'A History of Saint John's Congregational Church 1792 to 1947' by Reverend Robert Shepherd, M.A.(Cantab)"

Saint John's United Reformed Church, Buckley

1947

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COVER TEXT

A History of

St. John's

Congregational Church

BUCKLEY

1792- 1947

WITH A SHORT HISTORICAL SURVEY

OF EARLY CONGREGATIONALISM IN

ITS RELATIONSHIP TO CHURCH

POLITY IN GENERAL.

Rev. ROBERT SHEPHERD, M.A. (Cantab.).

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To the Memory of all who have

Worshipped in this Church and

Have entered their Eternal Home

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CONTENTS

Page

Chapter I. Short Historical Survey 5 see below

II. The Founding and Early Days13 see 47.29

(a) The Pottery Shed-the First Licensed

Meeting House.

(b) Hawkesbury-the Second Licensed

Meeting House.

III. The Ministers of Buckley Mountain Church21 see 28.364

IV. St.John's Congregational Church25 "

A Theologically-minded Church.

(a)The Church handed over to Trustees.

(b) Constitutionally a Congregational Church.

V.The New Church29 see 28.354

VI.A Critical Church33 "

VII.An Expanding Church35 "

VIII.New Schoolroom and House.

An Advancing Church38 see 28.365

IX. Under Shadows40 "

X. Progressive Organisation41 "

XI. A Ministry of Consolidation45 see 28.366

XII A Preaching Ministry48 "

XIII.Success under Abnormal Conditions49 "

XIV.A Unifying Ministry52 "

XV.Church's Ministry Broadened55 see 28.367

XVI.A Covenanted Church60 "

Postscript.Looking Back 63 "

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NB. The following has been copied from the Postscript to help find the individual ministers in the text- ed.:

Buckley Mountain Church

Rev. Mr. Powell. Chapter III

Rev. Thomas Jones. "

Rev. Mr. Davies. "

An Unknown Minister.

Rev. John Griffith. Chapter IV

Rev. E. Ambrose Jones. Chapter V

St. John's Congregational Church:

Rev. J. D. Thomas. Chapter VI

Rev. Howell Elvet Lewis. Chapter VII

Rev. Thomas Hallet Williams. Chapter VIII

Rev. J. Vinson Stephens. Chapter IX

Rev. Jonathan Evans. Chapter X

Rev. Thomas Mardy Rees. Chapter XI

Rev. D. Emrys James. Chapter XII

Rev. David Evans. Chapter XIII

Rev. W. Meurig Thomas. Chapter XIV

Rev. Keyworth Lloyd-Williams. Chapter XV

Rev. Wynford S. Evans, B.A., B.D. Chapter XVI

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CHAPTER 1.

A SHORT HISTORICAL SURVEY.

The founding of St. John's Congregational Church was more than a mere historical event. It was the perpetuation of a Church polity characterising all the primitive Christian Churches. The first Christian Church founded by Jesus was simply a body of believers regulating their lives by His ideals. The Apostolic Churches were separate Christian organisations, autonomous in government, subscribing to the Priesthood of the Believer and served by a Ministry of gifts. Did Britain receive a Christian Church of this type? It is not known how nor when Christianity was introduced into Britain originally. One of the Apostles, Merchant Phoenicians visiting Britain or Roman soldiers after the Roman conquest of Britain have all been suggested as introducing it, but definite information is lacking. Most probably it came when the early Church had already been transformed. This took place after Apostolic times and was occasioned by prevailing conditions at the time. The Christian Church was threatened with destruction by persecution of the Roman authorities, and the rise of heresy bringing confusion into the Christian Faith. To subdue and overcome these twin perils the Church was compelled to change her polity and an Episcopal form of government was adopted to this end. The New Testament of course has no trace of any Episcopal Church but even before the Apostle John's death Episcopacy had been adopted in Proconsular Asia; by 180 A.D. every Church had its bishop, and 300 A.D. saw the original Church thoroughly transformed with a graded Ministry, a centralised authority and an organisation almost perfect. When Constantine in 321 A.D. became Emperor of Rome this Episcopal Church became the Church of the Roman Empire. In Britain, the Christian Church by this time had become firmly established. The first Christian Church in this country is believed to have been at Glastonbury, and by 31 4 A.D. there were three British Bishoprics. The heretic Pelagius belonged to the early British Church.

