us to maintain a conscious sense of the awe and 
 reverence which are due to the Presence of God, if 
 while our own houses are adorned with costly furniture, 
 we let His House lie waste." ^ 
 
 The justice in the main, and the appositeness of 
 these passages, form the apology for quoting them. 
 Religious symbolism is simply the application to 
 Religious Doctrine or Worship of the great fact in the 
 constitution of our nature that we consist of bodies as 
 ^^■ell as souls and spirits. The Incarnation was the 
 formal sanctioning in Religion of this inalienable 
 principle of our being ; and was the extension of it 
 into a more effective system of faith and worship than 
 had before existed. Not of course that any one can 
 possibly expel it from Religion. The yellow garment of 
 the bareheaded Buddhist priest, the salaams of the 
 Moslem, the traditional dress of the Quaker, are all 
 symbolical. But when the Son of God manifested 
 Himself under a human Form to men. He showed that 
 outward helps to learning and devotion are perfectly 
 
 1 On Symbols, p. 35. 
 
312 Types and Symbolism. 
 
 legitimate, provided that they truthfully set forth what 
 they are presumed to represent, and are kept in due 
 subordination to the right spirit of teaching or worship. 
 
 " Segnius irritant animum demissa per aures 
 Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus." 
 
 The things we see, with vivid flash 
 
 Rush in and move the mind ; 
 But those we hear, far less distinct, 
 
 A slower channel find. 
 
 \ 
 
 Besides bringing out this principle, — which indeed j 
 has not yet been thoroughly learnt by us, — the Irvingites 
 also acted upon another, which previously to this cen- 
 tury was too much cast into the shade in this land. In 
 the broad contrast which Luther and his later followers 
 drew between faith and works, they laid great stress 
 upon the ceremonial law being suspended by the Gospel. 
 According to their teaching one would suppose that 
 every shred of Judaism was cast away except the strictest 
 Sabbatarianism. For curiously enough, they seemed to 
 tighten the bonds of the latter, in proportion as they '] 
 loosened the observances or the principles which were 
 found in the Law. 
 
 Yet inasmuch as the Law was given directly from 
 Almighty God, we cannot but suppose that, although | 
 it had mainly a temporal purpose, it was nevertheless 
 constructed upon eternal principles. And this is exactly 
 what the Apostle who wrote most against a bare Juda- 
 ism, — presuming him to be the Author of the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, — strongly asserts. He calls the arrange- 
 ments of the tabernacle, alike of the fabric and worship, 
 " the patterns of things in the Heavens," or " the figures 
 
 i 
 
Soil) id and Unsound. 313 
 
 of the true." ^ So that in order to understand the true 
 nature of the work of Redemption, or the appropriate 
 manner of symboHzing that work in Christian worship, we 
 are compelled to recur to the ceremonies of the Jewish 
 Law. To neglect them is simply to treat Almighty God 
 as if He were a merely human lawgiver, and to regard 
 as nothing the long argument and repeated expressions 
 in the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is to suppose that 
 He did not understand the most fitting way of setting 
 forth the Redemptive work, and had upon false principles 
 reared a building which was only to attract notice as an 
 ancient relic of a barbarous age. 
 
 So far then Irving and his followers did right. But 
 they missed in their earlier career another principle 
 which would have saved them from error, and in fact did 
 not discover it till too late. The main guide in the 
 employment of a true symbolism is the practice of the 
 Primitive Church. The question of the true relation 
 between the Jewish and Christian Churches had been 
 lately worked out, when the eye-witnesses of the Lord's 
 actions, and the hearers of His sayings, were alive to 
 quote many apposite words or deeds of His, which have 
 not been recorded for the direct use of future ages. 
 There can be no doubt that the practice of the Church' 
 in her more literary period in the fourth and fifth 
 centuries, was true to the traditions which were carefully 
 handed down from the twelve Apostles and their 
 associates, who were the authorized depositaries of the 
 Lord's Teaching. 
 
 ^ Heb. viii. 5, ix. 9 — 11, 12 — 23, 24, x. i, 2, 11 — 14. 
 
314 Types and Symbolism. 
 
 But the attempt to ascertain the Catholic teaching of 
 the Church in her early days was an after-thought with 
 the Members of this Body. In the time of their first 
 organization, when they became committed inextricably 
 to Prophets and Apostles,^ the Catholic Church was not 
 at all their rule of decision, but "the Bible and the Bible \ 
 only." The Twelve Apostles and Twelve Prophets met 
 together at Albury with only the Bible in their hands. 
 Consequently, in such a subordinate matter as symbolism 
 they could not help going wrong. And yet more than 
 this. Being without the necessary guidance of the 
 complete Catholic system in interpreting the Bible, they 
 groped about in the dark for hints in type or symbol, 
 and thus built up their Doctrines, both time-honoured and 
 novel, as they might chance to be, into a heterogeneous 
 structure upon an insecure foundation. 
 
 Hence came their idea that the four beasts, the four 
 streams of Paradise, the four ingredients of incense, and 
 the four colours of the Tabernacle, typified four Ministries 
 in the Christian Church. Hence too their notion, so 
 elaborately worked out, that all the parts of the Taber- 
 nacle represented Ministers of some order or other, 
 such as the " Pillar of the Apostles," the " Pillar of the 
 Prophets," the " Pillar of the Evangelists," and the " Pillar * 
 of the Pastors." And from their servile deductions 
 from the letter of types and symbols, as distinguished 
 
 1 " If there is anything wrong with Tapiin," said one of their leading! 
 Members now deceased, " everything is wrong." Tapiin is generally said I 
 to have called Cardale, which call was the original source of the Apostleship. 
 But others say that it was Drummond. 
 
The Catholic Rule neglected. 315 
 
 from the broader analogy of Catholic interpretation, 
 liave arisen their mistakes in the general interpretation 
 of the Apocalypse. 
 
 We must look then upon Irvingite symbolism with 
 critical eyes. As an expression of a principle, far too 
 much forgotten and neglected in the period previous to 
 their existence and that of the Catholic Revival in the 
 Church of England, it claims our commendation and 
 adherence. But the applications of the principle made 
 by these people must be tried by the rule of true Catholic 
 Doctrine and observance. And, what is well set forth in 
 their teaching if not in their practice, symbolism must be 
 kept entirely subordinate to the Doctrine or Rites which 
 it embodies. Modest and retiring, it must not attract too 
 much attention, for that would contravene the very law 
 of its existence. Lastly, symbolism must follow upon 
 [ Doctrines and modes of worship already established : it 
 must never at all be made the groundwork of Doctrine 
 and very seldom of worship. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 EFFECT OF THE EXAMINATION. 
 
 |HE System of doctrine and discipline in the 
 Catholic Apostolic Church has now been 
 subjected to a careful and complete examin- 
 ation, and it is time to collect the results which 
 are supplied in this and in the history of the Body as 
 previously given in the first Volume of this work. If in 
 any way the results presented appear to tell too strongly 
 against the Community, it will not be through any 
 want of earnest anxiety on the part of the author to 
 do full justice to every characteristic that weighs in its 
 favour. The best way of discovering the place which it 
 properly holds in the economy of grace is to note, as far 
 as circumstances admit, all that can be justly said for, 
 and all that can be fairly advanced against, the System 
 before us. We shall thus be enabled to strike the true 
 balance. 
 
 We find then a Body of people who come to 
 Christendom and demand for twelve men, who they 
 say have been Divinely appointed to be Apostles, the 
 spiritual allegiance of every baptized person. This 
 claim ha3 been solemnly made upon myself more than 
 
Meant to he Candid. 317 
 
 once, accompanied with solemn denunciations of my 
 wickedness in refusing to receive this claim, — made in 
 no unchristian spirit, — and of the danger which a 
 persistence in such a refusal is presumed certainly to 
 entail. Moreover this claim has been admitted by 
 several of my clerical brethren, who have either openly 
 or secretly placed themselves under the guidance of these 
 so-called Apostles. When therefore those who ought to 
 be leaders of the flock are induced to acknowledge these 
 new teachers who make such imperative demands upon 
 all baptized Christians, it seems necessary that some one 
 should carefully examine the grounds for those demands, 
 and present them as fairly as he can for the judgment of 
 the Church at large. 
 
 There is much in the manner in which the claim is 
 advanced which is in keeping with the high nature of the 
 claim. Many at least of the Evangelists and the other 
 Members of the Body are thoroughly in earnest. If on 
 the one hand there is evidently a want of previous Theo- 
 logical training, and of an accurate or wide view of the 
 Church's tenure of Divine Truth, there is on the other 
 an unhesitating acceptance of the new authority, and a 
 positive and unswerving dogmatism which is quite in 
 accordance with the postulate of a great Revelation 
 actually delivered from Heaven. 
 
 This dogmatism, as we have seen, is carried out in 
 the mode of rule adopted by the Apostles. So far so, 
 indeed, as to suggest more than suspicion, that the rule 
 itself is simply of human origin. For a close examination 
 reveals in many cases an absence of the wisdom which is 
 
318 Effect of the Examination. 
 
 from above and bears the stamp of Heaven. Still the 
 skill with which the Body has been conducted, and 
 opposing forces whether of doctrine or discipline have 1 
 been reconciled and brought into harmonious operation, \ 
 the moderation and modesty with which claims have 1 
 been put forward, and the success with which their 1 
 manner of worship — including their Liturgy — has been 
 constituted and regulated, are decidedly in the favour 
 of the so-called Catholic Apostolic Church. 
 
 Many exemplary features in the habits of the 
 Members should also be noted. Their great regularity 
 in attending public worship, their devotion to sacred 
 purposes of at least a tithe of their incomes, and the 
 good characters which they severally bear, must be taken 
 as witnessing to the validity of the claim, even when we 
 subtract the strong inducements which always act upon 
 a small Sect, especially when maintaining that they have 
 a special Revelation lifting them up above the rest of th 
 world. 
 
 Again, we cannot help remarking, and are glad t 
 remark, that these people have been led amongst others 
 to recover and to cling closely to some old treasures of 
 the Catholic Church, which had in many places been 
 obscured and forgotten. They have placed in conspicu 
 ous light the Church's duty of watching for the Lord's 
 Second Coming, the Doctrine of the Incarnation, the 
 necessity and the advantage of a grand and ornate mode 
 of Worship, the Doctrine of Eucharistic Sacrifice, and 
 the need of Catholic Unity. 
 
 All these points are in favour of the so-called Catholic 
 
Good Characteristics. 319 
 
 Apostolic Church. If they are not sufficient proof of the 
 ustice of the claims advanced, yet they demonstrate that 
 there is here a large amount of good, if mingled with evil 
 or error. The theory of such a system being invented in 
 Hell is utterly exploded. At least it must take rank 
 amongst the numerous mixed Systems which Christianity 
 has witnessed. 
 
 We may now turn to the other side of the question. 
 First of all, the verdict of the Catholic Church is wholly 
 on the opposite side. For at least seventeen centuries 
 no traces can be discovered of the peculiar Tenet of a 
 Fourfold Ministry, and especially of the need of 
 Apostles and Prophets : — yet it is inconceivable that the 
 Church should have been unconscious of such a mutila- 
 tion. How could she possibly have continued through 
 all that roll of years, in all circumstances of unity or 
 division, of quiet life or controversy, of growth or languor, 
 without manifesting any signs that she was conscious of 
 having lost an important limb, which should have united 
 her to Heaven above, and to the Incarnate Lord } Again, 
 at the present side of the seventeen centuries just 
 mentioned, even amidst a remarkable outburst of earnest 
 piety and longings for the action of a more perfect 
 organization, no integral portion of the Church, no 
 eminent persons in the Church whether for learning or 
 piety, no large number of the rank and file of Church- 
 men, have accepted these people. They themselves 
 admit that their preaching is not received. Qui s'excuse, 
 s accuse. And in the first century no proof is adduced, 
 except a few doubtful passages in the Bible, to say the 
 
320 Effect of the Examination. 
 
 most. So that Catholic Testimony is unquestionably 
 and unexceptionally condemnatory of their claims. 
 
 Then as to Holy Scripture. We have seen that the 
 foundation claimed for these Doctrines, which ought to 
 have such vital importance, is slender indeed. Careful 
 examination reduces it to still more slender proportions, 
 and reveals a sandy bottom of a very treacherous nature 
 When props are constructed out of dark symbolic hints, 
 and only one straightforward passage can be adduced, 
 which is capable of another and a more natural inter- 
 pretation, and violence must be done to the next passage 
 in order to press it into the service, it is clear that proof 
 is hard to find. While no one who accepts Catholic 
 Doctrines could possibly interpret any passage of Holy 
 Scripture in the teeth of continuous explanation in the 
 opposite direction. 
 
 Again, these people make a great display of Catho- 
 licity of teaching. How can they have the assurance to 
 do so, we cannot but ask, when they are maintaining 
 these Tenets in open defiance of Catholic opinion > No 
 doubt, especially in the compilation of their Liturgy 
 and in the ordering of their worship, they have followed 
 the example of the Early Church, and have given a 
 Catholic colouring to their entire system. Still this, and 
 even more than this, is not enough to prove Catholicity. 
 As we have already seen, we must pierce to the centre 
 in order to estimate the true nature of anything. Catho- 
 licity is shown, not by a certain amount of outward 
 conformity, or by embracing various Doctrines held in 
 the purer days of the Universal Church ; but by a 
 
False Catholicism. 321 
 
 maintenance of the Catholic Rule of Faith, holding 
 what the Catholic Church has always held, and 
 especially by rejecting what the Catholic Church has 
 always rejected ; also by preserving the continuity and 
 succession of life. 
 
 This truth is strongly exemplified in the question of 
 rejecting or retaining what is alien to the Catholic Faith. 
 The original adoption of such alien Tenets is thoroughly 
 uncatholic : because Catholic-minded people always 
 enquire whether the Church has given any sanction to 
 a new idea. But when the absence of such a sanction 
 is positively demonstrated, as in the case of these 
 so-called Apostles and Prophets, the refusal to give 
 them up implies not only insubordination to the Catholic 
 Church, but that the maintainers of these Tenets place 
 themselves in the position of judges and condemners 
 of the Catholic Church. For they assert that it has 
 been the want of faith, and necessarily ignorance too, 
 which have stood in the way of Apostles and Prophets 
 rising up. And they can bring forward no evidence to 
 show that the Catholic Church of any age ever enter- 
 tained their ideas, while they maintain the importance 
 of these ideas to be so vast, that it is absolutely 
 incredible that the Church should not have been well 
 acquainted with them, if they had been part of the 
 Christian Faith. 
 
 Further, Catholicity in their case is precluded by 
 the break in religious life which occurred between them 
 and the Church. For the Church is like a vast forest- 
 tree, in which the sap runs continuously through the 
 
 VOL. II. Y 
 
322 Effect of the Examination. 
 
 trunk, the limbs, the boughs, to the branchlets and the 
 leaves. Continuity of succession is therefore simply 
 essential to any Religious Body being a true Branch of 
 the Church of Christ. Other trees may be planted, 
 parasites may grow from the bark and even send their 
 roots into the wood : but they are not parts of that one 
 Tree, because Christ our Lord Alone planted that, and 
 they have been planted or sown in some other way. For 
 this continuity the Apostolical succession of Bishops, 
 though it does not by any means exhaust it, is never- 
 theless absolutely necessary, because the Sacraments 
 must be duly administered, and they can only be thus 
 duly administered by those who have the title from our 
 Lord, handed down through the men to whom He 
 Himself gave it, and who thus possess His own author- 
 ization so to administer them. No others can act with 
 His authority. This is a matter of common-sense order. 
 But these people have no succession of the kind. Not a 
 single Catholic Bishop has ever joined them. They are 
 therefore plainly from an origin other than the Catholic 
 Church. This is quite sufficient as proof: but we may 
 also remark that no integral Branch of the Catholic 
 Church has after the fact acknowledged them. All have 
 rejected them. They stand by themselves. 
 
 \. Passing then on from these decisive considerations, 
 we have examined the leading portions of the scheme of 
 teaching presented to our consideration. We here put 
 the question, "Are these true Apostles or not.?" to a 
 theological proof Examining the nature of the creden- 
 tials of the Twelve Apostles of our Lord, we have found 
 
Not real Apostles. 323 
 
 that their credentials as Apostles were wrapped up in 
 the indisputable fact, that they were designated and 
 appointed by our Lord Himself. If He stood, they 
 stood : if He were to fall, they must fall. Their appoint- 
 ment was outward, public, unquestionable, and never 
 questioned. We have seen too that the instances of SS. 
 Matthias, Paul, and Barnabas, were not outside the pale 
 of this principle : because the first of these was chosen to 
 fill up a vacancy out of those who had associated with 
 our Lord from the -very first, under circumstances of 
 exceptional solemnity, and by the unanimous deter- 
 mination of those who derived their title directly from 
 our Lord in Person : because St. Paul was acknowledged 
 
 o 
 
 by these very Twelve as one who had actually seen the 
 Lord after His ascension, and had been positively and 
 definitely sent by Him : while St. Barnabas is one who 
 has had the same title applied to him by the same 
 authority and that of the Universal Church, probably 
 under a wider acceptation of the term Apostle than it 
 has acquired after eighteen centuries of prescriptive and 
 venerable use. 
 
 None of these points touch these present men, who 
 indeed are by no means alone in the history of the 
 Church in laying claim to the title Apostle. Montanists, 
 Mormons, and others, have arrogated it to themselves 
 upon similar, if not identical, grounds. 
 
 But we have dived deeper into the mysteries of this 
 ■question. We have discovered, chiefly from St. Paul's 
 case, and from the words which he has used about his 
 own claim to the Apostleship, that four credentials are 
 
32,4 t^ff^^ct of the Examination. 
 
 necessary to establish such a claim. Any one must 
 prove (i) Appointment by our Lord in Person ; (2) An 
 outward Act of Ordination ; (3) Acceptance by the 
 Church ; and (4) Success sufficient to justify the appoint- 
 ment. Of these four credentials, these men only attempt 
 to claim two. They do not pretend that the Lord Jesus 
 Christ has with His own lips sent them forth ; they only 
 maintain a secret call like that which every one of Christ's 
 ministers have had, though in varying degree. It is 
 notorious that they have never been accepted by the 
 Church Catholic. Two credentials alone therefore 
 remain. 
 
 Have they had such a success as to justify their 
 claim after the event .'' They acknowledge their own 
 failure. They have been unable to convince other 
 Christians possessed of at least as much learning, 
 candour, earnestness, and love of the Lord Jesus Christ, , 
 as themselves, though they have tried over and over 
 again. The signs and wonders, in the expectation of 
 which this movement was commenced, have not followed: 
 and one of their own number has left them in consequence. 
 According to their early principles, all the acts of the 
 so-called Apostolic College have been invalidated ever 
 since 1840. They began a practice of " Sealing " which 
 they believed would convey a title to places in our Lord's 
 own Retinue to the amount of 12,000 places for each 
 Tribe, which they asserted must be filled up before 
 He came : — three Apostles refused to seal at all, somCj 
 " Tribes " have none sealed in them, and now nearly all j 
 the " Apostles " have gone to their rest. After more than 
 
Tkeij have no Credentials. 325 
 
 forty years' operations, the Body numbers some 10,500, 
 or so, all told. 
 
 This is the success which these men, at the end as 
 they represent of the Church's career, seek to parallel 
 with the wonderful growth of the Church in her earliest 
 days under the fostering care of the true Apostles. The 
 compilation of a Liturgy with many merits and several 
 blots, the exertion of tact and skill in keeping together 
 and conducting the affairs of the Community, and the 
 maintenance of exemplary outward life in the several 
 Members, — qualities of a strictly human character which 
 have been paralleled in the case of many leaders of 
 Christian Sects, — are held sufficient to counterbalance 
 all the points of admitted failure just enumerated, and 
 to establish a claim to Apostleship. 
 
 But they say that these Twelve men were appointed 
 by the Voice of the Church. How, and by what Church ^ 
 That Branch of the Catholic Church in England which 
 derives its descent, first from the Branch of the Church 
 which occupied these Islands in the time of the domina- 
 tion of the Roman Empire, and afterwards from St. 
 Augustine coming here with a special mission and 
 founding the Saxon Church .? The English Church has, 
 so to speak, washed her hands of the whole matter. Or 
 the Roman Communion, which, unfortunately to the 
 subversion of Catholic order, has a Branch here in a 
 country already tenanted by the Church .'' They them- 
 selves admit that scarce any Roman Catholics at all 
 have received them. Or the Orthodox Greek Church } 
 She declines to have any part or lot with them. 
 
326 Effect of the Examination. 
 
 No : the so-called appointment was made by the 
 Angels, who had been ordained or consecrated by the 
 Apostles. What a movement in a circle ! Apostles 
 consecrate Angels, and then Angels consecrate Apostles. 
 How could they have been driven, it may be asked, 
 to such shifts ? Plainly because they had no external 
 authority to rest upon. The Rock of the Incarnation, \ 
 on which the ordained Ministry of the Church stands 
 in palpable and definite descent and growth upon the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, utterly fails these people. Having 
 only a foundation in sand, they wattle together Angels 
 with Apostles, and Apostles with Angels, inside the 
 building, in order to make up for the absence of that 
 other Foundation, Which no man can lay where it has 
 not been already laid. 
 
 So then no appointment can be claimed for these 
 men analogous to the appointment of the Apostles of 
 our Lord, or of St. Paul. To what then can they appeal .'' 
 To a presumed nomination by the Voice of the Lord 
 Himself speaking by His Prophets. So then first, they 
 claim no more than Montanists and others have claimed 
 before them : and secondly, instead of a direct appoint- 
 ment made Personally as in the case of the Twelve and 
 St. Paul by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, they were 
 nominated by a Prophet or Prophets, speaking in the 
 power of the Holy Ghost, Who was sent by the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, so to speak. At the very best showing 
 therefore we have a doubly indirect, instead of a direct 
 Personal action : two links intervene between the Lord 
 Jesus Christ and His presumed Apostles. This of course 
 
Theij must rest only on their Prophets. 327 
 
 materially alters and weakens the appointment as analo- 
 gous to that of the Apostles of our Lord. 
 
 Still it might possibly be asked with some lingering 
 doubt, as we have seen, whether the utterance of the 
 so-called Prophets, though long-drawn, so to speak, and 
 dissimilar to what occurred in the first ages of the 
 Church, was nevertheless the Speech of God, or whether 
 it was the invention of man : in other words, were these 
 true Prophets, or were they not ? 
 
