allegorist's next successor achieved a success in
the town well merited by the harmony which cha-
racterised their labours. Their pastoral industry
and amiable character won the sympathy of all
parties, while their own church enjoyed uninter-
rupted prosperity. Sanderson preached regularly
three times a week, besides devoting Saturday after-
noons to catechising young persons. He assiduously
aimed at fulfilling his duty with credit to himself,
profit to others, and, above all, he sought to honour
his Master. His mortal illness a nervous fever

and Eight Manner of Keeping Christmas, 1710; The danger
of Disobliging the Clergy, &c., &c. Also to the earlier
volumes of The Gentleman's Magazine ; Bogue and Bennett's-
History of Dissent ; Wilson's Dissenting Churches, Appen-
dix, &c.



THE KING'S WEIGH-HOUSE. 359

only disabled him for a single Sabbath. The pastor
likewise laudably exerted himself in assisting minis-
terial candidates, many of whom he instructed in
grammar learning, besides collecting funds to aid
their future progress. A life so earnest and useful
doubtless abounded with events of interest fraught
with profitable instruction, but the details were sup-
pressed in accordance with Sanderson's own desire.
Dying rather suddenly, in January, 1766, his remains
were interred in the graveyard adjoining John Bun-
yan's chapel at Bedford. *

On the resignation of Samuel Sanderson, Dr.
"William Langford, of Silver-street, became assistant
lecturer. Educated at Glasgow University, he first
settled in the ministry at Gravesend, but resigned
his rural charge in order to become co-pastor of the
church which had been under the charge of John
Howe in London. He engaged himself to the
Weigh-House Society in 1736, eventually to assume
the pastorate. The Doctor ably discharged his office
till his seventieth year, when many infirmities inci-
dental to nature disabled him. Death quickly sue- .
ceeded, to find him happy in Christian assurance.
In the spring of 1775, on a Saturday afternoon, he
went to Croydon on a visit to a friend, intending to
reap benefit by change of air ; but at six o'clock on
the following morning he died. His last recorded
words issued from a well-spring of comfort within,

* See the Theological and Biblical Magazine, April, 1806 ;
Palmer's Sermon on the Death of Samuel Sanderson, &c.



360 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.

" I have been in pain through unbelief, but now all
is removed by faith." He published eleven single
sermons.*

Dr. Langford had an assistant in Samuel Palmer,
of Hackney a name familiar to many through his
editing the Nonconformists' Memorial. Being a
native of Bedford, Palmer in his youthful days en-
joyed the privilege of attending Sanderson's ministry,
and subsequently of studying under Dr. Ashworth
at Daventry Academy, whence he removed to
Hackney. On the decease of his colleague, in
17G6, Palmer succeeded him, resigned his office
at the Weigh-House, and spent his remaining days
in a sphere in which Bates and Henry had already
laboured. He died in 1813, and his remains lie
in the graveyard adjoining St. Thomas's-square
Chapel, Hackney. Another Weigh-House lecturer,
and a son-in-law of Dr. Langford, was Edward
Vennor, who removed to Ware, and laboured in
that town for a great number of years.

Dr. Langford was succeeded by Samuel Wilton,
a native of London ; and, although only in his thirtieth
year, a doctor of divinity an American honour he
specially prized on account of his being an enthu-
siastic apologist for the War of Independence. This
divine, who spent his early years at Hackney, was

* Gibbons's Sermon on the Death of Dr. Langford;
"Wilson's Dissenting Churches, &c.

t Thomas Toller's Sermon on the Death of Samuel Palmer,
&c.



THE KING'S WEIGH-HOUSE. 361

educated at Christ's Hospital, whence he removed
into Hoxton College to study under Drs. Kippis,
Savage, and Eees. Even in youth, Wilton's amiable
manners and literary culture rendered him a general
favourite with the accomplished society entertained
at his father's house. When he inaugurated his
ministry by settling at Tooting, the widow of his
predecessor celebrated the event by rebuilding the
chapel at her sole expense. The Doctor remained
at Tooting about nine years, happy, industrious, and
successful. Although his private means were ample,
he studied frugality so that more of his substance
might succour the needy; and, in addition to this
flow of charity, his genial nature made him delight
to entertain at his board his Nonconformist brethren,
the majority of whom were poorer than himself.
Evening service was then comparatively rare ; but, * '
in the case of Dr. Wilton, zeal in the work of evan-
gelisation prompted the establishment of a Sabbath-
evening lecture at Mortlake. A man like Wilton
lived to nurture Nonconformity, and to advance the
cause of liberty; but, while he would strenuously
defend his denominational principles, he valued many
friends within the Anglican pale. On removing
to London lie preferred a rural manse at Hackney
to the house in Rood-lane, which had sheltered his
predecessor Reynolds, for Hackney contained his
best friends and earliest acquaintances. Under Dr.
Wilton's ministry its former prosperity was restored
to the Church ; and his labours were bearing abun-



