Memorials of the Independent Churches in Northamptonshire Part 23

The Independent congregation in these places owes its origin, there is reason to conclude, to the labours of ministers ejected by the Act of Uniformity. Mr. Worth, who had been vicar of Kilsby, and Mr. Stephen Fowler, who had been rector of Crick, were useful here, after their ejectment. Concerning the former, Palmer states "that he preached for a while, as a Nonconformist, at Daventry and Chipping Norton"; on other authority it is stated that "he also continued to labour at Kilsby." Of the latter we are informed, that "after leaving the Church at Crick, he came to reside at Kilsby; and that, after attending the services of the Church in the day, he repeated a sermon in his own house, in the evening of the Sabbath, to such as chose to attend." The labours of these two devoted ministers of Christ were rendered useful to several families in the village, so that they became attached to the preaching of the Gospel and to the mode of conducting religious wors.h.i.+p as it was practised among the Nonconformists.

Of Mr. Worth it is stated that "he had three sons, ministers among the Dissenters"; of Mr. Fowler, that "his rectory at Crick was very valuable, but it proved no temptation to him to conform against his conscience." He was a very popular preacher, and indefatigable in his labours. He died through an excess of hard study and too frequent preaching, as he went to Newbury upon the removal of Mr. John Woodbridge, who was ejected there. We are informed that "he was eminent for the holiness of his life, his zeal and constancy in his work at all times, his great moderation, and many other excellent qualities."

There was also a Mr. Richard Thorpe, ejected from Barby, a village about a mile from Kilsby. Such was his high attainment in the exercise of prayer, that none of the ministers in those parts were thought to excel him. The youth of the village stood in great awe of him, so as to be kept from profaning the Sabbath, as had been too common there. He was so much taken up with spiritual things, that he left all his worldly concerns to the care of a faithful servant. After his ejectment, he preached in his own house on Thursdays without molestation.

The separation of these eminent men from the Established Church, and their labours in this vicinity, were the means of bringing some to be decided Nonconformists; but their number for many years was too small to const.i.tute a separate Church, for the support of a pastor, so that they travelled on the Sabbath to attend the Dissenting ministry at Long Buckby and Daventry, and invited the ministers of these places to preach a week-day lecture at Kilsby, in a house licensed for this purpose.

Their numbers gradually increased; the room became too small for them; they purchased another house, and fitted it up as a place to be appropriated to religious wors.h.i.+p. This was in the year 1738. When this was done, the ministers of Daventry and Buckby engaged to preach to them alternately on the Sabbath morning. The number of hearers still increased, so that early in the year 1750 they built a gallery for the further accommodation of the people.

At this time they had attained to such a degree of strength as to indulge the thought of having a stated pastor over them. In the latter part of this year, with the hearty concurrence of the ministers by whom the lecture had been preached, they invited Mr. Thomas Strange to minister amongst them, with a view to a settlement. After a suitable trial, the following invitation to the pastoral office was presented to him:--

_Kilsby, June 1st, 1752._

DEAR AND REVEREND SIR,--We, a Church of Protestant Dissenters in and near this place, have through a remarkable kind providence enjoyed the benefit of your labours for upwards of twelve months to our entire satisfaction, and we hope, through the blessing of G.o.d, to our advantage. And, sir, as your religious sentiments, piety, zeal, and ministerial ability afford an encouraging prospect of your usefulness, it appears to us very desirable that you would now, sir, enter into the relation of a pastor to us, in which request you may depend upon our unanimity, and our endeavour to make your situation comfortable and useful, by our constant prayers and all other means proper to us as private Christians, who are, sir, your cordial friends and most humble servants. (Signed by thirty-two names.)

This invitation Mr. Strange accepted; and though the numbers, the place of wors.h.i.+p, and the accommodations he found were unusually defective, yet he went with the n.o.ble resolution of exerting all his powers for the increase and improvement of his humble charge; and his exertions were uncommonly great, prudent, and successful.

Mr. Strange was born at Evenley, in the county of Northampton. When he was about six years of age his father was removed by death; but the father had discerned in his son, at that early age, such a thoughtful spirit as led him to express a wish that he might in after life become a Christian minister. As he grew up, to obtain good books was his greatest aim; and when he had obtained a new one, he would scarcely allow himself time for his meals. He would conduct family wors.h.i.+p at sixteen years of age, with great seriousness and propriety. On the family removing to Shelston, near Buckingham, he formed an intimate acquaintance with Mr.

