[Picture: Rev. Dr. Stoughton. By kind permission of Messrs. Elliott &
Fry]
THE succession of Dr. Stoughton to the ministry of the Church brings us
exactly to the middle of our century of history. In October, 1843, the
recognition service was held. Dr. Stoughton, in his letter accepting the
invitation, had feelingly referred to the difficulty of following Dr.
Vaughan, “one whose eminence in the Christian world might well provoke,
in connection with myself, humiliating comparisons.” But, indeed, the
Church had been guided to one of the very few men who might fittingly
continue the work of Dr. Vaughan. As a historian of those periods of
English history in which Nonconformists are especially interested, Dr.
Stoughton stands unsurpassed among Englishmen; and such is the fairness
and moderation of his writings that Church of England lecturers have
repeatedly made appeal to them as models of impartial and accurate
statement. Indeed, Dr. Stoughton’s literary industry has been immense.
The Religious Tract Society has largely benefited by admirably written
accounts of the great Reformers and religious heroes of Christendom,
while Dr. Stoughton’s editorship of the _Evangelical Magazine_ was
conspicuously successful in making that organ a power among the Churches.
But it was in no partial or half-hearted way that he threw himself into
his ministerial work at Kensington. Our readers must turn to his own
inimitable narrative in “Congregationalism in the Court Suburb” for the
delightful reminiscences he gives of his own ministry, and the people
associated with it. Our concern is with the growth of the Church life;
and to this end we must pursue our examination of the records, which are
henceforth admirably kept.
That Dr. Stoughton immediately acquired the full confidence and loyal
support of the Church officers and members is evident from a very
remarkable fact. For many years past the Church had been, in all
essential procedure, a Congregational Church; but, although it was so in
fact, it was not so actually in form. The members had apparently not
been led to see the importance of constituting themselves according to
the New Testament practice. We all know that it is not easy to carry out
important changes without arousing considerable criticism, and, not
unusually, opposition. And for the truer fashioning of the Church upon
more Apostolic lines there was needed a strong and wise leadership. This
leadership was supplied by the new minister, and the delicate work of
reorganisation was most successfully and harmoniously carried through.
The existing “managers” became deacons, and new deacons were appointed;
and the Church assumed the form which it has ever since maintained. It
was of excellent augury for the success of his ministry that Dr.
Stoughton perceived so early that the recognition of the spiritual order
of the Church in form, as well as in fact, was a vital principle.
However much of the subsequent development of our Church we may attribute
to Dr. Stoughton’s able and devoted ministry, we are bound to attribute
even more to this bold and timely assertion of the true idea of the
Church.
The time soon came when the Hornton Street Chapel proved too small for
the number of hearers. Kensington was, even now, rapidly developing, and
every month added to the congregations that assembled to worship in what
was never a large building. What enlargement could easily be made was
carried out in 1845, but it afforded only temporary relief. There had
evidently come to the Church one of those testing times of faith and
sacrifice which prove the genuineness of the spirit and the life. The
district of Notting Hill was becoming an influential and populous one,
and the conviction was laying hold of the minds and hearts of many, that
it was a clear duty to Christ that a certain number of the members should
consent to break with the old associations of Hornton Street, and form a
new Church in the district just mentioned. Such a proposal, of course,
meant even more than the severance of very sacred ties that bound them to
the old society, and to their loved minister. It meant a generous
offering of their money for the new building. But to all these demands
the Church was equal. At a meeting held in the vestry at Hornton Street,
£1700 was at once subscribed, and, in a very tender and beautiful
document, that betrays in every line the sorrow that they felt at thus
going forth from a place and a community so dear to them, thirty-seven
members ask to be commissioned by the Hornton Street Church to form a new
society at Horbury, Notting Hill. An exodus of this kind, where the
spirit is entirely of love and faith, is a memorable and impressive
event. Something like one hundred seat-holders left Hornton Street for
Horbury; but the two congregations remained one in heart, as they were
one in tradition. Under the long and able ministry of the Rev. William
Roberts, the Horbury Church has been a great power for good in that
neighbourhood. We reproduce a photograph of the chapel, which stands on
an admirable site, and presents a very good appearance.
[Picture: Horbury Chapel, Notting Hill]
On purely economical principles the mother Church should now be seriously
weakened by the voluntary surrender of so many members, and so much
earnest Christian capacity. But the great law of the economy of the
Kingdom of Heaven is that we live by sacrifice. And it was so now. The
Church at Hornton Street flourished as never before. The income was not
impaired: the sittings refilled; the organisations abounded with life.
