Liverpool Liturgy
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The Octagon Chapel, Liverpool, was a nonconformist church in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, England, opened in 1763. It was founded by local congregations, those of Benn's Garden and Kaye Street chapels. The aim was to use a non-sectarian
liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...
;
Thomas Bentley Thomas Bentley may refer to: * Thomas Bentley (director) Thomas Bentley (23 February 1884 – 23 December 1966) was a British film director. He directed 68 films between 1912 and 1941. He directed three films in the early DeForest Phonofilm sou ...
was a major figure in founding the chapel, and had a hand in the liturgy.


Background

The dissenting group in Liverpool in the middle of the eighteenth century was in numerical terms shrinking. Many from congregations had conformed to the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
. A plan for a set liturgy, as a method of reform of dissenting services, was proposed by some
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
ministers in 1750. Despite open opposition by
John Brekell John Brekell (1697–1769) was an English presbyterian Minister (Christianity), minister and theological writer. Life Brekell was born at North Meols, Lancashire, in 1697, and was educated for the ministry at Nottingham, at the dissenting academy ...
from 1758, who by then had been ministering at the Kaye Street Chapel for nearly 30 years, the compilation of a new liturgy went ahead. The Kaye Street Chapel (also Key Street) dated from 1707, and belonged to the Warrington presbyterian '' classis''. The Benn's Garden Chapel in Red Cross Street, Liverpool, dated from 1727 and had been built for the Presbyterian minister
Henry Winder Henry Winder (15 May 1693 – 9 August 1752) was an English nonconformist minister and chronologist. Life The son of Henry Winder (d. 1733), farmer, by a daughter of Adam Bird of Penruddock, he was born at Hutton John, parish of Greystoke, Cum ...
. In 1763 its minister John Henderson became a conforming Anglican; at that point
William Enfield William Enfield (29 March 1741 – 3 November 1797) was a British Unitarian minister who published a bestselling book on elocution entitled ''The Speaker'' (1774). Life Enfield was born in Sudbury, Suffolk to William and Ann Enfield. In 1758, h ...
became sole minister there to a congregation with many local merchants. While Brekell was a conservative Presbyterian, and Enfield's theology was Unitarian, the ministers of the two chapels from which the Octagon congregation had broken away then worked together on an alternative work, ''A New Collection of Psalms Proper for Christian Worship'' (1764). A listing of the non-Anglican places of worship in Liverpool in 1775 mentions, besides the two Presbyterian chapels and the Octagon: a Methodist chapel; two Baptist meeting-places; a Quaker meeting-house; a Catholic chapel and a synagogue, both small. The population was around 35,000.


Design and history of the chapel

As the name suggests, the building had eight sides, like the
Octagon Chapel, Norwich The Octagon Chapel is a Unitarianism, Unitarian Chapel located in Colegate in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The congregation is a member of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. History The chapel is a grade II* listed bu ...
(1756,
Thomas Ivory Thomas Ivory (1709–1779) was an English builder and architect, active in Norwich. Life Ivory was born in 1709. His early years and education remain obscure. His earliest recorded large commission was in his capacity as a builder and timber m ...
). The chapel was to a design by Joseph Finney, and was built in Temple Court. Nicholas Clayton, of Unitarian views, accepted an invitation to become the first minister there; the appointment was joint with Hezekiah Kirkpatrick. The congregation were nicknamed the Octagonians.. but the chapel's existence depended very much on Bentley, who eventually moved to London. The experimental liturgy did not gain the anticipated support, from those in the founding congregations who did not want to use the ''
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...
''. The chapel was sold in 1776, to a clergyman, Rev. Plumbe, Rector of Aughton; and became an Anglican church, St Catherine's. The Anglican incumbents were: Rev. John Plumbe; Rev. Wilmot; Rev. Brownlow Forde; and jointly RK Milner and Thomas Bold. The building was demolished in 1820, the
Corporation of Liverpool Liverpool City Council is the local authority for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. Liverpool has had a local authority since 1207, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 the council has been a metropolitan boroug ...
having bought it; and a Fire Police Station was built on the site. Clayton moved from 1776 to share the ministry at Benn's Garden Chapel with Robert Lewin (1739–1825), of
Arian Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered he ...
views, until 1781. In later years Lewin's congregation there was considered Unitarian, and included William Rathbone and
William Roscoe William Roscoe (8 March 175330 June 1831) was an English banker, lawyer, and briefly a Member of Parliament. He is best known as one of England's first abolitionists, and as the author of the poem for children '' The Butterfly's Ball, and th ...
. This congregation moved in time to Renshaw Street Unitarian Chapel, the Benn's Garden chapel being sold to
Wesleyan Methodist The Wesleyan Church is a Methodist Christian denomination aligned with the holiness movement. Wesleyan Church may also refer to: * Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia, the Australian branch of the Wesleyan Church Denominations * Allegheny We ...
s. The contemporary Ullet Road Unitarian Church identifies its history as going back to Winder's congregation. In 1786 Kirkpatrick became the minister of Park Lane Chapel, Bryn, near
Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
.