But this spread of Christianity in Britain was arrested and the Christian Church almost wiped out by the conquest of Britain by the barbaric Teutons (Angles, Jutes and Saxons) in 450 A.D. All the same, when the Roman Missionaries came in 597 A.D. to Christianise Britain they found here a British Christian Church which would have no dealings with them. It was not until 664 A.D. that representatives of the British Church could be induced to meet the Roman representatives in conference at Whitby to endeavour to adjust their differences. Let me digress a moment to point out that it must have been about this time that we first meet with any signs of religious life in Buckley.

The Roman Church had established a centre at Lichfield and as Buckley at that time probably came under the care of the Bishop of Lichfield, monks from this far away place came here to preach. They assembled the people beneath a Cross erected in Bistre to which they returned occasionally to conduct worship.

But to return to our historical survey. The English Episcopalian Church was thoroughly organised in 690 A.D. by Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, and it became the National Church of Britain.

This Church reflected in its life and polity every change and development in the Church at Rome, and when Christianity became divided into an Eastern and Western Church, and the Western Church changed from Episcopacy to Papacy, the British Church acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope and came under his jurisdiction.

The transition though was far from automatic nor was it without resistance. But after the Norman conquest (1066) the task of bringing the British Church under the Roman yoke so as to break down all resistance was given to Lanfranc, who did the work very thoroughly indeed.

One result of this Romanising of the Church in England was seen in the erection of the lovely Cathedral at Chester, then called Chester Abbey of St. Werburgh. And the monks from this Abbey came over to Buckley and built a chapel known as Spon Chapel. One of Buckley's oldest inhabitants told me recently that he had had the spot pointed out to him where this chapel was built. It was situated in a field between Spon Green and Padeswood. But as it was built soon after the Norman Conquest no trace of it remains. The religious life of Buckley was in this way revived and quickened. Few results however seem to have accrued from the labours of these monks and the religious life of Buckley becomes once more a blank. Roman Catholicism was now firmly established throughout the country but the fires of opposition still smouldered. They burst into flame when John Wycliffe, born in 1324 and eventually becoming an Oxford Professor, began an attack on the Roman Church by teaching Protestant Nonconformity in embryo. This new teaching was disseminated and carried throughout the country by the Lollards or Preaching Friars, and their efforts were greatly strengthened when Wycliffe translated the Bible for the people, a book unknown to them at that time. Wycliffe has rightly been called the 'Morning Star of the Reformation.' Protestantism was still in its morning twilight.

A movement known as the Revival of Learning, closely associated with the flight of the Christian Scholars from Constantinople on its capture by the Turks in 1453, clarified the moral and spiritual vision by its reactions on the age and prepared the way for the Lutheran Protestant Reformation. This Reformation found congenial soil in England for its seed, and the political situation favoured its development. The timely appearance of Tyndale's Bible gave vision and light to a darkened people. Many were restless under the yoke of Rome and seeking either reform or freedom, when Henry VIII took the place of the Pope as Head of the English Church, thus setting in position the wedge of separation between the English Church and Rome. Future developments drove in the wedge. Tyndale's Bible had been suppressed; Coverdale's Bible now appeared and became the treasured possession of the people. Growing pressure for reform led to changes in accord with the Reformation movement. Images were removed from Churches; English took the place of Latin in worship ; the appointment of Bishops was placed in the hands of the Crown and the property of the Ecclesiastical Corporations passed into the possession of the Crown. But the use of the remodelled Prayer Book in public worship was enforced. The Reformers were far from being satisfied, and discontent was as rampant as ever. Cranmer accordingly attempted to effect a Church settlement by a compromise between the extreme sections, resulting in our present Established Church of England. To quote Macaulay "To this day the constitution, the doctrines and the services of the Church retain the visible marks of the compromise from which she sprang. She occupies a middle position between the Churches of Rome and Geneva."

