THE REV. A. R. FITCHETT'S RESIGNATION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 300, 27 December 1878, Page 4

THE REV. A. R. FITCHETT' S RESIGNATION.

The following copy of (he Reverend Mr Fitchett'e letter of resignation has been handed fo ue Pose for publication :— 'Dunedin, Decrmber ]otb, 1878. * My dear Mr Crump — You are no doubt aware that for a long time past I bnve been difeetisfied with (he itinerant, law of thn Church iu its present rigid form. I have, as you know, sought through the Church Courts fo procure some relaxation of its stringency, and, until the recent General Conference, I entertained the hope that tbe three years rule would be modißed. The temper of that Conference, however, was so r'eeidedly adverse to change on tbis point that I feel there is no reasonable hope of relief — at least, for roany years to come. When I saw you a few weeks ago I wes endeavoring to sebool my mind into submission, and to the necessity of accepting a new circuit in April; but as the time for my removal draws nearer, my avertion to the system is intensiGed, and at length I am compelled to admit to myself that I cannot take another circuit. I therefore place rny resignation io your bands. *I am sure you will not do me the injustice of thinking that I maka this communication wiih a light heart. No resolution of my life has cost me so much poin. I should have arrived at my present decision earlier, had I not been restrained by a strong sense of personal attachment to valued friends and fellow-workers, whom I was reluctant to grieve. My conviction of duty, however, is definite aud strong. Ino longer approve,— as at the beginning of my ministry I did,— of Methodist discipline, and cannot, witb a quiet mind, submit to or administer it. — I am, &c, 1 A. R. FITCHETT. ' Rev J. Crump, St. Albau's, ' President Wesleyan Conference.' It is understood tbat Mr Fitcbetthas been offered ordination in the Church of England, aud that he has expressed a willingness t) accept it. All Saints is spoken of as tbe parish to which he will be inducted.