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History of Upper Chapel.
SHEFFIELD;
FOUNDED 1662: BUILT 1700;
^^ Foy the Worship and Service of Almighty God.'" A BICENTENNIAL VOLUME,
WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING
TIMOTHY JOLLIE'S REGISTER
OF BAPTISMS.
I
BY
J. E. MANNING, M.A.,
MINISTER OF THE CHAPEL.
tJ^ We love the venerable house
94^ . 740P- Our fathers built to God.
SHEFFIELD:
THE INDEPENDENT PRESS, LIMITED, PRINTERS, FARGATE.
1900.
TO
THE MEMORY OF
JOSEPH HUNTER, F.S.A.,
WHO, WHEN A BOY, ATTENDED THE SERVICES AT UPPER CHAPEL,
AND WHEN A MAN REMEMBERED WITH AFFECTION
HIS OLD RELIGIOUS HOME,
THIS VOLUME
IS DEDICATED IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF MUCH
VALUABLE HELP,
\
Q
0
K
Vi
PREFACE.
A MEETING of the congregation of Upper Chapel was
held in Channing Hall on the i8th of July, 1899, under
the presidency of Mr. Michael Joseph Hunter, senior Trustee,
when it was resolved that, in view of the bicentennial of the
building of the chapel, a history of this place of worship be
' prepared and published in 1900. i *"? ^ftOO^
In compiling the history I have consulted the following works (among others) : — Joseph Hunter's " Hallamshire," " Gens Sylvestrina," and various documents which I have been able to consult either personally or through others ; Miall's "Congregationalism in Yorkshire;" Turner's " Diary of Oliver Heywood;" Fishwick's "Thomas Jolly's Note Book;" Urwick's "Nonconformity in Cheshire;" Calamy's "Account;" Palmer's "Nonconformist's Memorial;" "The Di(ftionary of National Biography;" Giles Hester's " Atter- cliffe," " Memorials of the Hollis Family," " Nevill Simmons, Bookseller and Publisher;" R. E. Leader's "Reminiscences of Old Sheffield." Many of the biographies I have been obliged to compile from the local newspapers, from the past numbers of the Unitarian Herald and Inquirer, or from the Christian Reformer.
I must express my special indebtedness to the Rev. Alexander Gordon, M.A., Principal of the Unitarian Home Missionary College, Manchester, and to Henry Julian Hunter, Esq., M.D., of Bath, for many valuable suggestions.
J. E. M.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
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PAGE |
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Upper Chapel |
Frontispiece |
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" The Wise Virgin " |
21 |
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HolHs's Hospital . . |
25 |
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Timothy Jollie |
41 |
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Registration Order |
51 |
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Joseph Evans |
83 |
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Miniature — " Sacred to love and friendship ' |
87 |
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Joseph Hunter |
93 |
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Nathaniel Philipps |
97 |
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Brooke Herford |
115 |
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Thomas Jessop |
125 |
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The Jessop Hospital |
129 |
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John Lettis Short.. |
133 |
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George Vance Smith |
141 |
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Eli Fay |
145 |
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Channing Hall — Interior.. |
149 |
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John Hobson |
153 |
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Herbert Bramley . . |
159 |
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Michael Hunter . . |
163 |
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John Edmondson Manning |
. 167 |
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Francis Morton |
177 |
INDEX.
Introduction
Ads of Uniformity, 1549, 1552, 1559, 1662. Corporation Adl, 1661 Conventicle Ad:, 1664 Five Miles Aft, 1665 Declaration of Indulgence, 1672 . . Declaration of Liberty of Conscience, 1687 Toleration Aft, i68g.. Aft against occasional Conformity, 171 1 Schism Bill, 1714 Cromwell's Board of Triers Upper Chapel an Independent Foundation Open Trusts . . Period I. — Calvinism. — 1662-1714
The Ministry of James Fisher, 1662-1666
Edward Prime, Matthew Bloome, Rowland
"The Wise Virgin" .. The Ministry of Robert Durant, 1669-1679
The New Hall opened
Thomas Hollis . .
Richard Taylor, 1679-1681 The Ministry of Timothy Jollie, 1681-1714
His Ordination . .
Marriage with Elizabeth Fisher
Imprisonments . .
"Humble Address" to James II. ..
Attercliffe Academy
The New Chapel (Upper Chapel) built
Death of Timothy Jollie
Inscription on Tombstone
Jeremiah Gill, Assistant, 1689 ?-i697
Field Sylvester . .
Registration Order Period II. — Modified Orthodoxy. — 1714-1759
John Wadsworth, Assistant, 1701 . .
John De la Rose, Assistant, 1714 . .
The Secession . .
Trust Deeds of Nether Chapel
The High Calvinism of De la Rose
Hancock
INDEX.
Belief at Upper Chapel
and) . . 1745-1758 ..
The Ministry of John Wadsworth, 1715-1744 . .
Timothy Jollie, Junior, Assistant, 1715-1720
Daniel Clark, Assistant, 1720-1724 . .
Benjamin Roberts, Assistant, 1724-1740 ..
Field Sylvester Wadsworth, Assistant, 1740-1756
Nevill Simmons Period IIL — Arianism. — 1745-1837
The Changes in Theological
Calvinism
Arianism . .
Clarkeism (Arianism in Engl
Unitarianism The Ministry of Thomas Haynes
Fulwood Chapel
John Dickinson, Assistant, 1758-1780
Benjamin Naylor, Assistant, 1780-1798 The Ministry of Joseph Evans, 1758-1798
Joseph Hunter, F.S.A. The Ministry of Benjamin Naylor, 1798-1805 The Ministry of Nathaniel Philipps, D.D., 1805-1837
His Remonstrance to the Dissidents
Inscription on his Tomb, by Joseph Hunter Period IV. — Unitarianism. — Section I. — 1838-1875
Henry Hunt Piper
Peter Wright .. The Ministry of Bartholomew Teeling Stannus, 1838
Re-opening of Chapel after Enlargement.
The Dissenters' Chapels Aft..
The Lady Hewley Case
The Wolverhampton Case
The Congregational Committee The Ministry of Thomas Hincks, B.A., F.R.S The Ministry of Brooke Herford, 1856-1864 .
Upperthorpe Chapel . .
Resignation of Pulpit of Upper Chapel .
Life in America and Return to England .
The Shores of Meersbrook
Urith Lydia Shore Laymen of Upper Chapel
Thomas Asline Ward
Edward Bramley
Alfred Beckett . .
John Beckett
Thomas Jessop . .
The Jessop Hospital
Robert Jackson . .
185
1855-
59 60 64 65 65 67
70-100
70-75 72 72
73 75
75-78
78
78-79
78
79-86
86-92
92
95-100
99
99
101-136
lOI
102 103-109 105 106 106 107 108
IIO-III
III-II4
112
"3
114 117 118 II9-I32 119
121 122 123 124 128 131
INDEX.
The Ministry of John Lettis Short, 1865-1874
William Henry Channing, 1875 Period IV. — Unitarianism. — Section II. — 1875-1900
Ministry of George Vance Smith, B.A., Ph. & Theol. Dod 1875-1876
New Testament Revision
Thomas Wilson Scott, 1875-1876 The Ministry of Eli Fay, 1876-1883
Channing Hall built . . Laymen of Upper Chapel . .
William Fisher, Senior
William Fisher, Junior The Fisher Institution
John Hobson
Robert Thomas Eadon
William Edward Laycock
Herbert Bramley
Michael Hunter The Ministry of John Finder Bland, B.D., 1884-1888 The Ministry of John Edmondson Manning, M.A., i88g
Revival of Services at Fulwood
The Chapel Roll-book
The Triennial Conference, 1897
The Bicentennial of the Chapel, 1700-igoo Institutions, Monuments, Officers, &c.
The Sunday School
Sick and Savings Society
Senior Class
Young People's Religious Union . .
Guild of Good Endeavour and Band of Hope
The Sewing Guild
The Minister's Class . .
Tablet in Memory of Francis Morton
Tablet in Memory of Charles Hinde
Ladies' Sewing Society
Literary Society
Postal Mission . . Ministers who have been conneded with Upper Chapel and Sunday School
John Cuckson . .
William George Tarrant, B.A.
Herbert John Rossington, B.A. Lay Preachers conneded with Upper Chapel
Charles Woollen
Upper Chapel Fellowship Fund
The Monuments in the Chapel
INDEX.
Memorial Windows
The Memorial Tablet . .
The Organ
The Communion Plate
Present Officers of the Chapel
List of Trustees of Upper Chapel
List of Secretaries from 1821
List of Treasurers from 1821
List of Ministers, 1662-igoo . .
Index ef Names
Register of Baptisms . .
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. 185 |
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. 187 |
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. 187 |
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. 187 |
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188 |
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from 1704 |
. 188-190 190 191 191 193 196 |
ERRATA. Page 33, line 8, for 23 read 25 ; for 32 read 34.
INTRODUCTION.
T TPPER CHAPEL, like so many Nonconformist chapels, ^ owes its origin to the passing of the A6\ of Uniformity in 1662. This Acft, together with others of a like nature, was passed to secure uniformity of belief and worship. But Adls of Uniformity have proved to be the most effecftual means hitherto discovered by our legislators of preventing uniformit}^ in religion.
The first Act of Uniformity^ (Ed. VI.), passed in the year 1549, diredfed that the new English Prayer Book (Edward's first Prayer Book) should be used in all churches throughout the land. This involved great changes in the old service, and the result was open rebellion. In Devonshire, Cornwall, Norfolk, and elsewhere there was civil war, the revolt being suppressed only after scenes of violence and bloodshed.
The second Act of Uniformity' (Ed. VI.), passed in the year 1552, directed that the revised Prayer Book, " which the King and Parliament had now caused to be perused, explained, and made more perfecl," was to be used " in all churches after the feast of All Saints, under the same penalties that had been enat^led to the former book three years before."
The third Act of Uniformity'^ (Eliz.) was passed in 1559. It directed that the second Prayer Book of Edward VI. should be used in all the churches. Clergymen refusing to comply were to be deprived of their livings. About 192 of the superior clergy, including eleven of the Marian bishops, were ejecfted.
The fourth Act of Uniformity (Chas. II.) was passed in 1662, and required that all clergymen should declare their "unfeigned assent and consent" to all and everything con- tained in the Book of Common Prayer. The penalty for
1 2 & 3 Ed. VI., c. I. See Neal, " History of the Puritans," I. pp. 46-8. 2 5 & 6 Ed. VI., c. I. Neal, ib., pp. 63-64. ^ j Eliz. c. 2,
A
2 UPPER CHAPEL.
neglecfling or refusing to make this declaration was depriva- tion ipso facto of all their spiritual promotions. It further enacfted that all masters, fellows, or tutors of colleges, professors at the Universities, schoolmasters keeping public or private schools, and " any person instructing youth in any private family, shall, before the feast of St. Bartholomew, 1662," subscribe certain declarations, and " conform to the liturgy of the Church of England, as it is now by law established."
A clause further enacts " that no person shall be capable of any benefice, or presume to consecrate and administer the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper, before he be ordained a priest by episcopal ordination, on pain of forfeiting for every offence one hundred pounds."'
This k€i received the royal assent on May 19th, and was to take effecfl: on the 24th of August. Many clergymen could not obtain a copy of the A(5t before August 17th ; many never saw it at all until they found themselves deprived of their livings. Bishop Kennet says of it : " The world has reason to admire, not only the wisdom of this hS., but even the moderation of it " (!) But Neal- well asks, " Where could be the wisdom and moderation of this Adt, which turned out two thousand ministers into the world to beg their bread upon such severe terms? . . . Must the blessings of unity and peace, then, be built on the foundation of persecution, plunder, perfidy, and the wastes of conscience ? "
The results of this A6t were deplorable. It not only inflicted severe hardships on the ejected ministers, but it deprived the Church of England of some of its most learned and able men ; but what proved still more disastrous to it was that they were amongst the most indefatigable in parish work and labour among the poor, the most pious, earnest, and conscientious. The Church could ill afford at that time to lose such men. The A61 will always be a blot upon the Church's name. But by such men as Bishops Sheldon and Morley, and the whole King-and-Church party, the Acft was welcomed as a crowning mercy.
1 Neal, IV., pp. 325-29. - Neal, ib., p. 331.
INTRODUCTION. 3
xA.mong those ejected or silenced were distinguished men hke Baxter, Calamy, PhiUp Henry, Owen, Bates, Goodwin, Clarkson, Gouge, Caryl, and many others. Thomas Jollie (1629-1703), father of Timothy Jollie, was ejected from Altham in Lancashire ; William Bagshaw (1628- 1702), " the Apostle of the Peak," from Glossop ; Oliver Heywood (1630- 1702) from Coley Chapel, Halifax; James Fisher ( -1666) from Sheffield ; Robert Durant ( -1678), who succeeded him as minister to the first Nonconformist place of worship in the town, was ejected from Crowie in Lincolnshire.^ It was not easy to fill the places of the ejedled ministers. They were, as Locke says, " worthy, learned, pious, orthodox divines." We are told that many who were put in their places were unfit to teach because of their youth ; others were men of bad reputation ; others illiterate ; others " facftious." The Church did not gain, but suffered, by the change. But the worst effedT: of the Acl of Uniformity is, that it sowed the seeds of enmity between Churchpeople and Nonconformists, which have since grown to a harvest.
Connecfted with this Ac^ were others equally cruel and persecuting ; and as they will be referred to more than once in this history, it may be well to give them concisely here.
In 1661 the Corporation Act was passed. It drove Non- conformists from public life ; for it required that all persons holding municipal offices — Mayors, Aldermen, Town Clerks, Magistrates — should " take the sacrament of the Lord's
'The following six ejeded ministers are buried in the Sheffield Parish Churchyard : —
1674 Thomas Burbeck (Ackvvorth).
1678 Robert Durant (Crowie).
1G81 Richard Taylor (Long-Haughton). ^
1685 Rowland Hancock (Bradfield and Sheffield).
1697 Nathaniel Baxter (St. Michael's, Lane). After ejedion he preached at the Abbey Church, Beauchief.
1708 Edward Prime (Sheffield ; assistant to James Fisher). The five following were naUves of Sheffield : —
Richard Taylor (above named), b. 1636.
John Crooke (Denby Chapel), d. 1687.
William Pell (Stainton), d. 1698.
James Creswick (Freshwater), d. 1692.
Samuel Bayes (Grindon).
4 UPPER CHAPEL.
Supper according to the rites of the Church of England." They must renounce the Solemn League and Covenant, and declare it unlawful to take up arms against the King on any pretence whatever. This Acl was repealed in part in the time of George IV., 1828 ; wholly in 1871 (34 and 35 Vi(ft., c. 48).
In 1664 the Conventicle Act was passed, which prohibited under penalty all public worship other than that of the Church of England. It enacted that if " five or more persons than the household" meet for such worship, they "shall for the first offence suffer three months' imprisonment, or pay a sum not exceeding five pounds ;" for the second six months, or ten pounds ; for the third, " that the offender be banished to some of the American plantations for seven years, or pay one hundred pounds ; and in case they return, or make their escape, such persons are to be adjudged felons, and suffer death without benefit of clergy." Very soon after this A6t was passed the gaols were filled with Nonconformists. Pepys says in his Diary, " I would to God they would conform, or be more wise and not be catched." To discover "conventicles" officers of justice (!) had the right of forcible entry into suspected houses. The King, Charles II., now suggested that toleration should be sold to Nonconformists, as a means of raising the revenue. The bishops were firm against this, as was also Clarendon. His opposition in this matter is said to have lost him the King's favour. This A(5t was repealed in 1863.
In 1665 the Five-miles Act was passed.' It was aimed against Nonconformist ministers. It is entitled " An Acft to restrain Nonconformists from inhabiting Corporations." After stating that Nonconformist ministers must take an oath like that imposed by the Corporation Adl, it goes on, " And all such Nonconformist ministers shall not after the 24th of March, 1665, unless in passing the road, come, or be
1 This Ad, called also the Oxford Ad, came into force 25th March, 1666, and did not affedt any who took the oath against taking up arms against the King on any pretence, or trying to change the government. About forty took it, including Bates, Howe, Jacomb, and Pool. It was repealed in 181 2.
INTRODUCTION. 5
within five miles of any city, town corporate, or borougli ; or within five miles of any parish, town, or place, wherein they have since the adl: of oblivion been parson, vicar, or leclurer, &c., or where they have preached in any conventicle on any pretence whatsoever." The penalty was forty pounds; to go, "one-third to the King, another third to the poor, and a third to him that shall sue for it." " Any two justices of peace are empowered to commit the offender to prison for six months without bail or mainprize."
Soon after it was passed we hear of ministers meeting their flocks by stealth. Mr. Billingsley, ejecT;ed from Chester- field, went to live in Mansfield, then not a corporate town, and used to steal along the Chesterfield road, often by night, to minister to his old friends. Mr. Fisher in Sheffield, and after him Mr. Durant and Mr. Jollie, made many visits to their people while living in concealment. They were watched by informers, and were more than once thrown into prison. The Nonconformist laity were not exempt. Magistrates were appointed who were known to be hostile to Nonconformity. No Nonconformist was safe. Servants were bribed or threatened with imprisonment to make them inform against their masters. Letters were opened, and their contents construed as illegal. The prisons were crowded with earnest, pious men, who in their own place were known to live exemplary lives. The state of affairs may be seen from the following extracft from Oliver Hey wood's Diary, 1682 : —
"On Aug. 30, '82, at mine own house, we kept a solemne day of thanksgiving to god for the publick liberty we have injoyed in my house without interruption, aboue 10 yeares, notwithstanding many warrants issued out agt us as well as others, yet we have been secured through the moderation of our officers as instrumental, when all the society [s] round about us haue been sadly broken and scattered, Mr. Smith at Kipping, Mr. Dawson at Closes, Mr. Jos. Holdsworth at Heckmondwyke^ meet not in the day, but in the night for these several months, so at Leeds, Morly, Topliff, Alverthorp, Mr. Whitehurst at Lidiat — all haue been
1 Corroborated by the numerous entries in the Heckmondwike Church Book on the purchase of candles.
6 UPPER CHAPEL.
some way hindered in the places they used to meet in, and the limes they had met on and in Craven they haue been fined, at SheiTield they were all taken off,i some troubled at Sessions, watcht — , at Jo Armytages they meet in the night at Robt Bins hitherto obstructed scarce any place in the country free. Mr. Ward of York, hunted, fined 40 li. scattered, scarce any place in this county free except Hull and yet we, even we at this poor Northowrum haue been quiet never informed agt, disturbed, molested only 2 or 3 days we begun a little sooner then at other times, but god brought full companys, and that was but wn we knew wt time the officers would come immediately before the Sessions, and then returned into our old channel again and haue vast multitudes that ffock to us from all parts of the country, so many meetings being broken."-
The difficulties in which Nonconformists found themselves under these persecuting A(5ts, are well seen in the following extracft from Thomas Jollie's Note Book (1683). The incident occurred while he was visiting his son in York Castle : — "' In the citty an objecft of pitty and prayers was then presented to mee, viz., one reduced to a great exegent by psecution from the Prelats Court, that hee must either temporize and truckle to them or give up his rich shop and full trade, or surrender up himself to ppetual imprisonment and pay a large sume of money besides. The want of consideration before hand and his weakness in grace made the temptation to work almost to distratflion, yet did the lord counsell and comfort, succour, and save him in that distress according to prayers."
The objecT: of all these Acts, known as the Clarendon Code, was to destroy Nonconformity. It was regarded as a disease in the State, to be cured by drastic means. The means adopted, however, had not the effect intended. In spite of persecution Nonconformity spread. Moreo\er, under monarchs like Charles II, and James II., with their strong
1 This year Timothy JoUie was obliged to leave Sheffield ; he was sub- sequently arrested, fined /'20, and imprisoned in York Castle for six months.
- Exad reprint from O. Hey wood's " Solemne Covenants." Turner, iii. p. 214.
INTRODUCTION. 7
Roman Catholic sympathies, the Acfts told against their Cathohc supporters. They were desirous, therefore, of relieving them.
Accordingly in 1672 Charles II. issued a Dcclaratioit of Indulgence, proclaimmg that it was the royal will and pleasure that all penal laws against Nonconformists should be imme- diately suspended, " and they are hereby suspended." His objecl: was to relieve the Catholics. The Protestant Non- conformists were not blind to the faci:. They did not approve of the right assumed by the King to dispense with laws passed by Parliament. When it suited his purpose he might dispense with the new Indulgence. The Commons resisted ; and the Indulgence was withdrawn the following year. But in the meantime many Nonconformist ministers took out licenses to preach under the King's own hand and seal, 1672.1
Again, in 16S7, James II. issued a Declaration fov Libei'ty of Conscitnce, suspending all penal enactments against Noncon- formists. James had at first favoured the High Church party, and had persecuted the Nonconformists. But finding the same party bitterly hostile to the Roman Catholics, he now sought to win the Nonconformists to his side. The
1 I am indebted to the Rev. Alex. Gordon for the following notices of the Sheffield licenses, 1672 :— I. Presbyterian. Thomas Burbcck, or Biyhweck, ej. Ackworth, licensed for own house in Shetiield Walker calls him (ii. 85) " a Stif-Rump'd Presbyterian," which, says Calamy (Ace. 7S9, cont. 940), "is a Phrase that needs Explication." He died 8 July, 1674; bur. 10 July at Sheffield (Turner i. 306). Matthew Bloome, ej. Sheffield ledure, licensed for own house at " Arcliffe"; also Arthur Powell's house, Attercliffe ; also for Cowlhorne, and Briggate, Leeds. He died 13 Ap., 16S6, in Lincolnshire. Edward Priiiw, ej. Sheffield curacy, licensed for own house ; also Robt. Britsworth's malthouse ; also for Beverley and Ship- langton. Died 26 Ap., 1708; age 77 (?) H. Congregatio.\.\l. Robert Durant, ej. Crowle ; licensed for Fisher's house (prob. Dr. Fisher, son of Rev. James Fisher) ; also for Leeds, in house of a Presbyterian. Died 12 Feb., 167! ; age 71. Richard Taylor, ej. Long Haughton ; licensed for Fisher's house; also for Swath. Born Sheffield, 17 May, 1636. Ed. :\Iagdalene Coll., Camb. Died Mar., 1681. A facsimile of the license granted to Oliver Hey wood to preach " in a Roome or Roomes in the house of John Butterworth in ye Parish of Hallifax, in ye County of Yorke," is given in Turner, ii. 16.
O UPPER CHAPEL.
Declaration was re-issued in 1688, and the clergy were commanded to read it in their churches. Most of them hesitated to comply, and they were supported by many Nonconformists ; Baxter, Howe, Stretton, and other leaders declaring they would not benefit by an ad: that assumed the King's right to dispense with the laws of the country. The seven Bishops strenuously resisted, and were brought to trial. " God has given me the dispensing power, and I will maintain it," said the King. But the jury took a different view, and the Bishops were acquitted, to the joy of the nation. The majority of the Protestant Nonconformists were in perplexity ; the temptation was great ; but if they used the King's indulgence what w^as to prevent him from taking away their liberties once more when it suited his purpose ? A large setHiion declined it altogether ; many stood aloof ; but some, and among them the congregation of Sheffield, addressed a letter of grateful thanks to their " Dread Sovereign," ex- pressing their thankfulness that the prisons were now opened, and that liberty of conscience was assured. It is a curious document. It will be found printed on page 35.
