Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland

Reformed in Doctrine, Worship, and Practice

“Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.” Psalm 60:4

  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
    • What We Contend For
    • What We Believe
    • How We Worship
    • How We Are Organised
    • Important Documents
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Articles
  • Publications
    • Free Presbyterian Magazine
    • Young People’s Magazine
    • Gaelic Supplement – An Earrann Ghàidhlig
    • Synod Reports
    • Religion and Morals Committee Reports
  • Audio
    • Sermons
    • Theological Conferences
    • Youth Conferences
  • Congregations
    • Places of Worship
    • Current Ministers
    • Galleries of FP Churches
  • International
    • Zimbabwe Mission
    • Other International Congregations
    • Translation Work
    • Metrical Psalms in Various Languages
  • History
    • History of the FP Church
    • Congregational Histories
    • Deceased Ministers and Probationers
    • Obituaries and Synod Tributes
    • Moderators of Synod etc.
  • Spiritual Help
    • How to Find Spiritual Help
    • How may a sinner be saved?
    • How may someone know if they are truly saved?
    • Spiritual Mindedness
    • Scripture and Catechism Exercises 2020-21
  • Bookshop
Home / Publications / Free Presbyterian Magazine / 1998 to 2003 / September 2001 / Raasay Congregation – a Brief History

Raasay Congregation – a Brief History

The beginning of a matter is of great importance in assessing how it will proceed. Commonly the first step sets the direction of a whole enterprise. Thus the Book of Genesis (meaning the beginning of things) has a large place in the Old Testament and is frequently referred to throughout the Bible. This being the case we intend spending a large proportion of this article on the genesis of the Raasay Free Presbyterian congregation.

The twin forces of secularisation and Darwin’s Theory of Evolution had a powerful effect on the country at large during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The effects filtered down to all sections of society but were particularly evident in the Christian Church. By claiming that the forces which had formed the individual were blind to right or wrong, evolution separated him from moral responsibility. It was assumed that man had now reached a more advanced stage than ever before; so religion was one crutch he could dispense with. Man had “come of age”. Secularisation involves a preoccupation with purely temporal concerns; “prediction and planning take over from prayer and providence” (2). In the broader Biblical view of matters, there was nothing new in these ideas. They were as old as unbelief itself, which began with Satan’s temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden when he called in question the truth of God’s word: “Yea, hath God said?” (Gen 3.1).

Our particular concern is with the effect of these forces on the old Free Church towards the end of the nineteenth century, resulting in the formation of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland and particularly a congregation of that denomination in Raasay. The Free Church had been formed in 1843, when over 450 ministers left the Church of Scotland in a movement called the Disruption. The point at issue was: whose authority was to be recognised by the Church, the word of Christ as King or the word of an earthly monarch? In choosing to stand for the crown rights of the Redeemer, these men left manses and glebes and set up the Free Church of Scotland.

Fifty years on, under the influence of the forces mentioned above, another spirit had given birth to another movement in the Free Church. Dr Rainy, whose uncle was responsible for clearing 14 townships and 97 families to create a sheep farm on Raasay in the 1850s, (3) was its chief architect. Dr Rainy and his party wished to form a larger body by joining with the United Presbyterian Church; they drew up a Declaratory Act and presented it to the Free Church Assembly of 1891. This Act was designed to cut the Church adrift from the Westminster Confession of Faith as the foundational statement of the truths of the Bible. Those who subscribed to the Confession (as ministers did at their induction) could now agree with as much or as little of it as their private judgement and consciences could bear. This proposed Act was passed down to Presbyteries as required in Church law, and it was apparent by the Assembly of 1892 that a great majority were in favour of it.

At this point the name of Rev Donald Macfarlane, who was to become the first minister of the Free Presbyterian Church in Raasay, comes particularly to the fore. A substantial minority within the Free Church, the Constitutional Party, expressed opposition to the Declaratory Act, but no one separated at the 1892 Assembly. Mr Macfarlane, then Free Church minister at Kilmallie, near Fort William, was not a member of that Assembly. Immediately on hearing what had happened at the Assembly, he called a Kirk Session meeting, which entered in their records a formal protest against the Declaratory Act. He was persuaded to stay on in the Free Church by the Constitutionalists as they were hopeful of having the Act rescinded at the 1893 Assembly.

In the Spring of 1893 Mr Macfarlane received a call from the Raasay congregation, which he felt led to accept. At his induction on 20 April 1893 he stated publicly before the Presbytery and the congregation that he was not taking office as minister of Raasay under the Declaratory Act in any sense or degree. When it was clear that the Assembly in May 1893 would not repeal the Act, Mr Macfarlane laid a Protest on the table and separated from the Free Church. The Raasay communion was held on the second Sabbath of June, and on the Monday Mr Macfarlane gave a lecture explaining his position. Those gathered included not only the local congregation, but also many visitors (about 2000 in all according to a newspaper report at the time). (4) Mr Macfarlane then asked those present to stand up who agreed with his action in separating. All present stood, apart from six. On July 28 the first meeting of the Free Church Presbytery of 1893 was held; it consisted of Rev Donald Macfarlane, Rev Donald Macdonald and Mr Alexander Macfarlane, schoolmaster in Raasay. A formal Deed of Separation was drawn up and passed at the next meeting in Portree on 14 August 1893.

