IV. First Prophetic Conference Meets at Albury Park
In a desire to compare views and to gain a better and more united understanding of the prophecies pertaining to the times, groups of expositors held periodic meetings in the summer of 1826. Then, upon suggestion of Lewis Way, Henry Drummond invited by letter certain ministers and laymen whom he believed would be interested in assembling toward the close of the year for a full week of uninterrupted study and discussion. Twenty students of prophecy responded to the first call, Joseph Wolff being among the number, and Hugh M’Neile, rector of the parish of Albury, serving as moderator. PFF3 449.3
Thus the first Prophetic Conference in the Old World Advent Awakening came to pass-the first of its kind, apparently, in the modern history of the church. Drummond’s luxurious villa at Albury Park, near Guildford, in Surrey, reached by an easy drive through the woods, was admirably suited for such an assemblage. It provided shady, secluded walks for contemplation or discussion. The participants were vitally interested in the immediate features of fulfilling prophecy and were anxious to work out satisfying applications for divergent points.PFF3 449.4
These conferences were repeated annually until 1830. Forty-four individuals in all attended one or more, representing various churches and communions. The interchurch character of the group is revealed by the fact that nineteen were clergymen of the Church of England, one a Moravian, two Dissenting ministers, four ministers of the Established Church of Scotland, eleven were English laymen, one a Scotch Presbyterian layman, and six others were of undetermined persuasion. Well-known names included Drummond, M’Neile, Cuninghame, Wolff, Irving, Daniel Wilson (afterward Bishop of Calcutta), Frere, Hawtrey, Vaughan, Bayford, Stewart, Simons, Marsh, John Tudor (later editor of The Morning Watch), and Lord Mandeville. PFF3 450.1
The 1827 meeting was more largely attended than the 1826 gathering, and the interpretations of prophecy appear to have taken a more definite turn-focalizing upon the coming advent and the millennium, the “times and seasons,” and the return of the Jews. The apocalyptic vials were believed to have been poured out on Rome in 1798, and the Lord’s return was expected in 1847. The 1828 session was not so well attended, but the current war with Turkey was eagerly watched as an indication of the near approach of the end. The later vials were taken as foreshadowing the proximity of the battle of Armageddon. Prophetic time was believed to have almost expired. PFF3 450.2
A delightfully intimate picture of the first Albury Conference appears in a six-page “Postscript” by Irving, appended to his 138-page translator’s “Preliminary Discourse” to Lacunza’s Coming of Messiah, which he had hoped to submit as his 1826 “Christmas offering to the church.” The desire of these prophetic students to “compare their views” as regards the “present crisis,” and to discuss “great prophetic questions, which do at present most instantly concern Christendom,” are out lined.PFF3 450.3
Six full days, from Thursday to the succeeding Friday, were spent in “close and laborious examination of the scriptures,” on the times of the Gentiles, the Jews, the prophetic visions of Daniel and the Apocalypse, the second advent, and the “duties to the church and the world arising out of the same.” No official report was issued, so it would not bear any “stamp of authority,” that the church “might not take offence.” But Irving stresses the unity of the view on the times of the Gentiles, the restoration of the Jews, and the conclusion of the present dispensation in great judgments. All agreed that the day of the Lord was “hard at hand, yea even at the very door.” Then he adds:PFF3 451.1
“All agreeing that in the view of these things, there was required of us the greatest vigilance at our several posts, and the most fearless constancy in affectionately warning and preaching righteousness to all; according as they are admonished be [by] our Lord in the sixth vial, under which it was the universal opinion we are now living, ready for the last great and concluding vial of wrath.” PFF3 451.2
There were three sessions daily-one before breakfast, the principal session between breakfast and dinner, and the third in the evening. In the morning they came together for an hour precisely at eight, “as early as we could well see.” This was a devotional period, marked by prayer and seeking God for wisdom and light. It was led by a minister appointed in advance, who based his study solely upon Scripture. The participants all sat around a large table in the library, taking notes on the outline. Breakfast followed, during the two-hour intermission, that they “might each one try and prove himself before the Lord, upon the great questions at issue, and that we might come together with convictions, not with uncertain persuasions, and speak from the conscience, not from present impressions.” PFF3 451.3