But laws like the Clarendon Code cannot last. Nor can the dispensing with the laws, as adopted by Charles II. and James II., be tolerated. The needs of social and political life forbid it. It was political necessity rather than religious sentiment that brought about a change in England. During the reign of James II. Churchmen and Nonconformists found themselves united in opposition to Roman Catholicism, which they all dreaded. In return for Nonconformist help, men in power and political organisations of various kinds, had pledged themselves to help Nonconformists in their struggle against persecuting laws. Ideas of toleration had spread. The new King, William, was on the side of those who claimed equal religious rights for all. A reacrtion took place ; and when, in 16S9, " An Act for exempting their Majesties' Protestant subjecT:s dissenting from the Church of England from the penalties of certain laws," the so-called Toleration Act (though the word toleration is not used in the Bill) was brought into Parliament, it was passed without opposition. Henceforth Independents, Presbyterians,
INTRODUCTION. 9
Quakers, Baptists, might worship as conscience direcfted them. The law gave them protection. Roman Catholics were excluded, and so were Unitarians. The Bill was, in truth, a Partial-Toleration Bill. But it secured immunity from interference in worship for a large section of the nation. All who benefited by it were obliged to declare their allegiance to the Crown, their detestation of Popery, their belief in the Trinity.^ This Acft received the royal assent 24th INIay, 1689. It was not until the year 1813 that legal penalties for holding anti-trinitarian opinions were removed from the Statute Book.
So long as William was on the throne Nonconformists were safe, in spite of the restless scheming of the High Church party. But no sooner was he dead than this party began to undermine the work he had done, and in 171 1 the Act against Occasional Cotifoniiiiy was passed, excluding Non- conformists from public offices, " till they have made oath that they have entirely conformed to the Church, and not been at any conventicle for the space of a whole year." This outrageous Bill was followed by one still worse ; for in 1714 the Schism Bill was passed by a majority of 237 against 126. It was intended to prevent Nonconformists from acting as schoolmasters and tutors : they were to have nothing to do with the education of the young. Any schoolmaster or tutor proved to have attended Nonconformist worship was to suffer three months' imprisonment, and be disqualified for the future to exercise the office of teacher. This Act, "one of the worst that ever defiled the Statute Book," was to come into effecf on the ist August, 1714. But that very day the Queen died, and her death stayed the operation of the Acl. It was repealed by her successor, George I.
These various Acts represent many years of conflict during which Nonconformity was struggling for existence. Its opponents, chiefly of the High Church party, regarded Nonconformists as schismatics, dangerous to the State : they could not be loyal Englishmen and not worship according to the rites of the Church of England. The conception of
1 Neal, Puritans, V. append. 13, gives this Act in full.
lO UPPER CHAPEL.
religious toleration was difficult to grasp, and made its way slowly. The dotftrine of religious equality is only now beginning to be understood.
At the beginning of the conflict two bodies of Noncon- formists stand out prominently, the Presbyterians and the Independents. The former had been the stronger party until the time of Cromwell. The first presbytery was established at Wandsworth in 1572, though Queen Elizabeth was strongly opposed to the Presbyterians. But it comprised only a single organised congregation, and did not, therefore, exactly correspond to the Scotch Presbyterian system or to the Lancashire " classis." Its proceedings were kept as secret as possible ; and though the Queen " issued a pro- clamation for putting the Ati of Uniformity in execution," and though the officers of the High Commission knew of the existence of the presbytery, " they could not discover the members of it, nor prevent others being erecT;ed in neigh- bourmg counties."' Presbyterianism grew both in numbers and influence. Parliament was for the Presbyterian system of Church government, even before the assembling of the Westminster divines in 1643. In that assembly, says Neal,'- " the majority at first intended only the reducing Episcopacy to the standard of the first or second age, but for the sake of the Scots' alliance, they were prevailed with to lay aside the name and function of bishops, and attempt the establishing a presbyterial form, which at length they advanced into jus divinum, or a divine institution, derived expressly from Christ and his Apostles. This engaged them in so many controversies, as prevented their laying the top stone of the building, so that it fell to pieces before it was perfecled." A coalition of Scotch and English Presbyterians was brought about in 1643. On the 25th September of that year they met in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, and took the Solemn League and Covenant " for the preservation of ourselves and our religion from utter ruin and destrucftion." The establish- ment of the Presbyterian form of Church government m England was acftually voted by the Long. Parliament, 13th
1 Neal, I., p. 244. " III. p. 116.
INTRODUCTION*. II
October, 1647. Yet, in spite of the predominance of the Presbyterians, this form of government was never really established. There was always a sufficiently large minority of Independents to prevent " their laying the top stone." London and the neighbourhood had, however, in the meantime been formed into twelve presbyteries, or rather twelve classes (with a presbytery for each parish) ; and the Presbyterian system had taken root also in Warwickshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Shropshire, Northumberland, and (for a time) Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Devonshire.
In Cromwell's time we find a system of Church govern- ment unique in our annals. He established a Board of Tvici's to examine the iitness uf ministers presented to livings. The right of patronage remained as it was, but each minister had to receive the approbation of this Board before he could be appointed. Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents, and (a few) Baptists alike were elected to livings in the Church. Cromwell was for the widest toleration. He wanted the best men, the most religious men, whatever their ideas on Church government might be. Under his regime, the principle of the Presbyterians, " comprehension," and that of the Inde- pendents, "toleration," seemed, like righteousness and peace, to have kissed each other. The scheme worked well. The livings in the Church were hlled with godly and zealous men. The Triers have been accused of favouritism and arbitrariness in their selection. " Yet," says Baxter, " so great was the benefit above the hurt which they brought to the Church, that many thousands of souls blessed God for the faithful ministers whom they let in, and grieved when the Prelatists afterwards cast them out again."'
The process of casting out began with the Restoration. At Cromwell's death the Presbyterians were amongst those who desired the recall of Charles II., and a deputation uf their ministers waited upon him at Breda, and there received from him promises which satisfied them that they were safe under the rule of " a praying King."
In reality Charles had no love for the Puritans. " Presbyterianism is no religion for a gentleman," said he. 1 Neal, IV., p. 99.
12 UPPER CHAPEL.
Whatever the expectations of the Presbyterians might be, the doings of the King and his High Chancellor Clarendon began to open their eyes to the facfl that Episcopalians and not Presbyterians were henceforth to be in the ascendant. The Act of Uniformity in 1662, and the persecuting acts that accompanied it, completed the rude process ot awakening them from their delusion. Presbyterianism was abolished, never to be restored.
The majority of the two thousand ejected from their livings by the A6t of Uniformity were moderate Episcopalians and Presbyterians ; a large minority were Independents. Among the latter was the Rev. James Fisher, vicar of Sheffield. Robert Durant, who succeeded him, Richard Taylor, who probably preached during the interregnum, and Timothy Jollie, were also Independents. There was no Presbyterian classis in Yorkshire, and though Upper Chapel has frequently been designated a Presbyterian foundation there is no evidence that this was the case. On the contrary, all the evidence points the other way. It is true that Oliver Heywood speaks of " presbiters" present at Timothy Jollie's ordination ; but these were simply ministers invited to take part in the service. The actual engagement between minister and people was according to Congregational usage. Oliver Heywood says the chapel " was always accounted indepen- dent"; and on the title-page of John De la Rose's funeral sermon on Timothy Jollie, the latter is called, "late Pastor of the Congregational Church at Sheffield." In the diary of Tmiothy Jollie, junior, under the date 1714, we find a reference to his father's death, and he continues, " Upon his Decease strange Heats in y*= Congregational Church at Sheffield." All contemporaneous evidence points in the same diredtion. It proves that the theory that Upper Chapel was a Presbyterian foundation is a later growth. By the actual founders it was understood to be an Independent Church. It is true that on Gosling's Map of Sheffield, 1736, Upper Chapel is marked " Presbyterian Meeting House"; but as it marks Nether Chapel " ditto," we gather that in Sheffield, as in other places, the term Presbyterian was used simply as a synonym with Dissenter.
INTRODUCTION. I3
It is sometimes said that the open trust of chapels like our own, now in the hands of Unitarians, is a proof that they were originally Presbyterian foundations. These trusts impose upon the worshippers no special creed, or dodT:rinal limitations of any kind. Upper Chapel was founded tor "the worship and service of Almighty God," and nothing is said of theological belief, because the founders were well known to be orthodox, and toleration was conditioned by subscription to the Articles of the Church. ' The founders of Upper Chapel were Calvinistic in creed. It is contrary to the well-known facts of the case, and to the spirit of the time, to suppose that in leaving the trust open they were animated by a far-seeing desire to place no hindrance to doctrinal developments in the future. Least of all would the Presby- terians be moved by such a desire, for they were the most intolerant of all the Dissenters, calling toleration " the Great Diana of the Independents." " We detest and abhor the much endeavoured Toleration," said the Presbyterian ministers of London in 1645. The Independents were far more tolerant than the Presbyterians ; but neither did they, when they left their trusts open, do it Avith a view to possible theological changes. There are to-day more chapels that were founded at the beginning of the eighteenth century with open trusts among the Independents than among the Unitarians.- For the most part they have remained more or less orthodox, while among Unitarians doctrinal changes have taken place. But in neither case was the trust left open with the objecft of giving free play to theological speculation. Nor is it at all likely that the founders left their trusts open with a view to a possible return to the Established Church. They were proud of their dissent : they had suffered for it. They made provision for " the worship of God by Protestant Dissenters" by erecfting their Meeting Houses; and for the supply of dissenting pulpits by establishing their Academies. The open trust was part of their dissent.
The founders of Upper Chapel, then, were Independents. They had an Independent minister, and an Independent mode
1 See Sedion VII. of the Aft. Neal, V., appendix 13. - The original Trust of Nether Chapel is "open," like our own.
14 UPPER CHAPEL.
of Church government. Their trust they left "open," in common with many other dissenters of the time. The theological change that has taken place has been made legal by the relaxation of the terms of toleration, and by the Dissenters' Chapels Act (1844), which made the relaxation retrospective. '
<^i^^^^^
1 The Trinity Ad of 1813 legalised Unitarian dodrine ; the Ad of 1844 made this legalislation retrospedive.
PERIOD I.— 1662-1714.
CALVINISM.
T^HERE is no evil thing in this world that has not some ■^ good attaching to it. Cruel as the persecution was, it led to the foundation of many Nonconformist Chapels which have done good service to England, and have produced men eminent for piety and public usefulness as well as eloquence and learning.
For the movement which led subsequently to the building of Upper Chapel we must go to the ejectment of the Rev. James Fisher, Vicar of Sheffield from 1646 to 1662. Unfor- tunately our information concerning hnn is very scanty. There are no authentic records of his appointment as vicar ; nor is anything known of the place of his birth and education. Calamy tells us that in his younger days he had been minister in London, "in conjunction with another minister who had great multitudes to hear him, while Mr. Fisher had but very few. Inquiring the reason of one of the parish, he was answered, ' Sir, you do but preach the old humdrum docftrines of faith and repentance, but the other preaches dispensation truths.' This much affected him. He afterwards succeeded worthy Mr. Towler (Thomas Toller, appointed vicar Feb., 1597-8) and Mr. Bright (John Bright, M.A., succeeded Toller 2oth August, 1635) at Sheffield, and walked in their steps, preaching usefully and living exemplarily." He further tells us that Mr. Fisher "was congregational in his judgment, a man of great piety and worth, an excellent preacher, and an instrument of much good in this populous town." In 1640, while living at Clipsham in Rutlandshire, he married, 7th March, at Laughton, Elizabeth Hatfeild,' daughter of Ralph Hatfeild (d. 1626), originally of Ecclesfield but afterwards of Laughton-en-le-Morthen (seven miles south-east of Rother- ham). Elizabeth was sister of Anthony Hatfeild, and so
1 The name is written Hatfeild in the Laughton register, and the family have always so spelled it.
l6 UPPER CHAPEL.
aunt of Martba Hatfeild, of whom Mr. Fisher wrote a curious book to be noticed further on. By this marriage Mr. Fisher became related not only to the Hatfeild family, but also to the Brights of Carbrook. Stephen Bright married Barbara, Ralph Hatfeild's elder daughter. After the death of his first wife (buried at Sheffield 20th May, 1655), Mr. Fisher married, 26th September, 1656, ]\Iary, daughter of Randolf Carleil, of Sowerby, Yorks.
At the passing of the Act of Uniformity, Fisher felt himself unable to take the prescribed oaths. He belonged to the Independents, and it appears that he had been greatly disturbed in mind by recent events, and shared the wild visions of the Fifth Monarchy men ; for Henry Newcombe (ejected Manchester ; founder of Cross Street Congregation)
says in his diary, 25th June, 1663, " told me the sad case
they are in about Sheffield, where Mr. Fisher designs separa- tion, and courts all the apostates, and preaches up the Fifth Monarchy."
A great number of Fisher's congregation seceded from the Church when he was ejected, and, with him as minister, they formed an Independent Church. His three assistants, Edward Prime, Matthew Bloome, and Rowland Hancock,' were ejected with him.
1 Edward riiine was assistant minister about eight years. Born Wheston, near Tideswell ; educated Chesterfield Grammar School and Christ's Coll., Camb. Afterwards tutor in family of Thomas Westby, of Ravensfield, and minister at Baslow. Elecfled by burgesses as assistant to Mr. Fisher in 1654. After ejectment settled in Sheffield, and preached a fortnightly ledture there. Lived 45 years after ejecftment, dying April 26, 1708, aged about 77. During the last ten years of his life he preached frequently at Attercliffe. On July 31, 1689, the Register at Quarter Sessions under Toleration Adl gives his name, as Penne and Peinne, for worship at his own house. " He was very clear in the point of Nonconformity," says Calamy, "and had much satisfadion about it." " He was a very solemn observer of Bartholomew-day. The last sermon he preached upon that occasion was in 1707, on Josh. xiv. 10, 'And now behold the Lord has kept me alive these forty and five years' ! " His daughter Hephzibah (b. 1654, d. 1735) married, first Christopher Richardson, and afterwards Robert Fern.
Mattheiv Bloome, b. Brotherton, near Pontefraft. Educated Magd. Coll., Camb. Eleded assistant, 1655. Afted also as curate at Attercliffe,
PERIOD I. — 1662-I714. 17
From this time to his death, January, 1665-6, he led a very troubled existence. He continued the pastoral relation- ship to his faithful flock, preaching in his own house, or in their houses, as occasion permitted. But he appears to have
1653-1662. After ejedlment he eked out a living for himself and family as a maltster, " but preached in private as he had opportunity." For licenses, cf. p. 7, " He was a man of good parts, and an excellent preacher. He was some time prisoner in York Castle. He died suddenly at Sir W. Ellis's in Lincolnshire, April 13, 1686." (Calamy.)
Rowland Hancock, Vicar of Ecclesfield, which he relinquished 1660. Under-master of the Free Writing School, Sheffield, i66r, in which year (April 22) he was eleded assistant minister to James Fisher by the burgesses. He lived at Shiercliffe Hall. There arose some doubt about the legality of his eledion, but the discussion was brought to an end by the Ad of Uniformity, and on August 24, 1662, he was ejeded. Obliged to leave Sheffield, 1665 (Five Miles Ad) ; imprisoned in York, 166S (cf. O. Hey wood's Diary, May 31, i668j ; returned to Sheffield, 1672, and obtained a license to preach in his own house. He maintained also a weekly ledure at Brookside, Bradfield. On July 28, 1676, he established, in conjundion with Matthew Bloome, " a small church on the Independent model." The following are the names of those who joined this communion : — Rowland Hancock, Matthew Bloome, ministers. Mr. John Hatfield, Mrs. Antonina Hatfield, Mrs. Hancock, Mrs. Jennet Bloome, Joseph Capper, Joseph Nutt, Robert Hoole, tanner; Widow Hoole, William Hoole, cutler; Robert Hoole, his brother ; William Wadsworth, Mary Wadsworth, William Marsland, Mary Nicholson, widow ; Hannah Cox, Margaret Parkin, Margaret Sharpe, John Oldale. In 1681 this arrangement came to an end. Disagreements arose between the two ministers, and it was deemed best to separate. Part of the worshippers followed Matthew Bloome to Attercliffe ; part remained with Rowland Hancock. The quarrel arose when they gathered funds from London and elsewhere to build a chapel midway between Shiercliffe and Attercliffe. This was the "bone of contention," which, says Oliver Heywood, " that evil one, envying that unity and successe, cast betwixt them;" for they had previously " joyned sweetly togather in preaching the gospel as brethren." Bloome's friends took a barn at Attercliffe, " making windows, doores, pulpit, seats, and all things very convenient for a meeting-place, and a pretty place it is;" but Hancock resented this adion, and would have nothing to do with the barn, " would not own it or preach in it, but preacht at Addercliff in a private house at the same time Mr. Bloom was preaching in his meeting place . . . thus divisions and hart-burnings are grown amongst them." (Heywood's Diary, Turner ii. 238-9). Hancock died 14th April, 1685, and his congregation then, for the most part, attended Timothy Jollie's ministry. Calamy says of Hancock, " He was a very pious man, of excellent natural abilities, and tolerable learning, though he had not a university education."
B
l8 UPPER CHAPEL.
been constantly under suspicion, being " maliciously and falsely accused, and forced to appear at the Sessions at Rotherham, Doncaster, Wakefield, and Pontefract, and at two Assizes at York, where he was several times afterwards sent prisoner on false accusations, and once without any reason or mittimus made him, by order of the Duke of York" (afterwards James II.). "At one time one of his accusers being perjured, ran away ; and the other, a drunken clergy- man, did not appear ; so that Mr. Fisher was acquitted by proclamation in open court. At another time a man of Attercliffe, in York Castle, condemned for murdering his wife, was offered a pardon and a sum of money if he would swear treason against Mr. Fisher, but he refused, saying, 'that he knew no such thing, nor any harm by him, and he would be hanged before he would so forswear himself; and was hanged for the murder. The last time he was in prison, he was designed to be kept there during his life ; but the (second Villiers) Duke of Buckingham coming to York, enquired into the state of prisoners in the Castle ; and finding him and some others confined there out of spite, he set them at liberty." (Calamy ) Fisher had been wrongfully accused (as was also Thomas Jollie, father of Timothy Jollie) of com- plicity in the Farnley Wood plot, 1663. It was in this year that we find in the accounts of the Constables of Sheffield "charges about Mr. Fisher seekeing and carrying to Yorke, £1 17s. 6d." The times were uneasy; the Government of Charles II. suspicious. On the loth October, 1663, some twenty persons met in Farnley Wood, near Leeds, under the leadership of Thomas Gates, a schoolmaster, and his son Ralph, a clergyman, with the object: of forming a league for the reinstatement of the ejedled ministers, and the restoration of Parliament. Information of the meeting was given by a traitor to the authorities ; the men were arrested ; Ralph Gates turned king's evidence, and implicated many others by name, among them Mr. Fisher. There was no evidence of his complicity and he was released ; but many were executed, their heads being set up on the gates of York Castle.
In 1665 the Five-miles k€i drove Fisher finally from Sheffield, one of his greatest troubles, among the many that
PERIOD I. 1662-I714. ig
afflicted him, being his forced separation from his beloved flock. His health at this time was sadly impaired, by frequent imprisonment and constant danger. During his imprisonment he had been treated with rigour. His son was not allowed to speak to him except through the window. Friends were unable to see him. Writing materials were denied him. He was treated as one under special suspicion. He was most unfortunate, for apparently beyond the lying testimony of Ralph Oates, there was nothing against him. He left prison a dying man. He could not go home to Sheffield. The law forbade it. He went to the house of Captain John Hatfeild, his wife's relative, at Hatfield, near Doncaster. Here he continued " four or five months in a languishing condition, and then died, and was buried there in January, 1665-6." (Calamy.)i
Fisher wrote a curious book, called " The Wise Virgin," being an account of his wife's niece, Martha Hatfeild, who, when about twelve years old, was subject to a distressing disease, probably of a hysterical nature, which rendered her helpless for months together. Her body became rigid. She could neither see, hear, nor feel anything. She could not open her mouth, and only took liquid food in very small quantities, which they poured through a gap left by a missing tooth. At times when the paroxysms abated, though still quite unconscious, she opened her lips and spoke words of pious exhortation and religious reflec51ion, which astonished all who heard her. Great numbers of friends came to her bedside, and her speeches were carefully noted down. In Fisher's book they vary in length from a few sentences to several pages. Sometimes she lay for weeks without uttering a word ; sometimes she spoke two or three times a day — always in the same strain of earnest exhortation and reflec-
1 Hunter (Hallamshire, Gatty, p. 289) thinks Calamy mistaken in the date of Fisher's death. He quotes O. Hey wood's Diary for 12th Nov., 1666 : — ■" We went to Mr. Hatfeild's of Laighton to visit Mr. Fisher of Sheffield, who lives there." But it is quite possible that the Mr. Fisher here referred to is John Fisher, surgeon, James Fisher's eldest son. The date 1665-6 appears to be corredt. But Calamy is certainly wrong in say- that Fisher was buried at Hatfield. The Laughton register has " James Fisher, minister, buried y^ 29 of Januari, 1666,"
20 UPPER CHAPEL.
tion. The speeches are made up very largely of sentences the child had heard in the family devotions and in church. There are many phrases in them clearly the echo of the orthodox teaching of the day. Much of it the child herself cannot have understood. Her speeches were all taken down between 19th May and 21st November, 1652. When she came to herself she was quite unconscious of having uttered them.
Fisher regards them as miraculous, and sees in them portents and warnings from God. The accompanying " Portraiture of Mrs. Martha Hatfeild " is taken from an engraving in the copy of this rare book in the British Museum, dated 1664 (5th Ed.). The artist has not been successful in pourtraying the tender years of this " childe of wonders;" but the picture illustrates Fisher's words that " Whereas you might rather apprehend " (from the small quantity of food she took) "that she was a lean, dried, and withered Anatomy," as a matter of fact " she grew very fat and her flesh very firm and solid, and she did look very fair and fresh." The book throws an interesting light upon the superstitious credulity of the time. '
Fisher died in January, 1666. Where the congregation met after his death is not known ; probably at each others' houses, to hear secretly such ministers as visited Sheffield, which, being a non-corporate town, was a safe refuge, except for those driven from it by the Five Miles A6i. Richard Taylor and Nathaniel Baxter are known to have resided here. But for three years there was no settled minister. In 1669 Robert Durant, who had been ejected from Crowle, in Lincolnshire, was invited on the recommendation of Thomas Woolhouse, of Glapwell, near Bolsover, and preached his inaugural sermon on November 17th of that year. Durant was the son of a minister (John Durant ?) living near London. While Vicar of Crowle he had endeared himself to his con- gregation by his gentle and courteous manners, and his devotion to his flock. After his ejedlment he retired to Reedness on the Ouse, and preached in private until 1664.
' For a detailed account of this curious book, with some of Martha's " speeches," see " Fisher's Wise Virgin, &c.," by the present writer.