Former friends now castigated Mr Macfarlane in the press, where the movement was described as “calculated to do the most serious harm to the cause of truth and godliness in our beloved Highlands”. (5) He was required to vacate his manse forthwith and for the next five years, until a manse was built, he lived in Broadford and came over to supply Raasay every weekend. The main reason for the delay was the opposition of Mrs Woods, the proprietrix of Raasay, who at first refused to give ground to build on and then set very stringent conditions on her offer of ground at Holoman. By 1899 a church was also built, with seating for 210. Rev A MacRae Portree preached at the opening of the Holoman Church on 27 October of that year. Despite the opposition he and his congregation had experienced, Mr Macfarlane did not become embittered or hypercritical. Quite the reverse, as the following quote, identifying his own and his congregation’s needs, demonstrates: “How much we need the quickening and reviving work of the Spirit in Raasay! My own soul needs it and the congregation needs it. Wilt Thou not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee.” (6)

After 10 years as minister in Raasay, Mr Macfarlane was translated to Dingwall. His parting sermon was from Acts 20:32: “And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace”. During this sermon he said, “Ministers are removed; God never changes. Cleave to Him and to the word of His grace. . . . I desired and laboured for the salvation of you all.” (7)

Services were held in the north end of the island in the meeting house at Torran, the school on Fladda, and the church on Rona. As the population moved to the south end, these meetings ceased. The last services were held in Rona in 1920, in Fladda in 1965, and in Torran in 1967.

After Mr Macfarlane’s departure, the services were kept by lay missionaries and elders under the supervision of an interim moderator appointed by the Presbytery. Among these interim moderators were Revs A MacRae and D M MacDonald of Portree, and A F Mackay and J A MacDonald of Applecross, while the first local missionary was Alexander MacLennan, Rona. It was Alexander MacLennan who, in declining to follow advice that he should remain in the old Free Church and not follow Mr Macfarlane, compared the Declaratory Act to cholera – something to flee from. (8)

Fellowship meetings, held on the Fridays of communion seasons are occasions when the male members present are asked to speak to a question based on a text of Scripture. The exercise involves each speaker making a difference, on the basis of the text, and from their own experience, between those who are the Lord’s people and those who are not. Alexander’s contribution was always valuable. On one occasion, he compared the true believer to a sailor who, anxious to reach a certain port, was scanning sea and sky to see if there was a favourable wind for his journey. As a believer, the great aim of his journey through life was to get to heaven and he was afraid that sin and Satan would blow him off course and make shipwreck of his profession. The hypocrite, on the other hand, was like a man to whom sailing was merely a pastime and he could sail before any wind that was blowing. Alexander was brought to the heaven he sought in June 1920. (9)

In 1910 Andrew Tallach, who had previously been missionary in Lochinver, was appointed to Raasay. His time in Raasay spanned the Great War, in which three sons were combatants, and his work in Raasay was not without its difficulties. Rev Neil Cameron notes that “an outstanding characteristic of Mr Tallach was the patience with which he could bear fiery trials and reproaches. He very seldom said one word to defend his own interests, but could not bear that God’s truth and cause should be allowed to suffer so far as it was in his power to vindicate the same.” (10) Andrew Tallach passed away on 11 July 1923. While Mr Cameron writes appreciatively of these men, the congregation in Raasay benefited incalculably from his own preaching. From that first communion, when as a student he assisted Rev D Macfarlane in June 1893, till his death in 1932 he assisted regularly at communions on the island every summer. Samuel Rutherford’s wish that his own parish of Anwoth would benefit from his preaching is expressed in the words:

“If one soul from Anwoth
Meet me at God’s right hand,
My heaven shall be two heavens
In Immanuel’s land.” (11)

William MacSween was a missionary and a stonemason. In 1929 he built the present church at Clachan and during the 1930s he kept the services in the north end of Raasay. Mr MacSween was the father of Rev Malcolm MacSween, who later became minister in Bracadale and Oban. In 1934 Rev Murdo Morrison was translated from Assynt to Raasay. However, his health was poor while in Raasay and on medical advice he moved to Tain on the East Coast to get the benefit of a drier climate. His obituary states: “It can be said regarding Mr Morrison that he preached law and gospel. He experienced in his own soul the power and evil of sin, and that the remedy God provided is sufficient to supply the need of perishing sinners. To this remedy he directed sinners and warned them of the consequences of rejecting it.” (12)

Raasay was again vacant for six years till Rev Donald Campbell was ordained and inducted there on 20 October 1942. The number signing Mr Morrison’s call is not recorded, but 270 members and adherents signed Mr Campbell’s call. It is also recorded by the Lord’s people that Mr Campbell frequently enjoyed freedom and liberty in preaching the gospel during the four years he was in Raasay. He had a warm and engaging personality and was an eloquent preacher of the truth as it is in Jesus. He was translated to Stornoway in January 1947, after which Raasay was without a minister for a further seven years.

