4

DERBYSHIRE.

(Continued from page 109.)

BOLSOVER.The first notice we have of a dissenting place of worship in this parish, is in the year 1718, or 1719; previous to which there appears to have been a congregation assembling at Glasswell, a place at about a mile distance. The chapel at Bolsover was originally erected for a congregation of Presbyterians, by whom as appears by the deed of conveyance, it was surrendered into the hands of the Lord of the Manor, March 2, 1721. The Rev. THOS. IBBERTSON is the first pastor of whom we have any account. His remains were interred in the chapel, beneath the following inscription which still remains there: "Here lieth the body of the Rev. Thos. Ibbertson, who deceased August 7, 1723, aged 37 years." It is not certain who was the immediate successor of Mr. Ibbertson, but the Rev. JOHN PIGOT was here in 1733, and appears to have been here also in 1738. The next minister of whom we have any account is the Rev. JOHN WILSON, who kept a school here, and deceased in 1761, as appears by his grave-stone in Bolsover church-yard. To him succeeded Mr. CALVERT, who, after residing at Bolsover, or rather Bolsover Woodhouse, for some time, removed to Chesterfield in 1776. We have no account of any successor to the last mentioned gentleman; but the chapel appears to have been shut up for nearly 30 years.

In July 1813, it was re-opened as an Independent chapel by Messrs. Boden of Sheffield, and Gawthorne of Derby. In the following year a young man named, Mc Cleen, from Moor Green, was settled there, and commenced a Sunday school, which flourished greatly; but its founder, anxiously desirous to avail himself of the benefits of academical instruction, quitted Bolsover for that purpose in Jan. 1815, and the chapel was then taken under the protection of the Masbro Academy, as a central station for an Itinerant.

BRADWELL.-At this place, as well as at Abney, Ashford, Chelmerton, and Hucklow, the celebrated WILLIAM BAGSHAW gathered a congregation and erected a meeting house in the 17th century, and the Rev. JOHN ASHE, his successor, preached here alternately, with the other places above mentioned, for several years.

after the establishment of liberty of conscience; but before his decease, which happened in 1733, he, in consequence of ill health, resigned Hucklow and Bradwell to the Rev. ROBERT KELSALL. In the year 1715, the meeting house at Bradwell was broken into by a number of profligate individuals, excited thereto by persons of superior situation in life, and the windows, pulpit, and seats were broken to pieces. The rioters were however discovered and apprehended, and a prosecution threatened, but upon their submission, with a promise to make good all damages, it was relinquished. The Independent congregation at Bradwell was for nearly 50 years under the charge of Mr. Kelsall, who performed the duties of his office with great zeal and integrity, and died June 23, 1772, aged 73 years, having enjoyed a salary which did not exceed £24 per annum but during his residence here he acquired some property by a share in a mine, a part of which he employed honourably to himself, and usefully to the church, in erecting a commodious chapel here in lien of the old meeting-house which had become ruinous.

Mr. Kelsall was succeeded at Bradwell and Hucklow by the Rev. - BOULT, and after him successively by the Rev. Daniel GRONOW, Since of Alfreton, and the Rev. Messrs. EVANS, ASHLEY, MEANLEY, and ALLARD, the latter of whom removed to Cosely in 1798. (See more under Ashford, p. 52.)

Bradwell Baptist Congregation.-In 1790, while Mr. PICKERING filled the Baptist pulpit at Ashford, he preached occasionally here, in consequence of which a small meeting-house was erected, and the ministers of the Baptist denomination at Ashford continued to preach in it till 1811; when the members of the church residing at Abney and Bradwell formed themselves into a separate church of nine members, which has been since that time variously supplied with preachers

BRAMPTON. From the pulpit of this parish was ejected Mr. ROBERT MORE, of whom Calamy says, (vol. 2, 203, and Appendix vol. 1. 235,) that he was the last of the ministers who were ejected in this county. "Ile was born in Nottingham, and bred up at Clare-hall in Cambridge. His first preaching was at Belper, in this county, where he staid about a year, and then removed to this place,

and was ordained by the classes at Chesterfield. After his ejectment, he suffered many ways for his nonconformity, particularly, he was once indicted for not reading the book, when it was not yet come down. In the town of Monmouth, he (with many peaceable ministers and others) was sent prisoner to Chester Castle. He was afterwards one of the pastors of the congregation in Derby, where he died in June 1704."

