Congregationalism in the Court Suburb

by John Stoughton

The entire cost, including purchase of the land, was £8,748 9s. 6d., and the whole was paid for on the last Sunday in January, 1860, when public collections reached the amount of £365 10s. 2d.,—being seven shillings more than was required.

In the autumn of 1856 the Church lost one of its most active deacons. Mr. Padgett (brother-in-law of the pastor), who had been formerly a deacon at Trevor Chapel, Brompton, died suddenly whilst travelling in Switzerland, and it became the pastor’s painful duty to preach the funeral sermon, just after his own return from a continental tour. The text selected was Amos v. 8: “Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and, maketh the day dark with night.”

A season of great anxiety occurred in the month of January, 1857, when the pastor received an invitation from New College to become Principal of that institution, upon the death of the lamented Dr. Harris. The intimate connection between the pastor and that college—he having taken an active part in the foundation of it, and having declined one of the professorships offered at that time—made him particularly anxious to ascertain the path of duty at this crisis. He informed the deacons of what had occurred, and sought their advice. He wished to decide, not according to any preconceived plan, but as it might appear on a comparison of claims, arising from the college on the one hand, and the Church on the other. The deacons returned the following answer:—

“Having this evening met to consider the important communication which you submitted to us last Tuesday, in reference to the invitation given to you to succeed the late Dr. Harris as Principal of New College, we have prayerfully, and with thoughtful earnestness, endeavoured to view the matter in all its bearings, and we thank you for the confidence implied in the fact of your having referred the matter to us.

“Although as deacons of the Church under your charge its interests naturally present themselves prominently before us, we have sought to avoid any selfish or contracted feelings in reference to that Church, and have desired to take an enlarged view of the interests of the Church of Christ as a whole. Our first attention has been given to the suggestion made by you as to the practicability of your retaining a limited connection with Kensington Chapel as minister while undertaking the principalship; and our feeling is that it could not be done with comfort to yourself or advantage to the Church.

“In considering the matter generally, the following points have occurred to us as deserving of serious attention:—

“1. The special claims of Kensington as a sphere of labour for an intelligent Christian minister.

“2. Your peculiar qualifications for representing the interests of Nonconformity in the neighbourhood.

“3. The peaceful and prosperous state of the Church under your charge.

“4. The claims of a confiding and affectionate people who, within the last two years, have manifested their attachment by erecting our present place of worship at a cost of several thousand pounds, of which a large amount still remains due.

“5. Your success as a preacher, and your increasing acceptableness to your own people.

“6. The more limited opportunity which would be afforded to you at New College of exercising your talents as a preacher.

“7. The difficulty which the Church anticipates in securing an appropriate successor.

“8. The fact that it would not be more difficult (if as much so) to supply the vacant office than your vacant pulpit.

“Other considerations, which we need not enumerate, have occurred to our minds. The foregoing we venture to submit to your attention. They have led us to the conclusion that, however honourable the invitation may be to you, and however it may be pressed upon your notice, and however usefully you might be employed in it, it does not appear to us to be your duty to relinquish your present position and sphere, where you have been so much blessed, in order to undertake the office in question.”

This letter decided the point. Attractive as was the post at New College, the claims of the Church at Kensington, especially so soon after the building of the new chapel, appeared more urgent: and it may be added that the deacons, especially Mr. Watson, turned the incident to account by proposing that £1,000 should be raised as a thank-offering for the continuance of the existing pastorate, the sum to be employed in liquidation of the chapel debt. This amount contributed to its entire extinction.

Encouraging years of labour followed, and in 1860 additions to the Church reached their highest point up to that time,—a proof of the Divine blessing on what had been done and determined; and it was regarded as a cause for special gratitude and thanksgiving.

The new chapel was thoroughly repaired and embellished in 1863, at a cost of about £600. Of this amount the sum of £400 was subscribed beforehand, and the rest was obtained by collections on the last Sunday of January, 1864.

In the spring of 1865 the Church, long aware of their pastor’s wish to visit the Holy Land, most generously came forward to gratify him in this respect, and opened a subscription which amounted, almost immediately, to the sum of £400, which was placed at his disposal to defray the expenses of the journey. A public meeting followed, when the money, enclosed within a tastefully devised oriental-like purse, mounted in gold, was presented, with an intimation that, during the absence of about four months, the friends would undertake to pay supplies. Before his departure he delivered two sermons on the first Sunday in February, and on the 7th of the month started with Dr. Allon, Dr. Spence, the Rev. John Bright, of Dorking, and Mr. Stanley Kemp Welch, on the much talked of trip. [88] It proved successful and gratifying, except that a serious illness befel Dr. Spence during his journey, and that the Kensington pastor returned as yellow as an old Indian, much to the dismay of his flock when they lovingly welcomed him back to the pulpit. The temporary attack of jaundice, however, proved not at all injurious, as after his recovery from it his health was if anything better than before. Certainly the journey gave him an interest in Palestine, and in the Scriptures relating to it, greater than ever, and furnished ample materials for lectures to the congregation.

The year after his return from the Holy Land he expressed a wish, not only for his own sake, but the better to meet spiritual wants in the Church and the surrounding district, that an assistant should be provided; and this matter came before the Church in February, 1866, when the following resolution was passed: “That this meeting desires to express its cordial concurrence in the deacons’ proposal for the appointment of an assistant to the minister, to be selected by him, and to be sustained, as an experiment for one year, by a special fund.” In pursuance of this resolution the Rev. Alden Davies became assistant minister, and proved so useful in visitation, superintendence of classes, and preaching on Sunday afternoons, and other occasions, that his services were prolonged for three years, greatly to the comfort of his senior colleague, and the satisfaction of his numerous friends.

Two important incidents occurred in 1868. The first was the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the pastor’s ministry at Kensington, when a large public meeting was held in the month of October. The Rev. Thomas Binney took the chair, and was surrounded by a numerous company of London ministers. Numerous congratulatory speeches were delivered, but that which alone needs particular notice was the statement read by Mr. Shepheard, one of the deacons of the Church who for many years had rendered most valuable and important services. He stated that in 1843 there were 251 members, and that since 1843, 1,200 members had been added, the number on the Church roll at the time the meeting was held being about 500; so, he said, “the Church has been doubled in number since our pastor commenced his ministry amongst us.” This report appeared all the more gratifying when it was remembered that in 1849 forty members had been dismissed to the new Church at Horbury. He also read a long list of sums, amounting altogether to £32,821, contributed by the congregation during twenty-five years, independently of the amount raised for the support of the ministry, and for incidental expenses in carrying on worship. Of the sum just mentioned, nearly £1,300 had been devoted to chapel and school building purposes; nearly £9,000 to missionary operations; £5,630 to the advancement of education; and £5,480 to relieving the poor. The other incident of this year 1868 was the laying of the first stone of the new schools in Allen Street.