In July 1958 Ewen MacSween, elder and missionary in Raasay, passed away. Ewen was a man of deep spiritual experience both of the sinfulness of sin as he found it in his own heart and the liberty of the gospel. He received that liberty under a sermon preached by Rev Neil MacIntyre, Edinburgh, at a Bracadale communion. Though latterly in delicate health, he used to walk three miles to keep the services in Torran. Over the last few Sabbaths he attended church, he had Psalm 45:15 very much on his heart: “They shall be brought with gladness great and mirth on every side into the palace of the king and there they shall abide”. (13) During this vacancy the elders kept the services under the overall supervision of the interim moderator. One such elder was Neil MacLeod, who kept the services in Torran and Fladda between 1950 and 1965.

Donald Nicolson was a missionary in Raasay from the late 1930s till he died in 1955. He had come to a saving knowledge of the truth at an early age and was “a man of prayer”. His prayers were characterised by honesty of expression, a fruit of his natural frankness, salted by grace. When very ill on one occasion he was heard to say, apparently on waking from sleep: “Grant it, Lord; grant it”. When asked what he was praying for, he replied, “For the Holy Spirit to come to this place”. (14)

Donald Matheson was a missionary in Raasay in the early 1950s. Born in Duirinish, he went as a young man to work in Glasgow. He continued for a time under soul concern, until he found the liberty of the gospel while listening to an action sermon (the sermon preached before the bread and wine are dispensed at a Communion) by the Rev J R MacKay on the words, “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd” (Zech 13:7). In 1951 he married Miss Margaret Tallach, who had been headmistress of Raasay School since 1908. In 1954 he retired to Portree, where he became an elder for the last two years of his life. (15)

On 26 August 1954 Rev J A MacDonald was translated from Applecross to Raasay, after 14 members and 192 adherents signed the call. While still a teenager, Mr MacDonald was impressed by the triumphant death of his godly older sister Catherine when she was only 17 years old and his subsequent spiritual pilgrimage was greatly influenced, under God, by the ministries of Rev D N MacLeod, Harris, and Rev James MacLeod, Glendale. His first sermon after his induction was from Acts 10:33, “Now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God”. Mr MacDonald was the first minister to occupy the present manse in Clachan. He remained in the Raasay charge until he was inducted to Fort William on 14 December 1960.

John Gillies, a highly esteemed elder under Mr MacDonald, was born in the north end of Raasay, spent his working life in Glasgow, and returned to his native island in 1957. John was an evidence of the value of family worship; it was while gathered with the rest of the family in his father’s house, as the Word was read, and praise and prayer were offered up, that he first came under a sense of his own sinfulness before a holy God. (16) In 1963 he returned, terminally ill, to Glasgow and passed away the following year.

On 14 March 1961 Rev D J MacAskill was translated to Raasay from Lochcarron and remained the minister in Raasay till December 1965, when he accepted a call to Uig, Lewis. He was “a peaceable and guileless man, who will be remembered (to quote a Synod tribute) as one who was a diligent pastor, much loved and respected by the godly in all his charges, one whose aim ever was to bring souls placed under his care to a saving knowledge of Christ”. After Mr MacAskill’s translation to Uig, John MacLean, Northton, Harris, was missionary in Raasay from October 1966 to December 1970, when Rev D Nicolson was inducted to Raasay. Mr Nicolson continued minister there till his translation to Glendale in March 1978. The services were kept by the elders, Ronald MacBeath, Calum Mackay and John M MacLeod, until the induction of Rev J R Tallach on 22 December 1983, when 103 members and adherents signed the call. John M MacLeod passed away in 1996. John Gillies and Kenneth Gillies were inducted as elders since the present minister’s induction. John Gillies has now moved to Stratherrick, and Kenneth Gillies passed away to his eternal rest in November 1999.

Though it is an island, Raasay has certainly not been insulated from the general, national decline in spirituality and church attendance. When Mr Macfarlane separated from the Free Church, he had a congregation of several hundred, including 34 members in full communion. Even within living memory, congregations of 250 on an ordinary Sabbath were common. Today (March 2001) there is an average attendance of around 30, and there are 9 members. Even allowing for the changes in society at large arising from the leaven of unbelief already noted, and the decline in the combined population of Raasay, Rona and Fladda from 670 in 1891 to the current 160, this constitutes a sharp decline in church attendance. Furthermore, in reviewing the lives of the men who adorned the gospel in the Free Presbyterian congregation in Raasay in the past, one is tempted to conclude that there has been a decline not only in numbers but also in depth of spiritual experience. We are not as our fathers were either in stature or in numbers. Yet this may be an example of the foolish enquiry that Solomon warns us against. “Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this” (Ecc 7:10).

