Meeting-house rebuilt—Daniel Delf—Formation of the Beccles District
Missionary Society—Bible meetings—Association Sermon—Meetings of
ministers—Samuel Archer—Illness of Mr. Sloper—Attacked with
paralysis—Letter to the Treasurer of the Suffolk Missionary
Society—Second attack—Rev. John Flower—Mr. Sloper resigns—His
character—Ordination of Mr. Flower—Death of Mr. Sloper—Tablet to his
memory—William Crisp—Enlargement of the chapel—Conclusion.
THE dilapidated state of the meeting-house, as well as its inadequacy to
the accommodation of increasing numbers, gave rise, in the year 1809, to
the design of erecting a more substantial and commodious place of
worship. This was accomplished in 1812, at an expense, including the
purchase of a small piece of ground, of £2140 18_s._ 4_d._ Besides a
regular periodical subscription, repeated efforts were made, by those who
felt an interest in the work, to liquidate this debt. It was not,
however, till 1829, that there appeared a balance in hand. To a society
who, as a body, could not boast of opulence, this was naturally a subject
of much pleasure. The pecuniary and personal aid of their benevolent
minister, had been rendered with cheerfulness and alacrity; and he
heartily sympathized with them in the final accomplishment of their
design. It was a fit occasion for the exercise of the best social
feelings. Mutual congratulations were blended with ardent thankfulness
to God; and the account of the various donations and subscriptions were
closed with the following memorandum.
“Be it remembered with gratitude to the Giver of all good, that the
debt of £2140 18_s._ 4_d._, contracted in the erection of the chapel,
in the year of our Lord 1812, after sixteen years’ persevering
exertion, was this year entirely discharged; in commemoration of
which, forty-four of the subscribers dined together at the King’s
Head Inn, and in evidence of which the minister and deacons have
hereto subscribed their names, this 16th day of February, 1829.
ISAAC SLOPER, Pastor.
WILLIAM CRISP,
JOHN CRISP,
SAMUEL TOVELL,
JOHN MAYHEW,
Deacons.”
In the margin of the entry a reference is made to a passage of Scripture,
which indicates the character of the joy and the proper object of the
thankfulness thus manifested. 1 Chron. xxix. 16, “O Lord, our God, all
this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy
name, cometh of thy hand, and is all thine own.”
* * * * *
While the new chapel was building, this christian society was deprived by
death of a member whose character and usefulness, as a man and as a
Christian, are entitled to be recorded here—_Mr. Daniel Delf_. He was
favoured in early life with the religious training of a pious mother, and
the public ministry of Mr. Bocking. Settling at Beccles, he soon became
a member of Mr. Heptinstall’s church; and in 1792, on account of his
excellent spirit and character, he was chosen a deacon. In that office
he exerted himself continually to promote the peace and prosperity of the
church, and to strengthen the hands of his minister. Every member found
in him an example to stimulate, a friend to advise, and an advocate
before the throne of God. While his particular attention was devoted to
the “household of faith,” he habitually laboured to do good unto all men,
and was ever ready to alleviate suffering humanity at the expense of
self-denial. Hence he was admired and respected by all who knew him.
Some who despised his piety, perceived the benefits of it; and while they
could ridicule the saint, revered the man. Such an individual his
friends could have wished to retain for ever; but in the spring of 1812,
repeated invasions of disease warned them of the loss they were soon to
sustain. He went to Lowestoft, to try a change of air and scene; but
returned after a few weeks. Passing slowly near the building he had been
zealous to raise for God, he directed his eye towards the work, and burst
into tears. He wept when he thought of the place of worship he should
never enter, and of the society he was about to leave: but he soon
resumed his fortitude, for he was in a few days to enter the glorious
temple of God, that “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
The chamber of this dying saint exhibited a scene fraught with
instruction. Surrounded by relatives and friends in unutterable anguish,
_he_ was serene, possessing “the peace of God which passeth
understanding.” “Remember,” said he to his sorrowing partner in life, “I
shall not take _the promises_ with me.” His medical attendant coming in
shortly before he expired, he said, “If you can give me any thing whereby
I may glorify God more, do it.” But nature was exhausted, and he fell
asleep in death.
A numerous congregation attentively heard his funeral sermon, from Psal.
xii. 1, “Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail
from among the children of men.” {225}
His memory, is still cherished by all classes of his neighbours with a
vividness and a regard, which speak the justice of the inscription
compiled by his beloved pastor and placed upon his grave.
BENEATH THIS STONE
LIE THE MORTAL REMAINS OF
DANIEL DELF,
WHO AFTER SUSTAINING IN AN
EXEMPLARY MANNER THE CHARACTERS
OF HUSBAND, PARENT, FRIEND, AND
DEACON OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH,
WITH UNSHAKEN CONFIDENCE IN THE
REDEEMER, PASSED THROUGH THE VALLEY
OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, TO HIS
EVERLASTING REST,
JUNE 7TH, 1812,
IN THE 55TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises. Heb. vi. 12.
Mr. Sloper had the happiness in 1814, to witness the formation of the
Beccles District Society in aid of Missions, which was soon extended to
the whole county of Suffolk. In September of that year, a meeting of the
neighbouring ministers was held at his house, in consequence of some
previous conversation on the subject with two of his brethren in a
friendly visit. His whole soul entered into the cause of missions; and
when the county society was formed, every eye was directed towards him as
the proper person to act as its secretary, an office which he filled with
great wisdom and unabated zeal, till his last and long-continued
affliction compelled him to relinquish all active service. The days of
the missionary meetings were among the most happy of his life; and never
was he absent, except when sickness compelled that absence.
About this time, also, he began to take a very active part in all the
meetings of the Bible Society within twelve or fourteen miles of his
residence. His great love to the holy Scriptures, and consequently to
all the means of disseminating them, rendered him a willing helper.
Probably no individual in the county of Suffolk attended more of the
meetings of the Society. And though at those meetings he always took a
leading part, yet none could accuse him of a forwardness disgraceful to
him that manifests it, and injurious to the cause which he professes to
serve.
Indeed, the excellent pastor of the Congregational church at Beccles, was
so highly and so universally respected and beloved by his brethren in the
ministry, and by the members of neighbouring churches, that there were
few occasions of interest to them on which his presence and assistance
were not sought. They felt that in him they could present to the most
numerous and mixed assemblies, a picture of the judicious, faithful,
practical christian minister, which the heavenly-minded would admire, and
which the profane would find it impossible to despise. He was the
counterpart of Cowper’s “pastor,”
“Simple, grave, sincere;
In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain,
And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste,
And natural in gesture; much impress’d
Himself, as conscious of his awful charge,
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds
May feel it too: affectionate in look,
And tender in address, as well became
A messenger of grace to guilty men.”
It would be difficult, and is unnecessary, to enumerate all the instances
in which Mr. Sloper was engaged at ordinations, at the opening of places
of worship, and in the service of societies formed for promoting the
interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom.
On the 23rd April, 1816, he delivered at Needham Market, before the
half-yearly association of the Suffolk Independent churches, a discourse,
which he published at their request, and which speedily went into a
second edition. It is founded on 1 Thess. ii. 19, 20, “For what is our
hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye, in the presence of
our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.”
This sermon affords a specimen of that sober evenness of style, supported
by solidity of sentiment, and adorned by dignified yet affectionate
earnestness, which characterized Mr. Sloper’s pulpit exercises. He
points out in what respects christian churches are the glory and joy of
their ministers; and urges a devout regard to the objects of their union.
The following passage, with which he closes his discussion of the former
of these topics, will at once illustrate his manner of preaching, and the
value he attached to the intercessions of his people.
“Christian affection, my brethren, sweetens the intercourse of life;
it is the comfort of the church on earth, and the element of the
church in heaven; and in the exercise of this celestial virtue, you
will promote each other’s welfare, and fill your pastors’ hearts with
gratitude and joy; you will receive their admonitions with meekness,
listen to their instructions with a proper temper, cover their
infirmities and not expose them, and be ready by your words and
actions to strengthen their hands.
“Ministers are greatly encouraged by the pious and constant prayers
of their people. Ah! my friends, we need your prayers: we are frail
creatures, and men of like passions with yourselves. Whatever be our
feelings, we must perform the solemn duties of our office. Our work
is arduous; our responsibility awful; and even an apostle says,
‘Brethren, pray for us;’ and _we_, you may rest assured, cannot
dispense with your supplications, or be happy without them. We are
relieved, in all our labours and afflictions, by the persuasion that
the people of our care are a godly and praying people. How
refreshing is the thought, that while we are studying the Scriptures,
and preparing for the exercises of the sabbath, our christian friends
are imploring the aid of God’s grace and Spirit, to preserve us from
error, and to render us faithful to the solemn trust assigned us!
With what pleasure do we enter the pulpit, when we can believe that
our hearers have been praying for a blessing on our souls, and on the
labours of our ministry! We are animated to proceed in our
exertions, when the hearts of our friends ascend in supplication to
God, that the word of his grace may be applied with power to their
own minds, and be the means of leading others to the Saviour and to
the kingdom of heaven. If you come to the house of God with a
devotional spirit, and bear your ministers and their great work upon
your hearts, it is more than probable that a disposition to cavil and
to censure will be destroyed, and as new-born babes, you will
“receive the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby;”
while, in a sense that rises in importance with the progress of time,
you will be the ‘joy and crown of rejoicing,’ of those who have taken
the oversight among you in the Lord . . .
