By REV. J. MACLEOD.
“SURELY he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance” (Ps. cxii. 6). All the Lord’s people are righteous because of the grace of God bestowed upon them in a day of mercy. It is the grace of God that makes them upright, honest, humble, truthful, and obedient to the Lord that paid the price of their redemption in His own blood! It was a debt that they could not pay to the offended God of heaven. When they are brought to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by faith behold Him—”And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith (and with John they all say it), Behold the Lamb of God.” How can the believer but love Christ? It is not a mere fleeting impression or a sensational flash of the imagination that fades away like a shooting-star. It is, on the contrary, a growing indebtedness to Jesus Christ which cannot be expressed in mere words. It is in his walk and conversation the believer reveals his heart love to Jesus Christ. Judas might kiss Him, but in his heart was a drawn sword to destroy Him! Mary “stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment” (Luke vii. 38). Christ was precious to Mary!
In the Bible we have a galaxy of men and women who showed by their life and walk that they loved the Lord, and many of them sealed their love to their Lord with their blood. Their names shall be in “everlasting remembrance” in the Book of God. The world hated them, persecuted them, and slaughtered unknown numbers of them from the days of Abel, and by so doing, thinking, and believing that they were forever blotted out, but their names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, where devils and wicked men could not reach them any more!
By the above few remarks concerning the Lord’s people let us bring to the remembrance of the readers of the Free Presbyterian Magazine one who was known to many of you personally, and to others by name and profession only.
John Tallach was born in the town of Dornoch, Sutherland, some 66 years ago, and ended his earthly pilgrimage on Sabbath morning, the 30th October, 1955, in his manse in Oban. It was at the beginning of the first world war we first met John Tallach in the town of Tain, Ross-shire. It was on the eve of his joining His Majesty’s Forces in 1915. It was obvious to us then that he was deeply interested in the cause of Christ, and in the salvation of his immortal soul. From that time to the day of his release from “the body of this death” we felt united to John Tallach. He was privileged from infancy by being born to parents who feared the Lord, that honoured the Lord in their life and conversation, not only before their neighbours, but before their own children. His father, Andrew Tallach, was an outstanding Christian, pious, upright, sincere, and humble yet strong and courageous on the side of the cause of Christ, when many who made a loud noise turned their back on the cause that they were supposed to defend and follow at all hazards! It was in this God-fearing atmosphere that young John was reared and nurtured. “Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man: all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can show us our way that we should go” (I Sam. ix. 6).
That John Tallach was a child of many prayers, we doubt not, but more than all that was required and needed before young John could say with the Church of God, “I know whom I have believed (margin “trusted”) and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (II Tim. i. 12). He passed with hundreds of thousands of his fellow countrymen through terrible experiences in the first world war on the Continent of Europe in defence of his country. The Lord brought him safely out of that “horrible pit and miry clay.” For He had other work for him, the noblest and the most honourable in this life: to preach the gospel that saved his own soul to other poor lost sinners. That the Lord had set him apart for the work of the ministry is beyond all doubt. When he passed through the usual secular and theological curriculum, he offered himself to the Church, through its Foreign Mission Committee, to labour in our Mission in Southern Rhodesia. The Church had been looking and praying for several years for a young man that would offer himself to labour in this Mission. It was on condition that a European Missionary should be sent out at the earliest possible date that the Government allowed and permitted the late Rev. J. B. Radasi to be settled among the native population. Mr. Radasi was a native of the place, and the then policy of the Government was not to allow a native Pastor to work among the natives but under a European Pastor.
The Synod promised the Government to send out a European Pastor that should be in charge of the Mission as soon as one was available and suitable to take charge of the Mission. Mr. John Tallach was the first to offer his services to the Church for Mission work in Africa. He was accepted, and sent out with the prayers of the Church that the Lord would use him, and that His kingdom would be advanced in that part of the “dark continent.” On his arrival on the field of labour, and most undoubtedly looking forward to meet the Rev. J. B. Radasi, with whom he expected to work and labour for many years, instead he found on arrival at the Mission Station that Rev. J. B. Radasi had been removed to his eternal rest. “The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet” (Nahum i. 3). We can truly appreciate in this case what Nahum says, “The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm.” Here we behold another sore trial for our friend, Rev. John Tallach. He was alone, among primitive people, did not know their language, their customs and manners were all new to him! What was to be done now? We can follow him into the heart and centre of the 23rd Psalm! Here he found peace and solace. He cannot turn back; he has no desire to turn. He must go forward and preach with all his heart and being that gospel that saved his own soul to the poor heathen, some stark naked and, worse still, naked in their souls before a never-ending eternity. What loomed before his mental vision at the sight of the heathen orgies? Eternity, the soul lost, and lost for ever if not redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God.
He knew the remedy; they knew not the remedy. He saw into eternity; they could not see beyond their cattle and their foul and filthy beer! On his arrival there were few children attending school; probably one or two teachers. He immediately set about to teach the children, and before he was forced to retire through ill health there were hundreds of children in the schools under his care and supervision, and hundreds of them able to read the Word of God who were formerly living like irrational animals.
He had to labour not only in the spiritual sense, but in the physical sense as well. It was not a “forty-hour week” he had to work, but eighty and ninety-hour week. He had to supervise the schools, appoint teachers, open new schools, attend to the sick, provide for their food, clothing, medicinal attention among old and young, male and female alike. He had to do all this in the face of opposition which often taxed him to the limit of human endurance; the monetary difficulty he had to meet and face for years on end! I was a member of the Foreign Mission Committee before and during all the years Rev. John Tallach was in Rhodesia. How little our people at home could appreciate of the troubles, trials, and mental worries that Rev. John Tallach had to endure, while labouring night and day to direct the poor natives to that knowledge which flesh and blood cannot give, neither can take away once it is established in the soul by the power of the Holy Spirit! The question no doubt has been often asked, or thought, what has been the benefit, fruits, and results of all the labour that has been spent on the poor natives in our Rhodesian Mission? All that one can say to such a question is, that we must leave that to the Great Day.