However, looking over the state of the Church in Scotland at large and Raasay’s place in particular, we feel at home with Samuel Rutherford’s comment on his own day (1600-61): “It is our Lord’s wisdom that His kirk should ever hang by a thread; and yet the thread breaketh not, being hanged upon Him who is the sure Nail in David’s house (Is 22.23), upon whom all the vessels, great and small, do hang; and the Nail (God be thanked) neither crooketh nor can be broken”. (17)

Endnotes:
1. The writer gratefully acknowledges the help of Mr Calum MacLeod, Raasay, in collecting data for this paper.
2. New Dictionary of Theology, IVP.
3. R Sharpe, A Study in Island History. Grant and Culter Ltd, p 200.
4. D Beaton, Memoir, Diary and Remains of the Rev Donald Macfarlane, p xxxiii.
5. D Beaton, Memoir, p 32.
6. D Beaton, Memoir, p 39.
7. D Beaton, Memoir, p 39.
8. N Cameron, Ministers and Men of the Free Presbyterian Church, Settle Graphics, p 72.
9. N Cameron, Ministers and Men, p 74.
10. N Cameron, Ministers and Men, p 78.
11. Letters of Samuel Rutherford, edited by Andrew A Bonar, p 742.
12. The Free Presbyterian Magazine, vol 52 p 72.
13. The Free Presbyterian Magazine, vol 63, p 242.
14. The Free Presbyterian Magazine, vol 60, p 368.
15. The Free Presbyterian Magazine, vol 61, p 302.
16. The Free Presbyterian Magazine, vol 70, p 247.
17. Letters, p 80.