“If you are true Christians, and firmly hold the sublime and holy
doctrines of the gospel of Christ; if you improve under the ministry
of the word, and bear the fruits of righteousness, to the honour of
divine grace; if the important duties of social religion be
conscientiously and steadily performed; if your desires, prayers, and
efforts are employed for the comfort, encouragement, and success of
your ministers; and if all your conduct as Christians and members of
churches, be directed to the glory of the great Head of the church;
you are indeed most honourable societies; you are a credit to your
profession, the ‘hope’ of your pastors, and will meet them as their
‘joy and crown of rejoicing’ at the resurrection of the just.” {232}
A society of a private nature for friendly intercourse among a few
neighbouring ministers, was formed at Mr. Sloper’s house in 1822. The
occasional interchange of counsel and sympathy thus secured, afforded him
much unmingled satisfaction; and even during his last illness he joined
in one of these meetings, and prayed with great fervency and affection.
In 1824 Mr. Sloper published an account of Samuel Markham Archer, a
little boy who died at Beccles, May 1st, in that year. It is an
interesting narrative, beautifully illustrating the power and value of
religion operating upon the mind of a child. This tract reached a third
edition, and was stereotyped in the following year.
In the spring of 1825, Mr. Sloper was again the subject of severe
affliction, and for several Lord’s days his people were deprived of his
public services. It was his great anxiety that they might continue to be
fed with the bread of life. His brethren in the ministry readily lent
their aid; and on the first sabbath in May he was again permitted to
unite with his flock in sweet communion at the table of the Lord.
For several subsequent years he continued to labour with much acceptance,
and to enjoy the unmingled respect and affection due to a truly upright,
holy, and amiable deportment.
In the autumn of 1832, the awful ravages of the cholera occasioned
special meetings for prayer, in almost all christian societies. At the
suggestion of Mr. Sloper, such a meeting was held at the Independent
chapel, Beccles, on the evening of Wednesday, September 5th. It was
numerously attended. A solemnity equally free from formality and
enthusiasm prevailed in the assembly and characterized the service.
Several leading members of the church prayed appropriately and fervently.
The psalms selected for singing, were suited to the particular occasion,
and were afterwards remembered with a sad impression of their almost
prophetic strain, with reference to the mysterious event which was about
to be disclosed in the providence of God. The faithful and beloved
pastor himself read, from the pulpit he had so long occupied,—
“Death, like an overflowing stream,
Sweeps us away; our life’s a dream,
An empty tale, a morning flower,
Cut down, and wither’d in an hour!”
He delivered an address, pointing out the peculiar propriety of prayer
under the circumstances of that affecting period; and with solemn
supplication and the apostolic benediction closed the service. While the
congregation were withdrawing he was observed in the act of descending
with extreme difficulty from the pulpit. It had pleased the Sovereign
Disposer of all events to afflict him with paralysis, so severely, that
the most painful apprehensions were felt as to the result.
Such an occurrence, under these circumstances, was singularly affecting.
Mr. Sloper had entertained a presentiment that his labours would not be
extended to a much longer period than those of his immediate predecessor.
On the sabbath which completed the twenty-ninth year of his pastorate,
his mind had been much occupied with this apprehension; and though he
knew in whose hands his “times” were, it was not till he had made one
unsuccessful effort that he could so far overcome his feelings as to
commence his public address in the afternoon of that day. It was now
perceived that his fears were about to be realized. But the juncture had
arrived at which a faithful minister might well receive with humble
thankfulness and patient acquiescence, the summons to his great account.
He was “found” in the exercise of watchfulness, and in the very act of
prayer, labouring “out of season” to render the judgments of God
subservient to the best interests of his flock, with his “loins girt
about, and his lamp burning.”
This event excited the deepest interest and sympathy, not only in the
congregation, but throughout the town and neighbourhood. Special
prayer-meetings to implore the divine mercy in the restoration of the
smitten shepherd, and the influence of the Holy Spirit to direct the
church in their critical affairs, were held; and temporary measures were
resorted to for supplying the pulpit.
For about two months the congregation availed itself of the services of
Mr. Russ, who had just then terminated an engagement at Gorleston. From
the middle of November 1832, to the beginning of the subsequent July, the
Rev. Thomas Morell, jun. (nephew of the eminent principal of Coward
College, London,) laboured here.
In the spring of 1833, Mr. Sloper’s indisposition was so far alleviated,
that he was enabled, in the seclusion of his own house, to employ his
mind upon topics and objects still dear to him. He had always been
accustomed, as secretary of the Suffolk Society in aid of Missions, to
prepare its Report. The annual meeting drew near; and he felt his
incapacity for the wonted task. But he wrote, at intervals, a letter to
the treasurer, Mr. Shepherd Bay, which was read at the meeting, and
printed in lieu of the sixteenth Report of the Society. Never had he
furnished a report which was heard with deeper interest.
_Beccles_, _April_ 26, 1833.
“My dear Friend,
The approaching anniversary of the Suffolk Society in aid of
Missions, awakens feelings of no ordinary character in my mind.
Gladly should I, as on many former occasions, meet you in the
performance of official duties, and in the enjoyment of some of the
highest privileges of the Christian, had not the all-wise providence
of God incapacitated me for meeting my brethren and friends, except
at a throne of grace, where, notwithstanding the distance of forty
miles, we can cherish the same feelings of benevolence towards the
perishing heathen, and exercise christian love one towards another .
. . Gratefully I desire to acknowledge the kindness of my dear
brethren and friends, personally shown to me as their secretary
during past years, and especially their kind letters of condolence
and fervent prayers since my affliction, which has made me the Lord’s
prisoner for nearly eight months. I rejoice in their personal and
relative peace and prosperity; and with you, my friend, do I share in
the satisfaction that our county Society exhibits pleasing signs of
christian union and hopeful efficiency, and that the desire of our
hearts, as its sincerely devoted servants, promises to be
increasingly and ultimately accomplished.
“I trust this anniversary will be distinguished by every thing that
increases the dignity of the christian character; that promotes the
cause of social religion at home; that gives a holy impulse to the
soul in seeking the prosperity of our churches, the best interests of
our country, and the extension of the Redeemer’s kingdom throughout
every part of the habitable world. May the great Head of the church
pour out his Holy Spirit on your assembly!—that the young may be
enlisted into the blessed service in which the fathers of many have
been so honourably and happily employed; that christian zeal may be
reanimated; that devotion and liberality may be abundantly increased;
and that the coming year may be rendered the most prosperous and
encouraging of all that have passed away since the formation of the
Society within the venerable walls where you will, on Tuesday, be
assembled.
. . . . . . .
“Continue, my dear friend, to pray for me; and the same request I
would make to all who may meet you in the sanctuary on the delightful
occasion, that the awful dispensation with which I have been visited
may be sanctified to me and to all with whom I am connected: and
should the Father of mercies realize my hopes of ultimate recovery, I
trust the cause of the blessed Saviour will continue to lie near my
heart, and that I shall renew my humble efforts with you to advance,
as God’s honoured instruments, the best interests of the Suffolk
Society in aid of Missions. To be, for years to come, your
fellow-labourer in the service of our Association, will continue to
be one of the chief enjoyments of my pilgrimage; and to die an
undisgraced servant in the cause which the Society was formed to
promote, will contribute to comfort my departing spirit when, from
scenes of duty and means of grace, I shall pass to my final account,
and return no more for my own advantage, or that of my fellow-men
upon earth.
I am, my dear friend,
Yours with sincere affection,
and best wishes,
ISAAC SLOPER.”
About two months after the above letter was written, Mr. Sloper had a
second attack of so serious a description, as to preclude all hope of his
ever again returning even to the partial discharge of his pastoral
duties.
An application was consequently made to the directors of Highbury College
for further supplies, and on September 15th, 1833, MR. JOHN FLOWER, jun.
first officiated at Beccles. He had come down as a supply for a month
only; but that time had not expired before all hearts seemed to be united
in his favour. A special prayer-meeting was held, the afflicted pastor
of the church consulted, his approval decidedly expressed, and on October
13th Mr. Flower was invited to take the oversight of this people. The
church expressed their humble hope that as they had sought divine
direction, the result would be their own growth in holiness, the
conversion of many sinners unto God, and the enlarged manifestation of
the divine glory. Mr. Flower accepted the invitation, proposing, as he
had not completed his studies in the college, the last sabbath in the
following February for the commencement of his pastoral duties.
Meanwhile the public services of the congregation continued to be
conducted by a variety of ministers.
Prior to Mr. Flower’s entering upon his office, Mr. Sloper sent in his
written resignation in the following humble and affectionate terms:
“_Beccles_, _Feb._ 13_th_, 1834.
“My dear friends,
After labouring among you for upwards of thirty years, I am brought
to the painful necessity of resigning my connexion with you as your
minister and pastor. I resign with humility, acknowledging my
unworthiness, and craving the mercy of our Lord Jesus at his second
coming.
“If I have offended any of our friends I ask their forgiveness, and
commend them all to the divine mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto
life eternal. It is a comfort to me that, while I feel imperiously
required by my imperfections to resign my pastoral relation, I can
commend to you my dear friend and brother Flower, to take the
oversight of you in the Lord: and this I do with sincere affection,
and with earnest prayer that the divine blessing may remain with you
for ever.
“Begging my affectionate regards to all classes of my friends—to the
aged, the poor, and the young—I am
Yours with the most affectionate regard,
and most earnest prayers,
ISAAC SLOPER.”
“To MR. JOHN CRISP,
and the other Deacons, &c. &c.”