BUXTON. According to Calamy, (vol. ii. 204,) Mr. John Jackson was ejected under the Bartholomew Act, from the pulpit of this parish, Buxton is now a place of fashionable summer resort. There is a small meeting-house in the town, which appears, by a date over the door, to have been erected in 1725; but a congregation of Dissenters existed here previously to that time, of which Mr. HOLLAND was the minister, in 1715. Upon his removal in 1728, he was succeeded by the Rev. RICHARD SCOLFIELD, whose residence in this place was not of long continuance. The name of his immediate successor is not known to us; but in 1737, the Rev. WM. HARRISON settled here, and continued to be the minister of this congregation till 1755, when he removed to Chinley. He was succeeded by the Rev. GEORGB BUXTON, under whose ministry, which lasted for several years, the congregation was reduced to two or three persons, in consequence of which he relinquished his task, and from that time, himself occasionally attended the Methodist chapel till his decease. Considerable doubt has been entertained, whether he had any fixed opinions on some important points of Christian doctrine; or, if he had, what those opinions were, as he did not discover them in his preaching. Some parts of his conduct were also indicative of eccentricity of character; particularly his selling a small estate at Chalmerton, supposed to be his native place, that he might be thereby enabled to erect a large house for the use of the minister of this place at Buxton, on the scite of a smaller dwelling-house, which he pulled down. The edifice which he has reared is in a fantastic style of architecture, and not being now needed for the purpose for which it was designed, is occupied as a public house, and known by the sign of the King's Head; for which purpose it has for several years past been leased by the trustees, at a rent of £40. per annum. Since the resignation of Mr. Buxton, there has been no settled minister here; but the trustees, who are, we believe, all Unitarians," have engaged Unitarian ministers in the neighbourhood to preach here during the latter part of the summer and autumn, when there is the greatest resort of visitors to the place. For some years

the meeting-house was opened on this plan, during thirteen Sabbaths in every year; but in 1821, the number was reduced to ten. There are considerable funds attached to the place, besides the rent of the King's Head; but not one professed "Unitarian" among the laity of Buxton and its neighbourhood. The congregation is, of course, very inconsiderable, and were it not for the funds, the place would in all probability be shut up.

Buxton Independent Chapel.-In the year 1807, a sum of money was raised by subscription, among persons of independent sentiments in Manchester, for the erection of a chapel at Buxton. A plat of ground, containing 270 square yards, was also purchased by the late Mr. ARTHUR CLEGG, and placed in trust for this purpose; and a letter, prepared by the late Mr. JOHN HOPE, of whom we gave some account in our last volume, p. 572, was printed and circulated with a view to obtain further contributions. A chapel has accordingly been erected. It is a neat building of stone, cost about £800. and was opened on the 18th July, 1810, by the Rev. Messrs. Bradley, of Manchester; Boden, of Sheffield, and others. This place was supplied for a few months in 1811, by Mr. MOORE, a young man from Hoxton Academy, who received an invitation to settle there, but felt it to be his duty at that time to decline it, that he might return to London and complete his studies in the academy. He had, however, remained there long enough to conciliate the general respect of the inhabitants of the place, and his leaving Buxton is still mentioned by some of them in terms of regret. Mr. WILLS, also from Hoxton, succeeded Mr. Moore, and occupied the pulpit for some time, till he accepted an invitation to Bakewell. He was succeeded for a short time by Mr. HELMSLEY, now of Warrington. In December 1812, Mr. JOHN GREEVES was sent from Hoxton Academy, and continued to occupy this pulpit till 1814, when he joined the Wesleyan Methodists, and became a conference preacher, in which capacity he was stationed for two years in the Buxton Circuit. From this time, the chapel was only occasionally supplied with preachers, till 1820, when the Rev. H. CREIGHTON became the minister. Under his preaching the congregation increased; the chapel was also repaired and improved, and a small Christian church was formed; but it is to be regretted, that the want of adequate pecuniary support has compelled Mr. Creighton to relinquish this charge. Since his departure from Buxton, the members of the church have only enjoyed the occasional ministry of preachers passing through the town, and their own stated meetings for prayer and reading the Scriptures.

