On the 23rd November, 1835, Mr. Sloper’s protracted affliction was terminated by death. Although he had been long lost to society, the event was a subject of general and sincere lamentation. The chapel was thronged with those who came to witness his interment at the foot of the pulpit from which he had dispensed the words of eternal life.

His death was improved on the following Lord’s-day afternoon, by Mr. Creak, of Yarmouth, from 2 Pet. i. 12–15. The young people of the congregation have since gratified their feelings of veneration for one who ever manifested the tenderest regard for their best interests, by placing in the meeting-house a neat marble tablet, with the following inscription:

IN MEMORY OF
THE REVD. ISAAC SLOPER,
FOR THIRTY YEARS PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
ASSEMBLING IN THIS PLACE;
IN WHOM BENEVOLENCE AND CANDOUR WERE SO CONSPICUOUSLY
BLENDED WITH FIDELITY AND UPRIGHTNESS,
AS TO SECURE TO HIM, IN AN EMINENT DEGREE, THE AFFECTION
AND CONFIDENCE OF HIS FLOCK, AND THE ESTEEM OF ALL.
HE RECEIVED, ON THE 5TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1832,
WHILE DISCHARGING THE DUTIES OF HIS SACRED OFFICE,
A SOLEMN WARNING OF HIS APPROACHING DISSOLUTION,
AND WAS DISMISSED TO HIS EVERLASTING REST
ON THE 23RD OF NOVEMBER, 1835,
IN THE 57TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.

“Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when
he cometh, shall find so doing.”

These records ought not to be closed without a brief reference to the truly honourable life and peaceful death of Mr. William Crisp.

He became a member of this church on the 4th June, 1802, and was some years afterwards chosen a deacon. In both relations, he acted with uniform candour, kindness, meekness, and generosity. He was a liberal pecuniary contributor to the support of the cause; the friend of minister and people, and the benefactor of the poor.

He sustained, as a merchant, a reputation against which slander never ventured to direct a shaft; and his whole deportment imparted, in the eye of the world, a weight and dignity to the christian community to which he belonged. The declaration of holy writ was manifestly verified in reference to him: “The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him,” Prov. xx. 7. He lived to witness the departure into the eternal world, of five of his children, who all died in the faith and hope of the gospel. Two only survive—they have risen up to “call him blessed,” and one of them fills an important station in the Baptist Academy at Bristol.

Mr. Crisp died on the 18th January, 1836, in the 80th year of his age. [250]

After Mr. Flower’s restoration to health, an increasing eagerness to hear the gospel was manifested, and the duty of providing additional accommodation in the chapel became a subject of serious consideration. Early in the last year (1836) an extensive alteration and enlargement was determined upon; the greater part of the requisite funds were furnished by the cheerful contributions of many, and the very liberal assistance of some; and the work has since been accomplished. A sketch of the building in its improved form is prefixed to this little volume.

The expense of erecting and enlarging places of worship is far more serious to dissenters than to members of the Established Church, since independently of receiving no direct aid from government, the former are subject to the duty upon the materials used, from which burden the latter are exempt. Nearly allied to this tax upon nonconformity, are the stamp duties upon the conveyances, and deeds for renewing trusts, of chapels, and the charges for enrolment.

These form a heavy item in the balance of justice which remains due to the dissenting portion of the community, or rather, to the interests of religion itself. Its liquidation is not demanded merely as an act of justice; but as a step towards the total disenthralment of Christianity from the paralyzing grasp of state patronage. The religious world, taught by principle and by example, is discovering that it must look to the voluntary efforts of benevolence, impelled by christian principles and crowned with the divine blessing, for the evangelization of the people.