 In order to decide this question, it was necessary to 
 review the position of the real and false Prophets whom 
 the history of the Church has witnessed. We find that 
 many false Prophets have risen since our Lord ascended 
 into Heaven. The Montanist Prophets, George Fox the 
 Quaker, the Camisards in France, Swedenborg, Joanna 
 Southcote, Shakers, Mormons, Plymouth Brethren, 
 Agapemonites, Mrs. Girling, and others, present to us 
 instances of a special arrogation of spiritual gifts, 
 enabling them as asserted to speak directly the Will of 
 Almighty God. In the presence of all these claims, we 
 found it necessary to examine the cases of true Prophets 
 in the Bible, in order to discover how we might know 
 whether any Prophet claiming to speak in the Name of 
 God is a true Prophet or not. 
 
 After an exhaustive survey, the canons arrived at 
 were the following : — First, the prophecies delivered 
 must agree with the Faith already revealed ; secondly, 
 in the case of a new line of Prophets springing up 
 afresh after an interval— especially an unprecedentedly 
 lono- interval— of the cessation of the spirit of Prophecy, 
 
328 Effect of the Examination. 
 
 miracles have invariably accompanied the outburst of 
 the supernatural Gift ; and thirdly, the predictions given 
 must be soon verified by the event. 
 
 A careful examination of the so-called prophecies of 
 these men, as illustrated by their history, showed us that 
 they cannot answer to any one of these three canons. 
 They have attempted to introduce violent alterations 
 into the Constitution of the Church, which by the nega- 
 tive Voice of the Church are shown to be alien to her, 
 and subversive of her arrangements. They not only 
 have no miracles which are not referrible to natural 
 causes ; but inasmuch as they have frequently argued at 
 length, that miracles are not essential as credentials of 
 Apostles, it must be concluded that they surrender upon 
 this point. And thirdly, many of their prophecies have 
 been falsified by the event : and of course falsified 
 prophecies afford quite as strong a proof in condemna- 
 tion, as verified prophecies do in confirmation. 
 
 This conclusion that these Prophets have quite failed 
 to satisfy the examination warranted, and indeed ordered^ 
 by the Bible, was strengthened by various other con- 
 siderations. 
 
 First, the prophecies themselves do not show any 
 superhuman character. On the contrary, many of them 
 are vapid in the extreme, and appear to bear just the 
 character which a purely human imitation of prophetical 
 Gifts would exhibit. 
 
 Secondly, these people themselves, by their gradual 
 reduction of their so-called Prophets into a lower 
 
 1 " Try the prophets whether they are of God." — i John iv. l. 
 
Theij are not Prophets. 329 
 
 position, and by the strong restraint which they place 
 over them, and their rejection of so many "prophecies" 
 uttered under circumstances and with a character pre- 
 cisely similar to the circumstances or character of others 
 which were allowed, show that they are unable to treat 
 them with the deference, which men really actuated 
 directly by the Holy Spirit of God, and their utter- 
 ances, must of necessity have demanded. 
 
 Thirdly, the strange travesty of the events of the 
 great Day of Pentecost, according to which mere 
 gibberish was uttered, in imitation of the Gift of Tongues 
 by which the Apostles spoke to every man in the 
 language to the use of which he was born, strengthens 
 our position in the eyes of all who have not allowed 
 themselves to be blinded. The fact that a defence has 
 led these people, and must lead them, into the really 
 disingenuous attempt to show, in opposition to the plain 
 words of St. Luke, that the Apostles merely used 
 unintelligible sounds, is one of very pregnant meaning. 
 
 Again, we saw, that although the twelfth and four- 
 teenth chapters of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 
 even if interpreted with Irvingite meaning, would not 
 prove their position, the passage is generally misunder- 
 stood by the Members of the " Catholic Apostolic 
 Church." 
 
 Lastly, it was shown, that the mere power of the 
 human mind to produce results, when the entire soul 
 and self of the agent has been, under circumstances the 
 most favourable, projected upon the effort with all the 
 force and energy of long-continued preparation and 
 
^^o Effect of the Examination. 
 
 enthusiastic desire, is such as to be equal without extra- 
 ordinary supernatural aid to work such effects as have 
 been here recorded. 
 
 We have also examined the views current amongst 
 the Members upon the subjects of Unfulfilled Prophecy, 
 the Incarnation, and Symbolism, and not only have 
 derived nothing in proof of the justice of their position, 
 but have instead discovered various points in which 
 rashness in drawing conclusions, want of appreciation of 
 their subject, and deficient acquaintance with the 
 Catholic Faith, have made them appear to be unsafe 
 guides to follow, when they quit the old ways of 
 Christianity. 
 
 Such then being the general nature of the very 
 powerful argument which is ready to the hand of any 
 one who may set himself carefully to examine both 
 sides of this general question, — one side being so weak, 
 and the side of rejection being so overwhelmingly strong, 
 — we cannot but wonder what the Members of this Body 
 can advance in reply. How will they satisfy themselves 
 and make any plausible answer .? 
 
 From various discussions with them and from their 
 numerous books, I believe that, except so far as such an 
 answer might reiterate pleas already refuted in these 
 pages, it would take the following form : — 
 
 "The argument which has been just recited is the 
 pleading of a man who is only half informed upon 
 the subject on which he writes. None can judge in 
 this matter but those who have seen and witnessed the 
 events that have occurred. Any other judgment is 
 
Ansiuer to the Arguments. 331 
 
 ■'founded only upon indirect evidence and is therefore 
 useless. We have seen and known the real life. And 
 for certain, without doubt or hesitation, we know that it 
 is of God. 
 
 "Again, it is wholly wrong to pass judgment in this 
 ; manner. The world has always condemned the things 
 ' of Christ. Noah preached without effect. Our Lord 
 Himself was disregarded though He spake as never man 
 spake. He who takes upon himself to sit over these 
 holy subjects, and to express opinions about them from 
 above, instead of looking up to them from beneath in 
 the spirit of a humble and docile learner, is sure to go 
 wrong. Let him beware how he provokes the Holy 
 Spirit of God, and entails judgment upon himself. 
 
 " Thirdly, what is the alternative if we give up the 
 earnest faith and the solemn and primitive worship of 
 our Body 1 You wish us to return to the Church of 
 England. Consider the state of that Church at the 
 
 (present moment. In the first place, see how she is 
 bound hand and foot by the State. She is more of a 
 Parliament Church, than a Branch of the Catholic 
 Church of Christ. See for example how many people 
 within her borders deny the Sacraments. One does not 
 believe in the Grace of Baptism. A very large number 
 openly cavil at, or secretly disbelieve, the Doctrine of 
 Eucharistic Sacrifice. Observe the unbelief, the neglect 
 of Ordinances, the cases before the Courts, the general 
 lawlessness. We have none of this : indeed the Religious 
 Life amongst us exhibits the strongest contrast to this 
 sad view. How can we come back to the Church of 
 
33^- 
 
 Effect of the Examination. " 
 
 England as a Branch of the CathoHc Church, when its j 
 CathoHcity is denied by many if not most of its < 
 Members, and when there is the certain prospect of her 
 breaking up into several separate Sects, as soon as 
 disestablishment removes from her the strong hand of | 
 the State." ' 
 
 I have merely stated in this part of the Irvingite ; 
 objection what has been actually advanced again and 
 again to myself and others. It is well that we should 
 know and calmly examine the charges which other 
 people, differing from us in opinion, bring against us. 
 
 It will be best to take first the second of the three 
 arguments just advanced. This is very similar to a plea 
 before discussed ;^ but as it is very frequently urged, and 
 reiterated by the Evangelists and other advocates of 
 their Tenets, we shall do well to consider it again in a 
 garb slightly varied. 
 
 It may be taken in two aspects : — either that every 
 one ought to accept these Apostles as undoubtedly sent 
 from Heaven, without careful enquiry or scrutiny ; or 
 secondly, that it is exceedingly presumptuous and 
 wicked in the author of this work to put himself 
 forward to make a public examination of these claims 
 which are brought out under such awful sanction. 
 
 In the first case, these people have evidently misun- 
 derstood the principle involved in the passages in the 
 Bible upon which they depend. Honest, candid, earnest 
 enquiry is nowhere forbidden. We are ordered to try 
 the Spirits, whether they are of God. Our Lord bid the 
 1 Above, Vol. II. pp. 96, &c. 
 
Candid and reverent Enquiry. 333 
 
 Jews of His time to search the Scriptures to see whether 
 they testified of Him. The history of St. Paul's journeys 
 reveals his encouragement of a similar mode of enquiry 
 amongst those to whom he preached.^ Our Lord recog- 
 nized the use of reason when He told His disciples to be 
 " wise as serpents " as well as " harmless as doves.'' 
 Members of the " Catholic Apostolic Church " them- 
 selves appeal to the same principle in the treatises which 
 of course they address to the outside world, and in which 
 they marshal carefully all the arguments that seem to 
 them to establish their position. So long as we keep 
 far from us all prejudice, and unfairness, and excess, and 
 violence, and strive simply to weigh carefully and 
 equitably the considerations upon both sides of the 
 question, and are also simply anxious that whatever is 
 right in the Sight of Almighty God should prevail, we 
 cannot surely be wrong. If there are flaws in the argu- 
 ments used, Members of the Body can point them out. 
 If the arguments are valid, no amount of invective 
 against a presumed want of docility and humility can 
 set them right. And when a real candour and sub- 
 mission to what is shown to be right are demanded of 
 one side, they must be also conceded by the other. 
 
 With respect to the other view of this plea, viz., that 
 it is presumptuous and wrong in any private individual 
 who is no more than a Parish Priest of the Church of 
 England to put himself forward to examine these claims, 
 my excuse is this. Mr. Cardale, as Apostle for Eng- 
 land, claimed spiritual jurisdiction over every Baptized 
 
 ^ Acts xvii. II. 
 
334 Effect of the Examination. 
 
 person, and over myself too, — and this under an averred 
 Divine Mission. I Ijave known Clergymen younger than 
 myself, whom I have regarded as men with a great 
 promise of doing good in the Church of Christ, admit 
 these demands. They have appeared to me therefore to 
 require a careful examination at the hands of some one. 
 And I have further thought, that if the materials for 
 forming a right judgment were collected into a convenient 
 compass and made public, that much good must of 
 necessity ensue under the good Providence of Almighty 
 God. Moreover, having myself made a careful examina- 
 tion by reading everything I could find anywhere, and 
 by enquiry at head-quarters ; and having become con- 
 vinced that many good persons have been mistaken or 
 deceived by a plausibility which some of the arguments 
 put forward wear at first sight, I am anxious with the 
 Divine Blessing to strip off this plausibility, and by 
 exhibiting the System in its true light, to win back, if 
 possible, many souls to the Catholic Church of Christ, 
 who have inadvertently been led into a positive schism. 
 Therefore I have attempted to speak with all the fairness, 
 and candour, and openness that I can command ; and to 
 examine every single allegation that I can discover. 
 Whether this be right or wrong, others will judge: — 
 nay rather He especially, whose Guidance and Blessing 
 has been continually invoked throughout. 
 
 Part of the reply to the first head in the plea which 
 we are considering is implied in what has been just said. 
 Besides this, how can any proof still lie behind which is 
 equal to making good the deficiencies which we have 
 
Such Enquij-y demanded and practicable. '2,2>S 
 
 discovered in the proofs before the world ? Evangelists, 
 apologists, and writers generally, must have been strangely 
 wanting to their duty, whether from lack of ordinary 
 ability or otherwise, if they have neglected to bring 
 forward grounds sufficient to set the Christian Church 
 right upon such vital points. The numerous treatises, 
 sermons, and pamphlets, which form almost a complete 
 literature, and evince great mental effort on the part of 
 their several authors, must be marvellously defective, if 
 they do not tell us what according to these people all 
 Christians ought to know to their eternal interest. And 
 when men stop the enquiries or the doubts of others 
 simply by dogmatic assertion of the proposition under 
 dispute, or disciples try to close discussion by a mere 
 reference to • the ipse dixit of their Master, people of 
 mature experience, and possessed of a knowledge of the 
 [class of phenomena under dispute sufficient to enable 
 them to form an opinion, know what conclusion to draw. 
 Mere dogmatism is weakness, when an open argument is 
 ;; conducted before a competent tribunal. 
 
 The sole resource therefore now left is an attempt to 
 I remove the field of action into the heart of the adver- 
 sary's country. - What then can be fairly said in defence 
 of this attack upon the Church of England } 
 
 That any one who reads the Bible, and studies the 
 
 i state of belief and practice in the Early Church, would 
 
 wish many things to be very different in the Catholic 
 
 Church generally, and in that Branch of it which occupies 
 
 England, is but too true. The want of unity is a grievous 
 
 ijloss which must be felt in many ways. Has the so-called 
 
2^6 hlffevi of tJie Examination. 
 
 " Catholic Apostolic Church " remedied this, or is there 
 the slightest chance that such a diminutive Body, with 
 the defects and failures recounted, could ever remedy it ? 
 The infidelity, again, that prevails in many places, and 
 the misunderstanding of and disbelief in the Doctrine 
 of the Sacraments in others, are doubtless grievous dis- 
 advantages. 
 
 But we ought also to observe what an extensive 
 improvement in the latter province has been made in 
 the last forty years. This remarkable growth to the 
 appreciation and acceptance of Catholic Doctrine, which 
 has shown itself directly in one of the large schools of 
 thought in the Church, and has spread indirectly but 
 even in a more remarkable manner amongst the other 
 two schools, affords the greatest hope of future good. 
 After a period of sad deterioration, when Christian Truth 
 was being confined to a few Articles in the Creed, and 
 belief was being narrowed and pared down to mere 
 sectarian dimensions, we are growing generally towards 
 a condition of Catholic apprehension of Divine Truth, 
 which ought to leave no just reason for any people to 
 fall off into other associations, because every genuine 
 aspect of the Truth would be appreciated within the 
 walls of the Church. Perhaps this may be a pitch of 
 perfection not to be reached upon earth. Still the 
 remarkable extent in which the breadth of the Broad 
 Church has of late acted upon High Churchmen, 
 fostered by the spirit of comprehensiveness necessarily 
 inherent in Catholic Truth, adds to the advantages which 
 have been reaped in the last forty years. 
 
Remarkable Groiutfi in the Church. 337 
 
 It is needless to recount the signs of outward im- 
 provement which have spread over our land, in every 
 diocese, and almost in every town and village. Such 
 tokens of an undeniable amelioration are notorious. 
 But we cannot omit to draw one inference, well war- 
 ranted, or rather, humanly speaking, necessitated by 
 these facts. Such an advance must under God continue. 
 A careful observer might calculate a minimum ratio of 
 the improvement to be anticipated in the next ten 
 years, under the fostering care of the Holy Spirit, by 
 observing the accelerated progress in each of the last 
 four decades. Such an advance, both retrospective and 
 prospective, cannot but argue a strong force of life 
 moving in the English Communion. 
 
 Meanwhile the Colonial Churches, which, under the 
 continuing neglect of past generations, had scarce any 
 
 (existence, have grown up in a cluster round their Mother, 
 strengthening her in return for life and blessings received, 
 and working out as in virgin soil some of the difficult 
 problems, which in England have become encrusted 
 with the deposits of a debased spiritual life, guarded 
 from removal by jealous and persistent prejudice. 
 
 There is no Conservatism so strong and blind as 
 religious Conservatism. And justly so. Religion is a 
 matter in great measure of habit and feeling. In Religion 
 wisdom is rare, zeal is comparatively common. Reason- 
 ing without zeal is about as frequently found as zeal 
 alone, and is unfortunately in times of improvement at 
 least as likely to lead people astray. An inadequate 
 estimate of these truths conducts to error of two kinds. 
 
 VOL. II. ' Z 
 
338 Effect of the Examination, 
 
 Either people imagine that the difficulties, which are sure 
 to arise when improvement is going on, are much more 
 formidable than they really are ; or they set down to the 
 score of revolutionary change those portions of improve- 
 ment, which in fact result from the return to a realization 
 of the true principles of the Church's existence. The 
 former of these errors is involved in the charge brought by 
 the Members of the so-called Catholic Apostolic Church 
 against the Church in England. The latter is seen in 
 those who from want of penetration into the real nature 
 of things, or from yielding without due thought to the 
 irritation which any enforced change of habit rouses in us, 
 impede improvement, perhaps with sullenness, perhaps 
 with determined opposition, and in some cases with 
 violence. 
 
 Meanwhile there are several forces which promote the 
 advance. One of the chief of these is curiously enough a 
 common misconception of the nature and meaning of the 
 separate improvements introduced. Doctrines are cari- 
 catured : and strangest of all, the caricaturists doggedly 
 refuse to believe that the supporters of the Doctrines in 
 question do not embrace the caricatures made by these 
 opponents, in spite of all the denials and explanations 
 of the introducers themselves. Consequently, they spend 
 their strength in an opposition, which, though hindering 
 at first, turns out eventually, as far as real argument 
 and permanent effects are concerned, to be a mere 
 beating of the air. 
 
 Such has eminently been the case with reference to 
 the use of crosses in churches. Some people have urged 
 
Strange Caricatures. 339 
 
 violently, that the introducers of such crosses wanted to 
 pay them some extravagant veneration. The sober 
 sense and the moderate habits of English Churchmen 
 have utterly dispelled this illusion, in their experience 
 of the employment of those symbols of the Faith. 
 
 Just so, people at the present time impute to the 
 maintainers of the Doctrine of Eucharistic Sacrifice a 
 glaring caricature of that Doctrine, which they get by 
 taking the language used in the Roman Communion 
 and giving it the stiffest matter-of-fact interpretation. 
 Whereas what is really maintained is the teaching of 
 Mede, — a strong opponent of Rome, — that what we 
 plead in words when we say " through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord," that we plead outwardly at the Holy Eucharist. 
 Thus this Doctrine, into which there is not time and 
 space to enter here,^ assumes a thoroughly moderate 
 character, and only explanation is needed to prove that 
 it is really not open to the charges brought against it. 
 It is most truly Evangelical, for it forms the main 
 ■defence, application, and realization of the One Sacrifice, 
 offered once for all by the One Great High-Priest in 
 , behalf of all His people. 
 
 Indeed, the great need at the present time is modera- 
 tion both on the extreme left and on the extreme right, 
 and more calm wisdom too in tli,e centre of the position. 
 And the great source of hope lies in the knowledge that 
 in course of time such calm wisdom and such moderation, 
 
 1 Amongst other writers, the Rev. M. F. Sadler, Rector of Honiton, 
 has excellently shown the Scriptural nature of this Doctrine in T/i^ One 
 Offering. George Bell and Sons : London, 1875. 
 
340 J^ff*^^^ ^f ^^^ Examination. 
 
 as history has shown, always win their way amongst the 
 Enghsh people. It is the veriest chimera to imagine 
 that England will ever become Roman Catholic. 
 Romanism is a long way from the hearts of the English 
 nation, and is alien to their manner of thought and 
 habit. The sanguine Head of the Roman hierarchy in 
 our country once allowed ten years for the accomplish- 
 ment of their conversion. The ten years ended some 
 seven years ago, and to all appearance the conversion of 
 England to the Papacy is as far off as ever. No : what 
 English Churchmen will do is this : — They will take the 
 Doctrines and observances which have the true stamp of 
 the Catholic Church upon them, whether they are found 
 in Romanism or whether they are not, and then they 
 will interpret them in their own sober way, and hold or 
 use them with their own sober moderation. The history 
 of the last forty years has shown this, and it also has 
 shown that we must expect delay and discouragement 
 in the accomplishment. For on the one hand an 
 exaggerated stress is laid upon eveiything that bears 
 the trace of novelty both by adherents and opponents, 
 especially if they are possessed of the fresh enthusiasm 
 of youth ; and on the other, there is a lamentable want 
 of penetration often evinced, where we should expect a 
 juster estimate of the nature of the contest, and of the 
 principles really at stake. 
 
 A few more words are necessary to make this 
 position clear. 
 
 One of the great grounds of contention at present is 
 the ^rue position of the Church of England as a Branch 
 
True Position of the Englisli Church. 341 
 
 of the Catholic Church. The more stress must now be 
 laid upon this, because if once the Members of the 
 Religious Body under consideration were convinced of it, 
 they would see that a return to her full communion 
 would present the least difficulty of any course open to 
 them. It is not necessary to demonstrate here the 
 connection of the English Church with the Catholic 
 Church, because they will admit that that is proved by 
 the continuous life of the Church in England, including 
 the unbroken succession of the Bishops and Clergy, and 
 by the unintermitted maintenance of the Creeds and 
 Sacraments. The only question is, whether the English 
 Church will pull herself up to a more Catholic standard 
 and to a closer union with the Catholic . Church of all 
 ages, or whether she will pursue a downward course. 
 Late experience furnishes an answer in great measure 
 to this dilemma : but I think it will receive most import- 
 ant illustration from the following truths. 
 
 As long as the Church after our Lord's time was 
 confined to a small fraction of the then civilized popula- 
 tion, she rejected all half-sympathizers, and continued to 
 preserve in unity of mind and Doctrine the pure features 
 of the true Faith once delivered to the saints. When the 
 world " awoke and found herself Christian," and the 
 Church became conterminous with civilization, the one 
 unbroken tradition w^as able, through the prestige attach- 
 ing to the one School which handed down the Faith, to 
 keep itself pure and unspotted from the world. How 
 severe the struggle was, is shown by the history of the 
 Councils in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries. 
 
34^ Effect of the Examination. 
 
 Still under God's good Providence, Catholic orthodoxy 
 and purity were victorious. 
 
 But now, at length and by degrees, we have come 
 to this. Nations within the Catholic Church apply their 
 own several acceptations to the One Faith, and stoutly 
 maintain in each case that the acceptation as formed 
 and interpreted by themselves is the only one admissible. 
 
 Thus the Greek Church will allow only its own 
 realization of what is orthodox and must be observed. 
 And under the Greek Church is included the vast area 
 of nations whose civilization is built upon the influence 
 of the ancient Greeks, or who in religious matters at 
 least have been brought within that influence. 
 
