A PUBLIC meeting of Presbyterians and others in Melbourne and its vicinity, favourable to the establishment and support of a Presbyterian Church in this province, unconnected with the State, was held in the Independent Chapel here, on the evening of Monday, the 3rd instant, on the invitation of the Rev. Dr. Lang, M.C., Dr. Macarthur, of Arthurton, J.P., and member of the District Council of Bourke, in the chair. The meeting was numerous and respectable, and the proceedings throughout were characterised with a degree of good feeling and harmony, earnestness and enthusiasm that augered most favourably for the success of its object.

Dr. Macarthur opened the proceedings by stating that, as they were assembled for the extension of the church and kingdom of Christ, he would call upon the Rev. Dr. Lang to implore the divine benediction. Dr. Lang accordingly gave out the 117th Psalm, in Watts version -

and afterwards engaged in prayer. The Chairman then addressed the meeting to the following effect:

- "We are here assembled, my friends, on an occasion of much interest, and to discharge a duty, the most important probably, that can engage the attention of a christian community; that of transplanting the church of our fatherrs, to this land of our adoption, and laying its foundation broadly and securely on the word of God, the practice of the Apostles, and primitive churches, and the love and support of the christian people to the disregard of support from other quarters. Before the disruption of the Scottish establishment, and the recent deliverance of the Synod of Australia, it would, then, even have been highly expedient to take the steps we are now met to consider; but, since these events have taken place, we are constrained in vindication of our principles, we have no alternative but to place ourselves and our church on the voluntary principle."

"To the beneficial working of this system in the United States of America, I have pleasure in bearing testimony, and that as far back as thirty-four years, when there, nothing struck me so much in that great union of mighty states, as the devoted attention to religious duties every where apparent. The absence of ill-feeling between the different denominations of christians, and the high deference and comfortable provision universally assigned to the clergy. Our honourable and Reverend Representative, now present, and I may add the tried friend of us, and this our adopted country, has amply confirmed these observations, in his work of Travels in America, addressed to the people of Scotland before the disruption; I wish this work was in the hands of every educated man in Port Phillip; it would greatly dispel the fears of the most timid, in reference to the efficacy of the system we are met to discuss. The disruption of the Scottish Church is an event, the importance of which, to the civil as well as the religious liberties of the human family, in every quarter of the world cannot be too highly appreciated. I think it may safely be characterised, as the most important event of modern times; and the great, and the good men, whom the providence of God called to its accomplishment, at the sacrifice of all their worldly possessions, will merit our sympathy, and, I doubt not, every part of their proceedings will ensure to them to the latest posterity the applause and gratitude of the friends of religious and civil liberty. With these impressions, I believe, very general on the minds of the Colonial Presbyterians, it is not to be wondered at, if the declarations and votes arrived at by the Synod of Australia should have caused universal disappointment. These would appear to hold in equal honor, a Presbyterian Church ruled over by a Secretary of State and his lawyers, and the Free Presbyterian Church. The effect and tendency of these proceedings is to throw contempt on the men who have made such unexampled sacrifices in vindication of their principles. To jumble together without discrimination truth and error, and to hold out the Colonial Presbyterian Laity, and their avowed and declared conviction as unworthy of consideration; to all which, I, for one, must ever dissent and protest."

On the conclusion of this address, which was listened to with deep attention and great interest, Dr. Macarthur said he would now call upon Dr. Lang to state the particular object of meeting, which Dr. Lang did accordingly to the following effect: -

He entirely agreed with his worthy friend the Chairman, in regarding the Free Church movement in Scotland as one of the greatest events of modern times, whether we considered the principles that guided it or its probable consequences. The tidings of the famous disruption of the Church of Scotland reached this colony in September, 1843, about a fortnight or three weeks before the annual meeting of the Synod of Australia, and it was generally expected in the colony that as a majority of the ministers had previously professed their attachment to the party who afterwards formed the Free Church, some demonstration would be given in its favour by the synod during its meeting. But to the extreme disappointment and chagrin of the friends of religious liberty among the Presbyterians of the colony, an unbroken silence was maintained on the subject of the disruption during the entire week of the Synod's annual session, and not one word was said about an event with which the whole civilized world had been ringing for months before.

There had indeed been a public demonstration made in favour of the Free Church by one of the ministers of this province, the Rev. Mr. Forbes, of Melbourne, who had actually sent home his adhesion to that body, which was published in the Free Church periodicals, and he had himself given Mr. Forbes much credit for his precedence on the occasion, in alluding to the circumstance in the Legislative Council. But he was mortified to find afterwards that his praise had been premature and unmerited, that he meant nothing by his public demonstration and his act of adhesion or rather that having put his hand to the plough he had afterwards drawn back. In the mean time there was a good deal of talk on the subject in the other part of the colony; several of the ministers loudly professed themselves Free Churchmen, and obtained considerable credit for the honesty of purpose they appeared to evince in declaring that at the annual meeting of the Synod in 1844, there would necessarily be a disruption the Free Church party would secede. But the meeting passed without anything of the kind. A few resolutions signifying nothing were proposed and rejected, and the deliverances of the Synod was that the State and Free Churches were equally entitled to its regard and ought to be equally combined within the arms of its christian affection.

