Halifax Chapel Nottingham - Bramwell (1798-1801)



'This visit was a happy one indeed. For himself, he found a greeting of a most rapturous and flattering description, and for his circuit he reaped the contributions of the Sheffield friends to an unexpected amount. The chapel was soon completed: the lost building was replaced by one equally as large and here, from Sunday to Sunday, Mr. Bramwell and his colleagues had the satisfaction of preaching to a crowded and attentive congregation. Here, too, as in other places of worship within the circuit, many a spiritual victory was achieved — many a poor sinner liberated from the iron yoke and galling slavery of sin. The days came in which "glorious displays of the Lord's omnipotence and of his willingness to save perishing sinners" were witnessed by hundreds. "At several of our meetings," says Mr Tatham, "the outpouring of the Spirit was so manifest that the whole assembly was powerfully wrought upon. It seemed as if the Lord was about to ' sweep the nations, and shake the earth till all proclaimed him God.' " — ' Souls are saved here almost every day,' Mr. Bramwell writes, 'but we still look for a greater shower.' And subsequently — 'the work goes on; some blessed showers have fallen in Nottingham. The effusion of the Spirit is great and powerful.' And so much indeed did the work progress, that the new chapel was found too strait for its increasing congregation: many applicants were unable to obtain admission; and though it was soon enlarged, the added space was almost immediately occupied. Multitudes of all classes, who had been previously indifferent to the claims of religion, now gave it their serious attention. Many Deists abandoned their errors and entered the church. The societies were extending and improving on every hand. Mr Bramwell was happy in the discharge of his exciting, but arduous duties as the promoter of this auspicious reformation. There was no pause in his labours. To live a useless life, was the fate he dreaded and deprecated above all others. Early and late he was at work: almost every moment he was to be found practising some portion of his duties, whether obligatory or self-imposed: — now fasting, watching, meditating, praying in private; then visiting, exhorting, comforting, in families; and again, pleading or preaching in public.'

From, ‘Memoir of the life and ministry of William Bramwell by William Bramwell and his family, published in 1848, p61.

tp://www.archive.org/details/memoiroflifemini00bram

Additional Information

The church was built after the newly formed New Connexion pushed out the Wesleyans from their church in 1797. After their eviction they met in a room in Heathhcote Street, and sometimes in the original Methodist Chapel, called the Octagon.

Bramwell was appointed here soon after the division and remained until 1801. The number of Society members doubled while he was there.

I am not sure on which side of the street the church was.


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