THE Synod would desire to express their sincere regret and deep-felt loss in the removal by death of the Rev. D. Graham, Shieldaig, Lochcarron, which took place on 5th March 1927.
Mr Graham was born at Drumbeg, Parish of Assynt, on 4th January 1859. In early life he became the subject of deep spiritual impressions, but it was not until
* The report of this meeting escaped our notice at the time, but in view of the important resolution carried by the Convention, we deem it right to give it a place in the Magazine.—Editor.
he was serving as an apprentice joiner at Golspie about the age of 19 years, that he first experienced the saving power of the Gospel. His circumspect and consistent life and conversation as a professing young man soon won the confidence of the people to such an extent that at the age of 24 years he was ordained an elder of the congregation of Lochinver, where he was now residing.
In 1893, when Revs. D. Macfarlane and D. Macdonald refused to enter the Declaratory Act Church and formed the Free Presbyterian Church, Mr Graham unhesitatingly threw in his lot with them and took the leading part in organising the congregation of Lochinver. The majority of the people followed him into the Free Presbyterian Church. Soon after he was appointed missionary of the charge, in which capacity he acted for several years with much acceptance.
His chief aim was to consecrate his whole life to the preaching of the Gospel to his fellow-sinners, and with that object in view he took a theological course in preparation for the ministry. Having received a unanimous call from the joint congregation of Shiel-daig and Lochcarron, he was duly ordained and inducted to that charge in November 1905. Here he continued faithfully discharging his ministerial functions up to the time of his death. His services were much appreciated, especially by the more discerning people, and also blessed to not a few. He was a useful member of the Courts of the Church, being courteous, obliging, and ever ready to assist his brethren.
The first symptoms he felt of his trouble, which proved fatal, were manifested when serving our Naval men in Portsmouth and Chatham during the war. Three operations, two in Edinburgh and one at Shiel-daig, were performed, but each proved unsuccessful, and despite all that medical skill and love could do his malady finally ended in death. During his last illness he enjoyed much of the Lord’s presence, being comforted and strengthened by His Word. He expressed himself in the following words when about to go through his first operation:—”I have no promise that I will get through this operation, but I have a promise of being with Christ for ever, and if I do not come back you will know that I am with Him in heaven.” In this frame of mind he continued, his hope unclouded, until he passed away to the place where there are no clouds and where the sun shall no more go down, and the days of mourning are ended. His end was peace. “Mark the perfect and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.”
His remains were interred in the church-yard at Lochcarron, where they await a glorious resurrection. The respect in which Mr Graham was held by all denominations was manifestly seen in the large gathering that assembled to show their last respects to his mortal remains, both at Shieldaig and Lochcarron.
The Synod would express their deepest sympathy with Mrs Graham and family in their great and sore loss of a beloved husband and an affectionate father, and also with the congregation in the loss of a faithful servant of Christ, and pray that the Lord would be a husband to the widow and a father to the fatherless, and that the Chief Shepherd would provide a pastor for the people after His own heart. May we all be enabled by grace to be “followers of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
Resolution by Southern Presbytery on Mr Norman Shaw’s Case.
THE Southern Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church consider the conduct of the Clyde Lighthouses Trustees in the now notorious case of Mr Norman Shaw, Toward Lighthouse, who is a member of the Free Presbyterian Church, as having been tyrannical and a case in point of real persecution. Mr Shaw did not show unwillingness to attend to any duties which the Trustees had a right to require of him. The Lord, in the Fourth Commandment, which is of perpetual binding obligation upon all men, enacts—”Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work, thou . . . thy manservant,” etc. God binds here the Trustees, as well as Mr Shaw, to abstain from any work on the Sabbath, excepting works of necessity and mercy, which Mr Shaw offered to attend to. That the work Mr Shaw refused to do was neither that of necessity nor mercy has been made to appear very clearly from correspondence in the public press. Consequently, the Trustees, like the rulers of the Jews in apostolic times, have begun to coerce obedience to them contrary to God’s command and his conscience of their servant. The answer given then is the only appropriate one now:—”Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” The earnest, wise, and serious warning Mr Shaw gave the Trustees, after they dismissed him,
is worthy of being kept on record. It reads:—”It is sad that the Trustees in their official capacity should demand such disregard for the Lord’s Day, seeing that neither masters nor servants can escape the righteous judgment of the Lord nor the terrors of their own consciences when they shall be awakened; for rest assured that those who continue to despise the Lord’s Day in time shall find eternity long enough to lament their folly when there is no more hope.” Those are words which every man should lay seriously to heart. The Presbytery desire to thank the public press for having thrown its valuable columns open so as to expose such arbitrary and unchristian conduct, and also all who manifested their sympathy towards Mr Shaw and the principle for which he suffered—liberty of conscience guided by God’s Word. The mean, malicious, and slanderous effort put forth by the Chairman and Clerk of the Clyde Lighthouses Trust to damage Mr Shaw’s character may be considered in the proper place.