When the twenty-eighth year of the existing pastorate arrived, the pastor, having reached the sixty-fourth year of his age, expressed to the Church an idea which he had cherished through his whole ministerial life. The first few years after his ordination he spent as a junior co-pastor, and his desire was, should he reach old age, that the last few years should be spent in service as a senior co-pastor. He thought at his age it was time to contemplate such an arrangement. This, with various considerations supporting his opinion, he submitted to his people, entreating them to remember the subject in private prayer. In the month of April, 1871, the Church resolved “that the time had arrived when provision should be made for supplementing the minister’s services by the appointment of a co-pastor.” The Rev. Chas. S. Slater, of Nottingham, having preached at Kensington with much acceptance, the Church, in the month of March, 1872, sent him a cordial and unanimous invitation to become co-pastor; but he stated that he felt obliged to decline it, whilst acknowledging the receipt of it in highly becoming terms. The obligation arose from the circumstance that his people at Nottingham were engaged in the building of schools, an enterprise to the completion of which he stood pledged, and therefore he could not leave in the midst of the undertaking. Disappointed in this attempt, and discouraged by further inquiries, the pastor informed the Church that “as difficulties in securing a co-pastor were found to be so great, it had been thought desirable for the present to seek the services of an assistant minister, and that the pastor would in the meantime avail himself of student’s help on Sunday evenings.” The plan of occasional help on Sunday evenings did not prove a success. The evening congregation declined, and the need of more pastoral work being done became increasingly visible. Hence in October, 1872, at a special meeting of the Church, the pastor expressed the feeling he had, that under existing circumstances it would be most advantageous for the spiritual interests of the people that the ground should be cleared for an efficient successor, who could undertake the whole duty, and so render the plan of assistanceship needless. This communication, received in the kindest manner, evoked the expression of a desire for a continuance of the existing pastorate as long as possible. Numerous consultations and interchanges of opinion followed, all carried on in a most harmonious manner; the sequel was, the pastor yielded to affectionate solicitations, and for the present deferred his resignation.