In the preparation of this short biography of Sydney Black, I cannot claim any skill in writing, for it is a first effort. My only qualification for the task is that he was my friend. It has been a labour of love, filling in the all too rare moments of leisure in a busy life; and my chief desire has been to perpetuate, so far as this simple book can do so, the memory of a good man. I had hoped that an abler pen than mine would have undertaken the work.

Any profit that may be derived from the sale of the book will be devoted to the work of the Twynholm Orphanage.

I have been greatly indebted to Mr. R. Wilson Black for relieving me of the details connected with the production of the book, and to my daughter Agnes, for her assistance in collecting the facts relating to Mr. Black's life from the records, and for her help in other ways.

T.J.A.

Note added in 1996: The work at Fulham described in this book still exists but has been a Baptist Church for many years.

CONTENTS

Chapter                                         Page

I. Early Days ... ... ... ...  ...  ...  ...  ... 1
II. First Evangelistic Tour ... ... ..  ...  ...  7
III. Round the World ... ... ... ...  ...  ...   13
IV. The Call of London .....  ...  ...  ...  ... 18
V. Last Days ... ... ... ...  ...  ...  ...  ... 30
VI. The Preacher ... ... ... ...  ...  ...  ...  37

Sydney Black

THE story of a good man's life is, in his early days at least, the story of his parents' lives, and of no one could this be more truly said that of the subject of this book, Sydney Black. To have known the parents is to account for the devotion, the self-sacrifice, and the enthusiasm for righteousness in the life of their son, for he was the visible embodiment of their aspirations for Christian service, and in him they saw many of their desires realised. It is, therefore, fitting that this chapter should be largely a record of the lives of Robert and Sarah Ann Black.

Robert Black, the father of Sydney Black, was born on 6th June, 1821, in the little village of Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire. He was the seventh of a family of eleven. His father, Mr. Hugh Black, was a hand-loom weaver in very humble circumstances, plying his trade in a room in the small cottage which was his home, scarcely able to do more than provide for the bodily needs of his growing family; and thus it came about that his son Robert had to go to work in the fields, and later, to become an apprentice to the village shoemaker. Times were hard then, and bread dear, and every penny that could be earned was needed, so that the lad's schooling was very soon over, though his education in the larger and wider ways of life ended only with his death.

It is not in the nature of things that a young man with Robert Black's energetic, pushing temperament could be content with the little out-of-the-way village, where the days passed so quietly and uneventfully and where the silence would be unbroken for long hours, except for the shrill cry of the plover or the rustle of the trees. Consequently, at twenty-one he came south to England, to push his fortune in company with his village companion and life-long friend, Mr. Milligan. The two young men became assistants to a Mr. Candlish, a draper of Windsor.

The energy of the young Scotsman would not be satisfied until he had reached London, and after only a short stay in Windsor, he found his way to Turnham Green and Hammersmith, where he commenced in business as a draper; and continued, chiefly at Knightsbridge, until 1875, when he retired, having amassed a reasonable competency. His success in business was due chiefly to his sterling honesty, shrewdness and untiring activity; his customers recognised that their interests were safe in his hands, and for more than twenty-five years he secured their entire confidence and was enabled to build up what was perhaps the most successful business of its kind in his day.

It was in the early years of his residence in London that Robert Black met Miss Sarah Ann Wallis, of Nottingham, to whom he was married on 8th April, 1852. Miss Wallis was born on 19th January, 1828, and was one of a family of thirteen children. Her father, Mr. James Wallis, was a member of the Churches of Christ, a small, and then little known, religious community, to which further reference will be made in a later chapter. A leading member of these Churches, Mr. Wallis for many years had edited the monthly journal of the brotherhood, The British Millennial Harbinger, in which task he was assisted by his daughter, who early showed her mental powers and literary ability. Miss Wallis's earliest religious impressions were connected with the Wesleyan Church, where, in her very young days, she consciously accepted Christ as her Saviour; later, she came more directly under the influence of the views of New Testament truth held by her father, and in her girlhood she was immersed and joined the Church. The home life in Nottingham was one informed with the Puritan spirit; its rules were strict yet kindly, the household talk was of religious matters, and the chief end of each member of the family was to glorify God. To this home many visitors came; notable amongst them, in 1847, Alexander Campbell, of America, the leading exponent in that country of the religious tenets held by Mr. James Wallis and the Churches with which he was associated. Mr. Wallis induced his guest to give a series of Lectures and Addresses on New Testament Christianity in London, and it was at one of these lectures that Robert Black first heard what was, to him, a new and almost startling presentation of Divine truth. Brought up, as a child, in the Established Church of Scotland, he had, when seventeen years of age, joined the United Presbyterian Church on the ground that its doctrines accorded more with Bible teaching than those of the Church of his parents. The same independent spirit of enquiry led him later, when in Windsor, to take up his membership with the Congregational Church, under the ministry of Dr. Stoughton. Further reading and study of the Word of God convinced him of the necessity for Believers' Immersion, and in 1845 he threw in his lot with the Baptists, taking up his membership with the Church of that order, meeting in the West End Chapel, Hammersmith.

Upon this Bible-loving, earnest mind the message of the American preacher fell with great force, so that after much searching of the Scripture and meditation, Robert Black, in company with two friends, met together as a Church of Christ in London. In this new enterprise they received much help from the late Mr. David King, of Birmingham, whose remarkable powers as teacher and preacher led many more to associate themselves with the little Church.

