The church connected with this place traces its origin so far back as the year 1795, and owns a very interesting history. The first Congregational Chapel was in Hornton-street, and was founded in 1793; and in October, 1794, the Rev. Dr. Lake was chosen first pastor. In March of the following year he gathered into religious communion about forty persons, and on the 9th of April following was solemnly ordained to the pastorate by Dr. Hunter, author of “Scripture Biography,” who was assisted in the service by other ministers. The church and congregation gradually increased under Dr. Lake’s ministry, and also under his successors. These were men of no less eminence than the Revs. John Clayton, Dr. Liefchild, and Dr. Vaughan. For a church to have held such pastoral relations in unbroken succession, and for these to be followed and crowned by the worthy name of the present esteemed minister, Dr. Stoughton, is a remarkable fact, and prepares us for chronicles of superior influence and success. In this we are not disappointed. In the year 1845 the jubilee of the church was celebrated. Dr. Stoughton had commenced his ministry in 1843, and on the 50th anniversary preached a commemorative sermon. From this, which is in print, it would appear that the first half-century witnessed a gradual but certain growth of Congregationalism in the town, the number of church members having increased from the foundation number of 40 to 251. These were the figures when Dr. Stoughton began his work. The labour of those earlier times had been well and patiently done, and the basis firmly laid for a larger edifice of success to come. The Rev. John Stoughton appears to have been the well-chosen minister for the opening era of its later history. On Monday, October 4, 1868, the church and its friends rejoiced together over the fruits of the pastor’s labours through a quarter of a century. At that time, which may be allowed to speak for the present, 1,200 members had been added, and there was a fixed membership of 500, having just doubled itself since 1843. The Hornton-street Chapel had been enlarged in 1845 at a cost of 1,400l.; a branch chapel—now known as the Horbury Chapel, Notting-hill—had been built in 1849, and a church, of 40 members and 100 seat-holders, given it from the parent congregation to begin with. This new cause was largely aided and supported by Mr. Stoughton and his people. Notwithstanding this separation, the places of those who had retired to the north of the parish were soon filled, and the chapel became overcrowded, so that it became a necessity to provide new and enlarged accommodation. Hence the present commodious chapel in Allen-street, which was opened for Divine worship on the 30th of May, 1855, the foundation-stone having been laid in June, 1854. The entire cost, including the freehold site and organ, was 8,748l. 9s. 6d., the whole of which was defrayed by the end of January, 1860; 600l. more was laid out on repairs and embellishments in 1863. There is accommodation for 1,000, including about 250 free sittings. More recently British schools have been built, adjoining the chapel, at an outlay of 5,000l., which now have from 300 to 400 children in attendance. Here, also, large and important Sunday-schools are conducted, having about 700 children under religious instruction. These were established in the year 1809. We understand that every available sitting is at present let; and the congregation contains several persons of literary eminence and professional distinction. It is generally of that character which a minister of Dr. Stoughton’s ability may be expected to draw and keep around him. For Christian liberality it is justly entitled to a record; and is, undoubtedly, one of the best instances to be found of what can be achieved on the voluntary principle when intelligently and powerfully directed. During the first twenty-five years of Dr. Stoughton’s ministry—independently of the amounts raised by pew rents, &c., for support of the ministry—there was raised for various objects the noble sum of 32,821l., being an average of 1,313l. per annum. 12,800l. was for chapel and school building purposes; 8,870l. for missionary societies at home and abroad; 5,630l. for support of educational institutions; and 5,480l. for relief of the poor and distressed, both in a general way and in various cases of public need. This scale of giving is maintained and even enlarged upon, the church raising 500l. for the London Missionary Society last year; and—which may be considered an expression of genuine catholicity of spirit—contributing 100l. towards the building fund of the new parish church now in course of re-erection. Annual collections are made for St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, the West London Hospital, for a Christmas Poor Fund, Chapel Building Society, London City Mission, and various other Christian objects. There is no endowment, and the ministry is entirely supported from seat rents. As a proof of the esteem in which the minister is held, the church voted him 400l. in 1868, to enable him to visit Palestine, which he did; and it may be added that at the present time a co-pastor is being arranged for to assist him in his labours.