The compromise satisfied no one. A number began to assemble for worship in places other than the Church and unlicensed preaching became prevalent.

On Mary's accession to the throne Rome was once more in the ascendancy and persecutions were widespread and severe. Martyrdom became common. A large number of people left the country and went to sit at the feet of Calvin, who was inculcating a new theology based upon the Sovereignty of God. During their exile they learned to admire the beauty of simple, unadorned, austere worship, and on returning to England during Elizabeth's reign, became the driving power of a reform movement, within the English Church. Elizabeth, a moderate in Church, government, took steps favourable to both parties within the Church, but suppressed unlicensed preaching and strove for uniformity of worship. She failed to procure a united Church, and the gulf between the Reformers and the Church widened when the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church were toned down in the interests of Arminianism, a rival theology to Calvinism based on Free Grace, and ceremonial in worship increased. John Knox in Scotland was sowing the seeds of Calvinistic Puritanism. The spirit of the time is clearly shown in the formation of a Congregational Church in 1567 in the Plumbers' Hall, London. It had no fixed Meeting House because of its illegality but it had a minister, Richard Fitz.

The majority of the Reformers however remained in the Established Church, and their persistent appeals for a purer form of worship earned for them the name of Puritans. These Puritans for a time sought to mould the Church to their own ideals, but their activities were suppressed. Puritanism however made progress. it stood for the ideal, and embodied the Spirit of the primitive Christian Church and was destined to free' worship from Episcopacy. It produced men like Robert Browne of Cambridge University (1570), who claimed freedom to worship in accord with his conscience, and whose followers, known as Brownists, formed the main body of Congregationalists later.

Thomas Cartwright, Browne's contemporary and also of Cambridge University, was animated with a similar spirit, urging Church separation from the State, and the substitution of a Presbyterian for the existing Episcopalian form of Church government.

The only answer returned to these Puritans was Whitgift's policy of suppression, and they gradually withdrew from the Church and became known as Separatists.

Browne and Richard Harrison established a Church at Norwich, the members of which migrated to Middleberg in 1581, because of persecution. The Separatists were everywhere harassed and persecuted, many of them paying with their life's blood for their loyalty to Conscience and Truth. Amongst these martyrs were Greenwood, Barrow and Penry put to death in 1593. Many went into exile because of the persecution.

The Separatists divided into two bodies - Independent Brownists (Congregationalists) and Presbyterians.

The English people were now a people of one book, the Bible. In the country the Separatists began to form religious societies termed "Congregational" Churches in contradistinction to the Parochial Churches. in 1602 such a Church was formed at Gainsborough, but its members emigrated to Holland in 1606 because of the persecutions. The same course was adopted by the harassed members of a Church at Scrooby formed in 1607, whose minister, John Robinson (formerly minister of a Congregational Church at Norwich) believing in a Church independent of all external authority, is regarded as the Spiritual Father of modern Congregationalism.

A dispute regarding baptism about this time led to the rise of the Baptists as a distinct denomination.

It was these early Congregationalists who went in 1620 as the Pilgrim Fathers" in the Mayflower to found the great American Republic. The persecution that had driven them into exile increased in intensity and scope when the Arminian Laud in 1628 raised a storm of Puritanical indignation and religious rebellion, by endeavouring to force the religious life of England into the mould of Pre-Reformation days. In Scotland where Knox had laid the foundation of Calvinistic Puritanism, Laud's reactionary ecclesiastical policy resulted in the abolition of the Episcopate and the establishment of Presbyterianism as the Church of Scotland. The gulf between the Congregationalists in England and the Episcopalians became just as fixed "and the strength of the resistance grew with the increased severity of the persecution. Within a few years the resisting force became the aggressor ; the offensive passed over to the Puritans and in Charles the First's reign not only were reforms 'instituted in accord with the Puritan ideal but on the eve of the Civil War (1642) Prelacy was abolished.

