OPENING OF KNOX CHURCH.

Evening Star, Issue 4273, 6 November 1876, Page 4

OPENING OF KNOX CHURCH.

Tie,new:building just ereoted by the oonS rogation of Knox Church wm opened i» ufe form yesterday. Tha •ongrtfatioa* at oaeh of the services were verylarge, and tt la Estimated that at least 1,W)0 people—repreaeating members of mearly every denomination In the Oity— must hare baem present in the morninf. It is stated that tha •huroh will tost abont L 17.000 altogether j but, so great hare been the exertions pit forth to'defray this large expenditure, that a -deftaieney ef only LS.OW now remains, the other LB.OOO having beem ieeeived from subscriptions, Sftned Building Fund, and the results of the baaaar and soiree. Tha building- operations -were oommehced in April, 1874, and from then until but a few days ago the several contractors haye been hard at work to have everything ready as early as possible ; and the various operations have been conducted with such "skill, under the general supervision of Mr Lawson, architect, that the church is one of the finest in the Colony, and would not disgrace _any of the older Australian oitiss. The sermons were preached— In the maiming by Professor Sahnond, from Ist Corinthians, ix. p., 16 v.; in the afternoon by the Rev. A. 0. 8. Todd, from Ecclesiastics, xti. e., 1 v. ; and; in the evening by the Rev. W. Will, from 2nd Corinthians, v. c, 14 v. The days collections were: Morninjt L 46 0; afterevening, L 63. TCotal, L5Bl. On Saturday evening last, the Committee of the Knox Church Young Men's Sooiety waited on Dr Stuart at the manse, and presented him with a very handsome pulpit Bible, bearing the following inscription : "Presented to the Rev. D. M. Stuart, D.D., by the members of the Knox Churoh Young Men's Society, on the occasion of the opening of the new Knox Church : sth November, 1876." Mr Pryde, the Vice-President, in faking the presentation, said that the Society considered this a very fitting opportunity to present Dr Stuart with a token expressive of their hearty appreciation of the valuable services he had rendered to the .Society as its president, and of their estejem for him as theiraninister. They hoped Dr. Stuart would be long spared to fill the pulpit of the new churoh with the same acceptance and success as he had done in .that of the old, and that those kindly relations which had hitherto been maintained between him and his congregation, as well as the people of Dunedin generally, -would long continue to be preserved.-.: Dr Stuart, who spoke with muqh feeling, said that the Young Men's Society was one of the institutions connected with Knox Church in which he took extras ordinary delight. He looked, upon it as the institution in which would be reared and teamed the future rulers of the Church, and he confidently believed that so long as there were connected with the Society men of the same stamp as those he saw before him, the place of those who now held rule would be well and ably rilled.