It was during this period that the acquaintance between Robert Black and Sarah Ann Wallis, based upon similarity of religious views, deepened into a closer and more tender intimacy, and to a union which was unbroken for fifty-three happy years. After their marriage, they resided in Knightsbridge, London, where, for twenty-three years, Mr. Black carried on his ever-prospering business as a draper, and there Mrs. Black made a home for her husband and for the children born to them. The early years of their married life were years of much sorrow, for their first five children all died in childhood. Sydney, the eldest surviving child, was born on 25th July, 1860, and the five following children all lived, the family remaining unbroken for thirty years.

Of these early years the mother would never speak, but their influence upon her life was seen in her tender sympathy for those in suffering and sorrow, and in her absolute devotion to the children still granted to her. In her home life she was an almost perfect mother, entering into the pleasures of her young family with understanding and gentle tolerance, guiding the children's reading with a wise instinct in her choice of books, and every ready to turn their thoughts in a natural way to the Word of God, so that the Scriptures came to be a familiar and friendly book to them all. Family prayers were always observed in the household, and at times, in the occasional absence of her husband, Mrs. Black would lead the devotions in a simple and sweet directness which was a revelation to those who were privileged to be present. Her love for her family was a passion. All children were dear to her, for the sake of those she had lost. They were never a trouble, and she had always time to listen to and talk with them, to tell them stories in her own quiet way.

The qualities which thus made her the idol of her children and the pride of her husband, caused her to be greatly loved by those to whom she ministered in other homes, for where need was, there she would be found night after night, nursing those who were ill, and who were unable to have paid service. She would often carry out the last sad offices for the dead, if by doing so she could relieve the broken-hearted bereaved ones. Without a shadow of false pride she would at times go from her comfortable home into the poor houses of the suffering, to sweep up their rooms and clean their hearth for "Jesus' sake." With a delicate regard for the feelings of her poorer sisters, she declined to spend an unnecessary penny upon her attire, and preferred to be plainly dressed because, as she once said, "I cannot possibly go smartly dressed into the homes that I enter, where there is often no food to eat and hardly any clothing; it would bring out the contrast and make them feel more unhappy: besides I should not feel it was right to spend money on myself while others need it."

She denied herself that she might give to others, and it could truly be said of Mrs. Black that her life's motto was "Not to be ministered unto, but to minister."

Every cause which had for its object the uplifting of the poor, or the promotion of National or Civic righteousness, had in her a warm advocate. For years she conducted a Childben's Week Evening Service, assisted in the Band of Hope and Mothers' Meetings, and regularly attended the Weekly Prayer Meetings. In the larger world, outside the circle of her own immediate Church, she was greatly interested in the British Women's Temperance Association and kindred societies, and took an honourable part in their advancement. In connection with the Churches of Christ she inaugurated, and carried on for years, a large correspondence with members isolated from their own Church fellowship through residence in towns or villages where there were no Churches of their own faith and order, and she received many letters telling the gratitude of those to whom her interesting letters were a source of inspiration and profit.

Public life was, however, not the work most congenial to this saintly woman; she undertook it rather as a duty. Her real life was in her home, and there her influence was greatest. In all her beneficent activities she preserved a sanctuary whether she could repair for spiritual power and uplifting; the result of which was plainly to be seen in a certain clear-sightedness of vision, a loftiness of tone, which led her to test temporal things by referring them to the standard of the eternal. The story of great deeds for humanity grandly done always kindled in Mrs. Black a generous enthusiasm and a hearty response, hence in her later life, the work of Mrs. Booth, of the Salvation Army, met with her warmest approval, and she was almost envious of that godly woman's record. Character always appealed to Mrs. Black more than doctrine, not that she under-valued the latter, for she held strongly to all the essential and permanent elements of the Christian faith, but she felt that ordinances were but means to an end, scaffolding to the structure, temporary, and vanishing when the perfect was come. The end of all Church life was the production in human life of the Christlike character.

Her greatest joy in the later years of her life was in the service rendered by her family in advancing the Kingdom of God: for her children had worthily responded to her training, and were found wholeheartedly engaged in Christian work. She followed with enthusiastic interest, with daily prayers and constant encouragement, the evangelistic career of her eldest son Sydney, and tidings of his success in his chosen work were a matter of profound gladness to her.

In one of the last of her New Year's Circular Letters to the correspondents previously mentioned, she wrote, and in thus writing lays bare her own soul:-

... The earnest hope that you are holding fast to the things you have learned to know and love in Christ Jesus our Lord, who says to you and all of us, 'Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.'

May His richest blessing be upon you throughout the coming year, and every year of your busy useful life. I beseech you endeavour in the midst of all your daily work and trials that must come, to cast all your cares on Him because He careth for you. If you feel that nobody cares for you, do not forget that He cares. There is much to discourage us all, but God is strong when we are weak, and all-wise when our way seems dark and the world cold and unfriendly. 'It is a good thing to draw nigh unto Him.' 'He will draw nigh unto us.' 'Trust in the Lord at all times.' 'Blessed are they who put their trust in Him.' 'I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.' And relying always that 'On Christ the solid rock you stand; all other ground is sinking sand,' believe beyond a doubt, that He is faithful who has promised.

