Memorials of the Independent Churches in Northamptonshire Part 24

[6] The doc.u.ment quoted above does not state the distances correctly.

Oundle is seven miles, Kettering eight, Rowell eleven or twelve, and Wellingborough thirteen miles distant.

Then, in their Church covenant drawn up and subscribed June 9th of the same year, they say--

We, the professed disciples of Christ, whose names are hereunto subscribed, meeting together for the worship of G.o.d in Brigstock, having long enjoyed the means of grace through the favourable indulgence of G.o.d towards us, cannot think it will be for the glory of G.o.d to continue any longer as scattered individuals, like lambs in a large place, but judge it our duty, both from the openings of providence and from rules lying before us in G.o.d's word, to cleave to him with fuller purpose of heart than heretofore we have done, each one for ourselves, and, in the judgment of charity, each one hoping well for each other; and having given ourselves to the Lord, in a perpetual covenant that shall never be forgotten, do here, in the presence of G.o.d, angels, and men as our witnesses, give each other the right hand of fellowship, binding ourselves by covenant and by oath to walk together according to that order which is, for distinction sake, called Congregational, according to the Abrahamic covenant, including believers and their children, which we find pointed out to us in the New Testament by our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy apostles. Having thus covenanted together under Christ our Sovereign Lord and Head, we look upon it our duty to him solemnly to engage, in his strength, to maintain those truths which are essential to real Christianity, against all opposers whatever, at the expense of our properties and our lives, if G.o.d in his providence should call and strengthen us so to do.

(Then follow the articles of their faith.)

In reference to the commencement of Mr. Hillyard's ministry, who was the first pastor of this Church at Brigstock, we find the following records preserved by the Church at Wellingborough, of which he was a member:--

_March 2nd, 1775._--The Church was informed that brother Hillyard had given an exhortation to some of the brethren, who should report to the Church their thoughts next meeting.

_May 5th._--Brother Hillyard exercised his gift before the Church, when it was unanimously agreed that he should continue until the path of duty was more plain.

In 1776, _June 6th_, the Church met by appointment, and sent brother Hillyard to preach whithersoever the Lord is pleased to call him.

In 1778, _May 3rd_, a letter was read from Brigstock, saying that they had formed themselves into a Church, and requested that we would send messengers to behold their faith and order, on the 9th of June. That Church afterwards agreed, by the advice of ministers, to invite brother Hillyard to be ordained their pastor, and for this purpose requested his dismission.

He was ordained May 20th, and on this occasion Mr. Toller, of Kettering, Mr. Robins, and Mr. Toller, of London, preached.

Of Mr. Hillyard's early ministrations it is stated, "that they were distinguished by a glowing, holy, and enlightened zeal, accompanied with great modesty and diffidence. He was fully sensible of the disadvantages under which he laboured for want of a more liberal education, yet earnestly desirous of devoting all that he had attained, all that he possessed, to the good of souls and the furtherance of the Gospel. With much regret he was compelled to relinquish his station at Brigstock, on account of the inability of the people to meet the wants of his increasing family. He then settled for a few years at Kimbolton, in Huntingdonshire, until he fixed for the remainder of his life at Olney, in Buckinghamshire, where during forty years he experienced the great goodness of his G.o.d and Saviour. He fell asleep on the twelfth of July, 1828, in the eighty-third year of his age. His address was plain, powerful, and pointed. His ministry was abundantly blessed; his place of worship at Olney was enlarged four times."

An unsettled interval, attended with repeated changes, appears to have followed Mr. Hillyard's removal. A Mr. Griffin appears immediately to have succeeded Mr. Hillyard; then Mr. Maurice Phillips was placed here for a short time--he came in the year 1790, when this place became united with Weldon, under one pastor: Mr. Phillips afterwards became tutor of Rotherham College, in connexion with Dr. Williams. Mr. Morgan, from Dr. Williams' academy, was a candidate for one year (1796); Mr.

