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Home / Publications / Free Presbyterian Magazine / 1998 to 2003 / September 2003 / The Achreny Mission – 2. 1815 to 1843

The Achreny Mission – 2. 1815 to 1843

The next missionary at Achreny after John Munro was Finlay Cook (1778-1858). He was licensed on 21 August 1816, and appointed to Achreny in 1817. Like his brother Archibald, and a number of other eminent ministers, he was a fruit of the Arran revival under Neil M’Bride, in which John Robertson of Kingussie, a former Achreny missionary, had taken part. Soon after his arrival at Achreny, he was met by James Macdonald, the father of the Apostle of the North, who was over 80 at the time. James thought he would test the new missionary by asking him for baptism. “For whom?” came the reply. “For myself.” “Well,” said the new missionary, “I will baptise you if you tell me who is your father.” Alexander Auld comments, “This ready reply – one more searching than to many may appear – gave James much satisfaction”. (2)

James Macdonald (c1735-1830) had been the catechist in the parish of Reay, though he had presumably laid down the work by Finlay Cook’s time. His successor in office was the eminent William Calder (died 1829), of whom the following anecdote is related. “There is a woe on you, William Calder,” he said aloud to himself on the way home from a Thurso communion, “for all men seem to think well of you.” “But what dost Thou think of me, Lord?” he asked, looking up. “Thou thinkest that I am a poor sinner. Blessed be Thy name. Thou hast taken the woe off me.” On the subject of dreams he used to say, “When I have a pleasant dream, I thank the Lord for it; and when it is unpleasant, I thank Him it was only a dream”. (3)

William Calder in turn was succeeded as catechist of Reay by Ensign Joseph Mackay (1780-1848), a native of Dyke at the upper end of Strathhalladale. Halladale was part of the parish of Reay, and these catechists would have laboured there alongside the Achreny missionary. The minister of Reay from 1783 to 1835 was David Mackay, an invalid for most of his life, who could do little more than preach in Reay on the Sabbath. Meanwhile, from 1769, the minister of Halkirk, the parish in which Achreny lay, had been John Cameron. He was a Moderate whose “habitual levity effectually prevented any good being done by his ministrations”. (4) He died in 1821 and was succeeded the next year by John Munro, who moved back north from Edinburgh.

One of the evil effects of Moderatism in the far north had been to drive a number of godly men out of the Established Church. This separation had been precipitated by an incident at a communion in 1797 in Kildonan, where Alexander Sage, another former Achreny missionary, was now minister. (5) The Separatists tended to be harsh critics of those, such as James Macdonald and William Calder, who did not follow them. One of their leaders in 1797 was Peter Stuart (c1762-1840) from Strathmore in the uplands of the Achreny Mission, but in 1798 he moved south to become catechist in the parish of Croy. Another of the Separatist leaders was John Grant of Kildonan (1752-1829), the most famous of all the men of the far north. He moved to Strathy about 1800 but was evicted in 1820, and from 1822 he lived at Brubster near Achreny. He told Finlay Cook: “Your soul has never cost me a prayer, but your coat [that is, your position as a minister] has cost me many”. Finlay Cook never passed his door, however, because, as he said, “I will get the rod from John, but then I will get honey with it”. (6)

John Grant was heavy-spirited in temperament and given to lamenting the decay of living religion in the land, whereas James Macdonald was “a lively and joyful Christian”. On one occasion James was visiting John, who at worship started to give out part of the eightieth Psalm: “The boar who from the forest comes doth waste it at his pleasure”. James cut him short at once, exclaiming, “I don’t care for your boar from the forest; give me the King’s daughter, all glorious within”. Like other Separatists, John Grant was inclined to appear at communion seasons, and on one occasion the Moderates on the Caithness Presbytery, with no good intention, compelled Finlay Cook to administer a rebuke to him for a remark that he had made at a Question Meeting. Finlay Cook was unsparing in his rebuke, and feared afterwards that he might have given offence. “You were very hard on me the other day at the Presbytery”, said John with a gruff voice when they met. “I was not a bit harder than you deserved”, was the reply. “If you had been one bit less hard than you were,” said John, “you would have fallen in my esteem.” (7) After all his sallies against them, John Grant’s mortal remains now lie just a few yards away from those of James Macdonald and Finlay Cook in the little walled cemetery at Reay.

On 8 June 1819 Finlay Cook was married to Elizabeth Sage, the daughter of John Grant’s original adversary, Alexander Sage. The marriage was performed by her brother Donald, and thereafter she and her new husband returned to the place where she had been born. “In their low thatched cottage and solitary abode at Dirlot,” Donald relates, “I was frequently an eye-witness of their beautiful conjugal unity and harmony. They were constitutionally hot-tempered, but not one hasty word was ever, by any accident, even once exchanged between them. In their views, tempers, and dispositions they seemed to tread the same path, to ‘walk by the same rule’ and to ‘mind the same thing’. As the devoted followers of the Lamb, whithersoever He in His wisdom thought fit to lead them through the ever-changing incidents of time, they were ever humbly tracing His footsteps as set before them in the divine record – in the secret exercises of their souls, in their fellowship with God and with each other, in the unwearied and conscientious discharge of every Christian duty, in the exercise of brotherly love to all who bore the image and breathed the spirit of the Lord Jesus, and in all the ordinary occurrences of life.” (8)

