itinerant preacher of her Ladyship's connexion.
Soon after returning from this tour he declared
54 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
himself a Baptist, and succeeded George Braitlrwaite
at Devonshire Square. Ultimately, as already ex-
plained, the pastor's character and his prospects of
further usefulness, were simultaneously annihilated
by the dark charges preferred against him. The
voluminous manuscript accounts extant too plainly
prove the wicked man's guilt to allow any doubt to
remain in the mind of an unbiassed reader, to whose
lot the ordeal may fall of having to digest the details.*
Three years passed, and the community thus rent
and impoverished, found no suitable leader. At
length the choice of Walter Eicharcls, a young man
then living at Birmingham, carried with it some
promise of a happier future. His brethren affec-
tionately surrendered him, and just before Christmas
1762, he was ordained in London. The pastor's
ministrations were unsuccessful. The people mani-
fested dissatisfaction by shunning the chapel. By
a minority, however, Eichards was highly esteemed;
but the insulting behaviour of others counter-
acted their support, and he resigned, retired to
Ireland, there probably to meet with better success,
since he is referred to nearly fifty years later, as
still flourishing in the Emerald Isle.
To supply the pulpit so soon again vacant proved
a difficult task. Eichard Hutchings, a Northamp-
tonshire minister, first attracted attention. The
affectionate self-denial of his own people far exceeded
* Manuscript Records of the Church ; Wilson's History of
the Dissenting Churches.
DEVONSHIRE S QUAKE. 55
their poverty ; and merely through considerations
for their pastor's comfort, they urged him to seek a
charge with ampler means. He visited Devonshire
Square, but the call not "being unanimous he
declined accepting it.
Communications were next opened with John
Macgowan, who was prevailed on to assume the re-
sponsibilities of the pastorate. Anative of Edinburgh,
and born in 1726, he merely received in youth an
ordinary Scottish education, suitable for the weaving-
craft, his intended calling. In early life he embraced
Wesleyanism, and when first religious impressions
were deepened into real conversion, Macgowan pro-
moted the Methodist movement by engaging as a
preacher. Growing more Calvinistic his convictions
led him into Independency ; and by embracing the
tenet of Believers' Baptism he eventually entered
the Baptist denomination. Macgowan then settled
at Bridgenorth, a situation which, through want of
success, he resigned, and removed to London in 1 7 6 6.
After an introduction, he accepted a call to the
pastorate at Devonshire Square, and in the following
summer w r as publicly recognised in a service which
Gill and Stennett conducted. The pastor continued
to labour in the old City till removed by death in
1780. He excelled in preaching and in writing,
the fame he achieved by the Dialogues of Devils
still surviving. A large number of contemporary
readers justly appreciated the author's pieces, and
during the present century they have been re-
56 AXCIEXT MEETING HOUSES
published in a uniform edition. The first suggestion to
write The Infernal Conference may have sprung from
Dialogues of the Dead,a, singular book printed in 1 76 0.
Macgowan was constitutionally weak, and his
strength was apparently unequal to that habitual
application so indispensable in the ministerial pro-
fession. This will account for his oft-recurring
mental cloudiness, and spiritual dejection. He was,
nevertheless, a valuable minister; and often, by
mere effort of will, would lay aside an ever present
physical debility for the purpose of honouring Christ
by building up his Church and comforting his
people. A strong imagination, retentive memory,
and large stores of general knowledge, rendered him
an improving and attractive companion and a de-
sirable counsellor. His farewell visit to Devonshire
Square was an affecting occasion long remembered.
It occurred on Sunday, November the 12th, 1780.
Feeble by the weakness attending bodily decay, and
suffering from the pains of impending dissolution,
the pastor yet determined once again to dispense to
his flock the commemorative Bread and Wine. To
complete this pious resolve, to declare that he stood
in his place for the last time, and to recommend
Timothy Thomas for a successor, the strength of the
dying man sufficed. On a quiet Sabbath evening a
fortnight after, his spirit departed, to enter into rest.*
* Wallin's Sermon on the Death of John Macgowan ; Intro-
duction to Macgowan' s "Works ; New Baptist Repository ;
Wilson's History of the Dissenting Churches.