I am getting far on in life and my lonely years will soon be gone. This brief letter I trust you will accept with my kindest love and best wishes for a bright and useful and prosperous New Year in all you find to do. It may be my last feeble year, but may yours by His mercy be lengthened out to the number that I have been spared to see if that be His will.

And in a last letter to one of her sons, written in a period of much suffering, she said,-

"Pray for me that pain may be abated and strength given for what may yet be. I do so love you all and wish I could see you again and hear your voice. But what He wills is wise and good and kind. And whatever comes may we all praise Him more and more."

On the 28th of February, 1906, this gracious and noble woman "fell on Sleep," leaving behind her the memory of a beautiful life. She had literally fulfilled the ideal of the virtuous woman, her husband indeed praised her, and her children rise up and call her blessed.

Of Robert Black equal testimony can be borne, for both in his private and public life he was in all things an upright and good man. The history of the Churches of Christ in London was for many years his history. He it was who established the little Church in Sydney Hall, Chelsea, out of which sprang the larger effort in College Street, Chelsea, and later still, the work known so well as the Twynholm Mission at Fulham Cross. His adherence to the tenets of the Churches of Christ remained unchanged throughout his life, for once assured that the truths offered for his acceptance were scripturally true, Mr. Black never looked back, but continued faithful to their simple, democratic, reasonable view of Church life and polity.

During the years of active business life Mr. Black had steadily refused, though repeatedly invited, to become an Elder of the Church, on the ground that he could not then devote the time to the Church's welfare that such a position demanded. In the year 1875, however, having retired from business, he consented to accept the position, and for thirty years he was a faithful servant of Jesus Christ in the highest office to which the Church could call him. He proved to be a worthy pastor, one who knew all the sheep in his fold, and lived amongst them. Counsellor, guide and friend, his were no formal visits. The Church's welfare was his daily thought, its needs he constantly supplied, its failures he mourned over as a father mourns for an erring son. Early and late, if the Church required him, he was ready to serve. Not a meeting was held but he would be there. The members looked to him in all their troubles; the house of joy, and still more the house of mourning, knew his kindly and comforting presence. Human need constantly called to him, and the poor and destitute were sure of aid if only he could be found. Thousands must have been helped, the record of which only heaven has kept. His advice was sought constantly on matters of difficulty, and he was ever ready to spend himself in the interest of others.

As a speaker Mr. Robert Black was no orator, yet his gentle, admonitory, persuasive speech always claimed for him the attention of his audiences. His Scottish accent, which he never lost, seemed designed to fit the nature of his words. The Psalms were specially dear to him, as they are to all true Scots. His addresses dealt almost entirely with the experimental side of Christian life, and were exhortations to holy living; for while he believed profoundly in the doctrines of the Church, he yet felt that the members needed to be directed more in the practical duties of life, so his speech was plain and easily understood. He had some delightful eccentricities and quaint mannerisms which, to think of now, touch the heart as with a happy memory. He was never afraid to speak to others of their soul's welfare, and must often have disconcerted his friends by his direct enquiry as to their personal standing before God. He was the means of bringing hundreds to a saving knowledge of Jesus, less by the power of his preaching than by the eloquence of his godly and devout life, and by the deep interest he showed in their salvation.

It greatly pleased him to see young men enthusiastically earnest in the work of the Church, and his opinion of and regard for them was in direct proportion to their regard for the things of God. There must be quite a number of those, who today are Evangelists under the auspices of the Churches of Christ, who can trace the beginning of their work to the advice and encouragement received from Mr. Black. He was held in the highest esteem by the Churches throughout the land, and at their Annual Conferences, any words of his were listened to with marked attention. In 1873 he was Chairman of the Conference held in Wigan.

In conversation on current topics of the day one soon discovered how strongly Radical were Mr. Black's views. The late Mr. Gladstone had no greater admirer than he: and he esteemed very highly that ardent and militant Nonconformist leader, Dr. Clifford, who was his friend. He had a scorn of meanness, and could not tolerate hypocrisy; clericalism he looked upon as the greatest disintegrating force in Christianity, and believed that if people would but study for themselves the Word of God, the unhappy divisions in the churches would soon cease. In his habits he was simple almost to severity, yet he was full of quiet and deep content. He could read character, was quick to discern between the real and the false. He was by no means austere, but could enjoy, with a Scotsman's peculiar pleasure, any harmless joke, and would laugh heartily at any story provided that it was free from malice or wrong suggestion.

The harmony that existed in the family was beautiful to see. None of his children would take any important step in their life without laying it before him. If he sometimes did not think it to be the wisest course for them, he would state his view of the case, but such was his confidence in his children that he rarely, if ever, found it necessary to oppose them.

The writer, privileged to enjoy twenty years of unbroken friendship with Mr. and Mrs. Black, cannot forget how much he owes to them: coming as he did to London, a young man scarcely out of his teens, he found in their counsel an inspiration to good. When the great city was bewildering in its multitudinous appeals to the low and base, their home was to him a place of refuge and repair. Their simple unaffected regard for the things of God taught him how real a thing the Christian life could be.

One cannot better close this brief epitome of these saintly lives than by quoting a paragraph from an address presented by their children on the occasion of their Golden Wedding in 1902.

