While he was at Deptford, a party of the students went one evening to bathe, when Mr., afterwards Dr. Thomas Gibbons, going beyond his depth, was in danger of drowning. No one present could swim except Mr. King, who at the moment was standing at the water side at a short distance. On hearing the cries of the other students he hurried to the spot, plunged into the water, caught Mr. Gibbons by the hair when in the act of sinking, and thus rescued him from a watery grave, as animation was suspended, and was with considerable difficulty restored. Dr. Gibbons ever after retained a most affectionate attachment to Mr. King, and after he was settled at Welford paid him several visits and preached for him, and always recurred to this providential deliverance with grateful recollections. The congregation at Welford, when Mr. King became its pastor, was considered to be large and respectable, hearers attending on the Sabbath from fourteen villages around. In connexion with this circumstance it may be mentioned, that in some of those villages there are now stated congregations, either of the Independent or Baptist denomination, with pastors placed over them, while the congregation at Welford is as large as ever; which shows a considerable increase in the number of Dissenters in those parts in the course of the last century. Mr. King was very diligent and laborious in the work to which he had become devoted, preaching several nights in the week in the villages around, beside the constant services of the Sabbath. His ministry was rendered eminently useful, so that the Church doubled its numbers in the early years of his pastorate.