ST. PAUL’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1042, 27 October 1877, Page 2

ST. PAUL’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

In the new church erected at the corner of Madras and Cashel streets, by the Rev. Mr Elmslie’s congregation, Divine service will be held to-morrow for the first time. The building is not quite finished, and it would have been better to have deferred its opening for another week or fortnight, but the seats are quite ready for occupation, and no doubt the majority of the congregation are anxious to get into the new edifice, of which they have some reason to be proud. As previously stated, the church is not a model of harmonious architecture, but it is substantial, commodious, comfortable, and well built. There is sitting accommodation for more than 1000 people. The building is well lighted, and ample provision appears to have been made for ventilation. The windows are composed of stained glass, the walls are well supplied with gas burners, and two ornamental gasaliers are suspended from the roof. At the rear of the church there are rooms for the clergymen and church officers, with private entrances. Towards the rear of the building there is at each side of it a door by which the congregation may have easy entrance and exit. The front entrance is from Cashel street. It is spacious, and is graced with stately Corinthian pillars. Over the outer door there is a representation, in relief, of the burning bush—the chosen emblem of the Free Church of Scotland, —with a scroll beneath bearing the inscription, “ Nec tamen consumebatur.” From the porch, which is accessible by a door at each side as well as the front, two doors lead into the lower part of the church, and two stairs up into the galleries, which are as comfortably seated and as well suited for hearing as the nether portion of the building. The pulpit, or preacher’s desk, has to be reached by stairs, and is not esteemed an altogether shapely or satisfactory design. The services to-morrow will be of a most interesting character. In the morning the Rev. J. Paterson, of Wellington, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church Assembly, will officiate; in the afternoon, the Rev. C. Fraser, of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Christchurch ; and in the evening, Professor Sahnond, of Dunedin. At the close of each service a collection will be made in aid of the building fund of the new church.