Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/433

 IRVING 419 church disclaims all sectarian aims. It assumes this movement to be the work of the Holy Spirit for the blessing of the entire Christian church throughout the world. It does not seek to proselyte, but is content with bearing a witness to the truth and strengthening all who desire to maintain the truth. It recog- nizes all the baptized as members of the one church, and each several Christian community according to the measure of the truth it holds. The whole system of teaching, worship, and discipline is founded upon the doctrine of the incarnation, or the true and real manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and its application to man by means of sacraments and ordinances. Jesus is the Lord, and all ministries on earth are but forms by which his presence is made effective in the church. The worship is con- ducted by means of a ritual which embodies portions of the rituals in use in all different sections of the church, Greek, Roman, and Protestant. It makes use of material emblems and signs as far as they are significant of spir- itual truths. Architecture, music, and painting, vestments of divers colors, incense, lights, all are employed as symbols of spiritual truths. When the numbers and means admit, the wor- ship is conducted with all the magnificence that its importance justifies," while it is also capable of adaptation to very narrow circum- stances. The eucharist is celebrated every Lord's day. Daily morning and evening wor- ship is maintained. All the members pay tithes of their increase, which are applied to the support of the priesthood, besides offerings for other purposes. The great object of in- terest to all the believers is the hope of the speedy coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when the dead in Christ shall be raised, and they who are looking for him shall undergo the change of their bodies which is spoken of by St. Paul in 1 Cor. xv. About the year 1846 the movement began to spread into other parts of Europe, especially Germany. There are in London seven churches, which collectively re- present the unity of the whole church. The number of churches and congregations in the British isles (1874), including these, is between 80 and 90. In north Germany there are nearly as many, in Switzerland six or eight ; and there are scattering congregations in other countries of Europe. There are no published statistics from which the number of ministers or peo- ple can be obtained; they amount to several thousands. In the United States there is only one fully organized church ; this is in New York, and there are four smaller congrega- tions connected with it in Connecticut and Boston. In Canada there are four churches. Mr. Irving's works throw but little light on the principles of the church as such. Some of the works relating to it are : " The Liturgy and other Divine Offices of the Church;" "Readings on the Liturgy" (1 vol. and 2 parts of another, London, 1851); "Chronicle of Cer- tain Events which have taken place in the Church of Christ, principally in England, be- tween the Years 1826 and 1852" (London, 1852); "Defence of John Canfleld Sterling, Presbyter," &c. (New York, 1852); "A Letter from David Morris Fackler to the Right Rev. G. W. Doane, Bishop of New Jersey" (New York, 1852) ; " The Permanency of the Apos- tolic Office as distinct from that of Bishops, with Reasons for believing that it is now re- vived in the Church, by a Presbyter of the Protestant Episcopal Church" (New York, 1852) ; " The True Constitution of the Church and its Restoration," by the Rev. William Watson Andrews (New York, 1854); "The True Apostolic Succession, a Letter to Rev. Francis Vinton," by John S. Davenport (New York, 1858) ; "Edward Irving and the Catholic Apostolic Church," by the same (1863) ; "The Purpose of God in Creation and Redemption," the most complete exposition of the principles of the movement (Edinburgh, 1865) ; and " Christian Unity and its Recovery," by John S. Davenport (1866). IRVING, Theodore, an American clergyman, nephew of Washington Irving, born in New York, May 9, 1809. At the age of 19 he joined his uncle in Spain, and resided for three years in Madrid, Paris, and London, attending lec- tures, and devoting himself to the study of modern languages. He was appointed pro- fessor of history and belles-lettres in Geneva (now Hobart) college, New York, in 1836, which post he occupied for 12 years. In 1848 he was chosen to be professor in the same department in the free academy (now college of the city) of New York, but resigned in May, 1852. Two years later he entered the ministry of the Episcopal church, and became rector of Christ's church, Bay Ridge, L. I. ; was for many years rector of St. Andrew's and after- ward of Ascension parish, Staten Island ; and is now (1874) rector of St. John's school for young ladies, New York city. He has pub- lished " Conquest of Florida by Hernando de Soto" (1835; new ed., 1857), and devotional works entitled " The Fountain of Living Wa- ters" (1854; 4th ed., 1855), "Tiny Footfall" (1869), and "More than Conqueror" (1873). IRVING, Washington, an American author, born in New York, April 3, 1783, died at Sun- nyside, near Tarrytown, N. Y., Nov. 28, 1859. He was the youngest son of William Irving, who was descended from an ancient family in the Orkneys ; his mother was English. Washington Irving left school in his 16th year, and began the study of law. But his passion was for lit- erature, and in 1802 he commenced in the "Morning Chronicle" a series of papers on dramatic and social subjects and local occur- rences, under the signature of " Jonathan Old- style." In 1804, being threatened with con- sumption, he visited Europe, spending several months in the south of France and Italy. At Rome in 1805 he became intimate with Wash- ington Allston, and under his tuition made a serious attempt to become a painter, but was