CHAPTER III.
MEMORIALS OF THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH AT KETTERING.
There are some places which present no claim on public notice from anything remarkable in their situation, their population, or their buildings; yet attain celebrity from the character, talents, and services of certain individuals that have been connected with them. This is the case with the town of Kettering. It is a comparatively small town, containing about 5,000 inhabitants, standing about the centre of the northern division of the county of Northampton; but this place has attained to some considerable degree of renown, on account of the religious advantages with which it has been favoured. By some persons it may be thought of with interest, as the birth-place of Dr. Gill and Mr. Brine, eminent ministers of the Gospel in their day; but it is far more extensively known, as the place where a Toller and a Fuller, though of different denominations, laboured together in the same cause during a space of more than thirty years. No town probably, for its size, has been so distinguished, by having two ministers, of such a high standing, engaged for so long a period as stated pastors of two societies. Their talents and attainments were of a different order, but though different, equally eminent. Fuller was most extensively known on account of his services to the Baptist Mission, and his able and useful publications, whilst he was highly esteemed as a minister of the Gospel—Toller, as a preacher of original manner, and remarkable interest and power, was greatly valued, and will be long remembered.
But for a considerable period we find the town of Kettering distinguished by the faithful ministration of Gospel truth. The Puritans, in 1591, are said to have held several meetings here and in the neighbourhood. Two hundred years ago, Mr. Thomas Maidwell, an eminent minister of Christ, preached the Gospel here, having become rector of the parish about the year 1650. Mr. Maidwell was a native of Geddington, a village three miles from Kettering. He was educated at Cambridge, became a good scholar, an excellent preacher, and a man of eminent piety. In the year 1662 he was ejected from the living, and ranked among the devoted Nonconformists of the day. After his ejectment he frequently preached in his own house, and in other houses in the town; until at length he opened a Meeting House, which would hold from 300 to 400 hearers. In what year this took place is unknown. He lived for thirty years after his separation from the Church. Like many of his brethren in those days, he was tried by persecution. One H. Sawyer, Esq., a large landed proprietor in the parish, was a bitter enemy to the Nonconformists, and often tried to get Mr. Maidwell into his power. He frequently escaped with difficulty, sometimes in disguise. It is said that he was once cast into prison. He was also banished from his home by the "Five Mile Act," retiring for some time from Kettering, it is supposed to the house of H. Barwell, Esq.,[2] of Marston Trussell, near Market Harborough. From thence he wrote to his people at Kettering three very excellent pastoral letters, which have been preserved. An extract from the first of these will be sufficient to show something of the principles and spirit of this minister of Christ.
My dear Friends: Grace and peace be multiplied.—Since I heard of the great distress you are in on several accounts, it cannot but much affect and afflict me; and the rather, because my present dangers and sufferings add to yours, which makes the burden heavier to us both. But if our God, who directs, helps us to cast our burden on him, he will sustain it, and us under it, as at present he doth, blessed be his name! for though "we are troubled on every side, yet we are not distressed; though perplexed, yet not in despair; though persecuted, yet not forsaken; though cast down, yet not destroyed." Though we bear in our outward man "the dying of the Lord Jesus," yet if the life, spirit, and vigour of Christ be exercised in our inward man, we shall live to him eternally hereafter, as spiritually here. But the want of that divine vigour and true Christian magnanimity fills most souls with despondency, bowels with sighs, and tongues with complaints. Yet we have no reason to murmur against or complain of our God, who doth all things justly, and wisely, and well, but of ourselves, who neither know, do, nor suffer as we ought; but "in many things we offend all," and therefore all suffer justly. It's true, you will say—what is to be done under our present suffering?
Then he goes on to give them most suitable and important directions; such as, "Let every one search his and her ways." "Let not self-examination be superficial, but special, thorough, affectionate, heart-melting, soul afflicting, extraordinary, becoming so dark a day." "Press after a personal, relative, thorough reformation of what is amiss in heart, tongue, and life." "Have a daily vigorous recourse by a lively faith unto Christ." "Let that faith, in the reality and eminence of it, be more and more manifested in our new obedience." He gives them directions as to the purity of their worship—their spirit towards each other—their sitting loose to the world—giving up themselves entirely to God—giving all diligence in their Christian course—seeking to attain joy and peace in believing—and then closes in these words:—
Thus, my dear hearts, I have answered your desires in your last I received; heartily letting you know, that though I am absent in body from you to my great grief, yet I am present with you in spirit, daily praying for you, longing to see you, which I should have done "once and again had not Satan hindered," which he will do till Christ comes and binds him in chains and removes him out of the way, and gives his people a quiet and full enjoyment of himself in each other. Which, that he may, is the earnest prayer of your unworthy pastor, solicitous for your souls' good.
I am, Sirs, &c.,
T. M.
Communicate this to ours.
It is uncertain in what year the Church was formed, as the first entry in the oldest Church-book is without date. The following is the first statement: "An account of the names of those who are in Church fellowship at Kettering, and have engaged to walk together according to the rules of the Gospel, under the ministry of Mr. Maidwell, pastor there." Then follow the names of 95 members residing in Kettering, and 91 in other places in the vicinity: total number of members, 186.
The Church was formed on Congregational principles, with a pastor, two elders, and two deacons.
Mr. Maidwell continued his labours almost to the last, and died January 9th, 1692, about 80 years of age. He was buried in the chancel of the parish Church, a stone being placed over his grave, with a Latin inscription, now scarcely legible.
We are informed that "he was abundant in labours; never weary of his work, and seldom wearied in it: that he had the happy art of winning souls to Christ; that such was his peculiar aptitude for religious conversation, making a spiritual improvement of all earthly business and concerns he was engaged about, that it was considered a question, whether he did more good or converted more souls in the pulpit or out of it. He had an amiable temper, and breathed much of the spirit of his Divine Master, recommending continually the Gospel he preached by his lovely and consistent deportment." One "of whom the world was not worthy," but whose "memory is blessed." "He was a burning and shining light, and there were many who rejoiced to walk in his light."
After the death of Mr. Maidwell, Mr. Thomas Milway became pastor of the Church. The date of his settlement is not given, but it is supposed to have taken place between January, 1692, and June, 1694. It is supposed that he came from Bury to Kettering. His pastorate was but a short one, not more than four or five years. At the commencement of his ministry the Church numbered 167 members, and 61 were added while he was pastor. In the list of members at the commencement of Mr. Milway's labours, we find the name of John Gill, the father of the celebrated Dr. Gill, and the name of Elijah Brine, father of Mr. William Brine, a Baptist minister of some eminence, contemporary with Dr. Gill.
About the year 1696, Mr. William Wallis, a ruling elder in the Church, embraced the sentiments of the Baptists, and took upon him to baptize by immersion some of the members of the Church. This being brought forward in a Church assembly, in which it is said "to have been proved that he had no right or power to do so," he desired his dismission, which was granted him; after which he began to preach in another place in the town; and six or seven of the members, embracing the same sentiments, left the Church with Mr. Wallis, and thus he became the first pastor of the Baptist Church in Kettering.
