THE CHURCH AND POPULATION.
The population of Kensington at the recent census was ascertained to be 121,100, and we have seen that the total of accommodation made by all denominations for public worship is for 49,070 souls, or, in round numbers, allowing for possible crowding, 50,000. The proportion is, therefore, above the average in most parishes; and although at no given time will the full amount of accommodation be taken up, yet the average attendance on the Lord’s Day at the principal services is good. Out of the 50,000 that might attend, from 35,000 to 40,000 will be found at the morning service, and from 30,000 to 35,000 at the evening. If we allow one-half the number in the evening to be of those who attended in the morning—and experience shows them to be in larger proportion—we have still the suggestive fact forced upon us for reflection, that a very great number never attend at all.
The following table, showing in detail the population of the several Ecclesiastical divisions of the parish, has been prepared by order of the Vestry of Kensington, and obligingly sent us by Mr. G. C. Harding, the Clerk. It will be very useful to refer to in connexion with the foregoing accounts of the Churches and Chapels situated in the several wards, parishes, and districts mentioned.
Summary of the Population of the Parish of St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington.
THE ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS AND WARDS.
EcclesiasticalDivision. | Separate | Inhabited | Empty. | Building. | Males. | Females. | Total. |
The Ward ofSt. Mary Abbotts, Kensington. | |||||||
St. Mary Abbotts | 3,067 | 2,088 | 93 | 24 | 6,319 | 10,377 | 16,696 |
St. Barnabas | 968 | 808 | 59 | 28 | 1,666 | 3,498 | 5,164 |
St. Philip | 2,226 | 1,141 | 62 | 77 | 3,855 | 5,168 | 9,023 |
St. Stephen | 337 | 298 | 77 | 81 | 815 | 1,548 | 2,353 |
Part of St. George | 753 | 435 | 38 | 47 | 1,382 | 1,823 | 3,205 |
| 7,351 | 4,770 | 329 | 257 | 14,037 | 22,414 | 36,451 |
The Ward ofHoly Trinity, Brompton. | |||||||
Holy Trinity | 2,537 | 1,594 | 126 | .. | 4,428 | 6,838 | 11,266 |
St. Peter | 99 | 86 | 8 | .. | 140 | 251 | 391 |
St. Paul | 328 | 237 | 18 | 51 | 578 | 1,194 | 1,772 |
St. Augustine | 288 | 180 | 22 | 27 | 451 | 749 | 1,200 |
St. Mary | 1,627 | 1,121 | 200 | 73 | 2,896 | 4,601 | 7,497 |
| 4,829 | 3,218 | 374 | 151 | 8,493 | 13,633 | 22,126 |
The Ward ofSt. John, NottingHill, and St. JamesNorland. | |||||||
St. John | 1,179 | 918 | 49 | 7 | 2,205 | 4,281 | 6,486 |
St. James | 1,546 | 853 | 68 | .. | 2,910 | 3,753 | 6,663 |
Part of St. George | 1,227 | 538 | 4 | 17 | 2,284 | 2,714 | 4,998 |
St. Peter | 1,293 | 1,051 | 49 | 17 | 2,576 | 4,292 | 6,868 |
All Saints | 4,580 | 2,361 | 328 | 125 | 9,117 | 11,630 | 20,747 |
St. Mark | 1,313 | 800 | 99 | 15 | 2,447 | 3,380 | 5,827 |
St. Clement | 2,648 | 1,203 | 126 | 8 | 5,310 | 5,624 | 10,934 |
| 13,786 | 7,724 | 723 | 189 | 26,849 | 35,674 | 62,523 |
Grand Total ofthe Parish of St. Mary Abbotts,Kensington, April 2, 1871. | |||||||
| 4,829 | 3,218 | 374 | 151 | 8,493 | 13,633 | 22,126 |
| 7,351 | 4,770 | 329 | 257 | 14,037 | 22,414 | 36,451 |
| 13,786 | 7,724 | 723 | 189 | 26,849 | 35,674 | 62,523 |
| 25,966 | 15,712 | 1,426 | 597 | 49,379 | 71,721 | 121,100 |
ST. MARY ABBOTTS’ CHURCH.
The new Parish Church has progressed slowly towards completion; and it is hoped by its promoters that it may be opened by the first week in May. The builders, however, have a slight misgiving on this point, and suspect that Whitsuntide will be here before it is ready to receive a congregation. On either supposition the time is near; and it is remarkable that our own “opening,” or publication of the “Church Index” in the parish, is exceedingly opportune, as it regards the consecration of the new edifice. Our readers will be able now to consult our pictures and letterpress of the Church, at the same time that they see the original. We must, however, remind them that the pictorial illustration is more complete than the building will be for some time to come. The beautiful tower and spire which give such effect to the exterior in the picture, will not attract the admiring gaze of the beholder for a year or two. We hope, however, it may be sooner than some imagine; for we confess it is painful to us to see a fine edifice like this waiting a long time for its headpiece and chief ornament. The project for obtaining stained windows has not hitherto fully succeeded so far as the public are concerned; but one window in the north aisle has, we are informed, been arranged for privately, by a lady as a family memorial, at a cost of not less than 300l. or 400l. It is considered by some that the Church is already sufficiently Mediæval and ornamental, and that without any addition, it will offer as it now stands too strong a temptation to the Ritualists to covet the prize for themselves. But during the present Vicar’s life, it may be deemed safe from the effects of any conceivable machinations of this kind; and it must be hoped that after that the strength of Evangelical sentiment will be such in the town, as to prevent its perversion from its original type of ceremony and doctrine. For our own part, we hope, at least, yet to see the east window filled with stained glass of good Ecclesiastical design; nor need this detract one iota from the strength of that true Evangelical spirit which we trust, from the day of the opening, will be for ever enshrined in this temple. We opine, however, that the extra cost is the main cause of hesitation on this head. And at this we are not surprised; for the outlay on the Church as a whole has been large, and any considerable extra expenditure would have to be provided for chiefly by those who have already done so nobly. It is well not to strain matters too far; and if the building of the tower and the stained windows were both left to the rising generation to accomplish hereafter, that which has already attained maturity in Kensington need not be ashamed of its own work. [81]
THE PAROCHIAL SYSTEM.