The best testimony to Mr. Sloper’s ministerial character and exertions,
is the _effect_ of his devoted services. It is sufficient to point to a
church remarkable for its numbers—to a congregation constant and
attentive, and comprising many who had not formally joined the church,
but were the friends of Christ—and to prayer-meetings, and other week-day
services, regularly and well attended:—a minister of the gospel needs no
other commendation.
Some intimations of Mr. Sloper’s personal character have appeared in the
previous pages. It was formed from an assemblage of those attractive and
useful, though unobtrusive, qualities, which are not the best adapted for
elaborate description, but are peculiarly conducive to the respectability
of the individual and the happiness of society. His predominant quality
was _benevolence_, ennobled and directed by deep and abiding piety. With
him it was not a sickly sentimentalism exhausted upon objects of no
moment, nor a heated enthusiasm aiming at projects of extravagance; but a
principle which could expand to the great interests of humanity, or
contract itself to the minute charities of domestic life. It guided his
energies to the work of evangelizing heathen millions, and pervaded his
ordinary intercourse with friends and neighbours. Those who occasionally
saw him were struck with the urbanity of his manners; those who were
favoured with his intimate friendship knew that his heart was all
kindness. He rejoiced with those that rejoiced, and wept with those that
wept. Much of his happiness consisted in making others happy. Once
speaking of a servant visiting her friends, he observed with true
generosity, “It is right she should go; she has the same feelings with
ourselves.”
No one was more free from the unamiable passions. Although he never
deemed it necessary to merge the citizen in the saint, or forgot how
inseparably blended are the interests of civil and religious liberty, he
was unstained by political animosity. The avowal of his opinions was
never unaccompanied by candour and charity towards those who differed
from him. By his explanatory and conciliatory addresses on various
suitable occasions, there is reason to believe that he contributed in no
slight degree to prepare the minds of those within the circle of his
influence, for the more cordial reception of the great legislative
changes of which he lived to witness the consummation.
If ever he was betrayed into a warm expression, he was remarkably candid
and placable: once convinced that he was wrong, he _made haste_ with
kindness and compunction in his heart, and frankness on his tongue, to
repair the momentary error. Nor was he less ready to forgive. Some
years ago a vexatious injury was committed in his garden. He remarked
respecting it, “I wish the man a better heart.” It is in matters of such
comparatively trivial importance that character exhibits its true
features.
Even when affliction had partially obscured his mental powers, and his
faith and patience were called into constant exercise, the holy love of
the Christian still burst through the cloud, and irradiated the long
evening of his pilgrimage.
It is not to be wondered at that he was greatly beloved, not only by his
immediate friends, but by persons of all ages, classes, and callings,
wherever he was known. “I was present,” says one of his most esteemed
brethren in the ministry, “at his ordination; I was present at his
interment; I enjoyed a large share of his friendship in the long interval
between the two events; and I never witnessed his approach without
gladness, or parted from him without regret.”
* * * * *
Mr. Flower’s ordination took place June 5th, 1834. The Rev. Wm. Ward, of
Stowmarket, delivered the introductory discourse, on the scriptural
character of a christian church. The usual questions to the deacons and
the new minister were put by the Rev. John Dennant, of Halesworth.
Prayer was offered by the Rev. Andrew Ritchie, of Wrentham; and the
charge to Mr. Flower was given by his father, the Rev. John Flower, of
Titchfield, Hants. On the evening of the day, the Rev. John Alexander,
of Norwich, addressed to the church and congregation an affectionate and
excellent discourse.
About five weeks after the above event, Mr. Flower was visited with a
painful and alarming affliction, which laid him aside from his public
duties until the 7th June following.
During those months, the public services of the congregation were
conducted by a succession of ministers.
* * * * *
On the 23rd November, 1835, Mr. Sloper’s protracted affliction was
terminated by death. Although he had been long lost to society, the
event was a subject of general and sincere lamentation. The chapel was
thronged with those who came to witness his interment at the foot of the
pulpit from which he had dispensed the words of eternal life.
His death was improved on the following Lord’s-day afternoon, by Mr.
Creak, of Yarmouth, from 2 Pet. i. 12–15. The young people of the
congregation have since gratified their feelings of veneration for one
who ever manifested the tenderest regard for their best interests, by
placing in the meeting-house a neat marble tablet, with the following
inscription:
IN MEMORY OF
THE REVD. ISAAC SLOPER,
FOR THIRTY YEARS PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
ASSEMBLING IN THIS PLACE;
IN WHOM BENEVOLENCE AND CANDOUR WERE SO CONSPICUOUSLY
BLENDED WITH FIDELITY AND UPRIGHTNESS,
AS TO SECURE TO HIM, IN AN EMINENT DEGREE, THE AFFECTION
AND CONFIDENCE OF HIS FLOCK, AND THE ESTEEM OF ALL.
HE RECEIVED, ON THE 5TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1832,
WHILE DISCHARGING THE DUTIES OF HIS SACRED OFFICE,
A SOLEMN WARNING OF HIS APPROACHING DISSOLUTION,
AND WAS DISMISSED TO HIS EVERLASTING REST
ON THE 23RD OF NOVEMBER, 1835,
IN THE 57TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
“Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when
he cometh, shall find so doing.”
These records ought not to be closed without a brief reference to the
truly honourable life and peaceful death of _Mr. William Crisp_.
He became a member of this church on the 4th June, 1802, and was some
years afterwards chosen a deacon. In both relations, he acted with
uniform candour, kindness, meekness, and generosity. He was a liberal
pecuniary contributor to the support of the cause; the friend of minister
and people, and the benefactor of the poor.
He sustained, as a merchant, a reputation against which slander never
ventured to direct a shaft; and his whole deportment imparted, in the eye
of the world, a weight and dignity to the christian community to which he
belonged. The declaration of holy writ was manifestly verified in
reference to him: “The just man walketh in his integrity: his children
are blessed after him,” Prov. xx. 7. He lived to witness the departure
into the eternal world, of five of his children, who all died in the
faith and hope of the gospel. Two only survive—they have risen up to
“call him blessed,” and one of them fills an important station in the
Baptist Academy at Bristol.
Mr. Crisp died on the 18th January, 1836, in the 80th year of his age.
{250}
* * * * *
After Mr. Flower’s restoration to health, an increasing eagerness to hear
the gospel was manifested, and the duty of providing additional
accommodation in the chapel became a subject of serious consideration.
Early in the last year (1836) an extensive alteration and enlargement was
determined upon; the greater part of the requisite funds were furnished
by the cheerful contributions of many, and the very liberal assistance of
some; and the work has since been accomplished. A sketch of the building
in its improved form is prefixed to this little volume.
* * * * *
The expense of erecting and enlarging places of worship is far more
serious to dissenters than to members of the Established Church, since
independently of receiving no direct aid from government, the former are
subject to the duty upon the materials used, from which burden the latter
are exempt. Nearly allied to this tax upon nonconformity, are the stamp
duties upon the conveyances, and deeds for renewing trusts, of chapels,
and the charges for enrolment.
These form a heavy item in the balance of justice which remains due to
the dissenting portion of the community, or rather, to the interests of
religion itself. Its liquidation is not demanded merely as an act of
justice; but as a step towards the total disenthralment of Christianity
from the paralyzing grasp of state patronage. The religious world,
taught by principle and by example, is discovering that it must look to
the voluntary efforts of benevolence, impelled by christian principles
and crowned with the divine blessing, for the evangelization of the
people.
For a long period after the revolution, the nonconformists, bleeding with
the persecution of ages, sank into a premature and too protracted
slumber. But they have gradually aroused themselves, and are engaging in
the assertion of their rights with increasing vigour. Nor will their
claims cease to be reiterated, till in the affairs of the soul, “ABSOLUTE
LIBERTY, JUST AND TRUE LIBERTY, EQUAL AND IMPARTIAL LIBERTY,” shall have
become the possession of every British subject.
SUMMARY OF MINISTERS.
PASTORS. SUPPLIES.
John Clarke (?) 1653–1656
Robert Ottee 1656–1689
Joseph Tate 1691–1694
John Killinghall 1697–1699
William Nokes 1703(?)–1710
Edmund Spencer 1711–1736(?)
Thomas Tingey 1736–1749
William Lincoln 1749–1757
John Hurrion 1757–1758
Nicholas Phené 1758–1760
John Fell 1762–1770
Baxter (?) Cole 1771
Joseph Heptinstall 1773–1802 1771–1773
Isaac Sloper 1803–1834 1802–1803
Thomas Morell 1832–1833
John Flower 1834–
INDEX.
ABBOT, 102.
Adkins, 10.
After, 73.
Archer, 233.
Articles, 4, 66, 75, 84, 104.
Artis, 126, 153, 160.
Association, 229.
Asty, 124.
Athanasius, 78.
Aylmer, 67.
* * * * *
Baker, 142, 157.
Bancroft, 93.
Baptism, 78, 127, 129, 167.
Baptists, 120, 177, 207.
Beccles, 29, 32, 111.
Bible-meetings, 227.
Bidbanck, 144.
Bocking, 191, 192.
Body, 82.
Bradfield, 112.
Brewster, 118.
Bridge, 105, 106, 122, 138.
Brinsley, 123.
Brodie, 11.
Brougham, 12.
Brownists, 88.
Burial, 80.
Bury, 33, 179.
* * * * *
Carter, 194.
Catechism, 79.
Ceremonies, 56, 76, 103, 147.
Charles I. 103, 105.
Clark, 113, 118, 143.
Cole, 185.
Collinges, 148.
Common Prayer, 66, 75, 77.
Congregationalism, 89, 138.