William Bull, for nine months; Mr. Spencer also ministered unto them for one year (1798). About the year 1798 we read, "that Mr. Mitchel was universally approved of, and about being settled with us; but he removed to Leicester, and the hopes of the people were disappointed." It does not appear that any person was settled long as pastor for a number of years. This undoubtedly had a very unfavourable influence as to the numbers in Church fellowship, for the next pastor observes, when he first admitted four members to the Church, "for nearly twenty years there had been no addition to the little band, the result probably of being without a pastor." "The number of communicants at the time of my first dispensing the Lord's Supper was only five, and two of them were members of another religious community. The members of the Church were reduced to eight only, and for some reasons three did not unite with us at the table. O thou Spirit Divine, carry on the work of salvation, that many may first give themselves to the Lord, and then unto us for Christ's sake! 'By whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small, but by thee, O Lord?'" Again he wrote--"With grat.i.tude I now look back nine years, and with holy joy my heart exclaims, What has G.o.d wrought, through whose blessing the Church has increased to upwards of sixty members! This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes."

Thus wrote Mr. Robert Pickering, who was the next that was settled over them as a minister of Christ.

But during this unsettled interval, a new Meeting House was built. A statement of their case was drawn up, sanctioned by the names of a number of ministers, soliciting aid from the Churches towards this object, dated 1798. In this doc.u.ment they say--

We now have stated supplies, in hopes that the great Head of the Church will send us a pastor that will go in and out before us, and feed our souls with spiritual food. Our numbers being increased to about two hundred, the place which has been rented about fifty years being very small, and we being only tenants at will and under a discharge to quit at Lady-day next, we have been under the necessity of purchasing a house, with ground to it sufficient for the purpose of erecting a new place for public worship, on which we have built a sh.e.l.l, the walls of stone, and covered with slate, to finish which in a plain comfortable manner will cost in the whole expense about 300. We are not able to raise more than 100 amongst ourselves, there being no individual belonging to the congregation of independent fortune; therefore we are obliged to make our case known, and to request the a.s.sistance of our friends of other congregations.

By the a.s.sistance rendered the building was completed, and the expense ultimately cleared.

It was in the year 1803 that Mr. Pickering, who had been a student at Rotherham College, was introduced to the notice of the congregation at Brigstock; and after ten months' probation, he was publicly ordained to the pastoral office.

Mr. Pickering was born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in the county of Leicester, March 12th, 1777. His entrance into a state of spiritual life he dates about the spring of 1794, when he says--

It pleased G.o.d to convert me to himself under a sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. Moseley, from Matt. vii. 21: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father that is in heaven." I have not much recollection of what was said, but remember that such was the impression made upon my mind that I was much affected: on reaching home, I walked about the garden in much distress. When I reflected upon that heaven of which I had been hearing, I could not help exclaiming, "I shall never reach there." Alarmed at my dreadful state as a sinner, I began to seek after G.o.d by prayer and a more constant attendance at the Chapel, and eagerly sought every opportunity of pouring out my heart before him in the closet, the shop, or the field. Nor was it long before G.o.d was pleased to break in upon my soul with light and comfort. Soon after, I found great encouragement in a discourse from John vi. 37: "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." My experience at that time was not the same as many of G.o.d's people. I had not that horror, darkness, and awful dread which some have pa.s.sed through. No, blessed be Immanuel! he "drew me with the cords of a man, and with bonds of love."

Mr. Pickering became a member of the Church at Atherstone, where he then resided; and soon after this he began to engage in occasional religious services for the benefit of others; and on the 29th of August, 1798, he entered the academy at Rotherham. On the completion of his studies he laboured for a year at Driffield, in Yorkshire; but difficulties arose, which rendered it unsuitable for him to remain. He was invited on probation by the people at Brigstock. "I selected," he says, "as the ground of my first address to the congregation of Brigstock, Rom. i. 16: 'I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.' To the speaker it was a merciful season, and a time of saving impression to a person who afterwards joined the Church of Christ. In the afternoon I preached at Weldon, and in the evening at Corby." These places combined in promoting the temporal support of the same minister, while they mutually reaped the benefit of his pious labours. For the first twenty years of his ministry Mr. Pickering preached statedly at Brigstock and Weldon every Lord's-day, and once a month, in the evening, at Corby also.