 Again, the Roman Communion embraces the old 
 Latin races, and the Celtic races too, who, as in France 
 especially, showed a marvellous power of assimilating 
 Roman customs and language, probably owing to some 
 near relationship between the nations. The accepta- 
 tion of the One Faith in the Roman Comimunion has 
 been strongly affected by the forcible, imaginative, 
 impressible, and impetuous natures of the Latin and 
 Celtic peoples. Their religion is eminently unfitted for 
 the phlegmatic, dreamy, homely, matter-of-fact Teuton. 
 Romanism cannot successfully cope with the Teutonic 
 mind. Accordingly, when German thought awoke at 
 the Reformation, the attempt was made under Luther 
 to form a German acceptation of the Common Faith. 
 Most unfortunately this was a failure, owing to the 
 omission of integral and essential portions. Especially 
 the Episcopal succession was not transmitted. We are 
 
National Acceptations of the One Faith. 343 
 
 witnessing another attempt now under the Alt-Kathohks, 
 which we must hope may not fail, though their organ- 
 ization, and especially their Episcopacy, are allowed to 
 remain dangerously weak. 
 
 Between the Teutonic and Celtic Races, — not here to 
 notice the Dutch, Danish, and Swedish Churches, — come 
 ethnologically the English. For not only in the mixed 
 Norman blood, but in the remains of Celtic life amongst 
 the Anglo-Saxons, which, if Mr. Freeman will allow it, 
 were much larger than is generally supposed, we find 
 Celtic material. And the Saxon element is also modified 
 by a Scandinavian admixture, and the addition of 
 foreigners of numerous nations has helped to make us 
 many-sided. Accordingly, through our origin as well 
 as through our wide influence in the world, we are fitted 
 to become the mediators, uniters, and consolidators of 
 the several divisions in the Church of Christ. But none 
 the less have we too, through our strong insular preju- 
 dice and narrow-mindedness, coloured and limited our 
 acceptation of Catholic Doctrine and discipline, as it is 
 needless now to prove. 
 
 These truths, which are surely in the main self- 
 evident upon the stating of them, account for the 
 present disunion in the Church of Christ. Hordes 
 of ignorant barbarians swept over the civilized world, 
 before the Church was strong enough to hold her ground 
 without loss. The thorough Christianization of these 
 fresh-lived nations has never yet been satisfactorily and 
 perfectly accomplished. A strong attempt was made at 
 the period of the Reformation ; but though it effected 
 
344 Effect of the Examination. 
 
 a great deal, it cannot be called successful. But it was 
 full of lessons for after-times. And our business now 
 is to gather these lessons from the results of the work 
 thus effected, and to apply them to our own age. 
 
 What we have to do then is clearly this. We must 
 recur to the fount of pure water which welled forth from 
 Heaven in the days of the early Church. We must 
 throw aside the peculiarities introduced by each nation, 
 and endeavour to discover and to keep the central 
 Catholic Faith to which the Church v/itnessed in her 
 undivided state. Not of course that each Branch of the 
 Church may not adapt the Faith, as set forth in observ- 
 ances, to the special needs and habits of the people 
 interested; provided only that the Faith itself and the 
 essential Rites and Ceremonies are not violated. The 
 inhabitants upon the sides of a river may decorate the 
 banks after their own taste, if only they do not vitiate 
 the stream, or in any degree dam up the passage. So far 
 as portions of the Faith are omitted or slurred over, or 
 important observances are allowed to fall into neglect, 
 so far in proportion is the Church weakened, and room 
 is left for error to spring up : for that is generally 
 the perversion of some neglected truth. Accordingly, 
 the English Church has been gradually working back 
 more and more into a complete possession of the heri- 
 tage of the Church : and it is the duty of all who are 
 able to look beyond the scene immediately in front of 
 them, to aid her in this improvement and advance. 
 
 Such then having been the gradual progress, people 
 must not be too impatient, or too ready to find fault, or 
 
Resort to the Undivided Church. 345 
 
 too prone to conclude that things are worse than they 
 really are. On the one hand, if there is religious zeal, 
 we must expect some religious sensationalism. When 
 the excitement of novelty has worn off, soberness and 
 moderation are sure to succeed. And on the other, 
 when the opponents of Catholic Truths or Ceremonies 
 come to see that extreme error is not involved, but that 
 the Truths or Ceremonies in question are capable of a 
 moderate interpretation, then the opposition will become 
 faint, and after lapse of time will die away. 
 
 Still this description may be supposed not to embrace 
 the entire nature of the present disputes in the English 
 Church. The fact is then, that we are now coming into 
 the thick of a struggle depending upon the working out 
 of the problem concerning the due relations between the 
 Church and the State. A few words are necessary to 
 bring out the salient points in this struggle. 
 
 The secret of the present perplexity lies in the fact 
 that through the developments and adjustments of the 
 age, we have drifted away from the old English Consti- 
 tution. When the Prayer-book was reduced to its present 
 shape, the Clergy were represented in Convocation, and 
 the Laity in Parliament and by the Sovereign. And in 
 their order, both became consenting parties. But since 
 that time, most important changes have been introduced 
 both into Convocation as representing the Clergy, and 
 especially into Parliament. The Clergy have as a Body 
 grown considerably in late years, and now two influen- 
 tial classes are not represented in Convocation, viz., the 
 Clergy engaged directly in education — a most important 
 
34^ Effect of the Examination. 
 
 Body, — and the numerous staff of Curates. So that 
 Convocation does not possess the authority or the 
 efficiency which is really within its reach if properly 
 constituted. 
 
 But the changes in Parliament are, as regards the 
 Church, much more sweeping. When the Prayer-book 
 was last revised, the Parliament that agreed to it was 
 the English Parliament alone. Now the representation 
 of the Laity in Parliament was fatally spoilt in 1707, 
 A.D., by the union with the Scotch Parliament. At the 
 present we have therefore, besides the Laity of the 
 English Church, first, the Scotch Peers and Commoners, 
 including especially Scotch Presbyterians who are not 
 in Communion with the English Church. Next, after 
 1800, A.D., we have Irish Members, including Roman 
 Catholics and Presbyterians. And thirdly, English 
 Nonconformists. It is perfectly plain therefore, that the 
 idea of the English Parliament representing the Laity 
 of the English Church is a pure figment. And the only 
 extraordinary point is, that this is not notorious in the 
 eyes of every well-informed man.^ 
 
 But this anomalous condition of Church Government 
 derives additional importance from another feature of 
 the present day. The law-abiding instincts of English- 
 men are demanding a strict enforcement of Church Law. 
 
 ^ The good people of Edinburgh or Dublin, whether individually or 
 representatively, are not Laity of the Church of England, any more than 
 the inhabitants of New York or Vienna. Parliament represents the 
 Imperial, not the Lay, interest in the Church of England as Established. 
 No argument is necessary to refute an opinion which is at variance with the 
 elementary principles of representation. 
 
Reform of the Legislative Powers. 347 
 
 Now from the nature of written law, it can only be 
 strictly enforced by the judicial and executive powers, 
 when there is at the same time a Legislative authority 
 in action to redress the inequalities necessarily incident 
 to a written code. But we have seen that the Legislative 
 authority of the Church is at present only a rusty 
 blade, which cannot be wielded without danger to the 
 brandishers, and at best can only meet with a clumsy 
 use. 
 
 But then it may be asked, how it is to be reformed. 
 This is a delicate and difficult question, which must be 
 worked out by the present generation. Besides the 
 relations between Church and State, it involves also the 
 mutual positions of Clergy and Laity : the former as 
 the men ordained in direct succession from our Lord, 
 and the only men of whose learning and character the 
 Church possesses any guarantee ; and the latter as 
 responsible for the finances necessary for the maintenance 
 of the Church, and as being very different from the 
 uneducated Laity of former ages, including the period of 
 the Primitive Church. It is clear that the Government 
 of the Church must be regulated upon Ecclesiastical 
 lines. And the ascending units of the Parish and the 
 Diocese, and, in a fainter colour, of the Province and the 
 National Church, should find their recognition according 
 to their relative importance. The several Colonies of 
 the English Empire where the same problem is being 
 already worked out, though under conditions somewhat 
 different, may supply hints, reference being always made 
 to the Church of the first ages. 
 
348 Effect of the Examination. 
 
 In the face then of this difficult problem, we may 
 again take heart, because we find that several of the 
 difficulties, of which some people make so much, and 
 which are no doubt serious, are to be referred to the 
 inequalities arising from ephemeral sources. Still even 
 here we have not yet exhausted the trials of the present 
 time. What shall we say for the infidelity which has of 
 late become so rife .'' 
 
 No observer of the religious currents at the present 
 time can make light of the strong unbelief of various 
 shades which is prevalent, especially amongst laymen of 
 acknowledged and indeed eminent ability, and of highly- 
 cultivated minds. But we must remember, that if the 
 existence of this widely-spread unbelief is brought as a 
 charge against the English Church, it can only be so 
 brought in a very limited degree. The large area which 
 the Church covers, and the instinctive dislike of schism 
 which actuates many, causes many people to be credited 
 to her who are living practically outside her walls. No 
 doubt much is due, and perhaps more than people think, 
 to the confined and debased state of religion, especially 
 in the last century. But those whose present religious 
 system is built upon the acknowledgment of this neglect, 
 cannot, except in a minor degree, charge it upon the 
 English Church of the present day. Still taking this 
 infidelity as it now actually exists, are there any 
 considerations of encouragement to those who would 
 wish to be true sons of the Church of Christ, holding the 
 entire Catholic Faith ? 
 
 In the first place then we should bear in mind, that 
 
Cohtemporaneous lujidelity. 349 
 
 outbursts of unbelief of a most formidable nature have 
 often occurred in the History of the Church. After the 
 time of Constantine, just such an outburst happened 
 under the able leadership of a master-mind, Julian the 
 Apostate. The earnestness of the Reformation Period 
 was followed by the infidelity of the eighteenth century. 
 In fact, times of increased religious earnestness generally 
 lead to times of falling away from the Faith. The usual 
 sequel of scepticism has pursued the religious movements 
 of the first and second quarters of this centuiy more 
 closely than usual. This is probably an advantage : for 
 the waters are still at their height, and are more likely 
 to return in increased volume than if the period of 
 neap-tides had come round. There are various reasons, 
 besides the failure of scepticism in bygone ages, for infer- 
 ring that the present overflow of unbelief, formidable as 
 it appears in several quarters, will in course of time 
 subside. 
 
 It has developed no one antagonist system. Its 
 forms are many. New teachers introduce fresh ideas 
 which are, at least in a measure, destructive of the old. 
 The question therefore arises, "Where will it all end.?" 
 Sowing doubt, erection or exaggeration of difficulties, 
 destruction of idols, are easy enough. But to rear a 
 new system, around which others than mere disciples 
 will gather, and which will rival or out-top the Catholic 
 Faith, — this is as far off as ever in the dim horizon. 
 Meanwhile some of the leading minds amongst the new 
 philosophers testify to the continuous homogeneity of 
 the Catholic Faith. Strauss saw nothing admissible 
 
350 Effect of the Examination. 
 
 beyond a belief in the possible existence of good. In : 
 fact, descending the mountain, he found no place to 
 rest permanently upon, between the summit and the 
 plains or marshes underneath. The plateaux on the 
 mountain-side would prove to be only resting-places for 
 a hmited number of people in their ascent or descent. 
 So the forms of opposition accumulate. In philosophy, 
 besides the old forms of Deism, Atheism, and Scepticism, 
 we have Positivists, Agnostics, and others : in Religion, 
 we find 153 Sects ^ in England, besides several others 
 in America not found on this side of the Atlantic. And 
 these numbers are on the increase. What can resist 
 the indirect testimony thus borne to the one Catholic 
 Apostolic Church of Christ by these multiplying forms 
 of dissension and unbelief or half-belief.? 
 
 Much too of the present scepticism can be traced to 
 the fact that many people are now in positions of 
 influence, whose progenitors, if I mistake not, have not 
 been thorough Churchmen. John Stuart Mill succeeded 
 to the general line of scepticism pursued by his father. 
 Lessons and habits learnt in the mother's lap, or imbibed 
 from the conversation of the father, are more deeply 
 embedded in our characters than we are apt to think. 
 And when to this we add the absence of a teaching, 
 both dogmatic and large-minded, of Christian Doctrine 
 from much of our Public School Education, and above 
 all the absence of Theology till lately from the Honour- 
 Examinations of our leading University, we find a 
 
 1 Whitakcr's Almanack for 1878, p. 15S. 
 
Causes of Present Scepticism. 351 
 
 favourable atmosphere for scepticism, which might be 
 dispelled with incalculable advantage to the Church. 
 
 But there has been also another cause of such scepti- 
 cism, and that one which has worked secretly and most 
 powerfully in the education of our ablest scholars.^ The 
 philosophy really taught is a heathen philosophy, kept 
 forcibly, upon a presumed philosophic axiom, away from 
 Revelation. It has been a principle of the traditional 
 teaching in Oxford since before 1848, that in order not 
 to impede the freedom of the mind in studying philoso- 
 phic questions, and not to introduce extraneous modes 
 of enquiry, Religion and Revelation must hardly be so 
 much as named in the lecture-rooms of Moral Philosophy. 
 As if, supposing Religion, or to use the scientific name, 
 Theology, to be true, Theology and Moral or Mental 
 Philosophy must not necessarily run into one another. 
 As if Moral and Mental Philosophy, to be complete, 
 must not take cognizance of Religious as well as other 
 phenomena. As if, supposing Theology to be true, 
 the existence of an Orthodox instead of a Heathen 
 Philosophy is not necessitated. Who does not see, that 
 in these studies, which at Oxford at least are the most 
 potent in forming the future opinions of the most 
 thoughtful men, the admission of this principle of the 
 exclusion of Theology must perforce carry along with 
 
 1 I am indebted for this suggestion, the importance of which cannot be 
 overrated, to the late Rev. W. M. Hatch, M.A., Fellow of New College, 
 and some time Warden of St. Paul's College, Stony Stratford, the results 
 of whose labours in this province of learning, during his unfortunately short 
 career, will be found in an Edition oi ArisM/e's Ethics, now being published 
 by Mr. Murray. But perhaps I may say that in my own lectures I used 
 consciously and determinedly to violate the principle here impugned. 
 
^^2 E^ect of the Examination. 
 
 it the exclusion of Theological principles from the 
 opinions of educated laymen, as being fit only for clerical 
 mystics in the cloister or the vicarage ? 
 
 But at the present time, the course of events is 
 pointing to the rising of a new School of Theologians. 
 For several years, the teaching of the Broad Church 
 School has worked insensibly in promoting a tone of 
 larger comprehensiveness. Accordingly, there is room 
 now for another School of Teachers, which shall gather 
 up the good that has been taught in each of the three 
 previous Schools, and include it all within the circle of 
 its own teaching. From the Evangelical School it may 
 learn strong spiritual religion, humble faith in the Atone- 
 ment, and ardent attachment to the Person of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. From the High Church Movement, which 
 has worked up into itself most of the best Evangelical 
 teaching, it will imbibe also the realization of Catholic 
 Doctrines, of Catholic Unity, of the importance of the 
 Sacraments, and of external Religion, and the depth and 
 vigour and general holiness ensured by these points of 
 Faith and Life. And the Broad Church teaches us a 
 large-minded spirit of comprehensiveness, and the im- 
 portance of moral duties, and of Natural Religion. To 
 combine these elements first in ourselves, and then to 
 form a School for the combination of them all in normal 
 Churchmen, is, I believe, the grand duty lying before us 
 in the future. 
 
 Not of course that the best and most eminent men 
 of any one party have not themselves included all that 
 have been mentioned. The influence of any eminent man 
 
A New School of Churchmen. 2) S3 
 
 beyond his own party, supposing- circumstances to have 
 made him a party man, is generally caused by his main- 
 tenance of broad general principles, that bind others to 
 him besides his immediate disciples or followers. Still 
 it is time for Churchmen to join together, welcoming 
 and embracing all that is good, instead of keeping up 
 party names and party policy. Such a line of action 
 may be accomplished by our younger Theologians, 
 whose career is before them. No other line can possibly 
 be grander. 
 
 In this should be included the great achievement of 
 the formation of a Christian Philosophy, — work enough 
 for earnest and thoughtful Christian Students. 
 
 But this discussion may be considered beyond my 
 immediate purpose, which is, to place a truer view of the 
 English Church, and of her difficulties, before those who 
 regard the " Catholic Apostolic Church " with favour, 
 and to enlist their hearty services in the work before us. 
 Superficial observation should yield to a masculine grasp 
 of the principles at work, and sentimental expectations 
 of new ordinances should give way to a strong determin- 
 ation to vindicate, and minister, to the Catholic vigour 
 of the Church in England. If there are difficulties now 
 before us, yet from the testimony even of those who are 
 not within our Communion, the English Church has 
 never since the Restoration been so strong in the affec- 
 tior^ of the people, as she is at present. Even those who 
 are just now least contented do not think of leaving her. 
 
 This century has seethed with discussion and con- 
 troversy : we must not mistake the ephemeral for the 
 
 VOL. 11. A A 
 
354 ^^^^ Strength of the Faith. 
 
 permanent. In the Catholic Faith we have a firm 
 foundation, for which as thinking men, — sympathizing 
 even with those who are oppressed with doubt and 
 perplexity, Httle as they may imagine it, and feehng 
 occasionally their difficulties, — we cannot be too thankful. 
 The strength of the Faith is such, that no opposition, no 
 discouragement, no perplexities, no defections, can really 
 shake it. By degrees, in God's own good time, it will we 
 may be sure work its way, and shine brightly and ever 
 more brightly unto the perfect day. 
 
 Magna est Veritas, et pr^valebit. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 HE course of this history, and of the discussions 
 suggested by the Tenets of the Body presented 
 to our consideration, leads naturally to infer- 
 ences concerning the Religious world generally, 
 and the Members of this Body in particular. 
 
 We learn how, — not indeed through these people 
 alone, though sometimes they have been in the forefront 
 of pioneering operations, — Doctrines have been rescued 
 during this century from previous neglect. 
 
 Thus we see how the Church of Christ may fall into 
 a carelessness about the Second Coming of our Lord, 
 and that it is the duty of all to look to it habitually with 
 holy hope and desire. 
 
 Again, our eyes are turned to the Incarnation as 
 implying general principles for the entire Christian 
 Church. Amongst these are those involved in the 
 Sacraments, in a true symbolism and external rites, 
 and in the maintenance of a duly-appointed Ministry, 
 coming down in unbroken succession from our Lord 
 Himself. 
 
 We see too light shed upon the Unity of the 
 Catholic Church, and upon the duty incumbent on all 
 Christians of doing what they can to heal her wounds 
 
^^6 Conclusion. 
 
 and close her breaches. For the course of argument has 
 led us, when defending the English Church against 
 assailants, to fall back upon the One Catholic Church, as 
 the only source under our Lord of support for the exist- 
 ence or the authority of a National Church, or rather a 
 National Branch of the Church. 
 
 We have also been shown how, according to the 
 teaching of all the old Catholic Services without excep- 
 tion, the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist holds the 
 most prominent place in Christian Worship. 
 
 For we should never omit to bear in mind that 
 controversy brings out features in the Truth which we 
 are apt to disregard. When we are driven to cast about 
 for ground upon which we can plant our feet firmly, we 
 sometimes find that there is water beneath the green 
 sward, and that the rock is not exactly where we 
 expected to find it. So that when we gain the experi- 
 ence of past history, or of any more contracted field of 
 dispute, we shall generally be able to draw lessons which 
 will shed light upon our own grounds of belief 
 
 But materials for such observation abound throughout 
 the history of this Religious Body, and it is therefore not 
 necessary to linger now upon what is evident and plain. 
 The chief lesson concerns those people who, led as they 
 have imagined themselves to be by special revelations 
 from Heaven, have taken up a system of Faith and 
 worship, the peculiar features of which are not adopted 
 or sanctioned by any other Baptized Christians. 
 
 To these I would beg to be allowed to speak in all 
 Christian earnestness and charity. 
 
Expostulation. 2>S1 
 
 You have shown yourselves to be anxious to observe 
 such arrangements in Christian Worship as you beheve 
 to be sanctioned by CathoHc Antiquity. You are, as a 
 Body, exemplary in attendance upon all the duties set 
 forth in your own Liturgy. You try, as I believe, 
 zealously to prepare for the Second Coming of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You are eager for the 
 Unity of the Church, as is expressed by your own Tenets. 
 
 But if you examine the grounds of your peculiar 
 belief, you cannot but see that it has no certain war- 
 ranty, either in Holy Scripture, or still more in the Faith 
 of the one Catholic Church. You must see that you are 
 tacitly condemned by at least more than seventeen 
 centuries of Churchmen. You must surely grant, after 
 careful enquiry, that you have been deceived as to the 
 nature of the Doctrine of the Incarnation, and the 
 necessary credentials of both Apostles and Prophets. 
 You must also admit that there is no sort of doubt but 
 that the Bishops who succeeded the Apostles entered 
 plenarily into their authority and position, except so far 
 as the Apostles alone had the inestimable advantage 
 of personal intercourse with our Lord. You must allow 
 that just so much failure, and deadness in higher spiritual 
 life, has followed you as we should anticipate, supposing 
 that you had honestly taken up these ideas, and after all 
 had no sound basis in accepting them. 
 
 Think then, I pray you, whether your present position 
 be not this : — God has in this manner allowed you to be 
 drawn to the appreciation of important parts of His 
 Catholic Truth, because otherwise you might have missed 
 
^^B Conclusion. 
 
 in a measure the knowledge of it. You have thus been 
 also the means of bringing on other people who would 
 without you have missed it altogether. 
 
 Is not then your work so far finished ? And is it not 
 your duty now to give up these newly-invented notions 
 and to return to that Branch of the Church which is 
 close to you and is the mother of very many of you ? 
 Think what you would gain by so doing. Such a return 
 would no doubt involve a great sacrifice. But what an 
 example you would set by such manly and candid con- 
 duct. You are now distinguished amongst Christian 
 Sects by the splendour and solemnity of your worship, 
 by your observance of numerous Catholic ceremonies, 
 and generally by the anxiety which you display to prove 
 the Catholicity of the various details of your practice 
 and belief. How can you prove your superiority and 
 your Catholicity more conspicuously than by thus giving 
 up all to follow Christ, in joining the Branch of His 
 Catholic Church in this country ? 
 