CALDWELL, near Burton-upon-Trent. -Mr. NATHANIEL BARTON was ejected from the pulpit of this place, under the Bartholomew Act; and it appears probable, that in this, as in many other instances, his faithful ministry had predisposed the people to settle in nonconformity. It is certain, that as soon as liberty of conscience was obtained, a meeting was opened in Caldwell, in the house of Mr. TIMOTHY FOX, another nonconformist, who resided here after his ejectment from Drayton Basset, in Staffordshire. This good man preached twice a day gratis, besides catechising his flock, till his decease, in a good old age, in May 1710. The following brief but interesting account of his life, previous to the commencement of his public ministry at Caldwell, is given by Calamy. "He was born in Birmingham," 1628, and there educated in school learning. "In 1647, he became a student in Christ's College, Cambridge, Dr. Sam. Bolton then being master. After some years continuance there, he was admitted by the then Commissioners of the Great Seal to the Rectory of Drayton Basset,' and was ordained by Mr. Thomas Porter and other ministers in Whitchurch, in Shropshire. He was beloved in his parish, and tliough he refused the engagement, yet he continued till he was ejected by the Bartholomew Act. But after August 24, he was put upon a new way to maintain his wife and five small children, and upon the advice of friends, he was encouraged to settle in a corporation near him, where by his pen, and help of relations, he had a comfortable livelihood until the Oxford Act, which forced him to remove, and rent a farm in Derbyshire. Yet afterwards he was imprisoned in Derby gaol upon that Act, being apprehended, not in any exercise of religion, but only coming to see his son, an apprentice in that town. He was taken up immediately, and committed as aforesaid, in May 1684; and continued a prisoner till the November following. He was confined a second time, when Monmonth was in the West, in Chester gaol, (with several other neighbouring ministers and gentlemen,) being carried thither without any cause of their imprisonment assigned. After a month's confinement, he was discharged, giving £600. security for his good behaviour; that is, being himself bound in £200., and his two sureties each of them in the like sum. From the time of his ejectment, he preached in private, as he had opportunity," at Caldwell and its neighbourhood. The ministry commenced by Mr. Fox, appears to have been continued for some time after his decease, by the eminent Dr. EBENEZER LATHAM, who preached

at Caldwell and Holliton, in 1715; but shortly after that date removed to Findern; under the article relating to which place he will be more particularly noticed. Upon his leaving Caldwell, it is probable the congregation dispersed.

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CARSINGTON. From the pulpit of this parish was ejected Mr. JOHN Oldfield, who afterwards became the parent of nonconformity in Alfreton. (see p. 51.) Calamy states many interesting particu lars of him, especially, that he was a man of learning, and worth, and a general scholar, for which he was “ beholden to no University." Although his living of Carsington was worth not more than £70. per annum, and he had the offer of a very superior income at Tamworth, he declined it on "the importunity of his people." He is stated to have been a judicious divine, a good casuist, and an excellent preacher, one that was pertinent and methodical, clear in opening his text, and that spake very close to conscience from it. He was well acquainted with the inside of religion. He was of few words and reserved, not at all talkative; but let any one give him occasion, by starting useful discourse, putting him upon his knees, or upon writing or preaching, and they would soon find, that he wanted neither words nor sense. He was a man of prayer, and of a quiet spirit. The people among whom he laboured were very ticklish and capricious, very hard to be pleased in ministers, and yet they centered in him, and his name is still (1713,) precious amongst them. This good man had many removes after he was ejected, but God told his wanderings, and he had songs in the houses of his pilgrimage. His moderation led him occasionally to attend worship in the Church of England, for which he was censured by some of his nonconforming brethren. On the other side he was subjected to prosecution for privately preaching, but the indictment being incorrectly laid, and supported by perjury, he was enabled to defeat it, and the false witness stood in the pillory at Derby. The trials and afflictions which Mr. Oldfield endured for conscience sake, were countervailed by family blessings. It was his privilege to have four sons, to whom he imparted a good education and knowledge of the truth, by which instrumentally, they were led to devote themselves early to the Christian ministry-one went into the Church of England, and the three others became, as nonconformists, useful and estimable characters. Calamy has preserved (vol. ii. p. 173,) a long and very iuteresting meditation, which Mr. Oldfield wrote, while debating in his own mind the question of nonconformity.