Return to Table of Contents for The Free Presbyterian Magazine – September 2001

Publications

  • Free Presbyterian Magazine
    • Historic Sermons
    • 1896 to 1904
    • 1904 to 1910
    • 1910 to 1919
    • 1920 to 1929
    • 1930 to 1939
    • 1940 to 1949
    • 1950 to 1956
    • 1998 to 2003
      • October 2003
        • A View from the Outer Hebrides
        • The Untiring Travellers – Part 2
        • Sanctification – Part 2
        • The Ten Virgins
        • John Wesley 1703-1791
        • A Pastor’s Concern
        • Seeking Great Things
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 2003
        • A Kingdom Where Order Reigns
        • Church Information
        • The Untiring Travellers – Part 1
        • Sanctification – part 1
        • The Achreny Mission – 2. 1815 to 1843
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – part 4
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2003
        • Church Information
        • A Prayer-Hearing God – Part 1
        • The Achreny Mission – Part 3 – After the Disruption
        • Meditation – Its Blessedness
        • Obituary – John Beaton, Raasay
        • African Missions Update
        • Growing Vatican Sovereignty
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Christ as Prophet
      • March 2003
        • What We Make It?
        • King Solomon’s Chariot
        • Samuel Rutherford – St Andrews and Westminster
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – Part 4
        • The Parable of the Talents
        • The Kinsman
        • Scottish Church Initiative for Union
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 2003
        • A Powerful Voice
        • Notes and Comments
        • “Ye Shall Ask What Ye Will”- Part 2
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – The Religion of the Bible
        • The Prodigal Son
        • The Study of Providence
        • Poor and Needy
        • John Piper and His Doctrine
        • African Missions
        • Protestant View
      • June 2003
        • No Sense of Need
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Call of Matthew
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – The Christian Doctrine of God
        • The Sower
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 1
        • Meditation Sanctifies
        • Mbuma Zending Meeting – 2003
        • Zimbabwe Ordinations and Inductions
        • Book Reviews
      • July 2003
        • Acceptable Worship
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Grace Glorified in Election
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – Some Further Doctrines
        • The Pharisee and the Publican
        • Rabbi Duncan
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 2
        • A Plea for Prayer
        • Continuing Repentance
        • Book Review: Christmas Evans, The Life and Times of the One-Eyed Preacher of Wales
      • January 2003
        • Thankfulness
        • The Lord God of Elijah
        • Samuel Rutherford – Fair Anwoth by the Solway – 1627 – 1636
        • Manna
        • All of Grace
        • Obituary – Mr Edward Arthur Christensen, Auckland
        • Obituary – Miss Isabel Murray, North Tolsta
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • February 2003
        • Christ’s Infinite Riches
        • Protestant View
        • Church Information
        • The Lord God of Elijah – Part 2
        • Samuel Rutherford – His King’s Palace in Aberdeen
        • The Privilege of Prayer
        • In Possession of the Promises
        • The Rich Man and Lazarus
        • Humiliation and Prayer
        • Book Reviews
        • Notes and Comments
        • Book Review – Sidelights on Bible Characters
        • Book Review – Authentic Christianity: Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles
      • December 2003
        • Nineteenth-Century Drift
        • A Prayer-Hearing God – Part 2
        • The Achreny Mission – 4. After the Disruption – Part 2
        • Meditation – Its Consequences
        • Visit to the Ukraine
        • Book Review – Letters from the South Seas, Margaret Paton
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • April 2003
        • The Promised Land
        • Church Information
        • “Ye Shall Ask What Ye Will”- Part 1
        • Samuel Rutherford – The Last Years
        • The Pearl of Great Price
        • Repentance
        • A Private Among the Padres
        • Damaging Doubts
        • The Prince – Defender of all Faiths
        • Protestant View
      • August 2003
        • What Kind of Faith?
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Head Stone of the Corner
        • The Vineyard
        • Mary and the Spiritual Mind
        • The Achreny Mission – 1. 1760 to 1815
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 3
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Book Review – God’s Hymnbook for the Christian Church
      • September 2002
        • The Shepherd’s Reward
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Jubilee
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Conflict
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – Part 2
        • The Beliver’s Sanctification
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Update
        • The New Archbishop of Canterbury
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
      • October 2002
        • “My Counsel Shall Stand”
        • Church Information
        • The Way to the City
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Consolidation
        • “Your Mercy”and the Jews’ Future
        • Springing Up After Many Days
        • Book Reviews
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2002
        • Christ’s Spiritual Conquests
        • Church Information
        • The Call to the Water of Life – Part 2 (1) A Sermon by William Nixon Revelation 22:17. And the spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
        • The Right Way (1) Rev J S Sinclair
        • Obituary Mr Murdo Macleod, Elder, Stornoway
        • Book Reviews
        • Foreign Mission News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 2002
        • Divine Compassion
        • Book Review – The Antichrist
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Coming to Christ – Part 2
        • A Master in Israel
        • The Cleansing of the Leper
        • The Christian’s Life
        • The Puritans on Prayer
        • Advice on Preaching
        • The Great Draught of Fishes
        • Book Review – Church and State
      • March 2002
        • “Hear the Word of the Lord”
        • The Blessing of Asher
        • Thomas Cranmer – That God Might Be Truly Worshipped
        • Psalms or Hymns in Public Worship
        • Obituary – Reverend Donald Nicolson
        • Is Britain Being Protected?
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
      • June 2002
        • “Another King, One Jesus”
        • Church Information
        • Pray Without Ceasing
        • The Puritans on Prayer – Part 2
        • Inventing Religion
        • Princeton and Pelagianism
        • Among the Children
        • Hopes of Future Usefulness – A Letter of John Love
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • January 2002
        • “Religion in its Purity”
        • Notes and Comments
        • Attaining a Knowledge of Our Sins
        • The Meat Offering
        • The Strength of Faith
        • Thomas Cranmer – Moving Towards a Reformation
        • The Extent of the Atonement
        • Rev John MacDonald (1925-2000) – Obituary
        • Book Review – God and Cosmos
        • Protestant View – Queen Invites Cardinal to Sandringham
      • July 2002
        • The Need for Opened Eyes
        • God’s Wrath Against Sin
        • The Puritans on Prayer – A Wondrous Mysterious Grace
        • Revival in Arran
        • Man’s Righteousness and God’s
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
      • February 2002
        • Offering up Our Desires to God
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Look unto Me and Be Ye Saved
        • Thomas Cranmer – The Man of Extreme Caution
        • The Power of the Gospel
        • The Goodness of God in Redemption
        • Obituary – Mrs Isabella Turner
        • Book Review – Galatians
        • Book Notices
        • Protestant View
      • December 2002
        • “A Zealous, Godly Preacher”
        • The Call to the Water of Life – Part 2
        • Samuel Rutherford – From Birth to New Birth
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – part 3
        • Obituary – Mrs Annie MacIver, North Tolsta
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • April 2002
        • “I am the Resurrection and the Life”
        • Coming to Christ – Part 1
        • Thomas Cranmer – On to the Fire
        • The Plague of Leprosy
        • Divided Allegiance
        • Obituary – Miss Margaret Sutherland
        • Book Review – The Hidden Pathway
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • August 2002
        • Everything Devoted to God’s Service
        • Unity Among the Brethren
        • Those Who Have Feld for Refuge
