Memorials of the Independent Churches in Northamptonshire / with biographical notices of their pastors, and some account of the puritan ministers who laboured in the county.

by Thomas Coleman

CHAPTER XXII.

MEMORIALS OF THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH AT OLD.

In the village of Old there is a neat brick building as an Independent Chapel, with a small burying-ground enclosed in connexion with it; and nearly adjoining it is a dwelling-house for the minister. Though this Chapel was not erected until the year 1809, yet we have to look backward for a little more than a hundred years to observe the first efforts that were made to obtain some stated services by Nonconformist ministers in this place. It appears highly probable that the Gospel was occasionally preached at Old and Scaldwell (the latter village being about a mile from the former) in the early part of the last century. We have found, in the records of the Independent Church at Rowell, that there were a number of persons who were members of that Church residing in Scaldwell and its vicinity soon after the commencement of the last century, who expressed a desire to be formed into a separate Church in that place, on account of the distance they were from Rowell; but their numbers were thought not to be sufficient then to justify such a step.

In the year 1750, Mr. Thomas Palmer, of Old, great grandfather to the late Mr. Palmer, by deed of bargain and sale invested certain premises at Old in the hands of four trustees, that out of the rents and profits thereof they should pay £5 per annum, by four quarterly payments, to some Dissenting minister, teacher, or preacher, to do divine service and preach a sermon once a month at Old for ever.

Neighbouring ministers performed this monthly service for some time. The attendance on this lecture was so good as to lead the friends to obtain more frequent services, which were conducted in a barn on the property. Some of the hearers were in the habit of attending the Baptist Meeting at Walgrave, a short distance from Old; but the practice of strict communion cut them off from participating in divine ordinances there, so that it was at length determined to form a Church at Old, and to look out for a stated pastor.

Mr. Shadrach Jackson, from the Newport Pagnell institution, visited Old in the year 1808, and preached in the barn with acceptance and success. The increasing attendance rendered it desirable and indeed necessary to have a more suitable and commodious place for divine worship, and the present Chapel was erected on the premises, at a cost of £850.

At the ordination of Mr. Jackson, his tutor, the late Mr. William Bull, the friend and correspondent of Newton and Cowper, delivered an affectionate and impressive charge, taking for his motto the remarkable words of Joseph, addressed to his brother Benjamin (Gen. xliii. 29): "God be gracious unto thee, my son." The late Mr. Hillyard, of Bedford, in his own peculiar, affectionate, and persuasive manner, gave a most excellent address to the people, from the words of Ruth (i. 16, 17): "Entreat me not to leave thee," &c.

Mr. Jackson was a native of Doncaster. He early became acquainted with Mr. Samuel Hobson, of Sheffield, afterwards pastor of the Church at Maldon, Beds. The late Mr. Thorpe, of Bristol, married the sister of Mr. Hobson, and to him both these young men were considerably indebted for their ministerial prospects. Both of them became students at Newport; they were both men of ability—Hobson having perhaps most philosophy, and Jackson most genius and pulpit unction. The latter was a striking and impressive preacher, decidedly popular, not failing to secure the attention of his audience. He had an excellent gift in prayer, and was often called upon to pray at the meetings of his brethren in the County Association. But it was not a long course of service that was allotted to him. His health was not good; he was subject to an affection of the throat; but it is thought that the affliction which ended in death was brought on by his preaching one night in wet clothes at the neighbouring village of Holcott. He never ceased to feel the effects of that night, and gradually sunk, though occasionally giving some hopes of recovery. After a long and painful affliction, he died, September 3rd, 1817. His remains were interred near the pulpit, and a tablet was erected to his memory by subscription.

Mr. Hillyard, minister at Bedworth, who was a member of the Church at Old, and has supplied some of these particulars, states—"I saw him just as he was dying, being then about nine years of age; he mentioned my name. Almost the last thing he said referring to himself was, 'A sinner saved by grace.' I well remember the deep impression his death made on my mind; and all the circumstances of the funeral; and the funeral sermon being preached by the late Mr. Toller, from Acts xx. 24: 'And none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.'" The writer of these 'Memorials' attended that service, and has a vivid recollection of the crowded assembly, the impressive sermon, the solemn tones and the tears of the preacher, with the testimony he bore to the increasing spirituality of Mr. Jackson's mind during the closing period of his life.