THE first annual meeting of the Presbyterian Church in Melbourne, unconnected with the state, was held in the Temperance Hall, Russell Street, on the evening of Tuesday 8th instant, Dr. Macarthur, J.P., in the chair. The meeting having been constituted with prayer by the Rev. Andrew Mitchell Ramsay, the pastor of the congregation, the following report from the Committee was read:-

From the tenor of the resolutions passed at the public meeting, held in the Independent Church, on Tuesday the 2nd of February, 1847 your committee considered themselves instructed and authorised to attend to the following things:-

1st - To procure suitable accommodation for the observance of public worship, and other congregational purposes, and generally to manage the temporal affairs of the congregation, until a church should be regularly organized.

2nd - To convey the Rev. A. M. Ramsay, the request of the meeting, that he would officiate as minister, and otherwise undertake the formation and establishment of a Presbyterian Church in Melbourne, unconnected with the state.

3rd - To open subscription lists for the purpose of raising the necessary funds, to be called the sustentation and building funds, of the Melbourne Presbyterian Church as now described. As to the manner in which these duties have been attended to during the past year, your committee have now to report.

1. - And first, as any further proceedings on the part of your committee depended in a great measure on the determination which Mr. Ramsay might come to in respect to the resolution requesting him to officiate as minister, and otherwise undertake the formation of the Church, the earliest opportunity was embraced of making known to Mr. Ramsay, the request of the meeting; and your committee have now the pleasing duty thus publicly to state, that to that request Mr. Ramsay acceded in the most frank and confiding manner: expressing on the occasion, his long, and settled purpose, that as a divine necessity lay upon him to preach the Gospel, and fulfil the ministry which he had received, his connection with any congregation, or body of adherents, should never be made the subject of special contract, or obligation; and whilst his support should be derived solely from the voluntary, and spontaneous contributions of those who waited on his ministry, the amount should be left to their own christian discretion.

2. - In regard to the matter of accommodation, your committee have to state, that at the time of the public meeting, and for several Sabbaths after, Mr. Ramsay was officiating in the Independent Church, while the pastor, the Rev. Mr. Alexander Morison was on a visit to Van Diemen's Land. For a time, therefore, your committee were relieved from the necessity of looking out for a place of worship where the forming congregation might statedly assemble. On Mr. Morison's return, and while it was matter of concern, where the forming congregation might in future hold its meetings, application was made for the services of Mr. Ramsay, by the Elders and Trustees of the Scots Church then vacant. This application was acceded to, and the following document read by Mr. Ramsay, from the pulpit, at the commencement of his labours in that Church, will shew the position he then occupied, and serve to mark progress:-

'In entering on my labours in this place of worship, it may be necessary for the satisfaction of the public, to define my exact position. I take the liberty, therefore, of making the following statement: "I am here by the desire of the Session and Trustees of the Church, and with the concurrence of those with whom I am conjoined in the endeavour to organize a Church in this Town, on Presbyterian principles, and supported entirely by the free contributions of its adherents." The Presbytery of Melbourne sometime ago, devolved on the Session, the supply of the pulpit during the period of the present vacation. The Session finding difficulty in obtaining supply from persons connected with the Presbytery, and kindly considering that a place of worship was required by us, and that the arrangement might be found to be a mutual accommodation, applied to me to occupy the pulpit, during the period the Church might be vacant, or for a shorter period, as matters might be found to suit. To this application I have much pleasure in acceding, and so are those that are associated with me. The arrangement is felt to be a mutual convenience. While the Church statedly assembling here will be relieved of the painful uncertainty attending the weekly supply of sermon, those who mean to place themselves under my pastoral care will have for a time a settled and commodious place where they can attend on my humble ministrations. And as it will be my endeavour in the strength of God, to promote the spiritual welfare of all assembling within these walls, irrespectively alike of their past connexions, or future intentions, so I fondly hope, that I shall have the sympathies and supplications of the faithful on my behalf, that my labours here, whether in public or in private, may not be in vain in the Lord.' - A. M. RAMSAY, February 28, 1847.

Mr. Ramsay's labours in the Scots Church extended over a period of nearly four months, terminating on the induction of the Rev. Mr. Irving Hetherington, which took place in the beginning of June.

Here it becomes the pleasing duty of your Committee, to record the very kind and respectful attentions which were paid towards Mr. Ramsay and such as were known to be his adherents, by the office-bearers and members of the two Churches in which for the first six months he officiated. Whilst an increasing attendance waited on his ministry, and devout attention was given to the word, and not a few it is believed profited by his labours, there was at the same time a very gratifying interest taken in his temporal welfare, and much spontaneous liberality displayed.

On leaving the Scots Church, the congregation removed to the new Academy, Little Collins Street, which was gratuitously placed at their service, by the proprietors, who form part of the Committee. Here twice on the Lord's day, and once on a week evening for the space of nearly four months, the congregation regularly assembled for divine worship. And though the accommodation was not so large as the increasing attendance required, still it so happened in the good providence of God, that the congregation had its meetings there during the cool months of winter and spring, and by the time the hot weather set in, the Temperance Hall, in Russell Street, which was in course of erection, and had been previously rented by your Committee, was ready for the reception of the congregation.