Corporation, 31, 70.
Corporation Act, 117.
Covenant, 112, 114.
Cranmer, 17, 23.
Crick, 59.
Crisp, 167, 248.
Cromwell, 109, 119, 140.
Cutlove, 117, 126.
* * * * *
Deacons, 126, 127, 161, 175.
Declaration, 100, 138.
Delf, 223.
Denton, 112, 144.
Doddridge, 172.
Dunning, 38, 39, 73.
* * * * *
Ebbs, 191.
Edgefield, 112.
Edward VI., 16.
Edwy, 33.
Elizabeth, 53, 65.
Exiles, 55.
Experience, 206.
* * * * *
Fell, 180.
Fenner, 198.
Finch, 145.
Fishery, 31.
Fisk, 25, 26.
Fleming, 69, 86.
Flixton, 140.
Flower, 241, 246.
Framlingham, 19.
Freke, 63.
Friends, 112.
Friendship, 171.
Fuller, 94.
* * * * *
Girdler’s-hall, 160.
Godwick, 112.
Gravestones, 178.
Green, 166.
Gregory, 156.
Gresham, 73.
Grindal, 62.
Guestwick, 112.
* * * * *
Hammond, 63.
Harsnet, 102.
Haylouck, 153, 160.
Heath, 41.
Hell, 81.
Henry VIII, 14.
Heptinstall, 187.
High Commission, 54, 67.
Homilies, 83.
Hopton, 39, 73.
Howard, 34, 185.
Hupton, 207.
Hurrion, J., 179.
Hurrion, S., 179.
Hutchinson, 11.
* * * * *
Independents, 89, 95, 99, 162.
Ingham, 112.
* * * * *
Jacob, 94, 99.
James I, 92, 100.
James II, 153.
Justices, 64, 91.
* * * * *
Killinghall, 163.
King, 12.
* * * * *
Lad, 94.
Laud, 103.
Lawrence, 58.
Letters, 157, 201, 210, 237.
Liberty, 7, 8, 43, 108, 252.
Lincoln, 179.
Locke, 12, 45, 48, 51.
Lord’s supper, 126, 128, 191.
* * * * *
Martyrs, 23, 37.
Mary, 18.
Maunsell, 94.
Meeting-house, 161, 221, 250.
Meetings, 172, 232.
Millenary petition, 92, 100.
Millenium, 83.
Minister, 75.
Ministry, 123, 149, 199, 248.
Missionary Society, 226, 237.
Music, 83.
* * * * *
New England, 26, 96, 132.
Newton, 161, 176.
Nokes, 167.
Nonconformity, 1, 8, 141, 147.
Norfolk, 23, 26, 63, 67, 112, 137.
Norwich, 106, 113, 114, 173.
* * * * *
Ordination, 125, 191, 205, 246.
Ottee, 121, 143.
* * * * *
Parkhurst, 63.
Peck, 102.
Penance, 83.
Phené, 180.
Playters, 167, 178.
Popery, 13, 48, 110, 146.
Pougher, 175.
Prayer, 213.
Presbyterians, 119, 120, 162.
Prison, 34.
Prophesyings, 59, 62, 89, 134.
Protestantism, 145.
Providence, 155.
Psalms, 81, 132.
Puritans, 55, 87, 101.
* * * * *
Raleigh, 90.
Rede, 73.
Rendham, 180.
Ridgley, 175, 178.
Robinson, 94.
Rogers, 23.
Rushall, 177.
* * * * *
Sacraments, 79.
Sanderson, 59.
Savoy, 136.
Scales, 4.
Scambler, 59, 72.
Schism, 85.
School, 30.
Scott, 4.
Scriptures, 5, 115, 146.
Shardalow, 119.
Shufflebottom, 194.
Sick, 79, 209.
Siddons, 216.
Sigebert, 32.
Singing, 131.
Sloper, 198, 226.
Southwold, 172, 180.
Spencer, 174.
Sports, 100, 103, 104, 105.
Stalham, 112.
St. James’, 25.
Stoke, 24.
Subscription, 84.
Suffolk, 23, 26, 28, 64, 67, 137.
Supremacy, 54.
* * * * *
Tate, 156.
Thanksgiving, 131.
Thaxted, 183.
Tingey, 175.
Toleration Act, 152.
Toplady, 40.
Towle, 185, 190.
Trusts, 161, 162.
Tunstead, 112, 166.
* * * * *
Uniformity Act, 85, 140.
Usher, 4.
Utrecht, 167.
* * * * *
Visitation, 104.
* * * * *
Walpole, 112.
Walsham, 112.
Wattisfield, 112, 142.
Watts, 161, 168, 171.
Wesley, 207.
Whitgift, 65, 73, 93.
Whiting, 102.
Wilton, 84.
Winter, 200, 202, 209.
Woodbridge, 112.
Wren, 104.
Wrentham, 112, 142, 172.
Wycliffe, 4, 14.
Wymondham, 112.
* * * * *
Yare, 29.
Yarmouth, 106.
* * * * *
William Lenny, Printer, Beccles.
Footnotes
{vi} In addition to the books referred to in the subsequent pages, may
be mentioned Towgood’s Letters to White; Furneaux’s Letters to
Blackstone; Robinson’s Plan of Lectures on Nonconformity; Graham on
Ecclesiastical Establishments; Marshall’s “Ecclesiastical Establishments
considered,” and “Ecclesiastical Establishments further considered;”
Scales’s “Principles of Dissent;” Thorn’s “Union of Church and State
Antiscriptural;” and, amongst a multitude of able pamphlets, that by the
Rev. J. B. Innes, of Norwich, entitled “Ecclesiastical Establishments
Indefensible,” and “A Letter on the Principles and History of
Dissenters,” by the Rev. John Raven, of Hadleigh.
{vii} Bishop Burnet.
{3} Matt. xxiii. 10.
{4} One of the opinions Wycliffe was charged with holding was this, “It
is blasphemy to call any but Christ, head of the church.”
“The office of the head is, to prescribe laws to his church which
should bind men’s consciences to the obedience of the same: and of
such lawgivers there is but one. James iv. 18.”—_Archbishop Usher_.
“Christians are forbidden to look up to any man as having dominion
over their faith, as entitled to implicit credence and submission,
or, as the head of their sect whose decisions were stamped with
authority over their consciences; they were to oppose all claims and
pretensions of this kind by whomsoever they were advanced or on
whatever grounds.”—_Rev. T. Scott_, _late Rector of Aston Sanford_,
_Comment_. Matt, xxiii. 8–10.
It is equally difficult to reconcile a hearty belief in the twentieth
article of the Church of England with these sentiments, and to
distinguish them in substance from the following: “Authoritative and
legislative interference apart from him, we dare not recognise: our
loyalty to Christ as the church’s only head, compels us to disclaim it,
and to protest against all human dictation. It cannot be shown that he
has any where delegated his sovereignty; that he has appointed any order
of men to act for him in a vice-regal capacity, and invested them with
irresponsible and discretionary powers, or indeed with any powers at all,
to frame articles of belief and formularies of worship and discipline, to
fix the meaning of his word, or to devise and prescribe the religion of a
congregation, or community, or province, or nation.”—_Scales’ Principles
of Dissent_, p. 72.
{5} Isa. viii. 20. “With respect to difference of opinion on religious
subjects, the basis of religion is the Bible, and those [are the] most
orthodox christians who adhere the most strictly to the doctrines laid
down in that sacred volume. To explain it, is the duty of all mankind,
and its interpretation is confined to no particular sect. To use
coercion in compelling uniformity is not only impolitic, but while man is
constituted as man, it will be impracticable.”—_Hansard’s Debates_, _May_
21_st_, 1811. _Speech of the Archbishop of Canterbury_.
{7a} Acts v. 29.
{7b} John, iv. 23, 24.
{7c} Acts v. 38, 39. The conduct of the apostles “was a stand for
principles; and in this respect they take their station at the head of
the reformers of the world.”—_Bogue and Bennett’s History of Dissenters_,
i. 290.
{8} Earl of Chatham, in the House of Lords, 1773.
{10} There is abundant evidence that the christian sects properly called
with reference to their church government, Independents, are entitled to
this honourable distinction. The Rev. Thomas Adkins in his recently
published Records of the Independent Church at Southampton, (a book more
especially valuable for its argumentative and explanatory observations,)
has collected several testimonies in support of the statement that “The
Independents were the first as a sect, in this country, to discover and
to recognise, to their full extent, the sacred rights of conscience.”
The editor of Col. Hutchinson’s Memoirs, (a clergyman of the Established
Church,) says, they “proceeded upon that principle which, how general
soever it ought to be, is, however, unfortunately very uncommon, of
allowing to all that liberty of conscience they demanded for
themselves.”—_Introd._ p. 17.
Mr. Brodie, the learned author of the History of the British Empire from
the accession of Charles I. to the Restoration, remarks that “The grand
principle by which the Independents surpassed all other sects was,
universal toleration to all denominations of christians whose religion
was not conceived to be hostile to the peace of the state, a principle to
which they were faithful in the height of power as well as under
persecution.”—Vol. iii. p. 517.
“By the Independent divines, who were his instructors, (says the
noble biographer of Locke,) our philosopher was taught those
principles of religious liberty which they were the first to disclose
to the world.”—_Lord King’s Life of Locke_, 4to ed. p. 178.
On the motion for inquiring into the cause of the death of the missionary
Smith, Lord Brougham is reported to have said, “Mr. Smith was a pious and
faithful minister of the Independents, that body, much to be respected
indeed for their numbers, but far more to be held in lasting veneration
for their unshaken fortitude, with which, in all times, they have
maintained their attachment to civil and religious liberty, and holding
fast by their own principles, have carried to its utmost pitch the great
doctrine of absolute toleration.”
