Mr William Sim, Elder
I have been requested by the Editor to write an obituary of this worthy elder of the church. My acquaintance with him reaches back to the 1940s by which time he was well advanced in grace and ready to prove himself a nursing father.
William Sim was brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ in early years. The Lord imprinted upon his mind the sin of giving the creature the place that was only to be given to him who says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Concerning this period of his life he said, “God took from me the idol and gave me Himself.” To William, the thought of making a public profession of the faith was no small matter and his concern was that the Kirk Session to which he would apply would deal faithfully with him. He found such a Session in the then Kirk Session consisting of the Rev Ewen McQueen, minister, and Messrs Charles MacLean, W MacDonald, Captain KK MacLeod and Angus Stewart, and was admitted by them in the year 1921.
In 1934 he became a deacon in the Inverness congregation which post he filled with the utmost integrity until he left the congregation sometime after the Second World War broke out in 1939. Then he settled in Glasgow and his work necessitated his journeying to all parts of the country, with the result that he made contacts in varied places with the people of God. One incident in connection with his travelling shows how minutely he committed his ways to the Lord.
As food was not readily available, he decided to purchase some oatmeal and salt so as to be able to feed himself. He failed to obtain the oatmeal and found himself with salt only. Upon his arrival at London he made his way to the manse where a number had gathered for the communion season. He was not long in the manse when the housekeeper informed him that she was unable to obtain any salt. Then William knew the meaning of his purchase.
He was a most spiritually-minded man and his public exercises revealed a nearness to the Saviour enjoyed only by few. At great inconvenience to himself he was a frequent visitor at the communion occasions throughout the Church. On one such occasion when he was making his effort to return in the early hours of the Monday morning, he was so tired that he was compelled to come off his bike and lie down to rest. He would have failed to awaken in time for his employment had not a dog come by his side.
He married a Miss Margaret McPherson — a woman noted for her godliness — and set up home in Glasgow, which house was of great value to the many who received entertainment there. It was in Glasgow that he was ordained to the office of the eldership and proved himself a most useful member of the Kirk Session. When the Kirk Session started holding services in Pollok, William was most ready to give his much appreciated services.
Returning to the North, he was elected an elder both in the Lairg/Bonar and in the Tain congregations. Later on, he came to live in Dingwall where he spent the remaining part of his life. His concern for the stand made by the early fathers of the Free Presbyterian Church was deep. Any seeming departure from that stand, he was ready to challenge. When, for example, he was aware that certain books which he considered to be unsound, were being published by the Christian Focus Publications, at that time under the Editorship of Rev J W Ross, a minister of the church at that time, William complained to the Western Presbytery of the church. The Presbytery did find that the Titles, “Mary, Mother of Jesus”, “The Rich Fool” and “The Boy who ran away” were (as William claimed) unsound.
For several months before his end he was hospitalised. The particular ward in which he was settled was a very noisy one, occasioned by uncontrolled “music”. Yet, when visiting him, it became most apparent that these things which would have proved an almost unbearable burden to others had as little effect upon him as the fire had upon the three in the furnace or as the lions had upon Daniel in the den: so wrapped up was he in meditation upon the electing love of God the Father, the redeeming love of God the Son and the sanctifying love of God the Holy Spirit.
With his decease we have every reason to pray “Help, Lord because the godly man doth daily fade away and from among the sons of men the faithful do decay.” Psalm 12, verse one. A.E.W.M.