TRINITY WESLEYAN CHURCH.

Waikato Argus, Volume II, Issue 113, 30 March 1897, Page 2

TRINITY WESLEYAN CHURCH.

Trinity Wesleyau Church, Hamilton, was filled to overflowing on Sunday night, when the Rev. Mr Mather preached his tarewell sermon, taking for his text St. Luke, xv last clause of the 14th verse: "And he began to ba in want" The discourse, which was listened to with rapt attention, wa3 an eloquent one, lint had no special bearing upon his approaching departure from amongst us. Just before the conclusion of the service, however, the rev. gentleman said he well remembered the first sermon he had preached in Hamilton, it was a similar one to the last sermon he had delivered in his old circuit. It was based on the3e words : " And I, if I be lifted up will draw ail men unto me." He know of no grander subject, and if he had stayed here for 30 years instead of three it would have been utterly impossible for him to have preached upon a more glorious theme. During the three years he had laboured amongst them he had tiied to teach cf His universal salvation. He thanked the congregation for the kindness they had shown towards him and his. He had experienced a great deal of kindness, and the Waikato would always occupy a warm corner in his heart. Notwithstanding all lis peculiarities and his fads ou one tiling or another, there was not a man in Waikato who had ever been discourteous to him. He had not gained the' approbation of all men hecause he had not tried to do so, he had not tried to please any man in the circuit, he had realised that they were brethren. He had tried to please God and worked for righteousness, and if he had failed, he had failed in the grandest caucc of all, and he thanked them for the support they had accorded him. He had presided over eleven quarterly meetings in this circuit, aud they had been amongst the most harmonious he had attended in his life. He felt grateful to the office bearers and local preachers for the help they had afforded him, but was sorry some people did not appreciate local preachers, but those who came to church would be blest no matter who had the misfortune to occupy the pulpic. There was a tendency on the part of some people to forget that Jesus Christ was a liy preacher—an itinerant preacher, who went about preaching the gospel to all men. 5-Je hoped that some day he might return again to his Waikato friends, but whether or no he would always remember with heartfelt pleasure the years he had spent amongst them.