{14} He affirmed, from his own perusal of them, that in the primitive
church there were but two orders of ministers, priests and deacons, and
that “by the ordinance of Christ priests and bishops were all
one.”—_Vaughan’s Life of Wycliffe_, 2nd ed. vol. ii. p. 275.
{15a} Stat. 26 Hen. VIII. c. 1.
{15b} Stat. 34 & 35 Hen. VIII. c. 1.
{16} He “laid all his subjects on the bed of Procrustus; some he
stretched as too short for the extent of the monarch’s faith; and others
he decapitated for presuming to look over his shoulders.”—_Bogue and
Bennett_, i. 44.
{17} Stat. 2 & 3, Edw. VI. c. 1. 5 & 6, Edw. VI. c. 1.
{18} Burnet’s Hist. Ref. ii. 178.
{19} Framlingham Castle had been granted by the preceding monarch to
Mary. One inducement to take her station there during the suspension of
her rights, probably was the proximity of the place to the sea coast.
The residents in Suffolk who came forward as her adherents do not appear
to have been all favourable to the reformation. The first who took up
arms and levied men in her defence was Sir John Sulyard of Wetherden,
who, as a reward for his fidelity, was appointed to guard her person
during her stay at Framlingham; and whom we shall presently find
zealously engaged in executing her sanguinary edicts.
{20a} Eftsoons, immediately.—_Bailey_.
{20b} It was an argument employed in her favour by the Earl of Arundel,
in his harangue at the great meeting of her friends at Baynard’s castle,
that she had made this promise. Who, he asked, had seen cause to think
that, in matters of religion, Queen Mary intended any alteration? for
when she was lately addressed about this, in Suffolk, she had given a
very fair, satisfactory answer.—_Green’s Hist. of Framlingham_, p. 79.
{21a} Fox’s Acts and Monuments, ed. 1684, vol. iii. p. 12.
{21b} Neal’s History of the Puritans, ed. 1822, vol. i. p. 73.
{22a} Stat. 1 Mary, sess. 2, c. 2.
{22b} Neal’s Pur. i. 77.
{22c} The Statutes of Rich. II. and Hen. IV. for burning heretics, were
revived.—_Neal’s Pur._ i. 82.
{23a} Burnet’s Hist. Ref. ii. 267.
{23b} Fox’s Acts & Mon. iii. 98.
{24a} Fox’s Acts and Mon. i. 600.
{24b} Neal’s Pur. i. 92. Price’s Hist. of Prot. Nonconf. i. 191.
{24c} Fox’s Acts and Mon. iii. 773. Brook’s Lives of the Puritans, i.
Introd. 13.
{26a} Rev. vi. 9. See Mather’s Hist. of New England, 1702, p. 140.
From the last-mentioned of these brothers, was descended Mr. John Fisk,
an eminent preacher and writer in the primitive times of New England. He
was born at the parish referred to in the text, about 1601, and died at
Chelmsford, N. E. 16 Jan. 1676.
{26b} Acts and Mon. iii. 12.
{27} Fox has preserved the whole of this interesting document. Acts and
Mon. iii. 578.
{29} “The mouth of the Yare at that time, (_cir._ A.D. 1000.) was an
estuary or arm of the sea, and extended, with considerable magnitude, for
many miles up the country. Tradition, the faithful preserver of many a
fact which history has overlooked or forgotten, confidently and
invariably asserts it; and the present appearance of the ancient bed of
the river, from Yarmouth to Harleston in Norfolk, tends to confirm
it.”—_Gillingwater’s Hist. of Lowestoft_, 4to, p. 26.
{30a} The upper part of this porch forms a room in which is a small, but
valuable, collection of books in divinity.
{30b} A subscription has been set on foot, a site purchased, and the
promise of a grant from government obtained, for the erection of a school
on the principles of the British and Foreign School Society.
{31} The herring fishery was evidently a principal source of emolument
to the inhabitants. In the time of the Conqueror the fee farm rent of
the manor of Beccles to the king was 60,000 herrings, and in the time of
the Confessor 30,000.—_Domesday Book_.
The grant to the inhabitants at a later period, of the tract of marshes
reclaimed from the sea, was perhaps an inadequate compensation for the
loss of the fishery. It was stated by a writer at the commencement of
the seventeenth century that more wealth was raised out of herrings and
other fish in his majesty’s seas by the neighbouring nations in one year,
than the king of Spain had from the Indies in four.—_Phœnix_, i. 222.
{32} There has been a difference of opinion respecting the derivation of
the name, which is not likely to be settled. The common notion is, that
the first letter is an abbreviation of _Bella_. Some suppose the first
syllable, Bec, to be derived from the name of an abbey in Normandy. A
third interpretation may be suggested. _Bec_ de terre, a point of land,
was sufficiently descriptive of the spot, while the marshes which lie
west, north, and east of the town, remained under water. _Bec_ and
_eglise_ might be compounded into _Becclys_, the ancient orthography. It
has been surmised that the town may have owed its origin to its site
having “_protruded_ into the ancient river” and served during the Roman,
Saxon, and Danish invasions, as a convenient situation for placing a
_beacon_ or signal.—_Gillingwater’s History of Lowestoft_, p. 26. At all
events, the Rev. Geo. Crabbe has been led into an error in supposing the
name to be derived from the present “beautiful church,” nor does it
appear why he prefers “_beata_” to “_bella_.” _Crabbe’s Life and Works_,
vol. i. p. 147.
{33} Under him it is said that “the sable clouds of paganism which had
overshadowed these parts near two hundred years,” were “dissipated by the
glorious rays of the gospel.”—_Gardner’s History of Dunwich_,
_Blithburgh_, _and Southwold_, 4to, 1754, pp. 42, 43.
{34} The first rise of any material improvement, in this respect, is to
be traced to the labours of the philanthropist Howard. He visited
Beccles in the years 1776, 1779, and 1782, and thus describes the
arrangements of that comparatively recent period. “Beccles.—A room on
the ground floor, called the ward; a chamber for women, called the upper
ward; a day-room with a fire-place; and a dungeon seven steps
underground. In the ward is a window to the street, which is highly
improper; . . . no proper separation of the men and women. Only one
court; . . . Licence for beer: (a riotous alehouse)” . . . _State of
the Prisons_, 3rd ed. p. 303.
{35a} Account of the Corporation of Beccles Fen, 1826, p. 4.
{35b} Ibid. p. 14.
{36} Account of the Corporation, p. 14. There is an engraving of the
seal in Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of England.
{37} Acts and Mon. Ed. 1579, p. 1735. Ed. 1684, vol. iii. 589, col. 2.
The diction and orthography of the earlier of these editions is here
preserved.
{40} Toplady, in his “Historic Proof of the Doctrinal Calvinism of the
Church of England,” adduces the testimony of these men as contained in
this last article. _Toplady’s Works_, ed. 1825, vol. ii. p. 42.
{41a} Tradition assigns as the immediate scene of this, in every view,
execrable affair, the ground eastward of the town, and now called the
Fair close. A statue, or an obelisk, has often marked a spot far less
worthy of being had in remembrance by the friends of protestantism and
religious liberty.
{41b} Prior to the reign of Henry VIII. the sheriff had been allowed to
burn heretics without the writ _de hæretico comburendo_. It was rendered
necessary by stat. 25. Hen. VIII. cap. 14. _Neal’s Puritans_, vol. i.
pp. 7, 13. The writ was abolished by 29 Car. II. c. 9.
{44} Quarterly Review, (Dec. 1836,) vol. lvii. p. 366.
{45} “I may grow rich by an art that I take not delight in; I may be
cured of some disease by remedies that I have not faith in; but I cannot
be saved by a religion that I distrust, and by a worship that I abhor. . . .
Faith only, and inward sincerity, are the things that procure
acceptance with God.”—_Locke’s third Letter concerning Toleration_, 4to,
pp. 26, 27.
{48a} See Locke’s third Letter on Toleration, 4to, p. 105. “He that
would vex and pain a sore you had, with frequent dressing it with some
moderate, painful, but inefficacious plaister, that promoted not the
cure, would justly be thought not only an ignorant, but a dishonest
surgeon.”—_Ibid._ p. 124.
{48b} Like the prudent monk, who, when Satan would have drawn him into
heresy, by asking him what he believed of a certain point, answered, _Id
credo quod credit ecclesia_. But, _Quid credit ecclesia_? said Satan;
_Id quod ego credo_, replied the other.—_Dr. Jortin’s Preface to his
Remarks on Ecclesiastical History_, pp. 27, 28.
{49} Rev. Samuel Charles Wilkes. See Binney’s “Dissent not Schism,” p.
44.
{50} Stanzas prefixed to the Bible, 1598.
{51a} “They may not maim a man with corporal punishments; may they use
any corporal punishments at all? They may not starve and torment them in
noisome prisons for religion; that you condemn as much as I; may they put
them in any prisons at all? They may not deprive men of their estates; I
suppose you mean their whole estates; may they take away half, or a
quarter, or an hundredth part?”—_Locke’s third Letter for Toleration_,
4to, p. 107. See also p. 121.
{51b} Dr. Jortin, _ubi supra_, pp. 30, 31.
{52a} Locke’s second Letter concerning Toleration, 4to, p. 9.
{52b} Paradise Lost, b. xii. 1. 524–530.