 Surely so many years with so little progress, and the 
 deaths of nearly all your so-called Apostles before the 
 arrival of the Lord,- and your being brought by their 
 deaths into the position of the Church after the demise 
 of our Lord's Apostles, must show you that you have 
 been led by a mere semblance of truth. You have 
 cherished very high and exalted claims, such as could 
 have been justified only by the conspicuous and striking 
 success which the founders of your society sanguinely 
 expected. Nothing approaching such success has ever 
 attended your efforts. And you must surely see how 
 
Our Mother- Church. 359 
 
 futile it is to attempt to charge upon the wickedness of 
 the world the failure, which is really due to the inade- 
 quacy of the means employed to produce vast results. 
 Supposing that you had been labouring amongst those 
 who knew not the Lord Jesus Christ, this argument 
 might have had some power of persuasiveness. But 
 when you reflect, that amongst the chief rejecters of 
 your claims are good and earnest Churchmen, at least 
 as anxious for true Catholicity as you can be, and as 
 earnest in their attachment to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 you must see that you have been led to talk about the 
 wickedness of the world, when you should have been 
 induced to distrust your own system. 
 
 And if you should thus be induced to abandon your 
 peculiar views, and in deference to the judgment of the 
 Universal Church to surrender all at once your isolated 
 position, you would be following the example of your 
 prototypes in the early Church, the Montanists. You 
 cannot object to your being compared to them, since 
 they had the reputation of remarkable sanctity of life. 
 Nevertheless they remained as a separate Body only 
 for a comparatively short period, — and then returned 
 to the bosom of the Catholic Church of Christ. 
 
 Supposing that you were thus to set a brilliant 
 example of the return of a large number all at once, in 
 manly candour and with an acknowledgment of error, 
 to the Church of your Baptism, — for such the English 
 Church is to most of you, — how would your act be 
 commemorated and extolled in the future annals of the 
 Church. And how warmly would you now be welcomed 
 
360 Return to Unity. 
 
 back by Churchmen. Acting in the spirit pourtrayed 
 by the Good Shepherd in His parables, the EngHsh 
 Church in all her grades would receive you with the 
 liveliest joy and thankfulness. 
 
 We are all looking onwards to that blessed time when 
 the Lord Himself shall appear in the Clouds of Heaven. 
 Amongst other terrible reproofs, what will He say to 
 those, who knowingly, after their error has been earnestly 
 pointed out, and the grounds, upon which their error is 
 irrefragably proved to be such, have been carefully 
 unfolded, nevertheless continue to promote schism and 
 to rend His sacred Robe ^ What will be His fearful 
 rebuke to such as, straying from His pastures them- 
 selves, lead others away from the fold where alone His 
 true Presence is to be found ? 
 
 Nay, my Brethren in Christ, — for so may I call you .'' 
 — do not so foolishly, and indeed so wickedly. You 
 know, — for the course of your career has led you into 
 these higher truths, — what is the heinousness of schism, 
 and what are the blessings of Unity. You can enter 
 into the deep meaning of that solemn and mysterious 
 prayer of our Lord, offered up by Him upon the brink 
 of His Passion. May you then, at whatever cost, come 
 back into the Branch of the Church in this land, and 
 accepting the whole Catholic Faith, dwell where for us, 
 as far as the world will allow, there is " One Fold and 
 One Shepherd." 
 
APPENDIX 11. 
 
 THE TWO SMALLER TESTIMONIES. 
 
 A. THE TESTIMONY ADDRESSED TO HIS MAJESTY 
 
 KING WILLIAM IV., AND TO THE MEMBERS OF 
 
 HIS MAJESTY'S PRIVY COUNCIL. 
 
 [Vol. I. pp. 177, 178—286.] 
 
 'T^HIS Testimony is without a printed heading. But the 
 
 copy fron 
 handwritinsf, — 
 
 copy from which I quote is headed in Mr. Perceval's 
 
 To THE Right Honorable 
 The Members of His Majesty's Privy Council. 
 
 It opens thus : — 
 
 The handwriting of God is upon the wall : every eye has 
 beheld it, but there has been no interpreter. 
 
 The constitution of the kingdom has been changed ; in 
 casting off its Christian character, its acknowledgment of 
 allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, by the repeal of the Test 
 and Corporation Act, and by the admission of Papists to 
 Parliament and to Office; it has been changed by the Reform 
 Bill, which has laid the foundation of the present order of 
 things in wrong and robbery, through the violation of charters, 
 the contempt of prescriptive rights, and the overruling the 
 independence of the upper House of Parliament ; for it is 
 notorious that it was only carried through that House by the 
 
J 
 
 62 appendix I J. 
 
 sworn servants of the crown counselling and constraining their 
 royal master to consent to violate that independence, if the 
 Lords would not pass the Bill presented from the Commons. 
 
 The attack upon the ancient provision for the poor, the 
 cruel enactments of the new law, and the abominable doctrines 
 put forth by some of its promoters ; the whole spirit of interfer- 
 ence with the Church, from the extinction of the Irish Bishoprics 
 to the resolution of the House of Commons to desecrate the 
 property of the Church to other uses, the hatred against tithes, 
 and the many schemes for removing them as a nuisance, the 
 Bill for rendering marriage a civil contract, the attempt to force 
 open the Universities, the notices for expelling the Bishops 
 from the Lords, the Bill for admitting Jews into Parliament, 
 and the violation of charters by the Municipal Reform Bill, — 
 are among many evidences of the departure of the ancient 
 spirit of the constitution, and of the danger of subversion, 
 which besets every venerable institution of the realm. 
 
 Above all, the danger which at present theatens the House 
 of Lords, if they assert their independence and perform their 
 duty, brings forth into manifestation the entire change which 
 has taken place in the feelings and principles of the nation, and 
 is also a warning note to prepare the whole country for the 
 struggle that is at hand. 
 
 And while things are thus, it is admitted on all hands, that 
 at no period since the Revolution has there been so great a 
 difficulty in forming or carrying on the Government as has been 
 experienced since the passing of the Reform Bill. Whichever 
 party is in power finds it equally impossible to bring forward 
 such measures as it conceives to be most conducive to the well- 
 being of the State, but is obliged to conciliate the prejudices 
 of those whom it equally fears and hates ; Government, in its 
 strict sense, is at an end ; the persons who hold office are 
 the executive of a power unseen but not unfelt — " the pressure 
 from without ; " no plan can be undertaken with confidence ; 
 
 1 
 
The two Smaller Testimonies. 363 
 
 no fixed principles acted upon ; ephemeral and casual success 
 of schemes, partly followed and partly defeated, is the utmost 
 that is hoped to be attained. Every political journal, all writers 
 of acknowledged political sagacity of every nation and party, 
 have foreseen, and declared their conviction, that a crisis is at 
 hand, the certain issue of which they cannot divine, but the 
 consequences of which they all agree in dreading. 
 
 Such is the present state of Great Britain : and it is a heart- 
 rending spectacle to look upon her as she is, or is about to be, 
 in inevitable prospect, and to compare her with former recol- 
 lections. Her institutions, which for ages have secured her 
 from the oppression of a monarch, of nobles, or of the many, 
 tottering to their base; some laid prostrate; the whole attacked 
 on every side by ruthless men, and none to save her. Her 
 readiest defenders caught into the eddy, and themselves from 
 time to time the helpers forward of her destruction, the instru- 
 ments in the hands of those whom they abhor ; her king all 
 but a captive in the hands of his own subjects; her proud 
 nobility, who never feared to avow their rights, waning before 
 the threats and violence of their enemies, and scarce venturing 
 by subdety to undermine, or to postpone, the measures which 
 they dare not openly to resist ; many of the flower of them 
 basely courting the favour of the mob they hate, in the vain 
 hope of concealing their elevated station, and thinking to hide 
 themselves by merging in the common mass ; her gentry, m like 
 manner, pandering to the passions of the people ; the people 
 themselves preyed on by one another; the labourers oppressed, 
 and in their turn rising on their oppressors, and by combina- 
 tions effecting the ruin of their employers, and ultimately their 
 own ; and all, or nearly all, that are active in the land, madly 
 bent upon destruction, to which there seems no limit while 
 there is anything to destroy. Oh ! England, thy judgment 
 cometh upon thee like a whirlwind, and there is no escape. 
 ***** 
 
364 Appendix II. 
 
 For the cause of all these present and threatened evils, these 
 manifested judgments, and tokens of coming judgment, is the 
 same as in all similar cases of history — the sin of the land, 
 manifest in the sin of the rulers. We have departed from God, 
 and He is departing from us. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Of this entire desertion of the principles of former days, 
 God has given the land a notable index, in that the name of 
 one of the two great parties in the State has well-nigh com- 
 pletely vanished throughout the country, while that of their 
 opponents remains, and is seated in the places of power. The 
 watchword of the former was, the Divine Right of Kings, with 
 its countersign, the Duty of Submission ; the motto of the 
 latter was, the People the Source of Power, with its answerable 
 doctrine, the Right of Resistance. The war-cry of the one was. 
 Church and King ; the shout of the other, the Rights of the 
 People. The name of the latter lives, because their principles 
 are living and triumphant ; not, indeed, as held by their 
 forefathers, but expounded by the commentary of the devil, and 
 enforced by every agency of hell : but the other name has 
 vanished, because the principles it represented are gone ; and 
 the wreck and remnant of the Tories are gathered, with a 
 motley herd, under the common name Conservative, which 
 truly represents the only bond by which they are held together 
 — the hope of preserving their rank, their privileges, their 
 wealth, their lives, and the peace of the country, from the 
 threatened mischief which they clearly see bearing down upon 
 them, in all the doctrines and all the measures that are afloat. 
 * * # * * 
 
 He is the fountain of honour and dignity, and the protector 
 of the poor and needy ; and being despised and disowned by 
 all. He has withdrawn honour from nobility, security from 
 property, and protection from the poor. Distinctions of men 
 have ceased to be venerable ; rights of property have lost their 
 
The tico Smaller Testimonies. ^6^ 
 
 sacredness, and have been despised — first in die weakest, the 
 poor, then in the corporations, and the Church comes next ; 
 then the hereditary nobiUty, and, lastly, the hereditary monarchy 
 will be the prey. For primogeniture and inheritance are of 
 God and not of man, and need to be seen in the light of God 
 in order to be regarded and maintained ; and, because kings, 
 and princes, and nobles have ceased to give honour to Him, 
 His dearly-beloved Son, the first-born among many brethren, 
 whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, therefore He is 
 letting loose upon their hereditary rights the ignorant blindness 
 of ungodly men, who can see no reason in the institution, and 
 feel no blessing, but are only provoked to it by envy and 
 covetousness. 
 
 ***** 
 
 In three great State measures, the repeal of the Test and 
 Corporation Acts, the Roman Catholic Relief Bill, and the Act 
 for reforming the Representation of the House of Commons, 
 she has revealed and consummated the sin of departing from God, 
 which has here been charged against this nation — has registered 
 her adoption of the spirit of the age, and written Ichabod on 
 the constitution of the kingdom. In the first, she avows that 
 every infidel, Jew, and heretic, are as worthy to serve the State 
 as Christian men, or, in other words, that her sons are no better 
 than infidels ; by the second, she receives into honour and trust 
 the abomination of the Papacy, which God had exalted this land 
 to withstand and protest against ; and the third is at once the 
 fruit and the recognition of the principle that the people are the 
 true source of power. These three Acts are now the law of the 
 land; and in them the mark of the Beast, the characters of Anti- 
 christ, are written on the forehead of the constitution, which of 
 old was sealed with the seal of the living God, the impress of 
 the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 ***** 
 
 All authority in Church and State belongs to Jesus Christ, 
 
366 Appendix [I. 
 
 the King and Priest of God, and is delegated by Him to whom- 
 soever He will. * * % * 
 ***** 
 
 This is the first great principle upon which all government 
 rests, that all who are entrusted with any authority are only 
 vicegerents and stewards of the Lord Jesus Christ ; and the 
 second is, that men are put in the place of rule, not for their 
 own sakes, but for the blessing and protection of His creatures, 
 that they may nourish and defend all those whom God has 
 placed under them. Now, to the end that kings, and rulers, 
 and all people might know their duty, and not be left to 
 conjecture what the Will of God might be, and take their owit 
 way, calling it His, but be instructed what His way is, — ^to this 
 end did the Lord Jesus raise up and set His Church on earth, 
 which should be His minister to kings and people, to declare 
 His Mind and Will to them, and bring His Word and Laws, by 
 which they would know how to do what was well-pleasing in 
 His Sight, and thus His Blessings should descend upon them. 
 
 Now the Church, as the depository of all spiritual authority, 
 is not, nor can be, at all subject to the State, but is bound to 
 stand as the teacher and instructor of kings and nations — the 
 faithful witness of God whether they would hear or whether they 
 would refuse ; and the State is bound to uphold, by example of 
 obedience, the authority of God in the Church, and to receive 
 the law of God at the priest's mouth. But, on the other hand, 
 God would not that the Church should usurp temporal authority 
 in the State ; but, though established in the State, and protected, 
 and set in honour, and provided for by the State, there should 
 have been no mingling. The rulers of the State should never 
 have presumed to interfere in the internal arrangements of the 
 Church, or even have been permitted by her to appoint the 
 lowest deacon to office in her ; and, on the other hand, the 
 State ought never to suffer the Church to assume authority, or 
 to meddle with tlie affairs of the Government. 
 
The tiuo Smaller Testimonies. 367 
 
 The business of the State was to protect the Church of 
 Christ, and to provide for that Church through the tithes of the 
 country, which are the Lord's portion, and to look to the 
 Church for faithfulness to her God and holiness of life, so that 
 she might be their example and teacher in all things ; and it was 
 the business of the Church to take heed that she discharged 
 that duty faithfully, thankful for protection afforded and suste- 
 nance provided, but steadfast and immovable in rebuking all 
 evil, and testifying conthuially of all God's truth, regardless 
 whether she pleased or displeased the rulers or the people. 
 ***** 
 
 [The Testimotiy goes on to show that all have been unfaith- 
 ful in their several stations to these principles.] 
 
 In the French Revolution God has given to all the nations 
 of Christendom the warning of what is coming upon them, — 
 the first shock of that earthquake which will throw down every 
 regal and ecclesiastical tower therein. That was the first act of 
 the great tragedy which shall be consummated in every monarchy 
 in Europe. 
 
 ***** 
 
 The people are openly claiming all power with us, as they 
 did wdth them : and the rulers are bowing down before the 
 people, and saying, Ye are our lords, and we are your servants \ 
 and God is rejected by both, and the honour of Jesus trampled 
 in the dust. 
 
 The people are calling out for a reform in God's Church, 
 and the rulers are bowing before the voice, and the Church 
 witnesses not for the Head of the Church, but says, We are in 
 your hands, have mercy upon us ; and God is dishonoured, and 
 Jesus, the High-Priest, is stripped of His office and authority 
 in the Church. 
 
 The people are craving to have their love of money gratified, 
 and cry for the abolition of tithes \ and the people's servants, 
 the rulers, say,' God's due shall be yielded to you. 
 
368 yippendix II. 
 
 The people say, It is a burden too heavy for us to bear to 
 pay tribute ; and the rulers, the servants of the people, say. The 
 burden shall be taken away ; and yet they are God's ministers 
 attending upon this very thing : and so of the rest. Religious 
 tests, the tests of the acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 in those who are to rule in His name, are abolished, because 
 the people said. Let it be done ; the rights of bodies corporate 
 are to be abolished because the people wish it ; the Jew, who 
 stigmatizes Jesus as the madman, the blasphemer, and the 
 demoniac, is to be admitted to rule in His name, because all 
 such distinctions between Jew and Christian are invidious in 
 this enlightened age ; and what other abomination of desolation 
 can be named that is not now being set up ? The marriage- 
 contract, the witness for the union of the Church with Christ, 
 is to be deprived of its true character, to please the men who 
 cause and foment division in His Church. The rights of the 
 noble and honourable are to be sacrificed to the spirit of 
 anarchy that is maddening the people. Now all these things 
 find their exact parallel in the legislative acts of the French 
 Assembly in the three years preceding the murder of their king. 
 * % * And then they rose up and murdered their king, 
 and rejected God and His religion by law, and paid divine 
 honours to a goddess of their own. * * * 
 
 Then He gave them a king of their own choosing : the child 
 and champion of Jacobinism, the header up of anarchy in iron 
 despotism, the scourge of France and of Europe — Napoleon the 
 Destroyer. 
 
 Such an example we are following, and such is the judg- 
 ment that awaits us. * * * * 
 
 [The signs of the last days are being exhibited ; but He is 
 preparing a place of refuge and building an ark.] 
 
 For the Church of God builded up in its spiritual ordinances, 
 Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, and Pastors must be prepared, 
 as a chaste virgin, to meet the Lord. The body of the baptized, 
 
The two Smaller Testimonies. 369 
 
 all who will receive the full blessing pledged to them in baptism, 
 out of all the tribes of Christendom, gathered from all the 
 sects and divisions wherein they are held captive into one 
 spiritual body, shall escape the tyranny of the man of sin, and 
 shall be taken up to meet the Lord in the air before He comes 
 to judge. The baptized in their present standing, divided and 
 opposed to one another, cannot bear witness to the truth as it 
 is in Jesus. They do not bear witness ; they will not, they 
 cannot. But God would bring them out of their division, that 
 they may bear witness, and that they may together be counted 
 worthy to escape the things that are coming upon the earth. 
 ***** 
 
 In this land has God called His Apostles, and given 
 Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers ; and Prophets, 
 Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers will He have in all lands, 
 through the ministry of His Apostles, who must be sent forth 
 unto all the baptized, gathering everywhere, and building every- 
 where — teaching and ordaining ministers throughout the earth. 
 
 Already has the Lord prevailed in these kingdoms to gather 
 His people in many places, and to build them into Churches, 
 giving them His ordinances anew from heaven ; calling His 
 servants, by the voice of Prophecy, to serve Him in the minis- 
 tries of His house, and setting over His flocks His Angels and 
 Elders, and giving Evangelists, by the laying on of the hands of 
 His Apostles. In London He has set His Seven Churches, 
 wherein He will show forth the pattern of the completeness of 
 the Universal Church — one, holy. Apostolical. He has gathered 
 His children out of every sect and division, from every name 
 and denomination, showing Himself the common Father of all, 
 with whom is no respect of persons. In Edinburgh, in Dublin, 
 and in many other towns in England and Scotland does the 
 Church appear. His people gathered by the cry, " The bride- 
 groom cometh ! " walking in the light of Prophecy, and in the 
 strength and defence of the ordinances of God, received through 
 VOL. II. B B 
 
37© ylppendix II. 
 
 Apostolic ordination. And many are the places besides, where 
 the people of the Lord, believing that which is here testified to 
 you, are waiting and longing to be visited by the Lord in His 
 servants, that they also may receive the blessing of His ordin- 
 ances, by the laying on of their hands. In all these Churches 
 are a people found walking in one faith and discipline, holding 
 and rejoicing in one hope, waiting upon God, in the holy 
 worship of His house, morning and evening ; owning the 
 authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, present in the midst of 
 them bv the rulers He has appointed ; learning and practising 
 obedience in the midst of a rebellious generation ; laying aside 
 their idols, and submitting to be taught, in this age of self- 
 sufificiency and many teachers ; and gladly bringing up the 
 tenth of all their incomes, in this day when the fever against 
 tithes is the epidemic of Christendom — -the servant and the poor 
 labourer willingly paying them, because they believe that it is 
 the Lord's portion, which He has reserved unto Himself of all 
 that He has given to His creatures, and which He has set apart 
 for the support of His Priesthood, by a statute in Israel through- 
 out all their generations. 
 
 And the Lord has laid it as a primary duty upon this His 
 Church — still in weakness, just rising out of the spiritual death 
 into which the whole of Christendom is fallen — to bear a 
 testimony, in love and faithfulness, to the king and to his 
 counsellors, to warn them of the condition of the nation, the 
 very near approach of heavy calamities, and the speedy second 
 coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 # * * * * 
 
 [Such may be the deliverance of every man, but the warning 
 is sent especially to rulers and counsellors. They are called 
 upon loudly, from without, by the many-headed monster, to 
 register the edicts of Antichrist ; and the Lord calls upon them 
 to rally round and uphold to the death His standard. This 
 deliverance is given only to such as repent ; otherwise the 
 
The two Smaller Testimonies. ^yi 
 
 pestilence and the sword will go through cities and villages. 
 The final conflict between Christ and Antichrist is at hand. 
 But before that the Lord gives a sign, and sends a warning, — 
 the handwriting upon the wall. Oh, that all would hear : but 
 there is mercy and salvation for the faithful. The warning and 
 invitation are sent : the Day is at hand. 
 
 The concluding words, embracing Mr. Perceval's signature, 
 have been already given (Vol. I. p. 286).] 
 
 B. 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS GRACE 
 
 THE 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 
 
 PRIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND, AND METROPOLITAN ; 
 
 AND THE OTHER THE ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 
 OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 AND IRELAND. » 
 
 The Church of England, among all the divisions of the 
 Catholic Church, is most to be commended for the measure of 
 truth contained in her doctrinal standards, for the comparative 
 purity and spirituality of her liturgies, unmixed with super- 
 stitious rites of Popery and relics of Paganism, and for her 
 Church administration, wherein she rejects not, with the greater 
 part of other reformed Churches, the Apostolic forms and 
 ordinances of the primitive Church. To the care of Bishops, as 
 heads under Christ, and pastors of that Church, are committed 
 
372- j4ppe7idix II. 
 
 the souls of the baptized in their several dioceses ; and 
 in their respective places of chief rule they are the present 
 depositaries and trustees of the priestly office, the ministry 
 whereof has been preserved by God through the ages that have 
 elapsed since the Day of Pentecost. 
 
 Thus recognizing your standing and authority, it might seem 
 to require explanation that we should not merely seek, but, in 
 the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Head of His Church, and 
 by His authority, claim your audience. Nevertheless, we pray 
 you to bear with us while, in discharge of a duty, not undertaken 
 at our own suggestion, but imposed on us by God, we address 
 you in His name, and as His ministers ; and whether our com- 
 munication be received or rejected, its nature will sufficiently 
 prove its own apology. 
 
 Is it any marvel that, in the state of all things around you, 
 the heads of the Church should be flu/s addressed ? Is it not 
 time for God to work, when men make void His laws ? As 
 Bishops of Christ's Catholic Church, you are called upon to 
 look at her condition in every land, and to sorrow over the 
 misled, torn, and scattered sheep for whom He died. As 
 Bishops of the National Church, you are not merely bound to 
 look to the apprehended judgments and dangers that surround 
 you, but to be grieved in contemplating the wickedness of His 
 baptized people, who are the agents through whom the ruin is 
 apprehended, — to mourn, not that you are smitten, but that your 
 children are the smiters. 
 
