people at Knightsbridge, bound for Kensington after dark, would wait till they made a number large enough to defend themselves against the footpads who infested the thoroughfare.  The old half-way house and the turnpike gate, symbolical of ancient days, lingered so late as the middle of my own ministry.

Along that road, and through Kensington suburbs, George III. used to drive down to Windsor in a lumbering coach with outriders and an escort.  There sat on the box, in grand livery, “a body coachman,” as he was called.  His name was Saunders.  To speak of that good man may seem to be travelling out of my record, but it will be seen that he played an important part in Kensington Church history.  He was a favourite with His Majesty, and used to put tracts in the pocket of the coach for his master to read on the way to the Royal Borough.  The latter liked them so well, that he encouraged the servant to keep the pocket furnished with such publications; and we can fancy the Queen’s grandfather, in his cocked hat and neat wig, poring over the pages provided for his entertainment and benefit.  The coachman was a Nonconformist, and when he was staying at Windsor gathered a few people together in a house which bore the unattractive name of “Hole in the Wall,” where they held a religious service, and formed the nucleus of the Independent Church of which I was pastor for eleven years, part of it as colleague with the venerable Alexander Redford.  It is a curious coincidence that this worthy coachman may be accounted founder of the two Churches in which I have laboured the whole of my pastoral life.

He lived part of his time at Kensington, and wished to see a Nonconformist congregation there.  He met with a few people in “a very humble dwelling,” [12] for religious worship, and out of that grew the Dissenting Church in Hornton Street.

Kensington Parish Church, between 1762 and 1770, was favoured with the ministry of the celebrated Dr. Jortin, an author and preacher of extraordinary reputation; and he was succeeded by Dr. Waller, of whom I know nothing except that he was killed by the fall of a chimney during a great hurricane in November, 1795.  Then came the Rev. Richard Omerod.  “There was no man, perhaps, who more eminently possessed the faculty of conciliating all ranks and orders in a large and populous parish than Mr. Omerod.  Nor was this effected by courtly demeanour or by flattering profession, but by that honest and amiable simplicity of life and heart, which both dignify and recommend the Christian minister.  To a native purity of mind and unaffected sanctity of life, he added a calm, gentle, and unobtrusive manner, which never failed at once to disarm hostility and to command respect.  In his discharge of the complicated duties of a parish priest he was eminent and exemplary.  By the higher orders he was respected and admired, and by the lower orders he was venerated and loved; and possessing alike the confidence of both, he was the channel of communicating the bounty of the one to relieve the necessities of the other.” [13a]  He was vicar from 1795 to 1816.

Dr. Waller was incumbent when the body coachman held his meetings at Kensington, and Mr. Omerod succeeded Dr. Waller soon after Hornton Street Chapel was built.

I wish we knew more of that coachman, who deserves to be held in honour by the congregation of the present day; since it appears that he not only brought together a nucleus for the Church, but contributed out of his limited means ten pounds for the erection of a chapel. [13b]

The earliest document preserved relative to the building I may here insert, as it indicates the different elements of Nonconformity blended in the enterprise.  Some of the originators, most it would seem, were Presbyterians, but united with them were Independents and others.

To the friends of Religious Liberty, Sincere Christianity, and of Benevolent dispositions, etc.:

We, the undersigned,—of whom some have been educated in the principles of the Established Church of Scotland, and others in that class of Dissenters in England whose principles, opinions, and faith is the most generally consonant to, and founded on, the Word of God as revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and on the essential doctrines of Christianity as professed by both the National Churches of England and Scotland;—being, therefore, Dissenters from the established mode of worship in this country, and being situated at a great distance from any place of worship agreeable to the dictates of our consciences, we, from pure motives of religion and piety alone, for conveniency to ourselves and families, and to others who may be like-minded with us in matters of religion, do propose, under the favour and blessing of a Divine Providence, to erect and build a (temple) for the worship of Almighty God in the parish of Kensington and county of Middlesex.

We profess our religious opinions to be, according to the rites, form of worship, as well as of the doctrines and discipline agreed upon in the Confession of Faith, by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster (so far as the circumstances of our situation will admit of); we wish to follow their soundness of faith, purity, and simplicity of worship, as far as we judge them founded on the Word of God, agreeable to the standard of faith contained in the Holy Scriptures, the alone unerring guide of faith and manners.

We therefore invite the serious Christian, the friends and lovers of Gospel truth, to join with us in this good undertaking to promote the glory of God, the interests of true religion, and the eternal happiness of ourselves and fellow-Christians; having nothing in view but to forward the attainment of these great objects, we leave the briers, and thorny fields of disputation, and false philosophy, of factions, politics, and jarring interests of ambitious men, “that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty,” as commanded.  1 Timothy ii. 1, 2.

Connected with this document is another, shorter and more general, stating “that a suitable piece of ground, on a long lease,” had been secured, on which was to be erected a building, “estimated at upwards of £900,” which had been already begun, and was then “carrying on.”  The object of this paper was to secure contributions.  The builders’ estimate amounted to £927 15s. 6d.  The structure was at once duly registered, “pursuant to the Act of Toleration in that case made and provided.”  A recommendation of the case is preserved, signed by several ministers, chiefly Presbyterians, stating that friends at Kensington, for themselves and neighbours—as there “was no proper regular place of worship for those who could not conform with the Established Church—had determined to unite their efforts towards supplying this defect.”

The dimensions of the edifice were sixty feet by forty inside; but the ground in length extended to one hundred and nine feet.

I.  THE FIRST