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Conquest
        • Symptoms of Spiritual Death
        • Book Review – The King’s Daughters
        • African Mission News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • September 2001
        • Knowing God
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Path of the Just
        • Obituary – The late Miss Jean Nicolson
        • Obituary – The late Mrs Lexie MacLeod
        • Raasay Congregation – a Brief History
        • The Knowledge of Sin
        • Induction at Sengera
        • Book Review: The Source of the IRA/Sinn Fein
        • Protestant View
      • October 2001
        • Tragedy
        • “God Gave the Increase”
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – It’s Usefulness for the Church
        • Desires for Glory
        • Calling a Minister
        • The Vatican Archives
        • A Visit to Singapore
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2001
        • Scotland’s Preachers
        • Recent Inductions
        • The Rose of Sharon
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – It’s Usefulness on the Personal Level – Intellectually
        • “Be Strong and of a Good Courage”
        • God’s Wonderful Goodness
        • “Withhold not Correction”
        • Obituary – The late Mr Donald Beaton, Elder, Auckland
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Obituary – The late Mr Donald Beaton, Elder, Auckland
      • May 2001
        • Sinking in Capernaum’s Doom
        • Book Review – Irish Worthies
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Goodwill of God
        • Keeping the Heart in Temptation
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 2
        • The Garden of Nuts
        • The Son of Man Lifted up
        • Obituary – The late John Angus MacLeod
        • A Deputy’s Visit to Africa – Kenya
        • Book Review – Faith and Justification
      • March 2001
        • “Just with God”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Set up from Everlasting
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ – Christ as Priest
        • W S Plumer- Part 2
        • Obituary – The late Rev Alexander McPherson, Perth
        • Pastoral Letter – Rev Alexander McPherson
        • Joseph MacKay
        • Book Review – Forerunner of the Great Awakening
      • June 2001
        • Blessedness
        • Church Information
        • Christ Coming for His people’s Help – Part 1
        • Who Belong to the Visible Church?
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 3
        • Religion in the Highlands After 1688 – Part 3
        • Raising Questions Against Darwinism
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • July 2001
        • Cry Aloud Spare Not
        • Christ Coming for His people’s Help – Part 2
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ
        • Our African Missions – an Update
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Spring Visit to Ukraine
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • January 2001
        • Looking Forward
        • Book Review – The Government of the Church
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Faith, Its Nature, Origin and Effects
        • Thomas Halyburton and How God May Be Known
        • The Divinity of Christ
        • Religion in the Highlands after 1688 – Part 1
        • Keep a good conscience
        • God’s True Family
        • What is the Object of Faith?
        • Communion in Singapore
      • February 2001
        • Calling the Sabbath a Delight
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Set up from Everlasting
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ – Christ as Prophet
        • Religion in the Highlands after 1688 – Part 2
        • Book Review – Daily Prayer and Praise by Henry Law
        • Psalm 122 – Henry Law
        • The enemies of the Christian
        • African Mission News
        • Protestant View
      • December 2001
        • Protestant View
        • African Mission News
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Book Review – Tell it to the Generation Following
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – Usefulness on the Personal Level
        • The Impossibility of Neutrality
        • “Christian”Entertainment
        • Attaining a Knowledge of Our Sins
        • Church Information
        • Notes and Comments
        • A View From Zimbabwe
      • August 2001
        • “There They Preached the Gospel”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • “He Will Bless Us”
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ
        • “He Delighteth in Mercy”
        • “The Voice of Christianity in Scotland”
        • Obituary – The late Mr Ian M MacLeod, Elder, Dingwall
        • Obituary – The late Mrs Catherine MacKenzie, Stornoway
        • Book Review – Southern Presbyterian Leaders 1683-1911
        • Book Review – The Westminster Confession of Faith, Milestone, Millstone or Manifesto?
      • April 2001
        • Sowing the Seed
        • The Duty of Nations to the Church
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 1
        • “The Finger of God”
        • Obituary – The late Miss Peggy Nicolson, Inverness
        • A Deputy’s Visit to Africa – Zimbabwe
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 2000
        • The Resurrection of Christ
        • Church Information
        • Reading the Scriptures Profitably
        • The believer is to put those sins… into the hands of Christ
        • The Puritans and the Ministry
        • Christ Glorifying God
        • Blessed Are They That Mourn
        • The Nature of Vital Piety (2)
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • October 2000
        • The Fear of God
        • Church Information
        • Reading the Scriptures Profitably (2)
        • He indeed is rich in grace whose graces are not hindered by his riches
        • The Puritans and the Ministry (2)
        • James Stewart
        • Christ Healing a Leper
        • Visits To Eastern Europe
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2000
        • “What Are They Among so Many?”
        • Vain Religion
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Desired Haven
        • God may bear long with the wicked, but…
        • Thomas Halyburton
        • James Stewart (2)
        • The Temptation of Christ
        • Book Review
      • May 2000
        • The Church of God From Age to Age
        • Jesus of Nazareth passeth by
        • Rev Lachlan MacLeod (1918-1998) – Obituary
        • “So let him give”
        • The Solemn League and Covenant
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
      • June 2000
        • The Example of the Church in Smyrna
        • Eastern Europe – Spring 2000 Report
        • Church Information
        • The Nature of the New Birth
        • This is Indeed the Christ
        • Obituary The late Mr Alasdair Gillies, M.A., Elder, Dingwall
        • Report of Mbuma Zending Meeting – 29th April 2000
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Ma Donsa One of the Pilgrims at Ingwenya
        • African Mission News
      • March 2000
        • Two Free Churches
        • Sermon The Gracious Invitation of Christ
        • The Rev John Sinclair of Bruan (1801-43)
        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • Regeneration Regulating the Affections
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • July 2000
        • The Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Church Information
        • Lift up a Standard for the People
        • At the Westminster Assembly
        • The Earth Corrupt before God
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • Obituary – The late Mr Kenneth Gillies, Elder, Raasay
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • February 2000
        • The Rev. Christopher Munro (1817-85)
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • “Come unto me”
        • Joy and Peace in Believing
        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • Negotiations in London
        • Obituary
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Scottish Day Conference
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • January 2000
        • Another Millennium
        • Notes of a Sermon The Earth Filled with His Glory
        • The Second Coming of Christ – Three Main Views
        • The Latter Day Glory
        • Building up the Church of God
        • Princeton Seminary – The Majestic Testimony by David Calhoun.
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • December 2000
        • The Divine Saviour
        • A Sermon by John Kennedy
        • Thomas Halyburton
        • The Late Roderick Macleod,
        • The Aberdeen Church
        • Book Reviews
        • Book Reviews
        • Notes and Comments
      • August 2000
        • Where Are We Now?
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Given in His Fulness
        • Alexander Henderson
        • I cannot always come to Christ
        • Obedience to Christ
        • The Nature of Vital Piety
        • The Puritans for Today