During the Civil War the contending parties were divided theologically as well as politically. The Parliamentarians were chiefly Puritans and Calvinistic in theology. The supporters of Charles I were Episcopalians and largely Arminian in theology.

While the war was raging an Assembly of Divines at Westminster drew up a Directory of Public Worship to take the place of the Prayer Book in worship, and also framed the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms with the intention of establishing Presbyterianism. But before the necessary steps could be taken, the power passed into the hands of the Congregationalists now popularly known as independents, and Oliver Cromwell the Lord Protector being an Independent, Independency made rapid progress. Toleration was adopted as a policy and every form of Church, except the Popish, was guaranteed liberty of conscience and freedom of worship. Macaulay says "Under no English Government since the Reformation had there been so little religious persecution." The rise of the Quakers now known as The Friends, at this juncture imparted a greater freedom to the spirit of worship and strengthened the claims of religious conviction.

With the Restoration of the Monarchy re-action was inevitable. The Independents were mercilessly persecuted while the Presbyterians who had welcomed Charles II to the throne, sought an alliance with the Episcopalians. "Presbyterians had now become, with few exceptions, moderate Episcopalians." But Parliament soon showed its hand and the Presbyterians were quickly disillusioned. In 1661 the Corporation Act virtually excluded all except Episcopalians from Public Municipal Offices. But the process of persecution and retaliation still went forward.

In 1662 the Act of Uniformity enforced on Ministers of religion, ordination by an Anglican Bishop (hitherto not necessary although Preachers had to be licensed); the use of nothing in services but the Revised Book of Common Prayer; a full consent to all the contents of the Prayer Book; a renunciation of the Solemn League and Covenant and a declaration against the legality of making war on the King. Over two thousand Ministers declined to conform to this Act, and were ejected from their churches. These Ministers were spoken of as Non-conforming Ministers. They united forces with the Separatists who had already withdrawn from the Church, and the two thus united became known as Non-conformists.

The people resented the treatment meted out to these Ministers, many of whom suffered great hardship, and feeling ran high verging on rebellion. Meetings were arranged and services held in various places. But all such efforts were checked by the Conventicle Act of 1664 which made Nonconformist assemblies illegal. The Act however was defied and the Nonconformists still met in secret and Nonconformity steadily advanced. This defiance was met with another Act, the Five Mile Act, 1665, which isolated these Ministers from their flocks by forbidding them to come within five miles of any borough or place where they had held livings. The difficulties of holding Nonconformist Services were now almost insuperable, and the rise of a despicable horde of "Informers" or spies made secrecy almost impossible. But the people followed their Ministers into the wilderness and Nonconformity still progressed. They were by this time a strong, determined people. And the Government felt impelled to reverse their policy. So in 1672 the Declaration of Indulgence suspended the anti-Nonconformist laws. Nonconformity at once sprang forward like a released spring with a joyous bound. Imprisoned Nonconformists were liberated; Meeting Houses were erected and Seminaries for the training of Nonconformist Ministers were established. The break with the Established Church was now definite, irreparable and final. The greatly increased number of Nonconformists apparently surprised and annoyed the Government and the Act of Indulgence was withdrawn the same year and a very bitter persecution was launched to stamp out Nonconformity. The detestable Judge Jeffreys was given the task of suppressing Nonconformity. Extreme measures were taken and the studied cruelty of the persecutors drove many in disgust from the Established Church. Martyrdom began to erect its altars once again. By 1685 "all the Meeting Houses of Protestant Dissenters were shut up."