From the parish register it is found that Mr. Milway was buried April 3rd, 1697.
In the 'Nonconformist Memorial,' mention is made of a Mr. Shepherd, as succeeding Mr. Maidwell at Kettering; but the evidence presented by the register of Mr. Shepherd's burial at Kettering shows that he must have immediately succeeded Mr. Milway, and that his labours here only continued for a few months, for he was buried March 21st, 1698. No account of his services is preserved in the records of this Church. We are informed that "he was a minister in the Established Church at Tilbrook, in Bedfordshire. When the "Bartholomew Act" passed, at first he conformed; continuing for some years in his living, a great blessing to the town and neighbourhood. He had the true spirit of his office; his preaching awful and affecting, and his life very holy. Being much followed from places around, the clergy greatly disliked him—used to reflect upon him at their visitations—looked upon him with an evil eye; so that at length, finding his situation very uncomfortable, he quitted his living, became pastor of a Dissenting congregation at Oundle, and came from thence to Kettering, where he died."
The next pastor of the Church was Mr. William Terry, supposed to have come from Hitchin to Kettering. He remained but a short time here, and then removed to London. During his ministry 36 persons were added to the Church. From the recollections of an aged intelligent woman it is stated, that Mr. Terry was popular as a preacher—that he had travelled in Holland and Germany, and did not seem inclined to settle long in any place.
In the year 1709 Mr. John Wills became pastor of the Church. It is stated concerning him, "that he was a gentlemanlike man, of popular talents." During the first three or four years of his ministry 27 members were added to the Church; but his conduct at length gave a great blow to the cause with which he had become connected. He acted in a manner so contrary to the Christian character, and so injured himself as a Christian minister, as to be discarded by the Church. Between the dates of August, 1712, and July, 1715, he was charged with notorious lying, and other scandalous sins, for which he was repeatedly admonished by the Church; but not giving satisfaction by his spirit and conduct, he was dismissed.
After this he remained in Kettering about four years; set up a separate interest; drew up a Church covenant, July 15th, 1715, in which mention is made of 46 members, most of whom had belonged to the other Church, having been drawn away by him, though most of them returned during the ministry of his successor. His bad conduct caused him to be soon rejected by the party that went off with him.
There was another part of his conduct towards his former charge which appears to have been very dishonourable. The people had raised a subscription, and purchased a dwelling-house for their minister, with a considerable garden. Mr. Wills occupied it as the minister, but wished to make some addition to it, and to secure himself prevailed on the people to have the house surrendered to him, which, from the regard they then had for him, they unwisely permitted to be done. Consequently, after the Church had dismissed him from his office, he still retained the house, and at length sold it, keeping the whole amount of the money, pleading as his excuse that it was but as much as he had laid out upon it, with other disadvantages that he had in removing. He went to Wellingham, Cambridgeshire.
Such things as these would present some serious hindrances to the advancement of religion among the people, while a man of this character sustained the office of pastor, and afterwards sought to draw away disciples after him.
On the 11th of November, 1714, Mr. Thomas Milway, jun., the son of the former pastor of this name, was settled over them. At the time when his settlement took place, 112 persons are registered as belonging to the Church. During his ministry, which continued only for six years and a half, 48 members were admitted. He removed to Ipswich in March, 1721.
In reference to the removal of Mr. Milway from Kettering to Ipswich, we have received the following extracts from the Church records of the latter place:—
At a Church-meeting, the 26th of October, 1720, the Church gave a call to Mr. Thomas Milway, at Kettering, to the pastoral office, in the following words, and signed as underwritten by the brethren of the Church:—
"To the Rev. Mr. Thomas Milway, at Kettering.
"Dear Sir,—The sovereign Lord of life and death having called to rest from his labours and affliction here our late dear pastor, the Rev. and worthy Mr. Benjamin Glandfield, the Congregational Church of Christ at Ipswich are thereby left as sheep without a shepherd. We, the members of the said Church, have humbled ourselves before the Lord by fasting and prayer, imploring his direction under this solemn dispensation, and do think our present duty is, the endeavouring to fill up that relation by calling one duly qualified for the pastoral office; and having several times had experience of the excellent gifts and graces God in his mercy hath bestowed on you, we cannot but acknowledge how generally acceptable they are to this Church and auditory; and having had several informations of your present circumstances at Kettering, and the way plain and easy for a removal; and considering that your settlement with us in the pastoral office is likely to be of great service to the interest of Christ in these parts, and for the uniting and settling of this Church, which otherwise is like to fall into great confusions—therefore, we, the brethren of the Church aforesaid, at a meeting this 26th of October, 1720, do hereby call and desire you to take the pastoral office in this Church, praying the Lord, the great Shepherd of the sheep, to direct, incline, and settle you with us, unto whose divine providence we commit this great affair, trusting the Lord will enable us to perform those duties required of us. We desire you at a convenient time as possible to return answer to our desires and call, which will greatly oblige, dear Sir, your most affectionate friends and servants in one Lord,
(Signed) "Thos. Wyneall, }
"Joseph Wyatt, } Deacons.
"With many others, brethren of the Church."
In another page, in Mr. Milway's own handwriting, there are the names of the 41 brethren and the 79 sisters who joined in the call of Thomas Milway to the pastoral office. "All these distinctly," he observes, "and one by one, gave their consent to my taking the pastoral office. The 10th of August, 1721, was a day set apart for solemn prayer to implore a blessing upon my pastoral labours," when he records the names of the ministers who engaged and were present, and adds, "We have good grounds to hope the Lord was with us, and did assist in the work; and that a spirit of supplication was poured out upon us. For which, his abundant mercy, may we bless him for ever; and may a gracious God say to pastor and people, 'From this day will I bless you.' Amen and amen."
Short was the course of his ministry here; for we are further informed, that "the Rev. Thomas Milway died the Lord's-day, May 31st, 1724, in the morning, aged 47. He lies buried in the aisle, immediately in front of the pulpit, as does his wife, Mrs. Mary Milway, who died September 9th, 1751, aged 75. He appears to have been honoured and useful during his short ministry at Ipswich.
During this period, about the year 1715, the Meeting House at Kettering was threatened, and thought to be in danger of being pulled down by a lawless mob. The reaction that had taken place in favour of the Dissenters when they aided in effecting the glorious Revolution by William the Third, had now passed by. During the reign of Anne, the enemies of Dissent exerted themselves to abridge their liberties. The trial of Sacheveral, a high Church bigot, under the Whig ministry, and the triumph he obtained among the people, produced a great excitement. Mob violence was employed against the Dissenters, and many Meeting Houses were pulled down. The death of Anne, in 1714, was succeeded by the peaceful accession of the first monarch of the House of Hanover, who at once declared that "he was determined to adhere to the principles of toleration, and endeavour to unite all his Protestant subjects by affording them all equal protection."