        • Protestant View
      • April 2000
        • The Family Under Attack
        • Sermon
        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • The King in Scotland
        • Comments on Psalm 51
        • Unsettling the Settlement
        • The pope’s visit to the Holy Land
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • October 1999
        • Declaring All the Counsel of God
        • Church Information
        • God so Loved the World
        • The Rev. James S. Sinclair
        • The Glasgow Assembly
        • Calvin’s View of the Millennium
        • Book Review
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Annual General Meeting
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • September 1999
        • Old Testament Types
        • Church Information
        • Christ Seeing of the Travail of His Soul
        • Alexander Stewart of Cromarty
        • The Intercession of Christ
        • Resolved to Abolish Episcopacy
        • “And the sun was darkened”
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 1999
        • Morality and Politics
        • Church Information
        • Sermon
        • Rev Alexander Morrison (1925-1999) – Obituary
        • The Charismatic Movement – The Gifts have Ceased
        • Casting down the Walls of Jericho
        • A Visit to Singapore
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 1999
        • “Upon this rock I will build my church”
        • The Blessed Poor
        • Rev Angus Mackay
        • Is Christ our High Priest?
        • Signs of Religious Declension
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • March 1999
        • Heaven-provoking Legislation
        • Church Information
        • The Drawing Power of the Cross
        • The Alpha Course Examined
        • Teaching Christianity in Scottish Schools
        • The late Mrs Margaret Tallach, Glasgow
        • Letter by John Love, D.D.
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
      • June 1999
        • Made a Faithful Shepherd
        • Notes and Comments
        • How May Sanctification Be Attained?
        • Protestant View
        • Mbuma Zending Meeting Report
        • Address to Mbuma Zending Meeting
        • Spiritual Pride in Man
        • Church Information
        • Preaching the Unsearchable Riches of Christ
        • The Free Church and the World
      • January 1999
        • When the Enemy Shall Come in Like a Flood
        • Church Information
        • Let me see thy countenance
        • The Religion of the Highlands
        • Personal Creed and Resolutions
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
        • Eastern Europe Mission
      • July 1999
        • The Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Pre-eminence of Christ
        • A Man Who Wished to Live Obscurely
        • The Nature of Saving Faith
        • The Light of the World
        • God is: therefore God is to be Worshipped
        • Book Review
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
        • Protestant View
      • February 1999
        • The Purposes of the Lord’s Supper
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society – Appointments
        • The Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God
        • Holy Importunity in Prayer
        • A Heavenly Eternal Crown of Glory
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
      • December 1999
        • The End of a Millennium
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • Until the Day Break
        • The Charismatic Movement – The Gifts have Ceased
        • The Rev. Donald Macfarlane of Dingwall
        • The Pagan Origin of Christmas A Reminder
        • Ministers Prepared by Temptation
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • August 1999
        • The Advance of Rome under Hume
        • Notes and Comments
        • Eastern Europe Mission
        • Church Information
        • The Marks of a Time of Revival, and the Means of Bringing it About
        • The Free Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Thy Kingdom Come
        • The National Covenant
        • Work of the Trinitarian Bible Society in 1998
        • Unsettled and Discouraged?
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
      • April 1999
        • The Observance of Easter
        • The Smitten Shepherd and His Flock
        • The Prince of Highland Preachers
        • The Inter-Faith Movement
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 1998
        • The Golden Key of Prayer
        • Church Information
        • Weighed in the Balances
        • Christ, the Way
        • Praying as Beggars
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Our African Mission
        • Patrick Mzamo – A sketch of an African elder and lay-preacher
      • October 1998
        • The Westminster Assembly and Romanism
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • Christ Liveth in me *
        • God’s Way of Bringing Sinners to Christ
        • The Effects of Television Violence
        • Sin and Sanctification
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Philemon Ndebele
      • November 1998
        • Faithfulness or Vilification
        • Church Information
        • The Best Security in Evil Times
        • Pentecostal Dialogue with Rome
        • The Prayers of the Aged
        • The Religion of the Highlands – The Persecution of a Highland Laird
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Eastern Europe Mission Work
      • May 1998
        • The Mode of Baptism – A Defence
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • A Vessel Meet for the Master’s Use
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • Serving the Lord with Humility
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland on the Internet
        • Booklet Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Story of Mamlotshwa
      • March 1998
        • A Minister of God
        • “I will yet for this be inquired of”
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • Godliness With Contentment
        • Protestant View
        • African Mission News
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • Private Prayer and Public Profession
        • Truth and Life
        • The Free Church, Psalms and Hymns
      • June 1998
        • Family Worship
        • Notes and Comments
        • Ma Ngwenya – Mother of the late Rev. B. B. Dube
        • Church Information
        • The Lord is Risen Indeed
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Pastoral Epistles
        • The Church of Scotland and the Bible
        • Mbuma-Zending Meeting – 1998
        • Three Characteristics of True Faith
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Three Characteristics of True Faith
      • July 1998
        • The General Assemblies
        • Church Information
        • The Scriptural Warrant for Creedal Subscription
        • The Pastoral Epistles
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • A Cambuslang Case of Conversion
        • Booklet Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
      • January 1998
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • MaHlabangana
        • Winter Visit to Eastern Europe
        • THE NEW YEAR
        • The Church Built and Kept by the Lord
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Fruits of the Declaratory Act In the Free Church of Scotland
        • Redeeming the Time
        • African Mission News
      • February 1998
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • A Mission Day of Prayer
        • Church Information
        • Leaning Upon her Beloved
        • Brought Home to Heaven
        • Observing the Sabbath
        • Church Deputy’s Visit to North America
        • African Mission News
        • A Faithful Ambassador is Health
      • December 1998
        • When the Enemy Shall Come in Like a Flood
        • “My grace is sufficient for thee”
        • The People of the Great Faith
        • Sudden Conversions
        • A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ
        • “Give ye them to eat”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • August 1998
        • The General Assemblies
        • Sermon – The House of Many Mansions
        • Lessons From the Doctrine of Divine Justice
        • Book Notice
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Paul Magaya – Lay Preacher in Shangani
        • Church Information
      • April 1998
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Mode of Baptism – A Defence
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
        • The Manner of Coming to Christ
        • Book Notice
        • A Lily from the Ukraine
        • Eastern Europe Mission
        • Church Information
        • Called of God
        • Threats to our Religious Liberties
        • Mazwabo’s Amazing Transformation
    • 2004 to 2011
    • 2012 to 2019
    • 2020 to 2021
  • Young People’s Magazine
    • 2012 to 2019
    • 2003 to 2011
    • 2020 to 2021
  • Gaelic Supplement – An Earrann Ghàidhlig
  • Synod Reports
  • Religion and Morals Committee Reports

