Encouraging years of labour followed, and in 1860 additions to the Church reached their highest point up to that time,—a proof of the Divine blessing on what had been done and determined; and it was regarded as a cause for special gratitude and thanksgiving. The new chapel was thoroughly repaired and embellished in 1863, at a cost of about £600. Of this amount the sum of £400 was subscribed beforehand, and the rest was obtained by collections on the last Sunday of January, 1864. In the spring of 1865 the Church, long aware of their pastor’s wish to visit the Holy Land, most generously came forward to gratify him in this respect, and opened a subscription which amounted, almost immediately, to the sum of £400, which was placed at his disposal to defray the expenses of the journey. A public meeting followed, when the money, enclosed within a tastefully devised oriental-like purse, mounted in gold, was presented, with an intimation that, during the absence of about four months, the friends would undertake to pay supplies. Before his departure he delivered two sermons on the first Sunday in February, and on the 7th of the month started with Dr. Allon, Dr. Spence, the Rev. John Bright, of Dorking, and Mr. Stanley Kemp Welch, on the much talked of trip. {88} It proved successful and gratifying, except that a serious illness befel Dr. Spence during his journey, and that the Kensington pastor returned as yellow as an old Indian, much to the dismay of his flock when they lovingly welcomed him back to the pulpit. The temporary attack of jaundice, however, proved not at all injurious, as after his recovery from it his health was if anything better than before. Certainly the journey gave him an interest in Palestine, and in the Scriptures relating to it, greater than ever, and furnished ample materials for lectures to the congregation. The year after his return from the Holy Land he expressed a wish, not only for his own sake, but the better to meet spiritual wants in the Church and the surrounding district, that an assistant should be provided; and this matter came before the Church in February, 1866, when the following resolution was passed: “That this meeting desires to express its cordial concurrence in the deacons’ proposal for the appointment of an assistant to the minister, to be selected by him, and to be sustained, as an experiment for one year, by a special fund.” In pursuance of this resolution the Rev. Alden Davies became assistant minister, and proved so useful in visitation, superintendence of classes, and preaching on Sunday afternoons, and other occasions, that his services were prolonged for three years, greatly to the comfort of his senior colleague, and the satisfaction of his numerous friends.