customed- to in the land they have left. The congregation yesterday must have comprised many of those whose names are closely identified with the early history of Otago, and who were not unacquainted by practical experience with the trials and difficulties incidental to the establishment of this settlement. They certainly have reason to rejoice that the difficulties of colonisation have been in these cases so successfully overcome, and that in regard to the worship of the Creator, as well as in the matter of education and the other adjuncts of civilisation, they and their children will have no reason to regret their fortunes being cast in this land. It is not a matter of surprise that everything yesterday assumed a most cheerful aspect, and that contentment and mutual congratulations were manifest on every side. The acoustic properties of the building are excellent, and the voices of the officiating ministers could be easily heard throughout the most distant part of the nave and galleries.
"The service was opened by the Rev. Professor Salmond calling upon the congregation to worship God by singing the 100th Psalm. Portions of the Scriptures were then read, and other hymns and psalms sung. Thereafter Dr Salmond preached an able and impressive sermon, taking as his text, 'For though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid on me: yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel' (1 Cor. ix. 16). The sermon concluded as follows:—'And now, my brethren, here this day in this remotest corner of the earth are we proclaiming that not in vain did the Apostle utter his testimony. It has come hither also. Regions of the earth which his feet traversed lie waste; great cities among whose populations he moved lie in ruins; the churches which he planted have ceased to exist; but in lands of which he knew not his words live; we echo his voice this hour; and we are the inheritors of his spiritual treasures. You have raised this house, a monument of your faith, in the name of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us, and laid the gifts that have reared it at the feet of Him who for you poured out His precious blood. You have done well—the Lord accept your sacrifice! Your desire is that His praises may fill this house; that His name may echo through it; that prayer in His name may ascend from it like incense; and that the story of His life and death may be told here to successive generations, and the bread of life dispensed to nourish the souls of men to everlasting life. The Lord
