IRVING, REV. EDWARD, was berm August I5th 1792 at Annan, in Dumfriesshire, where his father was a tanner. He was eluc %tad at the University of Edinburgh, and took the degree of M.A. He is stated to have joined a theatrical company, but to have left it after a very brief trial. In 1811 he was appointed to superintend the mathematical school at Haddington, whence he removed in 1812 to Kirkaldy, where he became the rector of an academy. Ile remained at Kirkaldy about seven years, when, having completed the probation required by the Church of Scotland, and received ordination from the presbytery of Annan, he officiated at various churches. Dr. Chalmers having bean' him preach a sermon at Edinburgh, afterwards engaged him as his assistant at St. John's church, Glasgow. In that city Mr. Irving acquired so high a reputation that he was invited to supply the vacancy which had occurred in the Caledonian Church, Cross Street, Hatton Garden, London, and early in July 1822preached his first sermon them. In a few weeks he began to attract large congregations ; In three months the applications for seats bad risen from 50 to 1500; at length it became necessary to exelndo the general public, and to admit only those who were provided with tickets'. Statesmen, orators, the noble, the wealthy, the fashionable, occupied the seats of the church, and their carriages thronged the adjoining streets. The preacher was six feet high and very athletic, with good features, but sallow, and with a very obvious squint. A profusion of glossy black hair hung down to his shoulders. His general aspect was stern and solemn. The com position of his discourses was rhetorical and declamatory, and his delivery of them, with a strong Scotch accent, was accompanied by violent but expressive gesticulations, his whole appearance and manner being in the highest degree singular and exciting.
In 1823 Mr. Irving published a series of connected discourses, which had been delivered on Sunday evenings, under the title of 'For the Oracles of God, Four Orations : For Judgment to Come, an Argument In Nino Parts.' On the 14th of May 1S24, at the request of the London Missionary Society, ho preached a sermon on Missions in the Taber nacle, Tottenham Court Road. When published about twelve months afterwards it was greatly expanded, and was entitled, 'For 3lissionaries of the Apostolic School, a Series of Orations, in Four Parts.' The first oration however was the only one published, its doctrines having been received with disapprobation by many persons who supported the missionary cause. In 1827 he published' The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty, by Juan Josafat Ben Ezra, a Converted Jew,' translated from the Spanish. In 1828 he published a 'Letter to the
King on the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts,' a measure which he decidedly opposed. In the same year lie published Sermons, Lectures, and Occasional Discourses,' 3 vols. 8vo; and in 1829 'Church and State responsible to each other, a series of Discourses on Daniel's Vision of the Four Beasts.' The church in Cross Street being much too small for the accom modation of the congregations that assembled there, Mr. Irviog'a followers commenced a subscription for the purpose of erecting a larger and more commodious church, and in 1829 a handsome edifice was completed and opened in Regent Square, Gray's Inn Road. Before this time however his peculiarities of manner had become familiar, critical opponents had made their appearance, and his popu larity was on the wane. At a meeting of the presbytery of London, November 20th 1830, lie was charged with heresy. The proceedings were prolonged for about eighteen months, during which his religious opinions remained unchanged, and in addition ho introduced at his church the extravagancles of the unknown tongues. This supposed supernatural inspiration originated with some females at Glasgow, and was gradually transferred to Mr. Irving's church, at first privately in prayer-meetings held at half-past six in the morning, but afterwards publicly in crowded congregations. Mr. Irving published, in Fraser's Magazine,"Facts connected with the recent Manifestations of Spiritual Gifts.' At length, the presbytery of London having pronounced sen tence against him, the trustees of the church in Regent Square came to a unanimous decision, May 3, 1882, that " the Rev. Edward Irving had rendered himself unfit to remain a minister of the Caledonian Church, Regent Square, and ought to be removed therefrom?' His ejection took place accordingly, and ho then occupied, with such of his congregation as still adhered to him, a building in Gray's Inn Road, whence he afterwards removed to Newman Street, where he occupied the room which had been West's picture-gallery. He was next cited before the presbytery of Annan to answer the charge of heresy. He attended and made his answer, when that presbytery unanimously pronounced a sentence of deposition from the mioiatry, March 15th, 1833. His constitution soon afterwards began to give way under consumption, and he died December 8, 1834, at Glasgow, and Wes buried in tho crypt of the cathedral I lo Was married at Kirktilly on the 14th of October 1822, and left a widow and children.