Baxter that the prediction came that 'the present appointment for ordaining ministers by the laying on of hands by the Church was cut short in judgment, and that God Himself was about to set forth by the Spirit a spiritual ministry.' From this time Irving and others began to pray, 'Give us Apostles.'

Not many months, however, passed, before Baxter's eyes were opened, mainly by the non-fulfilment of the prophecies which he had so confidently delivered. After many painful struggles he was satisfied that he had been under a delusion, and came up to London, just at the time of Irving's trial, to acknowledge the total downfall of his pretensions, and tell Irving and Cardale,' we have all been speaking by a lying spirit and not by the Spirit of God.' We may well imagine what a blow this was to his former associates, more especially when he proceeded to publish a narrative of his connexion with the society and reasons for quitting it. Nevertheless, it does not appear in any way to have shaken their belief in the truth of the revelation of God's purpose supposed to have been made to him.

We come to another of the chief actors. The first to speak in an unknown tongue in Mr. Irving's congregation— the first man to speak at all—was Mr. Taplin. He is described as breaking forth suddenly in a voice which seemed like a crash, powerful enough to bring down the roof. Dr. M'Neile, afterwards Dean of Ripon, was Vicar of Albury up to 1836. He had taken a prominent part in the prophetic conferences there, and had proposed a resolution :—

That it is our duty to pray for the revival of the gifts manifested in the primitive Church, which are wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, kinds of tongues, and interpretations of tongues, and that a responsibility lies on us to inquire into the state of those gifts said to be now present in the West of Scotland.'

He may, therefore, fairly be considered as an unprejudiced witness. Now what is his testimony?—

'I heard Mr. Taplin, and what I heard was this. I write it in all seriousness before God, without scoff, sneer, or ridicule, but simply as a bona fide description of what I heard. It was neither more nor less than what is commonly called jargon, uttered ore rotundo and mingled with Latin words, among which I heard more than once, Amamini amaminor.'

It may here be observed that Mr. Taplin had previously kept an academy in Castle Street, Holborn. All the speci

mens which have been given of the unknown tongue show it to have been simply gibberish. But the tongue, we are told, was merely calculated to draw attention to the utterances which followed in a known language. What means, then, have we of testing the value of Mr. Taplin's prophetic utterances? The importance of this is manifest if we bear in mind the very influential part which Mr. Taplin played in the Body. He was the first to be formally ordained to the office of Prophet, and was afterwards Pillar-Prophet. Five, at least, of the Apostles, if not Mr. Cardale himself,1 were called by the Spirit speaking through Mr. Taplin. The Records of the Council show that nearly all of the important developments, both of doctrine and discipline, in the Church, and very much of the mystical exposition of the Old Testament Scriptures, were due to his utterances.2 So influential was his position that it was allowed by a great authority, 'If there is anything wrong with Taplin, all is wrong.' Up to his death, in 1862, he continued to be a chief source of light to the Church. We might have supposed that so 'gifted' a

1 Mr. Baxter, in his narrative, states that Mr. Cardale, the first Apostle, was called through Mr. Taplin. This, Mr. Cardale, in his Letter on certain Statements in the Old Church Porch, denies, but he carefully avoids saying through whom he was called. It seems to indicate a consciousness of weakness that a transaction of such vital importance to the Church should be left shrouded in mystery. We believe the facts to be these: The first call came through a 'handmaid,' Harriet Ray, a female servant. When there was some hesitation as to acting on this, utterances came from others, amongst whom were a clerk in Mr. Cardale's office, and Mr. Taplin. There is no record of that early date to appeal to, in confirmation of our statement, but it derives much support from Mr. Cardale's words (Letter, pp. 18-36)—' No person was received as being called to the apostleship in consequence of words of prophecy spoken solely through a woman.' On this call virtually hangs the truth or falsehood of the restored apostolate.

2 The first definite step in schism was taken at Albury, under Mr. Taplin's direction, when Mr. M'Neile, the clergyman of the parish, refused to take part with the Irvingites. They at first acknowledged their 'defective and wrong condition in assembling apart from their appointed pastor.' Even when a Prophet had named Mr. Drummond Pastor of Albury, doubts were entertained as to the validity of the appointment without any outward ordination, and more especially as to the authority to celebrate the Lord's Supper. But at a meeting for prayer on December 26th, the Lord spoke through Mr. Taplin, a long time, in a tongue, and then said, 'The Lord ordains you, who have been called to be Angel of this Church, to feed this people with the Body and Blood of the Lord.' Afterwards the Spirit spoke again, with great power, through Mr. Taplin to Mr. Cardale: The Lord commandeth you, who have been called to be an Apostle, to lay hands on the Angel of this Church, and ordain him to rule this people, to feed them with the Body and Blood of the Lord.' All scruples were thus overborne, The authorised ministry of God's Word and Sacraments was set aside.

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person was above all suspicion of being under evil influences; but what do we find? On one occasion,' we are told by Mr. Baxter, Mr. Taplin, having, in the voice of prophecy, rebuked Mr. Irving, was himself rebuked by the ' utterance from Miss E. Cardale, and after some days confessed that he had spoken this rebuke by the power of an evil spirit."

Subsequently, in the congregation in Gray's Inn Road, Miss Cardale in the power' declared that 'a gross sin had been committed against the Lord, and exhorted to confession.' Mr. Taplin, after some delay, came forward, and confessed that he had been guilty of speaking his own mind and mingling his own thoughts with the utterances.'