Two of Finlay Cook’s surviving letters were sent from Achreny, and two of his children lie buried in the graveyard there. Of his daughter he wrote, “I had a little girl once, such a pretty little girl, but I made an idol of her, and just as she was beginning to walk, God took her away from me. If you have anything in this world and make an idol of it, the Lord will take it from you, or leave it to be a curse to you.” (9)

Finlay Cook was highly popular as a preacher, and crowds of people from the surrounding area flocked to hear him, including one woman who, though lame, walked well over a dozen miles from the heights of Latheron. (10) He had little regard for his own efforts, however, and on one occasion he visited a blind old man, William Sinclair of Kirkton in Halladale. Finlay Munro, the famous lay-evangelist had recently started preaching, and happened to be visiting at the time also. He had just gone outside for a moment, leaving William Sinclair to ponder the question whether it was right for a layman to preach. “Is that you, Finlay?” said William, when the knock came on his door. “Yes, it is,” said Finlay Cook. “I have just been thinking, Finlay,” said William, “that it would be better for you to stick to praying and to give up the preaching.” Finlay Cook was inclined to agree with him, but soon discovered that the advice was intended for another. (11) William Sinclair was exceedingly conscientious, and it is recorded that on one occasion at a sale of his farm stock he interrupted some of the bidders, exclaiming, “O you are giving too much for that animal; it is older than you think”. (12) Another old man from Halladale was Hugh Campbell, who was born in 1744. At the age of 82, after a lifetime of godliness, he wakened his son William one Sabbath morning with the words, “Rise and get the pony; Mr Cook is to preach in Halladale today, and perhaps I may get one offer of Christ yet”. (13)

There was a desire in the parish of Reay that Finlay Cook should be appointed assistant to the minister, but Mr Mackay, though an invalid, would not hear of it. In 1824 a prayer meeting was started for the sole purpose of obtaining this end. (14) It was held at the house of Major William Innes of Sandside, a lover of good men. He had given John Grant a cottage at Shebster shortly before his death, desiring the honour of having such a godly man on his property. (15) In 1829 Finlay Cook moved to Cross, Ness, and in 1833 to Inverness, but in 1835, following Mr Mackay’s death, he finally became minister of Reay, and the prayer meeting was discontinued. In later years, he and John Munro, discussing their experiences in the Achreny Mission, agreed that it was there that they had had their pleasantest days. Robert Rose Mackay, who was himself missionary at Achreny, remarked, “Perhaps the reason was that you then lived more on the Royal Bounty“. (16)

Finlay Cook was succeeded at Achreny by Peter Davidson (1788-1875). Like his predecessor, he was a native of Arran and had been converted during the revival under Neil M’Bride and John Robertson. He was described as a man “of strong individuality . . . somewhat peculiar in his habits and strict in his views”. (17) In 1829 he had been appointed missionary to St Kilda but does not appear ever to have gone there. On 23 November 1830 he was ordained missionary at Achreny. We have no anecdotes of his time there, but we do have some information about the size of his congregations, because the material for the New Statistical Account began to be gathered while he was at Achreny. John Munro recorded that the population of Halkirk within the bounds of the Achreny mission was 784, although the mission-house at Achreny could only seat 403. The landowner in the Achreny district was the evangelical Sir George Sinclair of Ulbster (1790-1868), whose kindly and enlightened father Sir John had died in 1835. The effect of the clearances in neighbouring Kildonan and in Strathnaver had been to increase the number of people on the Sinclair estate. The minister of Latheron, George Davidson (1791-1873), reported that about 350 of his parishioners attended the meeting-house in Halsary, where a new and more suitable building was about to be built; it was much needed. Meanwhile a chapel had been built near Comgill in Strathhalladale in about 1830, and the average congregation here was 550 out of a total population of 1125 in Strathhalladale. (18)

On 18 April 1837 Peter Davidson became minister of Stoer, and in 1845 he moved to Arran. Following his departure, an attempt was made to obtain the services of John Macdonald (1800-1854), at this stage a probationer, but soon to become the outspoken evangelical minister of Helmsdale. He supplied at Achreny for a while, but “the Word made me wish not to go to the missions [that is, Achreny]”. On 23 May 1837 Finlay Cook wrote to him from the Reay manse:

“My dear Sir, I beg leave to enclose to you the letter of Mr John Waters of Dalnaha, who is one of the managers of the Mission at Achreny. He is an honest man, and takes an interest in the Mission. Indeed, he was one of my best friends when I was there. Will you be so good as to write me your mind on the subject immediately, so that I may be able to return an answer to Mr Waters as soon as possible? Mrs Cook joins in kind regards.” (19)

John Macdonald remained steadfast in his refusal to go to Achreny. The John Waters mentioned in the letter died in 1849 aged 88 and is buried in Halkirk. (20)

The final missionary at Achreny was Robert Rose Mackay (c1798-1866), who was appointed missionary in 1839, and joined the Free Church at the Disruption in 1843. Indeed it was the Disruption which brought the Achreny Mission to an end as a mission, because the Free Church soon afterwards disjoined the Mission and made arrangements for ministers to be settled in the different parts. The entire congregations of Halsary and Achreny joined the Free Church, barring a single shepherd, while the Free Church Tabular View for 1845 indicates that there was also a big congregation in Strathhalladale. The Free Church lost the use of the Comgill chapel in Strathhalladale, but retained the Achreny and Halsary meeting-houses, although her right to these was subsequently challenged.

