REV. T. SPURGEON’S FAREWELL.

Evening Star, Issue 8810, 27 April 1892, Page 4

REV. T. SPURGEON’S FAREWELL.

The Hanover street Baptist Church was crowded to the door last night, when a public meeting was held to bid farewell to the Ror, T. Spurgeon, The Chairman (Rev. A, North) stated that the purpose of the meeting was to bid farewell to the Rev. T. Spurgeon, who was about to leave for Great Britain to take up for some time the work of his late father. They loved Mr Spurgeon for hia father’s sake; they loved him for his own sake. Among tho objects which were held in view when the Baptist Union was established was the undertaking of evangelistic work. No evangelist presented himself for the first few years, but in the order of God’s providence Mr Spurgeon severed his connection with the church in Auckland where he ministered for many years with gresA fidelity and with great success. He came to Dunedin, where the Union was sitting, in entire uncertainty as to the future. It fell out, the speaker believed under the guidance of God directly, that tho brethren meeting in Dunedin at that time, representative of the Baptist churches of the colony, called Mr Spurgeon to the work of an evangelist; and among the many announcements which he (Mr North) had from time to time made from that platform not one had been made which bad given so much pleasure to himself, or which had been received with such enthusiastic applause as the announcement which he was able to make on the 10th December, 1889, that Mr Spurgeon had accepted the call of the Union, and henceforth would bo the Union evangelist. Mr Spurgeon did not enter into active work till the following June, when he commenced at Invercargill, and he had wrought in every church in both islands, with only one exception, and his work had been effective to the conversion of sinners and to the stirring up of the churches to increased zeal and activity in the cause of the Lord Jesus, It would have been an easy thing to gather together on the platform that evening a large number of representatives of the other churches to testify to their regard for Mr Spurgeon, and their appreciation of the sort of work he had been doing. They felt, however, that this was a somewhat domestic occasion, and that the fittest thing would be that those who had come directly into contact with Mr Spurgeon in his work—representatives of the churches which had been blessed by his services—should have an opportunity of wishing him God speed, and so it was that they had arranged the meeting in such a fashion that only representatives of the Baptist churches in this district were present. In concluding, the chairman read a telegram from the secretary of the Baptist Union expressing the loving interest of the churches in the mission to which Mr Spurgeon had been summoned, and their best wishes for a pleasant journey. Mr Fawcett moved—“ That we hereby assure Mr Spurgeon of our very hearty affection for him, and the honor in which we hold him, and of our thankful appreciation of the large measure of success attendant upon his labors as an evangelist of the Baptist Union, also of our hope and prayer that he and hia may be safely kept in their journeyings, and that he may return to his work aa the union evangelist in our colony.”

The Rav. J. T. Hinton seconded the motion, which was supported by Messrs Feltiiam (Mosgiel), Ings, and Simon, and carried by acclamation.

The Rev. T. Spurgeon, who was received with prolonged applause, said that the meeting had been so full of praise of himself and so full of thanks—for the moat part undeserved, as he must judge—that he confessed he was a little frightened.—(Laughter.) He did not think that even on that occasion he could speak on such a theme as himself if it were not for the hope that had arisen with a certainty that the meeting would leave on the minds of those present the impression that God did order the way of those who put their trust in Him, He did believe that all those steps that made history in a man’s life, that were hinges, so to speak, on which so much turned, had in bis case been distinctly ordered by God. He briefly traced his career in the colonies, and said that the call which had now been made to him appalled him, well nigh overwhelmed him—the call to go homo, not to see his father’s face, but to see his cold clay ; not to his mother’s beaming eye, but to her widowed heart. It was with no small amount of trepidation that he answered to the call, nevertheless he thought he dared not bo disobedient to this heavenly vision, because he knew it to be God’s call. He confessed he was very much surprised at it, and ho was afraid the friends at Home had made a very groat mistake. He could not help thinking it was their good-hearted-ness more than anything else that had induced them to invite him and to send him that kind message under the seas that he might be Home, lest indeed he should hear that his dear mother was gone before he got a sight of her. The deacons at Homo knew, too, that his one desire was to win souls for Christ, and that had prompted them to make this request. He asked those present to always remember him in their prayers, and especially on the first Sunday in July to pray with earnest supplication for God’s help to him on that day, in his father’s stead, in Christ’s stead, to declare the whole counsel of God and preach the glorious gospel of grace. Ha must say he was very thankful to all the kind friends who had made his sojourn in New Zealand happy and sacred and successful; he was grateful to the friends who had spoken so lovingly and honoringly of him that evening; he was grateful to them for their kindly mention of his dear wife, and on her behalf he thanked them; and he did pray that God wonld bless them, and their pastors, and their officers, and all whom they loved and desired to see blessed.

The ohoir, who had led the singing of a few hymns during the meeting, now sang ‘ God be with you till we meet again,’ the congregation joining in the chorus, and the gathering was brought to a olose after prayer by the Rev. T. Spurgeon, who also gave the benediction.