LETTER XIX.
“We know that all things work together for good, to those that love God.”
To —
As the congregation was so much increased, from the late rumours, and conclusion of the trial, the place where we had long worshipped, was deemed unsafe to contain so large a body of people; it was therefore proposed to build a more convenient place, near the old spot: but the chief part of the neighbourhood being City ground, we could not obtain any other place than the vacant spot on which the chapel now stands: this was taken of the City, and on Monday the 13th of July, the day twelvemonth the trial was terminated in my favour, I laid the foundation-stone of the new chapel, in presence of many spectators. When I had concluded the service, we assembled the same evening at the old chapel, where I preached on Gen. xxviii. “And this stone which I have set shall be God’s house.” That evening, small as the congregation was, compared with others, we collected fifty pounds. The building was begun, and in ten weeks it was finished; but during that time my faith was continually upon the watch tower. And the hand of God was most evidently in the business; timber was scarcely ever known to be at such a price, yet the Lord sent me money with which to pay the men their wages, and to find many materials beside—this was at the rate of twenty-five pounds a week. Where the money came from I know not, but, to my surprise, it came. The Lord called me to his throne, and in gracious answers the money was sent. On the first Sunday in October, 1813, I took my leave of the old place, where I spent many happy hours; and if David remembered Hermon, and the little hill Mizar, the old Obelisk chapel will be dear to many a soul while life and being last. I preached in the morning on the language of Moses to Jethro—“We are journeying to the place of which the Lord said, I will give it thee, come thou with us, we will surely do thee good.” In the afternoon I endeavoured to remind my hearers of that suitable promise in every case of the Lord’s people—“And behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest; and I will not leave thee until I have done all the good which I promised unto thee.” In the evening I again addressed the congregation, from the language of Moses—“Let thy presence go with us.” After the evening sermon, we had the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. The evening was solemn, and we concluded with thanksgiving for the many happy hours we had spent in the place, and intreated the Lord to go with us the next day, and abide with us all our days. We left the old spot with some reluctance, and the next morning I opened the new meeting. I preached from Exodus xxv. 8—“And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them:” this sermon is now in print. And in the evening to a very crowded congregation, from John xvii—“And I have declared thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and thou in them.” The bustle of the day had impaired my mind, but I was helped through it, and the collection amounted to upwards of fifty pounds for that day, which I considered to be very great. Some very excellent singers volunteered their kind services, and at the close of the service favoured us with some very beautiful anthems from Handel. The place was always well attended, but the building of the chapel involved me in several heavy debts, many of which I paid out of the produce of the chapel, and others I borrowed money to pay them with, so that I paid all the tradesmen comfortably to my own mind; but the borrowed money laid as a dead weight on my spirits, and created me many anxieties. This gave fresh exercise to prayer and faith, and an opportunity of watching the hand of God. Soon after the building was completed, my subscriptions stopped, and of course all the heavy debt laid on me. As I was determined no one should be hurt by me, I became responsible for every thing; and having collected by subscription, about seven hundred pounds, I found I was nearly ten hundred pounds in debt—three hundred I paid in about eighteen months, and the rest I paid interest for the use of, till the whole was cleared off. And as I had the money given me, I built the place and paid for it, of course it is my own property; but I have since seen it necessary to choose trustees, by way of executors to my will, that the place should be always appropriated to the preaching of the gospel: this was to secure it from any who should claim it, and in future time convert it into any thing else: as I had known some preachers who had chapels of their own, after they had made a fortune in them, sell them to brokers, and other persons, laying an injunction on them never to let them again have the gospel preached in them. This is most base, and cruel, beyond all expression; and what an awful state must their consciences be in, to act in so base a manner. The Lord was with me, in this place also, till another calamity befel me: but this I know, every occurrence is divinely appointed, by infinite wisdom, and will terminate in the glory of God, and the prosperity of the soul—For he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
Yours truly, J. C.