ten o'clock, and then to proceed with the proof in exculpation; reserving to A the defender then to move the Presbytery for a further adjournment on cause shown. And the state of the vote being first or second motion, it carried first. motion, whereupon the Presbytery resolved in terms of Dr Clark's motion. From this finding, Dr Barclay and Dr Bryce for themselves, and for all who should adhere to them, dissented, and protested for leave to complain to the General Assembly, or to the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, as the B case may be, took instruments, and craved extracts, which were allowed. Mr Millar, counsel for Mr Duff, appealed from this judgment of the Presbytery to the General Assembly, or to the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, as the case may be, took instruments, and craved extracts, which were allowed. Dr Clark, Dr Muir, Dr Grant, and Dr Macfarlane, were appointed to defend the judgment of the Presbytery in the General Assembly. C The Presbytery then adjourned till Thursday the 17th current, at ten o'clock a.m., to which meeting parties were cited apud acta, and which being publicly intimated, this sederunt was closed with prayer. Extracted on this and the two preceding pages from the Records of the Presbytery of Edinburgh, by WM. STEVEN, Presbytery Clerk, P. T. (Signed) D REASONS OF PROTEST and APPEAL by the Rev. HENRY DUFF, one of the Ministers of the Parish of South Leith, against the judgment of the Presbytery of Edinburgh, dated 14th May 1855, in libel the Rev. Dr STEVENSON and Others, against the E said Rev. HENRY DUFF. The Appellant appeals against the deliverance of the Presbytery of Edinburgh, because the time allowed by the Presbytery to Mr Duff's advisers to prepare the case for the defence, was altogether insufficient in the circumstances for that purpose; and the compelling of Mr Duff to enter on his proof in exculpation without fair opportunity for preparation, was (though of course this result was not intended) oppressive and unjust. F For these and other Reasons, to be urged if necessary, viva voce, at the bar of the Venerable The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, or of The Very Reverend the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, as the case may be arranged, the Appellant humbly trusts that this Appeal may be sustained, the decision of the Presbytery G altered, and the Presbytery instructed anent the point appealed. In respect whereof, &c. A True Copy. (Signed) ALEX. CASSELS, Agent for Mr DUFF. 21. MAY 1855. PETITION OF JOSEPH T. GOODSIR. John Rogers, S.S.C., Agent. UNTO THE VERY REVEREND THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF THE PETITION OF JOSEPH TAYLOR GOODSIR, residing in Edinburgh, Humbly sheweth, THAT your petitioner was under the necessity of presenting a That this Petition and Complaint set forth that, in November 1852, your petitioner, being then, as he still is, a member of the congregation of the High Church and parish, Edinburgh, presented a Petition to the Kirk Session of the said church and parish, stating that your petitioner was unable to understand how the 11th chapter of the Confession of Faith, intituled Of Justification,' was deducible from, or reconcileable with, the teaching of the Greek New Testament, and respectfully craving the Kirk Session to give him such aid and counsel in the said matter as to them might seem R. Wallace & Co. Printers, 3 Register Place. proper, all as more fully contained in the said petition, of which an authentic extract is herewith produced. That after certain procedure, unnecessary to be detailed, the Kirk Session disposed of this application, by finding that, under all the circumstances, they could not competently entertain the same, which deliverance was affirmed, on successive appeals, by the Presbytery of Edinburgh, on the 29th of December 1852, and by the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale on the 3d of May 1853. That the said Petition and Complaint farther set forth that, the petitioner feeling deeply interested in the subject of his application to the Kirk Session of the congregation to which he belonged, and being satisfied that the same had been misunderstood by the inferior courts above mentioned, took an appeal from the judgment of the Synod to the General Assembly of 1853; but that, owing to the pressure of business, this appeal was not overtaken during the sittings of the said Assembly, and was accordingly referred to the Commission of the Assembly, along with the other causes not disposed of by the Venerable Court itself. That, under this remit, it was the duty of the Commission to dispose of the petitioner's appeal, but instead of taking this, which was the only competent course, they were pleased, when the case came before them on the 31st of May 1853, and without hearing the petitioner as appellant, to find, as their record bears, that There is no case before them,' which deliverance proceeded on a ground contrary to the fact, and was unjust in itself, and ultra vires of the Commission who pronounced the same. 6 That the said Petition and Complaint concluded that the petitioner had been deeply aggrieved by the incompetent course taken by the Commission of the Assembly, (of 1853,) and prayed the Venerable Assembly (of 1854) to take his application into consideration, and to find that the Commission had acted irregularly in disposing of the petitioner's appeal in manner above mentioned-to resume consideration of the said appeal, and to sustain the same, and remit to the Kirk Session of the High Church Parish at Edinburgh, with instructions to comply with the prayer of the said application originally made to them by the petitioner in November 1852; or to do otherwise in the premises as to the Venerable Assembly should seem proper. That, on considering the Petition and Complaint above narrated, the General Assembly, on the 26th of May 1854, were pleased to find that the Commission ought to have heard parties, and remit the ⚫ consideration of the case to the Commission in November, that 6 6 intimation may be given by Mr Goodsir to the Presbytery of Edinburgh and Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale to appear and defend their judgment.' By this deliverance, the General Assembly substantially sustained and gave effect to the Petition and Complaint presented by the Petitioner, but owing to the circumstance that from the want of a quorum no stated meeting of the Commission was held either in November or in March last, an opportunity has not been afforded to the petitioner of obtaining a full consideration of his appeal and original application, as desired by the General Assembly, and he still remains without any relief and redress. That, in these circumstances, the petitioner is compelled to bring his case once more under the consideration of your Venerable House; and he trusts that, after the miscarriage and delay which have already taken place, and in order to avoid the possibility of their recurrence in time to come, he will be found warranted in venturing respectfully to require that the whole matter shall be taken up by the Assembly itself, and that the competency of the petitioner's original application, and the appeals taken by him against the deliverance pronounced thereon by the inferior courts of the Church, shall be cognosced and determined by the Supreme Court. That the petitioner humbly submits that the application made by him to the Kirk Session of the congregation of which he is a member, is in entire conformity to the laws and practice of the Church, and that the sustaining and disposal of this application by the Session is competent to and incumbent upon them in the discharge of their important functions. May it therefore please your Venerable Assembly to take the present application into consideration, to resume consideration of the appeals taken by the petitioner against the successive judgments of the inferior Courts above set forth, and to sustain the same, and to remit to the Kirk Session of the High Church Parish of Edinburgh, with instructions to comply with the prayer of the said application made to them by the petitioner in November 1852; or to do otherwise in the premises as to the Venerable Assembly shall seem proper. According to Justice, &c. ARCHD. T. BOYLE. |