Again, in the course of 1834, while Mr. Cardale was absent, Mr. Taplin (and, observe, after his formal ordination as Prophet) delivered an utterance,' that the tabernacle of the Lord should be pitched. This was uttered over and over again, with some variation, for about a month, when he further said, that 'the sixty pillars of the tabernacle should be sixty ministers.' Accordingly sixty were chosen, and on the next Sunday arranged in their places. All thought that the tabernacle of the Lord would really soon be pitched, and that the glory of the Lord would enter it. Irving preached on the occasion, encouraging this expectation. But, in the course of the next week, a letter came from Mr. Cardale, in his apostolic office, rebuking both Irving and Taplin, 'who had,' he said, been deluded; the whole being a suggestion of Satan.'

The question naturally arises-If, on these occasions, and others that might be mentioned, Mr. Taplin was under a delusion, or spoke his own mind and not that of the Spirit, might it not also have been so when he called men to be Apostles or Angels? Might not this, too, have been a delusion of Satan? And if this call was not of God, does not the whole foundation on which the fabric is raised, crumble away?

At a later period, the Apostles claimed the right to control prophecy, and to decide which utterances were of Satan, and which of God. But, even granting this claim, who was to decide on the utterances by which they themselves were called to be Apostles? Why was more weight to attach to them than to that, for instance, by which Mr. Baxter had previously been called to be an Apostle? With so much uncertainty whether any particular utterances were of Satan or God, so much opposition between Prophets, is not the voice of prophecy' a most insecure basis on which to raise so mighty a superstructure as that of a Catholic Apostolic Church with its fourfold ministry?

We have examined the evidence respecting four of those who were most conspicuous amongst the prophets in the early days of the Irvingite movement, and to whom in a very great degree the organisation and doctrines of the Church may be attributed. What is the conclusion which we must come to as to the real character of the so-called spiritual gifts? Must not every reasonable man allow that, when we find some confessing that they had been under delusion or had spoken out of their own minds, there is, to say the least, very insufficient ground for warranting the belief that through them God has seen fit to bring about an entirely new order of things in His Church?

But we have further to show how entirely events have falsified their predictions.

Again and again a day has been confidently fixed for the coming of the Lord, from that named by Mr. Baxter, July 14, 1835, down to July 14, 1876, when we are told eight hundred communicants assembled in Gordon Square Church in expectation of that great event.

Mr. Baxter's narrative adduces a great number of instances in which prophecies, confidently delivered and unhesitatingly received as coming from God, signally failed, or could only, by the most ingenious explaining away of their obvious meaning, be supposed to be fulfilled; and even if some of these have been substantiated in Mr. Cardale's answer, a sufficient number of instances remain untouched, to shew that the supposed voice of the Spirit was not to be relied on. It is not enough that out of many predictions one here and there should apparently come true. When everything is under the immediate direction of the Spirit, no failure can be allowed.

We shall not, we trust, be thought to be violating the sanctities of private life if we penetrate within the hallowed circle of Albury, and lift up the veil that shrouds it from the view of the uninitiated in order to adduce another instance of predictions falsified. Apostles and prophetesses, no less than emperors and queens, must be content to be looked upon as public characters.

The belief in the near approach of the second advent of our Lord naturally led to the expectation of the appearance of Elias who was to precede Him. The expectation was followed by an announcement that the birth of the prophet was to be looked for speedily, and, further, that the person selected for the high honour of being his mother was no other than the lady of the owner of Albury, herself a pro

phetess, and then, like Elizabeth, well stricken in years. The prediction was received in unhesitating faith by the whole community, not least by the favoured mother.

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The appointed time drew near: due preparations were made, more elaborate, we imagine, than those for the Baptist. The expectant mother has been described to us as lying in state on her bed, in an elaborate toilette, with lavender gloves, receiving the homage of her friends. The nurse was in attendance. The fashionable accoucheur of the day arrived from London, and then-(it is, perhaps, needless to say) the promised event did not come off. The doctor returned to London in his carriage, the nurse in a postchaise. matter was hushed up, and little heard of, or remembered, beyond the inner circle of the faithful. The cradle, destined to receive the Prophet, still, however, remains. When the bubble burst, it was presented by Lady Harriet to a friend, and has since been occupied by many fair children who have come into the world in the course of nature without prophetic announcement.' Possibly, in a future age, when reverence for relics has been developed in the Church, it may figure in some sacred treasury, just as we are told there is to be seen in Spain the sword that Balaam wished for.

But it is not necessary to dwell on individual instances. The whole history of the Irvingites during the last forty-five years may be said to be a history of hopes disappointed, expectations deceived, predictions unfulfilled.

They were taught to expect Apostles on whom the baptism of fire had fallen, endued with all miraculous powers. They have been obliged to be content with men, few, if any, of whom possessed any supernatural gifts. The only sign of an Apostle to which most could lay claim was that of 'patience' (2 Cor. xii. 12.) One, after he became an Apostle, was known to pray, 'Lord, if I am an Apostle, where are the signs of my apostleship ?'

They were taught to look forward to July 14, 1835, for the separation of the twelve who had already been called by the voice of God through His Prophets, but when the day arrived one of the twelve, Mr. David Dow, refused to come.

1 While speaking of Albury we cannot withhold a second anecdote of the same lady, which comes to us from an unimpeachable source. It was announced that on a given day she would walk on the water, and the faithful were in attendance to witness the miracle. She was handed down to the lake by her footman, but failing to perform her part, had to be dragged again to land. It would require the pen of a Dickens, and the pencil of a Tenniel, to do full justice to the grotesqueness of 'Jeames' assisting at a miracle.