PERIOD I. 1662-I714. 23
In that year, travelling to London with his friend John Ryther (ejected from Ferry by), he was seized on the road, and both were thrown into York Castle on suspicion, for no charge was brought against them. It was in York Castle that he met Woolhouse, also a prisoner for conscience' sake, and well known as a supporter of the ejecfted ministers. Durant was an earnest, religious man, an able preacher, a devoted pastor. We are told that he and his congregation fasted once a month. " His circumspection was such that envy itself could not charge him with anything blameworthy. He could never endure railing or backbiting, but exhorted all to love Christian unity and forbearance." He was a man of considerable culture, " skilled in languages, especially French." He had travelled and " had seen many of the American islands." " He had uncommon ability in writing agreeable letters." When he settled with the Sheffield con- gregation he told them they might give him what they pleased as salary, but we are not told what they actually gave ; not likely to be much, for Nonconformist ministers were very badly paid.i The same year that he was elected John Barber was appointed ruling elder, and Richard Paramour deacon.
Durant's ministry was fruitful in results. The congrega- tion held together and increased. When the Indulgence of 1672 was issued he obtained a license for public worship in the house of Dr. Fisher (son of James Fisher).- Here the people met, thankful to be able to worship God without fear of molestation. So steadily did the numbers increase that in 1678 they ventured to open the New Hall, at the bottom of Snig Hill, which was the first Nonconformist place of worship in Sheffield. It is probable that the New Hall was already standing, and was now converted into a Meeting House. Hunter tells us that George Saunderson, yeoman, of Midhope, by his will, 1649, gave Francis his son a messuage called the New Hall, and this appears to be the hall in Snig Hill. The Brights of Carbrook were members of Durant's congre- gation at this time, and contributed to the funds of the new
1 Matthew Sylvester (1637-1708), of Blackfriars Chapel, London, was literally "passing rich on £^0 a year," though he had " a soaring genius, a rich and copious fancy, and great depth of thought." '^ See p. 7.
24 UPPER CHAPEL.
Meeting House. Thomas Hollis, merchant, of London, was also a large contributor. Within a month of the opening Durant died (February 12th, 1678-9, aged 71),^ his loss being much deplored by all who knew him. He was buried in the Parish Churchyard.
The name of Thomas Hollis is associated in the annals of Sheffield with HoUis's Hospital, still used as an almshouse, but soon likely to be removed for city improvements. Thomas Hollis, son of Thomas Hollis, whitesmith, of Rotherham, was born in 1634 (baptised September 4). In 1648 he was apprenticed cutler in Sheffield to his uncle Ramskar. The only place of religious worship at this time was the Parish Church, and young Hollis, who is said to have been a Baptist, came under the influence of Fisher, and was converted to his way of thinking. He left Sheffield for London in 1654, to manage his uncle's cutlery business in the Minories. In 1658 he married Anne Thorner, whose brother Robert is dis- tinguished as a benefactor of Harvard College. In London Hollis worshipped at Pinner's Hall, and in 1678 he leased the hall for the use of Nonconformists. Meanwhile he v/as not forgetful of his Yorkshire religious home. He contributed, as stated above, to the funds of the first Meeting House, and when this became too small for the growing congregation and a new chapel had to be built in 1700, he contributed largely to the expense of the building, and also purchased the old chapel and converted it into an almshouse. An inscription, on what is probably a part of the original building, runs thus :— " This hospital for sixteen poor aged inhabitants of Sheffield, or within two miles round it, and school for fifty children, were founded by Thomas Hollis, of London, cutler, 1703. And further endowed by his sons, Thomas Hollis, 1724, and John Hollis, 1726, and rebuilt more commodiously by the Trustees, 1776."
Towards the end of his life Thomas Hollis became blind. He died in 1718, aged 84.
1 This is Calamy's statement, which is probably corredt. O. Heywood, however, says in his Diary, Feb. 1678-9, he has just heard of the death of " Mr. Durant a congregational man, pastour of the Church at Sheffield, aged 66." (Turner, iii. 259.)
PERIOD I. — 1662-1714. 27
After the death of Robert Durant it is very probable that Richard Taylor ministered to the congregation, though he does not appear to have been appointed pastor. He vvas born at Sheffield, 17th INIay, 1636. He was admitted to Magdalene College, Cambridge, as a sizar, 15th May, 1654, ^ matriculating at that college 8th July of the same year. On the 4th December, 1656, he v/as elected a scholar on John Smith's foundation. He graduated at Magdalene College, B.A., 1657-8 (1658 according to our computation). After leaving the University he became chaplain to Mrs. Dalton, of Fulburn, near Cambridge, acting also as tutor to her sons, and preaching occasionally in the neighbourhood. Later he settled at Long Haughton, where he remained until ejecfted by the Adl: of Uniformity in 1662. He then became chaplain to Sir E. Rhodes, and after that to Mr. Wadsworth, of Swath Hall, near Barnsley. Later on he came to Sheffield, where he died in 1681. Calamy says "he was a serious, zealous Christian, and a plain, laborious preacher. God owned his ministry in these parts for the good of many." He left a MS. entitled, "A Thankful Remembrance of some remarkable A(5ls of the Lord's good Providence towards me Richard Taylor."
One of the most distinguished names among the ministers of Upper Chapel is that of Timothy Jollie, in whose ministry the chapel was built. He came to Sheffield, aged 23, in 1679, on the invitation of the congregation worshipping at the New Hall. He was not, however, ordained until April 28, 1681. It is possible that his settlement here was due to Thomas HoUis, for he had attended the services at Girdler's Hall, and had preached there, and so was probably well acquainted with the Hollis family. He was born in 1656 at Altham in Lancashire, where his father, Thomas Jollie (1629- 1703), a strong Independent, was ejecled from his living on
1 The following extradl is taken from the Magd. Register: —
"May 15, 1654. Richardus Taylour films Richardi Taylour de
Sheffield, annum agens 17m- e schola ibidem erecta [the Free Grammar
School] admissus est Sizator, Tutore Dno. Zanchy."
He was also under the tutorship of Mr Hill, who succeeded Mr.
Zanchy as tutor.
28 UPPER CHAPEL.
" Black Bartholomew's Day." After his ejecftment he was frequently put in prison for holding conventicles. His son Timothy (by a third wife — Thomas had four) inherited his father's Independent principles. At 17, on August 27, 1673, he entered Richard Frankland's Academy at Rathmell, Yorks. He remained here until December, 1675, when he went to study in London with the oh]e6l of entering the ministry. He became a member of the Independent Church meeting at Girdler's Hall, Basinghall Street, of which George Griffith (ejecTied from Charter House) was the minister. Before coming to Sheffield he appears to have preached for a year under Griffith, and when he came he preached for a year as " candidate " {i.e., licensed but not ordained).^ He was a very young man for so important a charge ; but he soon justified the congregation's choice. He had great natural abilities, being an eloquent preacher and a devoted pastor. Later on he showed also remarkable skill as a tutor, among his pupils being several who afterwards became distinguished. Oliver Heywood, who was present, and took a prominent part in his ordination, has left a graphic descrip- tion of the ceremony, by which we get a glimpse into the religious life of Sheffield at the time. Moreover, as this ordination was one of the earliest that took place among Nonconformists, the narrative has especial interest as a historical record. The following is an exadl reprint of the memorandum made by Heywood, taken from his Diary (Turner, ii. 199-201). Timothy JoUie was lodging at the house of Abel Yates, a member of the congregation, and the ordination took place there : —
" Upon April 25, 1681, we had a solemne and sweet day of fasting and prayer at J. Baxters, in the close of it Mr. Tho. Jolly came to my house (according to former appoint- ment) lodged with me, the day after we rode to Sheffield upon a solemne occasion wch was the setting apart of Mr. Timothy Jolly chosen to be pastor of that church in Sheffield where Mr. fisher and Mr. Durant were pastors before him : we took up our lodgings in Abel Yates house, one of the members
'The Altham and Wymondhouses Church Book, 1681, says: — "Had preacht a year in London, and a year at Sheffield as a candidate."
PERIOD I. — 1662-I714. 29
with wm Mr. T. Jolly tables,^ besides us two were Mr. Hancock and Mr. Bloom called in for assistance, who came on Wednesday morning early, we all consulted togather how to carry on the work of that meeting, they unanimously chose me moderator to manage that affair. I would have avoided it but was compelled to it, the people came together about 10 a clock, I begun the work with prayer my god did graciously assist in that duty about an hour, then we put young Mr. Jolly on the work of preaching for a tryal of his gifts, he preached on Isai. 59, 1.2, very satisfadlorily, we dismissed the people, and then fell to our work of examining him, wherein we spent about three houres, going through logick, philosophy, languages, divinity, but (through an oversight) he had no position in latin, however something was done extempore by way of disputation — An infantes omnes bapti- zatorum et si scandalizantium sint baptizandi,'- having dispatched this work we parted near 6 a clock, appointed to meet at the same place (viz at Abel Yates) at 7 in the morning, and some kept that time. Besides Mr. T. Jolly we were desired to take a test of the gifts of other two (viz Mr. David Noble formerly schoolmaster at Morley my son's master, now living with Mr. Woolhouse in Darbyshire, a pious man, candidate for the ministry, another was one Robt Dickinson a member and ruling Elder in that society, an English schollar only, but a good man of rare parts, and hath preacht above 10 yeares at seasons, and in his own house beyond Doncaster, 18 miles from Sheffield,) the former of these Mr Noble, prayed and preacht on Rom. 8. i. very profitably but we wanted time (or rather light) with reference to the latter, then Mr Hancock went to prayer and after him Mr. Bloom, most of the members of that society being there, only we were informed that two were dissatisfyed with that examination by presbiters, thought it should be done by ruling Elders in the name of the people, but no notice was taken of that opinion or of them, so we went on with our work, then I proceeded to propound such quaerys as are
^ i.e., boards and lodges. 2 " Whether all children of persons baptised, but irregular in their conduit, should be baptised,"
30 UPPER CHAPEL.
prescribed, to wch he answered, and then his father was willing to give him up to god by prayer in this office as he had formerly given him up to god in Baptism, which he did very pathetically, and after that he kneeling down upon his knees we standing about him, god helped me to pray over him in his actuall ordination by imposition of hands, and there were considerable affections in all the people. After that solemnity I proceeded to give this exhortation which was grounded upon i Tim. 4.15. god helped in that work in some good measure, so I concluded all with prayer, and their Elder desired all that were not of that society to withdraw, so most of the people scattered for there was a full assembly with several young schollers, Mr Billingsly jun, Mr Kerby, my son Eliezer, we all with drew for about half-an-hour, then went into the chamber where first one read a letter from Mr Griffith in London dismissing Mr Tim Jolly from their church to Sheffield-people, then he spoke in the name of the people their desires that he would accept of a pastorall office over them, wch the rest signified their consent to by lifting up their hands, and he assented, expressing his desires to serve them in the gospel, then Mr Tho Jolly his father discoursed of the relative dutys of pastours and people, wherein he enumerated 30 or 40 apellations or titles given to Ministers in Scripture, applying them distincftly all along very usefully, when he had done that work his son concluded all with prayer, indeed very sensibly and sweetly, so the whole company was dismissed we having continued in the Lords work from 8 a clock in the morning to 8 a clock at night except about half an hours intermission betwixt 4 and 5. There was more than ordinary mercys in this solemnity and all the transacftion.
" I That this Church wch was always accounted inde- pendent would admit of a pastour ordained by presbiters, yea Mr Durant mimediatly before that was of another persuasion, I look on this as an olive-branch of peace amongst gods people.
" 2 there was no doubt or objecflion received in that affair, as yong Mr Jolly observed no noyse of a hammer in that building, he was glad Mr Ogle came not (tho invited) who is
PERIOD I. 1662-I714. 31
otherwise minded, 3'et by providence necessarily hindred, living at Chesterfield.
" 3 Mr Hancock and Mr Bloom who have had an unhappy clashing a considerable time, sweetly joyned in this work without the least reflecTiion, yea wuth some humble acknowledgmls of their folly, wch is a hopeful sign of recon- ciliation.
" 4 Tho it was too wel known in town and parish and country (for wch we had reason to challenge some for impru- dence) yet there was no disturbance or affront, however, in the middle of a considerable market town, and if no hurt come of it we must ascribe it to gods providence not our prudence.
" 5 it is a wonderful transcendent mercy that in such a day as this is, god raiseth up out of private schools so many yong men so wel furnished with learning, gifts, graces for his work as a seminary for the Church to build up wast places of zion.
" 6 God did not withdraw his gracious presence and assistance from our soules, but did melt many hearts in prayer. I hope some will remember it while they have a day to live.
" 7 Many (I think all) the people were very well satisfyed, several of them came to us the following day expressed their gratitude and high resentment of that days work, and the young man himself was abundantly incouraged, blessed for ever, blessed be the Lord for his mercy thus far.
" We gave him an instrument in parchment under our hands of what we have done for him, that 28 of April, 1681."
This extraift makes it clear that the engagement between minister and congregation was made on Independent, not Presbyterian lines. Doubtless there v,'ere Presbyterians in the congregation, and Jollie, in order to satisfy their scruples, invited " presbiters " to take part in his ordination. He always manifested a desire to reconcile differences, and invited both parties to Communion. Among Oliver Hey- wood's warm praises of Jollie, he mentions (Diary, Turner, iv., 164) that Jollie "entertains Mr Primes people to com- munion and some of his members sit down with Mr Prime,
32 UPPER CHAPEL.
tho he be congregationall yet of an healing humble spirit — blessed be god for him." Mr. Durant appears, from Hey- wood's expression " of another persuasion," to have been otherwise minded in this respecfl, though he, too, was " a congregational man." The contracft between minister and people was in accordance with Independent usage. The "elder" caused the " presbiters " and all except Church members to withdraw. A letter from Griffith, the Inde- pendent minister, was read ; the elder then, in the name of the congregation, asked Mr. Jollie if he would accept the pastoral office, the congregation assenting by holding up their hands ; and with the young minister's consent, the agreement between pastor and congregation was completed. The two sturdy Independents who raised an objecflion against the ordination by "presbiters," and Mr. Ogle who, " tho invited," came not, being " by providence necessarily hindred," doubtless disapproved of the presence of " presbiters " at this solemn service in a church " always accounted independent." But the ordination, while reconciling the Presbyterians, did not affedt the contract between minister and people.
It was a most happy union. Heywood, always in praise of Jollie, says : — " Indeed, I perceive he is well accomplished for his work, both for learning, parts, sweet temper, and soundness in the faith, not drawn away with these odde opinions, very orthodox of a moderate spirit, blessed be god for him." • Jollie must have had reason also to be satisfied with his people, for his father writes in his Note-Book (1680, 3rd mo.)'- " My younger son being called to Sheffeild, I went thither and found cause to acknowledg the speciall providence of god in bringing him among such a sober people in such a well affecfled place, to such a numerous congregation though he was very young, yet had I encouragement in him both as to grace and gifts for soe great a work."
Jollie was a Calvinist, as his predecessors also were. Those changes in theology which later mark the history of Upper Chapel had not yet begun. But he was " of a mode-
• Oliver Heywood's " Remarkable Returns of Prayer.' Turner, iv., 164. 2 " The Note-Book of the Rev. Thomas Jolly," edited by Henry Fishwick, F.S.A. Chetham Society's Publications, 1894, p. 42.
PERIOD I. — 1662-1714. 33
rate spirit," — tolerant, not bigoted ; of that type of mind which would inevitably have progressed with the times.
All would have been well with the congregation and its young minister but for the persecuting laws. Soon after his settlement he married (2nd July, 1681) Elizabeth Fisher (b. 15th April, 1647 ; d. 17th January, 1708-g), daughter of James Fisher, and she proved an admirable help-meet. At the time of their marriage he was 23, she 32. A woman of deep piety and strong faith, she was a great support to him in the troubles that were soon coming. Her letters to her daughter which have been preserved indicate great strength of charadler, founded in invincible trust in God. She wanted all her faith, for bad times were again approaching. The Indulgence of 1672 was regarded by all good Churchmen as fatal to uniformity of faith. " Sir John Reresby, who took a very active part in the opposition to Nonconformity in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, says that it was never from that time at all pracT:icable to prevent the formation of conventicles. The attempt, however, was made, and in the latter years of King Charles II. the permission was withdrawn, and the gaols were again filled with the poor Nonconformists."' In 1682 Timothy Jollie was obliged to leave Sheffield to avoid arrest. On venturing to return he was arrested under the Five Miles Acft, brought before Sir John Reresby, who sent him to prison in York without permitting him to take leave of his wife. A fine of ;^2o was infli(5ted, and as Mrs. Jollie was unable to pay it her goods were seized, and she was obliged to seek refuge in her brother's house. She had recently been confined. " So I sent thee," she says to her daughter, " to thy dear uncle John Fisher's, and some hours after I was forced to follow thee for harbour. Kind letters were re- ceived from thy father, who met with many friends at York, though he met hardships in the way. Many comfort- able letters from him did I receive. The Lord made his imprisonment very easy to him from what he did expecft it would be. He had his liberty to go out into the city, only that he must appear once in two days. In two months he was set at liberty upon his bond to appear at the next 1 Hunter, " Hallamshire" (Gatty), p. 291.
34 UPPER CHAPEL.
sessions. He was at home one month when he went to the sessions, where he met with hard usage; [he was required to tal<e an oath of ' good behaviour,' i.e., to refrain from preaching. This he refused, and so] from thence he was sent to prison again for six months. But it pleased the Lord wonderfully to support and help him to choose a prison rather tlian defile his conscience. After he had been a little time I went to him, and sent for thee and our maid, Hannah Gates, and we continued at York till thy father was set at libert3\ I was mostly with thy father in the prison, and thou came mostly every day from the room we had taken for thee and our maid in the city. Thy father preached every Lord's Day but one. Several prisoners came to hear him, and many of the cit3^ In the latter end of our time it pleased the Lord to afflidl: us. I was obliged to go out of the prison, and the gaoler was very stridl:. He would not suffer thy dear father to come to see me, and our maid was very ill, and also thy- self. But we were all wonderfully provided for. Our rela- tions and strangers showed us kindness. Thy dear father was set at liberty before I was mended, Oc'T:ober ist, 1683. On the loth day we came out of York, and came to Doncaster in a coach that day, though but poorly. The next day, being the nth, we all went to Hatfield. Thy uncle did very care- fully send his coach for us, and there we were welcomely entertained till the 24tli Ocftober. Then my uncle [Rev. Alex. Hatfeild] sent us in his coach to Braithwell, and we were very kmdly entertained by Cousin Bosville. The 28th, my Cousin Hatfeild, of Laughton-le-Morthen, did send his coach for us. It was a sore snow morning, but we got safe to Laughton and found all well, and were kindly entertained. November 2nd, we went from thence to Attercliffe. The road was bad, but through mercy we got safe. Thy father went into Lancashire till the 13th November, and then we came to Mrs. Taylor's house and stayed with her six weeks, when she let us her house, and went to table [i.e., into lodgings]. The Lord stored up friends to help us on cheer- fully and comfortably to the place of our desires, which was Sheffield, where many helped and pitied us, and was much concerned for us till we got a habitation, as mentioned above.
PERIOD I. 1662-I714. 35
But thy dear father was forced to wander up and down, sometimes to one friend and sometimes to another, and now and then we got a sight of him. But he was not suffered to come to Sheffield without he came that none knew of it but friends, for his enemies were so enraged against him that, if they should find him, they would send him to prison. They had a warrant, but it pleased the Lord to keep him out of their sight. He went about preaching to friends, and I was left at home alone. Soon after this he came home two or three weeks, and we had precious opportunities for our souls' good, notwithstanding the malice of our enemies. One of them said that thy dear father should never come to Sheffield again ; but our comfort is — God is above the Devil. "^
A trying experience for her ; but she makes no complaint. She is convinced that all will come right in the end. Her womanly fortitude is no less admirable than her fervent piety.
Thomas Jollie visited his son in prison in 1683, as did also Oliver Hey wood. The former says in his Note Book, 1682 : — " I would humbly bless God that I have a son not only a professor and preacher, but a confessor of the truth and way of the Gospell, that hee and his true yoke-fellow were helped to carry it so christianly and comfortably, that they are soe blessed as to bear the yoke and cross of christ in their youth."
Once more, in 1685, he was obliged to retire from Sheffield to avoid arrest. But in February of that year Charles H. died, and the policy of his successor led to a relaxation of the persecution of Nonconformists. The Declaration of Indul- gence was received by them with mixed feelings. They could not approve the king's assumption of right to dispense with England's laws; yet the relief it gave them was great. Hence many, and among them the congregation at Snig Hill, joined in an address of thanks to the king for his clemency. It is a curious document, but it is a sign of the times. It runs:- 1358094
" The humble Address of divers of your Majesties loyal and dissenting subjecSfs in the town of Sheffield, and other parts in the West riding ol the County • of York. Dread
1 For a further account of Mrs. Jollie's diary, see " A Good Puritan Woman, &c,," by the present writer.
36 UPPER CHAPEL.
Sovereign, As we your Majesties loyal subjecfls cannot but have our hearts most deeply affecfted with those signal divine blessings of liberty, peace, and prosperity as well sacred as civil, which under your Majestic we not only at present enjoy, but are likewise assured shall be preserved to us during your Majesties reign, especially when we eye them as fruits of that most noble testimony first imprinted no doubt by the finger of God upon your royal breast, and after most freely and fully published to the view of the world in your Majesties late declaration for liberty of conscience, as your constant sense and opinion, which therefore we trust shall prove an indelible principle, viz.. That conscience ought not to be constrained, — so we cannot but, as in solemn duty bound, prostrate our most sincere grateful acknowledgments of this your princely bounty and goodness at your Majesties feet, blessing from our hearts that great God by whom kings rule and princes decree justice, for direcT:ing your royal Majestic unto that truest method of government which leaves entire to God his absolute sovereignty over the souls of men, which undoubtedly will be the stability of your throne, render you truly great in the esteem of all good men, who shall reap the blessed fruits of your wisdom, justice, and moderation, and may become a noble pattern for imitation. And praying from our very souls that your Majestic, after a long and happy reign over us, in pursuance of the same great ends of rule, under the conducl; of divine grace and wisdom, may be fitted and prepared for a crown that is incorruptible : — Who are your Majesties most loyal and thankfuU subjecfts."
Reading what lies between the lines of this address, we can enter into the feelings of the signatories. They were not quite easy about the king's acftion, but were thankful for the relief it gave them. This relief was legalised by the Acl; of Toleration (1689).
