THE Scotch Presbyterian Chapel stands at the corner of the Foxley-road
and Allen-street, and is a fair specimen of geometric gothic. Of course
it requires the tower to be finished to make it the good architectural
object that it should be in the long perspective of Allen-street; yet it
is even now fairly prominent, and is substantially built of Kentish rag
with Bath stone dressings, and roofed with slate. The principal entrance
is on the north side, over which is a large and rather noticeable window,
and the rose window in the west gable, too, seems to invite the visitor
to an inspection of the interior. Passing through a very plain corridor
or vestibule, the body of the chapel is immediately entered to the right
and left hand. A feeling of disappointment it is impossible to repress
ensues. The interior in no way accords with the idea conveyed by the
outside inspection. It is roofed in one span, and heavily ceiled and
panelled, producing a sense of depression. The walls are simply bare
plaster, the pulpit very large and heavy, the pewing poor and plain. A
northern gallery, evidently intended for an organ, is organless, and not
much improved by large curtains. The Presbyterian movement in Kensington
began in 1861, under the present pastor, the Rev. Gavin Carlyle, in a
hall in Holland-street. After about a year’s labour in this place some
forty or fifty members had collected, and it was then resolved to build a
church. A site was first sought in Campden-hill, but was not to be found
there. Ultimately the present site was scoured, the building commenced
in July 1862, finished in May 1863, and opened on the 24th of that month,
and the Rev. Mr. Carlyle, was formally ordained to the charge on June 2nd
following. Since then the progress has been steady; and the membership
has increased to between one and two hundred. The church is connected
with the English Presbyterian Church, and the late Dr. Hamilton, of the
latter, took great interest in it, and did much to originate it. It will
contain 500 persons, and cost to build 5,280_l._; by the addition of
galleries, it would be capable of accommodating 700 or 800. There is no
endowment, and the minister is dependent upon pew-rents and voluntary
offerings. A Dorcas Society is kept up by a few ladies; and collections
are made annually for foreign missions and other objects. The Duke of
Argyll is a seatholder and frequent communicant; and other persons of
general and literary distinction. At a meeting a few weeks since, at
which the Duke of Argyll presided, several Indian and other notabilities
were present, including Dr. Macleod, Sir Bartle Frere, Sir Wm. Hill, &c.,
who had assembled to hear a lecture on India, by Dr. Wilson, of Bombay.
The Rev. Gavin Carlyle is an M.A. of the Edinburgh University, and
studied theology in the Free Church College, Edinburgh, followed by a
year’s study in Germany. He is a nephew of the famous Edward Irving; and
editor of his uncle’s “Collected Writings,” published by Strahan and Co.
He is also editor of the _Weekly Review_, the weekly organ of
Presbyterianism in England; also of _Christian Work_, a monthly journal
of religious and missionary intelligence. Mr. Carlyle’s congregation is
at present a small one compared with many; but on the occasion of our
visit his sermon was certainly such as to justify a larger attendance.
It was the first of a series of discourses on the Ten Commandments, and
founded on the first “I am the Lord thy God,” &c. The distinct existence
and all-pervading presence and control of the Almighty was the subject.
It was well and clearly treated, in a manner to meet the principal
intellectual quibbles or difficulties of the times; and the preacher
proved to the satisfaction of every thoughtful mind—to use his own
words—that “all reason speaks to us of God; and that it is nothing but
unreason and mystical cloudiness that attributes the effects of Nature to
any other cause or operation,” and that science when rightly conceived is
“the handmaid of religion.”