Boughton, afterwards a fellow student with him, and subsequently minister at Buckingham. These two friends, in the ardour of their youthful zeal, walked ten miles on the Lord's-day to hear Mr. Haywood, of Potterspury, and became members of his Church. Mr. Strange felt a great desire to be devoted to the work of the ministry, but could see no prospect of attaining that desire. But his mother mentioned the subject to Mr. Hayward; he introduced it to Dr. Doddridge, who, with his usual generosity and zeal, kindly engaged to procure for such a youth all necessary supplies during his academical course. He entered the academy at Northampton in 1745, and continued there for six years, and then entered on his ministry at Kilsby, where he pursued his labours as a Christian pastor till near the end of his days.

The following is a copy of Mr. Strange's certificate of ordination:--

_Kilsby, September 11th, 1753._

These are to certify whom it may concern, that we whose names are hereunto subscribed, pastors of Churches, having received satisfaction concerning the Rev. Mr. Thomas Strange, as to the regularity of his education, the soundness of his judgment, the seriousness of his temper, and his other qualifications for public service in the ministry, have this day proceeded to set him apart to that work by prayer and imposition of hands, and cordially unite in recommending him to any Church who may need his a.s.sistance.

R. GILBERT.

JAMES FLOYD, Daventry.

JOHN DOWLEY, Lutterworth.

GEORGE HAMPTON, Banbury.

JOHN HEYWOOD, Potterspury.

SAMUEL KING, Welford.

CALEB ASHWORTH, Daventry.

An unhappy peculiarity in the elocution and gesture of Mr. Strange in the pulpit prevented the popularity to which his other excellencies ent.i.tled him; but these defects became so annihilated to his stated hearers by n.o.bler impressions, that they were surprised when strangers were disgusted by them. He generally preached twice at Kilsby and once at Crick on the Lord's-day, and conducted a fourth service either at Barby or Hillmorton, having also to walk about eight miles. The congregations increased under him, so that in two years after his settlement they were obliged to erect two new galleries in the house at Kilsby. In the year 1763 they found it necessary to build a new place of wors.h.i.+p. Towards this object they subscribed liberally, for their circ.u.mstances, raising amongst themselves 170; and by means of an appeal to other congregations, their plan of building a place at a cost of 400 was accomplished. A plain, commodious, and substantial Meeting House was erected. A few years after, finding the private room in which the meetings at Crick were held very strait and inconvenient, out of an estate settled by Mr. Henfrey on the Dissenting Society Mr. Strange erected a small but decent place of wors.h.i.+p there, and about the same time purchased a cottage at Hillmorton, and fitted it up for the same purpose.

The people purchased the premises adjoining the Chapel for a dwelling-house for their minister, which, by Mr. Strange's skill and industry, were greatly improved. He was one of the most useful and one of the most n.o.ble-hearted of village pastors; he catechised the young people of his charge, he visited the afflicted and tried, he kept a Day-school for the benefit of the rising generation, the profits of which he devoted to pious and charitable purposes. As his own family grew up, he admitted six boarders to his house, at twelve guineas per annum and one guinea entrance. Frugality, neatness, and hospitality, were never more perfectly united than in his dwelling. A salary of 40, with the interest of 300, and some occasional benefactions, would hardly admit of a hired servant; Mrs. Strange, therefore, and her daughters, managed the whole business of the family (was.h.i.+ng and brewing not excepted), with admirable ease and regularity. Whoever entered, or at whatever hour, no deshabille, either in the house or inhabitants, no confusion or bustle, was perceived, nor any want of decent accommodation or cordial welcome. No time, no money was wasted; and by this means, little as they possessed of either, they always had some of each to spare at the call of indigence, friends.h.i.+p, or civility. No worthy supplicant or proper visitor left the house complaining; yea, the most concealed wants or distresses of their neighbours seldom escaped the kind vigilance of its inhabitants, or were suffered to remain without some endeavour to alleviate them. Yet, with all this kindness, Mr.

Strange found every year a surplus to add to the little stock reserved for his family. He has often been heard to say, "that though when single he could scarcely make both ends meet, since his marriage he had been able to save a few s.h.i.+llings." A higher compliment to Mrs. Strange he could not easily have paid. Indeed, that management must have been truly astonis.h.i.+ng, which out of his income, and with his liberality, could lay by, in no long course of years, several hundred pounds for his widow and his four children. The authors of the 'History of Dissenters' say, "let it not be supposed that this was the fruit of n.i.g.g.ardly penury; the man was liberal, and had the spirit of a prince."

He took time by the forelock. On a Monday, though his Sabbath was a laborious day in travelling and preaching, it was his custom to rise an hour or two before the family, to draw out the schemes of his intended discourses on the ensuing Sabbath, as a directory to his thoughts, reading, and conversation through the week.

