John Macdonald - First Sermon

Report on John Macdonald's first sermon after he was born again. The difference was very marked.

When the sermon began I forgot all but the doctrine I was hearing. As he warmed up with his subject, the preacher became most vehement in his action; every eye was rivetted on the speaker, and suppressed sounds testified to the effect which his sermon was producing. His second discourse was so `awe-inspiring that the audience became powerfully affected. Such was the awful solemnity of the doctrine and the vehemence of the preacher's manner that I expected, ere he was done, every heart would be pierced, and that the very roof of the church would be rent. The sermon over, all were asking who the preacher was. 'A young man from Edinburgh of the name of Macdonald,' was the only answer that could be given."

This church stopped being the Parish Church in 1815.