On the 21st of June, 1804, he was ordained to the pastoral office. "The religious services of the day," he observes, "were very impressive, and highly interesting. The brethren engaged were Messrs. Toller, Whitehead, Gronow, Bullock, Wood, Spencer, and Chadwick." "The day after my ordination, a deep sense of the important work and awful responsibility of the ministry induced me to cry to G.o.d for a.s.sistance, that he would cheer me with his presence and a.s.sist me on all occasions. The care of the Church was much upon my spirit, and the eternal welfare of souls before me. How weighty the charge! how weak the instrument! and how arduous the employment! Oh, to be spiritually minded, watchful, and useful! Lord, form my mind to bear all the trials and duties of my station, and thine shall be the praise!"

Mr. Pickering's labours were continued here for thirty-three years. He was the pious, affectionate, kind, amiable, and faithful pastor of the village Church. He had, on the whole, a peaceful and useful course; always plain and serious, evangelical and devout, in his engagements as a minister, while his daily temper and conduct recommended the Gospel he preached. He died suddenly, August 27th, 1836. He was interred in the front of the Chapel where he had so long preached. Mr. Green, of Uppingham, delivered the funeral oration; Mr. Renals, of Wellingborough, who had been a fellow student with Mr. Pickering, preached the funeral sermon, from John xi. 16: "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

Mr. Renals prepared and published a memoir of his friend. On his last birth-day, Mr. Pickering wrote--

_March 12th, 1836._

I am this day fifty-nine years of age. I was nineteen when I began to exhort my fellow sinners residing in villages to think of G.o.d; and two years after, the Christian Church procured admission for me at Rotherham College; so that I must have been engaged, more or less, about forty years in the work of the Lord. All these years I have found him a good Master--a friend near at hand, ever ready to help, and a constant refuge to my soul; still employing me in h.o.a.ry age, and rendering my services somewhat useful in his cause.

When Mr. Pickering was settled, a new gallery was erected; and in the course of his ministry, in the year 1819, a large vestry, measuring 20 feet by 17 feet, with a school-room of equal size over it, and both opening into the Meeting House, were added, to accommodate the young and the poor. The Meeting House, the vestry, and school-room together, are calculated to accommodate 450 persons.

On the death of Mr. Pickering, the dest.i.tute and afflicted people applied to Rotherham, and Mr. Isaac Vaughan came on probation, respecting whose introduction to Brigstock the following is recorded:--

Isaac Vaughan, having been invited by the Church and congregation at Brigstock, and having visited the place, entered upon his labours the third Sabbath in July, 1837. His ordination took place on the 2nd of May, 1838, when a very large concourse of people a.s.sembled, and a goodly company of ministers, many of whom were called upon to take part in the services. Mr. Thomas Toller delivered a most beautiful introductory discourse; Mr. H. Stowell, Mr. Vaughan's tutor, gave an interesting and impressive charge; Mr. J. Green offered the ordination prayer; and Mr. E. T. Prust preached to the Church and congregation a very appropriate sermon. The services were peculiarly solemn and interesting, and the impression good.

In the spring of 1841, after four short years, Mr. Vaughan saw fit to remove to Olney (subsequently to the new Tabernacle, London), and the people were again as sheep without a shepherd, and were in an unsettled state for several years. Many supplied the vacant pulpit, among whom may be mentioned Mr. Hillyard, since of Pocklington, and Mr. Simpson, now of Shepton Mallett, both of whom stayed a considerable time, and were made useful during their temporary sojourn among the people.

In January, 1845, the cause had become greatly weakened and the attendance reduced, so that the spirits of the people were much depressed, when their attention--which in 1842 had in vain been directed to the present minister, Mr. Thomas Lord, then pastor of the Independent Church at Wollaston--was again turned in that direction, and ultimately with success. He entered upon his labours on the 18th of the following May. The union was formed under hopeful circ.u.mstances, and has. .h.i.therto continued most cordial and harmonious.

