Page:History of Knox Church Dunedin.djvu/95

Rh the English Presbyterian Hymn Book in addition to the Psalms should be used in the public worship of the congregation on and after the first Sabbath in January, 1874. Since the beginning of 1885, the hymn-book known as " Church Praise " has been in use instead of "Psalms and Hymns."

In January 1874 the office-bearers and members of the congregation, in common with a large circle of other friends, were much startled and grieved by the serious accident which befell Mr Adam Johnstone through the stumbling of his horse at Tokomairiro, and which resulted in his death at the early age of 35 years. Mr Johnstone was a highly-esteemed and useful deacon of Knox Church for several years, and had left Dunedin for Tokomairiro shortly before his death. His professional skill was of a high order, and he was a very popular officer of the Government Engineering and Survey staff. The Session placed on record the following tribute to Mr Johnstone's memory:—"The Session have heard with deep regret of the death of Mr Adam Johnstone, for years a member of Knox Church, a teacher in the Sabbath School, and also for a time a member of the Deacons' Court. While mourning his early removal from Christian work, they desire to place on record their high estimate of his personal worth, their gratitude for his earnest service to the congregation and its institutions, and their sense of the loss which his family and the Gospel have thereby sustained, and to afifectionately commend his widow and children to the care and love of God, with prayers for their peace and prosperity."

As the result of a visit from the Rev. Mr (now Dr) Paton of the New Hebrides mission in 1874, the sum of £81 11s 2d was contributed by members of the congregation to aid in the purchase of the new missionary ship Dayspring, the old vessel having been wrecked. The sum of £27 5s 4d was also collected by the Sabbath School children towards the maintenance of the Dayspring, while the sum of £102 12s 6d was contributed to the Synod's General Mission Fund by the Missionary Association, making a total amount of £211 9s collected by the Knox Church congregational agencies for missionary purposes in 1874. It is worthy of mention that the new missionary vessel was able to start on her first voyage entirely free of debt.