Calendar

  1. 9 Mar - Meeting of Presbyteries: Western and Northern
  2. 16 Mar - 17 Mar - Synod Committee meetings
  3. 23 Mar - Meeting of Presbytery: Outer Isles

View All Events

Latest Articles

  • Youth Conference 2021
  • Special Offers on New Books for March
  • Magazines for February 2021

Recently Added Audio

  • Our responses to what Christ says 11 Oct 2020
  • Nehemiah and the fear of God 11 Oct 2020
  • Who is worthy to open the book? 20 Sep 2009
  • Lazarus at the table with Christ 20 Sep 2009
  • Sons of God 27 Dec 2020
  • Mine eyes have seen thy salvation 27 Dec 2020
  • Direction for Joshua 4 Oct 2020
  • God pleased to use preaching 4 Oct 2020
  • Enduring by faith 27 Dec 2020
  • I was brought low 3 Jan 2021

View All Sermons

Download Latest Issues:
The Free Presbyterian Magazine
Young People’s Magazine

Free Presbyterian Places of Worship

Browse the Church Bookshop

Messages from Captivity: Sermons from Ezekiel 1-24 by Allan W MacColl, £6.79
A Day’s March Nearer Home: Autobiography of J Graham Miller edited by Iain H Murray £12.79
The Quest for Full Assurance: The Legacy of Calvin and His Successors Joel R Beeke, £9.59
The World Conquered by the Faithful Christian by Richard Alleine, £9.59
Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots by J C Ryle,  £11.99

Back to top

Website Contact

Rev Keith M Watkins
[email protected]

Moderator of Synod

Rev J Bruce Jardine
FP Manse, Tarbert
Isle of Harris, HS3 3DF
UK

Clerk of Synod

Rev Keith M Watkins
Free Presbyterian Manse, Ferry Road, Leverburgh, Isle of Harris, HS5 3UA, UK.
[email protected]

General Treasurer

Mr William Campbell
133 Woodlands Road, Glasgow,
G3 6LE, UK.
[email protected]

Copyright © 2021 Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland · Log in · Subscribe via RSS · Privacy Notice

This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Read more.