RESIGNATION OP THE VEN. ARCHDEACON THORPE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 146, 12 June 1876, Page 2

RESIGNATION OP THE VEN. ARCHDEACON THORPE.

There: were many Tsacpheart*. " mfAl Saints' Church yesterday when, after morning service, the Ven Archdeacon Thorpe announced in words to the following effect that he was about to resign the Cure of the parish in which he has so faithfully labored for nearly nine years : —

It is my painful duty to inform you that I have resigned to the Bishop the Cure of this Parish, the said resignation to take effect at the end of the year.

My medical advisers join in urging a long rest and change if I would ensure perfect recovery from recent attacks of illness. At present, private causes forbid my leaving home, nor do I think it desirable in the interests of either the Parish or the Diocese to ask for a prolonged leave of absence. . I have therefore come to the conclusion that, all circumstances considered, the clearest course is for me to resign in six months. This should give you ample time to find a clergyman in my room, and also enable me to find a more bracing climate before the summer comes round. Meanwhile, ad I am obliged to do as little as possible, you will be good enonght not to expect much from me. It is only just to myself in consequence of certain remarks about my not visiting so much as in previous years that have from time; to time come to my knowledge, to say that had I followed the medical advice given to me two years ago I should have then taken the course I now propose. But I havc struggled on, partly from knowing that the Diocese could ill spare any one ofthe clergy, and partly, I will confess, from a reluctance to break the many ties of esteem and affection that I have been privileged to form amongst you. I dare not dwell upon the sorrow I feel at the prospect of leaving you, leaving, too, much that I had hoped to do,, undone. It is some comfort however that, notwithstanding the drawbacks the Parish has experienced for some time past, the congregation has again increased, as also the number of communicants; the Sunday Schools are more efficiently worked, and the financial condition of the parish is better than ever it was; while the sobered earnestness of many testifies, I trust, to our efforts as a congregation to be Christians not in name only.

Not one in Nelson bufc will share in the regret ao keenly felt by the congregation of All Saints' Church on the occasion of losing their esteemed pastor. A sincere Christian ; a kindly hearted, high minded gentleman, in the truest and broadest sense of the word ; an earnest preacher,- a man of liberal views ; a hard working parish priest ; a zealous advocate of the cause of education — in all of these capacities he will, indeed, be sadly missed by his parishioners, and in some of them by tbe public afc large. But there is yet; another in which his loss will be still more severely felt. Those who (fco quote from one of the most beautiful prayers in the Church of England service) have been "in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity " hare invariably found in Archdeacon Thorpe a warm hearted sympathiser, a kindly and valued adviser, a genuine friend. What wonder if they look forward to his departure with no ordinary sorrow. "We deeply regret the cause of the Ven Archdeacon's resignation, and we cannot adequately express our sense of the loss that the community at large and the Church of throughout the whole diocese will sustain when he leaves us in- search of better health. That he may be successful in finding it must be the earnest wish of all whose privilege ifc is to be acquainted with him.