DEVONSHIRE SQUARE. 57
Timothy Thomas whose ministry some yet liv-
ing will remember is the last pastor of whom it
will be necessary to speak particularly. The family
were Welsh Dissenters, and the father of our subject .
held an honourable position in the ministry at Leo-
ininster. Thomas was born in 1753, and after re-
ceiving a second-rate education, was apprenticed to
a carpenter. Wishing to attain increased proficiency,
Thomas settled in London, and being employed by a
member of Devonshire Square, he became connected
with that Church. On manifesting an inclination
for the Christian ministry, the young artisan found
his way beset with difficulties. An extreme pre-
judice then prevailed against any literary training for
the pastoral office ; and Timothy Thomas was neither '
gifted nor educated. While perfectly conscious of ;
his shortcomings and unpolished mien, he ventured
on expressing a desire to enter Bristol Academy, but
he received some contemptuous rebukes from many
who maintained that a Christian's proper school was
the Church, and his only teacher Christ. His elders,
however, judged of his intellectual strength by listen-
ing to a sermon; they would only acknowledge the
preacher to be possessed of " an infant's gift."
Timothy Thomas proceeded to Bristol, and there
progressed as favourably as the disadvantages from
which he suffered would allow. The tutors, Hugh
Evans and his son Dr. Caleb, were able men, and it
happened unfortunately for young Thomas that his
pastor's decease in London occasioned a shortening
58 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
of the allotted curriculum. The people quickly
acted on Macgowan's dying counsel by despatching
a message to Bristol to call on their fellow-member
to return and minister to their need. On the Sabbath
of Macgowan's death his protegg preached his first
sermon at Devonshire Square, and during the fol-
lowing summer was fully installed. One small
matter widely separated from study had obtained
some attention at Bristol, a principal result being a
transformation of the tutor's daughter into Mrs.
Thomas.
The young minister's life prospects were now far
from being unpromising, although certain drawbacks
checked his prosperity. The invitation to the pas-
torate not having been unanimous, the minority were
' a source of vexation. Annoyances increased till,
by acting on the advice of his brethren, the pastor
resigned ; and although not accepted, that resignation
had the effect of restoring peace by compelling the
withdrawal of the opposing forces. Troubles thus
blowing over, life's happiness flowed on uninter-
ruptedly through several succeeding years. In 1 7 9 6
Thomas left his manse in Houndsditch to establish
himself as a schoolmaster at Islington a step which
was immediately followed by the untimely death of
Mrs. Thomas.
As lie grew in years so Timothy Thomas increased
in favour among his cotemporaries. The man's.
broad open countenance revealed his generous and
honest nature. He very heartily loved the Baptist
DEVONSHIRE SQUARE. 59
denomination, and laboured hard to promote its
general well-being, besides faithfully distributing
the Regium Donum. The heavy afflictions which
overtook him in his declining years need not be
particularly mentioned. The principal, a stroke of
paralysis in 1824, disabled him from frequently
preaching for ever after. The affection of his people,
however, prevented their listening to any pro-
posal concerning resignation. They preferred look-
ing into Bristol College for an assistant; in their
search they found Thomas Price. For the purpose
of hearing his young colleague, and then of admin-
istering the Sacrament for the last time, Timothy
Thomas attended the chapel on the first Sabbath of
1827. Illness debarred him from fulfilling the second
part of this design. He was carried home to linger
till the opening days of summer, when he too passed
into that rest which so many of his predecessors
already enjoyed.
Our sketch must now conclude. The recent and
lamented death of Dr. Price might very properly have-
occasioned a reference to his career and to his con-
nection with this ancient Church, had not the parti-
culars of his life been already so widely diffused.
A rebuilding of the meeting-house celebrated his '
accession to the pastorate, the present chapel having
been opened by Mr. Binney, in 1829.
In our own day the name of John Howard Hinton.
has long been indissolubly associated with Devonshire
Square. His term of office extended through twenty-
60 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES,
seven years from 1837 to 1863. On accepting their
respected pastor's resignation, the Church secured the
services of William Thomas Henderson, of Banbury,
who then removed to London. He still retains his
office, and the affection of the people, to whom his
ministrations are peculiarly acceptable.
The Metropolitan Eailway Company being about
to extend their line to Tower Hill, the site of Devon-
shire Square Chapel will be required. The Church
will thus become necessitated to forsake a spot which
many sacred and ancient associations have endeared
to Nonconformists. As in all things, Providence is to
be trusted, so in this matter likewise. Out of present
'difficulties good will doubtless arise, and in a new
sphere wherever that may be we may fervently
trust that the connection between pastor and flock
may remain unbroken through many prosperous
.years.