Timothy Jollie was not only an eloquent preacher and devoted pastor, he was a successful teacher also. From his academy (called Christ's College, Attercliffe, by William Bagshavv') he sent forth a large number of students, some of
1 See his letter " For the much respefted Mr. Fletcher, at Christ's College in Attercliffe," printed in Gens Sylvestrina, pp. 127-g. The letter is
PERIOD I. 1662-I714. 37
whom later became distinguished. It was stated above that he had been educated at Richard Frankland's Academy at Rathmell. Frankland left Rathmell in 1674, settling at Natland, near Kendal ; thence he went (1683) to Calton Hall, Kirkby; thence (1684) to Dawson Fold, Westmoreland; thence (1685) to Hart Barrow, near Caitmell Fell; thence (1686) to Attercliffe, taking out a fifty-shilling dispensation from the penalties of the AcT: of Uniformity. He remained at Attercliffe until July, 1G89, when he returned once more to Rathmell, on the death of his son.' Jollie was warmly attached to his old master, and two years after Frankland left he removed to Attercliffe Hall, and began the work of educating young men, for which he proved himself so eminently qualified. Between i6gi and 1700 he had sent out forty ministers, and had twenty-six in training. One of his pupils, Benjamin Grosvenor, D.D., says of him : — " He had a charming voice, flowing and of a musical sound, a natural eloquence ; his elocution and gesture were such as would adorn an orator. The patiietic was sometimes heightened with that divine enthusiasm which is peculiar to true devo- tion, and he would make our hearts glow with a fervour which he kindled in the breasts of those who endeavoured all they could not to be moved by him. There have been tutors of greater learning, who have been capable of laying out a greater compass of education ; but, at the same time, it must be acknowledged that tlie relish for practical religion, that devotional spirit which was so improved by his example, that sweetness of temper and benevolent turn of mind, which a soul, of anything the same make, insensibly catches from such an example, are things not everywhere to be met with, and yet have such an influence towards our usefulness and acceptance as ministers as cannot easily be supplied by any other qualities." Curiously enough he prohibited mathe- matical studies from his curriculum, '-as tending to scepticism and impiety." But, on the principle that forbidden fruit is
dated Ford, Jan. loth, 1698-9. Mr. Fletcher, of Wirksworth, was then one of JoUie's students.
1 We are told by Mrs. Timothy Jollie that this youth died of small-pox, he being then just ready to enter the ministry.
38 UPPER CHAPEL.
sweetest, some of the students "by stealth made considerable progress," and one, at least, Nicholas Saunderson, LL.D.,^ became distinguished (though blind) at Cambridge as mathe- matical professor and numismatist. Among the pupils were also Thomas Seeker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury (1758-68) ; John Bowes, afterwards Lord Chancellor of Ireland ; Dr. John Evans, minister of the New Broad Street Chapel, London ; Samuel Price, assistant and afterwards successor to Dr. Watts. Thomas Bradbury ("bold Bradbury," as Queen Anne called him), at first assistant to Thomas Whitaker, of Leeds, and afterwards the distinguished minister of Fetter Lane Chapel ; William Moult, of Mill Hill, Leeds ; William Bagshaw, of Stannington ; Jeremiah Gill, of Ful- wood ; and Dr. Samuel Wright, of Carter Lane, London, were also his pupils.
Mrs. Jollie had the management of the domestic arrange- ments at the academy, and she made an excellent house- keeper. In her diary she tells us she had now the care of a large family. Her duties were many and pressing. She says she found great advantage in going to God every morning to beg Him to help her through the business of the day. Her services were much appreciated by the students. She was " the choice mistress," as William Bagshaw calls her, who presided over the academical household, satisfying the students' appetites and providing for their comfort, while her husband attended to their intellectual and spiritual needs.
Meantime, not only was Timothy Jollie sending forth able preachers of the Gospel, but he was also steadily increasing his congregation at the New Hall. So large did it become that the hall would not hold them, and it became necessary to build a new chapel. A plot of ground was purchased "betwixt the Pepper Alley and the Alsop Fields" (now Norfolk Street), and a chapel was built, then called the New
' The Rev. Alex. Gordon says; — "Jollie's Academy drew a much finer and more varied set of men than Frankland's. Till Daventry, inclusive, the Independent Academies were almost always better than the Presby- terian. Dixon's and Grove's are the two exceptions to the credit of the latter."
PERIOD I. 1662-I714. 39
Chapel,' but subsequently the Upper Chapel. It soon had the largest Nonconformist congregation in Yorkshire.- Pres- byterians, Independents, Baptists worshipped here. Mothers brought their infants from far and wide to be baptised by Timothy Jollie.3 The New Chapel was the Nonconformist local Zion.
Thomas Hollis was a large contributor to the funds, as was also Field Sylvester. By indenture of lease and release, dated respectively 24th and 25th November, 1704, " Feild Sylvester conveyed unto and to the use of himself and of Thomas Hollis junior, citizen and draper of London, and eleven others, -* their heirs and assigns, all that great building then lately erecfted for a meeting place for the service and worship of Almighty God, situate in the town of Sheffield, betwixt the Pepper Alley and the Alsop Fields there, with a court before the said building, and the garden betwixt the same from the said Pepper Alley and Alsop Fields, in trust that the said great building [afterwards called the Upper Chapel] should be used as a public Meeting House for the worship and service of Almighty God, in such manner as the said trustees, or the major part of them, their heirs and assigns, should for ever thereafter order or appoint. "5 The deed further provides that the trustees shall be " members in communion," and that " the preaching minister of the congregation" shall have a voice in the selection of trustees. It provides also that if the said great building should be
1 In the Indentures of lease and release, nth and 12th February, 1729, Upper Chapel is called " The Dissenters' Meeting commonly called the New Chapel."
2 In 1715, after about 200 persons had withdrawn (to found Nether Chapel), the congregation consisted of 1163 persons, 75 of whom were freeholders of the County of York. (•' Hallamshire," Gatty, p. 293.)
3 Jollie's Register of Baptisms, May, 1681 — July, 1704 (a copy of which is among the archives of Upper Chapel), shows an average of about 25 per annum.
* Viz., John Browne, gentleman ; William Stead, mercer ; Samuel Shore hardwareman ; William Burch and Jonathan Smith, cutlers ; Joseph and Samuel Saunderson, tanners ; Benjamin Kirkby, Luke Winter, Joseph Fletcher, cutlers; John Crooke, the younger, tallow-chandler, all of Sheffield. s Abstradt of deed.
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employed for any other purpose, or in any other way, than as the said Thomas Hollis, Field Sylvester, and the rest, or the major part of them, their heirs or assigns, should order or appoint, then from henceforth it should return to the said Field Sylvester, his heirs or assigns.'
The foundation stone was laid by Field Sylvester, and the opening sermon was preached by Mr. Jollie from Gen xxvi., 22, " And he removed from thence, and digged another well, and for that they strove not : and he called the name of it Rehoboth (room), and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land." The exacft date of the opening is not known,
Timothy Jollie died on Easter Sunday, 28th March, 1714. His son's diary states that he died of dropsy in the stomach. He had been ailing for some time. His son says he " bore His Afflidlion with true Xian Patience till March 28. Being Easter Sunday He left ys world for a Better,"
During the last fourteen years of his life the cause flourished ; the congregation increased ; he continued his work at Christ's College, and with his assistants, Jeremiah Gill, John Wadsworth, and John De la Rose, he continued to preach at the New Chapel, His wife died 17th January, 1709. Her son says : — " My dear Mother after a long debar- ment from ordinances by reason of her growing weakness and infirmitie , . . continued till ye 17 (being Monday) when about 6 in ye morning she would get up which was much sooner than commonly she used to get up and no sooner had they begun to dress her but she fainted away : giving up her soul to ye giver of it, and that without either sigh or groan, as she lived so she died ; her Funeral Sermon was preached on Wednesday night by Mr. Bagshaw upon H Cor. 4. 17." He says : — " tho ye stroke be severe, and ye bereavement a great loss to me : yet what I have to be thankful for : that
' In February, 1729, a piece of land was purchased " formerly situate in New Church Street, but now part of the cite of the new Town Hall," whereon a Minister's House was built. This land was purchased by the Corporation in 18S0. At the same time the Trustees acquired from the Corporation a plot of land fronting the newly formed New Surrey Street (now Surrey Street), on which Channing Hall now stands.
Timothy Jollie.
PERIOD I. — 1662-1714. 43
ever I had so good so kind and carefull a mother, both in Spirituals and temporals."
Timothy and Elizabeth Jollie had four children, two daughters and two sons. The eldest was Elizabeth (b. August, 1682 ; d. 17th November, 1739) ; the second Thomas (d. an infant 26th April, 1685) ; the third Timothy (b. 22nd August, 1691 ; d. 3rd August, 1757) ; the fourth Theodosia (living in 1709).
When Timothy Jollie died his loss was keenly felt, not only by his own congregation, but by the whole of Sheffield and by many ministers in different parts of the country whom he had trained. His funeral sermon was preached by John De la Rose, his assistant, who gives us a vivid description of him. *' As to the constitution of his body it was remarkably strong, fine, and florid, and in the air of his countenance there appeared a just temperature of admirable sweetness and majesty ; his voice answered his countenance, and awed or won all who heard it. His genius was masterly and grand, elevated and curious ; and as to his natural temper, it was serene, cheerful, active, open, and generous ; his com- posedness of spirit, his mirth, his majesty, were all unafFecfted and natural to him, and continued with him in a very con- spicuous degree even to the very last. As to his capacity and power, they were unquestionably great and extensive ; and as Nature had moulded them and given them some advantageous casts and touches, he appeared very much of an original. I cannot omit what I have often thought and spoken, and that is, that his quick apprehension, his amazing invention, his dicT:ion, his elocution, and the vast but even flow of his affecftions, together w^ith his uncommon presence of mind and the agreeableness of his person, all conspired to make him one of the most consummate orators of his age."
Unfortunately, not much of Jollie's work has been left. He published a sermon on his father's death, and " Memoriae Sacrum " on the life and characfter of Thomas Whitaker, of Leeds. The latter is published in full in Mr. Giles Hester's " Attercliffe as a Seat of Learning and Ministerial Education."'
^ I am indebted to this excellent publication for the above quotation from De la Rose's sermon, the title of which is " A Sermon occasioned by
44 UPPER CHAPEL.
Timothy Jollie was buried in the chapel yard, and on his tombstone the following inscription was placed, surmounted with his arms, a sword between two keys ; on a chief, three dexter hands' : —
CHR. SER. SA.
TIMOTHEUS JOLLIE,
VERBI DEI INTERPRES ELOQUENS
ET EVANGELICUS :
DOCTRINAE CHRISTIANAE FUNDAMENTA
JACIENDO, VIR PROPE DIVINUS,
VERE MAGNUS.
PHILOSOPHIAM, SACRAMQ. THEOLOGIAM
PROFESSUS,
JUVENTUTIS TUTOR FELIX PERITUS.
IN ECCLESIA CHRISTI SHEFFIELDIENSI
PER ANNOS XXXIII
PASTOREM AGEBAT VIGILEM FIDUMQ. :
IN COELUM MIGRAVIT
5 CALEND. APRILIS A.D. I714
AETATIS SUAE 56.^
CHRISTUS IN VITA, IN MORTE LUCRUM.
This may be translated : —
Sacred to Christ the Saviour.
TIMOTHY JOLLIE
an eloquent and evangelical interpreter
of the Word of God :
a man almost divine, and truly great
in laying the foundations of Christian docflrine.
He taught
the death of the Reverend Mr. Timothy Jollie, late Pastor of the Congre- gational Church at Sheffield. By John De la Rose. London, 1715."
1 A grant of arms was made in 1648 by the Heralds' College to James Jolly (grandfather of Timothy Jollie) of Manchester, who was Provost Marshall General of the Parliamentary forces in Lancashire and Cheshire.
- The age here given is undoubtedly wrong. The Althani Church record for 1656 (new style) has : — " Pastor's third wife died when his son Timothy was born." [Thomas Jolly's Note-book by Fishwick, 1895, p. 129.] T. J. was consequently in his 58th year when he died.
PERIOD I. 1662-I714. 45
Philosophy and sacred Theology, being a successful and skilful instructor of youth. He was the watchful and faithful pastor of the Church of Christ in Sheffield for 33 years. He departed this life March 28th, a.d. 1714, in the 56th year of his age.' To live is Christ, and to die is gain. This inscription has been reproduced on a marble tablet and placed this year (igoo, the bicentennial of the building) in the right niche over the choir stalls, and the following commemorative notice is inscribed under it : — " The above is a reproducftion of a time-worn inscription on the tomb of the Rev. Timothy Jollie, during whose ministry this place of worship was built ; and this tablet is erecTied by the congre- gation of Upper Chapel, a.d. igoo, the bicentennial of the building, as a memorial of his characfter and work. He was a faithful minister of the Gospel, and he trained others tor the same sacred office.''
The tombstone has been removed from the tomb in the yard at the back of the chapel, and placed against the outside wall of the organ-chamber, where it now stands. The recom- mendation of the Bicentennial Committee to re-cut the inscription on the tombstone itself was found to be impossible, the stone being much worn by the weather.
Timothy Jollie had an elder brother Samuel, a medical man, who had a practice in Attercliffe while Timothy was living there. He was married but had no issue, and died in 1688 or i6go. He was buried in the Old Chapel, Attercliffe, and his brother put an inscription on his tombstone. Hunter gives it thus : —
Hie sitae sunt reliquiae Samuelis Jollie
nuper Attercliffiensis, medici.
Transiere patres, simul et nos transibimus omnes
Caeli patriam qui bene transit, habet.
Amoris et mortalitatis
Posuit hoc Mvrj/iida-vvov T.I. A.D. 1701.
1 See note on preceding page.
46 UPPER CHAPEL.
Hunter says that sixteen years before he wrote it was nearly obHterated (it is completely obliterated now).^ It can hardly have been in the form he gives it. The second and third lines must have formed an elegiac couplet, thus : - Transiere patres, simul et nos transimus omnes ; Ca^lestem patriam, qui bene transit, habet. The translation of the inscription thus emended is : — Here lie the remains of Samuel Jollie late of Attercliffe, physician. " Gone are our fathers before us, and all of us die in like manner ; He who hath safely passed on, findeth in heaven a home."
This Memorial of love and mortality T [imothy] J [olliej placed here, a.d. 1701. Tmiothy Jollie had for his assistant from i68g to 1697 Jeremiah Gill (b. 1669 ; d. 1709), a young man from Frank- land's Academy, Attercliffe. He entered the academy at the age of 17, loth January, 1686-7. We know him chiefly from Thomas Whitaker's "Minutes" of his life and chara(51:er.2 Whitaker says, " he was the Son ot Religious Parents, who were more concern'd for his Education, than for all their Children besides ;" the reason being " the hopeful ProspecSt he gave, even in those tender Years, of his future Worth and Usefulness. For while he was yet a School-boy, he was extremely addicted to his Book, very ambitious of being a Scholar." " His darling Study was Divinity." After leaving
' The present writer visited the Old Attercliffe Chapel in iSgg. It is falling to ruin. The roof is dilapidated, the windows are broken. The rain drives into it ; the wind sweeps through it ; the mud is thick upon the floor. Samuel Jollie's tombstone lies near the entrancs, but not a trace of the inscription is visible. The burial ground round the chapel is in the same state of utter negleft as the building itself. Over the doorway of the
1629 j chapel is an inscription giving the date of eredion, and the TAHBi initials of the builders, viz., Thomas Arnalde and Henry Barber.
- " Some Minutes of the Life and Charader of Mr. Jeremiah Gill," con- tained in " Sermons on several occasions by the late Reverend and Learned Thomas Whitaker, A.M.," with a preface by Thomas Bradbury. London, 1712. I am indebted for the loan of this volume to the Rev. Giles Hester,
PERIOD I. 1662-I714. 47
the Academy (not later than i68g when Frankland left x\ttercliffe) " his first more fixed Province was to be Assistant to the Reverend Mr. Jollie at Sheffield, in whose Family he liv'd with a great deal of Satisfacflion for several Years, and with whom he serv'd, as a Son with his Father in the Gospel : And with what Diligence, Prudence, Piety, Humility he acquitted himself in the Post," many were willing to testify. " And with what Acceptance he had in his Work, was evident from their great Unwillingness to part with him, and the mighty Concern they exprest at his going away." From Sheffield he went, in 1697, to Hull, to undertake the pastorate of the Chapel (afterwards Dagger Lane) at which Richard Astley (ejected Blackrode) had been minister. In i6g8 the new chapel was built, and Gill was ordained. He, like Jollie, was an Independent. The congregation consisted of 113 members. " In this Candlestick," says Whitaker, " he was a Shming and Burning Light for several Years." Whitaker proceeds to speak of him appreciatively as a Scholar, as a Christian, and as a Minister. " He was a noble Example of real and undissembled Piety, and a shining Ornament to his holy Profession ; And not many pass thro' the World with fewer Blemishes upon their Charadler than he." Of his pulpit work we are told, " He entertained not his People with Trash or Froth, with raw Effusions or Empty Harangue: But fed 'em with wholesom and edifying Truths, proper to Minister Nourishment to the Souls of them that heard him." " He was a mighty Man in Prayer." After some years of useful work in Hull he was seized with a fever, from which he ne\'er rallied. " A little before his Death, he was advised to remove to York, in Hopes that Change of Air and Physicians might be of some Service to him. But, alas ! the vital Lamp of Life was too far exhausted ; and a little Time discover'd that this was only a preparatory Step to his last Remove. For notwithstanding all that could be done for him, the Earthly Tabernacle moulder'd, and his Dissolution came on apace; till at last he bowed his Head, and sweetly slept in Jesus, Jan. 1709, aged 40 years." Thomas Bradbury speaks of Gill as " my intimate Friend," and corroborates all that Whitaker says in his praise.
48 UPPER CHAPEL.
Field ^or Feild) Sylvester was the son of Joshua Sylvester of Mansfield, who married, 1646, Judith Field, daughter of James Field of Thuinscoe, West Riding York- shire. Their fifth child (they had ten), Field, was born nth May, 1654, at Mansfield. The Sylvester family had a share in founding three of our chapels -the Old Meeting House, Mansfield ; Carter Lane, London (now Unity Church, Islington) ;^ and Upper Chapel, Sheffield. Field Sylvester, being intended for a commercial life, was bound apprentice (nth May, 1670) to Thomas Hollis (founder of Hollis's Hospital), wholesale cutler and draper, London, with whom he remained eight years. He went as his "fa(ftor," or agent, to London about 1678 ; but the engagement ended abruptly soon after. We next find him with John Shepherd, of London, with whom he remained about ten years. During part of the time he was again "facftor " in Sheffield. On the 1 6th February, 1 680-1, he married Rebecca Capper, daughter of a tanner at Neepsend, and had two daughters, Cassandra (b. 23th April, 1683; died 7th May, 1684) and Rebecca (b. 17th October, 1685 ; baptised by Timothy Jollie, 29th January, 1686). Rebecca afterwards married John Wads- worth, Timothy Jollie's successor. Field Sylvester became a
' Mattheiu Sylvester (1636-1708) went in 1667 from Mansfield to London to become pastor of a congregation meeting at Rutland House, Charter House Yard. He was assisted by Richard Baxter, 1687-1691. The con- gregation moved, 1692, to a building in Meeting House Court, Knightrider Street. Here Edmund Calamy, D.D., was Sylvester's assistant, 1692-5. The congregation moved again to St. Anne's, 1721, and once more to Little Carter Lane (opened 5th Dec, 1734). The last move was in 1862, when on St. Bartholomew's Day Unity Chapel was opened at Islington. Matthew Sylvester was the son of Robert Sylvester, mercer, of Southwell, Notts., where Matthew was born. Educated Southwell Grammar School ; then St. John's Coll., Camb. (admitted 4th May, 1654). Made vicar of Great Gonerby, Lincoln, 1659. Resigned 1662, and became chaplain to Sir John Bright, and afterwards to Mr. John White, of Cotgreave, Notts. He married (i) Hannah (family name unknown) in 1671. She died 12th April, 1701, aged 57. (2) A daughter of George Hughes, and sister of Obadiah Hughes, D.D. She survived him, and married (1710) Samuel Wright, D.D. (Jollie's pupil), and had one daughter. " Sylvester edited," says Mr. Gordon, " as badly as a man could contrive to do it, Baxter's Reliquiae, 1696."
PERIOD I. — 1662-1714. 49
merchant, and prospered. He acquired an estate of his own, in addition to holding a large tenancy under the Duke of Norfolk. He was a strong Nonconformist, zealous and aclive. He was not in Sheffield during the worst times of the persecution consequent on the Acft of Uniformity, but when the Meeting House at New Hall was opened, his name, together with that of his cousin Francis Barlow, appears prominently. He was appointed Trustee. When the New Chapel (Upper Chapel) was built in 1700, Field Sylvester laid the foundation stone, and contributed largely to the expense of building; and in 1704, he and Joshua Bayes (Master Cutler in 1679, and a prominent Nonconformist) conveyed it and the ground on which it stands to the first body of Trustees.^ Field Sylvester died of apoplexy at Hacken- thorpe (near Beighton, North Derbyshire) loth May, 1717. In his will he desires " to be buried, with as little charge as may be, in a deep grave near the south-east corner of the Meeting House by Pepper Alley, where I laid the first stone, but not within the walls of the said building." The stone covering his grave was subsequently put up against the wall, close to where he was buried. It bears the following inscription, which records also the death of his daughter Rebecca, his grandson William, and his widow : — " Rebekah, wife of John Wadsworth, daughter of Field and Rebekah Sylvester, was buried here Jan. 12, a.d. 1735, aged 50 years. Field Sylvester, son of Joshua and Judith Sylvester, of Mansfield, born May nth, 1654; expired May 10, 1717. ' He y' Hath mercy on y'^ Poor, Happy is He.' Pro. xiv. 21. William, son ot John Wadsworth and Rebekah his wife, dyed Feb. ye 15th, 1723, aged 19 weeks. Rebeka, the widow of Field Sylvester, died July y^ 28th, 1725, aged 75 years."
Among the muniments of Upper Chapel is an interesting little document, a reduced facsimile of which is here repro- duced. It is endorsed in a quaint hand, " A lisencs for the new chapil." It dates from the year 1701, and is an order for registration under the Toleration A6i (1689). The scribe is mistaken in calling it a "lisencs." Licenses were taken
iSee p. 39. D
50 UPPER CHAPEL.
out under the Indulgence, 1672 ; and hence Nonconformists got into the habit of using the word. But under the Toleration Adt they had a legal right to register their places of worship, and this curious document is an order from certain Justices of the Peace that the chapel lately built is, from the 22nd July, 1701, registered for religious worship. The law Latin is, like a doc5tor's prescription, as illegible as the writer could make it ; but it may be written thus : — "West Ridd. Com. Ebor.^Ad generales quartarias sessiones pacis Domini Regis tentas apud Rotherham per adjournamen- tum in et pro le West Ridd. Comitatus praedicfli vicesimo secundo die Julij Anno regni Domini Willelmi tertii Dei gratia nunc Regis Anglie &cdecimo tertio coram Honorabilibus Thoma Wentworth Armigero, Johanne Bradshaw, Godfrido Bosville, Samuele Mellish, Thoma Vincent, Roberto Moles- worth, Johanne Bright Armigeris et Francisco Jessopp Clerico [et] aliis Justiciariis pacis ibidem, &c.
" Itt is ordered that the new building in a Garden adjoyn- ing to Pepper Ally in Sheffield be recorded as a place for religious worship according [to] the A6i of Parliament intitled an A(ft for exempting his Majesties Protestant subje(5ts discenting from the Church of England from the penalties of sundry laws.
" Per curiam
" Teste Shelton clerico pacis ibidem."