"In the year 1847, being the jubilee of the erection of the place of worship, it was found needful," states the present minister, "to effect considerable repairs and improvements. The people came forward with a willing mind and a liberal spirit, and raised upwards of 40, which, with some other donations, was sufficient to prevent any remaining debt." "There is," he observes, "no record of members prior to the time of Mr. Pickering being settled, who, numbering himself one, entered all those that were in fellowship; and from that time a record has been kept. The whole number admitted, up to the present time, has been 201; of these many have fallen asleep. In the year 1824, seventeen were dismissed in peace and love, to form a separate Church of the same order at Weldon. A few have tired and fainted, and walk the ways of G.o.d no more; some have removed to a distance; while about sixty remain in communion. The average attendance on public worship through the year verges upon 300. The Sunday-schools contain about 110 children, the average attendance being about seventy each part of the day. These are attended to by about twenty teachers, who are most of them on the Lord's side. A separate service is maintained for the benefit of the children every Lord's-day, which is conducted by the minister, deacons, and others in rotation. Several who have been trained in the schools have become children of G.o.d, but stand connected with other Churches, where they have been called in the providence of G.o.d to reside.

"There is no pecuniary endowment of any kind in connexion with the Church at Brigstock, but a good house erected for the residence of the minister, about thirteen years ago, upon which there has rested a debt, which is slowly decreasing, and const.i.tutes the only difficulty which presses upon the people, who are, almost without a single exception, working people. There is no Day-school in connexion with the Chapel, which is a serious drawback; but the want is partially met by schoolroom and scholastic privileges which exist in the village, which, however, through high Church and Puseyistic influences, are not so efficient or acceptable as might be.

"On the whole, the Christian friends at Brigstock have much to be thankful for; and, in language employed at a late public meeting of the Church and congregation, minister, and other friends, they say--'In looking backward, we cry, "hitherto hath the Lord helped us"; and in looking forward, we "thank G.o.d and take courage." In looking inward, we feel that we are the subject of manifold deficiencies, and confess our need of a fresh baptism of heavenly and spiritual blessings; and looking upward, we cry, "O Lord, revive thy work" "O Lord, we beseech thee, send now prosperity." Amen.'"

CHAPTER XVII.

MEMORIALS OF THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH AT WELDON AND CORBY.

In the early part of the last century, there resided in the village of Little Weldon a freestone mason, Mr. Edward Nutt, who was a Protestant Dissenter of the Independent denomination. He usually attended divine worship at the Independent Meeting in Kettering, under the ministry of the excellent Mr. Thomas Saunders. After the death of Mr. Saunders, he travelled to Oundle on the Sabbath, to hear Mr. Goodrich; but, not satisfied with going himself to obtain improvement and enjoyment under the ministry of the Gospel, he was anxious to bring it home to the inhabitants of the village in which he resided, with the hope that it might be rendered useful to them. Therefore, at the quarter sessions at Northampton, July 17th, 1706, he had his dwelling-house and premises registered for the worship of G.o.d, and then he began to have occasional preaching there by the Dissenting ministers in the vicinity. The following copy of the license granted him has been preserved:--

_Northamptonshire._

These are to certify, that Edward Nutt, of the said county, did certify to her Majesty's justices of the peace, a.s.sembled at their general quarter sessions of the peace, held for the county aforesaid, on Tuesday, the 16th day of July, that the dwelling-house of the said Edward Nutt, with its appurtenances, situated in Weldon aforesaid, in the said county of Northampton, is set apart and intended a place of meeting for Protestant Dissenters to meet for the exercise of their religious worship and service of G.o.d.

Given under my hand, and the seal of my office, this 17th day of July, anno Domini 1706.

J. HORTON.

In his dwelling-house Mr. Nutt had occasional services conducted for several years; but about the year 1736 or 1738 he fitted up, in a very plain manner, a small barn, where the Meeting House now stands: it had a small window, a square pulpit, three stone steps to the pulpit, and the people sat on forms. Thus it continued, and here the services were held until the present Meeting House was built.

