Edwardsville Spectator

From the Liverpool Mercury.

THE REV. EDWARD IRVING, A. M.

This gentleman is at present all the rage; and there is as much crowding in the Caledonian New Church, in London, where he officiates, as to the theatre of the opera. He is an élève of the celebrated Dr. Chalmers, and had it in contemplation to go abroad; but we learn, he will stay where he is, at least whilst he is in fashion as he now is. Amongst his auditors are to be found princes, dukes, statesmen, lawyers, and "all the kind of thing," as Sir Mark Magnus says. We heartily wish he may succeed in imposing upon the minds of some of these gentlemen, the conviction that they are accountable beings, and that there is such a place as that he so graphically describes. Whatever we may think of his tropes and his figures, or of his reasoning powers, we decidedly think that some such man as he was very much wanted in the present day. Our preachers are somewhat too mealy-mouthed; and if they venture to tell great men any strong truths to their faces, they soften down the matter somewhat after the manner of the pulpit orator who told his audience that if they did not reform their lives they would go to a place that politeness forbade him to mention. Mr. Irving, however speaks out plainly on the subject, and does not appear to spare any rank or political party: and if we had no other evidence that he is heard, we should be satisfied with the fact, that the London Courier is very angry with him for presuming to allude to the apostate Poet Laureate, in one of his sermons, of which we subjoin one passage:

"Instead of which mighty fruit of genius, this age (O shocking!) hath produced out of this theme two most nauseous and unformed abortions—vile, unprincipled and grovelling: the one brazen-faced piece of political cant—the other an abandoned parody of solemn judgment. O! which visionaries, I know not whether the self confident tone of the one, or the ill-placed merriment of the other, displeaseth me the most. It is ignoble and impious to rob the sublimest of subjects of all its grandeur and awe, in order to serve wretched interests and vulgar passions. I have no sympathy with such wretched stuff, and despise the age which has it. The men are limited in their faculties; for they both of them, want the greatest of all talents—to know the living God, and stand in awe of his mighty power. With the one blasphemy is virtue when it makes for loyalty; with the other, blasphemy is the soul and spice of jest-making. Barren souls!"