The Latin may be rendered thus : — " West Riding of the County of York. — At the general quarter sessions of the peace of our Lord the King, held at Rotherham by adjournment in and for the West Riding of the aforesaid County, on the twenty-second day of July in the thirteenth year of the reign of our Lord King William, by God's grace now King of England, &c., in the presence of the Honourable Thomas Wentworth, Knight ; John Bradshaw, Godfrey Bosville, Samuel Mellish, Tiiomas Vincent, Robert Molesworth, John Bright, Knights, and Francis Jessopp, clerk (clergyman) (and) other justices of the peace of the same place, &c. " By order of the Court. " Witness, Shelton, Clerk of the Peace of the same place."
r--"
JJ
^ rN
A- f.i K" vi' ' ^- ? '^-
* ► *i W ^ -■■' r \ V
o
o
o
fnj
PERIOD II. — 1714-1759.
53
This Clerk of the Peace is Theophilus Shelton, who was also keeper of the register at Wakefield. He died at Notting- ham in November, 1717. What the hieroglyphic is at the beginning of the document, after " West Ridd. Com. Ebor," I have not been able to discover. Some think it is a P, for paragraph ; some M, for memorandum. It looks like SS, and may mean Sessiones.
PERIOD II.— 1714-1759.
MODIFIED ORTHODOXY.
A 1 TE now come to an important crisis in the history of the Upper Chapel, brought about by the secession of a large minority of the congregation, who founded Nether Chapel. The period is also the turning point in the theological teaching given from its pulpit — the change that led from Calvinism, through semi-Arianism and Arianism, to Unitarianism. Timothy Jollie was strictly "orthodox," as was also his assistant, Jeremiah Gill. But he had two other assistants, John Wadsworth and John De la Rose, the former moderately orthodox, the latter ultra-orthodox. The careers of these two men mark the parting of the ways between the Calvinistic and the Unitarian history of the Upper Chapel.
JOHN Wadsworth (born 30th March, 1678 ; died 24th May, 1745) was the grandson of William Wadsworth, a "conveyancer" (died at Sheffield in 1652), whose son, of the same name, lived at AttercUffe, and had been imprisoned in York Castle for Nonconformity. John was educated under Timothy Jollie at Atterchffe. He entered the College in 1694, ^^^ after a creditable academical course he preached at Nottingham, Carburton, and elsewhere. In what year he became assistant to Timothy Jollie, and how long he remained in that capacity is not known. But in 1701 he settled at Rotherham,' and there remained until the 22nd 0(5tober, 1714, when he entered upon the ministry at Upper Chapel. In the meantime John De la Rose, son of a French refugee, had been eledted assistant to Timothy Jollie. He " was a preacher of showy eloquence, his style being formed on the model of the French preachers. In his dodtrine it is
1 Minister of the Independent Chapel, the forerunner of The Church of Our Father.
PERIOD II.— I714-I759. 55
supposed that he went to an extreme in orthodoxy, beyond what was sancflioned by the opinions of almost all his brethren in the dissenting ministry."' On the death of Timothy Jollie, the question of his successor led to contention and hot debate. One section of the congregation wished to appoint De la Rose ; but the Trustees, supported by another secftion, wished to have John Wadsworth. The latter were the stronger, and appointed Wadsworth as minister. The other party held that " there had been a deliberate, resolute setting aside the great rights and privileges that Christ had purchased with his own blood." But, as a matter of fact, the acftion of the Trustees was, on this occasion, in perfe(5l accordance with the conditions of their Trust Deed, which, without expressly mentioning the appointment of minister, places the manage- ment of the chapel absolutely in the hands of the Trustees. About two hundred members withdrew, and at first fitted up two houses for temporary worship, and then built a chapel, which was finished in 1715, and called Nether Chapel. It did not then face Norfolk Street (or rather Alsop Fields) as at present, but looked towards Chapel Walk (hence the name of that thoroughfare)- "The affair," says Miall, " excited an immense sensation. It was the first instance, probably, of a Nonconformist division, at least in the North. Both parties appealed to their respecflive friends. Mr. Wadsworth wrote to many ministers, among whom were Watts and Colton, promising to publish their reply, which he never did. Young Thomas Bradbury was his warm, not to say violent, adherent. On the other hand, the seceding party made known their grievance to the Congregational Church at Leeds, and Mr. Moult and three members came to Sheffield to inquire into the affair. Their judgment was that the elecftion of a pastor by Trustees was an acl of " unexampled baseness," and they exhorted the seceders to persevere. In this conclusion young Timothy Jollie, then in the north of Yorkshire, agreed, as a
1 Hunter, " Gens Sylvestrina," p. 147.
2 The present Nether Chapel was built in 1828. The former chapel became too small during the ministry of the Rev. Thomas Smith, M.A. (1817-1852) ; and in consequence of a f:re the opportunity was taken to ereft the present building.
56 UPPER CHAPEL.
letter of his to Moult shows, thouj:(h he afterwards became assistant to Mr. Wadsworth. The seceding body was led by Mr. Elias Wordsworth, a man of great piety and zeal. Mr. De la Rose was elecfted to tlie pastoral office, and a day was fixed for his ordination. On that day the Rev. Messrs. Jollie, Hesketh, Allwood, Moult, Kirby, and others were present. But some ministers whose services had been calculated on never appeared. A strong letter was at the same time sent by Mr. Wadsworth, of the Upper Chapel, entreating minis- ters to warn and protest against the sinful separation which was being perpetrated. Under these circumstances it was judged wise to defer the ordination altogether for the present, and to enter upon a solemn inquiry into the whole matter. Accordingly, in the following month (November, 17 15) a number of ministers met, and fully investigated all the fac5ts of this important case. After hearing both sides, they pro- nounced their judgment, "that the first breach arose from the precipitant acfts of those who now adhere to Mr. Wadsworth, and that those brethren that now adhere to Mr. John De la Rose have a just and righteous cause ;" and they therefore joined in ordaining Mr. De la Rose to the pastorship of Nether Church. Unfortunately the signatures to this award have not been preserved, and we only know from other authority that at the ordination " Mr. Moult, of Leeds, asked the usual questions, and gave the charge, and the Rev. T. Jollie, jun., preached the following day."' Such was the schism which separated the daughter from the mother church. The Trustees of Upper Chapel had an undoubted right to acft as they did, and their legal right had the support of the large majority of the congregation (nearly twelve hundred, of whom two hundred seceded). The cause at Nether Chapel has evidenced its vigour and earnestness by becoming one of the most important Congregational Churches in the town.-
1 Miall, " Congregationalism in Yorkshire," pp. 352-3.
- I am indebted to the courtesy of the Trustees of Nether Chapel, through Mr. J. Wycliffe Wilson, for the following extrafts from the original Trust Deed, dated 19th July, 1737 ; and from the later deed, dated 12th March, 1S27. It will be seen that the early deed imposes no creed or restridions of any kind as to religious beliefs. It is as "open" as our own.
PERIOD II. 1714-I759. 57
The secession caused division in families. Two important families in Timothy Jollie's congregation were the Smiths and the Fletchers. Mr. John Smith, who had married Rebecca Fletcher (by descent a Sylvester), took the side of De la Rose, and contributed largely to the erec5lion of Nether Chapel. The Fletchers, on the other hand, sided with John Wads- worth, and remained at Upper Chapel. Rebecca, however, often went with her husband to hear Mr. De la Rose and his
The later deed, however, is strongly Calvinistic. Extradt from deed, 1737: — "In trust that the said building and premises with their appur- enances shall be always used as a public meeting place for the worship and service of Almighty God so long as the same shall be tolerated, or may be so used in such manner, under such regulations and government from time to tim.e as the said Trustees (named) or the survivors of them, and such others as shall from time to time be chosen to succeed in their place by virtue of the clause hereinafter in that behalf mentioned, or the major part of them shall for ever hereafter from time to time direcfl and appoint ; and when the said building may be no longer used for the purposes afore- said, the further use thereof shall be in the power and subjed; to the like diredtion and appointment of a majority of the trustees for the time being for ever." But whereas the Upper Chapel Trust Deed says nothing about the appointment of a minister, everything being in the hands of the Trustees, the Nether Deed provides that the minister " shall be chosen by the said trustees and the members of the said congregation in full com- munion, or by a majority of voices of the said members and trustees." Extradt from deed, 1827 : — "Upon trust that the said building or meeting place or some enlarged or improved building or meeting place on the site thereof or adjoining thereto shall at all times for ever hereafter be used as and for a public meeting house for the service of Almighty God by that Denomination of Protestant Dissenters commonly called Calvinistic Independent Protestant Dissenters who believe in and maintain the dodrines of the Gospel commonly called Calvinistic as contained in the articles of faith compiled by the reverend Assembly of Divines convened for that purpose at Westminster in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and forty three and such of the dodlrinal articles of the Church of England as are specified in the Adt of Toleration passed in the first year of the reign of King William and Queen Mary and were usually subscribed by dissenting ministers of the Independent denomination and which said articles respedtively are deemed conformable with the sacred and inspired writings commonly called the Old and New Testament the only infallible rule for the Christian Faith and Pradtice." The deed further provides that when there is a vacancy in the ministry, " a new minister shall be chosen by the members of the said congregation for the time being in full communion or by the major part of them male and female."
58 UPPER CHAPEL.
successor, Mr. Kelsall. She and her husband befriended Mr. Kelsall when he began to have trouble with his congregation. When Mr. Kelsall left, Mr. Smith thought of going back to Upper Chapel, fearing that he had made a mistake. He did not, however, return, but remained at Nether Chapel for the rest of his life. He and his wife were both buried in the Nether Chapel yard.
Mr. De la Rose died 31st December, 1723. He too was buried in the Nether Chapel yard. He appears to have been a popular preacher, but Miall tells us " he was wretchedly sustained by the contributions of his people, a fault for which Sheffield was remarkable about that time." His funeral sermon was preached by Richard Bateson, minister of the Castle Gate Independent Chapel, Nottingham, from Phil, i. 21.
There can be no doubt that the extreme High Calvinism of De la Rose was offensive to the majority of the worshippers at Upper Cha'pel at the time of the secession, though this was not the prime cause of the secession. He held views identical with his brother, the Rev. Samuel De la Rose, minister of the Tabernacle Chapel, Stockport,' who was censured by the neighbouring ministers for a sermon, which, said his censors, " containeth such dodlrine as we apprehend we cannot safely preach to the people committed to our care." The sermon, from I Cor. xv. 22,- was preached 27th July, 1718, and again (on account of the dissatisfa(5\ion it created) on the 12th February, 1721, when it was printed, entitled, " A Brief Account ot the Two Covenants." In it he tried to show that the new covenant was not made between God and man, by the mediation of Christ, but between the Father and the Son ; hence Christ, and he only, fulfils the covenant, and all he does for the elecl; is imputed to them as done by them, neither faith nor repentance having "anything to do in the business of our justification." These ideas were derived from the teachmg of Tobias Crisp, D.D., and were called Anti- nomianism. De la Rose's views on original sin may be seen
1 He succeeded the Rev. Richard Milne, 1718. Both John De la Rose and his brother Samuel were educated under Dixon at Whitehaven.
2 " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
PERIOD II. 1714-1759. 59
from the following extract: : — " It is our duty to be deeply sensible of the sin of our natures, and greatly humbled for it. That guilt which is upon us, considered as in our first head, Adam, would sink every soul of us out of the reach of mercy, though we had never committed any other sin all the days of our lives. Christ's blood is as absolutely necessary for the pardon of our oyiginal sin, as for the pardon of the most daring and flagitious actual sins we can commit." The printed edition of this sermon appeared with a preface by John De la Rose, of Sheffield, explaining the circumstances under which it was written by his brother, and expressing complete agreement with it. The sermon was the cause of a separation in the Tabernacle Chapel, which was a curious reversal of the separation in Upper Chapel. Its teaching was vigorously attacked by Mr. James Clegg, M.D., minister at Chinley, as being Antinomian, and calculated to do mischief. Censure was passed on De la Rose 28th January, 1 720-1. In the same year, 15th November, certain members of the congregation requested him to retire, to which he replied urging them "to give themselves unto prayer, and seek the Lord earnestly that they might not acT: unbecoming of the holy and peaceable Jesus whom they profess to follow." The result was that the dissentients withdrew, and erected a chapel in High Street,^ which was taken down in 1864, and another was built in St. Peter's Gate — the present handsome Unitarian Chapel. So that whereas in Sheffield the supporters of John De la Rose seceded, and founded a Calvinistic Chapel, in Stockport the supporters of his brother Samuel remained with him, and the dissentients withdrew and founded what afterwards became a Unitarian Chapel.'
Mr. Wadsworth remained in the pastorate of Upper Chapel for thirty years, until failing health compelled him to resign in 1744. He died the following year. In addition to his duties as pastor, he continued the work of Timothy Jollie in the Academy at Attercliffe. But after the death of Jollie
1 The first minister at High Street was James Hardy, ordained 1723. Clegg was one of the ministers who officiated at his ordination.
^ A full account of the De la Rose controversy in Stockport is given in Urwick's " Nonconformity in Cheshire," pp. 293-9.
6o UPPER CHAPEL.
we hear little of the Academy. Whether it be that Wads- worth had not the gifts of his predecessor, or that he simply ceased to desire to carry it on, the former vigour of this training school of so many excellent men for the Noncon- formist ministry died out, and Christ's College ceased to be. The hall itself has disappeared, its very site being now covered with smoke-begrimed bricks and mortar.
John Wadsworth married Rebecca, daughter of Field and Rebecca Sylvester, 21st March, 1714-15. Close beside the stone in the chapel yard commemorating her death there is another (also ereifted by the wall) on which the inscription runs : — " To the memory of the Rev. John Wadsworth, who above 30 years presided as a minister among y^ Protestant Dissenters in this Town, with singular wisdom, and candor, and as a Tutor with reputation and success. He died May 24, 1745, aged 67. His only son y^ Rev. Field Sylvester Wadsworth died 06i. 8th, 1759, aged 42, and on the nth was interred with William his 3rd son aged 4 years."
During his pastorate John Wadsworth had four assistants, Timothy Jollie, jun., 1715-1720 ; Daniel Clark, 1720-1724; Benjamin Roberts, 1724-1740; and his son, Field Sylvester Wadsworth, 1740-1758.
Timothy Jollie, jun., was born 22nd August, 1691, at Attercliffe,^ baptised by his father ist September, and died 3rd August, 1757, in the 66th year of his age. He was educated at Attercliffe by his father, being probably contem- porary at the Academy with Nicholas Saunderson and John Bowes. His mother's diary tells us many particulars of his infant days, his many ailments, e.g. teething (he had his first tooth when he wanted " 5 weeks of a year," and at two years he had them all, which she thinks is a "mercey worth takeing
1 Fishwick, " Thomas Jolly's Note Book," introdudlion, appears to think it probable that he was born at Altham. Timothy Jollie, sen., was assisting his father at Wymondhouses in July, 1691, and Thomas Jollie enters in his Note Book in August : — " My weakly daughter safely delivered, the lord adding to me another grandson ; her sparing is a publique mercy considering my son's circumstances." The supposition is that Timothy Jollie's wife was with him at the time. On the other hand, the entry in his Register of Baptisms, under the date ist September, 1691, of the baptism in Sheffield, appears to be decisive.
PERIOD 11. — 1714-1759. 61
noetis of"); at three years and four months he had the "mazills," and soon after that an illness which "we did think would have proved the Small Pox but it proved them y^ (they) call the Hen Pox, they came thick out and was gon again in a few dayes ;" for " the lord was very gracious" to her " Deare Timi." He had also what they at first thought " to be an Ague, and y" (then) we thought y^ wormes did caus thy illness." Then she recounts the accidents that attended the infancy of her precious child. One day, 2nd November, 1695, "thou was bissi about the fire and it got hold of thy appron, and burnt a great part of it presently befor we got to thee." However, he was not hurt, which "blesed be God we look upon as a great mercey and more when I think how many have bein spoyled with the fire." So when he was seven years old, he "was delivered from the dainger of a scald, y^'' (there) was a Pan of Hot water set into which y" (thou) fell side way soe thy arme and Leg was a little scalded, but blesed be God thy face did get noe hurt admire the good providence y' ordered it so mercy- fully y' thou got soe little Hurt study w' (what) to render to the lord for his presarving and healing mercyes." He appears to have been a somewhat delicate child, and accord- ing to his own Diary was constantly ailing as a man. His fond mother tells us, "When thou was 4 years and about 5 months old y" went to Shefeild (they were living then at Attercliffe) to lairn to read better. I confess I was conceirned thoe it was soe little away of becaus thee was soe youn(g) and was soe unwiling I should leave thee, thy tears had like to have bein to hard for me but I did indeviour to denie my self for thy good." At eight years and a half he had "a breaking out in the head." " The humer gaithered into one side of thy head and proved a boyle which was soe big y" cold not hold thy head straight." Meantime also his "eyies" had been very bad. We are told that 8th May, 1700, he went " into Lantishire to se thy Dear Gran Father Jollie ;" later to Laughton and Bullhouse, and "twise to Glapwell ;" and in all these formidable " Jurneyes " he was " presarved in thy goeing." At thirteen he was sent to " Mr. Matthewes," before which, 20th September, 1704, " we did get some
62 UPPER CHAPEL.
friends to helpt us to Lift up our hands in Prayer for diredlion and protecftion and for a blesing upon this our disposing of thee, and thy Dear Father spoke something from the i Chron. 28, g. I desir my Dear Child thou may often Read and meditate of this text." The boy appears to have been better in heahh away from home. Who Mr. Matthewes was, and where he hved, I have not been able to discover.'
The Diary is continued by her son, for he is "bound in gratitude and duty, yea also in respedl: of the advantagious- ness of such a performance" to himself. We have fairly full particulars of his life, though unfortunately in places where we want special information he is silent. Writing on 7th Ocftober, 1707 (he was then sixteen), he says: — " I began to learn school learning with Mr. John Wadsworth, I hope not to my disadvantages tho I confess I might have made a better improvement." He constantly complains of being "a little out of order," " indisposed," " I was ill"; also of being "vain and indolent," " averse to y^ work my Father designed me for and upon low considerations." There is a tone of morbidness about his diary, such as might be expected from a man not in good health, and hence indolent and self- introspective. He appears to have been very poor also, and having a large family of rather sickly children, he found it at times very difficult to make ends meet. But he never wavers in his submission to God's will, nor in thankfulness for such mercies as he receives. In 1707 he left John Wadsworth, having been a year with him, and began to read with his father ; but he says, " at first I was not a little discouraged but afterwards I grew a little more Couragious, but then I grew vain and so apt to Droll upon y^ Scriptures, also ye Devil set upon me with filthy thoughts, and I was very idle too did not mind my business as I out (ought) to have done ; but y^ name of y^ Lord be praised y' he made me senseable of my condition — a little." In 171 1 he went to London, and
1 For a further account of this delightful diary, and its continuation by her son, see "A good Puritan Woman," by the present writer. The difference in the spelling in these extradts from those on pp. 33-5 is due to the fad that these are taken from an autograph, while the autograph of those is lost,
PERIOD II. — 1714-1759. 63
there remained until 171 2. He was then, he tells us, " full of convicftions. Covenanted to be y^ Lord's. Join'd myself to ye Church of Sheffield. A disorderly walker Humbled but little for it; not careful enough to improve time." In 1714 he began (February) " to Preach at Staninton." This year his father died, and in August "John Wadsworth received His call to ye Pastoral charge. I was also chose Assistant." And on 19th OcTiober, " I was marry'd to my Dear and long belov'd Mrs. Simmons."^ In December, "I was choose with Jonathan Smith to ye Place of Elder." On ist May, 1715, " I took y^ House in Westbar." He chronicles conscien- tiously the birth of all his children, and tells us who baptised them. His eldest son Timothy appears to have given him trouble, and went to sea. He died at Rhode Island, 1738 or 9 (?) His other children were Ruth, Nevil, Thomas, John, and Samuel, who all died young. His daughter Elizabeth (born ist June, 1723 ; died i6th June, 1771) was married (21st January, 1755) to Thomas Bridges, of Sheffield. ^ His son Philip, the sixth child, of whom he always speaks with great affecftion, became a student for the ministry, and died suddenly 26th February, 1748, aged 21 (born i6th May, 1727). In 1719-20 Mr. Jollie received a call from London to become assistant to Matthew Clarke, minister of the dissenting chapel in Miles Lane, Cannon Street ; and after a ministry of five years at Upper Chapel, he bade farewell to the congregation, assigning as one reason for leaving, "a prevailmg Indolency of temper I found encreasing upon Me, from y^ way of living there." He also says, " Y^ management of Pretended friends helpt to wean my Affe(5tions." Then we have such entries in his diarj' as, ist January, 1721, " Was chosen to Mr. Braggs lecture ;" April, "Was called to assist at y« Lecflure in Gravil Lane." They lived first at " Peters Hill," then in the " Wansor-field," then in " Goodmansfields." Here "our cares encreased. Res angusta Domi. Perplexity inex- pressible. No way of relief apparent." On March 27th, 1726, Mr. Clarke died, and " after many warm Debates within Doors and very unwarrantable Pracftices without the Church
1 Daughter of Nevill Simmons, bookseller. See p. 67. ^ She continues the diary after her father's death.
64 UPPER CHAPEL.
by ballotting the Lot fell upon me by a considerable Majority." He succeeded as sole pastor, holding the office till his death. In April, 1727, his sister Elizabeth Jollie came to live with them, and remained with them until she died (17th November, 1739 ; buried 23rd, in Bunhill Fields). Towards the end of his life he was frequently disabled by gout from preaching. His infirmities grew, and troubles increased. He speaks of " discouragements, and distrustful fears," "return of indisposition very frequent;" but through it all there is the same cheerful submission. " It is te will," he says at the end of his diary, " of tt (that) God who is always mindful of his Covenant. All his proceedings are consistent with it." He died at a house in Clement's Lane, 3rd August 1757, in his 66th year. Dr. David Jennings preached his funeral sermon. Mr. Hester points out that he is associated with Dr. Watts and Dr. D. Jennings and other ministers, who signed a certificate of characfter for Thomas Milway, who was ordained for the ministry at Haverhill, Suffolk, 8th December, 1737. The certificate is dated " London, Tues- day, Jan. 9th, 1732-3."' Mrs. Jollie (born 3rd December, i6go) died 9th December, 1761, in her 71st year. She was buried, December 13th, in Nether Chapel yard.
When Timothy Jollie left Sheffield he was succeeded by Daniel Clark, who then became assistant to Mr. Wadsworth. Clark was minister to the dissenting congregation at Atter- cliffe founded by Matthew Bloome. This cause had gradually diminished in numbers, many being in the habit of going to Sheffield to attend the services of Timothy Jollie, sen., and by degrees the two societies became pradtically one. Hence it was not remarkable that Daniel Clark should be elected assistant to Mr. Wadsworth, though he still continued to reside at Attercliffe. He was great-grandson (through his mother) of Samuel Clark the martyrologist, and grandson (through his father) of Daniel Clark, vicar of Kirk Beeston, Yorks. He was brother of Samuel Clark, D.D., of the " Scripture Promises," the patron of Doddridge. " He married," says Hunter, " Mrs. Bagshaw of Hucklow, the
1 Hester's Attercliffe, pp. 30 and 58.
PERIOD II. — 1714-1759. 65
widow of Mr. William Bagshaw of that place, and the daughter of Mr. Dunn of Attercliffe. She and her son by Mr. Bagshaw are both interred in a vault in the Upper Chapel."' After niarrjing Mrs. Bagshaw he lived at Great Hucklow, and in 1717 he was chosen stated assistant to John Ashe, minister of Ashford, Derbyshire. He died nth November, 1724.