"We acknowledge with deepest appreciation our lifelong debt to you both. You have indeed understood how to bestow the best gifts upon your children. We rejoice greatly as we recur to our invaluable heritage of sound minds and bodies; to the simple spiritual instruction of our earliest childhood; to the watchful and prayerful training which has shielded us, as a wall of fire, from the destructive vices of society; to the tender interest in our all-round welfare, which has never failed us, and has passed undiminished to our children; and to that eminent zeal for pure and undefiled religion, which has ever been, and still is, a daily source of strength and inspiration."

It was in their home, sanctified by their tender wisdom and gentle care, that Sydney, their eldest son, grew up, a sturdy, well-built lad. His early schooldays were spent at the Western Grammar School, off the Brompton Road, but, later, he went to the Nonconformist Grammar School at Bishop's Stortford, where he was as successful in athletics as in learning, for he not only proved a diligent student, but carried off the challenge cup for prowess in sports. He was foremost in Cricket and Football and in all the usual games of healthy lads; full of fun, yet with a vein of seriousness, which must have led him to often think about higher things, so that one learn with small wonder that, at the early age of thirteen, he had already decided that his life must be definitely surrendered to God. With such parents, home training, and influence, this was a natural outcome. Sydney was too shy or too overcome with the solemnity of his decision to speak of his desires to his parents, so he wrote to his mother, and told her of his wish to be baptised. The slip of paper was treasured by her to the day of her death. Surely no request is more to be rejoiced over by a mother, nor can there be one which should be more quickly approved. On his next return home from school, Sydney was immersed into Jesus at College Street Chapel, Chelsea, and for thirty years he witnessed a good confession.

These early days of his Christian life were those of an ordinary, healthy, happy lad. Without a trace of affectation or priggishness, he enjoyed life naturally; was a hero amongst his companions on account of his strength and skill in games, and was respected by them for his sense of honour and truth. He was conscious always that, since he was a Christian, he must never do anything mean, but play the man.

He left school at the age of sixteen with little more than an ordinary education, for his father took what he considered a practical view of the matter, and did not approve of his son continuing at school for any period longer than was necessary to fit him for his work as a draper, for he wished Sydney to come into his own business. The lad was apprenticed, for a short time, to Messrs. Shoolbred & Co., of Tottenham Court Road. Leaving there after the period of his apprenticeship was over, we find him occupying a position in Messrs. Peter Jones & Co., of Sloane Square, where he continued at the work designed for him by his father until he was called, in 1883, to the greater work appointed to him by God.

In these seven years of waiting Sydney Black was not idle, for his great ambition was to be a preacher and to serve the Church, hence he used all his leisure in study and preparation. On Sunday he would spend the whole day in active service in the meetings and at the school.

At the age of seventeen he preached his first sermon. No record exists of the text, the matter or the manner of this first address. Probably, to the hearers, it contained no hint of the powers which were to grow out of that timid first effort, except that one may be quite sure his mother would discern the beginning of great things and would be praising God in her heart for her boy's word. After this first essay in preaching, Sydney's ambition was intensified, and as the Church wisely encouraged the young man, he had many opportunities of developing and improving his undoubted gifts.

In 1882 he attended the Annual Conference of the Churches of Christ, which was held that year in Leicester. At that meeting a strong appeal was made to brethren, who had sons qualified by education and ability to do the work of an Evangelist, to allow them to be set apart for the work, and where possible to provide for them to do it. It was a memorable occasion, and the appeal moved the assembly with unmistakable power. It is certain that it deepened the desire which for years had been forming in the heart of Sydney Black, and led him within the following months to decide to give up all thoughts of a business life, and give himself wholly to the work of Gospel proclamation.

In the light of later years it is not surprising that he should come to this decision, for to any one who knew him and his burning zeal for active, aggressive Evangelism, it is almost inconceivable that he could have been much longer content with the routine and petty detail of a draper's shop. Yet the experience of life he had so far gained helped him in his chosen work, for he was specially interested in the shop and warehouse lads and young men of London, and by his sympathy and understanding of their trials and needs was successful in leading many into the better way.

In February, 1883, after a conference with his parents in which he laid before them his ambition to be wholly devoted to the service of God in the Evangelistic field, he started upon his first preaching campaign, happy in the knowledge of his father's hearty approval and support, and inspired by the memory of his mother's smile and benediction: "Go, my son, and the Lord be with you!"


Chapter II
First Evangelistic Tour

IT is desirable, in view of references already made, and of many which will follow, that some account should here be given of the communities of Christian believers who are herein designated "Churches of Christ."

Early in the last century, Thomas Campbell, a Presbyterian Minister of the Succession Church, who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States, issued in the year 1809, a "Declaration and Address," in which he advanced reasons against all formulas of religious theory or opinion, and urged that the Word of God, divinely inspired, was all-sufficient for the salvation of man, the edification of the Church and the sanctification of the saint. As a result of the opposition in the Synod which this statement aroused, Thomas Campbell formally withdrew from the communion and fellowship of the Church, and, in company with a few of like mind, formed what was at first designated "The Christian Association" of Washington, whose object was the promotion of simple Evangelical Christianity, free from all mixture of human opinions and inventions of men. In this movement Thomas Campbell was joined by his son, Alexander, whose powerful and eloquent advocacy contributed greatly to the success of the cause in America.