In influence, reputation, and spiritual power, the Church grew day by
day. Not five years afterwards, the old problem of enlarging the
accommodation presented itself once more for solution. The time was
hardly ripe, nor was any special neighbourhood obvious, for planting a
new settlement. Consequently the alternative solution remained. There
must be a new and larger edifice built. The spirit of the people, so far
from being daunted by the prospect of a large expenditure, and all the
infinite cares of chapel building, rose to meet the opportunity. The
site at Allen Street was secured, and in June, 1854, Dr. Stoughton laid
the first stone of Kensington Chapel. In May, 1855, the building was
opened, and in January, 1860, it was paid for, the total cost of land and
building being £8748 9_s._ 6_d._ The plain and severe character of the
interior probably represented, even then, the average Nonconformist taste
in regard to chapel architecture. Æsthetically considered, it is no
doubt indefensible. The windows are undeniably ugly; the pulpit—designed
as a firm remonstrance against locomotion on the part of its occupant—is
painfully stiff and square; and the general aspect of the building is
somewhat dull and prosaic. But, as a suitable and convenient place for
Nonconformist worship, there is very much to be said for this form of
building. Every one can see the preacher, and he can see every one. The
acoustic properties are perfect. Nothing interferes with the enjoyment
of speaking and hearing: no handsome but troublesome pillars interrupt
the sight; and, let us add, when it is well filled, many of its most
obvious defects entirely disappear.
There is no need to trace in anything like detail the steady progress of
the Church in its new habitation. In 1856 the Lecture Hall was built,
and has been an indispensable adjunct to the Church buildings since that
time. In 1868 the Church took into consideration the need for larger
buildings to contain the British Schools, and shortly afterwards the
friends of the Schools began the building that now stands next to
Kensington Chapel, and is the meeting-place of our Sunday Schools. Thus
the years were full of work and growth in many directions, and the utmost
harmony prevailed among the members, while the relationship of pastor and
people grew closer and more affectionate as the time rolled by. In
course of time the Church provided an assistant minister to relieve Dr.
Stoughton of some part of the labour. The arrangement worked
harmoniously and fairly successfully. But Dr. Stoughton had come to feel
that this was not a permanent settlement of the question that was
arising, how best to provide for the pastoral supervision of the people,
as well as for the superintendence of the numerous important
organisations connected with the Church. Through thirty years of
faithful ministerial labour, assisted by the harmonious co-operation of a
devoted people, Dr. Stoughton had led the Church forward, step by step,
into a position of exceptional strength and influence. It was not
unnatural that, having borne the burden and heat of the day so faithfully
and so long, he should desire to be released from the full
responsibilities of the pastorate. But it was two years later before his
deeply attached people could consent to the severance of a tie that had
become so sacred. The retirement of Dr. Stoughton from the pastorate of
the Church evoked demonstrations of respect and affection that we do not
hesitate to term unique. At the public meeting in the chapel, on April
8th, 1875, to say farewell, there was a most remarkable assemblage of
honoured men. Mr. Samuel Morley occupied the chair, and Sir Thomas
Chambers, Mr. Henry Richard, Sir Charles Reed, Dean Stanley, Canon
Fremantle, Dr. Morley Punshon, Dr. Angus, Dr. Henry Allon, and the Rev.
Baldwin Brown were among those who took part in the meeting. An address,
expressive of admiration and regard for Dr. Stoughton, and gratitude for
his devoted ministry, was presented to him, accompanied by a purse
containing £3000. Thus closed a most memorable ministry. But it is one
of the special joys of our centenary services that Dr. Stoughton should
still be able to come among us, to celebrate the fiftieth year of his
association with Kensington. He retired full of honours. His great
qualities, alike of literary ability and personal character, won for him
the unique distinction of being elected by those most eminent in the
various branches of our national life—Politics, Art, Science, and
Literature—to membership of the Athenæum Club. We believe that he alone
of all Nonconformist ministers has been welcomed to this honour. But we
are certainly right in saying that, even more than such a mark of
recognition by men distinguished in so many walks of life, he has valued
the simple love and loyalty of that Christian Church to which he gave
himself with such unqualified devotion, and which owes so much of its
present character and influence to the spiritual leadership of Dr.
Stoughton.