in 1844 he was invited to preach at farnham, where a group of people aligned to no particular denomination met informally for worship in a loft above a building. they asked him to take charge of the cause, and he formed it into a formal church along strict baptist lines. about a year later samuel left and took up a pastorate at hitchin. he went on to write "the triumph of christ on the cross, as god-man over sin and the sinner; to which is prefixed, an account of the early life, conversion, and call to the ministry of the author" in 1857, and was associated for many years with a strict baptist cause at sleaford.