The Rev. Dr. Stoughton has the good fortune—attending but few settled pastors in the same degree—to enjoy the continued confidence and good opinion of his people; and through the effect of a prolonged ministry he has acquired an amount of influence over them seldom realised. That influence has been for good. It has lifted them out of the narrowness which, rightly or wrongly, is generally considered an attribute of close churches; it has moulded them into a catholic temper, and imbued them with social sympathies which render them a fact and a power in the town and district. “Like priest, like people,” is an old adage; and probably it has never found a better illustration than in the present instance. And where the former has strength and goodness combined, the likeness to himself he impresses upon his congregation over a long ministry, at any rate, ought to be traceable. Dr. Stoughton himself cultivates the most friendly relations with ministers and Christian people of all denominations. Occasionally at his house may be witnessed a little Evangelical Alliance, in the presence of a bishop, or a dean, or an archdeacon, with clergymen Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist, and Congregational; and the same genuine fraternal feeling he carries into public meetings and committees of all kinds where general Christian or social interests are concerned. On the rev. gentleman’s pulpit characteristics it is scarcely necessary to enlarge. In these sketches it is our plan only to say enough on this point to indicate the general standard of preaching, talent, or aptitude, together with the doctrinal teaching and mode of conducting service. As to the latter, the minister appears in the pulpit in a gown; and in the singing part of the service the usual Congregational Hymn-book is supplemented by a collection of church music, consisting of chants, anthems, Te Deum and Sanctuses. After the second prayer the Te Deum is sung; and the music, both for hymns and chants, inclines pretty much to the Gregorian strain. We may describe this congregation, in its general tone and style of worship, as occupying that part of the Dissenting territory which lies nearest the Church of England. In the minister’s personal part there is a brief opening prayer, a lesson, a second prayer, a second lesson, and a third prayer; and in these several extempore petitions, in the present instance, were included almost every conceivable object of supplication hardly exceeded in variety of matter by the Book of Common Prayer itself. The discourse was founded on 2nd Corinthians x, 5: “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,” and was delivered extempore, with the aid only of a manuscript skeleton. The perfect ease and quiet of the preacher is apt at first to tempt the stranger to think him slightly indifferent to his hearers; but he has only to be heard a while to convince one that the feature arises from complete self-control and command of his own thoughts; and that, so far from indifference, it arises from deliberate anxiety to clear himself with the intellect and conscience of his audience. It is certain that this is achieved with great success. The clearness of the preacher’s thoughts, and equal clearness and felicity of his language, make one feel as though sitting in the calm light of intellect, reflected from every point of the compass. Starting with the assertion that the words of the text were directly “against the grain” of the “most fashionable thinking of the day,” which was on the side of what was called “freedom of thought,” he entered the lists with the free-thinkers of the period. Demonstrating with a masterly hand that the true liberty of our nature is only found in the captivity of thought to the obedience of Christ, he showed, on the other, with convincing power, that the boasted “freedom” of the day was slavery itself. It was slavishness to prejudice, to some human irresponsible authority, to the most “fantastic ideas,” without any basis in reason, to an idea of novelty and change, where, however, there was no originality; for, the preacher remarked, amidst all this, “originality was a very rare thing in our time.” The freedom contended for was one which bound our whole nature up in the bonds of fixed and rigid laws of development, which extinguished the very possibility of freedom. After so withering an exposure of the boasted free thought of the age, there was peculiar force and beauty in pressing home the great Gospel truth, “But if the Son shall make you free, then are ye free indeed.” Christ carries us away captive; but He does it as a conqueror of our foes, who tyrannised over us; and following in His train is our deliverance, our “freedom.”
On Sunday, service is held at 11 a.m. and 6.30 p.m., and at 3.15 p.m. a prayer-meeting in the Lecture-room. The Lord’s Supper the first Sunday in the month after morning service; baptism every three months, both to adults and children, or more frequently if desired. Communion tickets are distributed to members in December, which they are expected to put into the plate after each celebration. Members are accepted after private conversation with the minister, and approval by the church in its ensuing monthly meeting. The time when the minister may be consulted on this solemn subject is from six to seven on Thursday evenings weekly.
THE WESLEYAN CHAPEL, WARWICK GARDENS.
The Wesleyan Chapel, situate at the corner of Warwick-gardens, Kensington, is a specimen of one of those buildings by which we may say that Nonconformists have made a step in the right direction. It is architectural, and, though of simple character as regards material, being of brick and stone and covered with slate, yet the brick and stone have been treated very successfully in the design of the west front. It claims to be an example of Early English work, and, with its spire and pinnacles, forms a good feature, seen from the entrance of the gardens from the Kensington main road. Enclosed by iron gates and rails, and dwarf walls, the chapel is approached by a flight of steps and entered by a vestibule or lobby, which also gives access, to the right and left, to the gallery stairs. Inside, considering the large galleries, which at all times are an objection, the effect is exceedingly good. The light ribbed roof over the body of the chapel is supported by a timber arcade of very good design, and if, instead of iron, the columns that receive the arcade had been of wood, we should, in spite of the galleries, have been able to report some very successfully effective work. The organ is recessed, and appears just above a somewhat tall and bulky pulpit. Beyond this there is very little to remark save the quiet neatness that prevails generally. The basement is occupied by school and class rooms and offices, with separate entrances and approaches. The chapel is from the designs of Messrs. Lockwood and Mawson, of London and Bradford; and the building contract carried out by Mr. Nevill Simonds, of London. The warming was executed by Messrs. Stuart and Smith, of Sheffield; and the standard gas-lights by Messrs. Thomasson and Co., of Birmingham.