The Liverpool Liturgy

The liturgy of the Octagon Chapel became known as the Liverpool Liturgy. It was written by Philip Holland and Richard Godwin, and was published in 1763, as edited by
John Seddon John Seddon is a United Kingdom, British occupational psychologist and author specializing in organizational change within the service industry. He is the founder and managing director of Vanguard, a Consulting firm, consultancy firm establishe ...
. Among the hymns chosen was one by Elizabeth Scott, later arranged by John Broderip. The Octagonian psalms, at least, became known to
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
. Although it was adopted by a prominent minister, David Williams, for his congregation at
Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
, the liturgy proved controversial and even divisive. Seddon and Holland were founders of the nearby
Warrington Academy Warrington Academy, active as a teaching establishment from 1756 to 1782, was a prominent dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by those who dissented from the established Church of England. It was located in Warrington (then ...
:
John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar is the name of: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 * John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) ...
, who was a tutor there, opposed the liturgy from before the time of its publication.. Seddon and Taylor had in fact a profound disagreement on the suitability of the philosophy of Francis Hutcheson for the teaching at the academy;Geoffrey Thackray Eddy, ''Dr Taylor of Norwich: Wesley's Arch-Heretic'' (2003), pp. 134–5. while the liturgy was Hutchesonian in intent. While Bentley in 1762 had found the proposed liturgy "very chaste and yet animated", the basic idea, as well as that of the chapel, was contentious. Seddon himself backed away from becoming the chapel's minister, preferring extemporary prayer to a formal service. The arguments that Anglicans of broad views would prefer a liturgy, and that it would curb the tendency to free-thinking in nonconformists, remained on a theoretical level, and were apparently contradicted by
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
success at the time.
Job Orton Job Orton (4 September 1717 – 1783) was an English dissenting minister. Life He was born at Shrewsbury, Shropshire. He entered the academy of Dr Philip Doddridge at Northampton, became minister of a congregation formed by a fusion of Presbyte ...
, who supported Taylor's position, went as far as to say that the liturgy had damaged the reputation of Warrington Academy. In the longer term, the creedless and liberal liturgy of the Octagon Chapel formed a starting point for the beliefs and writings of Anna Aikin (later
Anna Barbauld Anna Laetitia Barbauld (, by herself possibly , as in French, Aikin; 20 June 1743 – 9 March 1825) was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and author of children's literature. A prominent member of the Blue Stockings ...
) who was brought up at Warrington Academy, her father
John Aikin John Aikin (15 January 1747 – 7 December 1822) was an English medical doctor and surgeon. Later in life he devoted himself wholly to biography and writing in periodicals. Life He was born at Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, England, son of ...
being a tutor there and on Seddon's side of the debate. The liturgy was however condemned by others, following Orton's verdict: "It is scarcely a Christian Liturgy; in the Collects the name of Christ is hardly mentioned, and the Spirit is quite banished from it"; and elsewhere "Grieved I am, and very much so, to see such an almost deistical composition", an opinion followed in Charles Buck's ''Theological Dictionary'' (c.1820).''Buck's Theological Dictionary'' online.
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See also

Other Unitarian churches in Liverpool include: * Hope Street Unitarian Chapel * Renshaw Street Unitarian Chapel *
Toxteth Unitarian Chapel Toxteth Unitarian Chapel is in Park Road, Dingle, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. Since the 1830s it has been known as The Ancient Chapel of Toxteth. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed bu ...
* Ullet Road Unitarian Church Other eight-sided Unitarian churches include: *
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia The First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia is a Unitarian Universalist congregation located at 2125 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a regional Community Center it sponsors cultural, educational, civic, wellness and spiritua ...


Bibliography

* . * .


References


External links


Open Plaques page''Arise and Hail the Happy Day'', 1763 hymn from the liturgy, 1792 arrangement (PDF)''Pews for auction, 1767''
{{Use British English, date=December 2024 Churches in Liverpool Unitarian chapels in England Octagonal churches in the United Kingdom Octagonal buildings in the United Kingdom Demolished buildings and structures in Liverpool Buildings and structures demolished in 1820