In this country, at the same time, a similar movement had commenced in the Scotch Baptist Churches, influenced chiefly through the writings of William Jones, M.A., of London, in his magazine The Millennial Harbinger; but it was not until the year 1833 that Mr. Jones came into personal contact with "the Disciples" of America, through meeting, in London, Mr. Peyton C. Wyeth, who, as a friend of Alexander Campbell, was able to put Mr. Jones into communication with him.

From the correspondence thus begun between these able men, a more determined advocacy of Scripture truth followed, and as a result, a number of the Scotch Baptists left their former associates in order to form Churches of New Testament order. Amongst the earliest was James Wallis, of Nottingham, the grandfather of Sydney Black, who, with others, formed in 1836 the first gathering in this country to bear the name of "Church of Christ." Other Churches afterwards became associated under the same name, and in 1842 the first Conference was held at Edinburgh, when enquiry showed the existence of some 50 such Churches, with a membership of over 1300. After an interval of five years, a second Conference was called in 1847, and ever since a General Conference of Churches of Christ has been held annually up to the present year, 1911, when at Leicester 200 Churches reported a membership of nearly 15,000 members. The movement has made specially rapid progress in America, while it is well represented in Australia and New Zealand. The latest returns for the World show nearly 12,000 Churches with a membership of 1,350,000.

Within the limits of this short sketch it will be impossible to do more than present a brief outline of the propaganda of these Churches, and it is given here in order that the reader may understand the cause which was so enthusiastically espoused, and so strenuously maintained, by the subject of this book. The following is taken from an article written by Sydney Black in the Review of the Churches in March, 1893, and is interesting as showing both his manner of writing, and his view of the movement with which he was associated:

The 'Churches of Christ' are Churches set for the unqualified restoration of Primitive Christianity, in all its pristine simplicity and purity. In order to do this they discard and discountenance all human names, creeds, and confessions of faith. They maintain that the Christian institution was absolutely perfected, as to its faith, polity, ordinances and worship, from the first Pentecost after the ascension of our Divine Lord, until the death of the Apostle John, and that it is capable of no subsequent development or improvement. They hold, however, that in relation to the 'region of expediency' there is considerable latitude for diversity of method in applying Christianity to the special exigencies of the age and of the times in which we live. But there must be no violation of Christian principle. The principles of Christianity are inelastic. The methods of their application are by no means stereotyped.

The Churches are one with Chillingworth in affirming that 'the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible contains the religion for Protestants.' Each Church is a self-governing, self-supporting and self-edifying body, and is independent of any conference, synod, council or other legislative assembly.

In their contention for the organic union of all obedient believers in the Son of God, the Churches hold the absolute essentiality of adopting the names, both as individuals and Churches, which are found in the New Testament Scriptures. They avoid any such distinctive names as Calvinists, Lutherans, or Baptists. As individuals they adopt such New Testament names as 'Christians,' 'Saints,' 'Disciples,' or 'Brethren,' while the congregations in their corporate capacity are known as 'Churches of Christ,' 'Churches of God,' or 'Churches of God in Christ.'

In relation to human creeds, they hold their utter inutility on the following grounds: Firstly, if a creed contain more than is in the Bible, it contains too much. Secondly, if it contain less than is in the Bible, it contains too little. Thirdly, if it contain the same, then the inutility of the creed at once becomes apparent. And, fourthly, if intended to render the Bible more explicit as to what is to be believed in order to salvation, then they hold it impugns the wisdom and judgment of the Holy Spirit, who has vouchsafed to us a simple revelation of the Christian system in the New Testament.

The Churches of Christ hold further that the only confession of faith recognised by the New Testament Scriptures is the 'rock' confession which Simon Peter made at Caesarea Philippi: 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.' They maintain this to be an all-sufficient and all-embracing confession of faith, and that this great foundation truth must be confessed with the mouth in order to obtain the remission of sins.

They also emphatically plead for the organic union of all followers of the Lord Jesus upon the well-known seven-fold basis enunciated by the Apostle to the Gentiles, in Ephesians iv. 4-6. 'There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism: one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all and in you all.'

In contending for this simple basis of union, they lay special emphasis upon speaking where the Scriptures speak, and being silent where the Scriptures are silent in all matters relating to the faith, institutions, and polity of the Church of Christ. They plead that in things essential there must be unity; that in things doubtful, there must be liberty; while in all things, there must be unselfish love.

In their proclamation of the saving Evangel they feel morally compelled to lay special stress upon the conditions of salvation laid down by Jesus Christ in His parting behest, and invariably enunciated by His inspired Apostles. They hold that there are several co-operating causes at work in the salvation of mankind. On the Divine side there is the moving cause - the pure, disinterested love of God. There is also the procuring cause - the free gift of the Divine Son. On the human side there is the qualifying cause - faith evolving a determination to follow the Lamb everywhere. There is also the receiving cause - the Heaven-appointed ordinance of Christian immersion. They use this last word because they reject both sprinkling and pouring, and take this course on the authority of the scholarship of the ages. They hold that baptism administered to believing penitents is, in the words of good old John Wesley, 'both a means and a seal of pardon,' and on this point they are pleased to propagate the teaching of that revered pioneer on Acts xxii. 16. Hence every member of this great movement is an immersed believer.

