JEWRY-STREET.

CALVINISTIC METHODISTS.

THOUGH the present article has respect to the same

place as the preceding one, yet as we are now to speak of a different society, and the old name of Poor Jewry Lane has given place to that of Jewry-street, we have adopted the latter as the name by which it is at present most known. Upon the dissolution of the old Presbyterian Society, the meeting-house was shut up for a short time; but, in 1775, Sir William Plomer, the proprietor of the premises, granted a lease for twenty-one years, to three persons, who fitted up the place for the late Mr. Henry Mead, who died a short time since at Reading. Mr. Mead, however, being then in orders in the Church of England, did not think fit to take upon him the charge, and never preached there. (1)

(1) The Rev. Henry Mead was born in the year 1745, in or near the city of Bath. When a youth, he was put apprentice to a low mechanic; but left his master and went off to London. Here he soon became immersed in all the dissipations of a gay metropolis. Being led on one occasion to Tottenham Court Chapel, with a view of diverting himself at the expence of that man of God, Mr. George Whitefield, it happened that Mr. Howell Davis was the preacher. Mr. Mead being greatly affected by the awakening discourse of that faithful minister, went home and assumed a profession of religion. Afterwards, being desirous of engaging in the ministry, he applied, through Mr. Whitefield, for admission into the Countess of Huntingdon's College at Trevecca; and went there in 1767. It appears that he did not preach long in that connection, having taken orders in the Church of England prior to his marriage in 1776. Previous to this he became minister of Ram's Chapel, Hackney, and was chosen lecturer of St. John's, Wapping. Afterwards, he preached a morning lecture at the German Chapel in Goodman's-Fields, and had a weekly lecture at Little Trinity Church in the Minories. He was very near becoming minister of Jewry-street Chapel, and had purchased the organ, which was built for the Little Minories Church; but he is said to have been dissuaded from it by the late Mr. Romaine. After this, he preached a morning lecture at St. Pancras, and took a small chapel at Somer's-Town. At length, his health beginning to

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After this, the late Mr. Aldridge was appointed. Upon the expiration of the lease in 1796, it was renewed for another twenty-one years, by the present trustees. Jewry-street Chapel, as it is now called, carries the appearance of an ancient building, and does not seem materially altered from its former state. When it was opened upon the present plan, an organ was erected in the front gallery, and the liturgy of the Church of England introduced. Though the present minister professes himself an Independent, the people cannot with strict propriety be called Dissenters; indeed many of them avow their preference to the national establishment, for which reason we have termed them Calvinistic Methodists. Besides the usual services on the morning and evening of the Lord's-day, there is a lecture here on a Thursday, and a prayer-meeting on a Monday evening.*

The ministers of this chapel since it was opened upon its present plan, are as follows.

WILLIAM ALDRIDGE, was born at Warminster, in Wiltshire, in the year 1737. His youth appears to have been spent in the pursuit of pleasure and worldly gratifica

decline, he went in 1797, to Henley upon Thames, where he experienced great benefit from the air. Unable, however, to recover his spirits, he did not resume his stated labours, but visited various parts of Yorkshire, Hampshire, &c. About 1802, he retired to Reading, where he occasionally assisted the Rev. Herbert Marsh. His death, occasioned by the rupture of a blood vessel, happened on the 29th of October, 1807, when he was 62 years of age. Mr. Mead was not a man of the first rate abilities, but he was generally esteemed as a preacher. His views of divine truth were, what are usually termed Calvinistic, and to them he continued firmly attached to the last.-Evang. Mag. for January and April, 1807. • Private Information.

JEWRY-STREET-Calvinistic Methodists.

tion, and it was not till his twenty-fourth year that he received those first serious impressions that produced a saving change in his mind and conduct. At this time, he was under great distress of soul, his sins appeared in a most awful light, and it was a considerable time before he experienced deliverance. Having a strong inclination to the ministry, he was introduced to the Countess of Huntingdon's College, at Trevecca, in South Wales, and became one of her senior students. Having continued there the usual time allotted to study, he preached some years in her Ladyship's connexion, which gave him an opportunity of visiting various parts of England.*