But there were numbers who considered it hard not to be allowed to persecute by law, and who therefore determined to avenge themselves and their defeated party by setting the law at defiance, in order to enjoy the luxury of worrying Dissenters. Hence in many towns in England, during this year, Dissenters were insulted, and their places of worship pulled down or burned. But the Meeting House at Kettering, though threatened, was preserved. "The mob supposed that the building was well guarded within by people armed for the purpose, which prevented them from making the attempt. It is not known what defence was made, but no mischief was done."
At the time when Mr. Milway, junior, removed from Kettering, a small congregation of Dissenters in the noted town of Coventry had a Mr. Thomas Saunders preaching to them. He was a descendant from Lawrence Saunders, the martyr, who was burnt at Coventry in Queen Mary's days, 1555. The family had possessed a large estate at or near Bedworth, but lost the greater part of it on account of religion. A Mr. Julian Saunders, uncle of this Mr. Thomas Saunders, was a Nonconformist minister at Bedworth; and under him the nephew was educated for the ministry.
On Lord's-day, May 21st, 1721, Mr. Saunders preached, we suppose for the first time, at Kettering. Such was the favourable impression produced by his services on that day, that he was thought by the congregation to be a proper person to become their pastor; and they immediately began to take steps towards bringing him into this relation to them. It was treated by both parties, the Church and the minister, as a matter of high importance. The society to which Mr. Saunders ministered at Coventry was very unwilling to part with him. The Church at Kettering was equally anxious to obtain his services; and then he states, as one great reason that influenced his decision, "he should have ten times the number of people to preach to that he had at Coventry." After a suitable time for further trial, for consultation, and prayer for divine direction, he at length accepted the invitation of the Church at Kettering, and entered on his stated engagements there September 14th, 1721. He was set apart to the pastoral office by solemn services on November 23rd of the same year. The following is the account Mr. Saunders gives of the services of the day:—
Thursday, November 23rd, 1721, was appointed a day of fasting and prayer upon the account of our sitting down together. Mr. Cartwright, of Buckby, begun with prayer, and prayed well. Mr. Some read over the call of the Church, and asked my acceptance, and then prayed, and indeed prayed in prayer. Mr. Tingey, of Northampton, preached from 2 Chron. xv. 2. Mr. Jennings concluded with prayer, and Mr. Norris prayed among us in the evening. And now to thee, O God! must I give an account for this, and all my actions. I have been persuaded in my own mind, and am still, that I ought to labour where I can do most for God, and that thou, Lord, wilt take it well at the hands of thy servants that study so to do. Let us be made blessings to each other. Let us find thy presence and grace with us. Let much be done for God amongst us, that may effectually answer the clamour of malicious persons, and "put to silence the ignorance of foolish men," as well as be made confirming to thy people here. Propter Jesum Christum salvalorem nostrum, cui nunc et in secula seculorum gloria. Amen.
"In his younger days," observes Mr. Some, in giving some account of Mr. Saunders, "he was much addicted to those amusements and diversions in which too many in the present day lavish away their precious time, while their best and most valuable interests are neglected. But "it pleased God," who designed him for eminent service, "to call him by his grace, and to reveal his Son in him," which effectually reclaimed him from the follies of youth, and led him afterwards frequently to drop a tear over them, praying that they might be remembered no more. As soon as he had received the grace of God, it was his great concern to watch against everything that might obstruct his progress in religion, and to use all proper means to promote and strengthen the Christian temper in all its branches. It was a strong desire to do good to the souls of men, by "teaching transgressors the ways of God, that sinners might be converted to him," which inclined him to devote himself to the work of the ministry. He found so much real satisfaction in religion, that he was willing others might taste its pleasures; and he saw so much danger in a course of sin, that he thought he could not do a kinder office than to warn men of it, that they might escape the pollution and condemnation to which it would expose them. He was not so early in his preparation for this holy employment as some others; but with the blessing of God on his great industry and indefatigable endeavours, he soon came forth qualified with such endowments which are of the greatest importance to render ministers useful to the Church of Christ. He became eminently qualified for the ministry of the Gospel, and his labours were greatly blest to his people, by whom he was held in the highest esteem.
The congregation so increased soon after Mr. Saunders came to Kettering, that it was found necessary to build a larger place of worship, which the congregation did in the year 1723. This building stands to this day, though it has undergone considerable alterations. It is 50½ ft. by 45½ within the walls, with three galleries. It is calculated to seat more than 800 hearers. At its erection some gentleman in or near London gave a handsome chandelier, with 24 sockets.
During the ministry of Mr. Saunders, Mr. William Hextal, son of Mr. Hextal, a farmer at Broughton, a village about three miles from Kettering, became a member of the Church, and studied under Mr. Saunders for a time, preparatory to his entering Doddridge's academy, with a view to the ministry. It is recorded in the Church-book—"At a Church-meeting held June 2nd, 1731, Mr. William Hextal was received into our communion; and as he is now engaged in learning for the work of the ministry, I gave him a solemn charge in relation to these things; and added several things that I apprehended he should practise as a Christian, in order to his being a minister." At the close of his academic course, Mr. Hextal was settled at Creaton, afterwards removed to Sudbury, and from thence to Northampton.
Mr. Saunders published a funeral sermon preached at Woodford, near Kettering, from Rev. xiii. 14, entitled 'The Blessedness of Pious Persons after Death considered.' Also, a letter was printed, which he wrote in his last illness to his people; which was, by his direction, publicly read to them after his funeral sermon. "Well worth the attention," it is said, "of all destitute Churches." He died in the midst of his life and usefulness, after an illness of some months, July 21st, 1736. In the records of the Church it is stated that "he was an evangelical preacher, had a very happy delivery, an agreeable temper, and graceful appearance; was much respected by the Church people, and much endeared to his own flock, who lamented their loss many years after." His funeral sermon was preached by Mr. Some, of Harborough, from a passage Mr. Saunders had chosen, 1 Cor. xv. 10—"Not I, but the grace of God that was with me." We shall quote some passages from this discourse, relating to the character and qualifications of Mr. Saunders:—
He had a great gift in prayer, and could express himself very copiously and pertinently in that sacred exercise, especially on particular occasions. His preaching was plain, scriptural, and experimental, in the good old puritanical strain. He did not affect "the enticing words of man's wisdom," which please the fancy; neither was he nicely curious in the form of his discourses; but it was his endeavour to touch the conscience and impress the heart. He insisted largely on the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, especially on the atonement of Christ and the sanctifying influences of the Spirit. He looked upon these as the two pillars in the New Testament temple, without which the whole building would soon fall to the ground. These were his favourite subjects, his delightful topics, which triumphed in his sermons, and diffused themselves through all his performances. He never failed to introduce them whenever the argument in hand led to them; and sometimes, like holy Paul, with whose writings he was so much delighted and edified, he did not scruple a digression which might exalt the name and grace of a Redeemer, and endear him to himself and his hearers. He was fully persuaded that these were the essential parts of the Gospel scheme; that they were clearly revealed in the holy Scriptures; that they could not be dropt without giving up Christianity: and what he had felt of the importance of them to himself was one great reason of his inviolable attachment to them.
