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Las diagrammes suivants lllustrent la mAthodd. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 8 6 To THE Members of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Canada in Connection with the Church of Scotland, and especially to the Members and Adherents of St. Andrew's Church, (Church of Scotland,) Montreal. The following Circular is in vindication of the under- signed, against a slur on his character, made by his Minister, on the floor of Synod, on the fourth of November last past, at Toronto. The undersigned, a member of St. Andrew's Church, Montreal, it will be remembered, was ordained an Elder of that Church, together with other members thereof, amongst whom was James Johnston, Esquire, merchant, of this city, sometime during the month of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-one. Matters moved along quietly and smoothly, in connec- tion with the prosecution of Church affairs, until the month of April following, or thereabouts, when certain changes were asked for by some members of Session, who represented that a number of the congregation desired an alteration in the mode of worship, viz. : — From sitting to standing at singing, and from standing to kneeling at prayer. This idea was the cause of the first disturbance of the peace in St. Andrew's Church (Kirk Session) from the time Mr. Lang became Minister of the Church. Mr. Johnston being an out-and-out Kirk man, sorely resisted the resolution for such changes, and continued to do so until he resigned in May, eighteen hundred and seventy-three. The undersigned freely admits, that in a great many instances, during the discussion of Session matters, Mr. John- ston's conduct was not what one could term courteous, or -iL. wsimm otherwise evincing a Christian spirit ; but, on the other hand, he oftentimes had severe provocation ; and having a desire to maintain the old maxims of the Mother Church, it was tanta- lizing to him to see men evidently doing their utmost to do away with the old principles and forms of the Church that he had so much regard and affection for. Under these circumstances, a great amount of leniency must be extended to our old friend, who, after all, is by no means the man that some members of the Session term him. I admit that I have condemned him, and have often been sorely vexed in my heart at his actions ; and it is, doubtless, generally known that I seconded the resolution f )r his six months' suspension from the office of the Elderahip; — I have to remark that I entered the Session an inexperienced man in Church matters — but I felt that I would early grapple with the work, having co-workers enrolled, some of whom were men of a great amount of experience. But, before I was long there, I soon found that I, with older — yea, much older men than myself — was misled by parties, who, either from want of knowing better, or otherwise purposely, did, as, for instance, in the case of the suspension, what I was informed was quite legal ; and no one caring about moving the resolution, Mr. Eeekie moved, and I seconded it. We did so, seeing that the others were evidently dubious about it — even those very men who said it was all perfectly correct. Anyhow, the seconding of the said resolution was the first false step I made in Sessional matters, which was so widely and sorely condemned by members of our own and other congregations, both in this city and elsewhere. However, to get at the purport of this Circular, I need not dilate any further in regard to what took place at sub- sequent meetings of Session — > suffice it to say, that at a meeting of Presbytery, held in St. Paul's Church, in the month of May, 1873, Mr. Johnston, at the instance of mem- bers of the Session, and at the request made him by several of his friends in the Presbytery, resigned, upon condition that the minutes relating to the controversy between himself and {s 3 ler a le the Session should be forthwith deleted. He was assured that such would be the case by certain members of the Church Court, amongst whom was the ruling Elder of St. Andrew's Eirk Session, who stated, as I learn, that, although he had no authority to make such a promise, yet he had every reason to believe the Session would ratify anything he did. Mr. John- ston thereupon signed the resignation, with the distinct understanding that the minutes would be deleted forthwith without fail. At a subsequent meeting of the Eirk session, the representative Elder reported what had taken place, which was ratified hit not minuted. The resignation was read and accepted, Mr. Lang, the moderator, requesting that he be allowed to name myself with two others, whom, if I remem- ber right, were Messrs. Hunter and Morris, for the purpose of carrying out such deletion. This Committee, for some reason evidently, was not entered on the Minute Book. I must not neglect to mention that Mr. Johnston had entered an action against a member of the congregation some months previously for certain griev- ances done himself and family, and it was mentioned at the meeting of Kirk session lastly referred to, by a member of the session, that as Mr. Johnston had been let off so easily, we had better call on him to desist in the prosecution of his action against the member referred to. My reply was that we might as well take forcible possession of Mr. John- ston's house and order him out as to dictate to him what he should do in regard to said action. The matter here dropped, and nothing more was said concerning it. The summer of 1873 passed over, and no minutes were deleted. Mr. Johnston met me about ten days before the meeting of Presbytery, which took place the first week in November following, and asked if the minutes were deleted. I had to plead guilty, for I had never given the matter a particle of attention, and apologized for my negligence. He was kind enough to say that, as he intended to call up the minute- book in Presbytery to ascertain if good faith had been kept towards him, he would not like me to feel any way out of place or discomforted, and that if I would see to it at once, it would show that I had endeavored to do my duty. I imme- diately left him and went to the office of the Session Clerk, Mr. Hunter, but he refused me any information, which I thought was a very strange line of conduct towards a co- worker in the session, and one who could have demanded the production of the books. Failing there, I wrote the Presby- tery clerk to ascertain the exact position of matters ; but he was evidently tainted with the same disease, and I derived no more information from him than from the session clerk. Feeling somewhat discouraged, but determined that I would not be foiled in the performance of my duty, I repaired to the residence of a friend to seek his counsel in the matter. When I related to him the unsuccessful attempts I had made to ascertain whether or not good faith had been kept towards Mr. Johnston, and also their replies to my inquiries, he was simply horrified. Our cohversation, however, ended with an advice to me to write my minister and call upon him, in the interests of peace and the welfare of his congregation, to have the said minutes deleted. Considering the advice most excellent and kind, I immediately wrote as follows: — [COPY.] <( MONTBIAL, 29th Oct., 1874. ('Dbab Mb. Lano,— " As the usual quarterly meeting of Presbytery is near " at hand, I wish to remind you of the condition in regard to Mr. Johnston's " resignation, which was, that all records of the Johnston Controversy " should be deleted from the Minute Book, and if you remember right, I " with two others were a Committee appointed to see that it was done ; (( the other day I was asked if it was done ; my reply was that I could not "^say, never having attended to seeing that it was done. I was then informed " that the books would be called up before Presbytery the very first thing ; <( my next move was to see Mr. Hunter, Session Clerk, and when I asked " him about it, his reply was, Elder to give to another, and afterwards said that he would not do it, " that he had received no orders, and he then went on railing about Johnston. " Now, Mr. Lang, although I think no more of Mr. Johnston than you do, "still as a sacred promise was made and a coven