He was succeeded by Benjamin Roberts, whose minis- trations proved acceptable for sixteen years, from the time of his appointment in 1724 to his death in 1740.
And now Field Sylvester Wadswortii was invited to assist his father, who was at this time in his 63rd year. The son was 23, having been born 15th August, 1717. His elec'lion is an indication of the change which was gradually and almost imperceptibly taking place in the theological opinions of the congregation. The beginning of the eighteenth century was a time of considerable ferment in theological speculation. The Deistical controversy was at its height. The works of Toland, Shaftesbury, Tindal, Woolston, were fresh in people's reading ; as were also the works of Stephen Nye, Richardson, Balguy, Chandler, in reply to them. But the most important work in the controversy was Dr. Samuel Clarke's " Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God " (Boyle Lectures, 1705-6), followed by "The Scripture Doclrine of the Trinity" (1712), in which he denied that the Athanasian doctrine was contained in Scripture or held by the early Christian Church. This latter work made a great sensation, and was followed by a long and violent contro- versy, which exposed Clarke to a charge of Arianism. He was undoubtedly Semi-Arian.- Meantime Bidle, Firmin, Emlyn, Freke, Hedworth, William Manning,3 and others had been teaching Unitarianism, and even Milton and Sir Isaac Newton were heretical on the question of the Trinity. It was inevitable that the questions thus brought prominently into notice should be discussed with vigour by the thoughtful
^ Hallamshire, p. 296.
2 He represented the opinions of many in the Church. He was at the time Redtor of St. James's, Westminster.
8 A Congregationalist ej. Middleton, Suffolk, d. 1711.
E
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and intelligent young men in the dissenting Academies throughout the kingdom ; and the opinions of Dr. Samuel Clarke produced a profound impression even in places where no suspicion of heterodoxy had hitherto arisen. Thus it was that at Dr. Doddridge's Academy at Northampton the quiet atmosphere of Evangelical orthodoxy began to be disturbed with breezes of heterodox controversy, and many of the students there came out of the Academy with ideas strongly Arian. There was no lack of encouragement for them, for many of the clergy and more of the Nonconformist ministers were openly Arian in their teaching. The new teaching met with fruitful soil in the mind of Field Sylvester Wadsworth. Hunter tells us that his father had sent him in 1735 to Doddridge's Academy, intending him for the ministry. He was then eighteen years of age. But he had been there only two years when he was requested to leave, since he declared he could no longer profess belief in the docftrine of the Trinity, or of the Atonement as commonly taught. He accordingly withdrew, and finished his education at the Academy (after- wards called the Hoxton Academy) in London at the head of which was Mr. John Eames, F.R.S.,^ a scholar of consider- able attainments, friend of Sir Isaac Newton. Hunter is, however, mistaken in the order of events. Wadsworth entered Doddridge's Academy in 1737, not in 1735. It is most probable, therefore, that he had been to Mr. Eames before he came under Doddridge's care. After finishing his academical course, young Wadsworth began, in December, 1737, at the age of twenty, to preach at Kibworth, in Leicestershire, and on the 23rd April, 1738, he settled there as minister. On the death of Benjamin Roberts, in 1740, he returned to Sheffield, and became assistant to his father at Upper Chapel. This settlement, which appears to have been made with the consent of the congregation, is a striking proof of the changed attitude of the congregation in theological matters. It was well known that Field Sylvester Wadsworth was Arian in belief. His father was only moderately orthodox, but the son was what was then regarded as distincftly heterodox. Yet the
1 Eames was an Independent, the only layman who ever held (1734-44) the theological chair in a Nonconformist Academy.
PERIOD II. 1714-1759. 67
congregation welcomed him, and after the elder Wadsworth's death they invited him to acT: as assistant also to his successor, Thomas Haynes, who was likewise heterodox, it being well known that he had no belief in the doc1:rine of the Trinity or the Atonement. Hence, with the settlement ot Wadsworth, junior, or, more especially, with the appointment of Thomas Haynes, we come to a clearly marked turning point in the history of Upper Chapel.
On the death of Thomas Haynes in 1758, there was some disturbance in the congregation, and Wadsworth did not press his claim to succeed him as pastor. He withdrew ; and in the following year he died (8th Oclober, 1759). He was an excellent preacher, and was held in much esteem in the town. He married Elizabeth Horsfield, and left her surviving with two sons — John, aged eleven, afterwards a medical man, and Sylvester, aged seven, afterwards an attorney.
One more name must be mentioned as belonging to this period, that of Nevill Simmons, bookseller and publisher, of Sheffield. It is not certainly known whether Simmons was a Churchman or a Dissenter. His wife Ruth was buried m the Parish Church, 25th December, 1707, aged 41. She left four sons and five daughters, as we are informed by the inscription on a brass plate in the church. But as Timothy Jollie's register records the baptism by him of seven of these children,' the probability is that he was a Nonconformist. This probability is strengthened by the facl that most of his known publications are treatises and sermons by Noncon- formist ministers. It is more than probable, therefore, that he attended Mr. Jollie's ministrations at the only Noncon- formist place of worship in the town. He appears to have come from London to Sheffield in 1692, and we first find him
1 Thomas, b. 25th Sept., 1688, bap. loth Oct., d. 15th June, 1749- Mary, b. 3rd Dec, 1690, bap. nth Dec, d. 9th Dec, 1761 ; Nevill, b. 22nd Dec, 1691, bap. i6th Jan., 1692, d. nth June, 1730 ; William, b. ist Jan , 1694, bap. i6th Jan., still living 1707; Ruth, bap. ist Mar., 1696; Eliza- beth, b. i8th Jan., 1698, bap. 25th Jan., d. May, 1755 ; Anna, bap. 26th Feb., 1700, d. gth Mar,, 1764. The two other children were Samuel, b. 13th June, 1703, d. 18th April, 1790 (was stationer and postmaster, Sheffield) and a daughter (the youngest child, name unknown) b. 4th Od.. 1705.
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acfling as aucflioneer at a book sale at the "Rose and Crown" in Waingate. This was on Wednesday, igth Oclober, 1692. He is mentioned again in the diary of Ralph Thoresby, of Leeds, as being the salesman at another book auction in Leeds, 29th December, 1692. His wife was a Sheffield lady, daughter of Thomas Bretland,^ grocer, whose shop was among several facing the Shambles, from the bottom of High Street- to the Hartshead Passage. Nevill Simmons's shop was in the same row, where for many years he carried on his business of stationer and bookseller. He died 21st July, 1735. His daughter Mary, as we have seen, married Timothy JoUie, jun. The Simmons family were well known as printers and publishers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in London, Kidderminster, and Sheffield. Milton made a contract with Samuel Simmons, "next door to the Golden Lion in Aldersgate Street," for the publication of "Paradise Lost" in 1667; and Richard Baxter employed Nevill Simmons of Kidderminster to print and publish many of his works. Mr. Hester says Nevill Simmons of Sheffield "may have been, and probably was, the son of Nevill Simmons, Baxter's publisher and bookseller." " Chronology," however, " would not be violated if we regarded him as the son of Samuel Simmons, who negotiated with Milton for the publication of ' Paradise Lost,' and whose contract is still extant, There are probably now no means by which the question of relationship can be satisfactorily determined. "j
Nevill Simmons published " Pastoral Care Exemplified,'" a sermon by Timothy Jollie, sen., on the death of his father, Thomas Jollie ; " A Funeral Sermon for that Pious Gentlewoman, Mrs. Eliz. Jollie, of Aitercliffe,'" by W. Bagshaw, minister of Stannington, formerly student at Attercliffe ; " A Funeral Sermon occasioned by the Death of the late Reverend and Learned Mr. John De la Rose," by Richard Bateson, and many others during the twenty-nine years of his business career. It is probable that he published also De la Rose's funeral sermon
1 He married a daughter of the Rev. Wm. Carr, Redor of Hansworth. - Then called Prior Gate.
3 " Nevill Simmons, Bookseller and Publisher," by Giles Hester, Sheffield, 1893, p. 22,
PERIOD II. 1714-1759.
6g
on the death of Timothy Jollie, sen. ; but his name does not appear on the title-page.
There are several references to Nevill Simmons in his son-in-law's Diary. He paid a visit to the Jollies in London (they were then living at " Peter's Hill") in January, 1722-3, and the Diary says : — " Dear Father Simmons came to us. a glorious instance of Gods supporting Grace who under outward discouragements bodily weakness and severe tryals in his children, yet was helpt to be thankful." In April, " He went from us to Bristol not a little concern'd to leave Molly in such circumstances she yn being near her time." [A daughter, Elizabeth, was born June ist.] And again in 1735, " Father Simmons was suddenly removed from us July 21. being found dead in his Bed in te posture He usually slept with his Head upon his hand, there seem'd to have been no struggles of dissolving Nature, but as with inolten- siveness he had lived so without uneasiness He dyed. "
PERIOD III.— 1745-1837.
ARIANISM.
\1 nXH the ministry of Thomas Haynes begins a new era * ^ in the histor}- of Upper Chapel. We must not, however, suppose that any sudden or violent change in the theological teaching from the pulpit ever took place. On the contrary the change was gradual, a natural development with the progressive spirit of the times. The teaching of Fisher, Durant, and Timothy Jollie was doubtless the common orthodoxy of the day ; but there is nothing to shew that it was the rigid Calvinism of the Assembly's Catechism, though of course that was tlie standard criterion of orthodoxy. Oliver Heywood praises Timothy Jollie's " soundness in the faith," saying he "was not drawn away with these odde opinions, very orthodox of a moderate spirit," by which he means that Jollie, though orthodox, did not push his orthodoxy to extremes. He did not approve of the extreme orthodoxy of De la Rose. Of Jeremiah Gill's theological opinions we can only infer from Thomas Whitaker's account of him that they were subordinated to his fervent religious teaching. The spiritual and religious life was his constant theme. John Wadsworth was well known as moderately orthodox, and whatever approval some in the congregation gave to the teaching of De la Rose, the majority unquestion- ably were satisfied with the non-Calvinistic interpretation of the Gospel as expounded by Wadsworth. Speaking of John Wadsworth, Timothy Jollie, jun., Benjamin Roberts, and Daniel Clark, Joseph Hunter says, "There can be little doubt that if anythmg could now be found which would shew what were the opinions of these four ministers, it would shew that they were what would now be considered 'orthodox'; but that it would not be found that they held Calvinistic sentiments in the sense in which they are exhibited in the Assembly's (Catechism." And further, that the opinions of John Wadsworth " were not Calvinian, in any proper sense
PERIOD III. — 1745-1837. 71
of the word," would appear from the facT: that the pupils in Wadsworth's Academy came out for the most part Arian. The elecftion of his son, Field Sylvester Wadsworth, of strongly rational and anti-orthodox sentiments, is evidence of the growing anti-orthodoxy of the congregation ; and. Hunter adds, " Mr. Wadsworth's children and Mr. Roberts's children were, we know, quite heterodox, which, although no proof, affords presumption that their parents were not at least of highly Calvinistic sentiments, but more probably in some inter- mediate stage between Calvinism and Arianism. The elecHiion of Mr. Field Sylvester Wadsworth to be assistant to liis father in 1740, I take to be the first measure of the con- gregation in which there was an open declaration that the sentiments of the congregation had lost their orthodox chara(5ter ; this was perhaps more decidedly shewn when, on the death of John Wadsworth in 1745, they chose for their pastor Mr. Thomas Haynes, whose Arianism was quite undisguised. In his time there were still persons in the congregation whose opinions were still ' orthodox.' I have heard his daughter, Mrs. Evans, relate that once her father was saluted by one of his congregation with an expression of a wish for the old doctrine ; when he replied, ' Yes, Mr. Crook, the older the better ; mine is as old as the Apostles.' The Nether Chapel (which had from its foundation adopted the Assembly's Catechism as its standard of theological belief') received accessions by minorities from Upper Chapel from time to time, as the dodlrine became further removed from the original orthodoxy. Mr. Field Sylvester Wadsworth and Mr. Haynes continued as ministers till about 175H, and their successors, Mr. Dickinson and Mr. Evans, were decidedly of the most moderate sentiments, with no trace of orthodoxy. Mr. Evans had been noted for his adoption of what were in those days called Rational sentiments, from the time when he was at the Academy. He was in fadl: removed from the Academy (Dr. David Jennings') on account of his want of orthodoxy. He had been put forward to maintain Rational Christianity at a very early period of his life, in one of the
1 This is doubtless true; but they started with a perfectly "open" trust. See p. 56.
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Essex congregations, and his want of anything hke orthodoxy was quite notorious when he was chosen the minister in 1758 to be co-pastor with Mr. Dickinson,"
This account of the " Changes in opinion in the ministers and congregation at Upper Chapel in Sheffield " was written by Joseph Hunter in a letter addressed to Mr. T. Asline Ward, 8th February, 1843. Though anticipating our subse- quent history, the remainder is given in order that we may have a concise view of the changes which afterwards took place. He continues : — " Mr. Dickinson died in 1780, and was succeeded by Mr. Benjamin Naylor, whose sentiments accorded with those of his colleague, Mr. Evans. Mr. Evans resigned his connection with the congregation in 1798, when Mr. Naylor became sole pastor. Both Mr. Evans and Mr. Naylor looked with great respecft to Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Priestley, and were both in opinion hardly to be distinguished from these early advocates of Unitarianism, or more pre- cisel}', Socinian opinions.' There was a little assembly of persons at Atterclifte, who professed those opinions, and who
' It may be well here to give a concise summary of Calvinistic, Arian, and Unitarian opinions, so that the differences may be seen at a glance.
(i.) Calvinism. " There are three persons in the Godhead : the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; and these three are one God, and the same in substance, equal in power and glory" (Shorter Catechism). God created the world for his own glory. Man, made originally in the image of God, is a fallen being, totally corrupt. Sin implanted in our nature by Adam's fall, brought upon us God's displeasure and curse, so that by nature we are children of wrath. To rescue us, Christ became incarnate, and by his death merited for us the grace of salvation. Yet until a man is united to Christ by faith, and the operation of the Holy Spirit, he cannot be saved. Then, through faith, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him ; he receives justification ; his sins are forgiven. Yet by the eternal decree of God some men are predestinated to eternal life, and some fore- ordained to everlasting death. His chosen ones are kept by him in progressive faith and holiness to the end. The " five points "are: — (i) Predestination (or particular eledion) ; (2) irresistible grace ; (3) original sin (or moral inability in a fallen state) ; (4) particular redemption ; (5) the perseverance of the saints.
(ii.) Arianism takes its name from the doclrines of Arius, who protested against the Trinitarianism beginning to be prevalent in the fourth century. He said, in opposition to Alexander, bishop of Alexandria (318), that the Son was distind; from the Father, not of the same substance, nor co-equal,
PERIOD III. — 1745-1837. 73
joined the congregation at the Upper Chapel before there was an open declaration of the reception of these opinions by name in the Sheffield congregation. As long as Mr. Evans
nor co-eternal with him. He was the first of created beings, created out of nothing by God's free will, before all conceivable time, yet in time. He was not impeccable, though sinless, the result of his own free choice. The Father alone is Gcd, unbegotten, eternal, unchangeable. The Trinitarians (among them Athanasius) held that the son was of the siiDie siibstttncc with the Father (homoousia) ; Arius said the Son was of different substance (heteroousia). After the death of Arius (who was probably poisoned by his enemies, though they said his sudden death was God's answer to Bishop Alexander's prayer), some of his followers held Semi-Ariunism, rejedling the dodtrine of the Trinitarians that the Son was of one substance with the Father, yet holding that he was not of different substance. They said he was of like substance (homoiousia). They thought thus to give the Son a dignity higher than the Arians, without confusing him with the Father. Clai keisin. The Arianism of England in the eighteenth century was much modified from primitive Arianism. The movement received such an impetus from the teaching of Samuel Clarke, D.D., the friend of Newton in his "Scripture Doftrine of the Trinity" (1712), that Clarkeism is, perhaps, the best designation of the Arianism of the period. Clarke held that the terms one and only God in Scripture refer to the Father alone. He alone is self-existent. The Son is not " unoriginated." He was created by the Father in time. Except self-existence he possessed all the divine attributes. He could thus make atonement by a real death — not the death only of the assumed human nature. Clarke repeated the old Arian attempt of the fourth century to find a mean between the belief that Jesus was essentially God, and the belief, always held by some, that he was essentially a human being. But even more important than Clarke's book as a diredt solvent of the hard Calvinism of the eighteenth century was "The Scripture Dodrine of Original Sin," by John Taylor, D.D., of Norwich, published in 1740. It shows the baselessness alike in reason and in Scripture of the orthodox dodlrine. The book had great influence, and though answers to it appeared, it held its ground. Jonathan Edwards complained in 1758 ("On Original Sin," pref.) that no one book had done so much as it towards rooting out the principles of Calvinism in New England. It was equally effective at home.
(iii.) Unitai'ianism has existed in the Christian Church from the beginning. Unitarians deny the doeflrine of the Trinity, maintaining the absolute unity of the Godhead. The)' are, as Theophilus Lindsey said, " The only class of Christians who really and properly maintain the unity of God." They believe, in harmony with the teaching of Christ, that the Father alone is God. There is considerable variety of opinion among them with regard to Christ, but they are all agreed in rejefting the dodlrine of his deity. They rejed also the dodrine of original sin, the atonement
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was minister the name Unitarian was not thought of, and probably the word was scarcely ever heard in the chapel, or at vestry meetings ; but in Mr. Naylor's time the preaching in the chapel assumed more of a dodlrinal chara(fter, and the minister sometimes declared and defended in the pulpit the Socinian or Unitarian system of Christian docftrine ; and when Mr. Naylor resigned his connexion with the congrega- tion in 1805, the congregation founded themselves entirely on Unitarian principles." Dr. Philipps, who succeeded Mr. Naylor, never adopted the name Unitarian ; he called himself simply a Presbyterian, and was Arian in doclrine. But that the congregation had definitely adopted Unitarianism as its fundamental principle is shewn by an entry in the Minute Book, 19th January, 1837, to the effedl that a meeting of the congregation had been held on 15th January, when measures were discussed " to produce a readlion in favour of Unitarian sentiments in Sheffield," and it was recommended that services should be held " conducive to the propagation of Unitarianism." When Mr. Stannus accepted the invitation to become minister, he addressed his acceptance,' " To the Trustees of the Upper Chapel, Norfolk Street, Sheffield, and to the Society of Unitarian Christians therein assembling." Hence, from the beginning of the present century, the religious teaching from the pulpit of Upper Chapel may be best described as Unitarian Christianity. Modifications in its presentment have doubtless taken place with the progress of time, especially with the growth of scientific knowledge and the development of Biblical criticism. But there is no better description of the teaching from the pulpit of the present day than Unitarian Christianity. Having as its fundamental principle the word of the old Law, " The Lord our God is one," and the word of Christ, " God is a spirit, and they that
(the work of Christ affeds man, not God), and eternal punishment — indeed, the whole orthodox "scheme," regarding it as both irrational and iinscriptural. Sociiiianisin, though often identified with Unitarianism, differs from it in two important points. Socinus and his followers believed the miraculous conception of Jebus and taught that he must be adored, and may be invocated.
1 Dated 2Sth December, 1837 St, Cuthbert's Glebe, Edinburgh.
PERIOD III.— 1745-1837. 75
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth," it is faithful to the mission of the Unitarian Church from the beginning, which was to teach a rational and spiritual faith.
With this introdudlion explanatory of the changes in theological opinion which have taken place in Upper Chapel, we must return to Thomas Havnes, who was appointed on the death of John Wadsworth in 1745, with the assistance of Field Sylvester Wadsworth, a man of congenial feeling in religious and theological matters. He was Arian in belief, and his congregation found his teaching in every way accept- able. In it there was no place for the docftrine of the Trinity, or of the atonement. He came from Nantwich, but of his life there, and before he settled there, very little is known. When Field Sylvester Wadsworth withdrew in 1758, Haynes was desirous of having Joseph Priestley, then not so well known as he afterwards became, to take his place. Hunter says, " Mr. Haynes had some share in the diredlion of the early studies of this eminent person, and would gladly have had his assistance. He was at this period of his life an Arian : but as under the ministry of the younger Wadsworth and Mr. Haynes the congregation had in general adopted these views, there was no objection made to him on that account. There were, however, in the Society some whose fastidious ears were displeased with certain real or supposed imperfeL*T;ions in his delivery, and they rejected him to place in the situation his friend Mr. John Dickinson, who was at that time minister at Diss, in Norfolk." Yates, however, tells us that he was rejected at Sheffield as being "too gay and airy."' He settled in September, 1758, at Nantwich, in Cheshire.
An interesting letter by Mr, Haynes to Joseph Priestley is printed in Rutt's edition of Priestley's works (vol. i,. p. 9). The autograph was sent to Rutt by Joseph Hunter, Haynes is replying to a letter from Priestley, who had asked his
1 Yates, " Memorials of Priestley," i860, p. 3, n. His authority is also Joseph Hunter (in a letter dated 21st November, i860), who confirms the story by adding that at Nantwich Priestley sometimes jumped over the counter of the grocer's shop where he lodged. As Hunter vouches for both stories, it is possible that the possessors of the " fastidious ears" were identical with the persons of fastidious taste.
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advice about his studies. It is as follows : — " Dec. 31, 1750. Mr. Priestley, I received both yours ; but the benevolence so often expressed for you, as a young scholar of diligent and pious characfter, was not of so much account as you seem to have rated it at. As to any hints in my power respecting the condu(5t of your studies, I should be glad to offer them as I have opportunity ; but various of those which would have occurred on the supposition that you intended some time to wear the ministerial character, would be impertinent, as I now hear you intend some other learned profession.^ This, however, on any scheme of learning, is a proper hint, that all study is in order to a useful life, and therefore every degree of it injurious to bodily health will defeat its own end ; and if it does not wear out the body prematurely, will at least be a fatal rcmova to an active life. This I say in reference to what I have heard of your very laborious application. As to literature, properly, or the study of languages, what occurs to me at present is, that Rabinical skill, which you seem to have some itch for, will least answer the pains you will be obliged to employ upon it ; and if it was worth the labour, yet would much of it be lost, without some sufficient tutor to lead you first into the idiom of the Hebrew language. The other learned languages, viz., Latin and Greek, you cannot be too exacft in ; and as probably you have had a competency of school helps, your own application will furnish the means of a ready accuracy and critical skill in both of them. But that labour will be shortened, and made much more effectual, if you compare the classics in both languages with translations of reputation. No one means of assisting youth, and shortening the drudgery of that sort, so useful, yet so neglected. Tacitus is a fine Latin historian ; if you could procure Gordon's translation you would read him to much advantage, and by that single book become acquainted with the phraseology and diction, in a good measure, of other histories of note wdiich you will have inclination to consult. Dunster's Horace would be of a like good use respecting poetic language. I proceed no further in this, because this hint will lead you on to all I intend by it." 1 The medical.
