THE CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE. DECEMBER, 1836. HISTORICAL NOTICES OF CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. As it is very desirable that the fragments of our denominational history should be gathered up, the Editor intends to insert in this Periodical, from time to time, Historical Sketches of our Churches in various parts of the kingdom. These will be published without regard to topographical order, as he thinks it far better at once to preserve the information he may obtain, than to defer its publication till the history of our churches, in a district or a county, can be collected, which may require the delay of years, and hazard its security altogether. Congregational Church, Arundel, Sussex. There had been, from time immemorial, a great deficiency of evangelical instruction in this part of England. About the year 1767, the Rev. Mr. Glasscott, Vicar of Hatherleigh, Devon, made zealous efforts for the spiritual benefit of the people of Arundel. He preached one Lord's-day at the Shambles, in the High Street, without interruption, and gave notice that he intended to preach there on the next Sunday. But some of the influential people of the town com VOL. XIX. N. S. No. 144. bined to frustrate his intention; and he was driven with brutal violence out of the town. He, however, was followed by many to a spot about a mile from Arundel, where he preached; on which occasion several persons received their first serious impressions.After the lapse of a considerable time, a meeting-house, in Tarrant Street, was registered for public worship, and when vacant was used for that purpose. In this place the late Dr. Illingworth, and several ministers in the Countess of Huntingdon's connexion preached, and from two to three hundred persons were sometimes present. Before the commencement of the year 1784, the Rev. Mr. Hay (afterwards of Ringwood, Hants, then of Bristol, and finally of North America) having quitted the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, took the pastoral charge of a small Independent church formed at Arundel; and a dwelling-house, adjoining the meeting-house, was fitted up as a place of worship for their use. Articles of faith and discipline were drawn up for them. In 1784 the present meetinghouse in Tarrant Street was built, 5 B on ground purchased by Mr. Tho- neighbourhood,-when his voice. mas Finch, one of the members of was to be heard in his parish the church, who gave £200 to church, they closed the doors of wards the whole expense, which their own chapel; and whenever amounted to £400; the remainder the Rev. Mr. Wilton did not Mr. Hay proposed to collect, but preach at Stoke, their meetings for he accepted an invitation to Ring- mutual spiritual improvement were wood, when not more than £89 had held. It was thus the fire was been contributed. Mr. Finch, (a kept alive. But though it burned man whose name well deserves to in the hearts of a few it did not be kept in memory,) advanced the spread, and a fear was entertained remaining sum. On receiving a that as death did his work among bond for £120 from the Rev. them, their places would not be Henry Foster, of Uckfield, Mr. filled up by those of a kindred. Finch assigned the premises to spirit. God, however, graciously eleven trustees, whose number, provided for the continuance of his when reduced to five, was to be own truth at Arundel, just at the renewed. This deed was regularly time that men were about to deenrolled by Mr. Finch. Various spair. ministers supplied the pulpit at Arundel, after the removal of Mr. Hay, till 1805. When the pulpit was only occasionally supplied, till the close of 1806, when the Rev. Mr. Arbon, then of Chichester, engaged to supply Arundel once a fortnight, on Wednesday evenings; and the Rev. Mr. Moore, who succeeded him, continued the same kind services. Good Mr. Finch entertained the ministers, and paid, aided in a very inadequate manner by the congregation, their travelling expenses, and the incidental outlays for the chapel.That the Dissenters of Arundel were influenced by an exclusive love of evangelical truth, separate from all party feeling, is evident from the following pleasing circumstance. At the time referred to, a pious and zealous clergyman, the late Rev. W. Wilton, obtained the rectory of South Stoke, a village about two miles from Arundel. The Dissenters at Arundel had been in the practice of meeting on the Lord's-day, for united prayer, and reading of printed sermons. But so soon as a faithful minister of the Gospel appeared in the In January, 1809, the Sussex Mission Society was formed. The object of the institution, which was composed of ministers of various denominations, was to diffuse the blessings of the gospel in those parts of the county which appeared most in need of its assistance. The sum of £85 annually was promptly voted to support an itinerancy, of which Arundel should be the centre, to be continued, if necessary, two years. It is well worthy of notice, that this plan had been carried into effect only a few short months, before the labours of the