THE FIRST CHURCH.

Evening Star, Issue 3273, 16 August 1873, Page 3

THE FIRST CHURCH.

To the Editor.

Si f . ( __The ninth preacher from Victoriathe Kov, Mr Kininmont, of North Melbourne, officiated this forenoon in this church. The congregation was extraordinarily numerous. After singing a portion of the 103 rd Psalm, “0 Thon, my soul, bless God the Lord,” &c., the preacher read the 107 th Psalm, and thereafter engaged in devotional exercises. He is a middle-statured, greyhearded, clear, and sharp-speaking man. His hands arc firmly clasped over the Bible, while bis robe is gathered close around him as he prays. There is no visible motion perceptible in the act of prayer. The voice, albeit adapted for effective speaking, is by no means of a devotional tone. There were frequent references to providential deliverances from perils, temporal as well as spiritual. After the first prayer, he read the 2nd chapter of the Epistle of James. Then the congregation sang, in their usual sitting attitude—which, by-the-way, is that adopted in the Scottish Church and General Assemblies—a portion of the 145 Psalm, 2nd version, beginning at. the 17th verse, “The Lord is Justin his ways, etc.” The minister again offered up a prayer. He chose his text from the 2nd chapter of the Epistle of James, sth verse, “Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him ?”

(I ) He expatiated on the nature of the kingdom of Heaven—drawing copious analogies of earthly kingdoms, and producing abundant citations from Scripture, to set forth, in full relief, the glorious privileges, powers, and glories of the redeemed. Their victories in Heaven shall be complete over the Devil, the World, and the Flesh. Their love, obedience, and service shall be perfect in thought, word, and action. The youngest child shall surpass in knowledge and wisdom the greatest philosopher here below. Like Jeremy Taylor, he drew quite a wealth of illustrations from the power and opulence of mundane kingdoms to represent before the awakened imagination the splendors of the saints and heirs of Paradise. The preacher is a vigorous and racy speaker; indeed, so much so, that we might at first be inclined to suspect a savor of pedantry in his discourse.

(2.) What is implied in being heirs of the kingdom, was again set forth in a flow of most biilliant similitudes. The preacher has evidently been studying the Shakespeare of Divines —the inimitable Bishop Jeremy Taylor. The kingdom shall be conferred upon the elect. (1.) Gratuitously, by an act of grace, in virtue of the finished works and righteousness of Christ. Again (2.), it shall be theirs individually, albeit the heirs shall be numerous as the stars of heaven, and the sands of the sca-shore. All shall be rejoicing out of the plenitude of heart-felt felicity, (3.) The inheritance shall be theirs prospectively. They carry through the wilderness of life, in their bosoms, the germs and foretastes of heaven. The presence, love, and fellowship of Jehovah constitute the real heaven —not the accessaries of golden streets, pearly gates, and rivers of life, &c., the typical representations of the' New Jerusalem.

They must be trained and fitted by education in meekness, humility, and graces generally, to qualify them for an entrance into their possessions.

(4.) The kingdom shall bo theirs, certainly. Their title is good, and can never be disputed or set aside. It can never be wrested from them. Christ is their shepherd and keeper. By him they are fitted to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

(5.) It shall be theirs, inalienably. It is an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Its sun shall no more go down. It is everlasting. (6.) The kingdom shall bo theirs exclusively. IN' one can enter it who has not been previously trained and lilted for ics holy occupations, Many who pass here as heirs of that inheritance shall, at the great day, before the great white throne, not be recognised. They shall be banished from the presence of Cod, and shall hear their final doom pronounced thus : “Depart from Me all ye workers of iniquity.” The preacher conc'uded his able sermon with a practical peroration in the shape of heart-stirring admonitions to believers. If lost, the fault shall be their own. God, Christ, and the Spirit all invite us to the kingdom of peace, and righteousness, and holy joy. They who believe in Jesus were earnestly admonished to abjure ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this evil and evanescent world. In fine, to live as becometh the heirs of such great expectations. They were enjoined to abound in faith • virtue, patience, brotherly kindness, and charity. Thus only can they expect to be hailed to the right hand of the Great Judge, seated on his white throne at the last day, and to receive the grateful salutation—- “ Well done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of the blessed.” After the minister had performed the duties appertaining to the rite of baptism, in the case of a yoking child added to the Church, and had offered up two prayers, the congregation sang paraphrase 61, beginning “ Blessed be the Everlasting God.” The minister thereafter pronounced the benediction, and the great congregation dispersed. Doubtless, every leal-hearted Scotsman felt proud to tied so able and fair a sample of the clergy of Scotland, for once, stancling up in the pulpit of the First Presbyterian Church ot Otago. All Mr Kininmont’s predecessors were from the suburban towns of Melbourne and inland regions of Victoria. This is the first we have had from Melbourne. His brother was for some time in Victoria ; but now he occupies a pulpit in Scotland, and yet he is not such a good preacher as the minister of North Melbourne. Now that the uew church is almost completed, it behoves the congregation to set their house in order, against the arrival of the Rev. Dr Begg, now a passenger by the Somersetshire, on the hixh seas bound for Melbourne. The great anti-unionist will read these Colonies a lesson on what constitutes Presbyterianism. —I am, &c., J. G. S. Grant, Dunedin, August 10.