He was diligent in his work, and in labours more abundant. Besides the care of his own congregation, which was very large, he frequently visited his friends abroad; preached several lectures; and was ready to lay hold on every opportunity to do good: and God wonderfully owned and blessed his labours. There were many added to the Church under his immediate care, and a promising harvest appeared to be springing up there, even when God laid him aside and called him to receive his reward. May it grow up to maturity, to the joy of such as may enter on his labours. But his usefulness was not confined to his own people: there are several in other places, both in the great city and in the country, which have reason to bless God for the benefit which they received by his ministry. His course was short, but it was well run. He had not quite twenty years allowed for public service in the Church of Christ; but there are few in these later times that have done so much in so short a time.
He was a person of great moderation, and behaved with much decency and candour towards those who differed from him. He claimed a liberty of judging for himself in matters of religion, and as readily granted the same to others; which did not proceed from a coldness and indifference towards that which appeared to him to be "the faith once delivered to the saints," but from an earnest desire to secure and propagate it. It was his fixed and settled judgment that the mind of man could not be forced; that things must be received in the light in which they appear to the understanding; that heat and passion eclipse the glory of Gospel truths; and that severe censures, given out by fallible and uninspired men, would prejudice persons against them.
To his own people he was a tender and affectionate shepherd, sympathizing with them in their trials, counselling them in their difficulties, relieving and supporting them in their straits, and praying earnestly for them in all their troubles. So cordially was he united in affection to them, that no solicitations could prevail upon him to remove from them, though considerable offers were made him from abroad, and great importunity used to prevail on him to accept them. This endeared him very much to his flock, and did not a little contribute to the success of his labours among them.
He met with many uncommon afflictions, under which he generally appeared easy and cheerful. He did not burden his friends with long and tedious complaints, but poured them out before that God who is able to "help in every time of need"; and he was supported and carried comfortably through several of them. They certainly gave him uneasiness, and might impair his health; but they contributed very much to the improvement of his better part: he came forth out of the furnace as "gold tried in the fire"; and some of the best sermons he ever preached were those which succeeded his severest exercises. These led his thoughts very far into the mysteries of providence, and enabled him to set many of its darkest scenes in a fair light, that he might comfort those that were in any trouble by the comfort wherewith he had been comforted of God.
The sentiments and counsels of dying Christians, especially of ministers who have been devoted to their work, have some peculiar solemnity and weight. On this account we shall give a few passages from a letter, written by Mr. Saunders to his flock during his last illness, which was by his direction publicly read to his people immediately after his funeral sermon.
Dearly beloved in the Lord,—You well know that for a great while I have laboured under the afflicting hand of God, during a considerable part of which time I could not tell but I might be again permitted to speak to you in his name; but when at length all reasonable hopes of this kind were cut off, I began to think of writing a few lines to leave with you. My weakness increasing put me off those thoughts, until the importunity of a friend animated my former resolution and set me upon it.
Providence favoured me with a station of service among you for upwards of fourteen years, during which season I was led through a great variety of trying afflictions; under which, as God was pleased to direct and support me in a very surprising way, and at last delivered me, so I must in justice say that you behaved to me in the most affectionate and Christian manner. You were sharers with me in my afflictions; your mouths, upon every emergency, were readily opened unto God for me; you rejoiced with me in the removal of my affliction and every favourable turn given to my affairs; and you bore the many interruptions of my service with unparalleled patience and cheerfulness. This could not fail of begetting in me the greatest endearedness and tenderest affection for you; so that my soul was knit to you. My great concern was to serve you; I never thought myself so happy as when I was labouring among you; and often begged that, if it were consistent with the will of God, I might live and die amongst you. And I can now look back with pleasure, to think that I was enabled to refuse all the solicitations I had to leave you. God has been seen amongst us; there has been a glory upon our assemblies; and the great ends of a Gospel ministry, such as the conversion of some, and the training up of others for a better world, I hope have been in some measure attained amongst us. But now I speak no more, nor you hear me any more. And yet, though I am gone from you, I persuade myself, from the cheerful attention you paid to my services while among you, that you will at least lend an ear to what in this manner I say to you. In this respect you may truly apply that passage—"Being dead, he yet speaketh."
In a further paragraph he states—
I have no other foundation for my own soul than what I have represented unto you as the only foundation for you to build upon, and that you know is God's everlasting love, displayed and drawn out in the sending of his Son, and all that he has done, is doing, and will do for us; and in the complete work of the Spirit in forming us for, and bringing us unto, the full possession and enjoyment of all at last. And what a glorious work, my friends, is this! You have it in miniature when the soul is born again: there is then every essential part; but there must be a great many perfecting strokes before the piece will be complete, and fit to be set in the presence chamber above. There are some sour and knotty pieces, that require more hewing and polishing than others. In some, the constitutional evil may perhaps not be removed, until the constitution itself be broken; which may in some measure account for the difference of the dispensations that good men pass through in this world.
After other weighty remarks, he gives them advice as to the choice of a successor:—
(1.) Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, to cry unto the Lord of the harvest to send a labourer amongst you: a loiterer will do you no good. Keep up, and all of you frequent, prayer-meetings. "If you seek him, he will be found of you." Whilst God is with and amongst you, all will be well. I have never yet seen, but where Churches have waited upon God, and kept up their application to him, they have succeeded well at last, though sometimes it has been long first. "He has never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me, in vain."
(2.) Let your first views of the person you fix upon be, at what he himself is: I mean, endeavour above all things to have a man of religion, who shall be able to talk over the great things of God in a feeling, experimental manner. If this be not the case, whatever his gifts may be, and how popular soever his talents, vital religion will dwindle under his ministrations; or, if you should maintain the name, the thing will be lost. Neither the orthodoxy of his judgment nor the popularity of his delivery will ever compensate the want of this. Nor can you expect a blessing from heaven, and that success should attend the service of that man that is not inward with God, and hearty for him in what he does. "The tree is known by his fruits."
(3.) When you have satisfied yourselves in the best manner you can as to the religious part, then have regard to prudence and temper. If a man have not prudence, what will he do that must necessarily be concerned with so many different dispositions—families under a great variety of circumstances, as well as those who are round about them? And if he is not a man of temper, you will have the less pleasure and advantage from his conversation. Some will neglect him; others will be afraid to communicate their sentiments unto him. How many, otherwise famous men, who seemed to be formed for considerable service, have miscarried here!
