MEMORIALS OF THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH AT KILSBY AND CRICK.
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 worship 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
constitute 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 worship. 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 God, 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 worship, and the accommodations he found were unusually defective,
yet he went with the noble 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 worship 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 assistance.
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
entitled him; but these defects became so annihilated to his stated
hearers by nobler 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
worship. Towards this object they subscribed liberally, for their
circumstances, raising amongst themselves L170; and by means of an
appeal to other congregations, their plan of building a place at a cost
of L400 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 worship 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 noble-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 L40,
with the interest of L300, and some occasional benefactions, would
hardly admit of a hired servant; Mrs. Strange, therefore, and her
daughters, managed the whole business of the family (washing 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, friendship, 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 shillings." A higher compliment to Mrs. Strange he
could not easily have paid. Indeed, that management must have been truly
astonishing, 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 niggardly 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 assured that "he died in a firm
belief that Jesus Christ was the true and proper Son of God, in whom
dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead 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 God, 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
God. 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 passed 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 noble-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 God 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, constitute 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 Godalming, in Surrey.
Mr. James Rees Jones accepted the pastoral charge, and was ordained June
18th, 1840. He removed to Bolton, in Lancashire, 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 Staffordshire. 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.