When he was getting near to his sixtieth year, his strength greatly declined, and he felt that his end was drawing nigh. In his last affliction he said to some of his brethren who accidentally met at his house, "I have always valued and preached the doctrine of grace, but nothing gives me so much concern, on a review of my ministry, as that I have no more insisted upon and pressed the fruits of grace." When all united in their testimony to the practical strain of his preaching, he added, "as death and eternity draw nigh, I see more than ever I did before the infinite importance of these fruits, and the comparative insignificance of all opinions without them." As to the person of Christ, he desired his flock might be a.s.sured that "he died in a firm belief that Jesus Christ was the true and proper Son of G.o.d, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the G.o.dhead bodily; a doctrine," he added, "which I firmly believe, but do not attempt to explain." "I wish to die," he said on another occasion, "a broken-hearted sinner, renouncing everything of my own, and depending entirely for future happiness on the free grace of G.o.d, through the atonement and righteousness of Christ."

His last words to his surrounding friends were, "Farewell, till the day of the Lord Jesus. The Lord have mercy, spiritual and eternal mercy, on every one of you, upon this congregation, and upon the whole Israel of G.o.d. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath a right to take away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" He died September 1st, 1784, aged sixty years.

Thus lived and died the first pastor of the Independent Church at Kilsby.

Concerning his death, the historians before referred to, say--"the tears and groans of his flock attested the greatness of their loss: it would be, indeed, a less difficult task to find a suitable successor to the see of Canterbury, than to the village of Kilsby." Subsequent events indicate that there is considerable truth in this statement; for though sixty-eight years have pa.s.sed since the death of Mr. Strange, and Kilsby has had in that period pastors of varied excellence and usefulness, not one has yet been found to live, and labour, and die amongst them after the manner of the first pastor.

The n.o.ble-spirited village pastor's wife is worthy of a short record, as we find the following notice of her death, written by the Rev. H.

Knight, of Yelvertoft:--

December 12th, 1819, died at Yelvertoft, in the county of Northampton, aged 84, Dorothy, the widow of the late Rev. Thomas Strange, many years Protestant Dissenting minister at Kilsby. She was "an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile." To the last she manifested an ardent attachment to the Redeemer, and a great delight in the ordinances of religion. As her course was holy, so it pleased G.o.d that her end should be peaceful. Under the most severe affliction, which terminated her life, she was supported by those words--"The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?

the Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?"

from which Mr. Knight preached her funeral sermon. Knowing in whom she believed, and longing to depart that she might be with Christ, she sweetly breathed her spirit into his hands. Her truly amiable spirit, unaffected piety, exemplary conduct, and Christian benevolence, endeared her to all who knew her. "The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance."

The records of this Church have not been to any extent preserved, so that the numbers that entered into communion during the ministry of Mr.

Strange cannot be ascertained; and the names of the subsequent pastors, with the date of their ministry, const.i.tute nearly all that can be now presented.

Mr. Jacob Harwood was ordained here in 1786. He removed to the neighbourhood of Leeds. Mr. H. Gritten was pastor in 1790. Mr. Thomas Gardiner was the next minister, and he left in 1794. Mr. Morrell came in November of that year, and left at Midsummer, 1799. Mr. Thomas Spencer came at Michaelmas in that year, and left in 1805. Mr. Thomas Jones almost immediately succeeded, and removed in 1811. Mr. Morgan followed Mr. Jones, and continued until 1824. Two or three ministers occupied the pulpit successively until 1827. On the 28th of June in that year Mr.

Thomas Porter was ordained. Mr. Porter was from the academy at Hackney: at his ordination, Mr. Pinkerton, of Weedon, prayed and read the Scriptures; Mr. Griffiths, of Buckby, delivered the introductory discourse; Mr. Hobson, of Welford, offered the ordination prayer; Mr.

Collison, Mr. Porter's tutor, delivered the charge; Mr. Scott, of Rowell, preached to the people.

Mr. Porter resigned his charge at Kilsby, Nov. 10th, 1839, and removed to G.o.dalming, in Surrey.

Mr. James Rees Jones accepted the pastoral charge, and was ordained June 18th, 1840. He removed to Bolton, in Lancas.h.i.+re, in 1851.

CRICK.

The connexion between the congregations at Kilsby and Crick continued until the removal of Mr. Morgan, in the year 1824, when fifteen members resident in Crick separated themselves from the Church at Kilsby; and early in 1825 Mr. Bicknell, formerly of Welford, became their pastor.