362 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.

dant fruit when death cut down the labourer in
April, 1778. He preached his last sermon in Mare-
street meeting-house, and died a few days after of a
fever caught while visiting a family in the district.
Having immediately before his departure sent for
Samuel Palmer, the latter exclaimed, as he ap-
proached his dying friend, " This is the most painful
meeting we have had." " We shall soon meet
again," replied Wilton cheerfully. His spirit fled
just as the hour-hand pointed to midnight, on April
the 3rd, 1778.

The fact deserves honourable mention that, al-
though he studied under some Arian professors,*
Dr. Wilton during life consistently adhered to the
orthodox standard. He preferred the Independent
to the Presbyterian system. His method of study and
his pulpit habits were peculiar. A rapid utterance,
evincing a great command of language, early engen-
dered contempt for written discourses. His deli-
very was not controlled by any oratorical art ; for
the preacher usually stood in the pulpit quite motion-
less, and with his eyes riveted on the bare Bible,
as though he were closely perusing a manuscript.
In his study were found numbers of sermons clearly
written, from which his surviving relatives would
have published a selection, but for the author's
express directions to the contrary. Dr. Wilton ob-
served two fasts in every year one on his ordina-

* This remark only refers to Drs. Eees and Eppis. Dr.
Savage, the theological tutor, remained sound.



THE KING'S WE1GH-HOUSE. 363

tion day, the other in commemoration of his provi-
dential escape from death by drowning on an occasion
when his horse plunged into some deep water while
travelling near Tooting.*

At this stage an unsuccessful endeavour was made
to induce Eobert Gentleman, of Shrewsbury, to
accept the pastorate. Subsequently, John Clayton

* Samuel Palmer's Sermon on the death of Dr. Wilton ;
Wilson's Dissenting Churches. See also The Theological Maga-
zine for 1801, and The Protestant Dissenters' Magazine, vol. vi.
The following is taken from the appendix to Orton's Letters to
Dissenting Ministers : " He (Dr. Wilton) had the fullest claim
to their esteem and love, for he was most exemplary for his
assiduity and attainments, for a respectful attention to his tu-
tors, and for his courteousness and unaffected kindness to his
fellow-pupils. One trait, in particular, of his disposition to-
wards them is worthy of being recorded. His ardour in the per-
suit of knowledge, and of every qualification for the important
work to which he had consecrated himself, was entirely free
from jealousy and selfishness. He was solicitous to excite
and cherish the same ardour in his associates. He was at
that early period of his life, modestly communicative, and a
zealous promoter of useful conversation. At his father's house,
and at the apartments of his fellow students, he would join
with them in reading the classics, and in pursuing other
branches of literature ; and though a reciprocal communica-
tion was the idea under which he represented the design of
those meetings, his liberality in imparting information was
equal to his superior abilities and furniture. On such occa-
sions, too, and at every suitable opportunity, he would, in
the most amiable and unoffending manner possible, suggest
hints respecting the spirit, conduct, and views, which became
those who were under a course of education for the Christian,
ministry.



364 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.

was chosen in October, 1779, being then in the
twenty-fifth year of his age.

The venerable form of John Clayton is still
-remembered by many. There is no reason to doubt
^that, by his teaching he permanently benefited the
-church at the Weigh-House during his pastorate,
^although occasionally his teachings, as in the case of
Ids sermon on the Birmingham riots, were the oppo-
site of judicious. To go back to the days of Clayton's
youth carries us far into the last century, when
people lived and worked much as their fathers had
done before them for more than one generation. In
the middle of the century there lived at a place
called West End Farm, in the county of Lancashire,
a cotton bleacher, whose life of sober industry won
the esteem of the neighbours. The family was
large, and John, our present subject, being the only
son of his parents, became somewhat over-indulged
by his mother.

