The rising tide of the Church at Kensington did not ebb when the Exhibition was over; and owing to this, in the year 1854, the friends found it necessary to consider whether they ought not to build a new and much larger place of worship for themselves and their neighbours. Promised subscriptions speedily opened the way to the execution of this enterprise; and in June, 1854, the pastor laid the first stone of the chapel in Allen Street. The chapel was opened in May, 1855, when the Rev. Thomas Binney preached in the morning, and the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel in the evening. On the following Sunday the opening services were continued, Dr. John Harris preaching in the morning, and the pastor in the evening. The Rev. William Brock closed the series on the following Tuesday evening. The entire cost, including purchase of the land, was £8,748 9_s._ 6_d._, and the whole was paid for on the last Sunday in January, 1860, when public collections reached the amount of £365 10_s._ 2_d._,—being seven shillings more than was required. In the autumn of 1856 the Church lost one of its most active deacons. Mr. Padgett (brother-in-law of the pastor), who had been formerly a deacon at Trevor Chapel, Brompton, died suddenly whilst travelling in Switzerland, and it became the pastor’s painful duty to preach the funeral sermon, just after his own return from a continental tour. The text selected was Amos v. 8: “Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and, maketh the day dark with night.” A season of great anxiety occurred in the month of January, 1857, when the pastor received an invitation from New College to become Principal of that institution, upon the death of the lamented Dr. Harris. The intimate connection between the pastor and that college—he having taken an active part in the foundation of it, and having declined one of the professorships offered at that time—made him particularly anxious to ascertain the path of duty at this crisis. He informed the deacons of what had occurred, and sought their advice. He wished to decide, not according to any preconceived plan, but as it might appear on a comparison of claims, arising from the college on the one hand, and the Church on the other. The deacons returned the following answer:— “Having this evening met to consider the important communication which you submitted to us last Tuesday, in reference to the invitation given to you to succeed the late Dr. Harris as Principal of New College, we have prayerfully, and with thoughtful earnestness, endeavoured to view the matter in all its bearings, and we thank you for the confidence implied in the fact of your having referred the matter to us.