 It cannot be that you shut your eyes to the state of things 
 around you. We will not believe that they who should abide 
 nearest in the secret of the Lord are involved in the delusion 
 that all is well, and religion flourishing ; and that while all 
 abroad and at home is becoming more and more " like to a 
 troubled sea which cannot rest," and all bonds of religious 
 society and relationships of life are dissolving, and among none 
 so rapidly as among the great professors of religion, you, the 
 
The two Smaller Testimonies. 373 
 
 Fathers and Guardians of the Church, should content yourselves 
 with sounding words, that the influence of true religion increases, 
 all her principles sapped, and daily sinking away. 
 
 It is notorious that through Europe priesthood is scorned 
 under the name of priestcraft by the great mass of those who 
 think for themselves — by almost all but those in whom rever- 
 ence is sunk in superstition and idolatry; that the holiest truths 
 of God are denied as irrational ; the miraculous character of 
 Christianity is assailed, and its most venerable mysteries are 
 considered mere s>Tnbols for conveying a system of ethics, pre- 
 ferable, perhaps (but only because more comprehensive), to the 
 lessons of classical philosophy ; that the Continent is all but 
 swallowed up by the mediocrity in all that instruct, all that can 
 strengthen, and all that can minister the life of religion in the 
 Greek Church ; by the Pagan superstition, the perversions of 
 truth, and the declining dotage of the Papal system in the 
 Church of Rome ; or, when vitality, or at least activity is most 
 apparent, by the spiritual infidelity of Germany, and the fierce 
 atheism of France. 
 
 There may be exceptions, holy and good men, Greek, 
 Roman, and Protestant, if such can be considered properly 
 exceptions. Until the very reign of Antichrist, when nothing 
 else shall be allowed to peep or mutter, buy or sell, charges of 
 universal apostasy will ever be exaggerations. But the general 
 truth of this description is notorious ; and our object in giving 
 it is not to convict of sin, but to present in its true colours 
 the condition of so large a portion of the baptized Church, the 
 descendants of saints and martyrs — a condition which should 
 draw from us, as from the prophet mourning over the vision of 
 the desolations of Jerusalem, the exclamation of passionate 
 grief, " Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain 
 of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the 
 daughter of my people ! " (Jer. ix. i.) 
 
 And as with priest and people, so by eternal disposition of 
 
374 Appendix II. 
 
 God with princes and people also. But into the civil condition 
 of other nations than our own we enter not, save to observe 
 that, as the Churches are ripe for judgment, and the priests and 
 people for apostasy, so is it, for the most part, with the States. 
 Their princes rule by force, and the people are either waiting 
 for an opportunity to revolt, or are running a course of revolution 
 and anarchy, to end again in iron tyranny. 
 
 But to come to our own country. The evil principles which 
 affect the rest of Christendom are here to be found struggling 
 with an energy and life unknown elsewhere, and with a force 
 resistless, except God be pleased to come to our help, as in 
 days of old. The priesthood universally despised, and the very 
 nature and standing of the Church unknown and denied ; the 
 dignity of the one, and the legal establishment of the other, 
 assailed ; all forms of superstition and fanaticism practised, and 
 all heresies and perversions of truth maintained. Nay, infidelity 
 taught as a system by preachers and lecturers who make it their 
 profession, and in public assemblies gathered for that avowed 
 purpose. 
 
 Among the clergy, all shades of opinion, both on matters 
 of doctrine and discipline : the Socinian in one class, and in 
 the other the man who does not object to receive Episcopal 
 ordination in order to qualify himself to preach his own levelling 
 and disorganizing opinions in the Established Churches, and 
 the Bishops without power, for all practical purposes, to enforce 
 either the doctrine or the discipline of the Church on their 
 beneficed clergy, even in cases where morality demands their 
 interference. 
 
 Proceeding to the laity, alas ! the disorganization, the 
 divisions of the body of Christ ! the sheep driven hither and 
 thither, scattered among a thousand sects instead of one holy 
 body ! The thought that they owe any relative duty to the 
 pastor of their parish, except just so far as they receive a benefit 
 from that pastor, — gratitude, not duty, — or that they are bound 
 
 I 
 
The two Smaller Testimonies. 375 
 
 to give honour to their spiritual pastor as to their natural parent 
 —these considerations enter not into the mind of the most 
 attached to the Church. In almost every parish one or more 
 other temples, professing to be dedicated to God, vie with the 
 parish church for the offerings of the people; and millions 
 literally— nay, in the manufacturing cities, generation after 
 generation— never enter their parish church, nor see that pastor 
 who must answer for their souls ; or, if ever, only when presented 
 for baptism in order to be placed on the register. Again, we 
 remark, w^e are not now dealing with the matter of the sui m all 
 this— no doubt both pastor and people have their share in it, 
 for which they must give account: we are addressing our- 
 selves to the moral aspect of what you know, and we know, 
 and the people of this land know to be the true state of 
 things. 
 
 In the country parishes of England the clergy have more in 
 their power. They are able to exercise a more perfect control 
 over their parishioners. And yet here how many are the 
 cottages whereinto they are forbidden to enter, or more civilly 
 repulsed by the information that the inhabitants go to chapel 
 Even when the clergy seek conscientiously to fulfil their duty, 
 how large a portion of their flock are withdrawn from their 
 care, and now almost, and in many cases altogether, with their 
 own allowance and consent, are handed over to Dissenting 
 ministers ; and all the while demoralization strides through the 
 land, and the people are ready to rise against their rich 
 neighbours, and the lawless, instead of being the exceptions, 
 form the great body. It is useless here to trace to political 
 causes the acknowledged demoralization of the agricultural 
 population. Such is their condition ; and most fearfully does 
 it threaten the Established Institutions in Church and State. 
 Nor does it mend the matter that, when the Bishops, in their 
 places in Parliament, have protested, or their clergy have peti- 
 tioned, against legislative enactments calculated to increase this 
 
'^']^ Appendix II. 
 
 evil state, the counsel of the one has been rejected, and the 
 exertions of the others imputed to interested motives. 
 
 But in towns is the concentrated energy of evil. Here are 
 the strongholds of Satan. Here all wicked passions and tend- 
 encies take root and grow. Here are contrived and practised 
 crimes of every description, and licentiousness unrestrained : 
 hatred of authority, envy of wealth, and of rank, and of 
 goodness. Here are conceived the schemes of sedition, and 
 rebellion, and infidelity, of destruction and robbery ; and from 
 town to town the people are banded together for the work 
 of ruin. 
 
 And what power is there left in the Hierarchy to arrest the 
 evil ? You cannot reach the wicked doers with the voice of 
 holy rebuke ; and, if you could, they have thrown off your 
 authority, and would refuse to turn at your word. Your means 
 are insufficient ; and whether you apply to the State, or to the 
 laity as individuals, you must be sensible that additional 
 endowments cannot be procured for ministers, nor additional 
 places of worship ; nay, this is the very point of time when they 
 curtail your means, and you know not how soon you may be 
 met with the maxim already proclaimed by royal authority in 
 Scotland, but a maxim subversive of the very notion of a 
 National Church, that, " wherever religious instruction and 
 pastoral superintendence are, to a certain extent, afforded by 
 any sect or denomination whatsoever, there the services of an 
 Established Church are not required, and may be dispensed 
 with." Better that the State should altogether withhold its 
 protection, than impart it in a mode which saps the foundation 
 of the Church. 
 
 And the consequences are inevitable, so far as human 
 agency can operate. The altar and the throne are systematic- 
 ally assailed. The cessation of those mutual ofhces of parental 
 blessing on the part of the Church, and of filial protection on 
 the part of the State, is already decreed by the party really, if 
 
The two Smaller Testimonies. 377 
 
 not by that ostensibly, in power. The infidels, and Dissenters, 
 and Papists, in unholy union, are effecting this as a pre ude to 
 the destruction of both Church and Monarchy, amidst the 
 applause of some and the apathy of others. And none know 
 so well as those whom we address, that. the most influential 
 supporters of the Church, in and out of the legislature, are, m 
 pc^nt of fact, abandoning the citadel while they defend the 
 outworks; and in seeking to preserve, as they mtend, the 
 property of the Church, are yielding to their enemies the only 
 standing and principle on which the Church can be entided to 
 that property to the exclusion of others. 
 
 Already has the property of the Church been torn by 
 lawless violence from the lawful proprietors in Ireland; and 
 in Parliament, both the political parties have in their turn 
 proposed measures for sanctioning that spoliation. 1 he Arch- 
 bishops and ten Bishops, in that part of the kingdom which is 
 filled with superstition and most needs the exertion of the 
 clergy have been decreed to be "nuisances, and abated 
 accordingly." It has been attempted to extinguish the very 
 performance of Protestant Worship in nearly one-third of the 
 parishes there. And the zeal, combination, and energy which 
 have effected so much, will with equal success, so far as 
 human foresight can conclude, again put into action the instru- 
 ments of assault which have already made such breaches. Oh ! 
 it is not the loss of power, of wealth, or of political influence 
 involved,-but this, Fathers of the Church, is the overwhelming 
 thought, that while you have been intrusted by God with His 
 baptized people in this land, you are about to be deprived, by 
 the hands of wicked men, of the standing, the means, and the 
 opportunity through which you might draw back to yourselves 
 the wandering sheep, whom the Great Shepherd, when He shall 
 appear, will demand at your hands. Even now see you the 
 wolves in sheep's clothing dissolving the ties which bind you to 
 your flocks. Schismatics— heretics of every shade -fanatics 
 
37^ ApperuUx II. 
 
 and infidels filled with spiritual wickedness. The people, 
 whom you now vainly seek to reach with your Ministry, 
 exposed to every form of temptation, spiritual, moral, and 
 political. In a word, behold the mass of wickedness involving 
 the souls of thousands, who, by the Clergy of the Church, 
 should have been taught and blessed in the ways of God in 
 His house, and that mass rolling onward with accelerated 
 rapidity into the gulf of revolution and atheism — your responsi- 
 bility remaining, your means of fulfilling it fearfully diminished. 
 And is it possible that all this ruin at home and abroad — 
 this laying waste of God's Church, planted by Him in the 
 nations of Europe — can have been brought to pass without sin ? 
 These evils within and without — this feebleness, and dissolu- 
 tion, and decay — have they been God's work, His Church 
 meanwhile having fulfilled her duties ? It is not so ; these 
 are not a passing cloud, a mere trial of faith in adverse cir- 
 cumstances. The Lord Himself is the adversary ; " He covers 
 the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger, He casts down 
 from heaven to earth the beauty of Israel, and remembers not 
 His footstool in the day of His anger ; He swallows up all the 
 foundations of Jacob ; He throws down in His wrath the strong- 
 holds of the daughters of Judah ; He pollutes the kingdom 
 and the princes thereof; He cuts off in His fierce anger all 
 the horn of Israel ; He bends His bow like an enemy ; He 
 stands with His right hand like an adversary ; He despises in 
 the indignation of His anger the king and the priest " (Lam. 
 ii. I — 4, 6). And why should vain man seek to justify him- 
 self? rather let us confess the offences whereby God has been 
 displeased. " The sins of our kings, our princes, and our 
 fathers, and all the people of our land" (Dan. ix. 8). The 
 sins of Christendom. For it is not the sin of one generation 
 nor of two ; and though now it has leavened the whole lump as 
 it was never leavened before, nevertheless the leaven has been 
 hid for generations past. But now, or it will be too late, must 
 
Tlie two Smaller Testimonies. 379 
 
 the sins be confessed and repented of ; for though m all times 
 they have more or less existed, it is not the less true that this 
 generation fills up the measure of the iniquity of their fathers, 
 and of this generation shall be required the accumulated guilt. 
 
 The time of judgment answers to the time of harvest, not 
 of sowing. The causes which have produced the ripening for 
 judgment must be traced to former generations. 
 
 Bear with us, then, while, in love to the Church of Christ 
 and to you, and yet, as becomes the Ambassadors of Christ 
 our King, we lay open the burden which He has endured in 
 the iniquities of His people, whom He has redeemed and 
 gathered into the fold of His Church— the sins of His baptized, 
 in the generations past, which He hath long borne with and 
 restrained, but which now are working their evil fruits in the 
 spiritual desolation which surrounds us on every side. To this 
 end it is needful that we should first call to mind the standing 
 of the Church of God as He constituted her at the beginning. 
 
 [The main body of this Testimony, which extends to seventy- 
 one quarto pages, as against forty-five of the Testimony to King 
 William, is taken up with an exposition of Irvingite Doctrine 
 wdiich is found in an expanded form in the Great Testimony. 
 It concludes thus : — ] 
 
 We call not upon you to follow twelve men, but to have 
 faith in the Living God, in His promises, and in His word. 
 We remind you, as the priests of God, that ye have to render to 
 Him His Bride. 
 
 ***** 
 
 We know the difficulties wherein you are now placed, and 
 the full weight whereof you will undergo in receiving this our 
 testimony. The calling of the followers of Christ is not to 
 honour in this world, but to repjvach for His Name's sake — to 
 take up their cross and follow Him. Nevertheless, we call not 
 upon you to take any step in your own strength, nor to seek to 
 free yourselves from the obligations into which the sins of 
 
380 Appendix II. 
 
 generations past have betrayed the Church, and which, finding 
 the Church involved in them, you, as individuals, have volun- 
 tarily incurred. Your duty is to stand in your places where 
 you are, acknowledging the Hand of God in His present work ; 
 confessing the sins which, like a thick cloud, have hid the face 
 of Heaven ; watching day and night for the salvation of Israel, 
 more than they that watch for the morning ; continuing instant 
 in prayer, but joyful through hope because of the approaching 
 deliverance of yourselves and your people, through the power 
 of God in the Holy Ghost. Above all, praying for us, that, 
 like as now we have been used of the Lord to bring the word of 
 these good tidings to you, so also we may shortly be sent forth 
 to you in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 Fathers of the Church, our souls long over you in the 
 bowels of Christ. Unfeignedly we implore all the blessings of 
 goodness may be poured forth upon you, and into the bosom 
 of your people. God forbid that we should cease to pray for 
 you, that you may be lifted up into the hope of your calling, 
 and draw up a spiritual people with you into the communion of 
 the one fold. We feel the awful solemnity of the call which 
 we make upon you — our own responsibility and yours ; and 
 while we have sought to fulfil our part in faithfulness and truth, 
 we have also sought to bear ourselves as those who "plead 
 with their mother" (Hosea ii. 2). 
 
 May the God of all grace fill you with all wisdom and 
 spiritual understanding in all things ; preserve you from the 
 pride which saith, " I am rich and increased with goods, and 
 have need of nothing ;" "I sit as a queen, and shall never 
 know sorrow ! " May He count you worthy of this calling, and 
 fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of 
 faith with power, that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may 
 be glorified in you, according to the Grace of God and of our 
 I^ord Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
 Glory be to the Father, &c. 
 
APPENDIX III. 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 " 'T^HE Lord maketh known the mystery of the candlestick 
 J. to the churches. Jesus, Thou art the hght that hghteth 
 every man that cometh into the world. Thou hast the seven 
 Spirits, the seven lamps of fire that burn before the throne of 
 God. Thou wilt again manifest Thyself in Thy Church. Thou 
 art giving and wilt give Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors. 
 Thou wilt manifest Thyself in all gifts of the Spirit, in all holy 
 fruits of the Spirit. The candlestick doth set forth the 
 completeness of a Church; the centre lamp sets forth the 
 Ano-el ; the six lamps to the branches, the Elders. The three 
 bowls are the three ministries supplying the lamp with oil. Oh! 
 thou angel, take heed that the oil flow freely, and supply the 
 light of thy lamp through thy ministries of rule, of prophetic 
 utterance, of teaching and feeding the people. And all ye 
 people, ye do support the lamps, ye are as the shaft and the 
 branches ; let the knops and the flowers be seen. Ah ! let the 
 gifts of the Spirit be manifested ; the word of wisdom, with its 
 branches ; the word of knowledge, with its branches ; faith, with 
 its branches, healing and miracles ; these are the knops. And 
 let the beauty of the flowers be the rejoicing of the Church of 
 God ; love branching into joy and peace ; long-suffering, into 
 (gentleness and goodness ; faith, into meekness and temperance. 
 Faith, hope, and charity, — let them be manifested, O ye Church 
 of God, and God shall bless you ; and Jesus your High Priest 
 
382 Appendix III. 
 
 shall ever walk about with the tongs and snuffers ; the tongs 
 (raising the wick), the voice of apostolic exhortation and 
 encouragement; the snuffers, the utterance of prophetic rebuke, 
 to cause the liglit to shine more brightly. And O ye people, 
 bring up the pure oil, the first love ; not of constraint, but with 
 a willing mind. Fill ye your deacons, the vessels for the oil, 
 that these, the heads of the congregation, may bring it up unto 
 the Lord, and the bowls continually be filled. The wise virgins 
 must take heed that their vessels be kept filled. The Lord 
 giveth the shaft with its branches first ; then the lamps on the 
 top. Understand ye, the Lord prepareth His way in causing 
 the hearts of His people to desire the manifestation of His 
 glory. Then He chooseth out His servants, to place them as 
 lamps. Jesus alone doeth this. Peace be with you all. 
 Amen." 
 
APPENDIX IV. 
 
 LIST OF OFFICES IN THE LITURGY OR 
 PRAYER-BOOK. 
 
 OFFICES FOR DAILY OR WEEKLY USE, 
 
 THE Celebration of the Holy Eucharist. 
 The Administration of the Communion on the After- 
 noon of the Lord's Day. 
 The Shorter Service for the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist. 
 The Creed of St. Athanasius. 
 The Office for Morning Prayer. 
 
 The Administration of the Communion after Morning Prayer. 
 The Office for Evening Prayer. 
 The Forenoon Service. 
 
 The Form for Removing the Holy Sacrament. 
 The Benediction of Holy Water. 
 The Litany. 
 The Afternoon Service. 
 The Shorter Morning Service. 
 The Shorter Evening Service. 
 Additional Prayers, &c. 
 Occasional Prayers, Thanksgivings, &c. 
 
384 Appendix IF. 
 
 OFFICES FOR PROPER AND OCCASIONAL USE. 
 
 Proper Services for Holy Days and Seasons. 
 
 In Advent. 
 
 Christmas Eve. 
 
 Christmas Day. 
 
 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Easter. 
 
 Thursday before Easter. 
 
 Good Friday. 
 
 Easter Eve. 
 
 Easter Day. 
 
 Ascension Day. 
 
 The Eve of Pentecost. 
 
 The Day of Pentecost. 
 
 The Form of Consecrating Chrism. 
 
 The Anniversary of the Separation of Apostles. 
 
 All Angels. 
 
 All Saints. 
 
 The Prayers for the Three Seasons. 
 The Assembly of the Seven Churches : — 
 
 General Forms to be used in Celebrating the Holy 
 Eucharist. 
 
 By an Apostle before a Solemn Council. 
 
 By an Apostle for a Tribe. 
 
 By an Aposde before a Visitation. 
 
 For a Particular Church. 
 
 For Unity. 
 
 For Blessing on the Labours of Evangelists. 
 
 For Increasing the Number of Evangelists. 
 
 In Commemorating a Sick Person. 
 
 In Commemorating a Deceased Person. 
 
 For a Young Person. 
 
 For a Woman after Childbirth. 
 A Form of Prayer to be used on Days of Humiliation. 
 
 I 
 
Offices in the Liturgy or Prayer-Book. 385 
 
 Forms for Celebrating the Eucharist. 
 
 In Times of Calamity. 
 
 In Times of Sickness. 
 
 In Times of Scarcity. 
 
 In Times of War, 
 A Form of Thanksgiving on Days of Rejoicing. 
 Forms for Celebrating the Eucharist on the Restoration of 
 
 Peace, &c. 
 
 SPECIAL OCCASIONAL SERVICES. 
 
 The Receiving a Catechumen. 
 
 The Dedication of Catechumens. 
 
 Holy Baptism, 
 
 The Order for Receiving any who have been privately Baptized. 
 
 The Churching of Women. 
 
 The Committing to Pastorship. 
 
 The Benediction of New Communicants. 
 
 The Renewal of Vows. 
 
 The Laying-on of Apostles' Hands. 
 
 The Solemnization of Marriage. 
 
 The Benediction of Newly-married Persons. 
 
 Benediction for Works of Charity. 
 
 Dedication for the Holy Ministry. 
 
 The Benediction of a Door-keeper. 
 
 The Benediction of Singers. 
 
 The Admission of Under-Deacons, 
 
 The Benediction of a Deaconess. 
 
 The Order for Admitting to the Office of Deacon. 
 
 The Office for Blessing Deacons. 
 
 The Receiving One of the Seven Deacons of a Church. 
 
 The Receiving a Deacon. 
 
 The Order for Ordaining Priests. 
 
 The Form for Confirming the Orders of Priests. 
 
 'VOL. II. C C 
 
386 Jppendix IF. 
 
 Receiving one of the Six Elders of a Church. 
 Receiving a Priest. 
 
 The Receiving a Priest for Temporary Service. 
 The Presentation for the Episcopate. 
 A Prayer on Behalf of a Called Angel. 
 The Office for the Consecration of an Angel. 
 The Order of Inducting an Angel. 
 The Order of Sending forth an Angel-Evangelist. 
 Forms of Benediction upon the Sending forth of Ministers. 
 The Laying the First Stone of a Church. 
 The Consecration of Churches. 
 The Consecration of the Altar, &c. 
 The Consecration of a Tablet-Altar. 
 
 The Forms for Benediction of Furniture, Vessels, and 
 Vestments. 
 
 OFFICES FOR PRIVATE OCCASIONS. 
 
 The Benediction of a House. 
 
 The Benediction of a Chamber-lodging. 
 
 The Benediction of a Ship. 
 
 The Absolution of Penitents. 
 
 Prayer for a Woman after Childbirth, and Dedication of 
 
 Infant. 
 Private Baptism. 
 
 The Administration of Holy Communion to the Sick. 
 The Benediction of Holy Oil. 
 The Order for Anointing the Sick. 
 A Litany in the Visitation of the Sick. 
 Commendation of a Departing Soul, 
 Prayers on Passing an Altar. 
 
APPENDIX V. 
 
 SELECTION FROM THE CATECHISM. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 Q. You have said that you beheve the " Holy Catholic 
 Church : " What is the Church ? 
 
 A. The Church is the Congregation of all who believe in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and are baptized according to His com- 
 mandment. It is the Household of God, the Body of Christ, 
 the Temple of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Q. How doth God make known His will in the Church ? 
 
