Among English counties Lancashire has a position of its own. “Nowhere in England” writes A. H. Drysdale, author of the ‘History of the Presbyterians in England,’ “have the religious struggles been more protracted than in Lancashire, and nowhere have they attained so much intensity and development. Papist, Prelatist and Puritan were sharply severed, and became strongly marked.”
The Puritanism of Lancashire culminated for a short time in an established Presbyterian Church. Indeed Lancashire and the city of London were the only places in England where the polity of the Westminster Assembly and its Divines received expression in England.
Lancashire and Yorkshire were the counties that witnessed the labours of some of the brightest ornaments of English puritanism. Ministers such as Oliver Heywood, Charles Herle (the successor to Dr Twisse as prolocutor of the Westminster Assembly), and Isaac Ambrose exercised their ministerial labours in these favoured northern counties.
Barnoldswick, situated just eight miles from Skipton, is on the very border of the two counties and in many ways shares the traditions of both. It was only a few miles from Barnoldswick that in 1678 amidst great persecution Oliver Heywood and Richard Frankland conducted the first nonconformist ordination in Yorkshire according to the pattern of the Westminster Directory.
Though these puritan traditions extended to the following century in men like William Grimshaw and Henry Venn, this century has witnessed an almost total eclipse in adherence to the ancient faith. The main nonconformist denominations originating in the seventeenth century were almost entirely given over to theological liberalism and what remained of Bible believing profession was in the channel of Arminianism, the only exception being the Strict Baptists whose tendency in the north of England has been in a hyper-calvinistic direction.
It was in this situation in the early nineteen sixties, that a number of us who were within either Modernistic or Arminian churches, were brought by God’s grace to a profession of Christianity, and, in the reading of books that were then being republished by the Banner of Truth Trust, we were brought to an adherence to the Reformed Faith, with a desire to see the old paths once again trodden, the old theology preached in our pulpits and along with it the fear of God among Christian people that has ever characterised the Church in her best days.
At first we sought to give expression to our new found desire for the Christianity of a former day in Calvinistic interdenominational organisations such as the Sovereign Grace Union, but this was quite inadequate. The need was for a church, reformed not only in doctrine but also in worship and practice.
The Westminster Standards were by now the subordinate standard of our faith and it was here that we first came into contact with the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The historic Standards, designed for the uniting of the religious profession in the three kingdoms, were then distributed by the late Mr J. Grant of Inverness, the publications treasurer of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. When one wrote to Mr Grant one could always be sure not only to receive the books requested, but also several church magazines and an encouraging letter. Hence it was through Mr Grant that we were introduced to the church and also some of our number introduced to Mr Ian Matheson, then of Fort William, now of Laide. It was in the home of Mr and Mrs Grant but more particularly of Mr Matheson, and by many visits to communion seasons, that our ties with the church were laid and strengthened.
Meanwhile from about 1965, services were begun in Barnoldswick. At first these were held only on Friday night, then a little later services were also begun on the Sabbath day, in the home of one of the brethren. To hold Sabbath services meant of course that we must sever our links with the churches of our up-bringing and this we did, convinced that we could no longer be connected with such bodies, and indeed that such connections were in themselves a compromise. The means we employed in those early days were either, one or other of the brethren preaching, or reading sermons, or occasionally tape recorded sermons.
Our practice as a church within a relatively short period of time had become identical to that of the Free Presbyterian Church and in the freedom that our new situation brought, wholesale reformation in our practice could readily be achieved, and all aspects of our church life brought to the touchstone of the Scriptures. Although around us there was not a psalm singing congregation, to our knowledge, outside of Scotland or London, we became thoroughly convinced regarding purity of worship and the unscripturalness of hymn singing and instrumental music, and accordingly the psalms alone unaccompanied were used in the praise of God.
The limitations of worshipping in a home prevented those from outside our own circle joining with us, and hence it was felt that public premises should be obtained. With Barnoldswick being a relatively small town, such premises seemed to some of us almost impossible to obtain. Yet such is the goodness of the God of Israel that His provision did not lack, and most suitable premises were obtained and opened in 1975 by a Free Presbyterian minister. Our numbers in 1965 were merely three or four; however, now, twelve year later, in the Lord’s goodness we are increased four-fold.
The anomalous situation in which we found ourselves as a congregation of presbyterians was now greatly exercising our minds. In the inscrutable providence of God we were an isolated and single presbyterian congregation, with no minister and with pro-temperore office-bearers who had not received regular ordination, and hence we were as a congregation unable to be obedient in remembering our Lord’s death till he come, in the sacrament of the Lord’s supper.
Our desire was to see Zion’s walls in England repaired, and the desperate need of our country seemed in our view to be a Presbyterian Church that would be a sister church in England to the Free Presbyterian Church in Scotland and of identical testimony. In this goal there seemed much to encourage us as we heard of several similar incipient churches up and down England that seemed to be of like aspiration to ourselves. However, on further examination it became clear that the theological and practical commitment of these groups was not identical to our own, with respect to purity of worship, the establishment principle, the authorised version, sabbath observance, and even Presbyterian Government. In view of these wide differences we were driven, and even shut up, to the conclusion that Presbyterian ties in England would not be possible.
Our eyes were now turned in only one direction — northward, to the church that we had seen to be pure in doctrine, worship, and practice, and the church moreover whose ministers had by now conducted our marriages and baptized our children. Following a most useful visit to us in early 1976 by the Rev. R. R. Sinclair, Wick, then Clerk of Synod, who explained to us in detail the ecclesiastical course to be taken, we petitioned the Synod last year to be received as a congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
God in his glory shall appear
When Sion he builds and repairs
He shall regard and lend his ear
Unto the needy’s humble prayers
The afflicted’s prayer he will not scorn
All times this shall be on record
And generations yet unborn
Shall praise and magnify the LORD.
R. M.