John Clayton's education commenced at a grammar-
school in the neighbourhood of his home, where he
and his companions enlivened the monotony of a
village curriculum by dividing into religious and
political parties ; and, because fitted both by nature
and prejudice for the office, the embryo divine as-
sumed the championship of the Protestant party. His
family not being Dissenters, John was reared with-
in the pale of the Establishment ; but although he
appears to have been serious, he possessed but little
genuine knowledge of Christianity at confirmation,



THE KING'S WEIGH-HOUSE. 3G5 7 -

and he was not really converted until circumstances-
brought him under the ministry of Komaine.

Intending John for a chemist, his parents ap-
prenticed him to that profession ; and although his -
after life became different from the course planned,
much useful knowledge of practical value was gained-
under the pharmaceutist. This employment he sud-
denly forsook, disposed of a borrowed gun, and ap-
peared in London, much to the surprise and annoy-
ance of his then more sober relatives. This exploit, .
bad in itself, had one good result it became the
indirect means of introducing young Clayton to the-
Countess of Huntingdon ; and his entrance into her
ladyship's college at Trevecca influenced the whole
course of his life. The patronage of the estimable
Countess was an honour which one of superior rank
and intellectual strength to John Clayton might have
coveted. Her widowhood of forty-six years she
employed in ceaseless endeavours to disseminate the
Gospel. The theological institution at Trevecca she
established at great personal sacrifice, and there, as -
the foundress, she delighted to be found employing
herself promoting the comfort of the students with a
mother's solicitude. Because her ladyship for the
most part was her own secretary, several hours -
a-day were occasionally occupied in attending to a .
large correspondence. She evinced excessive anxiety
for the welfare of her fellow-creatures, and well
would it be were her example of self-denial oftener
exhibited. In the hospitable Welsh academy, the



366 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.

, students enjoyed every requisite which conduces to
mental progress and domestic comfort. Able pro-
fessors and a good library were provided. Each
student had a private study and a separate garden ;
besides conveniences for bathing and recreation, with
all other necessaries. The visible solicitude of the
Countess for the eternal weal of man would deeply
affect both tutors and students, and during family
prayer the group were frequently found in tears. So
remarkable was her earnestness that one who com-
memorated her life in a funeral sermon declared that,
,she would have derived more pleasure from benefit-
ing one soul than from the sudden inheritance of a
large fortune. The blessing of heaven rested upon
the college till it became a centre of Gospel influ-
ence a source of life to the Church during the
retrogressive Georgian era. The flaming zeal of the
matron infected the inmates till sometimes they
devoted half the night to earnestly praying for the
conversion of mankind. No higher fortune could
have befallen John Clayton than to find such a
training-school, and to have for a counsellor the
inestimable Countess of Huntingdon. He had the
additional fortune to rise into high favour with his
patroness, as she proved by many motherly actions.
At one time, because he gave symptoms of weakness
she sent him to Tunbridge Wells ; and her ladyship's
letters of 1777 show the anxiety she experienced on
.account of Clayton's health.

A large proportion of the discipline at Trevecca



THE KING'S WEIGH-HOUSE. 367

was actual preaching. So heavily did the work
press on young Clayton that we find him complain-
ing that his too-frequent preachings left him but
little time for the self-culture so necessary for secur-
ing future usefulness. Then, moreover, preaching
students in the reign of George the Third traversed
a rough path, as can be demonstrated by an anecdote
illustrative of Clayton's early ministry. Once he
conducted an outdoor service in the neighbourhood
of Christchurch, news of which coming to the ears
of certain lovers of sport, a lad of their number
spent a morning in collecting rotten eggs wherewith
to pelt the preacher and entertain the crowd. As
the service proceeded Clayton presented an appear-
ance as strikingly odd to spectators as disagreeable
to himself; but circumstances did not prevent his
praying for these pitiable assailants. The episode
passed away not to be remembered as anything
extraordinary until thirty-six years after, when a
gentleman called the occurrence to remembrance by
craving the forgiveness of the Weigh-House pastor
for having been ringleader in the Christchurch
outrage.

