Wallin's Ministry in Maze Pond by G Holden Pike

After speaking of Edward Wallin's ministry Pike says

Wallin was succeeded by Abraham West, a young student direct from college, and in his twenty-fourth year. Inexperienced as he was, he contrived to annihilate what remained of the prejudice against singing the praises of God; and he only consented to accept the pastorate on express conditions that psalmody should be introduced. After serving for three years, West prematurely died in March, 1739. He likewise is interred in the burial ground adjoining the chapel.

Benjamin Wallin, a son of the previous minister, next followed. He was born in London, in 1711, and suffered from a lifelong lameness occasioned by an accident during babyhood. His affliction was somewhat lightened by the able treatment of Jonas Thorowgood, a Dissenting minister in Hertfordshire [Thorowgood lived 1688-1753. Wallin preached his funeral sermon at Little Parndon near Harlow in Essex but on the Hertfordshire border, where Thorowgood had been pastor from the age of 29]. In his earlier life, it does not appear that Wallin ever contemplated entering the ministry. He was educated by John Needham, of Hitchin, [Needham lived 1686-1743 and was first assistant 1705 then co-pastor 1709 then pastor 1717 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire as well as being a tutor in mathematics. His son John Needham Jr ministered in Bristol and wrote hymns] and had lessons also from Drs. [Sayer] Rudd and [Samuel] Stennett. [Sayer Rudd d 1757 was set apart to the ministry in 1725 from Maze Pond but went on after several pastorates to train in midwifery and medicine at Leyden before becoming an apparent Unitarian and an Anglican. Samuel Stennett lived 1727-1795, a seventh day Baptist but willing to pastor Sabbatarians, he followed his father to Little Wild Street in 1758 and remained there. he received a DD from Aberdeen in 1763]
Wallin's retiring timorousness prompted a shrinking from public service, and he, therefore, nervously listened to the call from Maze-pond when the people pressed him to accept the pastorate. He anxiously weighed the matter, and finally consented to fill the office, although at that time, he was married and actively engaged in business. He commenced his ministerial life in 1740, when only 29, and sustained a good position for more than 40y years; in the meantime achieving a well-merited reputation for "Methodical, scriptural, and practical preaching." His career was a prosperous and happy experience. To conduce to his people's comfort and progress was Wallin's chief delight; and when, in his last hours, one told him the Church was assembling for prayer on his behalf, the brightening countenance of the pastor revealed his satisfaction. Till laid low by his mortal sickness, he had only slightly suffered from bodily weakness. At his death, in February, 1782, he was laid by the side of his predecessors, in the Society's burial ground. Some fruits of his industry yet survive in 41 separate publications.

Edward Wallin by G Holden Pike

Pike tells us that the second pastor at Maze Pond Church was Wallin's father.

The second pastor, Edward Wallin, whose grave is at the rear of Maze-pond chapel, was born in 1678. On account of a brave adherence to the principles of Nonconformity, the family greatly suffered amid the troubles of the Restoration, and their temporal circumstances were correspondingly injured. His parents were prevented from bestowing upon Edward so liberal an education as they thought desirable. They nevertheless appear to have early designed their son for Christian work, although necessity obliged their keeping the boy for a season in trade. Young Wallin promoted his parents' wishes by persevering against difficulties until he gradually acquired a respectable amount of Biblical and literary knowledge. When only in his twenty-fifth year, he was simultaneously invited to the pastorate by two societies; and notwithstanding the pressure of poverty, he chose to serve the least wealthy. At Maze-pond he maintained a position of usefulness till his death in 1733. Dr. Gill, who preached Wallin's funeral sermon, has unfortunately left us but few particulars about the life of his subject, whose character he extols in a high strain of panegyric.

