Revival in Rose Street

Sidlow Baxter came to a lively, expectant church, with well-attended Sunday services, 33 active auxiliaries and many overseas missionary links. His 18 years in Edinburgh divide into: (1) the four years from his induction in October 1935 to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939; (2) the six war years; and (3) his eight years of post-war ministry.

During the first period, life in Charlotte Chapel continued much as it had during the pastorate of Graham Scroggie. The auxiliaries grew in strength and in effectiveness, the Sunday services filled the building to overflowing, membership rose to its highest ever at 1,123, missionary support increased and the Thursday Bible School flourished. This chapter focuses on developments during Sidlow Baxter’s first four years.

Pulpit ministry

As a preacher, Sidlow Baxter was expository and warmly evangelistic, with a popular appeal. At his first anniversary, he publicly thanked God that there had not been one Sunday in the previous 12 months without some conversions at or after the services. Published sermons rarely do justice to the preacher, but the following transcript from a tape may, if one imagines his slow diction and his broad Lancastrian accent, give the flavour of a typical Scripture reading at the beginning of a Sunday service. The words in italics are the biblical text:

‘The Epistle of Paul the apostle to the Ephesians, chapter 1 and verse 4.

‘I think I’ll wait until you find it — there’s heavenly music to my ears in the rustle of those Bible pages.

‘Well now, here it is. Ephesians, chapter 1 and verse 4. “According as he (that is God) hath chosen (or elected) us (that is Christian believers) in him (that is in Christ) from before the foundation of the world (with this tremendous objective in view) that we should be holy and without blame before him (not just before men; that is where, long ago, the originally well-meaning but latterly hypocritical Pharisees went tragically wrong; they wanted a demonstrative sanctity, merely before men) that we should be holy and without blame before him (God), in love.”

‘Now, don’t you agree, is not that an expressively tremendous statement of truth, and before I dare to make my first reverent comment upon it, let me slowly read it once again?’

The adjective most often applied to Graham Scroggie’s pulpit ministry was ‘dignified’; the corresponding description of Sidlow Baxter was ‘charming’. It took the congregation a little time to adjust to the more relaxed and genial style of their new pastor; as mentioned earlier, Graham Scroggie had a great sense of humour, but would not use it in the pulpit. Sidlow Baxter introduced one Sunday sermon with the words: ‘My dear friends, this morning I am going to preach about three seconds’ — pause for reaction, which was incredulity and curiosity, as expected — ‘the Second Birth, the Second Blessing and the Second Coming.’ Although he invariably preached in a three-quarter-length frock coat and clerical collar, his natural charm came through; he had a fresh and warm popular appeal. When all the pews were filled, the boys in the congregation were asked to give up their seats and to squat on the pulpit steps or even in the pulpit itself. Many men, now long past retiring age, still speak fondly of evenings when they perched precariously at the preacher’s feet.

However, the practice was reviewed after an incident in the summer of 1939. A group of boys, unconnected with any church, had arrived in good time; they were embarrassed at the request to move out of their seats and to sit in full gaze of the congregation on the pulpit steps. One of them walked out and was never seen again.

Communion table

The beautifully carved oak communion table, on which a Bible is placed and illuminated throughout Chapel services to this day (except at communion services), is the Chapel’s memorial to Joseph Kemp. It was dedicated during the morning service on Sunday May 3 1936, and unveiled by Mrs Kemp. Sidlow Baxter explained:

‘A Communion Table is primarily, and indeed supremely, “the Lord’s table” — looking back to Calvary’s never-to-be-forgotten altar of sacrifice, and looking on to the Lord’s Second Coming in glory. Yet while we are quick to recognise that this table is peculiarly and supremely “the Lord’s table”, we are not conscious of the slightest incongruity in unveiling it as a monument, also, to memorialise the beloved former pastor of Charlotte Chapel, the Rev. Joseph W. Kemp, and his great ministry in this place.’

Six elders joined Sidlow Baxter on the platform, to serve communion. All who remember those days speak of their immaculate dress for this solemn occasion — some in morning coats and the others in striped trousers and a black jacket. The latter were still de rigueur when the writer became an elder in 1965, but shortly after Derek Prime took up the pastorate in 1969, they were made optional; an elder in formal dress, now, would look distinctly out of place. Lounge suits were usual until the early 2000s, but there was no adverse comment when, in June 2006, an elder gave thanks for the bread in an open-neck, short-sleeve cream shirt, and another elder gave thanks for the wine in a green t-shirt, neither with jacket.

