Upon the opening of the humble building, which had thus tardily been raised for the purposes of divine worship, and to consecrate which according to the beautiful forms of our English church there was no bishop in the colony, the chaplain preached a suitable sermon, we are informed; but, if it may be judged from the scanty record that is preserved of it, this discourse partook of the cold and worldly spirit of the age in which it was delivered. Mr. Johnson began well with impressing upon his hearers the necessity of holiness in every place, and then lamented the urgency of public works having prevented the erection of a church sooner. As though a building for the public worship of Almighty God were not the most urgent of all public works in every christian community! He next went on to declare, that his _only_ motive in coming forward in the business was that of establishing a place sheltered from bad weather, and from the summer-heats, where public worship might be performed. The uncertainty of a place where they might attend had prevented many from coming, but he hoped that now the attendance would be regular.[100] Surely, the worthy chaplain might have had and avowed a higher motive for building a house of God, than that of keeping men from the wind, and the rain, and the sun; and, undoubtedly, as the inconvenience of the former system was no good excuse for absence from divine service, so neither could the comparative convenience of the new arrangement be at all a proper motive for attendance upon it. [100] See Collins' Account of New South Wales, pp. 223-4.