Communions.
January—Fifth Sabbath, Inverness. February—First Sabbath, Dingwall; third, Stornoway; fourth, North Uist. March—First Sabbath, Ullapool; second, Ness and Portree; third, Finsbay; fourth, Kinlochbervie and North Tolsta. April—First Sabbath, Achmore, Portnalong, and Stoer; second, Fort William; third, London and Greenock; fourth, Glasgow and Wick. May—First Sabbath, Kames and Oban; second, Scourie and Broadford; third, Edinburgh. June—First Sabbath, Tarbert, Applecross, Coigach; second, Shieldaig; third, Lochcarron, Glendale, Helmsdale, Dornoch and Uig; fourth, Inverness and Gairloch. July—First Sabbath, Lairg, Raasay and Bealy; second, Staffin, Tomatin and Tain; third, Halkirk, Rogart, Flashadder and Daviot; fourth, Achmore, Bracadale, North Uist and Plockton. August—First Sabbath, Dingwall; second, Portree and Stratherrick; third, Bonar, Finsbay and Laide; fourth, Vatten and Thurso; fifth, Stornoway. September—First Sabbath, Ullapool and Breaseleite; second, Strathy; third, Tarbert and Stoer. October—First Sabbath, Tolsta and Lochcarron; second, Gairloch and Ness; third, Applecross; fourth, Greenock, Lochinver and Wick. November—First Sabbath, Oban and Raasay; second, Glasgow and Halkirk; third, Edinburgh, Dornoch and Uig. December—First Sabbath, London.
We have published above all the Communion dates for the year 1954. Will ministers kindly check the list and forward a note of omissions or corrections to the Editor.
London F.P. Communion Services.
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, London congregation, Eccleston Hall, Eccleston Street, Buckingham Palace Road, London, S.W.1. In connection with the dispensation of the Lord’s Supper on Sabbath, 18th April, 1954, the following services have been arranged (D.V.), to be conducted by the Rev. James A. Tallach, Stornoway, and the Rev. John Colquhoun, Glendale, Isle of Skye:—Thursday, 15th April, 7 p.m.; Friday, 16th April, 3.30 p.m. (Gaelic) and 7 p.m. (Fellowship Meeting); Saturday, 17th April, 3.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. (Prayer Meeting); Sabbath, 18th April, 11 a.m., 3.30 p.m. (Gaelic) (with a corresponding English service in the downstairs hall simultaneously), and 7 p.m.; Monday, 19th April, 3.30 p.m. (Gaelic) and 7 p.m.
Services are held every Sabbath at 11 a.m., 3.45 p.m. (Gaelic), and 7 p.m. Weekly Prayer Meeting—Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Ordination of Rev. Alex. Murray, M.A., Probationer.
At a meeting held in the Bonar Bridge Church in the afternoon of Tuesday, 2nd February, the Northern Presbytery solemnly ordained Rev. Alex. Murray, M.A., Probationer, to the holy office of the ministry. The Moderator, Rev. F. Macleod, preached an appropriate sermon from the words in Revelation, chap. iii., verse 8: “Behold, I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it.” A large and attentive congregation gathered mainly from the Bonar Bridge district with many friends from further afield were present at the service. At the conclusion of the sermon, the clerk gave a narrative of the steps taken preceding the ordination. Mr. Murray was then asked to stand and the questions usual on such an occasion were put to him and satisfactorily answered, and the Formula signed in the presence of the congregation. Mr. Murray was then set apart to the office of the ministry by the Moderator with solemn prayer and imposition of hands, in which he was joined by the other ministers present. The ordination prayer being concluded, Mr. Murray was given the right hand of fellowship and admitted to the membership of Presbytery and his name added to the roll. Rev. Wm. Grant addressed the newly ordained minister on the duties of the gospel ministry, its discouragements and rewards, and wished him the Lord’s blessing in the arduous work which lay before him. The Moderator then called upon the other two ministerial members present, Rev. R. R. Sinclair and Rev. A. F. Mackay, who in cordial terms expressed their warm wishes for Mr. Murray’s success in the Gospel ministry. The proceedings were then brought to a close with the singing of the 133rd psalm and the benediction.
Many throughout the church who knew his saintly grandfather, the late Alex. Murray, Badbea, Bonar Bridge, will rejoice to know that the grandson has now entered upon the work of the ministry in the church which with like minded elders his grandfather served so faithfully in the early days, and will follow Mr. Murray’s future life with the deepest interest. Rev. A. Murray has agreed to go for a period as the church’s deputy to our Winnipeg congregation in Canada and arranged to sail from the Clyde on Saturday, 6th February, in the Anchor Line M.V. “Elysia” to New York. The prayers of those who love the good ways of Sion will accompany the young minister and his wife during their stay in Canada. May the ministry just begun be abundantly owned by the Great Head of the Church in the ingathering of many precious souls and the reviving and strengthening of His own cause.—A. F. M., Clerk of Northern Presbytery.
Student Received.
The Northern Presbytery, at its meeting at Bonar Bridge on Tuesday, 2nd February, received Mr. Donald Beaton Macleod as a student studying for the ministry of the church. Mr. Macleod is the eldest son of our Dornoch minister, Rev. F. Macleod, and grandson of the late Rev. Donald Beaton, formerly of Wick and Oban.—A. F. M., Clerk of Northern Presbytery.
Resolution re Use of TV by Church of Rome.
We, the Outer Isles Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, met at Stornoway on 2nd February, 1954, do protest most vigorously against Mass being televised, and also the elaborate arrangements being made by the B.B.C. to televise the Pope at the forthcoming canonisation of his predecessor.
We are perfectly certain that Queen Elizabeth I, who saw the beginnings of the British Empire, would not approve of such anti-Protestant activities on the part of a corporation supported by the British taxpayer, who is still Protestant and not Roman Catholic. Of 50 millions in the British Isles only a fraction is Roman Catholic, but their political power is out of all proportion to their numbers.
- Mr. Churchill said he did not propose to preside over the dissolution of the British Empire.
- John Knox feared one Mass more than an army of foreign invaders. Copies to be sent to Magazine, Mr. Churchill, Home Secretary, Council of State.—D. J. MacAskill, Clerk.
An Appeal to the County Council of Ross-shire.
The Outer Isles Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, convened at Stornoway on Tuesday, 2nd February, 1954, views with grave disquiet the menace of the mobile cinema to the spiritual and educational welfare of our youth.
At the Cinema Commission of Inquiry held at Westminster striking testimonies without religious bias or prejudice were given as to the serious effect of the cinema on the rising generation. Dr. Lyttelton, late headmaster of Eton, proceeding from the educational law that knowledge can only be acquired by effort, deprecated the idea that children could learn anything from the cinema. The effects of cinema pictures upon children might be bad although the pictures were good. Miss Fox, of the Headmistresses’ Association, declared that persistent attendance at the cinema on the part of children tended to destroy their power of concentration and the effects on the child while at school were adverse.
Morally or spiritually we hold that the cinema has a demoralising effect upon our youth.
We would therefore respectfully crave the County Council of Ross-shire to give no support financially or otherwise to the Mobile Cinema Unit.—D. J. MacAskill, Clerk, O.I. Presbytery.