Maze Pond by G Holden Pike

In his work on The Metropolitan Tabernacle G Holden Pike writes of the origins of the church at Maze Pond where Wallin was to minister.
He says that before the Romans much of what became Southwrk was commonly flooded during high tide. It appears that by raising the river bank from Gravesend to Vauxhall the marshy land was reclaimed.
There was no town in Saxon times but there was a ferry then a nunnery(St Mary Ovarie) and then a monastery and the earliest bridge across the Thames. By the time of William the Conqueror Southwark had become a little town. He burned it and in 1136, a great fire that devastated the City, also destroyed the monks' wooden bridge. Foundations were then laid to form stone arches. Five years after the completion of London Bridge, a fire in Southwark proved fatal to many.
By Elizabeth's time the Borough principally consisted of a long street that gradually extended to Walworthand Kennington, after the Revolution. In the 18th Century St George'sfields were parcelled out for building and Southwark became the place it was by th 9th Century.
In the past it was a haunt of thieves and murderers, who would flee there to escape justice. In 1362 certain powers were extended there from the city.
It became the site of St Thomas' Hospital and six parish churches.
In ancient times there were also five prisons there - the Clink, the Compter, the King's Bench, the White Lion and the Marshalsea. Pike says "The river side abounded with the haunts of social outcasts, who made sin their traffic, and who were the curse of the Capital. Yet after all, one of the roughest features of old Southwark was its Bear-garden, the site of which is now covered by Christchurch parish. In that popular place of amusement were congregated bears and bulls, and dogs of approved ferocity to fight them. Prior to the Reformation these animals supplied the citizens with Sabbath pastime; "Villainy peeps out at the eyes." and a contemporary poet, - with, more feeling than genius, laudably attempted to discourage the practice:—

What folly is this to keep with danger
A great mastive dog and a foule ougly bear?
Every Sunday they will surely spend
One peny or more, the Bearward's living to mend.
If you, therefore it give to see a bear fight,
Be sure God his curse upon you will light.

In the parish of St. Mary Overie there stood a sumptuous mansion, erected in 1107, an heirloom of the See of Winchester. When the prelates discontinued frequenting this residence, its apartments were appropriated by the neighbouring traders for mercantile purposes. Shortly after the Revolution, a large room in this house was used as a meeting-place by a number of enthusiasts styling themselves Baptists; but who were in fact, dissatisfied seceders from surrounding societies. Unfortunately for his great Puritan namesake, one Richard Baxter, a fanatical member of this rude company, published a book with an unquotable title, and many supposed, that the author of The Saints' Everlasting Rest was responsible for the impropriety. An association of ministers who assembled in 1705 disowned this so-called Church at Winchester House; and the Baptists of London were cautioned against giving them countenance, 'Half a century later, however, a congregation assembled in the old room, well worthy of notice, did any memorials survive.
The great monastic foundation called Battle Abbey, which commemorated William the Conqueror's celebrated victory, was one of the richest institutions of the era in which it arose. William endowed it with many valuable privileges. One curious right, inherited by consecutive abbots, was the power to reprieve any malefactor, whom they might chance to encounter, proceeding to execution. As before stated, those ecclesiastical grandees held a residence in Southwark; and an arch of their estate that spanned a branch of the river won the popular name of Battle Bridge. After the mansion had finally disappeared, its site and vicinity were called Maze Pond. The abbots' gardens were laid out in a style of usual magnificence; and Maze is derived from the luxuriant and winding alleys, once abounding in those beautiful pleasure grounds.
The Maze-pond Society owes it origin to a controversy in Keach's Church, awakened by the introduction of psalmody. A certain member, one Isaac Barlow, felt especially aggrieved, and undertook, by means of the press, fiercely to condemn the practice. A Church-meeting being convened, Barlow was found to have half-a-dozen sympathizers, and the party withdrew. It is not probable that Barlow officiated in public after this secession; for the first recognized pastor was Samuel Mee, and only few particulars about him are known. He is supposed to have been one of Keach's members, and was probably a deacon. In the first instance, a chapel was provided in Flower-de-luce-court, Tooley-street; but during the pastorate of Mee's successor the people removed to Maze-pond. Nothing short of sincere conscientiousness could have prompted Mee to adopt the course he followed. His humble adherents were quite unable to support him, and some years after the separation, the London churches made collections on his behalf. He died in 1702, after serving the Society for eleven years.