 A. Holy men of old were moved by the Holy Ghost to 
 declare the will of God ; and the words of God delivered by 
 them, and contained in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, 
 w'ere committed to the Jews. These, together with the writings 
 of the Evangelists and Apostles of the New Testament, have 
 been preserved in the Christian Church, and handed down to 
 us : and Christ hath set in His Church IMinisters for the guid- 
 ance of His people, in accordance with His written word. And 
 to all men God bears witness by the Church, proclaiming His 
 salvation, and blessing the works of His hands. 
 
 Q. What Ministries hath our Lord Jesus Christ given to 
 His Church ? 
 
 A. When He ascended up on high, He received gifts for 
 
388 Jppendix V. 
 
 men : and He gave some men, Apostles ; and some, Prophets; 
 and some, Evangelists ; and some, Pastors and Teachers. 
 
 Q. For what ends were these Ministries given ? 
 
 A. They were given for the perfecting of the Saints, for the 
 work of the Ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ • 
 till we all come unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge 
 of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the 
 stature of the fulness of Christ. 
 
 Q. What is the meaning of the word Apostle ? 
 A. Apostle is " one sent forth." 
 
 Q. How are Apostles distinguished from all other Ministers? 
 
 A. Apostles are neither of men, nor by man ; but by Jesus 
 
 Christ and God the Father, sent forth immediately and directly. 
 
 Q. How are all other Ministers set in the Church ? 
 
 A. They are set in the Church by our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 not immediately, but through ordination by Apostles, or by those 
 whom they have delegated for that purpose. 
 
 Q. What do you mean by Ordination ? 
 
 A. Ordination is the means appointed by God for admitting 
 those who are to serve in the Ministry to some order or degree 
 therein. 
 
 Q. How is Ordination conferred ? 
 
 A. Ordination is conferred by the laying on of hands with 
 prayer : and therein God bestows the gift of His Holy Spirit, 
 for enabling him that is ordained to fulfil, in spirit and in truth, 
 the work of the Ministry, in the order to which he is admitted. 
 
 Q. Which are the principal orders in the Ministry ? 
 A. These three ; namely, the order of Angel or Bishop, the 
 order of Presbyter ^ or Priest, and the order of Deacon. 
 
 Q. You have now told me in what way men are ordained 
 to, and set in, the priesthood and all the higher ministries of 
 1 Or Elder. 
 
Selection from the Catechism. 389 
 
 the Church : doth not God previously call them to these holy 
 ministries ? 
 
 A. Yes ; God calleth those whom He purposes to employ 
 by the word of the Holy Ghost, through the prophet. 
 
 Q. How are Deacons chosen ? 
 
 A. Deacons are chosen by the Congregation, or with their 
 concurrence. The seven Deacons of each Church are elected 
 by the Congregation among whom they are to minister ; and 
 they become their representatives, when confirmed in their 
 places by the Apostles. Other Deacons are chosen to the 
 work of the Ministry by the Apostles, or by some Angel having 
 their authority, after due notice and inquiry. 
 
 Q. How are we to regard the Angel of the Church ? 
 
 A. We should honour the Angel as the chief Minister and 
 Pastor, to whom God has committed the charge of the whole 
 flock, including the Priests and the Deacons ; and who is 
 appointed to offer in the Congregation the Intercession of the 
 Church. 
 
 Q. How are we to regard the Priests ? 
 
 A. We should honour the Priests as those appointed, under 
 the Angel, to minister the Word of God and the Sacraments ; to 
 watch over our souls as good shepherds of the sheep ; and to 
 offer in the Congregation the prayers of the Church. 
 
 Q. How are we to regard Deacons ? 
 
 A. We should honour the Deacons as the ministers of God 
 appointed to guide us, both by word and example, in the paths 
 of righteousness ; to assist the Priests in the ministry of the 
 Church ; to help those who seek to them, in the management 
 of their secular affairs ; and to relieve the poor and afflicted. 
 
 Q. What is the rite of the laying on of Apostles' hands on 
 the members of the Church? 
 
 A. It is a Sacrament or rite in which is bestowed the Gift 
 
39° Appendix V. 
 
 of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, upon those who have been 
 baptized and are come to full age. 
 
 Q. What benefits are conferred upon them in this rite ? 
 
 A. They are established and confirmed, sealed and anointed : 
 and therein the Holy Ghost divides His gifts to each one 
 severally, as He will. 
 
 Q. What is meant by speaking of the Gift of the Holy 
 Ghost as sevenfold ? 
 
 A. The prophet Isaiah foretold that the Spirit which was to 
 rest upon Christ should be the spirit of wisdom and understand- 
 ing, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and 
 of the fear of the Lord, and should make him to be of quick 
 understanding in the fear of the Lord. 
 
 Q. What is the manifestation of the Spirit which is given to 
 each, for the profit of all ? 
 
 A. The Holy Ghost, in coming down upon them that are 
 sealed, gives to one the word of wisdom, to another the word 
 of knowledge, to another faith, to another the gifts of healing, 
 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to 
 another discerning of spirits, to another divers kinds of tongues, 
 to another the interpretation of tongues. All these worketh 
 that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally 
 as He will. 
 
APPENDIX VI. 
 
 PASSAGES FROM MANUAL. 
 
 THE Priesthood, Episcopate or Oversight, and Pastorship 
 of the Christian Church are One in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who is the " High Priest of our Profession," and the " Shepherd 
 and Bishop of our souls." He fulfiUeth these functions by exercis- 
 ing a fourfold Ministry or manner of operation, adapted to the 
 several parts of the moral and intellectual constitution of man. 
 All other men engaged in^ the Christian Church, in ministering 
 before God and towards their fellow-men in spiritual things, are 
 instruments in the hands of the Lord Jesus, used by Him 
 through the operation of the Holy Ghost. They have no 
 independent virtue, power, or office, as priests or ministers ; 
 and they are to be received, sought to, reverenced, and obeyed, 
 simply because they are thus employed by Him. 
 
 ***** 
 Those, therefore, who were thus ordained to be presbyters, 
 were admitted to the one priesthood of the Christian Church, 
 the duties whereof they were enabled to fulfil as effectually as 
 Apostles, or any others. And as the end of their ordination was 
 to " take heed unto the flesh," who should all receive that 
 direct fourfold ministration whereby the saints are to be 
 perfected, therefore there must be contained in this order the 
 four classes of Ministers corresponding to, or rather continuous 
 
392- Appen dix VI . 
 
 of, those existing in the higher order. There must be among 
 those having the immediate cure of souls, not only the ruling 
 Elders, but also prophetic Priests, Evangelists (or preachers), and 
 Pastors (or confessors) ; through whom, receiving grace and 
 instruction from those in the higher order, the fourfold Ministry 
 of the Lord would find its direct and immediate application to 
 individuals. 
 
 But of the four, the Pastor has the especial 
 
 supervision and care of the children of God ; he is the imme- 
 diate and intimate guardian of their souls. And as this is the 
 characteristic of the pastoral Ministry in its direct and personal 
 application, so in the operation of the fourfold Ministry through 
 those in the episcopate (whose Ministry is directed to Churches, 
 and who take oversight over both priests and people), the 
 Pastors are, from the nature of their office, the immediate 
 guardians, and in the natural course of their ministry have the 
 especial supervision and care of the Churches. So that, being 
 Pastors of Priests as well as people, chief Pastors they became 
 under the Apostles, heads of the Churches over which they were 
 placed in charge ; and thus " the hierarchy of the church ' 
 becomes " complete in every several community," comprising 
 the representative of the higher order of the Christian Ministry 
 (who becomes the connecting link and the channel of communi- 
 cation between the rulers over the Catholic Church, to whom 
 he is strictly subordinate, and the particular Church committed 
 to his care), and also comprising the presbyters, admitted to 
 the priesthood, but subordinated to the Bishop, together with 
 those acting in the office of deaconship. 
 
 ***** 
 
 The distinction, therefore, of order is not a distinction in 
 the priesthood considered abstractedly. The Priest, equally 
 with the Bishop or the Apostle, possesses power to present and 
 to convey, and if duly authorized and legitimately placed in 
 jurisdiction, does eftectually present and convey the gifts, the 
 
Passages from JSIaiuial. 393 
 
 vows, the prayers of the people to God, and the words of 
 absokition, of blessing, or of instruction from God. 
 
 The distinction of order is not a distinction as to the nature 
 of the fourfold Ministry or manner of action in the priesthood. 
 These offices, in their application to the heart and spirit of a 
 man, are as effectually administered by a ruling Elder as by an 
 Apostle ; by a Pastor, who is only Priest, as by an Angel or 
 Bishop. The distinction consists in the extent and nature of 
 the jurisdiction (whether as relates to discipline or doctrine), and 
 consequently in the proper subjects of the respective ministra- 
 tions ; it consists in the possession by the one of the power or 
 capacity, not possessed by the other, to oversee, to direct in 
 their duties, to instruct, to bless, and minister supplies of grace, 
 not only to the people, but to the Priests, for fulfilling their 
 duties, with which is connected .... the capacity for being 
 used to impart the gifts of the Holy Ghost in ordination and 
 otherwise. 
 
 For the fulfilling of these larger duties there is required a 
 distinct standing and place from that requisite for fulfilling those 
 common to the priesthood, — there is required the impression 
 of a new and distinct character, and the possession of a further 
 gift of the Holy Ghost, which must be conveyed and conferred 
 by solemn ordination. And as by the constitution of the 
 Christian Church, as interpreted by tradition. Priests are 
 incapable, and by the law of the Church are not permitted, to 
 admit others to the priesthood, so it would follow by just 
 analogy, and so by the original constitution and law of the 
 Church it surely was provided, that none can be admitted to 
 this higher order except they be called immediately of God, 
 and by Him, without the intervention of man, be constituted 
 to be His Apostles ; or except they be received into the 
 episcopate by ordination, through the imposition of the hands 
 of Apostles or their delegates. It is probably from this cause 
 (and not for the reason usually alleged) that while the act of 
 
394 Appendix VI. 
 
 one Bishop is sufficient to ordain to the priesthood, " two or 
 three " are required to the consecration of a Bishop ; an analogy 
 which has been closely followed in presbyterian ordinations, as 
 might be anticipated. 
 
 In concluding these observations, we point out the following 
 relative positions in which Apostles and other ministers may be 
 regarded : i. As called and set in the one priesthood, wherein 
 all are equally Priests, Bishops, and Pastors, though they are not 
 all equal Priests, &c. 2. In respect of order, the jurisdiction 
 and episcopate of the Priest extends properly only to the laity, 
 that is to say, to the souls of itidividual men (if of ordained 
 men, that is merely accidental) ; while that of the Bishop is to 
 Priests, as Priests, as well as to all the people. 3. In respect 
 of ministry or class comprised respectively in each order of the 
 priesthood ; and herein there is co-ordination, in this sense, 
 namely, that all are ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ, each 
 with his proper gift ; but still there is also precedency ; for it is 
 written first Apostles, secondarily Prophets, thirdly Teachers. 
 4, and lastly : and besides all these. Apostles are distinct from 
 all others, and over them in the Lord, and none can be 
 absolutely co-ordinate with them. They are called and set in 
 their office immediately by God, and others are ordained by 
 them or through them ; they become antecedently the deposit- 
 aries of God's promises to the Church, and of the great 
 promise, the ministration of the Holy Ghost ; and that which 
 was thus exhibited at the first, both before the Ascension and 
 at the day of Pentecost, is, or ought to be, the continuous 
 operation of their ministry, viz., that they should be the instru- 
 ments in the hands of the Lord for supplying with continual 
 grace those whom they ordain, and through them the whole 
 flock and Church of God. 
 
APPENDIX VII. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC 
 CHURCH IN THE CENSUS OF 1851. 
 
 THE following sketch, supplied by a Member of the Body, 
 will perhaps convey, with certain qualifications, a correct 
 idea of its sentiments and position : — 
 
 "The Body to which this name is applied (/. e. The Catholic 
 Apostolic Church) makes no exclusive claim to it : they simply 
 object to be called by any other. They acknowledge it to be 
 the common title of the one Church baptized into Christ, which 
 has existed in all ages, and of which they claim to be Members. 
 They have always protested against the application to them of 
 the term ' Irvingites ; ' which appellation they consider to be 
 untrue and offensive, though derived from one whom when living 
 they held in high regard as a devoted minister of Christ. 
 
 " They do not profess to be, and refuse to acknowledge 
 that they are, separatists from the Church established or 
 dominant in the land of their habitation, or from the general 
 body of Christians therein. They recognize the continuance of 
 the Church from the days of the first Apostles, and of the three 
 orders of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, by succession from 
 the Apostles. They justify their meeting in separate congrega- 
 tions from the charge of schism, on the ground of the same 
 being permitted and authorized by an ordinance of paramount 
 authority, which they believe God has restored for the benefit 
 
39^ ^PP- V^ll- Account of The Catholic 
 
 of the whole Church. And so far from professing to be another 
 sect in addition to the numerous sects already dividing the 
 Church, or to be ' the One Church ' to the exclusion of all 
 other Bodies, they beheve that their special mission is to re- 
 unite the scattered Members of the one Body of Christ. 
 
 "The only standards of faith which they recognize are the 
 three creeds of the Catholic Church — the Apostles' Creed, the 
 Nicene or Constantinopolitan Creed, and that called the Creed 
 of St. Athanasius. The speciality of their religious belief, whereby 
 they are distinguished from all other Christian communities, 
 stands in this : that they hold Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, 
 and Pastors to be abiding ministries in the Church, and that 
 their ministries, together with the power and gifts of the Holy 
 Ghost, dispensed and distributed among her Members, are 
 necessary for preparing and perfecting the Church for the second 
 Advent of the Lord ; and that supreme rule in the Church 
 ought to be exercised, as at the first, by twelve Aposdes, 
 not elected or ordained by men, but called and sent forth 
 immediately by God. 
 
 " The congregations which have been authorized as above 
 stated are placed under the pastoral rule of Angels or Bishops, 
 with whom are associated in the work of the ministry, Priests 
 and Deacons. The Deacons are a distinct and separate order 
 of ministers taken from the midst of, and chosen by, the 
 respective congregations in which they are to serve, and are 
 ortlained either by Apostles, or by Angels receiving commission 
 thereunto. The Priests are first called to their office by the 
 Word through the Prophets (" no man taketh this honour to 
 himself,") and then ordained by Apostles ; and from among the 
 Priests, by a like call and ordination, are the Angels set in their 
 places. 
 
 "With respect to times of worship, the Holy Eucharist 
 is celebrated and the Communion administered every Lord's 
 Day, and more or less frequently during the week, according to 
 
Apostolic Church in the Census oj^ i^~,i. 397 
 
 the number of Priests in each particular congregation ; and 
 where the congregations are large, the first and last hours of 
 every day, reckoning from 6 a.m. to 6 p.i\i., are appointed for 
 Divine Worship ; and if there be a sufficient number of ministers, 
 there are in addition prayers daily at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., with 
 other Services for the more special objects of teaching and 
 preaching. 
 
 " In the forms of Worship observed, the prayers and other 
 devotions to be found in the principal liturgies of the Christian 
 Church are introduced by preference, wherever appropriate ; 
 and in all their Services the bishops and clergy of the Catholic 
 Church, and all Christian kings, princes, and governors, are 
 remembered before God. It may also be observed, that in 
 their ritual, observances, and offices of worship, external and 
 material things have their place. They contend that, as through 
 the washing of water men are admitted into the Christian 
 covenant, and as bread and wine duly consecrated are ordained 
 to be used not merely for spiritual food, but for purposes of 
 sacramental and symbolic agency, so also that the use of other 
 material things, such as oil, lights, incense, &c., as symbols and 
 exponents of spiritual realities, belong to the dispensation of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 "Besides free-will offerings, the tenth of their increase, 
 including income of every description, is brought up to the 
 Lord (it being regarded as a sacred duty that tithe should be 
 dedicated to His service alone), and is apportioned among 
 those who are separated to the ministry. 
 
 " In England there are about thirty congregations, com- 
 prising nearly 6000 communicants ; the number is gradually 
 on the increase. There are also congregations in Scotland and 
 Ireland, a considerable number in Germany, and several in 
 France, Switzerland, and America." ^ 
 
 ^ Census of Great Britain, 1851 : " Religious Worship." London : 
 ^853, PP- cii. ciii. 
 
APPENDIX VIII. 
 
 THE TABERNACLE. 
 
 [readings from the liturgy and other divine offices 
 of the church, vol i. part ii. pp. 255 — 261.] 
 
 THE Most Holy Place, the type of the spiritual and heavenly, 
 comprises in its symbolical significancy the immediate com- 
 mission of priesthood and authority, given in trust to those who 
 are sent forth "not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus 
 Christ and God the Father," and which is continually derived 
 to the Church through the apostles thus sent forth. And as 
 at the entrance to the Most Holy Place stood the four pillars 
 concealed by the Veil, so through the gifts of apostleship and 
 of prophetic revelation, the fourfold Ministry becomes developed 
 in the Ministers of the Universal Church, namely, the Apostles, 
 and the Prophets, Evangelists, and Pastors immediately asso- 
 ciated with them. And thus all of these, not being seen in 
 active operation in any of the particular congregations, but 
 being spiritually present in all the Churches, binding all together, 
 and ministering grace and spiritual power from the Lord, are 
 symbolically represented in the Most Holy Place. 
 
 The priesthood, to Avhose charge are committed the sheep 
 of Christ's flock, gathered into their several congregations, is 
 symbolized in the inferior division of the Tabernacle ; the 
 
The Tabernacle. 399 
 
 Angel of the particular Church, prefigured by the High-Priest, 
 being, as it were, the connecting link between the universal 
 and the particular, and in some degree belonging to both 3 as 
 the High-Priest had rites to fulfil both in the Most Holy and 
 Holy Place. 
 
 In like manner the deaconship is represented in the outer 
 Court, although not without the symbolical presence of the 
 priest also ; just as, under the Law, the priest fulfilled duties 
 both in the Holy Place and in the Court ; assisting the High- 
 Priest in the former place, and being assisted by the Levites in 
 the latter. 
 
 We have mentioned, that between the Most Holy and the 
 Holy Place were four pillars of shittim-wood overlaid with gold, 
 upon which was suspended the Veil of blue, and purple, and 
 scarlet, and fine white linen, with Cherubim wrought in it. 
 Moreover, in the Holy Place there were four horns to the 
 Golden Altar, and the incense which was offered upon it was 
 composed of four ingredients ; there were also four bowls to 
 the Shaft of the Golden Candlestick ; and to the Table of 
 Shewbread four rings were attached above the four feet thereof, 
 and on it were four several kinds of vessels or instruments for 
 the service of that Table. Between the Tabernacle and the 
 Court were five pillars of shittim-wood overlaid with gold, upon 
 which was suspended a veil, distinguished by the* same four 
 colours as those of the inner veil, and similar to it in other 
 respects except that there were no Cherubim wrought upon it. 
 In the Court without there was the Brazen Altar with its four 
 horns ; and upon the four pillars of entrance was hung a similar 
 veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine white linen, but 
 also Avithout Cherubim. These series of pillars, giving access 
 to the several parts of the Sanctuary, are obviously connected 
 in their symbolical meaning ; and for this reason we shall bring 
 them together under review. They refer, as do also the forty- 
 eight boards forming the framework of the Tabernacle, and the 
 
400 Appendix VI 11. 
 
 remaining fifty-six pillars round the Court, to the Ministers of 
 the Church, as having authority to minister the word of 
 teacliing and preaching ; and not as engaged in, or performing, 
 liturgical rites. It will be, therefore, unnecessary to explain 
 them at any length. But the number four, so continually 
 recurring and brought into such ])rominence in all the above 
 types, demands our attention ; for, in its spiritual interpretation, 
 it refers to most important elements in the constitution of man 
 as created by God, and to the modes of His operations towards 
 man through the ordinances of the Church. 
 
 The four pillars between the Most Holy Place (which 
 symbolized the spiritual condition of the Church in the 
 heavenlies) and the Holy Place (which symbolized the 
 Church in its condition on this earth, one, and yet divided 
 into separate congregations or Churches) are the types of 
 those offices, the proper sphere for wliich is the Universal 
 Church, namely, Apostleship (committed to men immediately 
 called and sent forth of God), and the offices of Prophet, of 
 Evangelist, and of Pastor, committed to men called and 
 ordained of God, not immediately, but through the instrument- 
 ality of their fellow-men. As these Pillars were the means of 
 access to and egress from the Most Holy Place, so the 
 revelations and commandments which the Lord would give to 
 the Churcli are derived to particular Churches through the 
 Ministry of those set in the offices typified and prefigured by 
 the pillars. The veil hung upon the pillars with its four colours, 
 is that Ministry which, until the resurrection, is to be fulfilled 
 by those standing in the four offices : and the figures of the 
 Cherubim wrought upon this veil, and upon this veil only, 
 signify, that the Ministry typified thereby is that fulfilled by 
 apostles and those immediately associated Avith them, the 
 highest spiritual Ministry of the Christian Church. 
 
 Every particular Church, so far as circumstances permit, is 
 formed upon the model of the Universal Church. And as the 
 
The Tabernacle. 401 
 
 Lord, the Angel of the Covenant, ministers to His Church 
 through four, so in Uke manner, the Angel of the particular 
 Church ministers to, and on behalf of, the people committed 
 to his charge, whether in the functions of the priestly office, 
 or in those 'of the diaconal ministry, through four. This is 
 typically represented by the arrangements, both of the Holy 
 Place and of the Court. 
 