(4.) Remember, you are in a state of imperfection yourselves; and such, after all your care, will be the person you have to labour among you: a man subject to like passions and infirmities with yourselves—one who at times may need your pity and forbearance, as you share in his. However, though this be a reason against being too curious and tedious, yet, on the other hand, do not be too hasty in your determination. "In the multitude of counsellors there is safety." You are to make the choice and determine the affair; but, in order to your doing this with steadiness and prudence, advise with some grave, solid persons, that you know are concerned for your welfare, and will give you the best direction they can.
(5.) I beseech and entreat you, that you "fall not out by the way, seeing you are brethren." Be together as the primitive Church was, with one accord as well as in one place. Oh, that of you it might be said, as of them, that "the multitudes that believed were of one heart and of one soul." Bury for ever—bury all former prejudices. How would my soul have rejoiced to have seen that happy day! But I please myself to think it will soon be, and therefore shall use the Apostle's words (Phil. ii. 1, 2), "if there be any consolation in Christ."
I had a design of saying something more; but He that has cut me short in all the other parts of my work, has done so in this last attempt of respect and labour of love: but they are the words of a dying man, and the real sentiments of my heart. I shall leave that passage with you (Acts xx. 32), "And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace," &c.
In the year 1727, Mr. Saunders being in London, Doddridge supplied the pulpit at Kettering for a Sabbath, when he was minister of Kibworth. A letter Mr. Saunders wrote to Doddridge immediately after this will just serve to show that while Mr. Saunders was blessed with much comfort and usefulness, it was not every one of the members of his Church that had imbibed the spirit of their pastor.
To Mr. Doddridge.
June 1st, 1727.
My very dear and valuable Friend,—I am extremely obliged to you for your kind and consolatory epistle, and also for your kind services last Lord's-day; but am very sorry that my clerk should abscond. I suppose it was to give a specimen of his high orthodoxy, and for fear his tender conscience should be defiled with some of good old Mr. Baxter's divinity. Now this man, who is so much afraid for himself, has lately put a son apprentice in London, where he frequently hears swearing in the family, and is obliged to go to church, and has not liberty so much as to come and hear me now I am in town. But I always observed that the most highly orthodox, are remarkably defective in some branch or other of the Christian character. This is the man, too, who was so much offended because Mr. Brock was not excommunicated for going to church, who has now obliged his own child to attend it for seven years! I hope my very good friend Doddridge will take no notice of his conduct, nor in the least slight his friends at Kettering upon that account. There are not many such as he, though I cannot say but there is more than one; but were they generally of his mind, I would preach the Gospel to the wild Indians before I would serve them. You have a great many sincere friends in Kettering that love you well, and are always pleased with your good services; and I may without compliment say, when I am there, that you have one who esteems you according to your desert, and that, in my opinion, is beyond any man of your standing I ever knew.
After the death of Mr. Saunders the Church wished to have Mr. Wood, afterwards Dr. Wood, of Norwich, to be their pastor, but he declined acceding to their request. Mr. Benjamin Boyce, then a student at Northampton, under Dr. Doddridge, was invited on probation; and on May 7, 1740, he was ordained. Of the ordination service Mr. Boyce gives the following account:—
Mr. Julius Saunders, of Denton, introduced the solemnity with a very serious and suitable prayer; after which Mr. Floyd more fully engaged in prayer, with great copiousness of expression, and I hope with great fervency. Mr. Simson preached a very plain and evangelical sermon from 2 Cor. iv. 7—"We have this treasure in earthen vessels," &c. Mr. Goodrich read the invitation of the Church, to which the deacons present expressed their consent in the name of the Church by lifting up their hands, with which I declared my determination to comply. The same person received my confession of faith, which I publicly read; and after asking me several questions usual upon such an occasion, prayed over me. Dr. Doddridge gave me a very affectionate and important charge, which I desire never to forget; and to the people, a very free and affectionate exhortation. The whole solemnity was concluded by Mr. Dorsley in prayer.
Oh that God would make his strength perfect in my weakness, and his grace in my unworthiness! Oh that a double portion of his blessed Spirit may be poured upon me, who am so weak an instrument! and that such grace may be given me, who am less than the least of all saints, that I may "preach the unsearchable riches of Christ," and may be owned of him in my sincere desires and mean endeavours, if it is agreeable to the purpose of his grace, to fit and prepare many souls, that are either brought home or are yet strangers to him, by faith and holiness, for the complete enjoyment of "the inheritance of the saints in light." Thus may the Church of God be daily increased and edified, till all its pastors and all its members shall meet together to ascribe glory and grace to Him that sits on the throne and the Lamb for ever. Amen.
Mr. Boyce continued his ministry for 30 years over this people. During that period 161 members were added to the Church, and at his death the Church numbered 120 members. He died October 24th, 1770, aged 54 years. "Mr. Boyce was a native of Coventry, educated for the ministry at Northampton; in size rather under the middle stature. He was a close student, a practical and experimental preacher."
The Meeting House was new roofed soon after the commencement of his ministry, which indicates that it could not have been done well at the first, as it had only been built about 18 years. Several new pews were made over the stairs leading to the galleries, and where forms had before been set; which pews were immediately filled, and continued so, as did all the others, until his death. He was buried in the aisle before the pulpit, where his wife also, and mother, and two children were interred; and a handsome stone, with a suitable inscription, was placed in the front of the desk. "He lived much beloved, and died much lamented." Robert Hall observes, "that Mr. Boyce sustained the pastoral office for a long series of years with the highest reputation and success; and his death was deplored as an irreparable calamity, leaving it very improbable that a successor could be speedily found capable of uniting the suffrages of a people whose confidence and esteem he had so long exclusively enjoyed. Such is the imperfection of the present state, that the possession of a more than ordinary portion of felicity is the usual forerunner of a correspondent degree of privation and distress; and the removal of a pastor who has long been the object of veneration generally places a Church in a critical situation, exposed to feuds and dissensions arising out of the necessity of a new choice." This appeared in the case of Mr. Boyce's immediate successor.