RESIGNATION OF DR. CHALMERS.

Glasgow, 20th January, 1823. "I have called together the Gentlemen of the Agency of St. John's, for the purpose of making known to them my acceptance of the offered chair of Moral Philosophy in the University of St. Andrew's; and it is not without much agitation that I contemplate the prospect of leaving such a number of friends, in whose kindness and Christian worth I have often found a refuge from many disquietudes.

The appointment is altogether unlooked for and unsolicited on my part, and just happens to be the seventh that has been submitted to my consideration since I have been connected with Glasgow. You will therefore believe, that it is not upon a slight or hasty deliberation that I have resolved to accept of it; and I now hasten to offer the explanation of my reasons to those who are best entitled to know them.

"My first is a reason of necessity, and is founded on the imperative consideration of my health. I should like to unite the labour of preparation for the pulpit with the labour of household ministrations in the parish. This is a union which I have made many attempts to realize, and I now find myself to be altogether unequal to it. This mortify ing experience has grown upon me for a good many months, but never did it become so distinct and decisive till the present winter. My very last attempt at exertion out of doors has been followed up by several weeks of utter incapacity for fixed thought. I find it impossible any longer to acquit myself both of the personal and mental fatigues of my present office; and when, under an oppressive sense of this, a vacant Professorship came to my door, I entertained it as an offering of Providence, and I have resolved to follow it.

"My second is a reason of conscience. I am aware that the fatigue of my present office is shortly to be lightened by the erection of a chapel of ease, and the subdivision of the parish into two equal parts. I have often taken encouragement to myself from the anticipation of this important relief; and if my successor be possessed of ordinary strength, and have nothing to carry off his mind from the direct work of the ministry, he will now, I am persuaded, feel the comfort of a sphere so reduced within manageable limits that it may be overtaken. But it so happens of me that my attention of late has been divided between the cares of my profession and the studies of general philanthropy. And while sensible of the rebuke to

which this might expose me from men which piety and Christian excellence are entitled to all veneration, yet I can affirm of every excursion that I have recently made in the fields of civic and economic speculation, that I have the happiness of him who condemneth not himself in that which he hath allowed. I can truly say that when I entered on this field, it was not because I knowingly turned me away from the object of Christian usefulness, but because I apprehended that I there saw the object before me. I have advanced upon it, insomuch that I cannot longer retain the offices which I now hold, without injustice to my parish and congregation; without, in fact, becoming substantially, and to all intents and purposes, a Pluralist.

But the field has widened as

"In these circumstances, Gentlemen, I have been met, and most unexpectedly, with the unanimous invitation of a College, within whose walls I can enjoy the retirement that I love, and again embosom myself amongst the fondest remembrances of my boyhood. It was there that I passed through the course of my own academic studies, and that I am now called upon to direct the studies of another generation. Some of you know what I think of the great worth and importance of a Professorship, and that I have ever held a literary office in a University, through which the future ministers of our parishes pass in numerous succession every year, to be a higher station in the vineyard even of Christian usefulness, than the office of a single minister of a single congregation.

"Moral Philosophy is not Theology, but it stands at the entrance of it; and so of all human sciences is the most capable of being turned into an instrument either for guiding aright, or for most grievously perverting the minds of those who are to be the religious instructors of the succeeding age.

"It is my anxious wish that those reasons which have satisfied myself should satisfy you. In the calm retreat of an ancient and much-loved University,-in the employment which it offers, so akin to the themes that I hold in the highest estimation,-in the post of superior usefulness which is there assigned to me, in the unbounded leisure and liberty of its summer vacation, during which I may prosecute my other favourite pursuits; and more particularly may renew for months together my converse with Glasgow, and so perpetuate my intimacy with yourselves;-in these there are charms and inducements which I have not been able to resist, and which I have not seen it my duty to put away from me.

