Important consequences resulted from these hints. In May it was resolved, “That a special meeting of the Church should be convened, and that members should be informed that the deacons have considered it desirable that certain alterations should be made in order to provide increased accommodation.” Such a meeting was held, and it determined that the chapel should be enlarged by throwing the vestry and small schoolroom behind the pulpit wall, with the organ gallery, into the body of the building, so that a considerable number of additional sittings might be provided for the enlarged congregation. Such an alteration was effected, and the chapel was re-opened in October by Dr. Vaughan.
In connection with the chapel enlargement, additional accommodation was provided at the back of the premises for the British and Sunday schools. These alterations created an impetus, happily felt by people and pastor. Various kinds of work went on, two of which may be mentioned: first, the delivery of a course of lectures in the new schoolroom on “Christian Evidences,” which attracted large audiences from week to week; and next, the institution of a Bible class, including the whole of the week evening congregation, when expositions of Scripture were given by the pastor, followed by a list of questions. These questions were taken home, and the week after written replies were brought. In many instances the replies were of a very superior order, and the reading of the papers excited a very deep interest. The exercise proved a success, and the schoolroom was often crowded on these occasions.
The chapel, enlarged in 1845, became in 1847 too small to accommodate sufficiently the increased number of attendants, and to meet the spiritual wants of the neighbourhood. A select meeting in Hornton Street vestry speedily followed, to consider what, under the circumstances, ought to be attempted, and the result was a resolution to erect a new chapel at Bayswater, to which a portion of the Kensington congregation living in the Bayswater neighbourhood might remove. [81] This measure was advocated by the pastor as the right way of promoting the interest of Evangelical Congregationalism. To wait till bickerings arose, and diversions occurred in consequence, was truly mischievous. To “swarm” like bees, a goodly number removing to a new hive, that was a wise method, which God would be sure to bless. Mr. Walker, who lived at Bayswater, was anxious for a chapel there, and before the little party in the vestry separated, much more than £1,000 was promised. Soon the amount reached the sum of £1,700. A committee was formed for the fulfilment of the enterprise.
The year 1848 is memorable in the history of Europe. It will be remembered that just then the Continent shook with political convulsions from end to end; and in the month of April the inhabitants of London felt intense anxiety, owing to the Chartist demonstration on Kennington Common. The Sunday before that incident a considerable number of Hornton Street hearers consisted of gentlemen just sworn in as special constables; and the grave and earnest manner of all present was increased by the Rev. William Walford, who preached on the occasion, and referred to his own recollections of what took place in England when, from week to week, it heard of the Paris Reign of Terror. God, he said, had brought this country through a more terrible excitement then, and would still be a protector of those who trusted in Him. Thus amidst political storms the foundation of Horbury Chapel was laid, even as Hornton Street, more than half a century before, had been built when England felt the throes of the French Revolution.
The corner-stone of Horbury Chapel was laid by Sir Culling Eardley, August 30th, 1848. The new building was completed and opened in September, 1849. The Sunday before a sermon was preached at Kensington from the words, “We be brethren,” and the spirit of those words was embodied in all the proceedings which ensued.
About one hundred seat-holders left Hornton Street for Horbury; and about forty members, including two very influential deacons, Messrs. Newton and Walker, resigned, and migrated to the new settlement. They requested, in a letter dated October 29th, 1849, their dismissal in the following appropriate terms:—
“We, the undersigned members of the above communion, purposing to separate ourselves from it, in order to form a Church at Horbury Chapel, Notting Hill, of the same faith and order, affectionately request that the necessary dismissal may be granted to us for the purpose.
“While recognising the tie which for various periods has outwardly bound us together in Church fellowship,—we desire ever to continue attached to each other in the bonds of the Gospel, and would gratefully acknowledge the goodness of our heavenly Father in having so long vouchsafed to the Church at Hornton Street His presence and blessing—in supplying it with a succession of faithful pastors, in honouring the preaching of His Word by them, in creating a spirit of activity and desire for usefulness on the part of so many of our fellow-members, and in permitting love and union to prevail in our midst. We pray that these blessings may long be continued to you, and be realized by us in our new connection; that there may be speedily sent to us a pastor, a man after God’s own heart, who shall preach the Gospel fully and freely, deacons who shall purchase to themselves a good degree, and that we and our fellow-members, individually, as well as in our associated character, may be distinguished alike for our humility and piety, and for our activity and devotedness to the cause of Christ.”
It is interesting here to remember that, whilst the chapel was being built, the idea arose that the new and the old congregations might remain united under a common pastorate of two or three ministers, they interchanging pulpits with each other from week to week, the communicants in the two places at the same time forming together one organic Church. This would have been very gratifying to the Hornton Street pastor, and would have coincided with his views of primitive municipal Churches; but practical difficulties arose, and the scheme was abandoned. In lieu of it, however, the communicants at Kensington and Notting Hill resolved annually to partake of the Lord’s Supper together, a practice which has since been continued with hallowed and pleasant results.
If 1848 was a year of storms, 1851, when the first English Exhibition was opened, will ever be remembered as a year of peace. It seemed as though the millennium had dawned. “No more wars now,” thought many a sanguine spirit, soon to be undeceived in this respect; but the tranquillity and good-will amongst the hundreds of thousands who thronged to the Crystal Palace are undeniable, and the effect of it on the Kensington Independent congregation was manifest in crowded attendances and in animated services, for which the artistic wealth and the manifold associations of the great gathering furnished the pastor with manifold illustrations.
The rising tide of the Church at Kensington did not ebb when the Exhibition was over; and owing to this, in the year 1854, the friends found it necessary to consider whether they ought not to build a new and much larger place of worship for themselves and their neighbours. Promised subscriptions speedily opened the way to the execution of this enterprise; and in June, 1854, the pastor laid the first stone of the chapel in Allen Street. The chapel was opened in May, 1855, when the Rev. Thomas Binney preached in the morning, and the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel in the evening. On the following Sunday the opening services were continued, Dr. John Harris preaching in the morning, and the pastor in the evening. The Rev. William Brock closed the series on the following Tuesday evening.