{54} This statute, (1 Eliz. cap. 2.) and that of supremacy, (1 Eliz.
cap. 1.) “constitute the basis of the reformed church of England, and
will be regarded,” says Mr. Price, “as its disgrace or glory, according
to the views of religious liberty which are entertained.”—_Hist. Prot.
Nonconf._ vol. i. p: 134.
{56} Such as the crossing of infants on the forehead in baptism; bowing
at the name of Jesus; kneeling at the sacrament, as a term of communion;
the use of sponsors to the exclusion of parents; confirmation; and the
marriage ring.—_Brook’s Puritans_, i. _Introd._ p. 29.
{57} Neal’s Puritans, i. 125.
{59a} Brook’s Puritans, i. Introd. 29, 40.
{59b} Ibid. 36.
{59c} Particularly Dr. Scambler, Bishop of Peterborough.
{59d} 1 Cor. xiv. 31. Neal’s Puritans, i. 221, et seq.
{60} Neal, i. 224.
{62a} Neal, i. 277.
{62b} Ibid. 283.
{63a} Neal, i. 284.
{63b} Brook i. Introd. 39.
{63c} Ibid.
{64a} Brook, i. Introd. 43.
{64b} Strype’s Annals, III. i. 264.
{65a} September 1583.
{65b} Neal, i. 320.
{67a} Strype’s Whitgift, pp. 115, 116. Neal, _ubi supra_. Brook, i.
Introd. 45.
{67b} Neal, i. 323. Brook, i. Introd. 46, where a list is given of the
ministers suspended in Suffolk.
{67c} Neal, i. 330, 341.
{68a} Neal, i. 345, 352, 376.
{68b} Ibid. 335, 353.
{68c} Ibid. 337.
{70a} Page 31.
{70b} The surrender is dated 26 Jan. 26 Eliz. [1583, O. S.] and was
signed at a meeting of the inhabitants held in the parish
church.—_Account of the Corporation_, p. 10.
{72a} Account of the Corporation, pp. 14, 15.
{72b} Neal, i. 353, 354.
{72c} Brook says, on that day he was suspended and deprived by Bishop
Scambler, adding, “This is attested by Richard Skinner the Bishop’s
Register.”—_Lives of the Puritans_, iii. 509. But there is some
inaccuracy in this account. His suspension was the act of Whitgift
himself, and had taken place some months earlier. Dr. Scambler was not
elected Bishop of Norwich till December 15th, 1584, when Dr. Freke was
translated to the see of Worcester; so that the latter was more likely to
have been the immediate instrument of Mr. Fleming’s
deprivation.—_Blomefield’s History of Norfolk_, iii. 558, 559. His
successor was first instituted November 2nd, 1583, and again September
5th, 1584.—_Lib. Inst._ xx. 97, 111. This was Mr. John After. A person
of the same name is mentioned by Strype in his Life of Grindal, (p. 59,)
as a native of Calais, who was ordained by that prelate, July 25th, 1560,
at the age of fifty.
The living of Beccles, at the period of Mr. Fleming’s deprivation, was
vested in Lady Anne Gresham, the widow of Sir Thomas Gresham, Knt.,
founder of the Royal Exchange. Previously to her marriage she was the
widow of William Rede, merchant, of London and Beccles.—_Lib. Inst. ubi
supra_. _Account of the Corporation_, pp. 11, 15.
In the volume of Blomefield above referred to, (pp. 272, et seq. and
552,) will be found some account of Bishop Hopton, and of his Chancellor
Dunning, (or Downing,) mentioned in the preceding chapter.
{74a} The register of Beccles parish records in the interval from 1586
to 1592, the baptisms of several children of “Mr. William Fleming,
preacher” (and “minister”) “of the gospel, and Anne his wife.”
{74b} In a more recent transcript of the register here quoted, Mr.
Fleming is merely styled “preacher of God’s woorde.”
{75} “Which word _minister_ became usual in these times for distinction
from the idolatrous priests of the Romish church.”—_Strype’s life of
Parker_, i. 127. Anno 1559.
{77a} Price’s Hist. Prot. Nonconf. i. 146–149.
{77b} Rom. xiv. 21; 1 Cor. x. 23, 32; 2 Cor. iv. 1, 2; xiii. 8.
{79a} Ezek. xxxvi. 26; John iii. 7; 2 Cor. v. 17; James i. 18; 1 Pet. i.
23.
{79b} John iii. 16; Acts xvi. 30, 31; and Mark xvi. 16; on which passage
it has been well observed, “By connecting baptism with faith in the
former clause, our Lord plainly forbids our treating that institution
with indifference, and by his omitting it in the latter we are taught not
to lay an undue stress upon it as necessary to salvation.”—_Stennett’s
Works_, i. 139.
{80a} Luke v. 21. See also Isa. xliii. 25; Psal. cxxx. 4; Dan. ix. 9;
Col. i. 14; 1 John i. 9.
{80b} Psal. li. 6; Tit. ii. 7, 8.
{81} Psal. cv. 28.
{83} 1 Cor. xv. 50.
{84} See _Wilton’s Review of some of the Articles_, _passim_; a work to
which the writer of these pages is indebted in several instances, and of
which he has availed himself the less scrupulously as it has been long
out of print.
{85} After the lapse of two centuries and a half, the terms of
subscription in the Church of England remain substantially the same, with
this additional safeguard against evasion, that the subscription is
required, by the Act of Uniformity, to be made _ex animo_. The writer
does not feel himself called upon to reconcile this fact with the
increased spirit of investigation which characterizes the present age, or
with the acknowledged upright character of many of the clergy. It may be
conceded that each party is conscientious; but each should bear in mind
that there is an essential and unalterable difference between truth and
error; and that it cannot be a matter of slight importance whether the
one or the other is embraced and propagated.
{86} Binney’s Dissent not Schism, p. 30.
{88a} Acts xv. 12, 22, 23. 1 Cor. v. 4, 13. Harmer’s Misc. Works, 144.
{88b} Strype’s Annals, III. 23. [17.]
{89} Mr. Harmer attributes these practices to their “not considering
that the 14th of the 1 Cor. was a portion of an epistle directed to a
church in which _miraculous powers_ at that time existed,” and to “a want
of due deference to their ministers, or in the language of St. Paul,
‘knowing them which laboured among them, and were over them in the Lord,
and admonished them.’”—_Misc. Works_, 145.
{90} Neal, i. 428.
{91} See Price’s Hist. i. 404–406.
{92a} Strype’s Ann. III. i. 266, [184.]
{92b} Grahame’s Hist. of the United States, i. 215.
{92c} Price, i. 452.
{93a} Brook, i. Introd. 62.
{93b} Grahame, i. 218.
{94} Brook, i. Introd. 64.
{95a} Neal, ii. 43.
{95b} Wilson’s History of Dissenting Churches, i. 31.
{95c} Mather’s History of New England, b. i. p. 5.
{97} He died before he could fulfil his intention of accompanying the
remaining part of his congregation to America.
{98a} Wils. Diss. Ch. i. 33.
{98b} Mather’s New England, b. i. p. 6.
{99} Mrs. Hemans.
{100} Neal, ii. 44, 92.
{101} Phenix, i. (1.)
{102a} Brook, i. Introd. 68. Several of the bishops objected to so
strange a display of ecclesiastical supremacy; and Archbishop Abbot,
being at Croydon when the order for publishing the “Declaration” came
forth, expressly forbad its being read there. Ibid. 69.
{102b} Blomefield’s Norfolk, iii. 566.
{102c} Brook, i. Introd. 69.
{102d} Ibid.
{103a} 1626.
{103b} 1633.
{103c} Neal, iii. 169, 173.
{104a} Phenix, i. (1.)
{104b} Neal, ii. 247.
{104c} Ibid. 248.
{104d} Brook, i. Introd. 81.
{105a} Blomefield says, “He had a Friday lecture here, and was paid for
it by the court.” Hist. of Norf. iv. 362.
{105b} In 1637. Nonconf. Mem. iii. 19. Mr. Bridge was afterwards one
of the “five pillars of the Congregational party, distinguished by the
name of the Dissenting Brethren, in the Assembly of Divines.” Neal, ii.
228. iv. 403.
{105c} Palm. Nonconf. Mem. iii. 19.
{107} Neal, iv. 172. Harmer’s MSS.
{108a} Nonconf. Mem. iii. 286.
{108b} It can hardly be doubted that if prudence had permitted, they
would have done so at an earlier period, without any scruple as to the
lawfulness of such a proceeding. They had, indeed, as Mr. Harmer
suggests, “this to plead for themselves, among other things, that they
entered not actually into these associations till the whole legal frame
of the episcopal church was dissolved by the extinction of monarchy, and
men left to follow their own light in these matters by the then public
authority.” But to attach any importance to such an argument, would
betray the advocate of religious liberty into a surrender of his great
principle,—a principle clearly stated in a quotation occurring in
connexion with the above language: “As freedom is the birthright of
mankind, any number of persons may voluntarily unite themselves for such
purposes, and under such regulations, as appear useful and convenient to
them, provided they do not encroach on the rules of justice, and the
rights of others. And if they may unite for other purposes, much more
may they unite for the purposes of religion, and the service of their
common Lord and Master.”—_Harmer’s Misc. Works_, 147, 149.
{109} Morell’s Hist. of England, ii. 253.
{110} Neal, iv. 69.
{112a} At Wymondham, North Walsham, Guestwick, Tunstead, Stalham and
Ingham, Edgefield, Godwick, and Bradfield. The churches at Walpole,
Bury, Wrentham, and Woodbridge, were formed somewhat earlier: that at
Wattisfield in 1654, and that at Denton in the following year. Norwich
Ch. bk. Neal, iv. 172. Harmer’s Misc. Works. 147.
