With a pastor of their choice happily settled among them, the time for entering into a closer and more spiritual bond had clearly come. The tie of a subscription to the new building was not a sufficient one for a community that was organised for the purpose of extending the kingdom of God: and hence we are fully prepared for the very simple and beautiful service held on March 8th, 1795, when “a special meeting was held at the Chapel in the afternoon of as many as were desirous of joining as members and communicants at the Lord’s Table, when Mr. Lake attended and entered into religious conversation with those present, to whom he also delivered a suitable exhortation.” To those who feel the supreme importance of the Church, as distinguished from either the outward building or the particular minister, this is a memorable record. This building of the living stones into a Church of Jesus Christ is far more significant than the erection of a chapel. And this warm-hearted brotherhood of Christian men and women has continued in the faith and service of Christ, in unbroken succession, for a hundred years. The first Communion service was evidently a very solemn and impressive time. Even the minutes of the Church book lose the atmosphere of formality. We learn how Mr. Lake descended from the pulpit to the Communion table, where “a linen cloth and elements” had been previously laid; { 36} how the “great pew” and the adjoining pews were filled with communicants; how, after the distribution of the elements, Mr. Lake returned to the pulpit and delivered an exhortation. “Upon the whole, it was a good day to many present, and, it is to be hoped, a day to be remembered,” writes the Secretary, and proceeds to record the names and addresses of the “occasional communicants” who were present.
[Picture: The First Communion Cups. From Photo. by Mr. S. Davie]
Whether our good friend, the Secretary, exhausted himself with this description, or became less industrious than formerly, we cannot say. Possibly the unexciting but important work of the infant community seemed to him to require not even the very qualified notoriety of a minute-book. Certain it is that until May, 1798, there is but little recorded; and then “another hand” writes a short account of the monthly prayer meeting of the London Missionary Society, which, we are informed, was instituted “for the purpose of sending Christian missionaries to Otaheité, Africa, and other distant places.” This prayer meeting was held “by rotation” at Kensington, and marks the beginning of the missionary interest of Kensington Chapel. Mr. Faulkner, in his notice of us, says that an auxiliary missionary society was connected with the chapel, “which, by means of contributions of one penny per week, raises the sum of nearly one hundred pounds per annum.” This excellent systematic organisation of missionary interest, enlisting the rich and poor alike in the work by means of a modest and regular subscription, was a very satisfactory application of the business traditions of the Church to the problem of increasing the offerings for missionary enterprise. Possibly, after the lapse of nearly a hundred years, there are some who might find it a helpful and valuable thing to themselves and others to revive an old tradition.