Last updated 21:15, Thursday, 14 August 2008

CONVENTION time again! And no, this time it’s not the one at Keswick. How about Carlisle Convention?

Now, being an offcomer, albeit of some 40 years standing – I’d never heard of it. Until, that is, I came across a brief mention in the Carlisle Patriot of September 1890.

It was run on the same principles as the Keswick Convention, and was first held in 1886. The proceedings for 1890 took place in Carlisle Drill Hall, St John’s Church and St John’s hall and, according to contemporary accounts, these venues were packed out for most meetings, which ran from Tuesday to Friday.

The Rev HM Shepherd, vicar of St John’s Church, had been one of the clergy most actively involved in getting the convention started in the city and, quite naturally, took a lead role in many of the meetings.

After each evening meeting, almost 1,000 people stayed on for the “after meetings.” The singing must have been uplifting, being led by a choir which had been handpicked from the various other churches and chapels in the city. The music was co-ordinated by Mr Clapperton, organist at St James’ Church.

One person who chaired a number of meetings was Robert Wilson, from Broughton Grange. He had, by virtue of his work for the Keswick Convention, acquired an international reputation, being as well known in America as in Britain.

He explained to his listeners that the purpose of all such conventions was “raise the standard of Christian life, to impart the reality of religion, and thus rid the Church of that which had so often called forth the ridicule of her enemies.”

It was a highly successful affair. Perhaps this was because, according to the press report, all “the addresses were short and direct in their character”. This, for Victorians, must have been a unique experience. Sermons from that time were not noted for their brevity.

As I stated before, I have only chanced upon this one reference to Carlisle Convention, and I know nothing about its subsequent history. But I know, or at least I hope, that some kind soul among you will be able to lighten my darkness.

Go to any meeting and you will invariably be assailed by the various fringe elements. And there is no reason to believe, even though they were not reported as being present, that the various dissident factions didn’t turn up at the Carlisle conventions.

They did however deluge the editor of the Patriot with literature, no doubt strategically timed to coincide with the Convention. Most of it had been written by the Rev Baxter, in the form of “prophetic” pamphlets: “Coming Wars” and “40 Coming Wonders” followed by “Prophetic Discourses 188-1901.” We’ve come across this foreteller of woes before. He’d booked the Drill Hall in 1887 to lecture his audience on their immediate future – and it wasn’t a pleasant one.

1889-91 would see the greatest European war ever. It would involve all the nations of Europe and end with the defeat of Germany, which would be stripped of many of its territories – some of them going to France. He was only a couple of decades adrift. But precise chronology is always a dodgy business for prophets. If he’d been a bit vaguer on his dates, he wouldn’t have been too far from the mark.

By 1891, Britain would lose India, Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. His dates were out, but even the Scottish breakaway now looks a distinct possibility. He foretold compulsory military conscription.

He even saw Britain losing its independence, either by invasion or, interestingly, by an act of voluntary submission, eventually becoming one of a ten-kingdomed confederacy – led by France.

That wasn’t the end of it. By 1897 we would be “made desolate by red republican crusading armies from Europe” led by the “scarlet woman”. All religious freedom would be banned. Everyone would be branded with the “Universal Socialist Trade Mark”. The mark of the new dictator – the mark of the Anti-Christ – 666.

So who was this dictator? Answer – take your pick. Some of the more obvious choices have been and gone. Some people have played around with numerology, letters of the alphabet, etc. You can still do it. Just cast your eyes about you. Who in the world would qualify for the title?

People are still trying to work this one out. If you really want to know more, just Google “Little Horn of Daniel”.

It seems that a Roman Catholic priest wrote a book, in 1825, in which he proved that the world would come to an end in 1831. He’d written to the Vatican, asking for permission to publish his tome. He got the required permission, on one condition. He had to defer publication until 1832.