Some eminent thinkers have supposed that the
saints enjoying eternal rest are acquainted with and
interested in terrestrial affairs. If this be so, then
Kiffen, Braithwaite, Macgowan, and a multitude
more, are witnesses to the removal of this old
Christian landmark from the spot they loved so well,
and so greatly frequented. While this may be truly
so, our desire is that those who remain, by love and
Christian harmony in action, may prove themselves
good soldiers of the Church Militant, and descendants
worthy of their noble predecessors.
II.
PINNERS' HALL.
THERE came to London about the year 1580 a citizen
of Venice, of the name of Verselyn. Being skilled
in the art of glass-blowing, he became anxious to
establish a trade in the country of his adoption.
With this end in view he sought the countenance of
Elizabeth, and the Queen extended her patronage by
granting him a patent. With his newly-acquired
power the trader planted a factory near Old Broad-
street, in the City of London. The opposition of
the citizens to this innovation was determined and
persevering. Extraordinary representations were
made to Government of evil consequences likely to
follow the sanctioning of such an institution e.g.,
sundry families already engaged in the glass trade
would be ruined; vast quantities of wood required
for other purposes would be consumed in the Vene-
tian's furnaces; and, worse than all, the customs
would suffer merely to enrich a contemptible
foreigner. Verselyn bravely weathered the storm
which his enemies raised, and probably sold more
62 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
glass on account of their opposition ; for in after
years the business he founded was sufficiently pros-
perous for the overseer to resign his office, the heat,
he declared, being so excessive that he would soon
have melted away among those hot Venetians. The
site of Verselyn's manufactory was afterwards occu-
pied by Pinners' Hall. The trade of this guild
pin and needle-making greatly suffered from foreign
competition. In the time of Charles the Second
this hall passed into the hands of the Noncon-
formists, who, besides founding a Christian Church
of the Independent order, established a Tuesday-
morning sermon the once celebrated Merchants'
Lecture.
The first pastor at Pinners' Hall* was Anthony
Palmer, a divine, who through the religious dissen-
sions of the Commonwealth, sided with the Presby-
terians, and subscribed the Covenant, but afterwards
joined the Independents. He rose in the estimation
of his party till preferred to the living of Bourton-
on-the-Water. Our libeller-general, Anthony Wood,
declares that Palmer " was all things to all men,
such was the mutability and vanity of the person."
* Several distinct societies were connected with. Pinners'
Hall, but in our present sketch we must principally confine
ourselves to the Independent Church planted by Anthony
Palmer. The Glass-house, as it was called, was connected
with a society of Baptists in the time of Cromwell. Palmer
' and Fownes, prior to their settlement at Broad-street, appear
' to have preached in the house of one Savage, on London
\ Bridge.
PINNERS' HALL. 63
According to the same authority, moreover, he became
" Anabaptistically inclined."
The testimony of more credible witnesses to the
integrity and religious zeal of Anthony Palmer can-
not fairly be called in question. After studying at
Oxford he settled at Bourton in 1649. Bourton was
then an inconsiderable village of not more than
seventy houses, containing three hundred and fifty
inhabitants. Immediately after the Restoration the
vigilant enmity of his foes followed the pastor to
Bourton. He had been one of Cromwell's Triers ;
and to be especially hated by the country gentry was
the penalty paid by those who had dared to prove
the uselessness of bishops. As for Palmer, on being
accused of plotting against the Government, he was
literally driven from his living by the leading par-
ishioners. He was also greatly harassed by the
malicious spite of his enemies. In April, 1660, a
military party invaded his private residence under a
pretence of searching for arms, but really for purposes
of plunder and outrage. Such were the things which
made up the routine of a Nonconformist's life two
hundred years ago. Strange reports were sometimes
current of judgments which overtook the persecutors.
One of Palmer's detractors, so people said, had been
visited by death, while another was smitten by a
strange disease.