This chapel was opened for worship on Thursday, the 10th December, 1863, and is partly the fruit of a general effort among the Wesleyan Methodists for chapel extension in London and its suburbs. The first metropolitan chapel building fund was started in 1861, and zealously promoted by the Rev. W. Arthur, M.A., and the late Rev. John Scott, in connexion with several of the wealthier laymen. The spirit of church and chapel erection which has recently taken hold of other leading religious bodies, and notably of the Establishment, has been largely participated in by the Wesleyan body; so that the chapel business which centres in a Chapel Committee has become a very large and imposing department. It superintends the erection of chapels in every part of the Connexion, and has its rules upon which these works are to be carried out. Every chapel built without compliance with its regulations and primary sanction is jealously viewed, and reported to Conference as irregular, with profound “regrets” at the Methodistic insubordination implied in it. No matter though a chapel be made really a good property of and handed over, it cannot condone the offence against the spirit of red-tapeism centreing in the Conference Committee. It will only be officially recognised after a good scolding has been administered to the offenders for the pains they have taken to erect a chapel for Methodism. This is one of the points at which the Central Conference rule is liable to collision with local voluntary efforts, and often produces great irritation. The Committee administers the chapel erection fund and makes grants in aid. It also controls a large sum of money—raised some years ago to assist in clearing chapels from debt. This money is lent out to trustees upon application, to be returned in so many annual instalments, free of interest. Probably no fund has been more useful to the material interests of Methodism. Chapels formerly burdened with debt have been set free by yearly payments similar to what they were before paying for interest; and thus their resources have been left available for extension purposes. There is also a special fund for chapel building in Watering-places, commenced by the Rev. W. M. Punshon in 1861, which succeeded very well as far as it went, but did not attain large dimensions. The “Metropolitan Chapel Building Fund” is a more important and progressive affair. It started with a subscribed fund of 20,000l., to be kept up by annual appeals; and an effort is now being made to raise a very much larger sum—Sir Francis Lycett having made the generous offer of 50,000l., to be distributed in sums of 1,000l. each to fifty new chapels, that shall be erected in the metropolis with a specified accommodation, within a given time. For this offer to be utilised to the full extent, at least 200,000l. will have to be raised.
The Warwick gardens Chapel benefited from the first fund to the extent of 1,000l., the whole estimated cost being 4,700l. In default of a freehold, 32l. per annum is paid as ground-rent, which was to be covered by a yearly investment. 1,175l. was left as a temporary debt, to be paid off within one year. We believe, however, that this was found to be impossible, and the debt in whole or part, still remains. The estimated income from seat-rents was fixed at 200l. per annum, a very small estimate indeed, had the project succeeded. But in this there has been grievous disappointment. The chapel will accommodate 1,000 persons, but after more than seven years it hardly commands an average congregation, in all, of 200, and a number of these are from a distance, and properly belonging to other Methodist congregations. We fear, therefore, this is a case to be recorded as so far a failure.
A degree, perhaps, of laudable ambition has led some leading Methodist ministers and laymen of late years to desire to place chapels in neighbourhoods different from those usually occupied. In short, there has been a movement to plant chapels in more respectable localities, such as that of Warwick-gardens. But if the experiment is to be judged by its results in this instance, it would appear a lamentable mistake; and it may after all be worth considering whether John Wesley’s own rule will not yet serve Methodism for all time—“To preach the Gospel to the poor, and to go not only to those who need us, but to those who need us most.” There are Sunday-schools, where about 100 children of both sexes attend; and four or five small classes, which include all the society at present attached to the chapel. It is united in what is called the Bayswater Circuit, the headquarters of which are in the Denbigh-road, Bayswater, and which has three ministers appointed to it by the Conference. These are assisted in the occupation of the pulpits by ministers belonging to Connexional departments in London, or students from the college at Richmond. The chapel, therefore, has the best ministerial provision that the system of Methodism can supply, but there appears to be no public effect. On Sunday evening, 21st of May, the pulpit was occupied by the Rev. W. B. Boyce, one of the secretaries at the Mission-house in Bishopsgate-street. He holds a high position in the body, and on many accounts is deservedly respected. He has seen much service in the Mission-field; and to this it may be in part attributable that he retains in speech the broad provincialisms of his early life. He also holds fast to the old Methodist style of putting the doctrine of “Conversion,” which was the subject of his discourse. According to his teaching on this occasion, a man may be everything Christian to the outward eye—and even be a martyr for the truth—and yet be unconverted, unsaved, and perish eternally. If such a case be possible, we must remark it is so rare in experience that it may well cause a minister to pause before he gives it prominent and unqualified application in a sermon. There are certain to be a number of weak consciences and doubting minds in every congregation, who must be very much troubled and perplexed with such teaching, whereas there may not be a single individual to whom it really applies. It is a mode of preaching, in our idea, not based upon sufficiently large views of human experiences and circumstances; yet Mr. Boyce exhibits great sincerity and earnestness.