In September, 1771, Lady Huntingdon receiving an anonymous letter, requesting her to send a minister to Margate, in the Isle of Thanet, describing it as a licentious place, particularly at the watering season, she made known the contents of it to Mr. Aldridge, giving him the liberty to select any student in the College, to accompany and assist him in this important work. Mr. Aldridge fixed upon a Mr. Joseph Cook, who died in 1790, a missionary in South Carolina. Being utterly unknown to any person at Margate, they began to preach out of doors. Many attended, and meeting with success, they extended their labours to other places. About this time, many persons in Dover having left Mr. Wesley's Societies, gave them a pressing invitation, which they accepted. Mr. Aldridge preached at Dover, for the first time, in the market-place, on a Lord's-day, but met with great opposition. The Presbyterian meeting-house, which had been shut up a considerable time, was therefore procured, and Mr. Aldridge continued to preach in it while he resided at Dover. Afterwards it was agreed, that Mr. Aldridge, and his colleague should supply Dover and Margate alternately, changing every week.+

* Bryson's Sermon on the death of the Rev. W. Aldridge, p. 14.—and private Information.

+ Baptist Register, vol. i. p. 501, 502.

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The Countess of Huntingdon, who never suffered her students to continue long in one place, afterwards appointed Mr. Aldridge to supply the Mulberry-Garden Chapel, in Wapping. There, his ministry was so well received by the congregation, that they united in a petition to the Countess, to have his labours continued for some time longer; but, it being a maxim with her Ladyship, never to comply with the wishes of her congregations in this particular, she peremptorily refused. This occasioned his leaving her connexion in 1776, and Jewry-street Chapel being then vacant, Mr. Aldridge was invited to settle there as the stated officiating minister. In this connexion he continued upwards of twenty years, and was greatly beloved by an affectionate congregation.*

As a preacher, Mr. Aldridge was extremely popular. He delivered his discourses with perspicuity and ardour; his ideas were generally arranged with propriety, and his subjects mostly selected with judgment. His ministerial labours, especially in the younger part of his life, were very successful; and he had the singular felicity of introducing into the ministry, no less than sixteen or seventeen young men, from his own communion. Mr. Aldridge's health began to decline visibly for a considerable time before his death. Early and continued exertions, joined to advanced years, at length, made rapid depredations on his life, and hastened his final illness. This seems to have been a complication of disorders, which he bore with the same placid serenity which distinguished him in health. dying expressions discovered a steady peace, arising from a conscious interest in his Redeemer, and a well founded hope of a blissful immortality. He died on Tuesday morning February the 28th, 1797, in the sixtieth year of his age The Rev. George Gold delivered the address at his interment in Bunhill-Fields, on March the 7th; and on the

• Private Information.

+ Bryson's Sermon on the Death of the Rev. W. Aldridge, p. 16.

His

JEWRY-STREET.-Calvinistic Methodists.

following Lord's-day, two funeral sermons were preached for him at Jewry-street Chapel that in the morning by the Rev. Anthony Crole, and that in the evening by the Rev. Thomas Bryson. The three services were afterwards printed. Mr. Aldridge published "The Doctrine of the Trinity, stated, proved, and defended;" and a funeral sermon on the death of the Countess of Huntingdon. (K)

RICHARD POVAH.-During his last illness, Mr. Aldridge had the occasional assistance of the Rev. Richard Povah. This gentleman, is son to a minister, formerly in the Countess's connexion, but since then, pastor of a congregation at Kennington. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. After he left the University, he preached occasionally in the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapels, and at various other places, till he settled at Jewry

[K) It will be expected that we should not pass over altogether in silence, a Mr. Bryan, who preached at Jewry-street along with Mr. Aldridge, during the early part of his ministry in that place. This gentleman was a native of Yorkshire, and pursued his studies for the ministry in the Countess of Huntingdon's College, at Trevecca. It seems he did not itinerate long in that connexion. Erasmus, a Greek bishop, having visited London, in 1763, laid his hands upon several persons who could not procure ordination from the English bishops. Mr. Bryan being desirous of episcopal ordination, applied to him for that purpose, and easily obtained it. After this, he became minister of a congregation at Sheffield. Having contracted an acquaintance with Mr. Aldridge while at College, it was afterwards maintained by a mutual correspondence; and when Mr. Aldridge settled at Jewry-street, Mr. Bryan constantly spent three months of the year in London, preaching in the pulpit of his friend, who, during that interval, supplied the chapel at Sheffield. Mr. Bryan was afflicted for many years, at intervals, with an unhappy dejection of spirits, which bordered upon derangement. To such a height did his disorder sometimes proceed, that he has attempted, in the frenzy of despair, to make away with himself. Nevertheless, his friends considered him to be a truly good man, and he was enabled, eventually, to overcome the temptations of the adversary. He died many years ago, and was buried under his own pulpit at Sheffield.-Private information.