Mr. Addington, of Harborough, delivered the funeral oration at the interment of Mr. Boyce, and Mr. Gregson, of Rowell, preached the funeral sermon, from 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14. In the closing part of that sermon we find the following statements in the account given of Mr. Boyce:—
It should be known that he feared the Lord, like good Obadiah, greatly, from his youth. He gave himself up to the Church of Christ under the pastoral care of Mr. Simpson, of Coventry, when he was 16 years of age. He acquired a rich stock of useful and valuable knowledge from those who were admirably capable of imparting from their rich treasures. Thus furnished, he began the sacred work of the ministry before he was 21 years of age, and has told you, in the last letter he will ever write, "It was the determination with which I preached my first sermon among you, to know nothing comparatively, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and I trust it has been my sincere concern to continue in that resolution to the last, testifying repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." You are his witnesses, my dear brethren, how well, through divine grace, he abode by his determination, and you well know that the doctrines of the rich, free, and sovereign grace of God were his delight to study and to preach; and you must know how wisely and judiciously he stated them—with what caution, guarding against every extreme, and every abuse of those great and glorious truths. You cannot but know with what discreet zeal, with what plainness and fidelity, he published the grace of God in the ever-blessed and glorious Redeemer. Was not this the chief topic he delighted to insist upon? and particularly to show what holy, divine, and heavenly influence it ought to have upon the hearts and lives of men? and did he not do this in a very persuasive and pathetic manner? Did he not preach Christ Jesus the Lord, and constantly in his ministrations lay no other foundation than Christ Jesus, which God has laid in Zion, for your faith and hope to build and rest your eternal concerns upon? How has he declared in that very serious and affectionate epistle he sent you, "I know no other foundation that God has laid in Zion; and the more I survey the excellence of it, as given us in the Scriptures, the more I can say it is tried and precious. Nothing else will do to support the stress of our eternal hope, or indeed the pressure of painful afflictions. Blessed be God, here is support! here is consolation! it rejoices me to think that there are so many that can add the testimony of their experience to mine." The great God had blessed him with a happy temper and amiable carriage and behaviour. He knew how to weep with those that weep, and to rejoice with those that rejoice. He abhorred the mean conduct of too many in this degenerate world, the speaking evil of others; and was he not an example to believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, and in prudence, for almost thirty-three years (which was almost double the number of the years of his predecessor), amongst you, the people of his charge? Oh how comfortable and delightful was the frame of his mind in this his last illness, which suddenly came on him, made rapid progress in extinguishing such a useful and precious light in this our Israel! On the last Saturday se'nnight, being the 20th of October, when he lay down upon his dying bed, he found great comfort from those words, in Romans viii., former part of the 34th verse: "Who is he that condemneth? it is Christ that died." He spake these words with tears of joy. His language was, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth I desire beside thee." When he was asked how he did by one of his friends, he answered, "I am well, for the consolations of God are neither few nor small; God has not left me, nor will he leave me." When I asked him how it was with him with respect to a better world, his answer was, with great pleasure in his countenance, "I can cheerfully trust my good God." He seemed always, during the intervals of his wanderings, to be praying, and before he died was very sensible; and, as far as can be learned, he spent his last breath in committing you, his dear people, to God in prayer (in which he had an excellent gift), and then sweetly fell asleep in Jesus, after having finished his appointed work and service.
Mrs. Boyce died little more than six months after the death of her husband, and that shortly after giving birth to an infant. From her funeral sermon, preserved in manuscript among the records of the Church, we present the following extract:—
After having summoned the tender and happy husband from the amiable partner of his joys and cares, and left her in widowhood to mourn his absence for awhile, he calls her to follow him—takes her away from all her new-formed and pleasing connexions, and (affecting consideration!) takes her likewise from her new-born babe. Methinks I could now take the dear little forsaken stranger, and present it to you in my arms (in the arms of my affection I do)—hear it saying, in accents truly tender and striking, "Pity me, pity me, O my friends, all ye my late worthy father's friends, my dear mother's friends, for the hand of the Lord hath bereaved me; those who might have been the guides of my youth he has taken away." Say you not?—yes, I think I read the language in some of your countenances, and in your tears—"Though father and though mother, dear babe, have forsaken thee, the Lord take thee up."
Referring to the death of Mr. Boyce, the preacher observes—
Though, as a congregation, he has taken away from you an able, faithful, useful shepherd, who watched for your souls as one that must give an account—even under a trial and loss great as that is, it becomes you not to censure or complain. Our good friend who is now taken away manifested the happy influence of the Gospel hope in the composure of her spirit under that great loss which she lately sustained, and through the afflictions by which she was removed, thankfully embracing and sweetly relying upon the Redeemer's consolation to his disciples in John xiv. 2-4, "In my Father's house are many mansions," &c. Referring to him who has recently been taken away from her and from you, she said, with apparent pleasure, in her last illness, "I shall soon be with the good man in glory"; speaking in joyful terms of being taken to sing praises with the saints in glory, for ever and ever.
In the month of April, 1771, an invitation was given to Mr. John Fuller to remain amongst them twelve months on trial, with a view to his becoming the pastor. At the expiration of that time a unanimous invitation was given to him. Mr. Fuller was ordained August 6th, 1772, when we find Messrs. Denny, Wright, King, Gregson, Dr. Ashworth, Addington, Hextal, and Dowley, were engaged. Mr. Fuller had been a member of the Church in Gravel Lane, London, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Noah Hill.
But in little more than two years from this time, dissatisfaction arose in the Church with the ministry of Mr. Fuller. It is stated, that "several persons proposed an assistant to Mr. Fuller, but the proposal was rejected by Mr. Fuller and his friends." The assistant proposed was a Mr. Richard Fuller, cousin to the pastor.
Under date of August 14th, 1774, we are informed "that a dissatisfaction having arisen in the minds of some of the Church members and subscribers with Mr. Fuller's preaching, and there being no prospect of peace and happiness, he this day declared his resigning his charge as minister and pastor; but supplied the congregation by others until Michaelmas, always behaving with a good temper and spirit, although his ministry was not by several approved." In our early days we have heard from some of the older members of the Church that the text of Mr. Fuller's farewell sermon was (Gen. xlv. 24) Joseph's counsel to his brethren, "See that ye fall not out by the way."
But after the removal of Mr. Fuller, great discord and confusion prevailed in the Church and congregation. The friends of the late pastor, who were attached to his person and ministry, were greatly displeased with the conduct of those who had been the means of his removal. Many things were done and said which were very painful to both parties, created much ill feeling amongst themselves, and exposed them to the derision of the men of the world.
After some time they sent an invitation to Mr. Saunders, of Bedworth, who they understood was desirous to remove; but the invitation not being unanimous, it was declined.
Their attention was soon after directed to the Rev. T. N. Toller, who was a student in the academy at Daventry. Mr. Toller first preached to them as a supply, October 1st, 1775, when he was not quite twenty years of age. The first text was Acts xiii. 26: "Unto you is the word of this salvation sent." In the following April, two of the deacons went to Daventry to invite Mr. Toller to become their stated supply for three months; at the expiration of this time, he was again invited for nine months; after which he received an invitation to become their pastor, which invitation was cheerfully signed, June 15th, 1777, by 87 persons, as the call of the Church to the pastoral office. The ordination service was held May 28th, 1778, when Messrs. Gregson, of Rowell, Palmer, of Hackney, Addington, of Harborough, Robins, of Daventry (Mr. Toller's tutor), Toller, of London (uncle to the pastor), and Bull, of Newport, engaged in the services of the day.
Thus commenced the longest pastorate with which the Church had yet been favoured; for Mr. Toller continued to labour amongst them until February 26th, 1821, making forty-five years and five months from the time of his first preaching at Kettering until his death. It was a ministry of much acceptance, extended influence, and great usefulness. It restored peace to a divided people; it preserved them in unbroken harmony through all its course; the congregation having often a crowded appearance, and the Church being generally in a prosperous state; not so much perhaps by the numbers added to the Church, as by the advancing piety, devotion, consistency, and intelligence of its members.
