The Bible in West Walton Church (dedicated to St Mary).

The 50p Camera Project

Olympus XA2 35mm film compact camera

Kodak Tmax 400 b/w film

Developed in Ilford LC29

;;;;; O Lord my God, how great you are! You are robed with honor and majesty. You are dressed in a robe of light. You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens: you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds. You make the clouds your chariot; you ride upon the wings of the wind. Ps 104: 1-3

May your unfailing love come to me, Lord,

your salvation, according to your promise;

then I can answer anyone who taunts me,

for I trust in your word.

Never take your word of truth from my mouth,

for I have put my hope in your laws.

I will always obey your law,

for ever and ever.

I will walk about in freedom,

for I have sought out your precepts.

I will speak of your statutes before kings

and will not be put to shame,

for I delight in your commands

because I love them.

I reach out for your commands, which I love,

that I may meditate on your decrees.

[Psalm 119:41-48 NIV]

5 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

1. Like it or not, we are ALL sinners: As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” (Romans 3:10-12 NLT)

2. The punishment for sin is death: When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. (Romans 5:12 NLT)

3. Jesus is our only hope: But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 NLT) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NLT)

4. SALVATION is by GRACE through FAITH in JESUS: God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT)

5. Accept Jesus and receive eternal life: If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 NLT) But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12 NLT) And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. (1 John 5:11-12 NLT)

Read the Bible for yourself. Allow the Lord to speak to you through his Word. YOUR ETERNITY IS AT STAKE!

In his account of the origins of the Strict Baptist Chapel at Haydock*, S F Paul explains that “a few people first met together in a cottage at Haydock Green, near St Helens, where Messrs Mackenzie, Kershaw, Collinge, Clough and others used to preach occasionally for them”. I think this cottage must have been the home of Thomas Litherland (d. 15 November 1885), an underlooker in the mines of Richard Evans & Co, since both the 1841 and and the 1851 census returns place him at that location. As the obituary for his wife (Hannah) states :

“Mr Litherland was the principal instrument in getting men of truth to preach the gospel in the village of Haydock, near Liverpool; and was the principal man in procuring a chapel to be built in that place, after many years' struggle. The church was formed in his house on Sept. 24th, 1848, by Mr. William Vaughan, then of Liverpool, now of Bradford. At this place many of the old ministers of the gospel who are now dead used to preach in rooms in the village, until the new chapel was built a few years ago. Among these were Mr Kershaw, Mr M'Kenzie, Mr Collinge, and Mr Clough... Her house was always open with a hearty welcome to receive the Lord's sent servants, both before and after the church was formed in her house; yes, from the time that the gospel was first proclaimed in that place. Her house was a lodging place for every man of God who proclaimed salvation, rich and free, to weary and heavy-laden souls. As the great woman said to her husband about Elisha, so Mrs Litherland said to her husband concerning a servant of God, “Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick; it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in hither”. Yes, and there God's servants had the best, the very best which that hospitable house could afford...”.**

The earliest reference in The Gospel Standard to preaching at Haydock occurs in December 1848 (Vol 14/No. 156):

“Haydock Green, near Newton, Lancashire.-Two sermons on the 12th, in the morning, at half-past 10, and in the afternoon at half-past 2”.

Reflecting in 1911 on “those marvellous times when God the Spirit lit up our souls by His glorious light”, Haydock deacon James Turton likewise recalled the visits of “many good men who were very dear to us; among them Smith, Vaughan, Kershaw, Collinge [etc].”***

Shown above are:

John Kershaw (top, left) (1792-1870); Pastor of Hope Chapel, Rochdale, from 1817. With William Gadsby and John Warburton he is usually counted among the more influential preachers in the Gospel Standard Baptist tradition;

John M'Kenzie (top, middle) (c.1800-1849); “Gospel Standard” joint editor 1838-49; Pastor of Vauxhall Rd Particular Baptist Church, Preston, from 1836 and, very briefly at the end of his life, of Shaw St Chapel, Liverpool;****

David Smith (below, left) (1819-1892); for 31 years Pastor of Zion Chapel, Siddal, Halifax; also a Halifax Borough councillor and alderman, and an industrialist (dyer and manufacturing chemist);

Thomas Collinge (below, middle) (1810-1872); Pastor at Providence Chapel, Bury, 1845-1858 and again in the months before his death; and

William Vaughan (right) (1811-1887); Pastor at Shaw St Chapel, Liverpool, 1854-1858, and then at Zoar Chapel, Bradford, 1860-1887.

Mr Paul supplies the additional information that the church at Haydock “was composed originally of six members, three of whom were baptised at Downall Green, near Wigan, one at Liverpool, one at Warrington, and one at Wigan... In the year 1849, eight members were joined to the original six; in the following year three more; and in 1853 seven more...”.

*“Further History of the Gospel Standard Baptists” Vol 4: “Some Northern Churches” (1961).

**Gospel Standard Vol 46 (1880). The quoted scripture is from 2 Kings 4:14. There is also an allusion to the refreshment obtained by the pilgrims at “the house called 'Beautiful'” in Part 2 of Bunyan's “Pilgrim's Progress” ("If you will be persuaded to stay here awhile, you shall have what the house will afford").

***Gospel Standard Vol 77 (1911).

****An arresting portrait of Mr M'Kenzie in his younger years, penned by “W.O.”, is included in the introduction to Matthew J Hyde's “Life and Sermons of John M'Kenzie” (Huntingtonian Press 2016): “I could hold out no longer and was baptized (along with 13 others) by Mr M’Kenzie on the first Lord's day in May, 1836, in the river Ribble, at a point about midway between the present L. and N. W. Railway and the West Lancashire Railway bridges... At the conclusion of the ordinance Mr M’Kenzie induced a young man, who was passing down the river in a boat, to let him have the use of the boat for a short time, and, stepping into it, like the Master of old [Matthew 13:2 etc], addressed the multitude who “stood on the shore” with great liberty and blessed effects from Jeremiah 1:10”.