Pressing On
George Beard continued as pastor until his death in 1852. During these years, the Lord continued to bless the work. A number of people were added to the church through baptism. By 1852, the year of Beard’s death, the membership had risen to 33. The Sunday-school also flourished. It had started in 1828 in ‘old Mr James Booth’s machine-shop in Lee Valley’. The following year, 81 scholars were registered; by 1832 there were 120. When the chapel was built, the Sunday-school moved there, meeting in the main hall. (In later years, after 1907, it was to meet in the gallery).
After Beard’s death, the chapel was without a pastor until July 1855 when Jesse Guinnell was appointed as minister. His pastorate was short. He stayed only until June 1856 but during that time, there were twelve more members added, the majority by baptism. The church records state that he left the church ‘without cause’. He was followed in the pastorate by George Drake who stayed from January 1857 to 1863, when he left to settle at ‘the Dicker’ (a Strict Baptist chapel near Hailsham in Sussex). Some of the church members were obviously disgruntled at his departure. A minister who often preached for them at that period, recorded the caustic comments of some: ‘They said they made George a parson and then he ran away…’
George Drake appears to have been a faithful pastor. The minutes of one church meeting record a resolution: ‘That our Pastor be paid at the cost of 18s a week, and that he be allowed one half of the money collected at the Ordinance (i.e. the Lord’s Supper), so that he may, when he is on his round of visiting the poor people, be able to leave a 6d or a shilling when he thinks fit.’
We can understand why the pastor had to be involved in distributing help to poor families. During his ministry, the area was plunged into economic crisis by the a four-year ‘cotton famine’. Supplies of raw cotton from the southern states of the USA slowed down as a result of the American Civil War. This led to mass unemployment, poverty and starvation in many parts of the north-west of England. Drake’s 6d may well have made the difference between starvation and survival for many of the families of Charlesworth.
Drake’s pastorate was not a time of numerical growth for the church. The membership in 1858 stood at 34; four years later it was down to 32. But during these years, the church took steps to define its doctrinal position more rigorously and put matters in order. New church books were ordered, articles of faith were printed and each member supplied with a copy. Moreover, a resolution was passed ‘that no persons sit down at the Lord’s table except they be of the same faith and order’.
The seventeen articles of faith which were adopted at that time form a clear, strong statement of Calvinistic doctrine. They begin with the doctrine of God’s being, the Trinity, the deity and humanity of Christ, the personality of the Holy Spirit and then move on to the decrees of God, and especially his decrees in relation to salvation:
Article 6: The Eternal Covenant of Grace between the three persons in the Godhead on behalf of the Church.
Article 7: The Eternal, Election, Justification and Sanctification of the Church in and through Jesus Christ.
Article 8: Original sin, that is to say the entrance of sin, condemnation and death through the fall of Adam entailing enmity against God, total depravity of the heart and entire ruin of all his posterity.
Article 9: Particular, personal and complete Redemption of the Elect and of them alone by the Blood-shedding of Jesus Christ.
Article 10: The Effective Calling of the Elect Vessels of Mercy at the time appointed by Jehovah’s decree.
Article 11: Goes on to deal with regeneration, 12 with conviction of sin through the law, 13 with justification and the believer’s deliverance from the law, 14 with final perseverance. The remaining articles go on to deal with matters of church order.
Article 15: The Baptism of Believers and none others by immersion only upon a profession of their faith in Christ and the exclusive right of such as have been baptised to a participation of the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.’
We can be glad that the church at this time took its stand so clearly on the doctrines of salvation by God’s grace, and on a biblical view of baptism and the Lord’s supper.