"I feel the liveliest gratitude for your affectionate services, nor shall I ever cease to remember your toleration of my errors, and the kind indulgent friendship wherewith you have ever regarded me. My prayer for you all is, that you may be enabled by the grace of God, to live the life and die the death of the righteous; that you hold fast the doctrine which is unto salvation, and grow daily in the faith of the Gospel, which both pacifies the conscience and purifies the heart. Quit not, I beseech you, the stations of usefulness to which you were guided, not I trust by any human attachment, but by a principle of allegiance to Him, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Do with all your might that which your hand findeth to do. And more particularly do I crave that throughout the remaining months of my abode in the midst of you, you will afford me the aid of all your light and experience in the maturing of those final arrangements by which the parish might be transmitted in the best possible condition to my successor.

(Signed) "THOMAS CHALMERS."

At Glasgow, the 22d January, 1823, at a Meeting of the Elders, Deacons, and Sabbath School Teachers of the Parish of St. John's, Glasgow, all warned, and a great majority present; John Wilson, Esq., was called to the Chair.

There was laid before this Meeting by Mr. Wilson, a letter from their much respected pastor, Dr. Chalmers, communicating the fact of his having accepted the Moral Philosophy Chair in the University of St. Andrew's. Whereupon, after due deliberation, the following Resolutions, prepared by a committee appointed by this body, were agreed

to:

"That this Meeting, from the terms of Dr. Chalmers' letter now laid before them, perceive that his acceptance of the vacant chair, in the University of St. Andrew's, is absolute. That it is not in ny respect conditional, or suspended upon any circumstance whatever. If it had, this meeting would have done every hing in their power to induce Dr. C. to continue his charge of the parish. In such circumstances they would have pled with him their peculiarly harmonious intercourse, the strong and unquestioned attachment of the members of his congregation to him, the extensive and daily increasing affection of his parishioners, the great sphere of Christian usefulness opened to him in this city, and through his pulpit ministrations and published discourses, they are opened up to very many corners of the Christian world. Further, they would have pled the infancy of his plans in the parish, for promoting the education of all classes, and for originating, quickening, and spreading moral and religious habits amongst

the people; and lastly, they might have stated, but with humbleness of mind, that as their past services under Dr. C. have been most willingly rendered, to the extent required, their services in future would have been equally so, or might have been still farther extended, as they have acted under the impulse of devotion, in heart and mind, to aid their worthy pastor in the furtherance of his great designs for the advantage of his fellow mortals.

"That it would ill accord with the deep seated affection and respect which all the members of this meeting entertain for Dr. C., to question, or for a moment to doubt, that his reasons for resigning the charge of this parish, do appear to his mind to be in every respect satisfactory and good.

"With one of these reasons, this meeting do, in a particular manner, feel the deepest sympathy-they allude to the delicate state of Dr. C.'s health, which, in their judgment, is a reason calculated to silence every objection; for, highly as they would prize the continuance of Dr. C. in his present charge, they are still more sensible of the benefit which he may be made the means of conferring on the Christian world and Society at large, if his health is preserved to continue his labours, for promoting the spiritual and eternal interests of mankind.

"The members of this meeting would acknowledge the hand of the Almighty in having sent Dr. C. to this corner of his vineyard, and having permitted him for a time to labour there, and to be the instrument of so much moral and spiritual improvement. They had hoped he would be continued amongst them for a longer period, to confirm the good impressions which he has been the means of making, and to see still more clearly the work of the Lord prospering in this place. But such has not been the will of the Divine Disposer of all events, to which this meeting would bow with Christian resignation, assuring Dr. C. that wherever he goes, and however he may be occupied, they will not cease to think of him with affection, and to offer up in his behalf their earnest supplications at the throne of grace for all needful strength, and every good and perfect gift.

But

"In conclusion, and as regards the proceeding of the members of this meeting in the parish, all present declare their utmost willingness cordially to continue united with Dr. C. in all his labours, as long as he remains here. as regards future procedure, they would desire to commit themselves to God for light and strength, in the difficult situation in which they may then be placed, praying that such plans as he sees right to favour may be upheld and perfected, that what is amiss or awanting in them as agents feebly attempting to promote