THE Northern Presbytery of The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland met at Halkirk, on the 8th day of November, 1940, considered reports re the opening of Thurso Cinema and a “Garrison Theatre” in Inverness and the playing of organised football at Dingwall, all on the Lord’s Day for the entertainment of members of His Majesty’s Forces.
The Presbytery would remind all concerned of the following:—
(1) That the Sabbath Law is of Divine authority and perpetual obligation; and the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ is that the Sabbath is made for man, not for man to profane but to observe in strict accordance with God’s revealed will.
(2) That His revealed will relative to the Sabbath is declared thus—”If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah. ch. 58, verses 13, 14). “Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath” (Nehemiah, ch. 13, verse 18).
The Presbytery therefore protest against the aforementioned conduct and solemnly warn their fellow-countrymen, whose spiritual and temporal welfare they have at heart, that disregard of the Divine will, more especially when the nation is engaged in conflict with the forces of evil, cannot but expose us to manifestations of the displeasure of heaven.