5) The Consecration of St Andrew Church Portslade in 1864

(from The Brighton Herald)

On Tuesday 18th October 1864 the Church was consecrated. The Bishop was received at the door of the Church by the Chancellor of the Diocese, the Registrar, and the Clergy. He at once proceeded to the Communion table, on which the vessels for the Holy Communion had been previously place. The Bishop and Clergy, consisting, the Rev. Archdeacon Otter, the Rev. W. Kelly of Hove, the Rev. Vicar of Portslade, the Rev. Mr Field of Lancing College, &c., walked in procession down the Nave, and then returned, repeating alternately the verses of the 24th Psalm, “The Earth is the Lord’s, &c.,” The Bishop being seated at the Communion table, the Chancellor presented the deed of conveyance of the site of the new edifice, and His Lordship proceeded with the very beautiful service by which the act of consecration is performed.

The usual Morning Service then commenced; the Vicar, who was assisted by the Archdeacon and others, taking the lead. The Psalms, special for the occasion, were the 84th, the 122nd, and the 132nd; the lessons, also special, 1 Kings viii., 22-61, and Hebrews x., 19-25.; the Epistle and Gospel, likewise special, 2 Cor. vi., 14-18, and John ii., 13-17. The service was intoned; the Psalms chanted to Gregorian music. A harmonium was used as an assistant; but it is hoped that the instrument will be replaced ere long by an organ.

The Rev. Mr Field, of Lancing College, preached from Luke xix. 10: “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,” Having described his original work of seeking and saving, the preacher stated that the same work was still being carried on by the ministers of Christ. “As My Father has sent Me, even so I send you.” “As the Father hath sent the Son to have power on earth,” to forgive sin, “even so” with a like object, with like powers, His ministers go forth, with their message of peace and good will, with their commission to bind and loose, to teach, to baptise. It was Christ Himself who worked in His ministers. He was present among those who represented Him among men. Baptism, the Holy Communion, Confession, Absolution, were only so many channels through which it pleased Him to convey His grace to man, the outward and visible signs of that grace which He alone invisibly bestows upon us. Through His ministers, He is still seeking to save that which was lost. A new church was one of the means He employs to that end, and especially was this the case when the church was in a place containing the class to which our Lord devoted His life, the poor of His flock. “To the poor the Gospel was preached,” There was no doubt that this small church was likely, at no distant time, to be the centre of an enlarged population. The 1,100 inhabitants at present around it, and who might be expected to avail themselves of its services had, for the most part, been gathered together during the last five or six years. The population was most rapidly increasing. Surely, then it was of great importance that the Church should occupy such a field of labour.

"The Surrey Standard" reported on the 25th October 1864, "A church at Copperas Gap, which has been recently erected to meet the spiritual wants of almost 100 souls in that neighbourhood, was on Tuesday last Consecrated by the Bishop of the Diocese. The situation of the new church is just above the Britannia Steam Flour Mill, near the Railway. The total cost of the undertaking is stated at £1,541, of which sum about £350 remains to be provided. There is accommodation for about 350 persons: and the seats are all free and un-appropriated. The edifice is of un-ambitious aspect, and in the Early English style. It will at least be put to more practical purpose than its neighbour, Aldrington Church, which is a ruin and a desolation, but nevertheless supplies a "living" of about £400 a year to somebody." 

See http://www.stnicolas.standrewportslade.btinternet.co.uk/standrew_church_history_portslade.htm for further information