We doubt not but many souls have been saved: but, even if one soul has been saved, in the words of the pious Samuel Rutherford, “My heaven would be two heavens in Immanuel’s land.” There is no wheat without chaff. The wheat is taken to the granary; the chaff is burnt. If many of the heathen are painfully disappointing after all the labour and effort that is used for their benefit, do we not meet with similar trying and painful disappointments at home? We most certainly do! Men, women, boys and girls under the teaching and preaching of the gospel for years, and at times very promising wither away into utter indifference, godlessness, and often into immorality! Here we have naked heathen savages whose life and conduct are far lower in many respects than the irrational animals, if they break away in many cases after being “semi-civilised” and educated to the extent that they can read the Word of God, where are they different to the “civilised” heathen in the home country?
If some are saved through the preaching of the gospel what more can the Church expect than what Paul and Peter expected in their day? Let us also remember that the seed sown may disappear for many a day under the sods in the minds of poor sinners in our Mission in South Africa, and reappear after many days, and bring forth fruit to the glory of God! Queen Victoria spoke very seriously to a young woman whom she met in the home of a dear Christian lady about her eternal salvation. The young woman, like many other young persons, thought little of it until a few years ago, when the solemn advice of the noble Queen Victoria came with power into her soul and conscience! His word will not return to Him void and fruitless. If John Tallach had been associated with one of the larger bodies, such as the London Missionary Society, the whole kingdom would hear of the work he was enabled to accomplish! Indeed, after he came home we strongly urged him to write out his experience in the Mission Field. He was too modest and thought so little of what he was able to do that he would not attempt it. The field before his mind was so vast that he could not make himself believe that he did anything.
That was John Tallach all through life to the end. Christ was great but the sinner or believer nothing at all. Another point that should be carefully considered, that the gospel never entered any city, town, congregation, family, or soul but the devil was roused and fought back with all his might to dislodge, discredit, and murder the “infant child” in the soul before it could walk in the ways of truth, righteousness, and holiness! The Roman Priest can convert the heathen by putting a bunch of beads about their necks and pour a little water on their heads, muttering a few Latin words, and call them converts to the “Catholic Faith.” The servant of Christ must tell the heathen that he must be born again, changed in state and nature, otherwise that all the waters of the Zambesi will neither cleanse nor take away his sins. Here is the fundamental difference between the servants of Christ and the false prophets. The prophets of Baal can multiply converts in thousands: the servants of Christ know that they cannot convert anyone unless God will use them as instruments. Their heart language with the prophet of God is, “Who has believed our report, and to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed.”
Whatever work the Rev. John Tallach was the happy instrument of doing in the hands of the Lord must be left to the great day of Judgment, when all His jewels are gathered home from north, south, east and west. That he was able to gather together many hundreds of poor heathen children, teach them to read the Word of God is sufficient evidence of the laborious work he was able to carry on in the sole interest of the salvation of their souls. His work was eased to a considerable extent when Dr. R. Macdonald arrived at the Mission, and Miss J. Nicolson, who took charge of the scholastic side of the work. Although the burden was made easier by their help and company, yet the responsibility of superintending the whole Mission work and preaching stations remained with him to the end of his sojourn in Rhodesia. He was one of the most unselfish men we ever worked with, as if born and moulded for Missionary work. How often we felt over the years that this servant of the Lord should be so often hampered and stunted in his work for the lack of financial help that could enable him to extend and carry out various projects for the benefit of precious immortal souls. Over the years thousands of millions of money have been spent in slaughtering men, women, and children and thousands of millions now squandered in feverish preparation for more slaughter, misery, and destruction, and nations and Governments refuse to spend a penny on the only remedy of the ills and woes of dying humanity! What savages we are! John Tallach worked against all odds like all the great Missionaries of the past and, verily, he was no grumbler. He could not wait to dress himself with a “White Tie” or with a “Dog-collar” on the field of labour.
He worked under all kinds of conditions, learning the native language, and translating part of the Word of God into the vernacular of the people, teaching, preaching, attending to the sick and dying, building places to conduct the worship of God with the help of the natives, travelling long distances from place to place, and when famine was threatening or actual among them he had to provide food for the poor, hopeless and helpless natives. The “Witch-doctor” could do nothing to bring rain or food to the dying heathen! He had to contend with the “Witch-doctor” on another field. For the heathen Africans believe in the “evil eye” of a bad neighbour, as some Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotsmen believe it! Sin and the devil are the same in Africa as in the Highlands or Lowlands of Scotland. That John Tallach over-worked himself is evident. When he wrote that he was to come back to Scotland, we wrote by return pleading that he should try to remain another five years, knowing what invaluable work he was doing in our Mission. After a month or two he wrote us that his time and work was at an end in Southern Rhodesia. We knew then that his work was accomplished; that his loving labours there were over! He was a faithful servant, loving, humble, and sincere. He loved His Master, His service, His people, and the souls of men. He was the first European Missionary the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland sent to the Mission Field. He served his Lord and Church nobly and faithfully. His reward is with His Lord in glory.
His removal made a blank in our Church at home and abroad. Some of us who knew him so intimately feel his removal keenly, but what cause of thankfulness to the Lord that His servant was lovingly removed to his eternal rest without ever marring his profession to his last hour in this life! He worked to the last, and was willing to go to Church the Sabbath morning he died if that was the will of the Lord. Instead he went to the Church above to join the redeemed of the Lord there, where sin, death, and parting are forever unknown. “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa. xxxv.).