Rev. Mr. Wilton, at Stoke, were terminated by a sudden call to his rest and his reward. The chapel in Tarrant Street, was then regularly supplied from the academy at Hackney, under the care of the late talented and energetic Matthew Wilks, and the Rev. G. Collison. The Rev. Lambert Gore was sent from the academy to remain twelve months at Arundel, where he preached twice every Lord's day; at Pagham, thirteen miles from Arundel, on Wednesday evenings, and occasionally at other places. It was about this time that the Rev. Samuel Greathead, of Newport Pagnel, came to reside at Arundel, for his health; and afforded valuable aid to the cause of truth by his judicious and important advice. The Rev. L. Gore remained at Arundel till early in 1814. From this time till July of the same year, the Rev. W. Bannister took the charge, and even tually was ordained as the pastor of the church and congregation. His ordination took place in 1819: the church was re-organized, and from that date to 1833 sixty members were added. This highly respected minister, having witnessed the increase of the church and congregation, and the enlargement of the chapel, departed from this world in July, 1834. Peace to his ashes! Verdure to his memory! Perpetuity to his spirit! The Rev. T. O. Dobbin succeeded to the pastoral office, and a new chapel is now building. The Rev. Wm. Davis, of Hastings, delivered an excellent address when its foundation stone was laid, from which we have transcribed the preceding particulars. The Dissenting Congregation at Bishop's Hull, Somerset. This Congregation was first formed under Mr. Nathaniel Charlton, who was ejected from the parish church in this village, and is mentioned by Dr. Calamy; they met for some years in a private house; the present plain and regularly built meeting-house was erected in the year 1718; after Mr. Charlton, the congregation was supplied by Mr. Hartford, and Mr. Warren, of Taunton, who also had been ejected from their livings; and by the pupils of the latter, who kept an academy in that town, with much credit for many years. In the beginning of the reign of Queen Anne, Mr. Darch, and Mr. Baldwin Deacon, became ministers of this church, and preached alternately to it, the latter soon removed to Stogumber, and was succeeded by the great and excellent Mr. Grove. Mr. Darch died, January 31, 1737, aged 65. For his character, see his funeral sermon by Mr. Grove, vol. 7, of his works. Several years before his death, Mr. Darch, being rendered. incapable of his public work by the state of his health, resigned to Mr. Farnham Haskoll, a gentleman of independent fortune, born near Shaftsbury, who had pursued academical studies partly under Mr. Grove, and partly under the learned Mr. Jones, of Tewkesbury. continued his pastoral connection with the church till 1770, and finished his course at the advanced age of 81, October 8, 1779; on the Rev. Farnham Haskoll withdrawing from public service in the year 1770, the Rev. Peard Jillard settled in this place. This gentleman was descended, on the maternal side, from Mr. Wm. Bartlett and Mr. Oliver Peard, two of the distinguished sufferers for the cause of conscience and Christian liberty, who were ejected from their livings, by the cruel Act of Uniformity on Bartholomew day, 1662. See Mr. Jillard's funeral sermon, by the late Dr. Toulmin. He Having spent 29 years among the people in a manner that secured respect, and conciliated affection, he died 22d October, 1799, in the 69th year of his age. Mr. Peter Good, a near relative of the late Dr. Mason Good, succeeded to take the oversight of the church and congregation, and in this place he continued to labour until the latter end of 1805, when, from ill health, he was obliged to resign his charge, and removed to Charmouth. Mr. Good was followed by the Rev. Wm. Heudebourck, who had studied under the venerable Mr. Small, of Axminster, and who bade fair to be eminently useful in the church, but he was removed by death, March 17, 1812, aged 29 years. For the character of this amiable individual, see his funeral sermon by Mr. Small. The church and congregation being now left as sheep without a shepherd, Mr. W. Heudebourck, sen. a deacon of the church, and the pious and esteemed father of the departed young pastor, who for many years had filled the vacant pulpits in the neighbourhood with credit and usefulness, undertook to fill up the vacancy occasioned by his son's death, until a suitable minister could be procured. In 1813, he was released from his voluntary and useful labours by the Rev. Daniel Gunn, who, after a continuance of twelve months, removed from this part of the country, Lady-day, 1814; resigning the charge with their unanimous wish to Mr. Winton, who had lived for some years among a most affectionate people at Chard, and whose removal to a milder air was deemed absolutely necessary to the benefit of his beloved but consumptive wife. Kingswood Meeting, near Wotton under-edge, Gloucestershire. The old Meeting in which the Protestant Dissenters in this village worshipped for 160 years, was built in the year 1668. The little sanctuary