{112b} At this period, the use of ordinal numbers, instead of the pagan
names of days and months, was not peculiar, as at present, to the Society
of Friends, but was common with serious persons of other denominations.
The Friends have become singular in this respect from the desertion of
the practice by other religious communities.
{112c} The early Congregationalists were much attached to the term
_covenant_, which, while it was accurately descriptive of the
transactions to which they applied it, derived, in their estimation, a
peculiar sacredness from its employment in the Old Testament. See Harm.
Misc. Works, 159.
{113} Regiment,—established government; mode of rule; (not in use).
_Johnson_.
{114a} Norwich Church Book.
{114b} Neal, iv. 175, note.
{115} Harmer’s Misc. Works, p. 156. Phil. iii. 15, 16.
{116} Norwich Church Book.
{117} Account of the Corporation, p. 16. It will be remembered that the
Corporation Act had not yet stigmatized, as unworthy of being intrusted
with civil power, all who could not conform to the legislative creed, or
consent to prove themselves unworthy, by desecrating the most solemn
ordinance of religion to the unscriptural and unholy purpose of
qualification for office. Dissenters have been relieved from this
grievance, but it is deemed necessary still to require, on their
acceptance of municipal offices, a solemn declaration against using the
influence they may possess _by virtue_ of these offices, to the injury of
the established church. This is one of the “acknowledgments” which
dissenters are still obliged to render to the dominant church;
objectionable enough to be felt, by many of them, as a legislative insult
and a bitter grievance; but forming indeed a poor protection to the
establishment, since every dissenter may, nevertheless, use his
_extra-official_ influence to bring about that great renovation and
extended usefulness of the episcopal sect, which will result from a
dissolution of its alliance with the state.
{118a} Neal, iv. 172.
{118b} The statement of Calamy that he “_came_ to Beccles in 1655,” is
not warranted by the authority he quotes. Contin. ii. 803.
{119} The same writer mentions Mr. John Shardalow, who had been
instituted to the living of Beccles in 1640, as being one of the
episcopal clergy who suffered persecution during the grand
rebellion.—_Attempt_, _&c._ p. 371. Persecution is to be deprecated
wherever it is found, but the Independents, as a body, are not chargeable
with the many instances of it which occurred at that period.
{120} Neal, iv. 93.
{121} Cal. Contin. ii. 803.
{123a} Palm. Nonconf. Mem. iii. 17.
{123b} Ibid. iii. 19.
{124a} Christ Set Forth, p. 8.
{124b} It appears that the church had previously invited Mr. Asty, of
Stratford, to take the spiritual oversight of them; for in the accompts
kept at the period in question, are the following items:—“To Bro.
Shildrake, for his journey to Stratford, to Mr. Asty, _to give him a
call_, 10_s._” and, “Pd. to Girling, for goeing to Mr. Brewster’s in ye
night, to inqr. abought Mr. Asty, 4_d._” This might be the Asty who was
ejected from Stratford in 1662, or the individual (probably his son) who,
in 1675, became teacher in the Independent church at Norwich. See Palm.
Nonconf. Mem. iii. 288. Harmer’s Misc. Works, p. 195. Wils. Diss. ch.
ii. 537.
{125} Mr. Harmer (and after him the Editor of the Nonconformists’
Memorial) was evidently led to consider Mr. Ottee as the pastor chosen in
1653, by mistaking the year in which he was said to be “made pastor,”
which is certainly 1656. Mr. Harmer says, “July 29, 1653, Mr. Robert
Ottee was chosen their pastor, and ordained Nov. 12th.” See also Palm.
Nonconf. Mem. iii. 255. Mr. Ottee is stated, in the dedication prefixed
to his posthumous Sermons, to have been minister of this congregation
“for above thirty years,” which would be a more natural mode of
expression, if he had been thirty-_two_, than if he had been
thirty-_five_ years pastor; and he died in 1689.
{127a} It will be recollected that prior to 1752, the year commenced on
25th March.
{127b} He baptized, on this occasion, two of his own children, (Mary and
Samuel,) and three others. The baptism of his son Samuel is recorded
under the same date, in the parish register: “Samuell, ye sonne of Robert
Ottey, preacher of God’s woorde, & Margret his wife.” This appears to
have been the only son of Mr. Ottee who attained manhood, and he died at
the age of twenty.
{128a} Acts vi. 1–6. In the “Form of making of Deacons” prescribed for
the church of England, the _apostles_ are said to have been inspired to
choose the martyr Stephen, and others, to this office; whereas it is
plain that the election was the act of “the multitude of the disciples.”
{128b} Neal, i. 428.
{128c} 1 Cor. xi. 23–26.
{133} Mather’s Hist. New England, b. iii. p. 100.
{134} See Neal, i. 305.
{135} This expression, (as well as the practice itself,) was evidently
borrowed from the “prophesyings” of the Elizabethan times.
{137} Neal, iv. 172.
{139a} Harmer’s Miscellaneous Works, p. 150.
{139b} Neal, iv. 177.
{141} Mather’s Hist. New England, b. iii. p. 4. Palmer’s Nonconf. Mem.
_passim_. It is no satisfactory answer to the statement in the text,
that the episcopal clergy had suffered persecution at a previous period.
See on this subject, Adkins’s Hist. Indep. Ch. at Southampton, p. 38,
note; and Rogers’s Life of Howe, p. 129.
{142} _Mr. Samuel Baker’s Experience_, 1667, MS. He was born about
1645, at Wrentham, of which place he declared his belief that religion
had there flourished longer, the gospel had been more clearly and
powerfully preached, and more generally received, the professors of it
were more sound in the truth, open and stedfast in the profession of it
in an hour of temptation, more united among themselves, and more entirely
preserved from enemies without, than in any village of the like capacity
in England. He was sent to school at Beccles, and mentions that, during
the latter part of his stay there, being about twelve or thirteen years
old, he was “exceedingly pleased with Mr. Ottee’s ministry, and became
more serious and affectionate.” He afterwards studied at Cambridge, and
at one of the Inns of Court. He became the proprietor and occupier of
Wattisfield Hall, a zealous Congregationalist, and a sufferer unto bonds
for a good conscience. _Ibid._ And see Harm. Misc. Works, p. 182.
Palm. Nonconf. Mem. iii. 283.
{144a} Dedication to “Christ set forth.” William Bidbanck, M.A. was
ejected under the Act of Uniformity, from Scottow in Norfolk, and was
afterwards pastor of the congregation at Denton, where he was greatly
beloved for his sweetness of temper, obliging deportment, and excellent
preaching. He died, much lamented, about 1693.—_Palm. Nonconf. Mem._
iii. 14.
{144b} “Christ set forth, in several Sermons upon the 7th chapter to the
Hebrews, by Mr. Robert Ottee, late Pastor to a congregation in Beckles,
in Suffolk. London: printed for Edward Giles, Bookseller in Norwich,
near the Marketplace, 1690.”
{145} Ejected from Totney, Lincolnshire; “a man of the most remarkable
seriousness, meekness, prudence, and patience, mingled with the greatest
zeal to do good to the souls of men.” Palm. Nonconf. Men., ii. 434. And
see Blomefield’s Norfolk, iv. 465.
{147a} Christ Set Forth, pp. 70, 71.
{147b} Ibid. p. 76.
{148a} Christ Set Forth, pp. 87, 88.
{148b} See Palmer’s Nonconf. Mem. iii. 9, and Blomefield’s Hist. of
Norfolk, iv. 149. The value of Dr. Collinges’s friendship may be learned
from the former of these works. The latter writer contents himself with
stating that “he was a grand Presbyterian.”
{149a} Christ Set Forth, pp. 54, 155.
{149b} Ibid. 121, 122, 142.
{149c} Ibid. 54, 55.
{149d} Ibid. 124, 125.
{149e} Ibid. 115, 116.
{149f} Ibid. 127, 128.
{149g} Ibid. 1, 157.
{149h} Ibid. 129, 130.
{150} Christ Set Forth, pp. 22, 23.
{151} Christ Set Forth, pp. 113, 114.
{152a} “May, 1689, Robert Utto, clarke, was buried, the 5th
day.”—_Beccles Parochial Register_.
{152b} This statute, though it was invaluable to the dissenters, and was
gratefully received by them, as affording considerable protection, and as
opening the way for further improvements, was, nevertheless, encumbered
with intolerance. It afforded no relief to Papists, or Unitarians. It
exacted from dissenting teachers a subscription to nearly all the
Articles of the church of England; it did not abrogate the Corporation
and Test Acts; nor permit the solemnization of marriage by dissenters in
their own places of worship, nor exonerate them from the obligation to
contribute to the maintenance of the public religious establishment,
though they do not attend on its ministrations. To a great extent, these
deformities have been removed by successive struggles. The period
immediately following the revolution may be regarded as one of
comparative bondage; but much still remains to be accomplished, before
the religion of the Bible will have shaken off all the impediments which
have hitherto interrupted its free and triumphant course.
{153} Neal, v. 30.
{154a} His gravestone remains in the church-yard, near the south
porch;—“Here lyeth ye body of Mr. Francis Haylovck, who departed this
life, March ye 7th, 1702, aged 77 yeares.”
{154b} 1694. February, “Edmund Artis, gent. was buried the 21
day.”—_Parochial Register_.
{157} See page 142.
{160} MS. in the possession of Rev. E. Hickman.