Into the Temperance Hall, where we now assemble, the congregation removed on the first Sabbath of October, in a central and airy part of the eastern division of the Town, and withal commodious and well ventilated, your Committee cannot but regard the possession of the Hall, as a happy Providence, and affording great encouragement to their infant cause. A debt of acknowledgment is here due to the members of the Temperance Committee. They have manifested a very friendly feeling, and a gratifying diligence in providing for the comfort of the congregation. The entire of the Sabbath, and every Tuesday evening have been secured to the congregation by the arrangements that have been entered into with the Trustees of the Hall.

In reviewing the progress of this cause, the success of which has been so cheering, your Committee lay no claim to any particular sagacity or foresight in regard to the arrangements that have been made, or to the accommodations that have been provided. If it may not savor of presumption, your Committee would remark, that as it was with the Israelites in their journeys, the cloud of the Divine presence went before them, their movements were directed, their way was made clear, they had simply to avail themselves of the openings which Providence graciously presented, and they found their advances at every stage, easy and natural.

The congregation will be surprised to learn, that from the date of the Public Meeting in the Independent Church, till sometime after our adjournment to the Temperance Hall, a period of about nine months, not a single meeting was held either of a Committee or of a more public kind. When the immediate prospect of the termination of Mr Ramsay's services in the Scots Church, the consequent necessity of providing another place, appeared to render a meeting of some kind advisable, that the Committee might know the numerical strength of the forming congregation, and be guided as to the extent of any future undertaking, such a step was deemed inexpedient, and calculated to infringe upon the charity which had all along characterised the movement. Unwilling in the remotest degree to cause offence to their brethren of another communion, it was left to the natural course of Providence to determine who, and what members might be disposed to connect themselves with the forming congregation, which was accordingly effected, when the adjournment took place to the New Academy in Little Collins Street. And thus without any direct or active measures being resorted to, were we privileged to see the friends with whom we have since been coming into close ecclesiastical connection. And your Committee persuaded themselves that the circumstance of Mr. Ramsay's officiating in so many of the different churches in town, together with the extreme care that has been taken 'to do all things in charity,' as the Apostolical injunction directs, has, under the divine blessing contributed in no inconsiderable degree to the harmony and fellowship which is observed to prevail at present amongst the Pastors and Churches of the different denominations.

3rd. - As respects the instructions about raising the necessary funds, your Committee have to report that the Treasurer will submit to the public meeting a statement of the amount of money that has been received during the past year, and the purposes to which it has been applied.

In closing their report the Committee acknowledge the divine countenance which has been vouchsafed to their proceedings during this the first year of their infant church, and they entertain the fervent hope that that wisdom which is profitable to direct, will never be withheld from her Councils, and that whatever measures may now or hereafter be resorted to, for the furtherance of the great ends which are contemplated in her formation, will ever be characterised by a charity, comprehensiveness, and prudence which no ordinary occurrence shall frustrate or overturn.

The following resolutions were then proposed seriatim and unanimously carried:-

1st. That the Report now read be received and adopted, as the 1st Annual Report of the congregation.

2nd. That a Committee consisting of the following individuals be appointed to manage the temporal affairs of the congregation, until a body of Deacons shall have been duly elected by the Church.

3rd. That for the due support of the ordinances of the Gospel amongst us in future, Quarterly subscriptions be received from the members and adherents of the congregation, leaving to each individual to give whatever amount his circumstances may determine.

4th. That this meeting adopt the principle, so frequently stated by their Pastor from the desk, that, on no consideration, shall debt be contracted, but that whatever exigency may arise shall be met by the spontaneous liberality of the people.

5th. That the Committee be instructed to prepare a scheme for raising the necessary funds for the erection of a place of Worship, and to use all diligence for the attainment of an object so needful for the comfort, establishment, and permanent prosperity of any Christian society,

6th. That this meeting express their obligations to that section of the United Presbyterian Church in Scotland, formerly denominated the Relief Synod, to which their Pastor, the Rev. Mr. Ramsay belonged, for the interest they have manifested in the spiritual welfare of this Colony, and instruct their Committee to convey by letter this public expression of gratitude, and at the same time to state the anxious desire of this meeting that the United Presbyterian Church would continue to send out Ministers and Missionaries of acknowledged piety, talent, and zeal, who may labour for the conversion of the perishing multitudes in this distant and destitute part of the world.

7th. That the thanks of the meeting be conveyed to the Treasurer and Secretary for their efficient services during the past year, and for granting to the congregation the use of their Class Rooms, during four months, without any charge.

The business having terminated, prayer was offered up by the Rev. Mr. Ramsay, and the meeting separated after receiving the Apostolical benediction.