Part 9

“In January, 1880, at a meeting held at the house of Mr. Edward Spicer, and attended by the late Dr. Raleigh, the deacons of the Church, and other ministers and laymen, it was resolved that a site should be secured for the erection of a Congregational Church, and a fund was started to which Dr. Raleigh subscribed £50, and six other gentlemen present £250 each; £250 was also promised by an absent deacon. After protracted inquiries and negotiations the present site was purchased. The London Congregational Union had voted £1,600 towards its cost, and the London Chapel Building Society £1,000 towards the erection of the church. The progress of the work was arrested by the lamented decease of Dr. Raleigh, but when the Rev. C. B. Symes entered on his ministry he gave new impetus to it, and liberally subscribed £250 toward the fund. The building to be erected was from the design of Mr. J. Cubitt, and the work had received the approval of many friends not connected with the district, two of whom had subscribed £500 each, and another noble citizen of London £200. The gifts by individuals ranged from £1,000 to five farthings from a little boy not quite eight years old! In that work they were trying to solve the problem how to penetrate the population with the spirit of true religion, and the building would be dedicated to the service and worship of Almighty God and His blessed Son, with the prayer that the Lord Jesus Christ might be the master of the house, the King of the people, and the Shepherd of the flock which might be gathered there. It would be a Free Church, independent of all external support and control; the worship would be free and spiritual, and the ordinances would be sustained by the free-will offerings of God’s people. It was not undertaken in hostility to any existing church in the neighbourhood, and there was nothing to hinder its promoters saying, ‘Grace be with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.’”

In the evening of the same day a meeting was held at the Vestry Hall, Kensington, when Mr. John Kemp Welch presided, and Messrs. James Spicer, J.P., H. Wright, J.P., Dr. Hannay, the Rev. C. B. Symes, Mr. J. H. Fordham, Mr. Robert Freeman, Mr. William Holborn, and Messrs. H. and E. Spicer supported the chairman. The sum of £14,190 was required, and before the close of the meeting no less than £12,084 was subscribed or promised. The following appeared in the report:—

“Dr. Stoughton said he would like to tell those present a little of what had been done in days gone by, when a considerable movement began in 1849, resulting in the erection of five new chapels in the space of ten years. They were not all connected with Allen Street Church, but they all sprang out of the operation of the voluntary principle, and the Kensington people had something to do with all of them. It began with the erection of Horbury Chapel, Notting Hill; and was followed by Kensington Chapel; Oakland’s Chapel, Shepherd’s Bush; Edith Grove, Brompton; and Cravenhill chapels. Those chapels could not have cost less than thirty or forty thousand pounds, and the liabilities were all undertaken during those ten years. If they added another ten years for paying off those debts, they would see that £30,000 or £40,000 was expended in chapel building work during that period. The fathers were not quite asleep, and the sons had very grateful recollections of what they did in days that were past. He referred to it as an example for them to emulate, and to go on during the next ten or twenty years as their predecessors did. If they laid out £30,000 or £40,000 outside their church, it would be a noble thing. The debt on Allen Street was paid off five years after it was opened, and he was then very anxious to see a new chapel spring up in South or West Kensington, where there was much vacant land which he knew would in time be covered with houses. A variety of circumstances, however, prevented his realising that desire; but now that streets and squares had been built, and the name changed from North End to West Kensington, they had done nobly and wisely in setting to work to build the contemplated edifice. He heartily congratulated them upon their present position, and on the relationship existing between pastor and people. Mr. Symes was doing work which had not previously been done, and was laying hold of young people brought into the neighbourhood; the speaker looked most hopefully upon these circumstances and trusted that the Church in Allen Street would go on as prosperously as ever.”

