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PENTONVILLE, in the parish of St. James', Clerkenwell, derived its name from the late Henry Penton, Esq., who was the chief proprietor of the land, and who died in Italy in the latter part of the last century. Previous to the erection of Pentonville Chapel, the inhabitants were obliged to resort to the parish church of St. James', Clerkenwell, about a mile from this village. In the year 1788, this chapel was opened under the provisions of the Toleration Act, and continued as a private place of worship till 1791, when the trustees for re-building St. James' church, were empowered, by Act of Parliament, to purchase the new chapel at the expense of £5,000, and annex it for ever to their own church, as a Chapel of Easet for the inhabitants of Pentonville. All rents and surplus fees were reserved to the Rector of the parish, together with an annual stipend of £20, subject to certain payments, and who was authorized to appoint the Curate in perpetuity.

Pentonville Chapel is a well-built, and not unhandsome fabric, occupying a pleasent eminence on the north side of the new road leading to Pancras, having capacious vaults for interment beneath, and an extensive burial ground. It is constructed principally with brick, but has a neat stone frontispiece, composed by Ionic pilasters supporting a pediment in an arched fan-light, and at the sides are two plain semi-circular windows. The principal entrance has a niche on each side: two other doorways open to the right and left. A small and prettily designed cupola, with oval apertures, rises above the pediment. The interior is tastefully arranged and ornamented, though the effect is somewhat injured by a flat and plain ceiling.

* The Countess of Huntingdon died at the Chapel House of Spa Fields in this parish, the same year.

+ Chapels of Ease are usually built in very large parishes, when all the people cannot come to the mother church and in these chapels the cure is usually served either at the charge of the Rector, or of such, who by custom or composition are to provide a minister there. In some of them, the two sacraments are not allowed to be administered, but only in the parish church.

VOL. X.

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The altar-piece, which stands in semi-circular recess, is handsomely embellished, and displays a beautiful picture of Christ raising the damsel Tabitha. It is, however, contrary to ecclesiastical usage, placed at the North end of the chapel instead of the East end. The present Minister is the Rev. D. Ruell, M. A., who succeeded the Rev. Thomas Sheppard, the present Rector of the parish, and who, till very recently, continued to officiate at Evening Lectureship of Pentonville Chapel. A charity school connected with this place of worship was instituted in 1788, and is in union with the National Society: the number of children amounts to 160, of whom 60 are clothed. There are also flourishing Sunday Schools.

The following circumstance, which took place a few years since at Pentonville chapel, shows one of the many advantages a minister has who accustoms himself to deliver his discourses extemporally. It had been previously announced that a popular minister was to preach on the Sunday Evening, on behalf of the charity schools of that parish, on which occasion a numerous congregation assembled. However, after the Rev. T. Sheppard, who officiated on the occasion, had concluded the prayers,-on retiring to the vestry, he found, to his surprise, that the gentleman expected had not arrived. Unwilling, therefore, that the charity should lose the benefit of the sermon, and his flock their usual pious exhortation, Mr. S. selected, while the children sung their hymn, a passage of Scripture, (Matt. xi., 27 -29,) on which, without note or previous meditation, he commented with great earnestness for a considerable time; and then, with a suitable address on behalf of the Institution, dismissed his congregation, highly gratified with the zeal and affection of their respected pastor.

Two new churches have been recently built in the neighbourhood of Pentonville, and in the same parish. St. Mark's, a district church, in Myddleton Square, containing 1622 sittings, of which 847 are free, was erected in 1826, by a grant from the parliamentary commissioners, at an expence of £16,000. It is a neat edifice, in the later style of architecture, with a handsome western front, and square tower with pierced parapet and pinnacles: the expense of furnishing it, which amounted to £2,000, was defrayed by a rate voted by the vestry. The living is a district incumbency; net income, £535; patron, the Rev. T. Sheppard, after whose decease the right of presentation becomes vested in the Bishop of London. The second is a Chapel of Ease to St. Mark's, in the later style of architecture, with a campanile turret, built in Sharp Square, Spa Fields, at an expense of £4,418, under the Act of 58th of Geo. III: it was consecrated on January 1, 1834, and dedicated to St. Philip, and was furnished by subscriptions among the inhabitants of the districts: net income, £220; patron, present Incumbent of St. James', during his life-time, after which, the advowson passes to the Bishop of London.

THE CLAIMS OF THE RISING MINISTRY UPON THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

BY MR. LEWIS. *

In the Church of Christ we are presented with a most illustrious display of the Divine perfections. You cannot, my brethren, regard any of the various dispensations by which its history has been marked, without acknowledging that they in

*The above and the following address were delivered at the Forty-Sixth Anniversary of Cheshunt College.

variably demand the assiduous and prayerful contemplation of all to whom they have been revealed.

The revelations which have been successively made to the church, the grand events which have characterised her progress in the world, the blessings she has received, the converts she has made, the dangers she has escaped, the triumphs she has won, and above all, the glorious and dignified appearance she is destined to present in the grand and final consummation, are all worthy of the highest ascriptions which finite minds can render in astonishment, gratitude and praise. "To the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, is made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." Fresh subjects of investigation are thus continually presented to these heavenly intelligences; upon its sublime mysteries they delight to ponder; but notwithstanding their exalted capacities, there are heights that they can never reach, depths that they can never fathom, wonders that they can never explore.

The means, too, which have been employed in the establishment and preservation of the church are equally illustrative of the wisdom of their Divine Author.

A separate order of men was consecrated to the great work of extending the knowledge of the Christian name, and although the number selected was limited to twelve in the original institution, yet, as the work increased, a proportionate number of labourers was appointed; and, we are told, that elders were set apart in every church, and that with them the power of ordination was entrusted for the continuance and perpetuity of the Christian ministration.

This was a Divine appointment, and to each of the sacred persons in the Godhead may be traced the source whence its institution is derived. It proceeds from the Father, "For all things are of God; who hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." It proceeds from the Son, For when He had accomplished the great work of human redemption, and was exalted to His mediatorial throne: “He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." It proceeds from the Holy Spirit, who has identified His own ineffable name with that dignified employment in which we are engaged, calling it "the dispensation of the Spirit." "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are differences of administration, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but the same God which worketh all in all." Thus are the Three Persons in the Godhead severally and distinctly glorified. The ministry of the church is equally dependent upon each, while it promotes the honour of all.

The general uses of the Christian ministry must be sufficiently obvious. It is the appointed medium of communication to all the members of which the church is composed, and is the ordained instrument of imparting spiritual existence, comfort, and fruitfulness.

The various and interesting illustrations which the Scriptures use to represent the employment of a minister of Christ, plainly show the specific uses for which his agency was designed.

He is a labourer, in the noblest field in which heart or intellect can be engaged, where he is associated as a fellow-worker with God, and where immortal souls are his husbandry. His office it is to 'plant trees of righteousness,' to water and enrich the soil, anxiously to watch the growth of the plant, and instrumentally to bring

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