FAYRES V. SERMONS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3539, 11 November 1882, Page 2

FAYRES V. SERMONS.

[To the Editor of the Daily Teleqbaph.] Sir,—The Rev. R. Bavin will preach tomorrow morning and evening at Trinity Church, Clive Square, in aid of the Home Mission Fund of (he Wesleyan Church. I fancy Mr Bavin has come to the wrong place for the assistance be seeks. The Wesleyans here have lately had to hold a Fair in a Theatre, with Punch and Judy, Peep Shows, May-pole dances, and the like, to pay oft the debt of their church, and it would be most absurdly inconsistent if they now were to put their hands in their pockets for the Home Mission Fund. The local Wesleyans could have paid off the debt of their church if tbey had chosen to open their own purses, but they knew better than that while aa ungodly outside public could be turned to account. Let the Wesleyans at homo follow that most Wesleyan course which was pursued here, and get money by teaching their little children to dance in a Theatre round a May-pole, and by allowing tbeir half-grown daughters to appear in fancy dresses and short petticoats. Mr Bavin must think the Wesleyans of Napier very green if he fancies that a mere sermon will draw money out

of tbeir pockets. No, Sir. As one of the Wesleyan committee very properly said in a letter to you, " The times have changed, and if John Wesley bad lived in these days he would have approved of Ye Old Englyshe Fayre." Those may not be quite the words, but they convey the meaning.—l am, &c,

Out of Date,

November 11, 1882,