294 
SAMUEL MARSDEN. 
permitted to proceed in peace. Rotorua also was occupied, 
and afterwards Tauranga; and although wars still raged, and 
dreadful acts of cannibalism continued to be perpetrated, the 
Gospel, in spite of all opposition, rapidly progressed. All 
these places were occupied between the years 1832-5. 
February 9th, 1837, Mr. Marsden, accompanied by his 
youngest daughter, sailed in the Pyramus, on his seventh and 
last visit. He was then in his seventy-second year; with holy 
joy he beheld how wonderfully his work had expanded. Sta¬ 
tions had been formed at the Thames, at Tauranga, and the 
interior, and although war was again raging, still there was 
every prospect of final success. The aged man’s heart was 
rejoiced. He had seen the beginning, he now saw it in its 
increase, and was enabled to bless God. His feelings must 
have been gratified by the universal respect and love mani¬ 
fested towards him ; even the heathen natives viewed him as 
their friend and benefactor, but the Christians, as their beloved 
father in Christ. 
He visited all the Stations in H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Captain 
Hobson, afterwards the first Governor of New Zealand; he 
passed through Cook’s Straits, and by that way returned 
to Sydney. 
Mr. Brown states: “ Mr. Marsden preached this morning 
from Rom. viii., 38, 39.—His earthly tabernacle is much 
shaken, but glory is shining through the chinks. It was an 
affecting, yet delightful spectacle, to see him in the pulpit: his 
eyes, too weak to read even his text correctly, and yet beaming 
with immortality, when dwelling on the Christian’s triumph 
over life and death, things present and things to come, through 
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” A most 
suitable text to form the final address of this aged servant and 
apostle of the Lord. Well calculated to shew the stedfastness 
of his own faith, and to confirm that of his hearers. 
Nothing more remains to be said. When his work was 
finished in New Zealand, little remained for him to do else¬ 
where. On Christmas-day of the same year, the Bishop of 
Australia preached at Paihia, and confirmed there, just 23 
years from the time of Mr. Marsden’s first sermon. 
