C. Silvester Horne

“ And his successor has formed a very vivid conception of that genial and delightful ministry by which Mr. White attached to himself so warmly the hearts of this congregation.
But one most significant new departure must be remembered. Many are the strangers who visit us to-day who are greatly impressed with the successful blending in our service of general audible prayer, with the more individual prayer by the minister. They share with us the feeling, that to encourage an outward and audible expression of our worship is to cultivate the worshipful attitude of heart and soul. ”

“ At the beginning of the century whose record we have reviewed, Missionary Societies were just beginning, Sunday Schools were in their p. 160infancy, and the great catalogue of benevolent and philanthropic societies that stand on the Church’s list was all unknown. Thus the work of one hundred years makes us exceedingly hopeful. Our experience is all in our favour. And after having lived and grown through a century of time, it is possible for us, as a Church, to approximate to that ideal where there are blended the ripeness and maturity of autumn with the freshness and buoyancy of spring. ”

“ It is a conspicuously handsome building, with a massive central tower, a chancel, and a general elegance of structure not unworthy to rank among the very best of modern Nonconformist Church edifices. We are all of us familiar with the natural law which leads parents to be far more lavish in expenditure for their children than for themselves. We are consequently not surprised to find that the Church at Allen Street spent twice as much on a building for this child of its own training as it did on the building in which the mother Church still worships. ”

“ God’s hand was in it all, as we can so clearly see to-day; and in process of the years the great ideal of a Christian Brotherhood—an ideal which is not new, but old—has laid hold of the thought and imagination of the people. Dr. Edwin Hatch, the most original ecclesiastical historian of this generation, said in memorable words, “the unaccomplished mission of the Christian Church is to reconstruct society on the basis of brotherhood.” Towards that reconstruction every Christian community that tries to realise its brotherhood in Christ contributes something. ”

“ Those who best know the character of modern Kensington are best able to appreciate the difficulty there is of gathering a strong evening congregation. With his previous successful experience at Exeter so fresh in his memory, it is no wonder that Mr. Symes felt, even more acutely than many do who are called to minister in the West of London, this grave discouragement to the preacher. ”

“ The membership of the Church stood still. Mr. Clayton said that he found his sentiments on many subjects, but especially that of the Lord’s Supper, opposed to those of many of the members. He was not himself a man who would be easily carried away with a rush of enthusiasm, and hence he did not carry away others. God was, even then, preparing just such a man to break down the unspirituality of the congregation, and to build up a higher form of Christian society in Kensington; and this man was still at college when John Clayton’s resignation was accepted in December, 1804. ”

“ It was noticed that, while the freshness and simplicity of his preaching, aided by a genial personality, drew simple natures, and especially the young, around him, the confidence of the elders was gained by the unexpected depth and maturity of his sermons; and then it was that the suppressed thought of many at length found simultaneous utterance, and the question was asked whether this was not the kind of minister most suited to the wants of the Kensington congregation. ”

“ Vaughan’s ministry are singularly imperfect, and it is only quite incidentally that we get some impression of the steadily increasing prosperity of the cause. For eighteen years Dr. Vaughan continued his ministry, and there is not a single evidence of a moment’s break in the harmony of the Church. When, in 1843, Dr. Vaughan was honoured with an invitation to become Principal of the Lancashire Independent College, the letters of himself and of the Church were such as became those who had lived and worked so long together in the most honourable spirit of Christian fellowship. ”

“ We therefore invite the Serious Christian, The friends and lovers of Gospel Truths, to join with us in this good Undertaking, To promote the Glory of God, The interests of true Religion, and The Eternal Happiness of Ourselves and fellow Christians, Having nothing in View, but to forward the Attainment of These Great Objects, We leave the Briers, and Thorny Fields of disputation and false Philosophy, of factious politicks, and Jarring interests of Ambitious Men, ‘That we may lead quiet and peacable lives in all Godliness and honesty,’ as Commanded 1 Tim. ”

“ Nonconformists have too long thrown the whole burden of the service on p. 140the preacher, and not sufficiently elicited from the congregation the full expression of their feelings in prayer and praise. The new warmth that has come to our services at Allen Street, and the increased heartiness of them, is very largely due to the introduction of certain simple and comprehensive forms of worship and prayer, in which we can all unite with heart and soul. ”

“ This is not the time to speak at large of a pastorate so recently begun, but it is not too soon to say that the hopes on which the Kensington Church acted five years ago have been justified by experience. Congregations were never larger; the young are being gathered and organised in guilds as well for instruction and work as for social purposes; the young members of the Church meet regularly for spiritual edification. ”

“ It is a true test of the soundness of a minister’s work when the congregation does not break up, nor even suffer loss at his withdrawal, but, in the spirit of faith and prayer and counsel, addresses itself to the delicate work of seeking a successor. A congregation, that for thirty-two years had enjoyed the ministry of so able a man as Dr. Stoughton, might have almost p. 106been forgiven, had it manifested some indecision when his guidance was withdrawn. But a true Independent Church is trained to habits of self-government ”

“ Raleigh’s inspiring ministry, filled the large chapel in every part. And, with this growth in the congregation, it must have been very encouraging, to all who were interested, to mark the growth in the Church. At one time forty-three members are recorded as having joined the Church, at another time thirty, at another twenty-five, and so on. Many who were of Scotch extraction found their patriotism too strong even for denominational preferences, and came great distances to hear “Raleigh” at Kensington. ”

“ Churches that have such an inheritance as ours lose, no doubt, much of the stimulus which those p. 16enjoy that have great traditions of heroism and fidelity through stern seasons of suffering for conscience’ sake. In the absence of such stirring pages from our history, we may well be thankful that so much remains which we may regard with especial gratitude to God, in the consistently true and honourable service rendered to the cause of Christ through four generations by the ministers and members of our Church. ”

