T h e n e w movement spread through the province, and was hailed with satisfaction in some of the then centres of population. Its progress was such that on the 8th September a Synodical Meeting was held at Geelong, attended by the Revs. J. Forbes (Melbourne), Huie (Geelong), and Hastings (Buninyong), when a variety of important business was disposed of. In the whole of the early ecclesiastical history of the colony, there is no instance on record where such speed was m a d e as in the erection of thefirsttemple of religion of the Free Presbyterian seceders. Times were good, and that body included several respected colonists, w h o brought both wealth and enthusiasm to the cause in which they had embarked ; and the consequence was the early laying of the foundation stone of THE JOHN KNOX CHURCH,
At the corner of Swanston and Little Lonsdale Streets, where the building stands to-day, which was purchased, and all other preliminaries so expeditiously arranged, that the ceremonial was performed on the 17th November, the anniversary of the formal expulsion of the Rev. J. Forbes by the Presbytery of Scots' Church. There was a large attendance, and an inspection warranted an opinion that if the design were worked up to, it would be one of the neatest and most ornamental of the religious edifices in Melbourne. T h e proceedings commenced by singing from the Psalms, after which the Rev. Mr. Huie offered a prayer beseeching the Almighty's blessing on the undertaking. T h e Rev. J. Forbes next read the following lengthy inscription, engrossed upon a sheet of parchment, afterwards enclosed in a bottle and deposited in a cavity m a d e in the stone. THE FOUNDATION OF JOHN KNOX'S CHURCH, In the T o w n of Melbourne, District of Port Phillip, in the Colony of N e w South Wales, was laid on Wednesday, the Seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord, O n e Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty Seven, B Y T H E REV. JAMES FORBES, PASTOR O F T H E C O N G R E G A T I O N , For whose use and by whose contributions, it is proposed to be raised, in presence of the office-bearers and members of the congregation. This Church is intended to be erected for the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, the dispensation of His Ordinances, and the maintenance and diffusion of those principles respecting the Supremacy of the Lord Jesus'over the Church which H e hath redeemed, and the spiritual independence H e hath conferred on her, which, from the days of the Reformation, formed a prominent part of the Testimony of the National Church of Scotland, and through continued faithful adherence to which, the Free Church of Scotland was constrained to relinquish the benefits of a Civil Establishment, on the 18th day of M a y , 1843. It is to be under the spiritual oversight of the Governing Body of the Free Presbyterian Church of Australia Felix,—which, whilst holding the same principles, and maintaining the same testimony, as the Free Church of Scotland, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in England, the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia, and other Churches in various British Colonies holding communion with them, is not under the superintendence or control, or subject to the interference, of any Body whatever, external to itself, its Supreme Governing Assembly possessing the right of regulating and determining finally all matters pertaining to the internal affairs of the Church, and also all matters pertaining to its relations to all other portions of the Professing Church whatsoever. T h e present undertaking is commenced, in humble dependence on the aid of the O n e King and Head of the Church, on the anniversary of the day whereon the Congregation erecting it initiated the organisation of a Free Presbyterian Church in Australia Felix (in the year 1846). H E R M O S T GRACIOUS MAJESTY, VICTORIA, Being Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. His E X C E L L E N C Y SIR C H A R L E S A U G U S T U S FITZROY, Governor of New South Wales. His H O N O R C H A R L E S JOSEPH LATROBE, E S Q , Superintendent of Port Phillip. A N D R E W RUSSELL, E S Q , Mayor of Melbourne. JAMES FORBES, A.M., Minister at Melbourne, T H O M A S HASTIE, Minister at Buninyong, and J O H N TIEGER HUIE, Minister at Geelong. Elders of this Church—HENRIE BELL, WILLIAM M O N T G O M E R I E BELL, and T H O M A S JAMES EVERIST. Committee of Management-MATTHEW O R R , GILBERT M C C A L L U M , D A V I D D U N C A N , J O H N CARSON, J O H N CLARK, G E O R G E MILL, G E O R G E MILNE, R O B E R T M C M U R R I C H , D A V I D M C M U R T R I E , J O H N MYERS, JAMES HAIR, and A L E X SUTHERLAND. Architect—CHARLES LAING. Contractor—JAMES LINACRE.
