Chapter XVI

MEMORIALS OF THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH AT BRIGSTOCK.

In the village of Brigstock, which contains upwards of 1200 inhabitants, an Independent Church was formed about seventy-four years ago. There was a small band of decided Christians, attached to the principles of Nonconformity, who in the year 1778 united together in the faith of the Gospel, to sustain a Christian ministry and to have the ordinances of Christ administered unto them. This took place with the encouragement and advice of some ministers of Christ in their vicinity, who had occasionally preached unto them, and knew the circumstances in which they were placed; but there are some interesting memorials preserved of events which preceded, and which manifestly prepared the way, under the blessing of the great Head of the Church, for the formation of a regular Christian society in this place.

It is stated on satisfactory evidence, that during the time of the Plague in London, a godly tradesman of the name of Leigh retired to this village; and it appears that the piety of this Christian and his family, with the attention they paid to the means of grace among the Nonconformists of the neighbourhood, at Kettering, or at Rowell, with whom they for many years became identified, was gradually the means of awakening the attention of others to the subject of true religion and to the cause of Nonconformity. This presents us with a pleasing example of the useful influence that may be exerted by a Christian household, in exciting attention to the means of grace and the principles of the Gospel in a benighted neighbourhood. As their numbers increased, they attended at different places around them, as it might suit their convenience or their taste, those places being from eight to thirteen miles distant; some of them becoming decided Christians, they united in Christian fellowship with those Churches where they generally attended. Thus things continued until the days of Doddridge's ministry, when some stated services were commenced at Brigstock, of which the following account has been preserved:--

Many in this place, several years ago, were very desirous of having
the Gospel preached amongst them, as they are six miles from Oundle,
eight from Kettering, nine from Rowell, and ten from
Wellingborough,[6] and have bad roads all around us; consequently
old people, and such as have large families, could seldom hear the
word, these being the nearest places in which it was preached.
Therefore they made their case known to the Rev. Mr. Doddridge, and
by his means obtained an exhibition from the Independent Fund for
the support of a monthly week-day lecture, which was preached for
some time by the following ministers, viz.: Messrs. Doddridge,
Saunders, Boyce, Hextal, Haywood, and Grant. A blessing attended the
word; our numbers greatly increased; many joyfully received the
Gospel, and became very desirous of hearing it, if possible, on a
Lord's-day. They entered into a subscription for a lecture once a
month on Lord's-day, which was the means of enlarging our interest
still more. We continued in this state many years, till, having
many that we hoped had received the grace of God, we began to think
of embodying into a Church, and had it recommended to us by the
ministers that used to attend our lecture, especially the Rev. Mr.
Addington, who, being providentially cast amongst us for the first
time about the year 1774, talked with us particularly upon this
subject. What he said appeared to rest on many minds, and convinced
us that it was our duty to attend on all the ordinances of Christ:
we therefore sought direction and assistance from God in prayer; and
after watching for some time the openings of providence, Mr.
Hillyard, a member of the Church at Wellingborough, under the
pastoral care of Mr. Carver, was recommended as a proper person to
be our minister. We took opportunities of hearing him often; and it
being always to our satisfaction, we applied to him to come amongst
us. We first invited him for a quarter of a year, and when that was
expired, for a year, fully approving his gifts and his general views
of Christian doctrine and discipline. Thereupon, being desirous to
honour Christ, as King and Head of the Church, and to testify our
allegiance to him; in hope likewise of the fulfilment of his
promise, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there
am I in the midst of them," we desire to give up ourselves and ours
to the Lord, to be ruled by his laws and to attend all his
ordinances, agreeable to our confession of faith and Church
covenant. And after having given ourselves to the Lord, we also give
ourselves to one another, by a declaration of God's dealings with
us, in a meeting appointed for that purpose, and the mutual giving
and receiving the right hand of fellowship.

Witness our hands, the 4th of March, 1778. (Here follow the names of
ten brethren.)

[6] The document 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 God in Brigstock,
having long enjoyed the means of grace through the favourable
indulgence of God towards us, cannot think it will be for the glory
of God 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 God'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 God, 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 God 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 God 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 gratitude I now look back nine years, and with holy joy my heart exclaims, What has God 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 document 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
shell, the walls of stone, and covered with slate, to finish which
in a plain comfortable manner will cost in the whole expense about
L300. We are not able to raise more than L100 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 assistance of our friends of other
congregations.

By the assistance 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 God 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 God 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 God 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 God's people. I had not that horror, darkness,
and awful dread which some have passed 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 God for assistance, that he would cheer me with his presence and assist 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 God;
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 hoary
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 destitute 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 assembled,
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 circumstances, and has hitherto 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 L40, 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 God 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 God, but stand connected with other Churches, where they have been called in the providence of God 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 constitutes 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 God 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.'"