We often say when the night is darkest the dawn is nearest. And so it proved now with Nonconformity. The persecution had aroused public resentment and the issue of the Second Act of Indulgence, 1688, suspended the operation of all laws which imposed civil or religious disabilities on Nonconformists and brought the persecution to an end.

The Charter of Nonconformity followed almost immediately. For in 1689 was passed the Toleration Act, by which Nonconformists - Roman Catholics and Unitarians excepted - were permitted to assemble for public worship on condition that their Meeting Houses were registered ; that their meetings were held with open doors; and that the Minister took the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy.

Nonconformity spread at once with amazing rapidity. " In twelve years after the passing of this Act, 2418 Nonconformist Meeting Houses were registered and there were two million Nonconformists."

But Parliament was not yet prepared to abandon the light altogether against Nonconformists. The Government was anxious to restrain Nonconformity in its progressive march.

In 1711 the Occasional Conformity Act and the Schism Act, 1714 penalised Nonconformists holding Municipal offices and Educational posts. Both Acts however were repealed in 1719.

Nonconformity was gaining strength every year. Its strength in the country can be gauged by the fact that in 1727 the Indemnity Act relieved Nonconformists of penalties incurred through breaking the Test and Corporation Acts. Nonconformity was triumphant. A few years later in 1739 the Wesleys and Whitfield were stirring to its depths the life of England and bringing about something like a revolution in ways of living. How far this movement affected Buckley it is impossible to say. Whitfield however preached here. Apparently there was one ancient and sacred spot in Buckley where services had been conducted long before this time. On the top of the steep hill running immediately down to Ewloe Green there had been a Cross erected for the assembling of people for worship from time immemorial, and anyone wishing to hold a service of worship resorted thither. How long this Cross had been standing we do not know. But during the great Puritan movement, when Cromwell and his "Ironsides" were in the ascendancy and Parliament was seeking to establish a purer form of worship, a great onslaught was made on all monuments and Church decorations that savoured of superstition or idolatry. These Puritans did not cease their iconoclastic activities with the destruction of images and altar furnishings, they regarded the ancient open-air Crosses as part of the idolatrous side of worship and destroyed them wherever they were found. Parliament in 1643 passed the "Act of Monuments of Superstition or Idolatry to be demolished " and about two months after the passing of this Act every Cross had been taken down throughout the country. But memory clings to sacred spots and religious sentiment is stronger than Acts of Parliament, and in order to maintain the sacredness of these open-air places of worship, people planted trees on the sites of the destroyed Crosses. One of these, a sycamore, had been planted where the old Cross had been near Ewloe Green, and by Whitfield's time it had grown into a full-sized tree. But the tree still bore the name of Cross-Tree. An inscription on an old monument in the present Congregational burial ground states :- "Miss Prescot kept a day school where Peter Jones's tavern is. Her father, Bartholomew, heard Whitfield preach under the sycamore, a mile nearly North from this place."

There is no record of Wesley ever visiting Buckley nor of Whitfield repeating his visit. Out of their activities grew Methodism. The next few years witnessed considerable development in Church life in general. The institution of the Sunday School system by Robert Raikes in 1784 supplied the Church with a mighty weapon, and opened out before her a great world of possibility.

The increasing vitality of Congregationalism began now to seek a wider area for expression and exercise than England could afford, and in 1794 the London Missionary Society was established for the evangelisation of foreign lands. The founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society about this time greatly strengthened the religious life of the nation by making the Scriptures easy of access to all. But by this time the Buckley Mountain Church had been founded and we must concentrate on the history of this Church which has so worthily upheld the Cause of Nonconformity, and maintained in this place an undying witness to the Truth and those great Christian ideals for which our forefathers gave their lives.

Author: Shepherd, Robert Rev, MA (Cantab)

'A History of Saint John's Congregational Church 1792 to 1947' by Reverend Robert Shepherd, M.A.(Cantab)"

Saint John's United Reformed Church, Buckley

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