Palmer removed to London in 1 6 6 2. After preach-
ing for a time in a private house, he settled at Pin-
iiers' Hall, where, to quote the words of the Oxford
64 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
historian, " he earned on the trade of conventicling
to the last," and "was buried in the phanatical
burial-ground joining to Old Bedlam, near to Moor-
fields by London."* The truth is, that Palmer's
efforts to promote the advancement of peace and
righteousnesss were only terminated by death. For
long after, the Church held his name in honour ; but
the Royalists left nothing undone arid unsaid which
by saying and doing they could blacken his character, t
Palmer was assisted by the able and devoted
George Fownes, who, on embracing Baptist princi-
ples, resigned the cure of High Wycombe during
t"he ascendancy of Cromwell. The times changed,
and Fownes encountered the harshest treatment;
his chief opponent being a local magistrate of the
name of Wroth. Ultimately the pastor was driven
to London by the troubles of the times, and there
undertook a lecture at Lothbury, and thence removed
into Pinners' Hall. After the death of Anthony
Palmer, Fownes settled at Broadmead, Bristol, to
which Church and City his history properly belongs.
At Bristol he proved himself a worthy successor
of the noble Hardcastle. A relentless persecution
'Brought him to a premature grave ; but although
he died under them, he never quailed before his
trials. As usual in those days, the enemy-in-chief
* Bunhill Fields.
t Athenee Oxonienses ; Nonconformists' Memorial ;
Ackyn's History of Gloucestershire ; History of the Dis-
senting Churches ; Crosby's History of the English Baptists.
PINNERS' HALL. 65
to any evangelising efforts was the bishop of the
diocese. Such shepherds were not ashamed to re-
sort to every manoeuvre which promised to harass
Nonconformists. Witnesses were suborned who
said Fownes had broken the peace of a certain
place ; but it transpired that he and his horse on
their peaceful travels had been the only rioters. He
found himself continually under arrest. To walk '
upon the King's highway, or to stand up amid
his people, was to risk a sudden seizure. During
three years he lay in the gaol of Bristol, and not
until 1685 was that freedom awarded which belongs
to " The noble army of martyrs."
The spirit of persecution continued to predomi-
nate after Palmer's decease. His afflicted church,
anxiously sought a suitable successor to his arduous
duties. The necessary qualities were found in
Eichard Wavell, whom the little band now chose
for their leader. He was a native of the Isle of
Wight, and during the Civil Wars his father had
espoused the side of the Eoyalists. Wavel had been .
previously tempted to conform by liberal offers of
preferment, but he now agreed to risk comfort and
freedom if the people would as openly hazard their
money. Each, party exactly fulfilled this heroic
contract. The pastor fearlessly discharged his duties,
and his followers cheerfully bore the expenses entailed
by frequent legal embarrassments. Several services
were regularly conducted on the Sabbath, although
the utmost caution had to be observed a course of
5
66 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
action especially praiseworthy when, as in this
instance, alluring paths to affluence had been nobly
eschewed. This good man held his ground against
the sophistries of the tempter and the attacks of
persecution, and remained with the people of his
choice long after the iniquitous Stuarts had for-
feited the crown their reign disgraced. At one
period Wavell possessed a valuable friend in the
person of the Lord Mayor, Sir Harry Tulse, who
helped him through many trying seasons. Once it
fell to the lot of Sir Harry to apologise for the term
" gentleman," coupled by a thoughtless indictment
writer with Wavell's name, and at which the sitting
magistrate, as he thought, reasonably quibbled. At
another time Tulse detained a principal witness
against Wavell in conversation till the completion
of the trial. Such troubles, however, being ended
by the Eevolution, Wavell lived on till the year
1705, loving his work, and doing it well. When
the dawning appeared of approaching repose, lie
laid aside the arms of his warfare with visible
joy. His place was never properly supplied, for
from the period of his death we date the earliest
symptoms of decay in the church at Pinners' Hall."*
It is manifest by the eminent names associated
with it, that Pinners' Hall in the times we write of,
was a chief centre of Nonconformist influence.
* Nonconformists' Memorial ; History of the Dissenting
Churches, &c. For an account of Fownes see Crosby, and
more particularly the Broadmead Eecords.
PINNERS' HALL. G7
From a union of Independent and Presbyterian
Ministers in 1672, sprang the Merchants' Lecture,
the first preachers of which were men with characters
closely approaching the apostolic standard. Dr.