There were 221 members added to the Church during the course of Mr. Toller's ministry. These members, we have no doubt, might have been greatly increased, had the methods adopted in some places for bringing forward candidates for the communion of the Church prevailed under the ministry of Mr. Toller. We should like to convey some idea to the mind of the reader of the nature of that ministry with which the congregation at Kettering were now favoured. It was in his stated services amongst his own people that the peculiar excellencies of Mr. Toller were developed. It was our privilege in early life to sit under that ministry, but we think we shall fail to present a correct view of the impression we have on our mind as to the distinguishing features, the peculiar beauties, of that ministry; and if we were to do this, the general reader would think it too highly coloured, as our first impressions of sacred things, our deepest and most lively emotions of a religious nature, in connexion with all that we may since have known or attained, appear to us to have been derived, under God, from the ministry of Mr. Toller. His person was above the middle stature; his appearance in the pulpit venerable and commanding; his voice deep and powerful; his manner all his own, and of such a character as to chain the attention of the audience—always earnest, sometimes most fervent and impressive, rising to a high degree of impassioned eloquence when his assemblies were crowded, as on the afternoon of the Sabbath. His language was always clear, forcible, and plain, suited to the manner of his preaching; his sentiments most decidedly scriptural, evangelical, and practical, with a considerable portion of experimental piety. His ministry presented a full exhibition of the Christian temper. His discourses were distinguished by great conciseness yet fulness of matter, presenting often the most familiar but beautiful illustrations. Some of his most impressive sermons were formed entirely on the applicatory plan—some of them founded on Scripture inquiries, such as, "What think ye of Christ?" "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" &c. During a very large portion of his ministry he delivered expository discourses on the morning of the Sabbath, which were distinguished by great beauty, variety, and richness of improving remarks. The afternoon sermon generally rose out of the morning exposition; not so frequently from a text taken from the paragraph expounded as a passage suggested by the main subject of exposition. But the prayers he offered in the stated services of the sanctuary were perhaps the most remarkable of the whole—the manner was so solemn; the tone so devotional; the adorations so sublime; the confessions so abasing; the petitions so full, fervent, and appropriate; the thanksgiving so expressive and exalted; the surrender so complete and unreserved; the whole placing us so much in the presence of God, leading us to feel what we were before him, what we needed from him, what provision was made for us, what we were receiving, and what services we should render; often leading us on to the dying hour, and to the opening grandeurs of eternity. The value of such a ministry was apparent in the many cases of eminent piety that appeared amongst those that were trained up under it. Much of the Christian temper, the spirit of devotion, lively faith in the Redeemer, and the power of practical religion, were manifested in a considerable number of cases, considering the size of the place. There were "living epistles of Christ, known and read of all." We remember an eminently pious female member of the Church, of whom the pastor said, when improving her death, "He should esteem it an honour to be permitted to hold up her train in the heavenly world." While this showed the deep humility of the pastor, it showed the high estimate he had formed of the devoted member.
In the year 1799 Mr. Toller received invitations from the congregations at Carter Lane, London, and at Clapham, to become their minister, with an offer of great pecuniary advantages; but such was the attachment felt to him by his people at Kettering, as manifested in their great anxiety on the subject, and in the affectionate addresses presented to him on this occasion, that he gave a decided negative to these urgent and repeated solicitations.
In an address he delivered from the pulpit, in answer to those which he had received from his people, he bore a noble testimony to the kindness with which he had ever been treated by them; observing, "Twenty-four years ago I came to this place, under considerable and peculiar disadvantages, arising from extreme youth, inexperience, and the then critical and disjointed state of the congregation. I entered upon the station with fear and trembling, and with scarce a peradventure of being able to give any general or lasting satisfaction. During this interval, I have gone through many trying afflictions, some of which you have known, and others, some of the most trying, you have never known. I have many faults to remember this day before God, much coldness of heart, many neglects of duty, and much unfruitfulness in my office; but I will do you the justice to say, that I have no injuries from you to enumerate, no personal ill behaviour from a single individual in all this time to complain of; and if you had all treated my great Master with a regard proportioned to that I have received from you, I should have been the happiest and most blessed minister on earth," &c.
He closed his days and his ministry together. Apoplectic seizures had weakened his frame, and at length had rendered him incapable of fulfilling all the duties of his office; while they indicated to him that his end was drawing nigh. In a letter written to his people, he intimated his wish to have an assistant. They invited the eldest son of their pastor, then preaching at Wem, in Shropshire, to become assistant to his father. This invitation he accepted; but before he entered on this new sphere of duty, the earthly career of his beloved and venerated father closed in death. "He preached on Lord's-day morning, February 25th, 1821, with much of his usual animation, from Isaiah lxiii. 7-13, and remarked at the close of the discourse what encouragement this passage affords the widow and the fatherless to put their trust in God, finishing his last public discourse with these lines of Doddridge:
"To thee an infant race we leave,
Them may their father's God receive;
That ages yet unborn may raise
Successive hymns of humble praise."
He spent the evening surrounded by his family, and conversing with his children in a strain of cheerful piety; and after a night of sound repose arose as well as usual the next morning. About noon, leaving the parlour, he was found a few minutes after in an apoplectic fit, or a seizure resembling apoplexy. Several medical men repaired to the spot, but life was extinct.
His remains were interred in the ground belonging to the Meeting House on Thursday, the 8th of March. On that occasion Mr. Horsey, of Northampton, read the Scriptures and prayed, and Mr. Edwards, of the same place, delivered the funeral oration. Mr. Hall, of Leicester, preached the funeral sermon on the same day from Heb. xiii. 7—a sermon which presented a most impressive representation of the responsibility attaching to a people that had been favoured with such a ministry, and the tremendous consequences that must follow the misimprovement of such advantages.
Mr. Toller only published during his life a sermon on the "faithful saying," entitled "A Plain and Popular View of the Evidences of Christianity"; a sermon occasioned by the death of the Rev. Samuel Palmer, of Hackney, Mr. Toller's most intimate friend, from 2nd Timothy i. 10—in which occurs this striking passage:—
Suppose this house had been three times its present size, and had been filled for half the century past with a constant crowd of hearers; suppose the fame of the venerable man now gone had been shouted to the skies, and he had been held up as the pride and prince of preachers; but after all, this had been all:—suppose selfish motives had been supreme, under the disguise of love to souls; a mere notional religion had been propagated; people had been only amused, and amazed, and made to wonder and admire; but no minds really instructed, no hearts humbled, no sinners turned from the errors of their ways, no Christian graces implanted, no Christian duties promoted; in this case all these fifty years (as we have seen) must end; and what is the consequence? What would all this parade and popularity have proved to him? Only the bursting of a glittering bubble; the retreat of an actor from the stage amidst the clappings of the theatre, which he was to hear no more. There is one passage of Scripture which, when realized, is worth all the cases of this kind which could occur put together, viz., when a dying minister can look round on a weeping, affectionate flock, and say, "Ye are our epistles, written upon our hearts," &c. I say, the genuine application of such a passage as this to a dying minister would be worth infinitely more than all the applause and popularity in the world.