 The four horns of the Golden Altar in the Holy Place do 
 not primarily typify the fourfold Ministry ; but in a secondary 
 sense, and inclusively, they do. The Golden Altar is the type 
 of priesthood in respect of Mediation ; which, though it be a 
 function appertaining to the office of every priest, yet as a 
 corporate act of the Church, as One Body, is fulfilled only by 
 the Lord, and in the particular Church only by the Angel. It 
 is thus that the Golden Altar becomes the type of priesthood 
 under the headship of the Angel. In this, the primary and 
 immediate sense, horns being the symbol of power, the four 
 horns to the Golden Altar primarily set forth, that the Angel 
 has power and authority, by the employment under him of four 
 other Angels equal to him by ordination, but subordinate to 
 him in jurisdiction, to fulfil this office of intercession, in four 
 distinct congregations forming part of his flock, but locally 
 distinct from the Mother Church. But as the Altar typifies the 
 priesthood, and as, wherever the Angel's office is exercised, the 
 presence and assistance of the four Ministries in the priesthood 
 under him, are essential to the completeness of his office, 
 the four horns of the Golden Altar must consequently be 
 applied in a secondary sense to the four Ministries in the 
 priesthood. And with this agrees the symbolical meaning of 
 the four ingredients in the incense offered upon the Golden 
 Altar ; for they signify four different kinds of prayers (using the 
 word prayer in a generic sense) ; of which different kinds we 
 shall hereafter have to give the distinctive characteristics, and 
 to show their connection with the four classes of ministry 
 VOL. II. D D 
 
402 Appendix Fill. 
 
 existing in the priesthood. These four classes, the four Minis- 
 tries in the priesthood, are, the ruling elders (elders, presbyters, 
 or priests, ruling in word and doctrine, and also in discipline), 
 prophets, evangelists, and pastors, the three last being respect- 
 ively of the order of priest, presbyter, or elder, although not 
 ruling elders. 
 
 As the Golden Candlestick is the symbol of the sevenfold 
 Eldership, namely, the Angel and six ruling elders, — it is not to 
 be expected that the idea of the fourfold Ministry should be 
 brought into prominence in this type ; yet is it not wholly 
 excluded. In each of the branches supporting the six side 
 lamps were three bowls, referring to the offices of oversight, 
 teaching, and feeding or pastorship, exercised by every elder, 
 in which he is assisted by the subordinate priest ; namely, by 
 his coadjutor or help, who should be competent in all respects 
 to occupy the place of the elder in his absence, and by the 
 evangehsts and pastors of the Church. But in the Candlestick 
 itself, that is, the centreshaft, were four bowls : and these refer 
 to the four offices, corresponding to the four of the Universal 
 Church, which are committed to the four classes of ministers in 
 the priesthood under the Angel. For although that ministry 
 of the Word, to which the type refers in its liturgical aspect, is 
 committed to the sevenfold Eldership, yet the whole body of 
 the priests and all the ministries of the House of God contribute 
 to that perfect condition of the Church, wherein it shines forth 
 as the Light of the world. 
 
 The Table of Prothesis, also (upon which were the twelve 
 loaves, representing the Church in the entirety of the priesthood), 
 was fitted with its " four rings in the four corners that were on 
 the four feet thereof," and furnished with four kinds of vessels 
 or instruments for the service of the Table. By these also the 
 four Ministries are symbolized : for the priests of each of the 
 four Ministries are alike essential to the completeness of the 
 presbytery and to the perfection of the Church ; and all in 
 
The Tabernacle. 403 
 
 their ordination are alike invested witli authority to offer the 
 Sacrifice of the Church, and to present before God the memorial 
 of Christ, in the Holy Eucharist. 
 
 In the Court without, the four horns to the Brazen Altar 
 are capable of an interpretation precisely analogous to that of 
 the horns of the Golden Altar. They refer to the performance 
 of the liturgical rites symbolized by this Altar in four distinct 
 localities under the general jurisdiction of the Angel. They 
 are also symbolical of those Ministries, through the instrument- 
 ality of which those liturgical rites are celebrated and fulfilled. 
 These are the same or analogous Ministries, whether in the 
 priesthood or in the deaconship of the Church, manifested in 
 each, in a manner consistent with their respective standing 
 and duties. 
 
 Lastly, the five Pillars at the entrance to the Tabernacle, of 
 equal height with the four Pillars leading to the Most Holy 
 Place, and like them overlaid with gold, but based upon sockets 
 of brass, and the sixty pillars encompassing the Court without, 
 of which four formed the entrance or means of access to the 
 Court, set forth respectively Ministries under the Apostles, and 
 exercised in the Universal Church. The five Pillars typify a 
 Ministry committed to men, whose duty it is to prepare the 
 way, and to give access, to the several rites symbolized by 
 those in the Holy Place. The four Pillars giving entrance to 
 the Court typify an office committed to men, and ordained for 
 the preparation for and giving access to the rites symbolized by 
 those of the Brazen Altar and the Court. 
 
 Upon each of these — upon the five Pillars and upon the 
 four — hung a veil of the same four colours as those of the Veil 
 which separated the Most Holy from the Holy Place, manifest- 
 ing that we can make no progress unto the perfection of the 
 Christian man except through the operation of the fourfold 
 Ministry exercised towards us in every stage of our approach. 
 
APPENDIX IX. 
 
 THE REGULATIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION 
 OF TITHE. 
 
 (1849.) 
 
 I. General Rules as to the Appropriation of Tithes. 
 
 1. Every ordained priest, being a fixed and regular Minister 
 in a Church, and giving up his whole time to his spiritual 
 duties, receives some proportionate part of the Tithe of the 
 Church. Such proportion (that is, the ratio, not the amount) 
 to be the same in all Churches, and to be subject to arrange- 
 ment by the rulers of the Church Universal in such manner as 
 circumstances may from time to time require. Supernumer- 
 ary priests do not receive any fixed proportion of tithe, but 
 may receive support from tithe in the manner hereinafter 
 appointed. 
 
 2. Every called priest, giving up his time to preparation for 
 his spiritual duties, and to such subordinate offices as may be 
 required of him, and every deacon giving up his time to his 
 duties, may lawfully receive support from the tithe of the 
 Church in which he is serving, after providing for the Angel 
 and those already ordained to the priesthood. 
 
Rpgulatinjhs Jo?' distribution of Tithe. 405 
 
 3. In every Church the number of fixed and regular priests 
 who, under Regulation i, are to receive proportionate parts of 
 tithe, is not to exceed the following : namely, one Angel, one 
 Angel's Coadjutor, and such a number of priests as with the 
 Angel and Angel's Coadjutor shall not exceed one to every 
 fifty of the regular communicants. Nor in any Church is the 
 number of fixed and regular priests to exceed the following : 
 namely, Angel and the Angel's Coadjutor, six Elders, six 
 Assistant Elders, and thirty-six other priests, of whom at least 
 one-third should be Prophets and Evangelists. Any other 
 priests employed in the service of the Church are to be 
 considered supernumerary, and not entitled to fixed portions 
 of tithe. 
 
 4. The precise number and class of fixed and regular priests 
 who are to receive tithe in any Church, within the above- 
 mentioned limits, will from time to time be decided by the 
 Apostle in charge of the Church {i. e. of Tribe), whose sanction 
 is also necessary to the appointment of all supernumerary 
 priests. 
 
 5. From all tithe received in a particular Church, one- 
 tenth is to be separated and paid to the Seven Deacons of the 
 Universal Church, to be applied by them under the directions 
 of the Apostles to the Ministers of the Universal Church. 
 
 6. After separating the one-tenth for the Universal Church, 
 the Angel receives one-tenth portion of the remainder, being 
 the Angel's tenth or portion. (But see Regulation 17 of 
 December, 1858.) 
 
 7. After separating the one-tenth for the Universal Church 
 and the subsequent tenth for the Angel's portion, the remainder 
 is to be divided into two [equal] parts, one of which is to be 
 the fund divisible among the fixed and regular priests, or " The 
 Divisible Tithe ; " and the other part is to be " The Reserve 
 Fund." 
 
4o6 u4ppendix IX. 
 
 II. Appropriation of the " Divisible Tithe." 
 
 8. The Divisible Tithe is to be appropriated in the 
 following proportions : namely, to each priest not being one ot 
 the six ruling Elders, one portion ; to each ruling Elder, two 
 portions ; and to the Angel's Coadjutor, or, in the absence of 
 the Angel, to the Horn or presiding Elder, three portions, 
 if the number of communicants do not exceed 400 ; four por- 
 tions, if above 400 and not exceeding 600 ; and five portions, 
 if above 600. The five portions being (in a Church sufficiently 
 large to allow of it) that part which the Angel shares with the 
 Elders, Prophets, Evangelists, and Pastors of the Church 
 severally, and by which he makes provision for his Coadjutor. 
 
 9. In case the amount of each portion of the Divisible 
 Tithe shall be diminished at any time, in consequence of the 
 increase of communicants and the consequent appointment of 
 additional priests, the Angel and priests previously in charge 
 shall be entitled to receive out of the Reserve Fund such an 
 amount as shall make up to them, or equalize, their former 
 proportionate share or shares. That is to say, so far as the 
 reduction is occasioned simply by the increase of the congrega- 
 tion and the addition of one or more priests, it shall be made 
 up or equalized to the Angel or former priests ; but so far as 
 the reduction is occasioned by a falling off in the tithe considered 
 relatively to the increase in the number of communicants, so 
 far it shall not be made up or equalized. Priests newly 
 appointed and not formerly in charge shall not be entitled to 
 any such equalization of their portions. 
 
Reticulations for distribution of Tithe. 407 
 
 REGULATIONS. 
 
 (1858.) 
 I. Distribution of Tithe — by whom. 
 
 1. God having given the Tithe of our Increase to be the 
 endowment of His altar, He has placed the particular applica- 
 tion of the same under the direction of the Apostles. 
 
 2. The Apostles, in the light of prophecy, and on ample 
 grounds of reason, have entrusted the Angel of each Church 
 with the distribution of the tithe brought up therein, under the 
 immediate superintendence of the Apostle in charge, and 
 according to the rules laid down by the Apostles and by the 
 Apostle in charge. 
 
 3. It is fitting that both the Apostles and the Angels should 
 be relieved, as far as possible, from active intervention and 
 personal administration of money affairs, reserving to them- 
 selves, in their respective spheres, the direction, oversight, and 
 control of what is done, and receiving appeals from any who 
 may consider themselves aggrieved, but leaving details to 
 their respective Councils and Ministers. 
 
 4. The proper Council and Ministers for these affairs, in aid 
 of the Apostles, are the Seven Deacons in the Universal Church. 
 The proper Council and Ministers of the Apostle in charge are 
 the Archdeacon and the other Councillors whom each Apostle 
 is authorized to appoint. The proper Council and Ministers of 
 the Angel of a Church are the Seven Deacons of the Church. 
 
 5. In any Church in which the number of Seven Deacons 
 cannot properly, by reason of the small number of communi- 
 cants, be completed, the Angel, with the sanction of the 
 Apostle in charge, may, in the Council of his Church, select 
 and appoint any other Deacons, not being of the Seven, but so 
 that the number of those to be so appointed, together with the 
 
40 8 Appendix IX. 
 
 existing Deacons of the Seven, shall not exceed seven in all. 
 And the Deacons of the Seven, and such additional Deacons, 
 shall form a consultative body, or council, for assisting the 
 Angel with their counsel in the secular affairs of the Church. 
 But those Deacons only who have been duly elected and 
 admitted to the ofiSce of Seven Deacon, shall be accounted as 
 of the number of the Seven Deacons of the Church, and they 
 alone shall be put in charge or possession of the goods or 
 property of the Church. 
 
 6. All cash belonging to the particular Church ought to be 
 placed and kept in some secure place of deposit, in the joint 
 names or under the joint control of the Angel and of, at least, 
 two (or of one, if there be but one) of the Seven Deacons of 
 the Church. Drafts or orders on bankers should be signed 
 jointly; except that, if the names of two or more of the Seven 
 Deacons be associated with the Angel, the Angel's signature 
 shall not be necessary, unless under special circumstances he 
 shall deem it advisable. 
 
 II. Objects to which Tithe may be applied. 
 
 7. Tithe not required for the support of the Angel and 
 priests may be applied towards the support of deacons and 
 called priests, as set forth in the Regulations of December 
 1849. 
 
 8. Under existing regulations, the Tithe of a particular 
 Church is not the proper ordinary fund for the support of 
 Evangelists employed in the Universal Church. But where 
 the Tithe of a Church will permit. Evangelists so employed, 
 whether priests or deacons, may be attached as supernumerary 
 Ministers to the particular Church, and supported from the 
 tithe, giving their assistance in the services of worship or other- 
 wise in the particular Church, so far as their duties under the 
 Angel Evangelists will permit. 
 
 9. The oil and incense used for lights and burning in the 
 
 I 
 
Regulations for distribution of Tithe. 409 
 
 worship of the Church should be voluntary offerings, as are the 
 Sacramental bread and wine. The expenses, therefore, should 
 be defrayed by means of offerings, and not out of tithe. 
 
 in. Division of Tithe into " Divisible " and " Reserve." 
 
 10. The division of the Tithe into two portions — "the 
 Divisible " and " the Reserve " — must be retained, in order 
 that, according to the rule of the Apostles, some portion or 
 proportion may be given to every fixed and regular priest of a 
 Church, giving up his whole time to the duties of his ministry ; 
 and yet that provision may be made for those who are without 
 private means of support. In order more effectually to secure 
 a proper provision for those who need it, it is expedient, under 
 present circumstances, that the proportion forming the Divisible 
 Fund should be diminished, and that forming the Reserve 
 should be increased. (See Regulation 15, post.) 
 
 11. The portion of Tithe which a priest receives from the 
 Divisible Tithe ought to be at his own disposal, without question 
 or control. His devoting of it, when not needed for his own 
 livelihood, and either wholly or in part, must be "according to 
 the purpose of his heart," and " not of necessity." 
 
 IV. Application of Tithe. 
 
 12. The present regulations for distribution of Tithe in 
 England are to remain in force until altered by the Apostles, or 
 the Apostle in charge, except as the same are varied or altered 
 below. 
 
 13. The alterations now made are not to affect existing 
 benefices, so as to reduce them, unless such previously existing 
 benefices shall, for three consecutive years (dating back from 
 the end of the current or any future year), be of the same 
 amount, or of a less amount, than such benefices would be 
 under the alterations now made. Whenever the portions of 
 
41 o Appendix IX. 
 
 the Divisible Tithe fail to give the requisite amount, the 
 deficiency is to be made up from the Reserve Fund. 
 
 14. After separating the Tithe of Tithe, one-tenth of the 
 remainder shall form the Angel's portion. 
 
 15. After separating the Tithe of Tithe and the Angel's 
 Tithe, one-third of the remainder shall form " the Divisible 
 Tithe," and the remaining two-thirds shall form " the Reserve 
 Fund." 
 
 16. The thirteenth Regulation of December 1849 is 
 rescinded. The fixed proportion to be assigned to an Assistant 
 Elder giving up his whole time shall no longer be augmented 
 by the addition of a half-portion from the Reserve, but shall 
 consist of one portion only from the Divisible Tithe. 
 
 17. If in any year the one-tenth portion assigned to the 
 Angel shall exceed <^'8oo, or the portions or portion assigned 
 from the Divisible Tithe to an Elder or other priest shall 
 exceed 5^150, such excess shall not be received by the bene- 
 ficiary before the same shall have been reported to the Apostle 
 in charge ; who will decide in each case whether the whole or 
 any part of such excess shall be received by the beneficiary, or 
 shall be carried over to the Reserve Fund. 
 
 V. The " Reserve Fund." 
 
 18. The benefice of an Angel, whose tenth portion is 
 insufficient to provide what he needs for maintenance, may be 
 augmented from the "Reserve Fund," so as not to exceed the rate 
 of 5^300 in the year, on the order of the Apostle in charge. 
 The benefice of any priest, whose portion from the Divisible 
 Tithe is insufficient to provide what he needs for his main- 
 tenance, may be augmented from the Reserve Fund, so as not 
 to exceed the rate of ,^^200 in the year, on the order of the 
 Angel taking counsel with his Deacons : on the like order, any 
 supernumerary priest, whose private means are insufficient, may 
 receive from the Reserve Fund a benefice not exceeding the 
 
Regulations for distrihutioji of Tithe. 411 
 
 rate of ,^200 a-year ; and any deacon or called priest may 
 receive not exceeding the rate of ^100 a-year: but with this 
 reservation, that no priest, deacon, or called priest, whose 
 whole time is not devoted to his ecclesiastical duties (or, in 
 the case of a called priest, to preparation also for his vocation), 
 shall receive from the Reserve Fund more than after the rate 
 of ,^60 in the year. 
 
 19. Applications from Angels for a larger benefice than 
 ^300 must be made to the Apostle in charge, who will refer 
 the same to his Archdeacon and Council for their report, and 
 will give his order upon such report. 
 
 20. Application from priests or deacons for larger benefices 
 than ^200 or ^loo respectively, must be made to the Angel, 
 who, with the consent of the applicant, will refer the same to 
 the Council of his Deacons. And if they report favourably, 
 such report will be forwarded to the Apostle for his sanction, 
 who, if he shall think fit, will refer the same to his Archdeacon 
 and Council. 
 
 21. The Reserve Fund is first to be applied in equalizing 
 or making up the deficiencies in the shares of the Angel and 
 priests, as directed in Regulation 9 of December 1849, ^^""^ ^^ 
 Regulation 13 above. It is not to be applied to called priests 
 or deacons, until all payments to priests shall have been 
 satisfied ; nor to supernumerary priests, until all payments to 
 fixed and regular priests, giving ujd their whole time to spiritual 
 duties, shall have been satisfied ; nor to any party, until all 
 payments authorized to be made to the Angel shall have been 
 satisfied. 
 
 VI. Surplus of Tithe. 
 
 22. The surplus of the Tithe, if any, after providing for the 
 wants of the particular Church according to the rules, and 
 satisfying all payments directed or authorized to be made 
 thereout, and also retaining a sufficient amount to meet imme- 
 diate payments, or any probable diminution in the receipts of 
 
412 Appendix IX. 
 
 the following year, shall be paid over to the Archdeacon with 
 the Apostle in charge, to be applied under the sanction or 
 direction and at the discretion of the Apostle for the advance- 
 ment of the following objects : namely, the promotion of the 
 Evangelist work in the neighbourhood of the particular Church 
 from which the surplus Tithe arises ; the support of poor priests 
 in other Churches in the tribe, whose wants the Seven Deacons 
 in the Universal Church are unable at the time to supply ; the 
 promotion of the Evangelist work in the tribe ; lastly, the 
 promotion of the Evangelist work or support of poor priests in 
 other tribes. And with respect to the last-mentioned object, 
 the sums which, in the judgment of the Apostle in charge, can 
 be ap])ropriated for the purposes of other tribes, will be paid 
 over to the Seven Deacons and placed at the disposal of the 
 Apostles. 
 
 VII. Statements of Accounts. 
 
 23. On the first of January in each year, statements of all 
 receipts and payments on account of Tidies and Offerings in 
 the preceding year are to be transmitted to the Archdeacon. 
 
 24. At the close of each financial year the Council of 
 Deacons in each Church shall lay before the Angel a scheme 
 or estimate for the application of the Tithe in the ensuing year ; 
 and the same, being approved by the Angel, shall forthwith be 
 transmitted to the Archdeacon for the sanction of the Apostle, 
 and when sanctioned by him the same shall be the general plan 
 for the disposition of the Reserve Fund during the current 
 year, so far as circumstances will permit. 
 
 VIII. Tithe cannot be claimed, either legally or 
 
 OTHERWISE, BY ANY MINISTER. 
 
 25. It is the Law of the Church, that the duties of the 
 sacred ministry are to be fulfilled without fee or reward. No 
 Minister possesses, or is entitled to, any right or personal claim 
 
Regulations fur distribution of Tithe. 413 
 
 to the Tithe, or to any provision out of the Tithe, save only as 
 the Apostles may at any time direct those entrusted with the 
 distribution to bestow the same. All benefices to Ministers, in 
 the absence of special directions to the contrary, are paid 
 quarterly, and each quarterly payment is made in advance, and 
 without guarantee or pledge for any future payment. The 
 present Regulations, and all former Regulations concerning the 
 distribution of Tithe, and all expressions therein referring to 
 Ministers receiving or entitled to Tithe, are to be construed 
 simply as temporary directions to those who distribute the Tithe. 
 All existing Regulations are at any time liable to be revoked 
 or suspended, and either in whole or in part, or in any particular 
 instance, by the Apostles or by the Apostle in charge; and the 
 Tithe itself, and all accumulations thereof, are at any moment 
 applicable, under the direction of the Apostles, to any other 
 obj ect which the Apostles, in their regard to the interests of the 
 Church, may deem more advisable. 
 
I 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Absolution, ^t't? Confession . 
 
 Advent, second, ii. 2 — lo, 259 — 
 281 ; also i. Ii, 27, 38 — 40, 109, 
 319—321, ii. 355, 360. 
 
 Agapemonites, ii. 204, 205, 327- 
 
 Albury, i. 35, 36 ; first meeting at, 
 36 — 40 ; attendants, 40, 41 ; 
 second, 41 ; third, 42 ; fourth, 
 43 — 45 ; last, 45 ; church at, 1 13, 
 Sec, 136; Apostles at, 167 — 184, 
 192, 206, 240; congregation less- 
 ened at, 234. 
 
 Alt-Catholiks, ii. 343. 
 
 Ambrose, St., ii. 167, 175. 
 
 America, effects in, i. 193. 
 
 American impostor, the, i. 105, 106. 
 
 Amos, ii. 212. 
 
 Anabaptists, ii. 193, 279. 
 
 Angel-Evangelists, ii. 49 ; the five 
 first, i. 171, note. 
 
 Angels, ii. 51, &c., i. 151, ii. 60, 
 144 ; Drummond's consecration 
 as, i. 114 — 119 ; Ii-ving's, 121 — 
 127 ; insubordination of, 206, 207. 
 
 Antichrist, ii. 4 — 7, 270, 273, 278. 
 
 Apostles, i. 164, ii. 21, 32—38, 
 51—53, 119— 153, 322 — 327; 
 prayers for, i. 109, 207, 710U ; first, 
 no, III; second, 136; next two, 
 139 ; two more, 149 ; separation 
 of, 155 — 161 ; three anointings 
 of, 162; the Twelve, 166 ; twelve- 
 
 . fold unity of, 169 ; directions to, 
 186; journeys, 188, &c. ; lessons 
 in Catholicity, 195 ; collision with 
 Prophets, 207 ; firmness, 209 ; 
 victorious, 213; lose one, 214; 
 weakness, 229, 237 ; resume work 
 
 abroad, 239 ; only ten meet, 241 ; 
 difficulties, 243 ; relations to Pro- 
 phets, 301 — 304 ; iron rule of, ii. 
 
 91, 317- 
 Apostolic Lordship, i. 309, ii. 13, 
 
 19, noie. Sfc' Grant. 
 Aquinas, St. Thomas, ii. 295, 296, 
 
 300. 
 Armstrong, Rev. Nicholas, M.A., 
 
 i. 80, 108, 149, 166, 181, 185, 
 
 208 ; paralyzed, 313. 
 Attention, concentrated, ii, 247 — 249. 
 Augustin, St., of Hippo, ii. 159, 174, 
 
 177, 244, 298, 300. 
 
