In the minutes that describe the events immediately succeeding the resignation of Mr. Leifchild, in August, 1824, there are several references to the institution of a Church Prayer Meeting. Such an anxious period as inevitably follows the loss of a minister is often a valuable discipline to a Church, as tending to throw the members back upon the guidance of the Spirit of God. That the Church at Kensington had realised the need to consult, not only with one another, but with the All-wise, was the best possible augury of prosperity to come. And, verily, God did choose for them. Dr. Robert Vaughan was a very different man in many ways from Mr. Leifchild, but no one could have been more admirably adapted to continue and develop the work that the Church had hitherto been doing. He had all the instincts and tastes of a scholar; and as a brilliant historical writer he exercised a wider ministry, and influenced a larger circle, than if he had simply exercised his gifts as a preacher in the Hornton Street pulpit. So considerable was his fame that he was appointed Professor of Modern History at London University; and, with the generosity which has always characterised the Kensington congregation in such matters, his people spared him gladly much of the labour of visitation, for the sake of the services he was thus able to render to the rising generation of Londoners. Kensington was now assuming the character it has ever since possessed, of a great residential suburb for aristocratic and wealthy London. There was a large circle of able and cultivated men and women to be reached and influenced by the attraction of one, whose personal attainments and powers were sufficiently remarkable to overcome the strong prejudices against Dissenting meeting-places that have always existed in the minds of such. This power Dr. Vaughan possessed and exercised: while at the same time his personal elevation of character, and rare spiritual earnestness, qualified him pre-eminently to be a guide to all who knew him in “the deep things of God.” We are consequently quite prepared to find that the little meeting-house in Hornton Street was a centre of light and leading to a large number of men and women who occupied prominent positions in society and in the professions. And yet the last accusation that could be levelled against Dr. Vaughan was that of a “tuft-hunter.” He did not stoop to conquer, in the sense of descending to any unworthy artifices: he flattered no one; and his reputation as one of the great historians of Nonconformity is sufficient assurance that he never betrayed his trust as a custodian of the sacred interests of religious freedom.
One of the signs of the earnestness of the Church at this time, in seeking to perpetuate the principles for which it stood, was the constant interest manifested in the work of the British Schools, for which Dr. Vaughan repeatedly preached special sermons. The school used to meet in a building at the back of Hornton Street Chapel. No attempt was made to indoctrinate the infant mind with denominational ideas; but, on the other hand, such religious instruction was given as is clearly to be gathered from the study of the Bible, and any child could be educated there without being required to learn by heart the exceedingly questionable teaching of the Church Catechism. For a long period of years these schools remained in very close touch with the Congregational Church, and were only eventually transferred to the management of the School Board when the general scheme of religious education, under the Board, was seen to be thoroughly in harmony with what had prevailed so long in the British Schools.
It is by such simple notices as those concerning the British Schools, the Missionary Society, the Sunday Schools, and other institutions, that we can form our idea of the many interests that were beginning to take possession of the hearts of the people. The records during Dr. Vaughan’s ministry are singularly imperfect, and it is only quite incidentally that we get some impression of the steadily increasing prosperity of the cause. For eighteen years Dr. Vaughan continued his ministry, and there is not a single evidence of a moment’s break in the harmony of the Church. When, in 1843, Dr. Vaughan was honoured with an invitation to become Principal of the Lancashire Independent College, the letters of himself and of the Church were such as became those who had lived and worked so long together in the most honourable spirit of Christian fellowship. The letter of the Church is exceedingly touching in its anxiety to express to the full its ardent and affectionate attachment to Dr. Vaughan, and yet to do nothing to add to the necessary pain and anxiety of his decision. Dr. Vaughan felt that the call to Lancashire was of God, and he placed his resignation in the hands of the Church. But even then, his interest in their welfare was unabated; and he knew the perils of a time of unsettlement. There was one well known to him, and to whom he was related by many affinities of thought and sympathy, who was labouring at that time in a sphere of less influence at Windsor; and, before he left Kensington, he approached Dr. John Stoughton, and obtained from him the promise that he would consent to preach before the Kensington congregation. Two months afterwards Dr. Stoughton accepted a unanimous invitation from the Church, and commenced his ministry. Before closing this chapter, one word must be added. There are many sacred memories connected with Hornton Street Chapel, and those who used to worship there; but none more sacred to all who honour those in whom pure genius stands united to simple faith and devout spirituality, than those associated with the name of Robert Alfred Vaughan. He was the beloved son of Dr. Vaughan, and the highest hopes were cherished for him by a large circle of religious and literary men. He entered the Congregational ministry, and gave to the world a work of the greatest promise, entitled “Hours with the Mystics.” His own beautiful spirit breathed through every page. But his work was too arduous, and he died in early manhood. It has been said that if he had avoided the fatigue of constant pastoral duty, he might have lived on to do brilliant intellectual work. It may be so. But perhaps he chose the better part, and did the greater work, as will one day be known. At any rate, he has left us his own answer, in what has been called his “Psalm of Life.”
“And thou canst not in life’s city
Rule thy course as in a cell:
There are others, all thy brothers,
Who have work to do as well.“Some events that mar thy purpose
May light them upon their way;
Our sun—shining, in declining—
Gives earth’s other side the day.“Every star is drawn and draweth
’Mid the orbits of its peers;
And the blending thus unending
Makes the music of the spheres.”
Of Robert Alfred Vaughan we still love to conjecture what he is, or, as some prefer to put it, what he would have been if he had lived. He was the Arthur Hallam of Nonconformity.
VI—ENLARGING OUR BORDERS—DR. STOUGHTON’S MINISTRY.