During his ministry, which continued for fourteen years, twenty-three members were added to the Church. He resigned, in consequence of age and infirmity, in 1838.

Mr. Cuzens, the next pastor, commenced his ministry in July of the same year, and left in October, 1841. He admitted eight members to the Church.

Mr. Hall, who succeeded Mr. Cuzens, came in January, 1842, and resigned in September, 1850, removing to Rugeley, in Staffords.h.i.+re. Twenty-eight members were admitted during the ministry of Mr. Hall.

Mr. Thomas Islip, late of Stamford, ministered here from May, 1851, to January, 1852; since that time, supplies have been obtained. The present number of members is 37. There are 35 children in the Sabbath-school.

CHAPTER XVI.

MEMORIALS OF THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH AT BRIGSTOCK.

In the village of Brigstock, which contains upwards of 1200 inhabitants, an Independent Church was formed about seventy-four years ago. There was a small band of decided Christians, attached to the principles of Nonconformity, who in the year 1778 united together in the faith of the Gospel, to sustain a Christian ministry and to have the ordinances of Christ administered unto them. This took place with the encouragement and advice of some ministers of Christ in their vicinity, who had occasionally preached unto them, and knew the circ.u.mstances in which they were placed; but there are some interesting memorials preserved of events which preceded, and which manifestly prepared the way, under the blessing of the great Head of the Church, for the formation of a regular Christian society in this place.

It is stated on satisfactory evidence, that during the time of the Plague in London, a G.o.dly tradesman of the name of Leigh retired to this village; and it appears that the piety of this Christian and his family, with the attention they paid to the means of grace among the Nonconformists of the neighbourhood, at Kettering, or at Rowell, with whom they for many years became identified, was gradually the means of awakening the attention of others to the subject of true religion and to the cause of Nonconformity. This presents us with a pleasing example of the useful influence that may be exerted by a Christian household, in exciting attention to the means of grace and the principles of the Gospel in a benighted neighbourhood. As their numbers increased, they attended at different places around them, as it might suit their convenience or their taste, those places being from eight to thirteen miles distant; some of them becoming decided Christians, they united in Christian fellows.h.i.+p with those Churches where they generally attended.

Thus things continued until the days of Doddridge's ministry, when some stated services were commenced at Brigstock, of which the following account has been preserved:--

Many in this place, several years ago, were very desirous of having the Gospel preached amongst them, as they are six miles from Oundle, eight from Kettering, nine from Rowell, and ten from Wellingborough,[6] and have bad roads all around us; consequently old people, and such as have large families, could seldom hear the word, these being the nearest places in which it was preached.

Therefore they made their case known to the Rev. Mr. Doddridge, and by his means obtained an exhibition from the Independent Fund for the support of a monthly week-day lecture, which was preached for some time by the following ministers, viz.: Messrs. Doddridge, Saunders, Boyce, Hextal, Haywood, and Grant. A blessing attended the word; our numbers greatly increased; many joyfully received the Gospel, and became very desirous of hearing it, if possible, on a Lord's-day. They entered into a subscription for a lecture once a month on Lord's-day, which was the means of enlarging our interest still more. We continued in this state many years, till, having many that we hoped had received the grace of G.o.d, we began to think of embodying into a Church, and had it recommended to us by the ministers that used to attend our lecture, especially the Rev. Mr.

Addington, who, being providentially cast amongst us for the first time about the year 1774, talked with us particularly upon this subject. What he said appeared to rest on many minds, and convinced us that it was our duty to attend on all the ordinances of Christ: we therefore sought direction and a.s.sistance from G.o.d in prayer; and after watching for some time the openings of providence, Mr.

Hillyard, a member of the Church at Wellingborough, under the pastoral care of Mr. Carver, was recommended as a proper person to be our minister. We took opportunities of hearing him often; and it being always to our satisfaction, we applied to him to come amongst us. We first invited him for a quarter of a year, and when that was expired, for a year, fully approving his gifts and his general views of Christian doctrine and discipline. Thereupon, being desirous to honour Christ, as King and Head of the Church, and to testify our allegiance to him; in hope likewise of the fulfilment of his promise, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them," we desire to give up ourselves and ours to the Lord, to be ruled by his laws and to attend all his ordinances, agreeable to our confession of faith and Church covenant. And after having given ourselves to the Lord, we also give ourselves to one another, by a declaration of G.o.d's dealings with us, in a meeting appointed for that purpose, and the mutual giving and receiving the right hand of fellows.h.i.+p.

Witness our hands, the 4th of March, 1778. (Here follow the names of ten brethren.)