Now he could understand the case and feelings of men who, like the Residuaries at home and the Synod of Canada abroad, avowedly regarded the church as the creature of the state, agreeably to the dictum of the Court of Session and the government of the country, and although he could by no means approve of their principles he could not refuse them credit for manliness and honesty. He could much more easily understand and sympathise with the feelings and views of those ministers abroad who nobly avowed their sympathy with the Free Church and like the missionaries in India, risked and abandoned every thing for its sake. But he could not understand or sympathise with men who professed neutrality on such a question, who pretended to regard both the Free and the State Churches with equal approval. This, as his worthy friend the chairman had observed, was tantamount to a vote of condemnation passed upon the Free Churchmen. It was tantamount to declaring that the grand points for which they had been contending, the headship of Christ and religious liberty, were worth the struggle they had occasioned at home. In short, the Synod had voluntarily placed itself in the unenviable and despicable condition of the church of the Laodiceans - it was neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, and therefore the Divine Head of the church would spue it out of his mouth. It was no wonder, therefore, that this pusillanimous and discreditable procedure of the Synod should excite universal chagrin, contempt and disgust. The Synod, in short, had sunk by its own acts into a state of intellectual, moral and spiritual death.

Now, it was a principle of the laws of England, that in all cases of death by extraordinary means there must be a coroner's inquest held upon the body. He would therefore propose that, as they were there assembled, a numerous company of intelligent and respectable citizens under the able presidency of his worthy and esteemed friend the chairman, who was a magistrate, they could not do better than constitute themselves at once a coroner's inquest, and proceed to view the body. (Great and continued laughter.) There was no questioning the fact, at all events, that a death had taken place by unusual means. They had only, as he said, to view the body (much laughter) to be convinced of the fact. There wasn't a breath of life in it. Not a limb, not a muscle was stirring. No pulse could be felt; and not only were the extremities cold, but there was the coldness of death also about all the regions of the heart. The question then was, what verdict ought to be returned in the case (renewed laughter), and he did not doubt but some of the jury might be of opinion that the usual verdict of found dead, when nothing further could be ascertained on the subject, would be sufficient. For his own part, he could not be satisfied with such a verdict by any means, and must protest against it as insufficient; for if they would only view the body again, they would see that there were very suspicious appearances about it (loud and continued laughter), and as it could be proved beyond a doubt that no person had been near it or had interfered with it in any way, they were under the painful necessity of concluding that it had come by its death by its own hand. Now in such cases there were only two verdicts that could be given - either a verdict of Felo de se, or a verdict of insanity. Some, indeed, might prefer the former of these verdicts; for his own part, however, he thought it would be rather harsh, as it would prevent the body from receiving christian burial. (Great laughter.) Besides, there were strong symptoms of insanity in its entire proceedings for a considerable time previous, (increased laughter,) and it appeared to him, therefore, that the most humane and the best verdict to give in the case would be "found dead; having committed suicide, not being at the time in a sound mind." (Much laughter.) To conclude his remarks for the present, he presumed they would be quite unanimous in declaring that the Synod of Australia, the body he had been describing, had by its own insane and suicidal acts entirely forfeited the confidence and esteem of the Presbyterians of this colony.

Mr. Alderman Kerr then moved the first resolution, which he prefaced with the following observations: - It would, he said, be inconsistent with the character for discretion which, he believed, he had acquired, if he were to attempt anything like a speech following the eloquent speaker who had just sat down, but he believed no speaking was required for the trimming conduct of the clergy of the Colonial Presbyterian Church in reference to the disruption, which Dr. Lang had justly characterised as the noblest act of the present day, had deservedly earned for them the contempt of the great majority of the Presbyterian body. If, like the majority in the Synod of Canada, they had concientiously approved of the position assumed by the Residuary Church, and borne testimony boldly on its behalf, he would have respected their consistency, and have given them credit for honesty, however he might have differed from them in opinion, but this equivocating policy, this attempt at approval of the principles of the Free Church and yet holding out the hand for the loaves and fishes of the State Church, must render them thoroughly contemptible in the mind of every right thinking man. In fact in their zeal for the good things of the State they had cast an affront upon both divisions of the Church. Alderman Kerr then moved: - "That the Synod of Australia has, by its long-continued lukewarmness on the subject of the Disruption of the Church of Scotland, - an event unequalled for its moral grandeur and sublimity by any other event in our age - and by pretending to regard with equal confidence and affection both the Residuary and the Free Churches, while it voluntarily retains in its title and designation the words 'in connection with the Established Church of Scotland," words which are uniformly understood, by the Presbyterian Churches of all other parts of the empire, to imply an exclusive connection with the Residuary Church, has entiely forfeited the confidence and esteem of the Presbyterians of this colony."

This resolution having been seconded by Mr. Young, of Sugar Loaf Creek, was put to the meeting by the Chairman and carried unanimously.