During his stay with the Countess of Huntingdon,
Clayton had no idea of one day gracing the Noncon-
formist ministry, for it is doubtful if he would ever
have been a Dissenter had not the Bishops of Llan-
daff and Lincoln acted as the instruments of break-
ing off his affection from the Establishment. In
those days Lady Huntingdon's Connexion was par-



368 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.

ticulaiiy obnoxious to those easy-living churchmen,
who combined Tory politics with Arminian theology.
The quibbles of one bishop were echoed by another,
until Clayton resolved to make no further effort to
enter the Chnrch of England ; and happening, about
the same time, to read Towgood's Letters on Dissent,
his Nonconformist principles became finally settled.
This unexpected turn in the tide of events disap-
pointed the Countess, and she expressed her dis-
approval of Nonconformity in a lengthy letter.

"While itinerating for Lady Huntingdon, Clayton
became acquainted with a young man of ancient
family the notorious Sir H. Trelawney. As
their friendship strengthened, the Nonconformist
principles of the student may have influenced the
baronet till he decided on treading a like path of
self-denial. However that may have been, the
ordination of Sir Harry at Southampton was long
remembered as one of the most strikingly pompous
services ever known among Dissenters. Passing
months seemed only to knit together in yet closer
friendship the student and his titled companion, and
for a time they lived together at the ancestral seat
of the Trelawneys at Looe. They were also one in
labour, striving to dispel that gross spiritual dark-
ness which then, in a greater degree than now,
overhung the county of Cornwall. Their combined
action in evangelisation won the applause of philan-
thropic people no less than the gratitude of those
whom they benefited.



THE KING'S WEIGH-HOUSE. 369

The life-story of Sir H. Trelawney abounds with
sad passages. While proving himself a man of
honour, he lacked that strength of character so in-
dispensable to men of rank who set their face
against the follies of fashion. But as he belongs
not to the Weigh-House, he may be dismissed with
an anecdote concerning his marriage, which occurred
in 1778. For his bride he took a beautiful girl,
who, apparently without her lover's knowledge, an-
nulled a prior engagement in order to please her
parents by securing for herself a more splendid
station. The spectacle was a gay one, when, after
their honeymoon, Sir Harry and his wife returned
to his seat at Looe, to be welcomed home by his
friend Clayton and the servants of the establish-
ment. The young baronet proceeded to open a
number of letters, and during the perusal of one in
particular his countenance changed, betokening some
shock sustained by his nervous system. Evening
wore into night, but he would neither eat nor con-
verse. At length he confessed to Clayton that he
had received an affecting expostulation from his
wife's former lover, who had written, while ignorant
of the marriage, calling on Trelawney as a gentle-
man to withdraw his claims on the lady's affections.
This affair is supposed to have influenced Sir Harry
more or less till the end of his days, although his
married life continued to flow on happily. He
became very changeable, and joined the " Eational "
party. He and Clayton soon after separated, and

24



370 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.

do not appear to have corresponded during the last
forty years of their lives.

John Clayton's introduction to the Weigh-House
was effected by means of a gentleman who encoun-
tered the young preacher in Cornwall. The Church
voted unanimously for his settlement, with the ex-
ception of a lady who refused to vote, and she after-
wards became Mrs. Clayton. The ordination took
place on the 25th of November, 1778. Fostered
by his ministry, the Church by an increased pros-
perity showed that her interests were in competent
hands. The pastor's rising popularity prompted the
Lady Glenorchy to invite him to Edinburgh, under
her ladyship's patronage an offer he respectfully
declined. One result of these changes at the Weigh-
House was the diversion of all collections from the
Presbyterian Fund, on account of the low doctrine
into which many of its members had lapsed. From
this date the society has ranked with the Inde-
pendents.

On settling in London, Clayton persevered till he
achieved a respectable reputation in his profession.
He exercised considerable influence in his own
limited sphere, which might have been wider, had
not his crude political creed prevented his becoming
a representative Nonconformist, although by some
in power he appears to have been mistaken for such
a person. In his sermon on the Birmingham riots,
sentiments were advanced which hitherto had been
strange to the Dissenting pulpit, but the numerous



THE KING'S WEIGH-HOUSE. 371

contemptuous replies testify to this day that, the
Three Denominations disowned the performance as
presumptuous and insulting. But consolation was
not wanting, for " Mr. Clayton's weak and malignant
invectives," as Eobert Hall styled his arguments,
drew from the greatest pulpit orator of his time that
masterly work, Christianity Consistent with a Love
of Freedom. The Weigh-House pastor could coolly
confess he had never read this remarkable treatise !
Eemarkable as is the book, this admission of John
Clayton is even more remarkable.