At eleven o’clock they reassembled. After again seeking God for divine favor, the moderator asked each to express his convictions on the subject presented in the morning study. All had taken notes on these discussions.PFF3 451.4
“No appeal was allowed but to the scriptures, of which the originals lay before us, in the interpretation of which, if any question arose, we had the most learned eastern scholar perhaps in the world to appeal to, and a native Hebrew, I mean Joseph Wolff.” PFF3 452.1
Four or five hours were spent in this way-each one expressing his opinion before the meeting broke up. When weary, they “refreshed” themselves with prayer, “which also we regarded as our main defence against Satan.” The period closed with an “offering of thanksgiving,” by one of the clerical brethren. After dinner they proceeded, beginning at seven o’clock, to “winding up and concluding the whole subject.” In this evening session they were familiarly seated around the fire of the “great library-room,” but still under the guidance of the moderator, and all taking notes. PFF3 452.2
At this time any question or difficulty that had arisen during the day might be propounded, the questions being directed to the one who had given the study, and anyone was heard that was “able to resolve it.” This final session of the day broke up “towards eleven o’clock,” with the singing of a hymn and a prayer. Irving comments:PFF3 452.3
“Such were the six days we spent under the holy and hospitable roof of Albury house, within the chime of the church bell, and surrounded by the most picturesque and beautiful forms of nature; but the sweetest spot was that council-room where I met the servants of the Lord, the wise virgins waiting with oil in their lamps for the bridegroom, and a sweeter still was that secret chamber where I met in the Spirit my Lord and master whom I hope soon to meet in the flesh.” PFF3 452.4
Breaking forth into verse, Irving sings out:PFF3 452.5
“O Albury! most honoured of the King
And Potentate of heaven; whose presence here
We daily look for! In thy silent halls
His servants sought, and found such harmony Of blessed expectation, as did fill
Their hearts with lively joy: as if they’d caught
The glory of the cloud which bore their Lord,
Or heard the silver-toned trump of jubilee
Sound his arrival through the vault of heaven.
From thy retreat, as from the lonely watch-tower,
We had certain tidings of the coming night,
And of the coming day. The one to brace
Our hearts with dauntless resolution,
All sufferings to endure in his behalf,
Who for our souls did bear the ascendant dire
Of Satan’s hour and power of darkness.
The other to delight our hearts with thoughts
And dearest joys which are not known to those
Contemptuous and unfaithful servants,
Who think not of the promise long delayed
Of thy most glorious coming, gracious Lord!
For me, and for these brethren’s sake I pray,PFF3 452.6
“That the sweet odour of those hallowed hours
May never from our souls depart, till thou
Our glorious King thy standard in the heavens
Unfurlest, and command’st the Archangel strong
To make the silver-toned trump of jubilee
Sound thine arrival through the vault of heaven,
And quicken life within the hollow tomb.” PFF3 453.1
“So singeth my soul,” he declares, as he gives form to “these sweetest recollections of my life.” Declaring “the doc trine maketh most winged speed” among some, he expresses distress over the indifference of the Church of Scotland. Commenting on the “harmony and unanimity” of these “long and laborious sessions” of the conference, he says:PFF3 453.2
“Of which assembly the least that I can say is this, that no council, from that first which convened at Jerusalem until this time, seemed more governed, and conducted, and inspired by a Spirit of holy communion.” PFF3 453.3
Then he adds:PFF3 453.4
“But alas! that church to which I owe my reverence as to a mother, a bountiful though somewhat a stern mother to me, giveth little heed that I can hear of, to this great immediate overwhelming truth. Do thou bless, O Lord, this second attempt of her unworthy son to awaken some of her fathers, some of her doctors, some of her ministers, some of her elders, some of her members, yea all, yea all, Oh my God, if so it might be pleasing in thy sight and according to thy will.” PFF3 453.5
Recalling the glories of the good confession and martyrdom of the earlier Scotch church, he cries out from his “lonely watch-tower,” where the Lord had stationed him, for strength to make known to the church “whatever I hear and see.” PFF3 454.1