Alasdair Gray - Old Men in Love

Starky began by saying it was an overpowering honour for him to speak first, because of all ordained Lampeter Brethren he was certainly the last and least, having studied divinity at Cambridge — not Lampeter. For most of his life he had been a sick man, a wholly formal Christian, and a completely useless priest. He described at great length how his Belovéd Brother Prince had miraculously restored him to health and the love of Jesus, then described at greater length the mighty works of The Spirit in creating Charlinch Free Church and other wonderful Christian congregations in Stoke, Brighton and Weymouth. It was plain (he said) that an even mightier Work of the Spirit impended, and he demonstrated this with biblical quotations from the start of Genesis to the book of Revelations . But this Work must be wrought through a human instrument and where would such a Vessel of The Pure Spirit appear? Surely not in the corrupted Catholic Church, mighty and widespread though Rome still was. Surely not in the Churches of Czarist Russia and Greece, or the fragmented Protestant sects of Europe and America; nor could this saviour stand high in the Church of England, which was ruled by very worldly men. This Vessel could only appear among the Lampeter Brethren. He ended by saying, “I, Samuel Starky, firmly believe — indeed, I know — that this Vessel, this Man we call Branch foretold in the Scriptures, is among us here now. I hereby move that this meeting call upon that Man to reveal himself! Who will second my motion?”

Starky’s words excited all his listeners except Henry who sat behind the table with folded hands and downcast eyes. A great number now gazed at him, their right arms straining above their heads and shouting, “Yes yes!” “I second that!” “Hear hear!”, but most of the Lampeter Brethren present stared around as if lost or looked enquiringly at each other. The chairman raised his head, then his hand and there was silence. He said, “Does anyone oppose that motion?”

“May I say a few words?” said a voice from the floor. “Certainly,” said the chairman.

“Thankyou, Brother Henry. You will know that I am Laurence Deck, who attended our old college at Lampeter. You invited me here to discuss the present state of the Lampeter Brethren, and I am delighted to find us surrounded by so many from Brother Starky’s south coast congregation and probably your own. You did not ask the rest of we Brethren to bring members of our congregations, probably because we live far from Weymouth and our congregations are mostly too poor to travel. My accent tells everyone here that I am Welsh, and we Welsh greatly admire England’s love of fair play. I ask every honest English man and woman present, is it fair for them to help three or four priests outvote a larger number, simply because that larger number have brought no followers?”

Deck sat down. A murmuring that had started during his speech now broke out into cries of, “Nonsense!” “Pedantry!” “Turn him out!”, yet whispering in the audience showed many quieter voices were discussing his words. On the platform Starky and Thomas looked appealingly to the chairman who again sat with downcast eyes until another voice from the floor said, “Brother Henry, I am Arthur Rees from Sunderland in Northumbria. May I speak?”

“Certainly,” said Henry.

“When Brother Starky says a Vessel of the Holy Ghost may be among us, does he refer to Christ’s second coming?”

“Eh. . yes! I do! But in The Spirit!” cried Starky, then added hastily, “And in the body too. . of course. . also in the body.”

“Thankyou for being so clear,” said Rees. “True Christians should always expect Christ’s second coming at any moment, for if we do not we may miss it, as the foolish virgins missed the bridegroom in the parable. That is why we Christians have been expecting Christ ever since His resurrection. But can we be sure His second coming is now so very near? Brother Starky says the world has grown as wicked as when God drowned nearly everyone in Noah’s flood, but is not the world today, with its many admitted evils, better than it was in the days of the Emperor Nero? Or before the Protestant Reformation? I agree with him that many Church of England clergy are worldly men with worldly motives, but do not agree that there are no pure-hearted Christians outside the Lampeter Brethren. In other churches there are many pure believers. I myself am thinking of joining the Baptists. .”

This caused a muffled commotion in which a woman screamed, “Shame!”, then tried to look as if she had not. Rees cried, “Surely we should only do what Jesus commanded! Let us love the Lord our God with all our hearts and souls and minds and our neighbour as ourselves! Let us even love neighbours who ignore us, mock us or treat us as enemies! God still wants Christians to love and serve fallen humanity, especially if we are priests.”

He sat down in a sudden, respectful silence which lasted some seconds before hands were raised by many eager to speak. The chairman suddenly looked up and in a strange sing-song that disconcerted everyone chanted, “Brother Deck again has the floor.”

“I d-d-do not wish to suggest anything of-of-of-offensive to Brother Prince and his followers,” said Deck, confused by the strange voice that singled him out but swiftly mastering his stammer, “I only suggest that Brother Starky’s motion is prem — is premature. Let all the Lampeter Brethren and their congregations watch for signs that Christ is returning or has returned, because surely these signs will be miracles that none who see them can doubt, and that no show of hands, no counting of heads can set in train. I move that all in the Lampeter Brotherhood correspond with each other, perhaps using our minutes secretary, Brother Thomas, as a kind of central post office. If any of us encounter a miracle showing that Christ has returned, let him share that news, not confine it to one circle of ad-ad-ad-admirers.”

“Let Brother Deck’s commands be obeyed!” Henry almost screamed in his peculiar new voice, “This meeting is now at an end! Amen, Amen, and Amen!”

He swiftly left the platform and room, followed closely by Starky, Thomas, Julia, Mrs Starky and Rees. The remaining Lampeter Brethren and Princeites were so confused that they mutteringly left the hotel without more public discussion.

A fortnight after the Royal Hotel meeting Arthur Rees and Laurence Deck called on Prince at Belfield Terrace, Weymouth. He received them as he received all visitors nowadays, Julia seated on one side and Starky on the other. He arose as Rees and Deck entered — murmured a welcome — shook their hands warmly — sat calmly smiling as the visitors, on a sofa facing them, exchanged remarks about the weather with his followers. Suddenly Rees said wildly, “O Brother Prince, I do not know how to start saying what we are here to say!”

“Yet say it.”

“This letter in my hand — Brother Deck has also received a copy — purports to be minutes of our last meeting of the Brethren. It is not! I doubt if Brother Thomas wrote a word of it!”

“He wrote every word of it,” said Prince mildly, “I know this because he wrote down what The Spirit dictated to him through my lips. The voice was mine but the words were God’s. Brother Thomas then made a copy in his own hand while Sisters Julia and Starky made other copies. The Spirit directed that Thomas’s manuscript epistles be posted to you and Deck. The other copies went to the other former Brethren.”

“Who are as shocked as we are! The only Lampeter Brethren it mentions as present are you, Starky, Thomas and Price!”

“Because we were the only Brethren present in heart and soul. You and the rest were not. You heard Brother Starky knocking at the door of your hearts, begging you to open and admit salvation through the Holy Spirit’s love. You preferred to shut it out.”