PERIOD III. 1745-1837. 77
Joseph Priestley (born 13th March, 1733 ; died 6tli February, 1804) was at this time in his eighteenth year, in bad health, and hesitating "whether his profession should be physic or divinity." His health, however, improved, and he went to Daventry "to study under Mr. Ashworth, afterwards Dr. Ashworth."' It is very probable that the advice of Mr. Haynes helped to fix his preference for the ministry.
Thomas Haynes was born at Stone, in Staffordshire, in 1700. He was the son of Mr. Haynes, a tanner of that town. His brother, Richard Haynes (who was living in 1736), was also a tanner. Thomas married, 2nd March, 1731, Elizabeth, daughter of John Eddowes, of Nantwich, Cheshire. They had nine children — Susannah (born at Nantwich, 21st December, 1731 ; married, 29th July, 1762, Rev. Josepli Evans ; died 17th June, 1813, and was buried with her husband in Upper Chapel yard) ; Mary (born 23rd April, 1733 ; died 14th May, 1736, buried at Nantwich) ; John (born 14th January, 1735 ; died i8th April, 1737, buried at Nant- wich) ; Thomas (born 12th June, 1737; died 20th December, 1745, buried at Upper Chapel) ; Elizabeth (born loth April, 1739; died unmarried 3rd April, 1803, buried at Upper Chapel) ; John (born 9th, May, 1741 ; died at Nantwich aged about 17) ; Richard (born 29th May, 1743 ; died 26th July following, buried at Nantwich) ; William (born 6th Septem- ber, 1744 ; died 2nd March, 1748, buried at Upper Chapel) ; Jane, the youngest child (born 26th Oclober, 1746 ; married Rev. Astley Meanley, of Stannington ; died without issue 1814, buried at Upper Chapel).
Mr. Haynes and his wife lived at 91, Norfolk Street. Here he died 3rd December, 1758, and v/as buried in the chapel yard. His tomb bears the following inscription: — " Here lie (waiting for the glorious Resurre6fion of the Just and Innocent) the dear Remains of Thomas y= Son of Thomas and Elizabeth Haynes who died Dec. 20. 1745 aged 8. Also William another son who died Mar. 2nd 174 J aged 3 years. Also the Revd. Thomas Haynes late Minister of this Place
1 Ruti, I., p. 8.
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who died 3 Deer. 1758 aged 58 ; the Memory of the just is Blessed." His wife died in 1780, and was buried with her husband, says Hunter ;' but there is no notice of this on the tombstone.
The Rev. John Dickinson (1758 — 1780) and the Rev. Joseph Evans (1758 — 1798) succeeded Thomas Haynes, adling as co-pastors until the death ot the former, when the Rev. Benjamin Naylor became Evans's co-pastor. About the time of the death of Thomas Haynes, the connecT;ion which had hitherto subsisted between the Attercliffe congre- gation and Upper Chapel ceased, the former congregation in facl dying out, as its members became more attached to the ministry at Upper Chapel. But a new connexion was now formed, viz., with the Fulwood Chapel; and Dickinson and Evans adted as joint pastors of Upper Chapel and Fulwood. This chapel was built in 1729, out of funds left by will by William Ronksley (born 1650; died 4th January, 1724), who, as the result of an industrious life (he was at different times schoolmaster, tutor, and private secretary), had accumulated a sufficient competence, and being never married, left it at his death partly to endow schools at Fulwood and Crookes, and partly to build a place of worship for Protestant Dissenters at Fulwood. For this purpose he left ^400, the interest of which for several years was to go for the building of the chapel, and afterwards to be paid towards the support of a dissenting minister. The chapel was also endowed with ^10 per annum by Thomas Hollis, jun. The first minister was Jeremiah Gill, a pupil of Timothy Jollie, and probably son of Jeremiah Gill, Jollie's assistant. He died in 1758. At his death Fulwood was taken under the charge of the congre- gation at Upper Chapel ; Dickinson and Evans preached alternately on Sunday afternoons ; and when the former died the same arrangement was carried out by Evans and Naylor. In December, 1798, Mr. Joseph Ramsbotham was chosen sole minister of Fulwood.
Mr. Dickinson had been educated at Kendal Academy, which he entered in 1745. He settled at Penruddock
1 Familiae Minorum Gentium, " Havnes,"
PERIOD III. 1745-1837. ■ 79
(Cumberland) in 1749 ; he removed to Palgrave,^ near Diss, in 1755, where he remained till 175S. Here he was intimate with Priestley, and shared his Arianism. From Palgrave he removed to Sheffield, where he " was a man of considerable popularity, of a strong and ardent mind, and particularly aiftive in his opposition to the principles which occasioned the American war."- He married Mary, widow of George Eddowes, of Sheffield, and daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Roberts, assistant to John Wadsworth, of Upper Chapel. He died 1780.
We are fortunate in having an excellent account of Joseph Evans from the pen of Joseph Hunter, who was adopted by Evans, and lived many years in his house. In his Gens Sylvestvina, he speaks with the greatest affecTiion of both Mr. and Mrs. Evans.
The Rev. Joseph Evans (born April, 172S ; died 31st December, 1803) was minister of the congregation for nearly forty years, with the assistance first of Mr. Dickinson (1758-80), and afterwards of Mr. Naylor (1780-98). He was the son of Mr. Roger Evans, a tradesman of Manchester. His mother was the daughter ot Joseph Dawson, minister at Rochdale, and grand-daughter of the well-known Rev. Joseph Dawson, of Morley (eje(5ted Thornton Chapel in 1662), an intimate friend and associate of Oliver Heywood. Joseph Dawson's father, Abraham Dawson, was one of those accused with James Fisher of complicity in the Farnley Plot. Evans was educated for the ministry at the London Academy, then under the direction of the Rev. David Jennings, D.D. (died 1762). While at the Academy he was supported by Coward's Trustees ; but is said to have been obliged to withdraw from the Academy, with several others, on account of his heterodox opinions. 3 He was, however, an excellent student, as Dr.
1 Mr. Gordon says Palgrave was Independent, but was not a church of itself. The church members communicated at Waltisfield or Denton ; the Lord's Supper was not celebrated at Palgrave till 1774, and Rochemont Barbauld was the first minister ordained (13th September, 1775) as its pastor.
^ Monthly Repository, 1810, p. 474.
2 So says Hunter. But Toulmin gives no hint of this forced with- drawal. He mentions that two were expelled, Thomas and John Wright,
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Jennings himself testifies.' After leaving London he settled at Brentwood, in Essex, as successor to the Rev. Gabriel Barbor.2 Here he remained a few years, and was then invited (1754) to become assistant to Dr. Samuel Eaton, of the High Pavement Meeting, Nottingham. On the death of Thomas Haynes he became minister of Upper Chapel, 1758. He married, 2gth July, 1762, Susannah, eldest of the daughters of his predecessor, Mr. Haynes. They had no children, and on the death of an only nephew they adopted Joseph Hunter, afterwards the distinguished antiquary, as their son. Hunter, in his " Gens Sylvestrina," has left a very pleasing notice of Mr. Evans and his wife, recalling with gratitude " his care, which was more than paternal, and her love, which was more than a mother's love." He speaks of the " great excellence and worth " of Evans's character; but he says he knew little of the world, and was a man of strong prejudices. He says elsewhere,3 "Mr. Evans, more than anyone I have known, retained the spirit and principles of the original Non- conformists. . . . His theological opinions were those of the Rational Dissenters, as in those days they were called, a species of Clarkeism of the most subdued kind. The Religion he taught was that of Doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly, looking upon God as a Father, and expecT:ing future accountability as revealed by Jesus Christ. He held Dr. Priestley, whom he knew, in the highest respect:, and was scarcely if at all different from him in theological views. He was a great admirer of Mr. Lindsey, whom he met occasion- ally at Mr. Shore's. He rarely spoke either in public or at home on religious or metaphysical peculiarities. He was strongly attracfted to Non-conformity ; it was a bigotted
in 1749-50. Probably, says Mr. Gordon, Evans sympathised in their very mild Clarkeism, and left. Had he been expelled, he would have been transferred, as the Wrights were, to Taunton Academy.
1 In a letter to Dr. Doddridge, given in Stedman's " Letters to and from Dr. Doddridge," 1790, p. 252. Toulmin quotes it in Prot. Diss. Mag., 1798, pp. 122, 125, dating it June, 1749. See Toulmin's note, ibid. Jennings was a strong Independent, and strong non-subscriber.
- Died 1750. Descendant of John Barbor, the Protestant, who just escaped martyrdom by the death of Mary.
3 In a MS. in possession of his son, Dr. Henry Julian Hunter, of Bath.
PERIOD III. 1745-1837, 81
attachment. He lamented sincerely the decline of the sect to which he belonged, but he never that I remember looked at the fadl with a philosophic eye, or thought of ascertaining the true causes of it. His sermons were the only things he wrote ; he left nothing but them behind him as evidence of his attain- ments, opinions, or studies. Much in them of Benson, whom he knew in early life and highly esteemed, the rest plain and simple. He was minister at Sheffield and Fulwood nearly 40 years. His salary never reached more than ;^8o a year, but was more frequently £']0., and he had no chance additions to it by the bounty of his people. He had a little fortune left to him about the time when I became domesticated with him, by Mr. Eddowes of Nantwich an uncle of his wife This, added to another little property, gave them an income on which they lived in a frugal manner, when, in 1797, he felt himself compelled by circumstances in the congregation to retire from the ministry. Those circumstances illustrated in a remarkable manner the nature of the conne61:ion between minister and people in the Nonconformist congregations. I well remember the mortification and grief which they occa- sioned. But this did not shake his opinion of the excellence of the system as compared with the Church, though I never heard from himself what were the grounds of Dissent beyond the vague and doubtful propositions maintained in such books as the Protestant Dissenters' Catechism, and the Dissenting Gentleman's Letters. He looked with a species of horror upon Conformity, though so many of his near relations, the Dawsons, educated Non-conforming ministers, conformed and became useful and respecftable ministers in the Church into which they carried the free spirit of their non-conforming ancestry. ... In Politics his opinions were extreme on the side of " Freedom." He had been a zealous friend of the Americans, and the room in which I slept was hung round with mezzotinto prints of the American generals. He was a hearty well-wisher to the French in their Revolution. He gloried in the destrucflion of the Bastille, and he certainly did not turn with much abhorrence from the adls of cruelty perpetrated on the French [Royal] family and Court. Even the atrocities of the Robespierre period
F
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scarcely changed his feeling. In the war he most heartily- wished them success. Corresponding with this he had the most cordial hatred of the ministry and measures of Mr. Pitt. His dislike was extended to the Crown, and he would gladly have seen a Revolution at home. Nothing was too violent, no expression however seditious which he would not repeat : he meditated emigration to America where only a freeman could breathe. In these political sentiments he was by no means peculiar ; he was but one of a large class including nearly all the Rational Dissenting Ministry, and a great part of the Dissenting Laity. This was from 1792 to 1803. When the second war commenced Mr. Naylor preached an exciting sermon ; but Mr. Evans adhered to his old partiality for the French cause. He laugh'd at the apprehension of invasion and wished success to Napoleon on the Continent." In Hunter's diary, February 8th, 1797, he writes, "Supposing any account comes of an}' battle, or anything such like, Mr. Evans says, 'All this is but child's play to what will come after. We shall not live to see, but thou wilt.' " Of the Evans's household he says : — " Our house was the abode of piety and charity. They were according to their means bountiful to the poor, ready to every good work. We had family prayers and devotional reading morning and evening. Our Sundays were almost wholly occupied with religious exercises. . . . Mr. Evans passed through life much respecfled by everybody. He had had some share in almost every good work in the town in which he lived. He had no great popularity as a preacher, and no great learning as a divine. He possessed 723 volumes, Grotius, the Fratres Poloni, Poole's Synopsis, &c., but when I knew him they were merely looked into, and he had not access to the best theological works."
With respecft to the joint pastorate at Fulwood, Hunter says : — " Mr. Evans and Mr. Naylor were the joint ministers at Sheffield and at a little country chapel, four miles from Sheffield called Fulwood. They officiated at each on the alternate Sundays. There were two services at Sheffield, and between them it was the pracftice to dine at Miss Haynes' a sister of Mrs. Evans who lived in the town, Mr. Evans dining
Rev. Joseph Evans.
PERIOD III. 1745-1837. 85
at a farm house near the Chapel at Fulwood." The Sheffield " Register" for 1787 gives his address as Portobello, which was then practically in the country !■ Of Mrs. Evans we are told, " She came of an old dissenting stock, and boasted as he did of a connection with the ejecled ministry. She entered into all his opinions." She had two sisters ; one died unmarried, the other married Mr. Astley Meanley, " minister of the group of chapels in the Peak, who afterwards settled at Stannington where he lived useful rather by his charities than by his preaching. Meanley and his wife died about 1813, when the Haynes family (settled at Sheffield 1745) became extin(51."
Mr. Evans died on the last day of the year 1803. The Ins, 5th January, 1804, contains a brief obituary notice of him, and another, fuller and more accurate, appeared in the Monthly Magazine for February of the same year. This was written by Joseph Hunter, in which he was assisted by Mr. Moult, of Wickersley. Evans was buried in the chapel yard. His tomb is close to the vestry wall. The inscription is as follows :— " In Memory of the Revd. Joseph Evans for near 40 years the faithful pastor of this Congregation. He died Dec. 31st 1803 aged 75 years." His wife was buried in the same place twelve years later. The inscription continues : — " Susanna Evans (formerly Susanna Haynes), his aged and virtuous RelicT:, died 15 June 1815, and was also here interred."
In one of Mr. Hunter's MSS. there is an interesting note on Upper Chapel, headed by an outline sketch of the old building and followed by the verse : —
Hail, House of God ! where Evans once was heard, Eternal honours flourish round thy head ; There sleeps his dust in peace ; — but if this page (Proteded by its subjed) live, late times shall know I once was blessed with such a matchless friend. The accompanying portrait is a reproducftion of one at Stoke Hall by Nathaniel Tucker,' painted about 1777 or 8.
1 Before the death of Mr. Eddowes, the Evanses lived in Cheney Square (the site of the new Town Hall).
^ Tucker printed a catalogue of an exhibition of his own works, and in it was a notice of his pidure, "The Last Supper." In an appended note
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Mr. Evans has a volume of Locke' in his hand — whose principles Joseph Hunter found so mischievous in his own education. There is also a portrait of Mrs. Evans by Tucker at Stoke, and a small, but very beautiful, crayon portrait of her at Greystones, by J. Raphael Smith. Joseph Hunter says: — " In person Mr. Evans was rather below the common stature. His manners were plain and simple befitting his chara(fter. He was one of the last to wear a full-bottomed wig and a cocked hat. In the house he usually wore a flowered damask gown of blue with a black velvet cap."
It is here necessary to say something of Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., who adds distin(5tion to Upper Chapel by the eminence he attained as an antiquarian. It is impossible to over-estimate the value of his printed works and his MSS., as a source of information for the history of the Chapel. Though differing from him in his opinion as to the Presby- terian origin of it, I must express my indebtedness to his writings for much pleasant reading and valuable information. He was born in Cheney Row in Sheffield, 6th February, 1783, being the son of Michael Hunter, cutler (born 1759 ; died 29th January, 1831), who married, 1781, his first wife, Elizabeth Girdler (born nth June, 1761 ; died 20th March, 1787).- She died when Joseph was four years old, and very soon after, at the age of six, the little boy was adopted by Mr. Evans (1788), whose Avard his father had also been.
The miniature^ here reproduced represents the adoption of Joseph Hunter by Mr. Evans and his wife. The scene is in the garden of Mr. Evans's house in Portobeilo. Above is
he says, " The figure of Judas is taken from a well-known Presbyterian of this town "!
1 This does not come out plainly in the reprodudion.
^ He afterwards (1797) married Mary, daughter of Charles Smith, and widow of James Battersby.
■^ The miniature is an exquisite piece of work. Its size is 2m. by if. The central pidture is i§ by ^. It is bordered with gold, and has a gold back. It was given in 1888 (just a hundred years after the event) by Dr. H. Julian Hunter to " the youngest of the Hunters, for him and his to keep for ever"; viz., to Charles Michael (son of Charles Stephen Hunter), then one year old.
The Adoption of Joseph Hunter.
PERIOD III. — 1745-1837. 8g
inscribed, " Sacred to love and friendship." The adoption was made with full consent on both sides, including the two Miss Haynes. Surrounding the central piclure is a border composed of the hair of all the persons concerned. It is made up of eight or nine different shades of hair, varying in hue from dark brown to grey. Dr. Julian Hunter says : — " My grandmother died early in 1787. Mr. Evans came to the resolution of making a formal adoption of the boy, Joseph Hunter, two years afterwards, which may have been in 1789, but which I believe to have been 1788. It was communicated to the boy by the simple instruction given on the roadside in Portobello Lane that he was no longer to speak of his house (to Mr. Evans) as ' your house,' but in future to say ' our house.' It is an anachronism, no doubt, yet the figure bringing the child is his mother's. So said my father. The hair of the two Miss Haynes expresses their assent ; my grandfather's and grandmother's with my great-grandmother's (a daughter of John Smith) expresses their assent to the adoption. Mr. Evans had made a previous adoption of his nephew, Joseph Bamford. He withdrew his patronage from the young man on his taking orders in the English Establish- ment. Bamford died in 1784. It was not long afterwards that Mr. Evans received his handsome legacy from Mr. Eddowes : the two events facilitated the adoption of Joseph Hunter."
The little boy was sent to Mr. Sorby's school at Atter- cliffe, a very poor school, at which he learned nothing, the master having, apparently, nothing to teach Here he remained from 1789 to 1796, a weekly boarder, owing to the need of attending Upper Chapel on Sunday. After leaving school he was " placed in a commercial house in his native town, that of Mr. Hatfield, in which he continued for several years, but with no growing taste for the duties connecfted with trade. He looked back upon this portion of his life as wasted time, and attributed his being apprenticed to trade as one of the mischiefs resulting from Mr. Locke's advice in his ' Thoughts concerning Education,' that every gentleman should learn a trade, a manual trade ; nay, two or three, but one more particularly.' When speaking of this, there was an
go UPPER CHAPEL.
asperity manifested towards the name and reputation of Mr. Locke, as if he felt that the great English philosopher had actually wronged him."' Nor was Hunter entirely satisfied with Mr. Evans's mode of training in the home. It was not sufficiently free and liberal. " I can well remember," he says, " how carefully he sought to repress every sentiment which betrayed the working of even the most subdued and limited desire after distin(5tion of any kind." He dwells upon this more than once in his MSS., and also in his " Gens Sylvestrina." Later on, being of a serious and thoughtful disposition, he entered, 26th November, 1805, at Manchester College, York, then under the charge of the Rev. Charles Wellbeloved, wath the intention of studying for the Unitarian ministry. He left York, June, i8og, and settled as minister of the Trim Street Chapel, Bath, where he remained twenty-four years (1809-33). He had early developed a special taste for antiquarian studies, and all through life devoted much of his time to them. He was one of the first members of the Bath Literary and Scientific Institution, and also of the " Stourhead Circle " for the discussion of the antiquities of Somerset and Wilts. He was a Fellow, and for many years a Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries. In 1833 he was appointed Sub-Commissioner of Public Records, and went to London. In 183S he was appointed Assistant Keeper, and was commissioned to compile a Calendar of the Queen's Remembrancer's Records. His published works bear traces of great research, 1?.^., " Hallam- shire " in 1819 (Gatty's edition 1869); "South Yorkshire," " The History and Topography of the Deanery of Gloucester," 1828-31 ; " The Attorney General versus Shore ; an Historical Defence of the Trustees of Lady Hewley's Foundation, and the claims upon them of the Presbyterian Ministers of England," 1834 ! " Disquisition on Shakespeare's 'Tempest,'" 1839, and many others. He devoted much attention to the text of Shakespeare's plays. His manuscript collections were purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum in 1862, and are now among the additional MSS. His " Gens Sylvestrina " was printed privately in 1846.
1 " Christian Reformer," 1861, p. 444, notice by Mr. Aspland.
PERIOD III. — 1745-1837, 51
In a letter^ to T. A. Ward, dated 30, Torrington Square, London, May 17, 1852, Hunter places at the disposal of the Trustees of the chapel ^100, annexing no condition, but suggesting that it should be applied " to the preservation of the gravestone in the chapel yard which covers the remains of my father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, and also that under which rests the brother of a direcT; ancestor of mine, Mr. Field Sylvester." In accordance with this letter, the Trustees (June nth, 1852) resolved that the tombstones named should be preserved, and renewed when necessary ; and that a yearly sum of £<^ be added to the minister's salary, as " Hunter's Donation."
He married, 26th December, 1815, Mary, daughter of Francis Hayward, M.D., of Bath. She died 27th December, 1840. They had six children, four sons and two daughters; of these, two sons and two daughters joined the Roman Catholic Church. He died gth May, 1861, and was buried in Ecclesfield Churchyard. On his tombstone is the following inscription : —
H. S. E.
JOSEPHUS HUNTER, S.A.S.,
SACR. SCRINIORUM UNUS DE VICE-CUSTODIBUS,
QUI CL'M IN ARCHIVIS NOSTRIS VERSARETUK,
SUMMO RERUM ANTIQUARUM STUDIO PROVECTUS,
MULTA DOCTE, LUCULENTER, ACCURATE SCRIPSIT,
SED PRAESERTIM HUJUSCE AGRI
ANNALES LAHORE EXPLORAVIT HISTORIAEQUE MANDAVIT.
NATUS EST SHEFFIELDIAE V\^° DIE FEBRUARII
AO SALUTIS HUMANAE M.D.CC.LXXXIII.'*'"
MORTUUS LONDINI IX^^o DIE MAII
ANNO M.D.CCCLXI""
QUO IPSE VIVENS DESIGNABAT LOCO
IN PACE DEPONITUR.
This may be translated : — ■" Here lies buried Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., one of the Assistant Keepers of the Records, who, while engaged upon the public archives, became deeply versed in antiquarian lore, and wrote many things learnedly,
1 Preserved in the Minute Book of Upper Chapel. ,
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fully, and accurately ; but he investigated with special care the history of this district:, and committed it to writing. Born at Sheffield 6th February, 1783; died at London, gth May, 1 86 1. He is laid to rest in peace in the spot he himself pointed out while living."
The portrait here printed is reproduced from the engraving of the portrait by S. C. Smith, presented to Joseph Hunter by Sir R. C. Hoare, Bart., and published by Hunter in 1829.