Here I must bring my narrative to a close. The ninety years’ history now recorded exhibits the continuity, the development, the increase, the augmented resources, and the advancing power of the Kensington Congregational Church. Religious progress has followed, though not with equal steps, progress in other respects, visible throughout the Court suburb, and its vicinity. The _duplication_ of the ecclesiastical body, if so the movement at Horbury about thirty years ago may be termed, is now, thanks to our Heavenly Father, being repeated; but gratitude to Him for this renewed inspiration of zeal is mingled with regret that the effort has been so long delayed. May it now be carried forward with ardour, in the spirit of faith, love, and prayer, and may other similar operations follow in years to come,—the activity and self-sacrifice of Kensington Christians keeping pace with the wants of the neighbourhood! The results at Notting Hill ought to be combined with those at Kensington, in order to estimate the value of what was done more than thirty years ago. The congregations, the members, the contributions since, should be reckoned together in a sum total; and a proportionate increase continued through coming days will secure an aggregate most blessed to contemplate, illustrating the true law of progress in Congregationalism. It will be God’s building, God’s husbandry, a working together with Him and under Him: ministers and people being one with the Church’s Lord. What purity of communion, what brotherly love, what self-sacrificing zeal, what achievements of benevolence, what noble family lives, what numerous conversions to Christ may be anticipated in consequence of aims and endeavours such as are now suggested! If the Church be a Divine garden, growth, fruitfulness, beauty ought to be expected. Rich abundance will crown a field which the Lord hath blessed. The most prosperous Churches in Christendom only exhibit what may be called, in the highest sense, a _natural_ result of His superintendence and blessing. What spiritual wonders may be looked for, what earnest, humble work should be attempted, what encouragement under heavy responsibility, what comfort amidst trials and disappointments will assuredly come in the garden of our toils, our hopes, our joys,—“supposing Him to be the Gardener!” {127}

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Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London.

FOOTNOTES

{9a} “Historical Recollections of Hyde Park,” by Thomas Smith, p. 39.

{9b} “Environs of London,” iii. p. 196.

{11} Hervey’s “Memoirs,” ii. p. 189.

{12} Faulkner’s “History of Kensington,” p. 317.

{13a} Faulkner’s “History of Kensington,” p. 170.

{13b} Mr. Leifchild, in the “Life” of his father, says that Saunders contributed _thirty pounds annually_. No mention of this appears in the records of the Church.

{17} In Faulkner’s “History of Kensington,” p. 318, it is said that “the first minister who officiated at Hornton Street Chapel was the Rev. Mr. Hall, of Edinburgh, who was not, however, ordained over the congregation.” No notice is taken of this in the original records of the Church, which are imperfect.

{23a} Isaiah li. 9.

{23b} Nichols’ “Anecdotes,” ix. p. 681.

{24a} “History of the London Missionary Society,” by W. Ellis, i. p. 8.

{24b} _Ibid._, p. 15.

{25} Faulkner’s “History of Kensington,” p. 318.

{28} Church Book. 27

{29} “The Clayton Family,” by Dr. Aveling, p. 180.

{37} “Memoir of John Leifchild, D.D.,” by his son, p. 41.

{38a} “Memoir,” p. 40.

{38b} “Remarkable Facts,” by Dr. Leifchild, p. 271.

{40} Church Book.

{47} Leifchild’s “Remarkable Facts,” p. 124.

{49} “Memoir,” p. 47.

{51} “Memoir,” p. 85.

{52} “Memoir,” p. 80.

{54} “Church Book.”

{55} He died in 1862, aged 83. He did not receive the diploma of D.D. until after he left Kensington.

{61} Faulkner’s “History of Kensington,” p. 319.

{68} They were no other than the Rev. John Clayton and Dr. Redford, son of my senior colleague.

{73} James Brunlees, Esq., F.R.S.E.

{77} These details, though they may now seem superfluous, may in years to come be found important and useful.

{81} After references to several discussions on the subject, the Church record at Horbury states:—“It was not, however, until 1847 that any combined effort to carry out the object was made; but on the 20th of October in that year, five friends connected with the Church at Hornton Street (_i.e._ the Rev. John Stoughton, the pastor, Messrs. Walker, Robert Watson, and Robinson, three of the deacons, and Mr. Shepheard, also a member of the Church) met, and forming themselves into a committee, resolved, ‘That it was desirable an Independent Chapel should be built in the neighbourhood of Notting Hill.’ Two of their number were deputed to look out for ground; and, after much difficulty and delay in selecting a suitable site for the building, the present very eligible piece of ground was secured at a price of £630, on lease for eighty-eight years, at a peppercorn rent.” The freehold was subsequently purchased. “The name of Horbury Chapel was given to the building as a mark of respect to the treasurer, Mr. Walker, who, by his liberality and exertions, so largely contributed to the success of the undertaking, the village of Horbury, in Yorkshire, being his birthplace.” The small committee formed in October, 1847, was soon enlarged by the addition of several other members of the Kensington Church. The Rev. W. Roberts was publicly recognised on the 17th of April, 1850, when the Rev. Dr. Morison, the Revs. J. Stratton, J. H. Godwin, and J. Stoughton took part in the service.

{88} They were joined afterwards by Mr. Thomas Wilson.

{127} See a striking sermon on these words by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, in the _Tabernacle Pulpit_, for January, 1883.