The following most seasonable remarks occur in the Annual Pastoral Letter recently issued by the Rev. Dr. Hessey to his parishioners of St. Barnabas, Kensington:—
“Since I last addressed you in this form our Bishop has delivered his primary charge, the very watchword of which is the Parochial System. Convinced as I am of the value of that system to our country, I rejoice in having my own views on the subject confirmed by so high an authority. It is in virtue of that system, still by law established among us, that I have written to you, from year to year, not merely as the minister of a particular place of worship to which a certain number of Christians habitually resort, but as one to whom the care of a certain number of souls spread over a certain area is actually committed; as one who is expected to care for rich and poor alike, and to form as it were a link between them; as one who is responsible ecclesiastically to the Bishop of the Diocese, but in a far higher sense to the Divine Head and Pastor of the Church.
“Some distinguished men have thought that the parochial system has had its day, and ought now to be forgotten. Every day’s experience, however, tends to prove that such is not the case; for never has that system shown more vitality and efficiency than during the last thirty years. To take a single instance which is familiar to us all: I know not how, without the parochial system, provision could have been made for the pastoral care of what is technically called the suburban village of Kensington. It now contains upwards of 121,000 souls; and yet rapidly as its population has been increased, fresh churches have been built for the use of that population, to which parochial rights and duties have been successively attached; and each new parish has again been subdivided, as soon as the necessity has occurred. Such repeated subdivision is still going forward; and, as you are aware, a Temporary Church, within the Parish of S. Barnabas, has already a conventional district attached to it, and waits only to be replaced by a permanent building in order to have its district legally assigned. When Mr. Booker commenced the temporary building, the site selected was part of an open field. It now is surrounded by houses, which appear to find tenants as fast as they are built.
“But for the facilities of Subdivision furnished by the Parochial System which still exists among us, I should find myself at this day perhaps weighed down with the care of a population of more than 14,000 souls. Whereas now our population is such that every inhabitant may know his Pastor if he will, and the Pastor may know at least each family, if not each member of his flock.”
The New Lectionary.—In treating of this the Doctor says,—
“We have thankfully availed ourselves of the New Table of Lessons, which now forms part of our Church’s Prayer Book, having been issued on the same authority as the Prayer Book itself. We have never been among those who wish to see the Prayer Book itself revised, and we rejoice to find that in such divided and controversial times as these, that work is not likely to be taken in hand. But in regard to the reading of the Scriptures in Church, the case is wholly different. At the time of the Reformation, the Bible had been so long kept back from the people, that it was most desirable that the whole of it should be brought within their reach. And in an age when but few persons could read and still fewer possessed copies of the Scriptures, there was no better way of making God’s Word known, than the frequent and public reading of the whole of it in the Church. This was accordingly done, and hence the Table of Lessons contained nearly the whole Bible, with the exception of certain portions of unfulfilled Prophecy, which in the excited state of the public mind were liable to be misunderstood. The case, however, is different now. Those who worship in the Church are, for the most part, able and willing to read the Bible also at home, and are not likely to be misled by the visions either of Ezekiel or St. John. These Books are therefore read among the rest, and the Lessons in general are so selected as to be more appropriate in subject to the days on which they are read; and from their brevity more likely to be retained in memory. The Old Table of Lessons provided Lessons only for Morning and Evening Prayer, but it is now found that not a few persons attend both an Afternoon and an Evening Service; it has therefore been arranged that there should be two sets of Evening Lessons for every Sunday, one of which may be used in the afternoon, and the other in the evening. There are also many persons, especially among the poor, who are able to attend but one Service on Sunday, and that an Evening Service. Formerly they could hear no second Lesson except those from the Epistles; but now they hear the Gospels alternately with the Epistles; for in the former half of the year the Gospels are read in the morning, the Epistles in the evening; while in the latter half this arrangement is reversed. Much has been said about the difficulty of finding the proper Lessons, and the necessity of purchasing new Prayer Books. There is, I believe, no such necessity. A few days will make the new arrangement as familiar as the old, and a copy of the new Calendar and Table of Lessons, to be fastened in any Prayer Book or Bible, may be purchased at any shop for one halfpenny, having been printed by authority at the smallest possible price. I would hope that none will omit to provide themselves with such a Table of Lessons, and I think that in the use of it they will find great advantage. And let me here suggest that the advantage will be far greater to those who attend the daily services than to those who are able to attend on Sundays only. Let me therefore suggest to these last that if they wish to study their Bible systematically, the New Table of Lessons will form an excellent guide for the reading of the Holy Book at home.”
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Head Master—Rev. C. R. GORDON, D.D.,
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