Mr. Nutt left by will to the Rev. D. Goodrich, of Oundle, and the Rev.

Samuel King, of Welford, his dwelling-house, with its appurtenances, a close of pasture land, and one hundred pounds, which they were to receive at the death of his wife; and Mrs. Nutt made the same parties joint executors of her will, and residuary legatees. It was understood that this property was meant to be applied for the maintenance of some services in the village of Weldon by Dissenting ministers. The parties to whom it was left, well knowing that it was the desire of Mr. and Mrs.

Nutt to have a sermon preached there once a month or oftener, by Dissenting ministers of the Independent denomination, consulted with some of the neighbouring ministers as to the best mode of securing the money for this purpose. It was ultimately determined to lay it out in the purchase of a piece of land in t.i.tchmarsh field, the rents and profits of which continue to be received towards the support of the minister for the time being. The dwelling-house was found to expose the executors to some trouble in obtaining tenants and keeping it in repair, so that they determined on the sale of the house, with its appurtenances, for which they received 80. The half of this sum was expended in the enclosure of the land at t.i.tchmarsh, and the other half was applied towards the building of the new Meeting House. Some years after, the dwelling-house was again purchased for the residence of the minister, when they had a settled pastor at Weldon.

While Mr. Nutt was living, his business calling him very much from home, the services were irregular, being ordered so as to suit the convenience of Mr. Nutt and the ministers that he invited to preach: what little expense was incurred was borne by him. After his decease, the services were held with greater regularity; and after the death of Mrs. Nutt, the ministers that usually preached met annually at Weldon, in July, to fix the course of lecture for the next year, and audit the accounts for the last. The plan was, to have a sermon once a month, on Sabbath evenings, in the summer, and on Thursday at eleven o'clock A.M., in the winter; and there was seven shillings and sixpence a time allowed out of the estate and money left by Mr. and Mrs. Nutt; the surplus paid for a lecture on other Sabbath evenings, which was usually preached by Mr.

Bacon, pastor of the Independent Church at Ashley. The preachers of the monthly lecture were generally the ministers of Oundle, Kettering, Bowell, Ashley, Harborough, Welford, and Uppingham, all of whom gave up to Mr. M. Phillips, the minister at Brigstock, when it was determined to connect Weldon with that place.

As the lectures could not be much oftener than once a month, on the Lord's-day evening; and being in the forenoon on the week-days, were very thinly attended, it was considered by the ministers, trustees, and others, that it would be better for the people at Weldon to become united with the Church at Brigstock, and so to get a regularly educated minister between them. At that time, a Mr. Griffin was minister at Brigstock; but being seventy-six years of age, he was willing to retire as soon as the people could obtain a successor. "Just at that time,"

writes Mr. Nathaniel Collis, of Kettering, who felt a lively interest in their concerns, "I had occasion to write to Dr. Williams, tutor to the academy, then at Oswestry, and took the opportunity of inquiring whether any young man was there suitable for such a situation, on which the Doctor recommended Mr. Maurice Phillips: he was a Welchman, and came at the Midsummer vacation, 1790. At first he was a poor speaker in English, but in a few months so improved as to become a very acceptable preacher; and he was a close student." Upon his coming, he regularly preached at Brigstock and Weldon, so that both places had preaching once every Sabbath, and sometimes an additional service in the evening; and he generally preached once a month at Corby, on a Sabbath evening. Under these arrangements, the attendance considerably increased at Weldon.

They made some enlargement of the place of meeting; but the number of hearers still increasing, and the place being an old building, low, and inconvenient, they at length determined on building a new Meeting House.

According to the plan that was formed, it was to be twenty feet wide, thirty-three feet long, sixteen feet high to the top of the side walls, and cove of the ceiling about three feet higher, all inside measure; which, it was thought, would be large enough to seat them all on the ground floor, and be high enough for a gallery, if it should be wanted.