The Churches of Christ discard completely what is rightly known as the 'one-man ministry.' They equally repudiate the idea of an 'all-man ministry.' They select and ordain elders as bishops to rule the Church; deacons and deaconesses to wait upon their respective ministries; and send forth evangelists as ex-officio members, labouring for special seasons with the various congregations. The bishops are either professional men, commercial men, artisans, or independent gentlemen, who up to the present have invariably vouchsafed their services entirely unremunerated. Some of the evangelists are paid. They live to preach, and do not preach to live. The evangelists simply control and organise their own department of work, viz. evangelisation, and in no sense rule the Church. The Church, through the bishopric, governs her own affairs. Liberty to preach, teach, expound and exhort is extended to all members capable of edifying. Judgment as to capability is of course vested in the bishopric. The bishops are also of necessity the pastors who feed the flock of God. The work of Christian women is recognised and encouraged within the prescribed New Testament limits.

The Disciples tenaciously believe that the New Testament enforces the weekly observance of the Lord's Supper, and that this constitutes the great focus-point of the Christian institution. They hold that the Lord's Supper is only open to those who have attended to the Scriptural conditions of pardon, and are walking before God consistently. The Churches absolutely refuse any financial assistance for evangelistic, or distinctly ecclesiastical purposes, from the general public. The Lord's Supper and the Christian fellowship are co-extensive with membership in the Kingdom of favour. They are the exclusive prerogative of the Ecclesia of Christ. The members of the Churches are anxious, however, for the most part, to co-operate with all philanthropists and lovers of humanity in the various beneficent, social and rescue movements of the day."

The little town of Leominster, in the county of Hereford, was the scene of Sydney Black's first evangelistic effort. There would not seem to be much prospect of success for the establishment of a new Church in a small town of 7000 people, in which at the time there were already twelve different denominations, but it was the pleading of an earnest and devout sister, Mrs. Randall, who had formerly been a member of the Chelsea Church, that influenced Mr. Black in his decision to commence there. His coming and subsequent activity soon aroused much interest in the little place. The Town Hall was filled night after night by an audience at first curious to learn of the new Faith, but of whom many came later with awakened interest and enquiry to learn "if these things were so." The emphasis placed by the preacher upon "believers' immersion" aroused especial attention, which was greatly quickened by the altogether unusual sight of a public Immersion in the River Pinsley, on a Sunday afternoon in the month of March, 1883, before a concourse of considerably more than 1000 people. Four confessing believers in Christ thus obeyed the Saviour's command. Such a rite, conducted with the utmost solemnity and decorum, caused the religiously minded of the town to search the Scriptures, and many saw for the first time the place and importance of Baptism. Discourses were delivered to disprove its necessity by some of the Ministers of the surrounding Churches, but the influence of the young Evangelist was so strong that the meetings continued, and ultimately a Church was formed.

After some months of wholehearted labour, the work in Leominster was for a time continued by others, while Sydney Black, in company with his father, visited Paris, to which place he had been attracted by a remarkable work of evangelism begun and carried on by Monsieur and Madame Jules De Launay. By a close and independent study of the Word of God these two had arrived at practically the same view of truth as that held by the members of the Churches of Christ, and for some time they had carried on a successful Mission and had established a Church. One may be sure this work and its services were of great interest to the young English Evangelist. It would be wonderful to him to see the growth of a Church of simple New Testament Faith and order in a city almost wholly given over to pleasure and dominated religiously by what he would consider the negation of Christian truth, and we find in his letters such references to this work as show how it stirred his ardent, impulsive nature. Had his knowledge of the French language been but equal to his desire for service there is little doubt that Sydney Black would have been glad to have become a "fellow labourer" with the worthy founders of the Mission.

After this holiday change, Midsummer found Mr. Black back again in Leominster pursuing the energetic campaign of the early spring; immersions still followed his faithful testimony, and the Church grew steadily in numbers and in grace.

A year later we find the young preacher addressing large congregations both indoors and in the open air in the town of Kington, and, with more success, in the town of Ross, where he was instrumental in leading a close communion Baptist Church to assume the New Testament name, and to enter into co-operation with the Churches of Christ. During this period the work in Leominster was well maintained, in addition to Gospel Meetings in the surrounding villages. It was for Sydney Black a period of hard but happy work, supported as he was by the gratitude of those whose lives his message had changed, by the affection of his friends, and by the knowledge of his parents' prayers. He found an unrestrained delight in his labours for his Master and rejoiced that he was counted worthy to be the harbinger of the simple Truth through the countryside. It was good for him that he should have found his first sphere of work where the sweet air, fragrance and quietness would help him to discover his powers and to build up his body for the more strenuous years to come.

Early in 1885, in answer to an urgent invitation, Mr. Black began a special evangelistic effort in the city of York, preaching in the Victoria Hall and Corn Exchange. It would seem a bold thing to attempt to establish a new cause in a cathedral city, yet it was not without success, as in a few weeks a Church with a membership of more than forty believers was started. The next two years were mainly given to this work, the little flock growing steadily in numbers until it was found desirable to build Meeting House for a more permanent location.

The records show that during this period visits were paid to other centres where the enthusiasm and startling energy of the Evangelist aroused much attention. Many immersions followed his preaching in Gateshead-on-Tyne, Birmingham and Nottingham. At the last-named place he was present at the General Annual Meeting of the Churches, and presided with much acceptance over the Sunday School Session, delivering a highly practical and characteristic address, in which he anticipated the present-day appeal to the Churches to provide for and pay special attention to the young.