{161a} Wils. Diss. Ch. ii. 515, 518.
{161b} August 7th, 1695.
{161c} The trustees were, John Killinghall, Robert Sherwood, William
Crowfoot, John Primrose, Nathaniel Newton, John Utting, and Thomas
Feaver.
{162} There cannot be a greater mistake than to suppose that at the
period referred to above, the Presbyterian dissenters alone couched their
trust deeds in general terms; unless it be the strange notion that the
absence of doctrinal restrictions implied indifference as to religious
sentiments. The present is one instance of many in which a
Congregational place of worship was settled in that manner, under a
minister whose sermons betray no symptoms of such an indifference.
Equally unfounded, and more unkind, is the imputation of intolerance cast
upon the modern Independents, on account of the restrictions by which
experience has taught them to protect property _they devote_ to a
specific object, from being diverted into other channels. In order to
sustain so serious a charge it should be shown, not merely that the
Independents attach the highest importance to the possession of
scriptural views on the doctrines of Christianity, and that they take
care not to allow their chapels to be held by those whose opinions _they_
disbelieve, and even regard as dangerous; but that they desire to employ
some degree or kind of coercion to induce others to profess their
opinions and to worship in their temples. The truth is, that the
importance attached by the Independents to certain doctrines, imparts a
more honourable character to _their_ advocacy of religious liberty, than
can belong to those who deem religious opinions of minor if not of
trivial moment. The writer has been induced to advert to these topics in
consequence of a remark on the subject of Presbyterian practices, in an
interesting work, written by one whom he well knows to be incapable of
wilful misrepresentation, or even of an unkind feeling towards any
denomination of Christians. _See Murch’s History of the Presbyterian and
General Baptist Churches in the West of England_, pref. p. x.
{163} Wils. Diss. Ch. iv. 147.
{165} Howe on Charity in reference to other men’s sins. Works, vol. ii.
pp. 226, 231.
{166} Of the esteem in which he was held amongst his own flock, a
touching illustration is afforded in the following circumstance. Mr.
Green, it seems, was extremely fond of roses, and several of the good
people, desirous to testify their respect to the old gentleman, in every
form, used to bring him roses and stick in the pulpit, till sometimes it
was almost surrounded with them. _Harmer’s MSS._
{167a} See the eminent Mr. Benjamin Robinson’s death-bed address to his
children, Wils. Diss. Ch. i. 377.
{167b} Calamy’s Life and Times, by Rutt, i. 139, 142.
{168a} Life and Times, i. 144.
{168b} The first mention of him in the church book, occurs 28th July,
1703.
{168c} Milner’s Life and Times of Watts, p. 290.
{169} Watts’s Works, Barfield’s ed. iv. 451, 452.
{171} Watts’s Works, iv. 461.
{172} This advice is stated in the church book to have been given by
“the reverend elders, _met_ at Norwich.” Such meetings were occasionally
held in the earliest times of the Congregational churches, in Norfolk and
Suffolk. At a later period, _stated_ meetings were held by the ministers
of the Walpole, Wrentham, and Southwold churches, who were, by degrees,
joined by others of their brethren. Dr. Doddridge, in 1741, dedicated a
sermon (preached at Kettering) to the associated ministers of Norfolk and
Suffolk, with expressions of great affection and respect. In 1761, these
meetings, which, (as Mr. Harmer remarks,) “agreeably to the usual course
of human affairs,” had been attended with diminished zeal, were revived
on an extended scale, and continued to be held twice a year, for some
years afterwards. Those who attended them, claimed no “authoritative
power, but merely a reverential regard to counsels, given in the gentlest
way.”—_Harmer’s Misc. Works_, pp. 197–200.
{173a} Wils. Diss. Ch. ii. 536. Prot. Diss. Mag. vi. 259. There was,
at one period, a disposition amongst some of the members of the
Independent church at Norwich, to invite Mr. Nokes to settle there as
colleague to Mr. Stackhouse.—_Harm. MSS._
{173b} Calamy says “in Suffolk.” Life and Times, i. 142.
{174} MSS.
{175a} Harmer’s MSS.
{175b} Prot. Diss. Mag. vi. 349.
{176a} Rev. Samuel Hurrion’s Diary. MS.
{176b} Prot. Diss. Mag. vi. 95. Wils. Diss. Ch. iv. 369.
{177} Harmer’s MSS. Wils. Diss. Ch. iv. 369. The seceders were
afterwards joined by the Baptist church of Rushall, which is said to have
been as ancient as the protectorate. About 1730 a Mr. Miller was its
pastor. He subsequently removed to Norwich, and was succeeded by Mr.
Milliot. Towards the close of his life they chose a Mr. Simons, the
benefit of whose ministry the Baptists of Beccles were also desirous of
enjoying. For their accommodation the seat of the church was removed to
Beccles, and there Mr. Simons resided till his death. After that event
the interest at Beccles declined. It was broken up about 1766, and the
members residing in or near Beccles re-united with the Independents there
and with the congregation at Rushall.—_Harmer’s MSS._
{178a} Dr. Ridgley published a sermon on his death, preached at
Fetter-lane, Nov. 9, 1749.
{178b} When the chapel was re-built in 1812, several gravestones were
laid down in the floor of the entrances, and amongst them Mr. Tingey’s.
This accounts for the partial obliteration of the inscription. Two or
three are almost entirely effaced. There is one to the memory of “Mrs.
Elizabeth Playters, relict of Mr. Richard Playters, who departed this
life December the 22nd, 1727, aged 44 years.” And another which pointed
out the resting-place of “Joshua Nunn, who departed this life Feb. ye
27th, 1729, aged 80 years.” Surely a more respectful mode of disposing
of these memorials of the departed might have been adopted.
{179a} He had a daughter married to the Rev. W. Parry, the late divinity
tutor of the Academy at Wymondley.
{179b} Mr. Samuel Hurrion being obliged, by an impaired state of health,
to resign his ministry, retired first to Bungay, and then to Beccles,
where he died Oct. 25th, 1763, aged fifty-three years. He was buried at
Denton, his native place. Wils. Diss. Ch. iii. 296. He is described on
his tombstone as “late of Beccles.”
{184} Prot. Diss. Mag. v. 1—6. 355. vi. 112. Aikin’s General Biography.
{185} Wils. Diss. Ch. ii. 554.
{186} Harmer; MSS.
{190a} His father, in consequence of this step, disinherited him, and
never saw him but once afterwards. Theol. Mag. iii. 179.
{190b} His academical certificate is dated 6 Kal. Junii 1771, and is
signed by Drs. Conder, Gibbons, and Fisher, and by Messrs. Barber,
Hitchin, Watson, and Stafford.
{191} These were Thomas Ebbs, afterwards a highly respectable deacon,
and whose daughter Mr. Heptinstall married; Wm. Leabon [Leavold]; and
John Dann.
{192} Mr. Heptinstall’s ordination took place on the sixteenth
anniversary of Mr. Bocking’s.
{194} It appears that these two excellent ministers and the late Rev.
John Carter of Mattishall, Norfolk, all commenced their labours, at the
respective places in which they so long adorned the gospel, upon the same
sabbath. They enjoyed an unchanged friendship till separated by death—a
friendship which has been renewed in heaven, never more to be interrupted
by distance, or severed by calamity.
{196} Theological Magazine, iii. 177–181.
{202} Those who are acquainted with Mr. Jay’s “Life of Winter,” will
understand this reference to his cruel treatment with regard to the
ordination he desired to obtain in the church of England,—treatment,
however, which was so overruled by Providence, that he possessed, as Mr.
Whitfield predicted, “the greatest preferment under heaven,—to be an
able, painful, faithful, successful, suffering, cast-out minister of the
New Testament.”
{206} Mr. Sloper’s MSS. and Evan. Mag. 1803, p. 406.
{207a} Church book.
{207b} At first they united themselves to the Baptist church at Claxton,
in Norfolk, under the pastoral oversight of Mr. Job Hupton; but the
inconvenience of attending public worship at so great a distance, induced
them to obtain the use of a building in Beccles. The place they procured
had been occasionally used for devotional purposes, and the celebrated
John Wesley had once preached there; but it was sometimes appropriated to
the barbarous amusement of cock-fighting. This circumstance was very
repugnant to the feelings of those who resorted thither for religious
purposes, and it stimulated their efforts to provide a house of prayer of
their own. In 1805, the present Baptist meeting-house was erected. On
the 5th Sept. 1808, a church was formed consisting of twenty-four
persons; and, on the 12th July, 1809, Mr. Tipple, late of Hail-Weston,
Hunts. was publicly recognized as their pastor. He resigned his
pastorship in the following year, and from that period the church and
congregation were supplied by a succession of ministers, without pastoral
settlement, till 1822, when the Rev. George Wright commenced his labours.
On the 19th July, 1823, he was set apart to the pastoral office, which he
now ably and usefully sustains. The church comprises, at the present
time, nearly 150 members.
{209} Jay’s Life of Winter, p. 284.
{211} Jay’s Life of Winter, 2nd ed. p. 223.
{217a} Anna Seward. See Campbell’s Life of Mrs. Siddons, ii. 241.
{217b} Campbell’s Life of Mrs. Siddons, ii. 329.
{218} September 16th.
{225} Evan. Mag. 1813, p. 61.
{232} Pp. 15–17.
{250} The writer regrets that the scantiness of his information, as well
as the unexpected length to which these records have extended, prevent
his noticing some other excellent and exemplary individuals, who have
been ornaments to the church, and are now “through faith and patience
inheriting the promises.”