Dr. Lang again rose and stated that he, also, concurred with his worthy and esteemed friend, the chairman, in holding that even although there had been no disruption in Scotland, and no such declaration of neutrality passed as that of the Synod of Australia, it would have been their interest and their duty as Scotsmen and Presbyterians, to have organised and established a Presbyterian Church in this colony on the basis of entire religious freedom, and of no connection with the State. For what was the state of things in this colony under the General Church Act, as it was called, the law of the land. Why, the government pledged itself by that Act to supply funds for the erection of churches and the support of ministers of all denominations indiscriminately agreeably to a certain scale. Now he could understand the principle of an establishment, as it was called, viz., that it was the duty of the State to support the truth, and the truth only, although he did not himself hold that principle. It might be right, it might be accordant with Holy Scripture, although he did not think so; but there could be no question whatever that the principle of the General Church Act, viz: - That it was the duty of the state to support every thing, was wholly and solely wrong. It was the very emanation of the Devil himself, devised and established for the express purpose of lowering the standard of christian feeling, of destroying all the distinctions between right and wrong, and no more striking proof the fact could possibly be desired than the recent declarations of the Synod of Australia, affecting to place the Residuary and the Free Churches on precisely the same level. Its tendency even upon ministers of religion themselves were deadening and demoralizing in the extreme, and of this they had abundant proof before their eyes. In such circumstance, and especially in a country where Popery and Puseyism, its twin sister, were rampant, and engrossed so large a proportion of the public funds devoted to the support of religion, he was decidedly of opinion that Presbyterians especially, and all other classes of evangelical Protestants, were shut up to the necessity of establishing their churches exclusively on the basis of entire religious liberty and of no connection whatever with the State. Let them cast off the Babylonish garment once and for all; let them not suffer the wedge of gold to pollute their tents; let them touch not, taste not, handle not the accursed thing! (Great applause.)

Dr. Lang then moved: - "That as the public funds for supporting religion in this colony are at present, and will in all liklihood continue to be, appropriated in great measure for the maintenance and extension of Popery, Puseyism, and notorious inefficiency; it is expedient and necessary, as well for the prevalence of pure and undefiled religion as for ridding the colony as speedily as possible of the incubus and oppression of all such exceptionable establishments, that the Church of Christ in this territory should be entirely Free and have no connection with the State."

Mr. Macrae seconded the resolution with a few highly appropriate preliminary observations.

The motion was then put to the meeting and carried by acclamation.

Mr. J. A. Marsden, though a member of a different body of christians, who participated in the state support, bore testimony in an able and energetic speech to the excellence of the principle contended for, and passed a warm eulogium on the ministers of the Free Church of Scotland who had given up their all for conscience sake.

After a few words from Dr. Lang, Mr. Goodsir moved: - "That with this view it is highly desirable that the Presbyterians of this district should co-operate with the pastor and congregation of the Scots Church, Sydney - the mother church of the Presbyterian communion in this territory - in organizing and establishing a Presbyterian church for this colony, on the basis of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the other Standards of the Church of Scotland, but entirely Free and unconnected with the State."

The motion on being put to the meeting was carried with acclamation.

Mr. Campbell, with a few prefatory remarks, moved: - "That it is expedient and necessary that there should be two Presbyterian ministers settled as soon as possible on such a basis in this province, one for the town of Melbourne and the other to itinerate in the district - such of the Presbyterian inhabitants of Port Phillip as approve of the cause and object be invited to guarantee a salary of £150 each for two such ministers for the period of two years from the date of their arrival in the province, in sums not exceeding one pound sterling or thereby."

Mr. King moved - "That as a considerable expenditure has already been incurred and yet remains to be incurred in promoting the organization and establishment of a Colonial Presbyterian Church, unconnected with the State: In erecting churches and maintaining the ordinances of religion temporarily at Balmain and Pyrmont: In sending home an agent with an appeal to the kindred clergymen of the mother country, and providing for the passage out of ministers expected to arrive in the colony, in consequence of that appeal: In affording assistance to promising young men in dependent circumstances while receiving a suitable education for the holy ministry; it is expedient and necessary that a General Fund be created for these purposes by voluntary contributions of moderate amount, to be appropriated under the direction of a Board in Sydney; and that the Presbyterians of Port Phillip and the friends of Religious Liberty generally be invited to contribute to such a fund."

Councillor Fawkner supported the motion, and said that, being a member of a communion had all along contended for this great principle, he should consider it to be his duty to do every thing in his power to aid in the establishment of a Free Church in Melbourne.

The resolution was then put to the meeting, and like all that preceded it, carried amidst universal cheers.

Mr. Anderson moved the appointment of a committee "for the double purpose of obtaining signatures to a guarantee for the salaries of two Presbyterian ministers for this district, and contributions towards the general fund of the Colonial Presbyterian Church unconnected with the State," and suggested, that instead of the customary mode of nominating members, volunteers might be called. This suggestion was acted upon, and a committee of twenty members was thus formed.

The thanks of the meeting were then presented to the Rev. Mr. Morison for the use of his chapel, and to Dr. Macarthur for his kindness in presiding, and these gentlemen having returned thanks, the doxology was sung, and the meeting separated.