This Synod held an adjourned meeting at Geelong, at which the following proceedings were gone into: -

Ryrie Street, Geelong
6th November, 1855

Present - The Rev. James Ballantyne, Collins Street Church, Melbourne, Moderator: and with him the the Rev. Messrs. John Cooper, of Geelong; Robert Hamilton, of Collingwood; John Ballantyne, of Emerald Hill; and Andrew Mitchell Ramsay, of Collins Street Church, Melbourne, ministers. Devotional exercises being conducted by the Moderator.

The Synod proceeded to the consideration of the following communication from the Union Committee of the Free Church Synod, as given in at last sederunt in Melbourne by the Rev. Donald McDonald of Emerald Hill, convener of said committee: -

"That the Westminster Confession, &c., be the standards of this church, but that any minister or elder of the United Presbyterian Church who disapproves of those portions which treat of the power and duty of the civil magistrate in matters of religion, namely, 3rd section of the 23rd chapter of the Confession of Faith, and the answer to the 191st question of the Larger Catechism, shall be held to subscribe them subject to the exclusion of the said portions."

After due consideration, the Synod are of opinon that the proposition submitted by the committee of the Free Church Synod in the above paper does not meet the exigency of the case, inasmuch as it limits the right of subscribing the standards, subject to the exception of the said portions, to the ministers and elders of one section of the Presbyterian body, instead of recognising the right of taking such exceptions as a general and permanent principle of the union.

Agreed, that the following proposition be submitted at the conference of the three Synods this evening, as containing the deliberate mind of this Synod on the subject of subscription to the standards, and as calculated to meet all the requirements of the case: -

"That the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger Catechism, &c., be the standards of the Church, but that those ministers and elders who do not approve of the statements contained in the 23rd chapter of the said Confession, and in the answers to the 109th and 191st questions of the Larger Catechism, or in any other portions of the said standards which relate to the duty and province of the civil magistrate in matters of religion, shall be held as subscribing these standards subject to the exclusion of such portions. And further, that this right of taking exception to such portions be expressly stated in the ordination formula."

Read a note from the Rev. D. McDonald, Moderator of the Free Church Synod, desiring to know where and when it would suit this Synod to meet in conference. Agreed to intimate that they should be ready to meet in conference at the Free Church, Malop Street this evening, at eight o'clock. Mr. McDonald appearing in court at this time, and the same being intimated to him, the hour of conference was fixed for nine o'clock, that being more likely to suit the convenience of the Free Church Synod.

Geelong,
7th November, 1855.

On reviewing the proceedings of the general conference of last evening, the Synod agreed to record their deep regret that while the members of the Synod of Victoria were found disposed to entertain the deliverance of this Synod come to at last sederunt, the members of the Free Church Synod were divided amongst themselves in reference to the points under consideration, and that in consequence, no further negotiations on the subject of union could in the meantime be proceeded with.

Agreed to open up a correspondence with the French Protestant Church, the Reformed Associate Church of the United States, and the United Presbyterian Church of Canada; also to correspond with the Rev. Messrs. Murray, Turner, and Nesbit, missionaries in the South Seas: - Rev. Messrs. Ramsay and Hamilton to correspond with the missionaries; Mr. Dalrymple, with the Canadian Church; Mr. Cooper with the Reformed Associate Church, United States; and Mr. James Ballantyne, with the French Protestant Church.

Impressed with the necessity of occasional visits to the churches in the interior of the country, and especially of evangelistic labor in the bush districts, agreed to request that Rev. John Ballantyne should in the course of the summer proceed to the Portland Bay District, and the Rev. Andrew Mitchell Ramsay to Albury, and the several townships in that direction.

The Rev. Andrew Pringle, of Geelong, being hopeful that the state of his health might now admit of more sustained service in the Christian ministry, it was agreed that he should repair to Gisborne, with the view of affording the people of that district regular supply of sermon.