However, not everyone is tolerant of informal clothing. Peter Grainger told a story against himself after a holiday in Florida in 1993, the first summer after his induction into the Chapel. The deacon on duty at a church there asked the visitor where he was from, and Peter Grainger replied: ‘from Scotland — Edinburgh — Charlotte Chapel’. The deacon replied that he knew about Charlotte Chapel, and the ministries of Graham Scroggie, Sidlow Baxter and Gerald Griffiths, and asked: ‘Who is the minister now?’ Peter Grainger replied: ‘I am’. The deacon looked at the pink holiday shorts and t-shirt and said: ‘I don’t believe you’.

Sunday School anniversaries

Until 1937, the Sunday School anniversary was held on a Sunday afternoon in June, for the children only. Sidlow Baxter introduced the practice of using the two normal Sunday services, once a year, to focus on the work of the Sunday School; this was common in Free Churches in England, but unknown in Scotland. The choir stalls and surrounding pews were taken over by excited youngsters; Sidlow Baxter always turned round, after the benediction, and told them how well they had sung, for which they adored him.

Dedication of infants

The dedication of infants (more correctly, the dedication of the parents and the church to the upbringing of children) was encouraged in the Chapel, although most ceremonies still took place in the home of the parents. The elders did not share the enthusiasm of some members, after Graham Scroggie incorporated a dedication into a Sunday morning service in 1933; all dedications during the vacancy took place in homes, and Sidlow Baxter maintained this practice until May 1936. Then:

‘Dedicated to the Lord. — At the close of the morning service on Sunday, May 31st [1936], two of our younger members, Mr. and Mrs. David Murray, brought their little son, Derek Boyd Murray, and in the presence of the members dedicated him to the Lord. God richly bless their little son!’

That wish was abundantly answered. Derek had three fine pastorates, in Paisley, Kirkcaldy and Dublin Street, Edinburgh, lectured for five years at the Scottish Baptist College (as it is now called), was chaplain to St. Columba’s Hospice, Edinburgh, and, on retiring, spent time teaching in India.

Public dedications were a Murray initiative, and there was not another one in the Chapel until Derek’s half-sister, Irene, was born 14 years later, in March 1950. Sidlow Baxter was on a world tour and would not be back until November; Graham Scroggie was providing pulpit supply in May. David Murray asked Dr. Scroggie to conduct a service in the vestry, but he responded: ‘A Dedication Service should either take place in the church or in the home’. Mr. Murray preferred the former, ‘but he was aware that it had not lately been Mr. Baxter’s practice and he desired the ruling of the elders’. They had no objection, provided it was not seen as a precedent to bind Sidlow Baxter on his return.

Many members liked it, and several other dedications followed this pattern while Sidlow Baxter was still away. He took heed of the trend, and twice in April 1951 he dedicated children ‘at the close of the Sunday morning service … in the presence of the Lord’s own people’. From then on, parental choice determined the location; Sidlow Baxter would go to a home, or bring the family into the church at the close of the morning service or receive them in the vestry, as they wished.

Music and choir

Sidlow Baxter’s musical talent found outlets in various ways. He frequently played the piano at the Monday prayer meeting, the Thursday Bible School and other weeknight meetings. He took these opportunities to teach the members new hymns (many written by himself) or new tunes for familiar words. When he came, the choir was 50-strong, and for three decades it had been an outstanding feature of the church’s worship and evangelistic work. Sidlow Baxter built on this, and asked that after the benediction on Sunday evening, the choir should always sing an evangelistic piece, so that the congregation dispersed with the gospel ringing in their ears.

This extract is taken from Revival in Rose Street: Charlotte Baptist Chapel, Edinburgh, 1808-2008 by Ian L.S. Balfour. The book is available at a subsidised price of £10.00 from the Charlotte Chapel bookstall, 204 Rose Street, Edinburgh EH2 4AX (tel. 0131 225 4812). Details of p&p from the website: http://www.charlottechapel.org.

Charlotte Baptist Chapel, Edinburgh, 1808-2008

Pulpit ministry

Communion table

Sunday School anniversaries

Dedication of infants

Music and choir

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