 Baptism, Holy, ii. 18, 19, 72 ; of 
 fire, i. 81, 140, 145, ii. 86. 
 
 Barnabas, St., ii. 142, 323. 
 
 Barton, Elizabeth, ii. 193. 
 
 Baxter, Mr. Robert, i. 70, 72, 75 — 
 82, 98, 1 55.. 1 56, 276. 
 
 Bayford, Dr., i. 139. 
 
 Bayford, Dr. (Junior), i. 115, 137, 
 
 307- 
 
 Bennett, Rev. W. J. E., i. 273. 
 
 Bishops, the successors of the Apos- 
 tles, ii. 154 — 187. 
 
 Bishopsgate, Church of, i. 134. 
 
 Bbhm, Mr. C, i. 315. 
 
 Burial, no Office for, ii. 63, 64. 
 
 Caird, Mrs., a dressmaker, i. 51 ; 
 intends to be a missionary, i^n/. ; 
 speaks in a tongue, 52 ; cured, 
 56 ; a prophetess, 58, 72 ; marries, 
 58 ; visits London, 59, 66 ; settles 
 at Albury, 59 ; condemned by 
 Story, Hid.; death, 60. 
 
4i6 
 
 Index. 
 
 Caird, W. R., i. 58—60, 116, 295. 
 Calvinism, i. 49, 50, 80, ii. 282, 
 
 304- 
 Camisards, ii. 194, 327. 
 Campbell, Mary. See Caird, Mrs. 
 Campbell, Rev. J. McLeod, of Row, 
 
 i. 49. 51. 54. 103, ii- 304- 
 
 Candlestick, mystery of, i. 119 ; Ap- 
 pendix iii. vol. ii. 
 
 Canning, Right Hon. C, i. 23. 
 
 Cardale, John Bate, examines into 
 the tongues, i. 61, 62 ; holds 
 prayer-meetings, 65 ; defends Ir- 
 ving, 90; called as Apostle, no ; 
 character, III; chief author of 
 Liturgy, 112; author of Readi>i,i^s on 
 the Liturgy, ibid. ; ordains Place, 
 114; Drummond, 1 15 — 119; dic- 
 tates mystery of candlestick, I19 ; 
 ordains Irving, 123 — 126; Miller, 
 135; as Apostle, 138; visits Scot- 
 land, 141 ; South and West, 149 ; 
 solicitor, of Bedford Row, 165 ; 
 prepares Testimony, 177; see also, 
 iSo, 181, 1S5, 202, 206, 211, 219, 
 220, 240, 242, ii. 333 ; vigour, i. 
 244; seals clergy and laity, 251 ; 
 is practically the College, 261 ; 
 Letter, 273—277 ; strong will, 
 288 ; visits the Churches, 304 ; 
 death, 314; strange arguments, 
 ii. 180. 
 
 Cardale, Miss, i. 72, 76, 80, 99, 
 III. 
 
 Cardale, Mrs., i. 62, 72, ill. 
 
 Caricature of Doctrines, ii. 338, 339. 
 
 Carlyle, Mr. Thomas (the Apostle), 
 i. 14, 88, 157, 162, 166, 174, 180, 
 267 ; death and works, 271. 
 
 Carlyle, Mr. Thomas (the author), 
 
 i- 15. 147- , ^ .. 
 
 Carthage, Council of, u. 172. 
 Catalepsy, ii. 253. 
 Catholic Apostolic Church, name, i. 
 
 4-6. 
 Catholic Church, the, marvellous 
 
 growth in, ii. 80, 81. 
 Catholicity, ii. no— Ii8; false, 305, 
 
 320 — 322. 
 Celtic and Latin Christianity, ii. 342. 
 Census of 1851, i. 260; Appendix 
 
 vii. 
 
 Chalmers, Dr., i. 16; engages Irving, 
 
 18 ; opinion of his preaching, 20 ; 
 
 visits him in London, 22, 73 ; 
 
 contrast to Irving, 149. 
 Chrysostom, St., ii. 179,-242, 244, 
 
 299, note. 
 Church, Irvingite Doctrine of the, ii. 
 
 18 — 23, 121, &c. 
 Churches, the seven, i. 153, 243, 
 
 304. 345 ; the Colonial, ii. 337. 
 Church's Broken Unity, articles in, 
 
 i. 81, note, 273 — 277. 
 Clement, St., of Rome, ii. 169. 
 Clergymen, Irvingite, in the Church, 
 
 i. 277—281, 342—344. 
 Coadjutor Apostles, i. 315, 316. 
 Communicants, ii. 71, i. 345. 
 Concentrated Attention, ii. 247 — 
 
 249. 
 Conception, Immaculate, ii. 2S9 — 
 
 303- 
 Confession, i. 324, 327, ii. 73. 
 Confirmation, ii. 72. 
 Constructive Objectivity, ii. 249 — 
 
 253- 
 Converts, i. 341. 
 Convocation, ii. 345. 
 Corinthians, St. Paul's Ep. to, i. xii. 
 
 xiv., ii. 41 — 44, 241 — 243. 
 Council of Zion, i. 172, 202, 21 1. 
 Cures, supposed miraculous, i. 55j 
 
 56, 62, 64, 139, ii. 228—236. 
 Cyprian, St., ii. 167, 172, 299, note. 
 
 Daily Worship, i. 173, 230. 
 
 Dalton, Rev. H., i. 145 ; depriva- 
 tion, 154; 157, 166, 180, 191 ; 
 retirement, 240 ; return, 291 ; 
 death, 313. 
 
 Daniel, ii. 214. 
 
 Deaconesses, i. 325, 331, ii. 55. 
 
 Deacons, i. 129, 325, 331, ii. 51—54. 
 
 Dialogues on Prophecy, i. 43. 
 
 Discipline, i. 308 — 313, 326, 328 — 
 331, ii. 91, 146. 
 
 Dow, Rev. David, i. 97, 157. 
 
 Dow, Rev. W., 157, 166, iSl ; 
 death, 271. 
 
 Drabicius, Nicholas, ii. 193. 
 
 Drummond, Henry, M. P., parentage 
 and early life, i. 30, 31 ; descrip- 
 tion of, 32—34 ; Albury Park, 
 
Index. 
 
 417 
 
 35 ; Aforning IVatc/i, 46, 85, 132; 
 utterances, 94, 95 ; perliaps calls 
 Cardale, ii. 314; hesitates to act, 
 i. 113, 115; ordained, I15 — 119; 
 Apostle, 136, 138, 141, 149, 166, 
 167, 179, iSo, 185, 191, 219, 237 ; 
 re-enters Parliament, 254 — 256 ; 
 death and character, 2S7, 28S ; 
 
 also ii. 
 
 36, 126, 238. 
 
 Ecclesiasticism, ii. 263, 264. 
 
 Ecstasy, ii. 255. 
 
 Elders, i. 119, 123, 127, 12S, ii. 58, 
 Appendix vi. 
 
 Elias Ministry, i. 264, ii. 5 — 10. 
 
 Elijah, ii. 2lo, 212. 
 
 Elisha, ii. 210, 212. 
 
 Elliot's Horn Apocalyptias, ii. 265, 
 269, 276. 
 
 English theory of Catholicity, ii. 
 Ill — 113. 
 
 Ephesians, St. Paul to, iv. 11, ii. 23, 
 121, &c. 
 
 Epilepsy, ii. 253. 
 
 Equals, when they may appoint 
 equals, ii. 155, 156. 
 
 Erastianism, i. 338. 
 
 Eucharist, Holy, i. 116, 125; 
 weekly, 169, 196, 223, bcc. ; re- 
 servation at, 241, 257, 301, 323, 
 ii. 70, 71, 309, note. See Liturgy. 
 
 Eucharistic Sacrifice, Doctrine of, i. 
 196 — 199, 223 — 226, 257, ii. 68, 
 
 331.339- 
 Evangelists, ii. 47 — 49 ; origin of, i. 
 109 ; sixty, 171 ; at work, 176, ii. 
 51 — 54; preaching, 261. 
 
 Fancourt, Elisabeth, i. 62 — 64, ii 
 232. 
 
 Feasts, ii. 61, 287. 
 
 Finance, ii. 74, 75, i. 150, 325, 
 Appendix ix. 
 
 Firmilian, ii. 172. 
 
 Four Beasts, ii. 24. 
 
 Four Cherubim, ii. 24. 
 
 Fourfold Ministry, ii. 23 — 32, i. 176, 
 203, 232, 259, ii. 51. See Testi- 
 monies, and Appendix vi. 
 
 Frere, Mr. J. Hatley, i. 10, 27, 28, 
 
 Futurists, ii. 266. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Galilean Ministry, the, the accept- 
 able year of the Lord, ii. 217, 
 note. 
 
 General Rubrics, i. 322, ii. 60. 
 
 George, David, ii. 193. 
 
 Gifts, Ordinary and Extraordinary, 
 ii. 244. 
 
 Girling, Mrs., ii. 206, 327. 
 
 Gordon Square, Church in, i. 268— 
 270 ; service at, i. 234. 
 
 Grant, Mr. W. {see Apostolic Lord- 
 ship), joins the Body, i. 308 ; dif- 
 ficulties, 309 ; position, 310; treat- 
 ment, 311 ; appeals, 312 ; retires, 
 313 ; also 315, 333, 335, 336, ii. 
 13. 70. 
 
 Hall, Miss, i. 66, 68, 75, 98. 
 Hammond, Dr. W. H., ii. 247. 
 Heath, Christopher, i. 152, 268, 
 
 318. 
 Hebrews, Ep. of, written by St. 
 
 Paul, ii. 134, note, 312. 
 Hegesippus, ii. 170. 
 Helps, ii. 54. 
 Hierarchy, ii. 50 — 57. 
 Holy Water, i. 241, 301. 
 Horn, a. i. 243, ii. 54. 
 Hypostatic Union, ii. 290. 
 Hysteria, ii. 253, 254. 
 
 Ignatius, St., ii. 170. 
 Imagination, ii. 251. 
 Immaculate Conception, ii. 2S9 — 
 
 303- 
 
 Incarnation, ii. il — 15, 282 — 305, 
 i. 83, &c., 96, &c., 175, 223 ; mis- 
 understood, ii. 129, 306, 355- 
 
 Incense, i. 241, 265. 
 
 Infection, religious, ii. 253. 
 
 Infidelity, contemporaneous, ii. 348 — 
 
 351- 
 
 Ireneeus, St., ii. 41, note, 171, 299, 
 note. 
 
 Irving, Rev. Edward, connection 
 with Irvingism, i. 2 — 6 ; birth, 
 13; boyhood, 14; at Edinburgh, 
 15 ; at Haddington, 16 ; at Kirk- 
 caldy, 16 — 18 ; studies at Edin- 
 burgh, 18 ; at Glasgow, 18 — 21 ; 
 in London, 22 ; popularity, 23 ; 
 description of, 24 ; prophetical 
 
 EE 
 
4i8 
 
 Index. 
 
 /'studies, 27 — 29; account of meet- 
 ing at Albury, 36 — 40 ; preaching, 
 '" 48 ; scene in church, 69, 70 ; 
 difficulties, 71 ; to be a mighty 
 Prophet, 80 ; on the Incarnation, 
 83, &c., ii. 284, 2S9, 304; con- 
 demned by London Presbytery, i. 
 88 ; by General Assembly, il>id. ; 
 tried and ejected by London Pres- 
 bytery, 89—91 ; Gray's Inn Road, 
 
 . 92 ; Newman St., 92 ; new posi- 
 tion, 96, 130, 140 ; deprived at 
 Annan, 96—98 ; reception in Lon- 
 don, 120 — 123 ; re-ordained, 123 
 — 126 ; not then slighted, 126 ; 
 helps to ordain Elders, 128 ; vir- 
 tual retirement, 133 ; in Scotland, 
 141 ; rebuked by Apostles, 142 ; 
 last journey, 144 — 146 ; death, 
 147 ; character, 147 — -149. 
 
 Irvingism, name, i. 2 — 6. 133 ; in 
 the Church, 277— 2S1, 342 — 344, 
 ii. 67, note. 
 
 Jeremiah, ii. 214. 
 
 Jerome, St., ii. 167, 174, 299, note. 
 
 John the Baptist, ii. 216. 
 
 Jonah, ii. 214. 
 
 Justin Martyr, ii. 41, note. 
 
 King, or King-Church, Mr., i. 139, 
 
 167, 181 ; death, 294. 
 Kotter, Christopher, ii. 193. 
 
 Latin and Celtic Christianity, ii. 342. 
 Lay-Assistants, ii. 56. 
 Lectionary, ii. 62. 
 I>ee, Dr., e.Kamines the tongues, i. 
 
 60, 73, ii. 240. 
 Lights at Celebration, i. 241, 265. 
 Liturgy, i. 226 — 228, 234, 235, ii. 
 
 58-67. 
 Lord Jesus Christ, our, credentials 
 
 of, ii. 216—218. 
 Luther, ii. 312. 
 
 Macdonalds (Margaret, James, and 
 
 George), i. 54—58, 103. 
 Mackenzie, Mr., i. 90, 158, 167, 
 
 181 ; retires, 204, &c., 236, 240; 
 
 death, 270. 
 
 Matthias, St., ii. 141, 323. 
 
 McNeile, Hugh, D.D., i. 37, 40, 
 45, note, 50, 72, 104, ii. 226. 
 
 Melbourne, Lord, i. 91. 
 
 Millenarianism, ii. 193, 274. 
 
 MinistiT, a, ii. 60. 
 
 Miraculous cures, supposed, i. 55 ; 
 (Margaret Macdonald), 56 ; (Mary 
 Campbell), 62 ; (Elisabeth Fan- 
 court), 139 ; (Miss Hughes), 64 ; 
 (general), ii. 228 — 236. 
 
 Montanists, ii. 191 — 193, 323, 327, 
 
 359-. 
 Moralism, ii. 283. 
 Moravians, ii. 193. 
 Mormonism, ii. 77, 199 — 202, 231, 
 
 323, 327- 
 Morning Watch, i. 46, 130. 
 Moses, ii. 206 — 209. 
 Mysticism, ii. 93 — 95. 
 
 Norton, Rev. Dr., i. 277. 
 
 Objectivity, constructive, ii. 249 — 
 
 253- 
 Oil, consecrated, i. 248. 
 Old Church Porch, i. 273 — 277. 
 Optatus, ii. 176. 
 Origen, ii. 41, note. 
 Owen, Rev. H. J., i. 139. 
 Oxford Church movement, i. 130, 
 
 179, 226. 
 
 Parliament represents Imperial, not 
 
 Lay, interests, ii. 346. 
 Pastors, ii. 23—32, 49—53, i. 327, 
 
 note. 
 Paul, St., credentials of, ii. 134 — 
 
 141, 323- 
 Pentecost, Day of, ii. 128, 239, 329. 
 Perceval, Spencer, M. P., i. 41, 98, 
 
 139, 178, 180, 191 ; death, 285, 
 
 286. 
 Philosophy, Christian and Heathen, 
 
 ii. 351. 
 Physiology and Theology, ii. 256. 
 Place, Mr., 109, 114, 159. 
 Plymouth Brethren, ii. 203, 327. 
 Policy, change of, i. 299. 
 Poniatowski, Christina, ii. 193. 
 Prreterists, ii. 268. 
 Prayer, reflex force of, ii. 252. 
 
Index. 
 
 419 
 
 Prayer-ljook (Liturgy), i. 226 — 228, 
 234, 235, ii. 58—67. 
 
 Prentice, ^Ir., i. 307. 
 
 Prince, Henry James, ii. 204. 
 
 Prophecy, new study of, i. 9 — 12, 27 
 — 29 ; five meetings on, 36 — 46 ; 
 supposed outbreak of, in Scotland, 
 52, 57—62 ; in London, 66— 82, 
 90, 93 — 95, 98 — 102 ; in England, 
 114 — 119, 123 — 126, 139 ; charac- 
 ter of, 142—144, 155, 177, 306, 
 307 ; theory of, 212, ii. 188. 
 
 Prophetesses, Ursuline, ii. 193. 
 
 Prophetical Gifts, claims to, ii. 188 — 
 221 ; examined, 222 — 258. 
 
 Prophets, ii. 38—47, 51— 53,''i88— 
 258, 327 — 330 ; prayers for, i. 
 207, note, ii. 249, &c., 329 ; first, 
 i. 52, 57, 66—82, 89, 99, III; 
 Taplin, first ordained Prophet, 
 129; the first seven, 172, note; 
 afterwards twelve, ibid.; in rivalry 
 with Apostles, 206 — 209, 211 ; 
 relation to Apostles, 301 — 304, ii. 
 146, 238. 
 
 Prophets, Celestial, ii. 193. 
 
 Prophets, Schools of Jewish, ii. 209. 
 
 Protestantism, i. 9, ii. ill. 
 
 Pseudo-Catholicism, ii. 305. 
 
 Public Worship Regulation Act, i. 
 338. 
 
 Pusey, Rev. E. B., D.D., examines 
 the tongues, i. 60, 73, ii. 240 ; 
 first Letter to Dr. Newman, ii. 
 294—299. 
 
 Quakers, ii. 194, 327. 
 
 Real Presence, Doctrine of, ii. 68, 
 
 Reason without zeal, ii. 337. 
 Reformation, i. 9. 
 
 Reservation of the Holy Sacrament, 
 
 i. 241, 257, 301, 323, ii. 309, note. 
 
 Roman theory of Catholicity, ii. ill 
 
 Romanism in England, ii. 339. 
 Rubrics, General, i. 248. 
 
 Samuel, ii. 209 — 212. 
 Satanic agency, supposed, i. lOO — 
 102, ii. 256. 
 
 Scepticism, contemporaneous, ii. 348 
 
 — 35I-. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, the harbinger of 
 a warmer system, ii. 307. 
 
 Sealing, i. 248 — 254, 292, ii. 64 — 
 67, 72, 148, 264. 
 
 Services, ii. 57 — 67 ; attendance at, 
 i. 321 ; character of, 322 ; times, 
 323 ; of obligation, 324. 
 
 Shakers, ii. 198, 327. 
 
 Sitwell, Frank, Esq., i. 157, 167, 
 180, 193 ; death, 294. 
 
 Southcote, Joanna, ii. 197, 327. 
 
 Spiritual Gifts, desire of, ii. 244, 
 251. See Prophetical Gifts. 
 
 Spiritual interpretation of the Apoca- 
 lypse, ii. 270, &c. 
 
 Statistics, i. 260, 344 — 346. 
 
 .Staunton, Sir G., i. 60, 73, ii. 240. 
 
 Sterling, Rev. Mr., i. 261. 
 
 Stewart, Rev. G. Plaldane, i. 41. 
 
 Story, Rev. Robert, of Rosneath, i. 
 21 ; at Albury, 42, 49, 51, 52; 
 condemns Mrs. Caird, 59, 60 ; re- 
 fusal to join, 102, ii. II. 
 
 Sub-deacons, i. 325, '331,11. 55. 
 
 Supernatural agency, ordinary, ii. 
 
 255-257- 
 Swedenborg, Emmanuel, ii. 196, 
 
 327- 
 
 Swenckfield, Hacket, ii. 193. 
 
 Symbolism, ii. 15 — 18, 93—95, 306 
 — 315, i. 119, 120, 127, 144, 170 — 
 172, 176, 180—182, 232, 241,246, 
 257—259. ii- 24—29, 122, 123, 
 161, 162. 
 
 Tabernacle, a, ii. 59 ; mystery of 
 the, i. 170 — 175, Appendix viii. 
 
 Taplin, Mr., first public utterance, 
 i. 67 ; character, 68 ; 70, 72, 76, 
 90, 93, 114— 119, 123, 129, 141, 
 I5i> 159, 315. ii- 226, 243, 314, 
 jiote ; death, i. 294. 
 
 TertuUian, ii. 41, 7iote, 1 71, 172, 299, 
 note. 
 
 Testimony, the Great, i. 182, 189 — 
 192, Appendix i. ; the State, i. 177, 
 178, 286, Appendix ii. A.; the 
 clerical, i. 177, 178, Appendix ii. B. 
 
 Teutonic Christianity, ii. 343. 
 
 Theology, a new School of, ii. 352. 
 
4.20 
 
 Index. 
 
 Theology and Physiology, ii. 256. 
 Thompson, Dr., i. 61, 15S, 307. 
 Threefold Ministry, among the Jews, 
 
 ii. 160; three better than four, 161 ; 
 
 in our Lord's days, 162 ; after He 
 
 ascended, 163. 
 Tithes, i. 150, 325, ii. 74, 75, Ap- 
 pendix ix. 
 Tongues, supposed, i. 52, 57, 58, 60, 
 
 67-75. ^9, 99, 100, 143, ii- 239. 
 
 243- 
 Trinity, Doctrine of the, ii. 67, 2S5, 
 
 286. 
 Tudor, Mr. J., i. 41, 77, 130, 157, 
 
 181, 185 ; death and works, 293. 
 Types, ii. 306 — 315, i. 119, 120, 127, 
 
 144, 170 — 172, 176, ii. 5, 15 — 18, 
 
 24—29, 122, 123, 161, 162. 
 
 Unction, ii. 74. 
 
 Under-deacons, i. 325, 331, ii. 55. 
 Unitarians, i. 4 — 7. 
 Unity, ii. 3i8> 355> 3f5o- 
 
 Vestments, i. 198, 232, 235. 
 
 Waldegrave's (Bp. ) Bampton Lec- 
 tures, ii. 265, 274. 
 Watson, Sir T., ii. 233, 255. 
 Way, Rev. Lewis, i. Ii, 36, 41, note, 
 
 43- 
 
 Wesleyanism, i. 7, ii- l9Si 231. 
 
 Will, weakness of, ii. 250. 
 
 Williams, Rev. Isaac, On the Apoca- 
 lypse, ii. 265, 272. 
 
 Wilson, Daniel, D.D., Bishop of 
 Calcutta, i. 40, 104. 
 
 Wolff, Joseph, D.D., i. 31, 37, 40. 
 
 Woodhouse, Mr., i. 149, 167, 180, 
 181, 191, 192, 260, 314. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 /V 
 
 CLAY AND T.'^YLOK, I'KINTEKS, ISUNGAV. 
 
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