TRINITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH CAMBRIDGE.

Waikato Argus, Volume VI, Issue 450, 20 June 1899, Page 4

TRINITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH CAMBRIDGE.

♦ The following pastoral letter was read ! at the above church on Sunday morning : Tauranga, 12th June, 1899.—T0 the members and adherents of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Cambridge.—My dear friends,—The Presbytery of Auckland, by accepting my resignation, has now severed the pastoral tie which bound me to you, and I send a word of farewell. There is no need to dwell at length on my reasons for resigning; they have been stated to you already. They appeared, and still appear, to me good aud sufficient reasons, and I am grateful to you as well as to the Presbytery for the consideration shown in receiving them. It is with no light heart that I thus say good bye to you. The usual regrets of a minister in parting with his congregation are deepened in my case by the fact that I lay down the work among you, not to take it up elsewhere, but to enter upon a period of enforced idleness —or at least tunporary retirement from the service which I have chosen as my life-task. It was indeed only after long thought, and from a strong sense of duty that I made up my mind to resign. There wero many inducements to me to struggle on in Cambridge, even with broken health. A congenial sphere of work ; an attached congregation (for it would be affectation in me to overlook the proofs of attachment which you have given) ; a new church with its added responsibilities and opportunities; a number of personal friendships (not, however, to be broken, I hope, by this parting); above all a measure of God's blessing—all these things strongly inclined me to remain. But when 1 looked to the future welfare of the congregation, aud even to my own prospects of future usefulness in the Master's service, duty clearly pointed the other way, and I decided accordingly. It is scarcely for me to speak of progress made by the congregation during my brief ministry. Some progress, I think, has been made ; ' some good has been done ; there is reason to believe that my ministry among you has not been altogether in vain. And for that our united thanks are due to the Great Head of the Church, who can use even the weakest instrument. _ But let me confess, in no morbid spirit, that personally at this time I am much more conscious if failure than of success. In particular the pastoral visitation has not, except at rare intervals, been conducted so systematically and thoroughly as such a, charge demands ; and I have failed tc a great extent where I hoped most to succeed—among the young, especially the young men. The state of my health in part no doubt explains such failures, and 1 hope soon to hear of these and the other departments of ministerial work being carried on among you with full vigour and efficiency by a new paßtor. It is my earnest conviction that with the blessing of God there are much brighter days in store for the congregation—days both of gathering in and building up. And it is my prayer that a man may be sent to you fully furnished for the work. Meanwhile much depends on how you bear yourselves during the vacancy. Only let there be loyalty to The Master and the cause, the singlehearted, unselfish, prayerful desire for the good of the congregation, the frank and friendly statement of differences of opinion if any such arise, and you need have little fear of those troubles which have destroyed many a vacant charge and dishonoured Christ. In parting I have to thank you for your unvarying kindness to me and mine, and for the way in which you have borne with me in times of weakness. Just at the last you have laid me under a new debt of gratitude by the very substantial parting gift of which I have received notice to«day. In itself it is highly acceptable to me in my present circumstances. But I value it still more as a token of the cordial relations which have been maintained between us, people and minister, from first to last. My only fear is that it may have put an undue strain upon the congregation, already so heavily burdened. From the heart I thank you. And now I commend you to the Great Shepherd of the sheep, who is "the same yesterday, today, and for ever," though the under shepherds come and go. May you experience His watchful love and care, may you rejoice in His leading now and always—And so farewell, ever faithfully yours, Thomas Scott. [The latter portion of the letter refers to a farewell gift that was forwarded to Mr Scott by the members of the church, shortly after h : s departure, which consisted of a purse of about £4o].