On the resignation of Joseph Evans in 1798, the Rev. Benjamin Naylor became sole pastor. He was born in 1 761. He was the great-grandson of the Rev. Peter Naylor^ (or Naylour), ejected from Houghton Chapel, Lancashire, in 1662, whose son Benjamin died 1753 (he was of Penistone, where his father at one time preached). Benjamin Naylor's son Richard married Martha Percival, sister to Dr. Thomas Percival, of Manchester, and had issue Benjamin, the minister of Upper Chapel. Through his mother, Martha Percival, Benjamin Naylor was descended from a brother of Humphrey Chetham. He was educated at Warrington Academy, and passed through his studentship with much credit. At the age of twenty-one he settled at Upper Chapel. He married (1795, at Birmingham) Anne, daughter of John Dennison, of Newcastle-on-Tyne (by his wife, Elizabeth Byerley). Their children were Benjamin Dennison Naylor (registered at Upper Chapel, 1798) ; Martha Josepha (registered at Upper Chapel, 1802) ; and Anna Jemima (registered at Cross Street, Manchester, 1809). Mr. Naylor's ministry appears to have been very acceptable to his people, and much regret was expressed when, in Midsummer, 1805,- he was obliged to resign, in consequence of family matters which necessitated his presence in Manchester to conduct: a cotton mill belonging to the family. This proved unsuccessful, and occupied all his best years with little profit. He died in 1846, and was buried
1 Born in Lancashire, 1636; educated St. John's College, Cambridge; died Alverthorp, near Wakefield, i6go.
2 Robert Aspland was at Norton, visiting the Shores, in April, 1805, just before his settlement at Hackney, He wrote in his diary, 8th April, " Rode to Sheffield with Mrs. and Miss Shore. Called on Mr. Nayler (sic), the Unitarian minister, who is going into business at Manchester."
Joseph Hunter, F.S.A.
PERIOD III. — 1745-1837. 95
at Bowdon. His wife (born 1770) survived him, dying in 1855. Joseph Hunter, who knew him well, says of him, " he was a man of considerable power, and an admirable preacher"; that he was connected with Joseph Evans by marriage ; that Joseph Evans was a guardian of his wife, she having been left an orphan. He further hints that all did not go smoothly between the co-pastors, for he says, " It is difficult for two ministers of the same congregation to remain in perfecft harmony." We hear of Benjamin Naylor in Manchester, as being present, as vice-chairman, at the banquet (August, 1824) when the presentation was made to the Rev. John Grundy, of Cross Street, on his removal to Liverpool ; at which banquet the Rev. George Harris made the famous " Unitarian " speech which led to the Manchester Socinian controversy. Naylor was at one time partner with James Montgomery in the Sheffield Iris. He is mentioned in the Sheffield Register of 1787 as living in " Pinston Lane."
Benjamin Naylor's successor in the pulpit of Upper Chapel was the Rev. Nathaniel Philipps, D.D. He was born at Sowerby, near Halifax, December 4th, 1757 ; died at Moor Lodge, Sheffield, Oiftober 20th, 1842 ; was buried in the General Cemetery, Ocftober 26th. He was the only son of the Rev. Daniel Philipps (educated at the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen), minister of the Old Meeting at Sowerby. Nathaniel was educated at Halifax, under the Rev. Richard Hudson, M.A. In 1773 he went to the Academy at Hoxton, North-east London, where Dr. Savage occupied the chair of Theology, Dr. Kippis of Belles Lettres, and Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Abraham Rees of Mathematics and Experimental Philosophy. Here he remained four years (1773-7). On leaving the Academy he settled as minister of the High Pavement, Nottingham, where he remained eight years (1778-85), as co-pastor with the Rev. George Walker. In 1782 he married his first wife, daughter of Mr. Tertius Dale, a merchant of Nottingham. In 1785 he removed to Palgrave, in Suffolk, and kept the school there which the Rev. Rochemont Barbauld and his wife [nee Anna Letitia Aikin) had given up. On the 31st January, 1794, the University of Edinburgh conferred on him the degree of
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D.D. He spent eleven years at Palgrave, where he also helped to found (26th Oaober, 1790) "The Suffolk Bene- volent Society for the Relief of the Widows and Orphans of Dissenting Ministers and Aged Ministers." Leaving Pal- grave, he removed to Walthamstow, near London, where he also kept scliool (i 796-1 801). While here he was eledled Trustee (i 799-1801) of Dr. Williams's Library, Red Cross Street.^ Mrs. Philipps being in delicate health, he removed to Bury St. Edmunds, in the hope that the change would benefit her. She, however, died shortly after (1801), and he returned to London. He was now elecTied pastor at Hanover Street Chapel (after the secession of Mr., later Dr. Winter), and was also morning preacher at Leather Lane. The Rev. Hugh Worthington was morning preacher at Hanover Street, a(5ting at the same time as pastor at Salters' Hall. Philipps also lectured at Salters' Hall. In the year 1805 he was mvited to Upper Chapel, Sheffield. Just before this he married Elizabeth (born August nth, 1783; died March 26th, 1863), daughter of Thomas Harmer, of Bury St. Edmunds, by whom he had two sons, Richard Nathaniel Phihpps, LL.D., F.S.A., Barrister-at-Law (born October 23rd, 1807 ; died September 5th, 1877), and Thomas Daniel Philipps, surgeon, "esteemed," as the stone in the Cemetery records, "for his skill, kindness, and abilities" (born March 8th, 181 3 ; died March 30th, 1844) ; and four daughters, Elizabeth (died Ipswich, December 20th, 1831) ; Jane, wife of Dr. Bingley, of Whitley Hall, Ecclesfield (born April 27th, 181 1 ; died March 29th, i860) ; Anna (born September 8th, 1816; died November ist, 1871 ; and Hephzibah Emma (Mrs. Butterworth), born 1820, who is still (1900) living at Broom Hall, Sheffield.
Dr. Philipps was a good astronomer, and was proficient in the physical sciences.- In 1822 he assisted in the formation
1 He was cousin to the Rev. Thomas Morgan, LL.D., Librarian.
2 Mrs. Butterworth tells a story illustrative of the terror created in some breasts by his scientific experiments. He had, among other apparatus in his study, electric wires placed round the walls. One day a tinker called to see him. Dr. Philipps sent down a message he was to come up to the study, "No, no !" replied the tinker ; " the Dodor won't catch me in his conjuring shop."
Nathaniel Philipps, D.D.
G
PERIOD III. 1745-1837. 99
of the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society, and was one of its first presidents. He frequently leclured on scientific and antiquarian subjecfts. It is said that he could talk Latin fluently, and that he and his father carried on correspondence in Latin. He took an adlive interest in the passing of the Catholic Relief Bill, in the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acfts, in the Reform Bill, and in the Emancipation of the Negroes. He frequently spoke in Sheffield on these subjetTis. His ministry in Sheffield was eminently successful. The congregation increased both in numbers and position. Dr. Philipps did not adopt the name Unitarian. He called himself simply a Presbyterian In the baptismal service he used the formula, " In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." He was an Arian. In September, 182S, after he had preached acceptably for twenty-three years, a few members of the congregation, dissatisfied with his conservative views, separated, and held services in the Music Hall, inviting the Rev. Henry Hunt Piper to condiicft them. Dr. Philipps addressed a dignified letter (dated Oclober 4th, 1828) to the congregation, appealing against the " incorrect and ungenerous representations " made by the dissidents. On December 21st a large meeting was held in the schoolroom, under the presidency of Mr. William Newbould, and a resolution was passed unanimously express- ing the confidence of those who remained faithful to Upper Chapel (by far the larger majority) in their venerable pastor, and their warm attachment to him. Advancing age com- pelled him to resign in 1837 (he was now So) ; and those who had seceded returned. Dr. Philipps died in 1842. A monument in the General Cemetery has the following inscription, written by Joseph Hunter: — "Here is laid in Faith and Hope, the Body of Nathaniel Philipps, D.D., a man of Learning, Eloquence, and Piety ; ever zealous to maintain the Cause of Civil and Religious Liberty. He was one of the last survivors of the old Presbyterian Ministry of a former Generation, and for more than thirty years the Pastor of the Ancient Chapel of the Protestant Noncon- formists in the Town of Sheffield. His Congregation and Friends have placed a Monument in Memory of Hmi, where
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he SO long ministered the Christian ordinances. Faithful in Teaching, Fervent in prayer. His Widow and Family here record their warm affection for liim as the Husband and Father, their Gratitude for his wise Instrucftions and the Example he set before them of a Virtuous, Benevolent, and Religious Life. Born December iv. a.d. mdcclvii. Died October xx. a.d. mdcccxlii."
The monument here referred to is in Upper Chapel, and runs J — "In Memory of Nathaniel Philipps, DD for thirty six years mmister of this Chapel Obiit. Oct. 20. 1842. aetat. 84 years. ' Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.' This tablet is eredled as a tribute of respect by his congrega- tion and friends."
During Dr. Pliilipps's ministry the hymn book used in Upper Chapel was Kippis's, second edition, 1797. No liturgy was used. Communion was held every month, in the morning.
There is a marble bust of Dr Philipps at Broom Hall, from which the accompanying block reproduction is taken. There is also a pleasing portrait, in which he wears a gown and Geneva bands, but has no wig. Yet he must have worn a wig fairly late in his ministry, as the following extract from Notes and Queries, 31st December, 1881, proves (p. 546) : — " I well remember when I was little more than a child — say about 1820 — being taken into the vestry of Jewin Street Chapel by my father to be introduced to two well-known dissentmg ministers, Dr. Abraham Rees, of Cyclopaedia fame, and Dr. Nathaniel Phillips (sic) of Sheffield fame, who both wore splendid wigs. I thought the two docftors must be the greatest men in the world." (John Green, Wallington, Surrey.)
PERIOD IV.— SECTION I.-1838-1875.
UNITARIAN ISM.
TT will be convenient to divide Period IV., the distindlly ^ Unitarian period in the history of Upper Chapel, into two secftions — the first from the ministry of the Rev. B. T. Stannus to the temporary occupancy of the pulpit by the Rev. W. H. Channing after the death of the Rev. J. L. Short, viz., 1838-1875 ; the second from the ministry of the Rev. G. Vance Smith to the present time, viz., 1875-igoo.
On March loth, 1837, a meeting of Trustees was held, when it was resolved that a letter be sent to the Rev. Henry Hunt Piper, Norton, and the Rev. Peter Wright, Stannington, asking them to undertake between them the supply of the pulpit until a new minister was appointed. This they consented to do, and the arrangement continued until the appointment of Mr. Stannus the following year.
The Rev. Henry Hunt Piper was minister at Norton from 1805 to 1843. ^6 was born 26th August, 1782, in London, where his father was a builder, and belonged to the Congregationalists. Henry was intended for his father's trade, but conceiving a desire to enter the ministry, was sent to Hoxton Academy, and later to Homerton. By degrees his opinions changed from Trinitarianism to Arianism, and to Unitarianism. His first settlement in the mmistry was at Rochford, Kent. We next find him (1805) at Norton, where, in addition to his ministerial duties, he took pupils into his house. In 1839 he was requested by the Unitarians of Sheffield to reply to the attacks upon Unitarianism by the Rev. Thomas Best, a clergyman of the Church of England ; for which service they presented him with a silver inkstand and a purse of ^100. He befriended Chantrey in his struggling days, and Chantrey was attached to him all through life. James Montgomery was his friend, and frequently visited him at Norton. Mr. Piper took an aclive
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part in founding tlie Literary and Philosophical Society, and was ele(iT;ed president. He frequently lecftured at its meetings. In 1843 he left Norton for Banbury, and remained there until 1853. Christchurch Chapel was built, chiefly through his zeal, in 1850. He died 13th January, 1864, at 2, Church Row, Hampstead, and was buried on the 20th at Highgate. He married, 1805, Alicia, eldest daughter of Samuel Lewin, of Hackney. She survived him. He wrote " Christian Liberty Advocated," 1808 ; " Sunday Evenings," a volume of sermons; " Sylvanus," a religious romance; "Common Prayer Book Revised," 1841 (Pickering).^
The Rev. Peter Wright was born in 1793, and died 20th August, 1854. He settled as minister of Stannington
1 In a letter to me, 23rd April, 1900, Mr. Holbrook Gaskell, of Woolton Wood, near Liverpool, who was at Mr. Piper's school in 1825-7, says; — ■ " Mr. Piper was universally respedled by his pupils, and beloved by most of them. I felt much attached to him and to his family. The school house faced Norton Park, and the chapel was in the Park, diredly opposite the school house. Mr. Piper was tall, and of good figure. He wore knee- breeches, as was general in those days, but did not sport a pigtail ; though I can remember at least one old gentleman who did, and wore powdered hair. Mr. Piper's preaching was didadic, dwelling chiefly on the moral virtues and formation of charadler — probably intended mainly to influence his pupils, who formed a large part of the congregation. There were thirty or forty boarders at the school. Among them I recall the names of Rodgers, son of the celebrated Sheffield cutler ; and a young Bagshaw, whose family, I think, were of some consequence in the neighbourhood. There was also Frank Hollins, from Mansfield, who subsequently settled in Liverpool as a cotton broker — now dead. Four or five boys came from Liverpool, viz., two Le\yins, one Harvey, my brother, William Broadbent, and myself. Of these I think I am the only survivor. . . . The school was detached from the dwelling-house. There was some land attached to the school, partly used as a play-ground, and partly cultivated by Mr. Piper. I remember when I was confined to my bed by rheumatic fever, Mr. Piper bringing me under a napkin, with much form and ceremony, a singular specimen of mangold-wurzel, a produdl of his farm, grown in the form of a human being, wuth arms and legs. When this freak of nature was exposed to view I felt bitter disappointment that it was not something good to gratify my appetite ! Mr. Piper had a considerable fund of humour. The family consisted of an elder son, who was educated at York ; a younger son, Lewin ; and several daughters — Alicia, Emily, and Fanny — who were great favourites with the schoolboys." An excellent notice of Mr. Piper will be found in the Inqiiii'cr, 30th January, 1864.
PERIOD IV. SECTION I. 1838-1875. IO3
in 1814, and his ministry lasted forty years. During mucli of this time he Hved in Sheffield, where he kept a school. He was buried at Underbank, Stannington, where a gravestone commemorates his death and that of his wife and children. In the chapel there is a mural tablet to his memory, eretfted by the congregation " in testimony of their respeft for his virtues and of their gratitude for his services as their Pastor during a period of 40 years."
Dr. Philipps was succeeded by the Rev. Bartholomew Teeling Stannus, who was a native of Ireland, being born at Ballyclare, county Antrim, in September, 1801. His father was a revenue officer. He was the youngest of a large family, all of whom, except himself, remained Wesleyan Methodist, to which denomination the parents belonged. While Bartholomew was still young, his parents removed to Carrickfergus, where he was brought up. " His Christian names were given him in respecl for an earnest individual who bore an active part in the stormy political struggles of the period just antecedent to his birth. The early portions of his school education Avere condudl:ed by Dr. Paul, a Covenanting minister, and Mr. Johnston Neilson, a Unitarian probationer. His college education he pursued at the Royal Academical Institution, Belfast. He entered its classes in 1821, continuing a student regularly through its prescribed course of instrucftion till 1825." In 1823 he gained the silver medal for elocution, and in tlie same year he became day assistant to the Rev. Henry Montgomery in English. He studied theology under the Rev. Dr. Hanna, Professor of Theology, in connecliion with the General Synod of Ulster. " It was from this body he received his license to teach and preach the Gospel. It was given him by the Presbytery of Bangor in 1825. In the same year he became the principal resident assistant to Dr. Montgomery in the Royal Belfast Academical Institute, and continued to acft in that capacity till his marriage. On the decease of the Rev. W. D. H. M'Ewen, 1828, he was elected to succeed him as Ledlurer on Eloquence and Teacher of Elocution in the Institution, and occupied that position till 183 1. This eventful period of Mr. Stannus's life was also an eventful period for the Presbyterian
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Church of Ireland. In those years began the suspicions and surmisings and disclosures respe61:ing the ' infe(5tion of Arianism ' among its ministers and elders, which speedily thereafter led to the attempted infracftion which ultimately rent in twain its members and congregations. It could not be but that the noble declarations and efforts of the true- hearted men determined to stand fast in the liberty wherewith the Son of God makes free — and more especially the incom- parable defences of religious freedom littered in the Assembly by his personal friend, whose assistant in the English department of the Belfast Institute he at that time was — should make deep impression on a young and generous spirit. Though licensed to preach by a Presbytery of the Synod, and frequently invited to occupy their pulpits by various of its members, he resolutely refused, ultimately throwing off all connection with it, and casting in his lot with the ill-treated and proscribed Remonstrants."^ This was followed by his appointment, 14th August, 1S31, to the pulpit of the Unitarian congregation of Young Street Chapel, Edinburgh. On Odtober 3rd of the same year he made a public avowal of his Unitarianism, declaring his belief that Unitarian Christianity was the teaching of the Bible. In November he gave a course of letftures in Young Street, which brought him into controversy with the Rev. Dr. John Ritchie, who denounced his teachings as "blasphemous." The controversy drew attention to him and the cause he maintained. His ministry in Edinburgh was very successful, and on the i8th Ocftober, 1835, as the result of his exertions, a new chapel, St. Mark's, was opened, more suitable to the growing congregation. The Rev. George Harris, of Glasgow, preached on this occasion. Mr. Stannus's influence and reputation as an eloquent preacher steadily increased. He remained in Edinburgh nearly seven years. In 1838 he was invited to Sheffield, and settled here in May of that year, much to the regret of his Edinburgh flock. He continued to preach until the spring of 1849, when he broke down in health. A severe and protracted indisposition followed, which prevented the con- tinuous performance of his duties, and there appeared to be 1 Christian Refonnev, 1S58, pp. 185-188.
PERIOD IV. — SECTION I. — 1838-1875. IO5
little hope that he would ever again be able to resume his work. Yet the congregation manifested their respe(5t for him by deferring the choice of a successor until 1852, when, in August, Mr. Hincks was appointed. Mr. Stannus so far recovered as to resume his literary occupations, and occasion- ally lecftured and preached. But there was no permanent improvement, and he died loth January, 1858, at the age of 56. He was a gifted preacher, noted for his fervid and impressive eloquence. He had gifts also as a painter. He contributed frequently to the Iris, and subsequently to the Independent.
During his ministry the old chapel was almost entirely rebuilt and enlarged, h portion of the old walls was retained. The new chapel was opened for public worship on Sunday, the 2 1 St May, 1848. The Rev. Dr. Montgomery, of Belfast, preached " a masterly exposition of Unitarian opinion to an overflowing congregation. "^ The late Mr. Charles Woollen came home from service declaring he could have sat listening all day. On the other hand, a friend of his expressed his determination never to enter the chapel again — the sermon was so long. He is said to have carried out his resolution. The evening service was again crowded, when the Rev. Dr. Beard " dehvered an interesting and beautiful discourse, his subje(5l being ' The practical Beneficence of Jesus Christ, a proof of the Divinity of his Mission.' " The collections amounted to £go. The following Sunday the Rev. Charles VVicksteed and the Rev. George Harris preached. On Monday, the 22nd May, " a splendid soiree was held in that beautiful apartment, the Cutlers' Hall," when about four hundred ladies and gentlemen " met under the able and eloquent presidency of Rev. B. T. Stannus." Many ministers from the Midland counties, and representatives of various Unitarian associations were present. The following day the Midland Counties Association held its anniversary. Dr. Montgomery preached from the text, Luke xiv., 2S-33, his subject being " an estimate of the hindrances to the progress of pure liberal views of Christian truth." " It
1 Christian Reformer for 184S, p. 377, where a full account of the opening is given.
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was," we are told, " a fine specimen of his bold, out- speaking style." The rebuilding cost about ^2,000, and was carried out under the dired;ions of Mr. John Frith, architecft, of Sheffield.
The Dissenters' Chapels Act. — Six years after the settlement of Mr. Stannus in Sheffield, this important A6i was passed (1844), finally securing to Unitarians the legal possession and undisturbed enjoyment of their own chapels. Until the year 1813 the profession of Unitarianism had been illegal. In that year, however, the clauses in the Toleration Acfl which made it an offence punishable by law to deny the dodlrine of the Trinity were repealed, chiefly through the instrumentality of Mr. William Smith, M.P. for Norwich, who introduced the Unitarian Relief A6t (53 Geo. III., c. 160), which so readily found assent that it " silently passed through both houses ot parliament without giving occasion to a division, or even a debate."' All trusts for Unitarian worship created after the passing of this Bill were valid in the eye of the law.
Unfortunately this emphasised the fa6t that all trusts previous to that date in use by Unitarians, whether founded by Unitarians, or in Unitarian hands by inheritance, were illegal ; for, being left at a time when Unitarianism was not recognised by the law, they could not be made legally valid by the passing of an Aft which rendered the denial of the Trinity no longer a penal offence. This was soon made evident by the result of the Wolverhampton case (1817-1842), where "the congregation were turned out because they held docStrines which could not be legally preached at the time when the trust deeds were executed ";- and more especially by the result of the Lady Hewley case, 1S42, when the fund established 1705, by Dame Sarah Hewley, of York, for " poor and godly ministers of Christ's holy Gospel," was removed from the management of Unitarians ; the case being "decided m the House of Lords on grounds independent of the inten- tions of the founders, drawn from inquiries into catechisms and the like. It was held that it was a trust for Dissenters,
1 Debates on the Dissenters' Chapels Bill, p. vi. - Ibid., p. 2S8, note.
PERIOD IV. SECTION I. 1838-1875. I07
and that that must be taken to mean such Dissenters only as were at that tune tolerated by law."'
Something like a general assault had been made, chiefly at the instigation of George Hadfield,^ of Manchester, upon our old chapels, i.e., those held by Unitarians, but built or founded when Unitarianism was illegal. And there is little doubt that most of them would have been taken out of our possession, like the Hewley Fund, but for the passing of the Dissenters' Chapels h<Si, which received the Royal Assent igth July, 1844 (7 & 8 Vic, c. 45). That Acl: is the charter of the rights of Unitarians to their own. The K€\. of 1813 did not affecft the tenure of our chapels. It merely legalised the holding of anti-trinitarian docflrines. The new A(5l pracflically abolished that of 1813,3 and established two important principles, (i.) that the legalisation of the profession of Unitarian opinions should be made retrospective, and that certain Adls mentioned in the Bill (Toleration Act and the Unitarian Relief Act), and all deeds or documents relating to the chapels in question should be construed as if they had been in force at the time of their foundation ; and (ii.) that " the usage for twenty-five years immediately preceding any suit relating to such Meeting House of the congregations frequenting the same, shall be taken as conclusive evidence that such religious dodlrines or opinions or mode of worship as have for such period been taught or observed in such Meeting House, and the right or title of the congregation to hold such Meeting House shall not be called in question on account of the dodtrines or opinions or mode of worship so taught or observed in such Meeting House," provided always that no particular doctrines or mode of worship be expressly stated in the trust deed. Hence the religious dodtrines taught in the chapel, and recognised by the congre- gation for the past twenty-five years, are legalised. No restricftion is placed upon the future, except that the teaching cannot be suddenly changed. In the Wolverhampton case, the minister (Mr. Steward), who was appointed in 1814, professed
1 Ibid., p. 29S, note.
2See his " Manchester Socinian Controversy," 1S25.
3 It was removed from the Statute Book in 1S73.
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to be a Unitarian ; but in 1816 he declared himself a Trinitarian, and expecfted the congregation and trustees to follow him. He was supported by an orthodox minority, and their claim to the trust funds was maintained by law. Such claims, after violent changes of this kind, are rendered impossible in the future, whether on the part of minister, or trustees, or congregation. Hence in cases where the mode of worship is to be determined by the trustees from time to time (as in the case of Upper Chapel), legal safeguards are provided to prevent unnecessary and unreasonable alterations.
During the struggle thus forced upon our congregations for the tenure of their chapels (1825-1844), it was natural that some of these buildings did not receive the attention they otherwise would have received had the congregation felt perfecftly secure in their possession. From a minute book of the " Congregational Committee," 1845,