Two discourses, occasioned by the death of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, were also published.
Since the death of Mr. Toller two volumes of sermons, and a volume of expository discourses on the Book of Ruth, have been published, as transcribed from the Author's shorthand manuscripts. To the first volume of sermons was prefixed a memoir of Mr. Toller, by his friend the Rev. R. Hall.
We will transcribe from that memoir an ever-memorable anecdote, or rather, the ever-memorable use the preacher made of a domestic incident to illustrate a most important subject:—
On one occasion he preached from Isaiah xxvii. 4—"Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me." "I think," said he, "I can convey the meaning of this passage, so that every one may understand it, by what took place in my own family within these few days. One of my little children had committed a fault, for which I thought it my duty to chastise him. I called him to me, explained to him the evil of what he had done, and told him how grieved I was that I must punish him for it. He heard me in silence, and then rushed into my arms and burst into tears. I could sooner have cut off my arm than have then struck him for his fault; he had 'taken hold of my strength, and had made peace with me.'"
After the death of Mr. Toller his son was invited for six months as a probationer for the pastoral office; at the expiration of that time he received a unanimous call to that office, which he accepted, and was ordained in October, 1821, when Messrs. J. Hall, Horsey, Edwards, Scott, Bull, and Hillyard were engaged in the principal services of the day. Thus, the eldest son of the late pastor, who had been educated for the ministry at the academy at Wymondley, succeeded to the place of his father in the most harmonious manner, and with the most cheering prospects of comfort and usefulness. During the 31 years that have elapsed since then, that harmony has been uninterrupted, that comfort and usefulness continued—the son pursuing a similar plan to that which the father adopted, in expounding the Word of God on one part of the Sabbath, to give enlarged views of Scripture truth, and to present the almost boundless variety the Book of God contains, habitually aiming to preserve a connexion between one part of the Sabbath services and the other. During the ministry of the present Mr. Toller 211 members have been added to the Church.
In the year 1849 very extensive alterations were made in the Meeting House, together with the building of a new vestry, school-rooms, class-rooms, and a dwelling-house for the sexton; the whole cost of which was about £1400, which was paid off within two years from the re-opening. The place is greatly changed from what it was. The large chandelier, with its dove and the olive leaf, is gone; the beautiful gaslight taking the place of the candles. The old pulpit is removed from its place, having long ago lost its noble sounding-board, it being now understood that the voice is better heard without such an appendage. The spacious windows on each side of the pulpit are lost, to make way for the new school-rooms, which are open to the Chapel. But the whole, we believe, has been greatly improved; additional room having been made for the hearers on the Sabbath, for the week-evening lecture, and also for the accommodation of the Sabbath-school, its Bible and its Infant classes. The present number of Church members is nearly 200; the scholars in the schools about 280.
Services are conducted in seven villages by members of the Church, chiefly on Sabbath evenings.
An impartial review of the whole will, we believe, present to the pastor and the flock the most abundant reason to "thank God and take courage."
In the history of this Church, we cannot but observe the very interesting fact which it presents, of 75 years having been already filled up by the ministry of the father and the son (and we trust that there is a probability of years of useful service being added in the case of the latter to the period that has passed), during which a Christian society and a numerous congregation have been preserved in peace, with the interests of vital religion advancing. While such a fact speaks well for the spirit and continued improvement of the people, it says much also for the Christian temper, the consummate prudence, the able and successful labours of the pastors, while to God they would unitedly ascribe all the glory.
At Warkton, about two miles from Kettering, occasional services are held. In this village Mr. Thomas Stone, another of the Puritan ministers, was rector—"a person of good learning," it is said, "and great worth: a zealous Puritan, and a member of the classes." "He died, an old man and full of days, in the year 1617." Bridges observes, "that he was inducted into the living of Warkton in the year 1553." If this statement be correct, he must have been rector of that place 64 years. He was a learned man, of great uprightness, and uncommon plainness of spirit, minding not the things of this world; yet, according to Wood, "a stiff Nonconformist, and a zealous Presbyterian." At Geddington, the birth-place of Mr. Maidwell, the first pastor of the Independent Church at Kettering, there is a Chapel regularly supplied on the Sabbath evenings. This place of worship was provided by Mr. Nathaniel Collis, for many years a respectable bookseller in Kettering, and a deacon of the Church—Geddington was his native place.
Services are also conducted on Sabbath evenings at Great Oakley, five miles from Kettering; occasionally at Orlingbury, five miles in another direction; also at Thorpe and Loddington.
BROUGHTON.
The Dissenters of Kettering have conducted occasional services in the village of Broughton, about three miles distant on the road for Northampton, for many years past. But rather more than five years ago, there were four or five young men in this village who began to think of the things which belonged to their everlasting peace; they formed themselves into a little band, and resolved that they would meet weekly and study the holy Scriptures, and encourage each other in the ways of God. They subsequently joined a Christian Church at Kettering. Becoming anxious for the welfare of those around them, they had a cottage licensed for preaching; that was found too small for those who wished to attend. In the meantime several other Christian friends came to the village, and at length, in the year 1850, a Chapel was erected; it is a neat structure, capable of containing about 200 hearers. In January, 1851, a Christian Church was formed, consisting of 19 persons; Mr. Toller and Mr. Robinson, of Kettering, being present, and conducting the services. This village Church is formed on the broad principle of Christian union, designated simply a Christian Church, without denominational distinction; its present number of communicants is 22. There is preaching here on the afternoon and evening of the Sabbath, by friends from Kettering and other places. An interesting Sabbath-school is conducted, numbering more than 60 children. The teachers express the earnest desire that many of them may be gathered into the fold of Christ, and become useful in their generation.
This place was once noted as the residence of the eminent Puritan divine, Robert Bolton, B.D. He was presented to the rectory in the year 1609, and continued until his death, in 1631. It is stated concerning him, that "he was a most authoritative and awakening preacher, being endowed with the most masculine and oratorical style of any in his time;" that "he was so deeply engaged in his work, that he never delivered a sermon to his people in public till he had preached it to himself in private."
"His remains were interred in the chancel of Broughton Church, where there is a half-length figure of him with his hands erected in the attitude of prayer, resting on a book lying open before him; and underneath is a monumental inscription in black marble, of which the following is a translation:"—
Here lies,
peaceably sleeping in the Lord,
the body of Robert Bolton,
who died December the seventeenth,
in the year 1631.
He was one of the first and
most learned of our Church.
His other excellencies all England knoweth,
lamenting the day of his death.
Mr. Bolton published a number of works; those most known in the present day are his 'Directions for Walking with God,' and his 'Four Lost Things.'