The meeting-house at Halsary had just been built in 1842, and must therefore have been large enough for the congregation in that part of the Mission, but the meeting-house at Achreny was too small, as we have seen. In 1837 a new meeting-house seating 500 had been built in Shurrery, about ten miles from Achreny, by Major Innes of Sandside. It was opened on 26 November by Finlay Cook, by this time minister of Reay. Shurrery was in the parish of Reay, and Finlay Cook used to preach there every third Sabbath. “The inside [of the Shurrery meeting-house] . . . was made as commodious as possible, but congregations so large assembled that on several occasions they had to go out on the hillside and hold open-air meetings. . . . There were no roads, and the great bulk of the people rode their ponies.” (21)

Major Innes died in 1842, and his nephew and heir, Captain Macdonald, remained in the Established Church at the Disruption, notwithstanding his wife Lady Ramsay Maule’s sympathy with the Free Church. She was a sister of Fox Maule, later Earl of Dalhousie, who was one of the chief supporters of the Free Church among the aristocracy. The Shurrery meeting-house, as a consequence, was retained by the Established Church at the Disruption, with Captain Macdonald himself holding services on the Sabbath, and addressing the small congregation “in a style that would do honour to any lay-preacher.” (22) The Free Church, therefore, urgently needed a new building somewhere near Achreny, and in August 1843 a site was acquired at Westerdale Bridge, a few miles from Achreny. The church was completed in 1844 and the manse about 1848.

In October 1843 the second Free Church General Assembly met in Glasgow, with Robert Rose Mackay, “minister of Dirlet”, as a commissioner from the Presbytery of Caithness. From this it appears that Achreny and Westerdale was already recognised as a sanctioned charge by this time, with their former missionary as the new minister. Halsary seems at first to have been on an equal footing with Achreny and Westerdale, but from 1847 onward the Tabular View lists Halsary as a mission station under the Westerdale-Achreny congregation. Probably the population of the Halsary district was starting to decline. Meanwhile, from the time of the Disruption, the intention of the Free Church had been to separate Halladale from Achreny and Halsary and to join it to the Strathy congregation, but this does not seem to have taken effect until 1847, when Strathy became a sanctioned charge. Thereafter the histories of the two parts of the Mission run separately.

This article is part 2 of a series
Other articles in this series:[part 1] [part 3] [part 4]

Endnotes:
1. In the previous article, in the August issue, we sketched the history of the Achreny-Halsary-Halladale Mission from its beginning in the eighteenth century down to the departure of John Munro to Edinburgh in 1815.
2. Alexander Auld, Ministers and Men in the Far North, 1956 Free Presbyterian ed, p 75.
3. Ministers and Men, pp 110,133.
4. Donald Sage, Memorabilia Domestica, second edition, Wick, 1899, p 41.
5. John Macleod, By-Paths of Highland Church History, Edinburgh, 1965, p 81.
6. Donald Mackay, Memories of Our Parish, Dingwall, 1925, p 153.
7. Christopher Munro, Memorials of the Late Rev Christopher Munro, Free Church Minister of Strathy, Edinburgh, 1890, p 36; By-Paths of Highland Church History, p 102.
8. Memorabilia Domestica, p 295.
9. John Kennedy (Caticol), Memoir and Letters of Rev Finlay Cook and Rev Archibald Cook (second edition), Inverness, 1896, p 5.
10. Letters of F and A Cook, p 139.
11. G N M Collins, John Macleod DD, Edinburgh, 1951, p 209-10.
12. Ministers and Men, p 141.
13. Ministers and Men, p 140.
14. Ministers and Men, p 79.
15. Donald Munro, Records of Grace in Sutherland, Edinburgh, 1953, p 155.
16. Ministers and Men, p 75.
17. Alexander MacRae, Life of Gustavus Aird, Stirling, nd, p 115.
18. Malcolm Bangor-Jones, in John R Baldwin (ed), The Province of Strathnaver, Edinburgh, 2000, pp 82,98.
19. John Mackay, Memoir of the Late Rev John Macdonald, Minister of the Free Church at Helmsdale, Edinburgh, 1856, p 44.
20. A S Cowper and I Ross, Caithness Monumental Inscriptions (pre 1855), vol 3, Scottish Genealogical Society, 1992, p 104.
21. Memories of Our Parish, pp 88-89.
22. Memories of Our Parish, pp 47,89

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        • 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
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      • 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
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      • 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
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        • 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
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        • 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
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        • 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”
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        • 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
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      • 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
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