Flegg, Columba Graham

The Catholic Apostolic Church (sometimes called the 'Irvingites') was a remarkable body of Christians gathered together under apostolic rule out of the various Western Churches and looking for the imminent Second Coming of Christ. The French revolution had a disturbing effect on British society. Some saw its coincidence with biblical prophecy as a prelude to the Apocalypse. There was considerable public concern with mysterious spiritual events: miraculous healings, inspired 'speaking in tongues', and utterances of prophesies. These were seen as signs that the world was entering into the 'end times' when judgements would fall upon it, to be followed by the return of Christ in glory and the establishment of a period of universal blessedness (the Millennium). The Rev Edward Irving was a leading advocate of these views.

Irving was a one-time assistant to Dr Thomas Chalmers, and his gifts as a preacher made him famous and able to command huge audiences. From Old Testament and early Christian prophesy he evolved a theory of 'pre-millenarianism'. Irving died in 1834, before the founding of the Catholic Apostolic Church, so the term 'Irvingites' is strictly an anachronism.

...