John Clayton's marriage was in all respects a
happy union. He showed sufficient worldly wisdom
to select a wealthy bride Miss Flower, the daughter
of a city merchant. Although the sequel proved
highly satisfactory to all concerned, the family at
first regarded the reverend suitor with ill-concealed
aversion; the mother, in particular, contemptuously
spoke of him as " a penniless parson."

The pastor was elected a member of the Eclectic
Society, and he accepted the Merchants' Lectureship
at New Broad-street, and also another in Fetter-lane.
As regards his life-work in London, to describe one
week will be to describe the whole, for he succeeded,
more than any other quotable example, in rendering
every seven days a panorama of his entire career.
Usually he chose his texts on Monday; Tuesday was
devoted to pastoral visiting, and principally in the
City ; Wednesday and Thursday were study days ;
on Friday visitors were received; and on Saturday

24*



372 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.

he enjoyed some recreation, such as walking or
driving, giving the evening to prayer and medita-
tion. His punctuality could not have been more
marked had his movements been regulated by clock-
work. At eight each morning he took his place at
family prayer, and he is not supposed to have been
two minutes out of time during a space of forty
years. This excessive love of order, as a second
nature, characterised all he did ; but whether the
habit of working with the regularity of a machine
is worthy of imitation or admiration, we will not
venture an opinion, for most people will not attempt
an impossible discipline. It is admirable to see
men, and especially divines, penurious of their fleet-
ing hours, but many have excelled in redeeming
time without making their life a monotonous round.
"What John Clayton may have found a profitable
procedure, others would feel to be an unnecessary
burden.

As a pastor, John Clayton may have had his
faults, but he laboriously and conscientiously dis-
charged his duties. As a public man, in a political
sense, he only represented a single household in
Highbury-place, for his political opinions were not
worthy of being identified with Nonconformity. In
the family he enforced so strict a discipline that the
wonder is he did not spoil his children and de-
pendents by too much of a good thing. Assuredly
the picture given us of this painfully neat divine as
he ruled in his household excites our awe if it does



THE KING'S WEIGH-HOUSE. 373

not command our love. Such callers as entered the
pastor's study would probably feel ill at ease, lest by
stepping on the carpet, or by sitting in a chair, they
should disturb the reigning order, for the very dust
seemed to keep off the shelves, and the well-swept
fire-place appeared as though it directly sympathised
with the scrupulously clean secretaire and its tidily-
arranged drawers. One piece of furniture in this
sanctuarium would now suffice to shock our notions
of parental kindness, although its mention is quite
necessary to complete a true portrait of what John
Clayton was at home. This was " The silver- headed
monitor," otherwise a heavy whip, hanging over his
study door. Indeed, the pastor's stern nature would
seem to have resembled the nature of those heroes
of the civil wars who quoted Scripture over the
opponents they chastised, for whenever the young
Claytons earned a horsewhipping it was heralded by
a reading and an expounding an unlovely pro-
cedure, calculated rather to breed contempt for the
Bible than respect for the flogging. Punishment
was likewise deferred, to show that it emanated from
principle. Most young persons if subjected to such
a discipline would probably recognise the "prin-
ciple" which corrected them, without discovering
the existence of parental feeling.

The public ministrations of John Clayton are
thus alluded to by his biographer : " His preaching-
was characterised by the compass and variety of his
subjects ; by its adaptation to passing events and



374 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.

occurrences ; by accurate discrimination of the states
and characters of his hearers ; by warm affection,
tender sympathy, and impassioned expostulation,
and by an obvious concern to give to all classes
their portion in due season. His manner was grave,
but not dull ; familiar, but not colloquial ; plain,
but never coarse ; pointed, without being personal,
and in no instance that can be remembered, anec-
dotal, or approaching to wit or drollery." *

Thus did John Clayton pursue a prosperous course.
Eobert Hall spoke of him as "The most favoured
man I ever saw, or ever heard of." In the year