In addition to the care of the work in York, Mr. Black endeavoured to promote a Church in Scarborough, but without success. We find him also delivering discourses during the week in Knaresborough on such subjects as "The Great Commission," "The Church of Christ," "The Doom of Sectarianism," "Shall the Saviour's Prayer be answered?" Nothing could daunt his restless energy; at the least sign of an open door, Sydney Black at once plunged through to see what lay beyond. He had absolute faith in the message he was called upon to deliver, and with the optimism of youth backed by a fine animality he was ready to preach everywhere. No matter how unlikely of success the work at first might seem to prove, he would go on and leave the rest with God.

As an instance of his energy take the account of a week's visit to South Wigston, near Leicester, in April, 1887. Fifteen set discourses were delivered in the period, with shorter addresses in the villages in railway workshops and in a boot factory. Working men had a high place in the regard of the young preacher, and wherever he could find an opportunity to speak to them he always did so. At York, by the permission of the General Manager of the North Eastern Railway Company, he regularly addressed hundreds of their employees in the dinner-hour, and throughout his life his influence over the workers was always most marked. He seemed to have the power of arresting their attention, and of inducing them to seriously consider their standing before God. There are many such men today, stalwart upholders of their Master's Name, pillars in the Church of God, who owe their first impulse towards holiness to the word of Sydney Black.

In addition to the places referred to, we find a work begun in 1888, in Harrogate, easily accessible, owing to its proximity to York. Here the Albert Hall was taken, and interesting meetings held. In a few weeks over fifty were added to the Church.

Not content with this, Mr. Black is found preaching at Wortley and Bradford, stirring up existing Churches, infusing new life and hope by his buoyant faith and determined advocacy. Visits were also paid to Dewsbury and Batley.

Early in 1888 the thoughts of the Evangelist began to turn to his native city, and we find him in the month of May of that year, back again in London, after five years' absence in the provinces. These years were perhaps the happiest in his life: difficulties did not exist, doubts did not assail, health was buoyant and forces never tired. It was specially fitting, therefore, that Sydney Black should offer his life at its best to the most desperate problem which has ever confronted Christian men, the Evangelisation of London. He brought to this all the gathered experience of his first five years, his strength of body, his clearness of mind and his boundless energy. The Town Hall in the King's Road, Chelsea, was taken and filled on thirty-two Sunday evenings by a crowd of interested hearers, and the services proved fruitful of much good. More than one hundred were immersed, the local papers gave much prominence to the work, and something in the nature of a revival spread throughout the neighbourhood, for other Churches experienced a quickening of life. Every household in the locality was visited and much discussion followed on the New Testament Church and the way of admission thereinto.

The services in the Town Hall were held at intervals during 1888-1889, and were destined to prove the foundation of the permament work in West London known later as the "Fulham Cross Mission," to which lengthy reference will afterwards be made. From this time the claims of London began to be more and more pressing, and upon the spiritual ear of Sydney Black there seems to have fallen the cry of the vast, suffering, sinning, multitude; for, during the next two years, though we find him preaching elsewhere, he is more often in London, encouraging the converts of his Town Hall Mission, talking of a possible permanent work, planning how to raise the money needful, debating whether he should visit the American and Australian Churches in order to arouse their interest and sympathy. The idea was there, and with him to have a glimpse of a possibility was at once to plan a way to make it a certainty.

The desire for a permanent centre of Evangelistic and Social Work in London was further strengthened by contact with a little Mission conducted by working-lads held at 17, Field Road, Fulham, where he had been invited to give an Anniversary Address. In such a neighbourhood it was a wonderful thing that a mere handful of lads, very ignorant of everything save the one thing which constitutes true wisdom, should be found, as they were, in a dingy basement room, intent on the salvation of their companions and associates, and eager to follow Jesus. To these lads, the eager, affectionate, impetuous speaker came as a very messenger from Heaven; they hung on his every word, and as he declared the whole counsel of God, without hesitation they accepted the fuller light and joined in Christian fellowship with the Church in College Street, Chelsea, continuing, however, as a Mission Centre in Field Road, until they removed to a more suitable and commodious room in Greyhound Road.

About this time Mr. Black first became acquainted with Miss Mary Hugill, of Chelsea, who had for years superintended and carried on a "Preventive and Rescue Home for Women." This lady had for some time been interested in New Testament Christianity, as a result of her attendance at the Town Hall Meetings. After much thought she decided to unite with the Church of Christ in College Street, and, not content with her own joy, she taught others the better way, so that in December, 1889, she, with eleven others, her helpers and several of those she had rescued, were added to the Church. This brought Sydney Black into touch with a terrible side of London life, and if anything were needed to confirm him in his intention to commence a work in London, the facts and experience he now gained were more than sufficient to do so.

The thought of such an enterprise seems to have created a sense of insufficiency in his mind. How could he with his limited opportunities and education hope to succeed where others of far more brilliant parts had failed? In his answer to this question we can discern something of the belief in himself, based upon his unbounded faith in God, which always characterised him. He could improve himself educationally by a course of study at Oxford, afterwards the opportunity would be made clear to him.