“ There must be a new and larger edifice built. The spirit of the people, so far from being daunted by the prospect of a large expenditure, and all the infinite cares of chapel building, rose to meet the opportunity. The site at Allen Street was secured, and in June, 1854, Dr. Stoughton laid the first stone of Kensington Chapel. In May, 1855, the building was opened, and in January, 1860, it was paid for, the total cost of land and building being £8748 9s. ”

“ But we live in happier days, when our joy is to dwell rather on our substantial unity than on points of different interpretation. Mr. White has won the recognition of the whole Catholic Church as a stalwart standard-bearer in the “good fight of faith”; and great was the satisfaction at Kensington, when one who was just p. 137retiring from an arduous and remarkable ministry at Kentish Town was willing to give himself to the superintendence of the work at Kensington, until the minister-elect had completed his college training. ”

“ The plain and severe character of the interior p. 95probably represented, even then, the average Nonconformist taste in regard to chapel architecture. Æsthetically considered, it is no doubt indefensible. The windows are undeniably ugly; the pulpit—designed as a firm remonstrance against locomotion on the part of its occupant—is painfully stiff and square; and the general aspect of the building is somewhat dull and prosaic. But, as a suitable and convenient place for Nonconformist worship, there is very much to be said for this form of building. ”

“ Perhaps the truest test of a Church is in the men and women it makes and influences. Kensington Chapel has been associated with many eminent and brilliant names. Lawyers such as Mr. Justice Talfourd, statesmen p. 157such as Mr. Henry Richard, physicians such as Sir Risdon Bennett, authors such as Dr. Samuel Smiles and Robert Alfred Vaughan, as well as Royal Academicians and influential writers for the public press, have united here in common worship. ”

“ He maintained admirably the traditions of the Clayton family. His father, the Rev. John Clayton, was a well-known divine, of the most approved style of pulpit manners. We read with a kind of awe of his “thickly-powdered head” and his general magnificence of demeanour. Both his sons, George and John, inherited their father’s ideal. We have heard it said that the Kensington congregation has never assembled punctually on Sunday morning since John Clayton’s day. It was part of the service to watch the procession of their minister from the vestry to the pulpit. ”

“ Shortly after noon on Monday, April 19th, 1880, he passed away; and, for the first time in its history, Death had sealed the ministry of a pastor of the Kensington Church while he was still in its service. There is a holy discipline for a Church in such a deep common sorrow, such as not the most eloquent p. 113preaching can convey. The “still” voice speaks louder even than the strong full voice of life. It is good sometimes for the soul of a people to be humbled by a great grief. At no past time had an experience so searching as this come to the Church at Kensington. ”

“ The story of Kensington Chapel for the hundred years of its history has been that of a succession of able and devoted ministers, supported by a Church of consecrated men and women, who have not unworthily represented the best traditions of the Nonconformity of the last century. Neither has the atmosphere of the Court suburb injuriously affected the definite and resolute Dissenting attitude of the community. p. 17The first document issued by the founders of the Church contained an explicit avowal that they were “Dissenters from the established mode of worship in this country” ”

“ The more nearly a Church of Christ attains the standard of the Master, the less it depends on any mere human instrumentality for its success. It is not the person of the preacher, but the Person of the Christ and the love of His work, that forms the sacred tie p. 120between the members. This it is that prevents the work of God from suffering, and gives permanence to His cause. It was truly with a sad heart that the Church assembled at this time to consult about a successor to Dr. Raleigh ”

“ We Profess Our Religious Opinions to be, According to the Rites and forms of Worship, as well as of the Doctrines, and Discipline Agreed Upon in the Confession of Faith, by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, (So far as the Circumstances of our Situation will p. 24admit of,) we wish to follow Their Soundness of Faith, Purity and Simplicity of Worship, As far as we judge them founded on the Word of God, and Agreable to the Standard of Truth, Contained in the Holy Scriptures ”

“ Our critics are not slow to remind us that the gravest defect of the Congregational system lies in the fact that, during the period when a church is without a minister, a system of competition among rival candidates is pursued, which is humiliating to the self-respect of those who preach, and calculated to provoke division and contention among those who sit in judgment. This evil is, we believe, being resolutely redressed in most of our Churches to-day, and the Kensington Church has never suffered from it at any p. ”

“ We like to recall the fields and woods through which the first seat-holders of p. 19Hornton Street Chapel walked to worship on the Sunday, even though the thought suggests melancholy reflections on our own loss in this respect. We are more content to have a century of time between ourselves and the footpads who infested the road that led to London. It appears that in 1820, when Mr. Faulkner was completing his history, a new church had been erected in Marylebone ”

“ Something like one hundred p. 93seat-holders left Hornton Street for Horbury; but the two congregations remained one in heart, as they were one in tradition. Under the long and able ministry of the Rev. William Roberts, the Horbury Church has been a great power for good in that neighbourhood. We reproduce a photograph of the chapel, which stands on an admirable site, and presents a very good appearance.
On purely economical principles the mother Church should now be seriously weakened by the voluntary surrender of so many members, and so much earnest Christian capacity. ”

“ Faulkner, whose history of old Kensington is full of interesting information, is a good Church and State man, and quite above suspicion as to the orthodoxy of his opinions; but he bears testimony to the Independents that we are “a sect, the most respectable, and usually considered the most enlightened among Protestant Dissenters.” Probably this was not committing himself to much in Mr. Faulkner’s opinion: and possibly some may be found who think that our p. 18special temptation has lain in the direction of our respectability ”