was for a considerable time a Bethel to many who came a considerable distance to hear the word of life. Several ministers laboured occasionally among them with great success, till the year 1730, when Mr. Samuel (afterwards Doctor Samuel) became their stated pastor. He was greatly beloved by the people, who attended to his instructions with delight. His labours amongst them were interrupted by a visit to the Continent, where he continued some years. During his absence, the congregation were served by various ministers, who continued with them for a longer or shorter period. At length Dr. Samuel returned, and resumed his pastoral duties, in which he was favoured with still increasing success. After twenty years stated and occasional services, he took his leave of the people, who cherished a fond recollection of his faithful labours. The period of his decease is not known. The church elected a young man from Carmarthen, of the name of William Davies, to the pastoral office, and he was ordained in the year 1757. After he had resided with them for several years, he unhappily entangled himself with the affairs of this life," by some commercial speculations, which proving unsuccessful, his character and influence were lost, the church and congregation were scattered, and for nearly fourteen years "the things that remained were ready to die." A female member of the church, who had removed to Bristol, and enjoyed the faithful ministry of the late Mr. Lowell, often lamented the desolation of the church in her native village, and in 1803 she induced a friend in Bristol to assist her efforts to revive the interests of religion in that place. Through their exertions the meeting-house was repaired, and an evening lecture was preached by Mr. Lewis, the late pastor of the Old Town Meeting, Wotton-under-edge. The congregation increased, and Mr. Davies, who had retained the pastoral office for forty-nine years, feeling that he was in every sense unequal to the duties of his station, united with his people in August, 1806, to invite Mr. Charles Daniell, then a student with the Rev. Cornelius Winter, of Painswick, to undertake the pastoral care, which be accepted, and on the 23d of December, 1806, he was ordained by the Congregational ministers of Gloucestershire to that work. In the following January Mr. Davies, the late pastor, died, affording by his own personal sorrows and the melancholy obstruction of the work of God in that village for half a century, a most instructive warning to his brethren in the ministry not to engage in those speculations which may bring ruin on themselves and a reproach upon the cause to which they are devoted. This little church had scarcely recovered the effects of Mr. Davies's indiscretions, when they were threatened with the loss of the meeting-house, through the unprincipled claims of an individual, who availed himself of the loss of some of the deeds to urge his title, though the premises had been purchased in 1769 for £400. The Committee of Deputies in London, however, succeeded in repelling this hostile effort, and new deeds were executed and enrolled. These facts should suggest to every reader who is connected with a Congregational Church, an enquiry respecting the trust deeds and legal security of his own place of worship, as there is too much reason to fear that in many cases the most culpable negligence has been displayed. The new pastor immediately established a Sunday-school, the first in the village, consisting of more than 200 children, and the increase of the worshippers was so great, that new galleries were erected, and every effort made to increase the accommodation of the people. In the year 1820 it was felt necessary to rebuild the meeting, and on the 14th of August, 1821, the new edifice, 44 feet by 33, with galleries and a spacious vestry, was opened for divine worship. The congregation continues prosperous, and the church large, and the excellent pastor is privileged to witness very gratifying results from his devoted labours. DR. PAYNE ON THE ENGLISH EDITION OF PORTER'S HOMILETICS. (To the Editor.) SIR,-I am not aware whether a volume of " Lectures on Homiletics and Preaching, and on Public Prayer, by Dr. Porter, of Andover," has been reviewed in the Congregational Magazine. Should this not have been the case, I beg to draw the attention of my young clerical brethren to it, as a work of incomparably greater value than any other, on the same subject, with which I, at least, am acquainted. I especially advise them, however, to obtain the American edition, and not the reprint (as it professes to be) in this country, edited by a clergyman of Liverpool, of the name of Jones. Making it a text book in our Institution, my attention has been directed to certain discrepancies between the American and the English edition, (for we have both,) which it seems to me desirable to point out, and of some of which I do most seriously complain. The American edition contains lectures on preaching and on public prayer. Dr. Porter urges what seems to me irresistible arguments against forms of prayer, and speaks in |