With his mind full of the possibilities of a great work for God in London, Mr. Black left for Oxford in September, 1889, to take a course of private tuition under Professor W.H. Fairbrother, M.A., of Keble College, and to attend his lectures at Lincoln College, as also those of Principal Dr. A.M. Fairbairn at Mansfield College. To both of these thinkers, Mr. Black constantly acknowledged his indebtedness, and always referred to the training and knowledge he gained as of incalculable service to him. His stay in Oxford was not long, for he was too impatient and eager to begin his work in the greater world of London to spent precious hours in the Lecture Halls and shades of the classic city. In a sense it was a pity, for a year or two of close study would probably have harnessed his enthusiasm, and shown him the way to use his great powers with more conservation of energy. He might have lived longer had he learned to brook the wise restraint of ordered study. But it was not to be. Preach he must, and would. During his stay in Oxford, he was frequently to be heard at the Martyrs' Memorial, in St. Giles, declaring the way of Christ and His Apostles. Those who knew him during this period have spoken to the writer of the high esteem in which he was held by students and Professors alike.

During the time the London scheme was forming and maturing in Mr. Black's mind, he was busily preaching and lecturing through the country, in addition to the special services he was holding at intervals in London. We find him at South Wigston in the spring of 1889, at Leominster in May of the same year, at Bettws-Diserth, in Radnorshire, shortly afterwards, ever proclaiming the same evangel with the force and energy of a son of thunder. In August of this year at the Annual Conferences of the Churches of Christ, held at Leicester, he read the Conference Paper on "The Position and Work of Sisters in Evangelisation," in which he advocated the right of Sisters to liberty of speech in all public work, both within the Church and in the world. The paper was marked by all the peculiarities of language and hyperbolism which were so characteristic of the writer, yet it carried conviction to many; and though at the time the older brethren antagonised his conclusions vigorously, he had sown a seed, the fruit of which became evident in the year 1911, when at the Annual Conference held in the same town, Sisters were to be seen on the platform, addressing the gatherings, supporting resolutions, and were elected to serve on several of the Standing Committees of the brotherhood. Time's revenge, of a truth!

The year 1890 was a busy one for the Evangelist. In the intervals afforded by the several vacations of his Oxford course, Mr. Black was mainly occupied at Leominster, arranging for the General Annual Conference to be held there in August. It was a bold thing for the little Herefordshire Church to undertake to provide for and entertain the two hundred or so of brethren who would assemble, and it is true to say that it was only due to the enthusiasm of Sydney Black that the idea had first been entertained and afterwards so successfully carried out. In July of the same year he is again at South Wigston holding a Ten Days' Tent Mission with great success. Nearly 4000 people from the district round were reached and lasting good realised by many.

With the coming of August the Annual Meeting fully claimed Mr. Black's attention, and after the "hardest three weeks of his life" the Conference was a triumphant success. On this occasion the Churches decided upon a bold and vigorous forward movement, in an endeavour to raise _5000 during the ensuing year, to be expended upon Evangelisation, incited thereto chiefly by the eloquence of Sydney Black, who further urged the wisdom of personal appeal by deputations to the Churches. To this advocacy he devoted the autumn and winter, visiting many towns and delivering in two months no less than sixty-four discourses, urging upon the Churches greater generosity and enterprise in the work of making known the glorious Gospel of the Grace of God. These meetings were productive of great good, and kindled a flame of desire for bold and more aggressive effort. The whole community felt the influence of the impassioned appeals of the young Evangelist, and from Carlisle in the North to Hastings in the South, came promises of financial help with many other tokens of awakened interests. Mention must also be made of a Ten Days' Gospel Mission, undertaken in the month of December of this year in the town of Nottingham, at the request of the United Gospel Mission, the P.S.A. Class, and the Young Men's Christian Association. The meetings held in the Albert Hall and the Circus Street Hall aroused great interest in the town: thousands thronged to hear the Gospel Message presented in what, to most, would be a new and striking manner. New Testament truth was made clear to many with the result that some were constrained to confess their Lord in Believers' Immersion, amongst them a young lady missionary who was leaving in a few days for service in China under the China Inland Mission. Mr. Black's ministry was warmly approved, even by many not in church fellowship with him, for its large views of truth and for the intense earnestness of his appeals for personal consecration. To use the words of the President of the Joint Mission Committee, Mr. Black was commended as "being eminently fitted to tell out the story of the Gospel, to expound Scripture Truth, to win Christian people to seek a further knowledge of God's Word and to devote their hearts and lives to His Service." In all, some 13,000 people were present at the seventeen services.

At Leominster Annual Meeting the opportunity for laying the foundation of the London Mission upon which he had set his heart came to Sydney Black through a conversation he had with a Mr. Illingworth of Melbourne, Australia, who had been deputed to convey the Greetings of the Australian Churches to the Sister Churches of this country. Confiding to Mr. Illingworth his great desire for the establishment of such a work, and at the same time laying before him some of his difficulties as to ways and means, Mr. Black was warmly encouraged to visit Australia, and was assured that he would receive a hearty welcome and the interest and financial support of the Australian Churches in the Mission Scheme. The thought of a world-wide tour amongst the Churches of Christ had for some time been in Mr. Black's mind, and it only needed the suggestion and approval of Mr. Illingworth, to cause him to begin such a tour immediately. He would preach Christ in as many lands as he could; that should be his first business; after that he would plead for the poor, the degraded, the hopeless and forlorn of London. To decide with Sydney Black was to begin, so without any delay all necessary arrangements were made, and on a cold dark morning in February, 1891, he started on his tour round the world.

Continue to Chapter 3