Manton, leading the way, was supported by Owen,
Bates, Baxter, and others. Unfortunately, the tie
which united this illustrious galaxy was sufficiently
weak to be broken by the discussion of some
doctrinal tenets. Baxter's first sermon in the course
awakened an anti-Arminian outcry throughout Lon-
don ; but the malcontents were sharply rebuked by
Manton, and also by the lecturer himself in a broad-
side called " An Appeal to the Light." Thus for the
time was the threatened breach prevented. In a
few years, when some of the original lecturers lay in
their graves, disputes again arose to breed division
between the two denominations, so that a rival
lectureship was instituted at Salters' Hall. These
Tuesday services grew into real attractions, and
hearers from the outskirts were wont to return at
mid- day to their suburban homes, well repaid for a
toilsome walk by having listened to some distin-
guished preacher.
The old hall was likewise used in Puritan times
by a congregation of Seventh Day Baptists. Francis
Bampfield, their pastor, being persecuted to death,
ended his sufferings in Newgate in 1684. A
metrical broadside, commemorating his sufferings,
makes him say :
"I spent in prison more than twice five years." y.
5*
68 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
The people's sense of bereavement is thus ex-
pressed :
" Shall we pine for want of living bread ;
Or shall our hungry souls with husks be fed ?
O, Heaven forbid it ; give us not dross for gold ;
Let younger prophets still succeed the old."
The society of Independents which leased the hall
met only in the morning ; and consequently other
congregations were allowed to assemble during other
parts of the day. Dr. Watts and his people enjoyed
such a privilege till their removal, in 1*708, to a
newly erected meeting-house in Bury-street, St.
Mary Axe. At other periods, by special arrange-
ments, various churches were permitted to use the
room. Wavell's successor, Dr. Hunt, introduced the
practice of preaching twice on the Sabbath ; but
even then the General Baptists occupied the build-
ing in the afternoon. When the lease expired in
1778, the Independent society was dissolved. The
hall next became leased to Anthony Crole for
twenty- one years, who during that space, ministered
to a flourishing congregation. Eventually he re-
moved to Founders' Hall, where he continued till
his decease. Finally Pinners' Hall was taken down,
and no traces now remain of a structure interesting
because so intimately associated with the history of
Nonconformity.
From 1707, till his death in 1744, the pulpit was
occupied by Jeremiah Hunt. His election was an
unfortunate procedure, for it marked the fatal first
PINNERS' HALL. 69
V
step towards a declension in doctrine and prosperity.
Born in 1678, young Hunt at two years of age lost
his father. He was originally intended for trade,
but his mother encouraged a ruling inclination which
prompted his studying for the Christian ministry
a course he followed successively at London, Edin-
burgh, and Ley den. Being a laborious student, he
especially excelled in a knowledge of Hebrew and
Oriental lore. While staying in Holland, moreover,
he attained to that oratorical fluency which he ever
after displayed. So manifest indeed were his powers
of extempore speaking that he occasionally trans-
gressed the warning of the hour-glass, " without," as
Dr. Lardner says, " any discernible confusion or dis-
agreeable tautology." Dr. Hunt's first settlement
was at Tunstead, near Norwich. Thence, in 1710,
he removed to London, and continued till his death
at Pinners' Hall.
In London, Jeremiah Hunt won a reputation for
.genius and learning, and from a Scotch university
received the diploma of doctor of divinity. As a
preacher he was characterised by many singularities.
On the consecutive Sabbath mornings of several years
he selected texts from the Book of Proverbs. His
custom was thoroughly to work out his subject, and
this he often did without making notes. So good a
judge as Dr. Lardner classed the pastor at Pinners'
Hall among model preachers, although the results of
his labours prove him to have been very unsuccess-
ful. We can in some degree realise the estimation
70 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
in which contemporaries held Dr. Hunt by some lines
on the Nonconformists of London, written by one of
the " advanced " party for the Gentleman's Maga-
zine in 1736 the author having probably been
the abandoned Eichard Savage :
" "With soundest judgment and with nicest skill,
The learned Hunt explains his Master's will ^
So just his meaning, and his sense so true,
He only pleases the discerning few."*
There are some almost incredible stories testifying
to the strength of the Doctor's memory. He had the
reputation of never forgetting sermons after once
delivering them ; according to his own confession to
Dr. Lardner, he believed that nearly all the discourses
he had preached could be recalled. In one notable
instance a lecture, given fourteen years before, was