This godly man, a brother of Rev. Wm. Grant, now in retirement in Dingwall, was born in Dornoch, Sutherland more than 90 years ago into a home where God-fearing parents gave their family sound instruction in the doctrines of God’s Word and careful training in the duties of God’s Law. The home attracted the pious people of the district and in his last years John Grant’s conversation often turned to those days of his youth when he loved to recall the old elders, David Ross and Angus Murray, who greatly influenced him by their public exercises in the House of God during the long vacancy till a minister was settled over them, and especially by conversation in private. As a young man he helped in the building of the first Free Presbyterian Church to be erected at Evelix, Dornoch which stood for many years till destroyed by a storm and has since been replaced by a smaller but more compact church. It was not till later years that he came under the power of the Gospel and experienced the great change which takes place under the Spirit’s gracious operations when the soul passes from death to life. He entered the banking profession in 1893, and served in such places as Dornoch, Dumbarton, Haddington and Inverness. In the latter town he married and settled down for what remained of his banking life, resisting every offer of preferment which would have removed him from the public worship of his own church, and after retirement from bank service he continued to live in Inverness, presiding over a most hospitable home where an open door was kept for all who loved the Lord.
While at Haddington, John Grant came to know for himself the Gospel of salvation. Since he was so isolated from his friends and the services of his Church, he was cast to a large extent upon his own resources, and when he could not attend any sound place of worship in the neighbourhood, he profited greatly by the study of the works of the eminent Samuel Rutherford, after whom he named one of his sons, of Halyburton, and of John Brown whose name will always be linked with Haddington as the scene of his remarkable labours. At this time he found the words of the psalmist Psalm CXVIII, verses 22, 23, very precious to his soul: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.” Often at family worship on Sabbath mornings in later years he would give these verses to be sung, which reminded him of the Lord’s gracious dealings with his soul at that early time. At the communion in St Jude’s congregation, Glasgow he was received into membership by the kirk session in 1913. He related two incidents as belonging to this period, which although they relate to what happened in dreams of the night, nevertheless indicate plainly how his mind was exercised with spiritual realities in his waking hours. Living amidst the scenes of the godly John Brown of Haddington’s ministry, he longed to read the works of this eminent divine, which even then were difficult to come by. One night he dreamed that he saw a light shining on a shelf of books in a certain second-hand book-shop in Edinburgh, and among them a small work by Brown. So vivid was the impression left upon his mind that on awakening he determined to ascertain if the book could be found in the book-shop indicated. As soon as he could do so, he visited the shop and there in the exact spot on the shelf in the window where in his dream he had seen the light, stood one of John Brown’s books, a small volume little known today, called, “A Christian Journal.” This little work is rich in the reflections of a spiritually minded servant of Christ, when surveying the changes which take place in the natural world on the return of each of the four seasons of the year, together with an account of a communion Sabbath in the home and congregation. The book is characteristic of John Brown’s well known style, and teems with allusions to the Word of God and to ancient and modern history. How greatly our friend valued this little volume is seen in the directions written upon the fly-leaf in John Grant’s own hand, that it be returned to the owner, and bears evidence that it was often loaned out to friends to read. The other incident occurred in the Glasgow manse of the late Rev. N. Cameron, where John Grant often went up to spend a weekend with the minister. He spoke of one Saturday evening in the manse study in Glasgow, when Mr Cameron confessed that he was at a loss for a text for the following day. On retiring to rest, John Grant dreamed that he saw a man sowing seed in a field, and when he drew near he recognised the sower as Mr Cameron. On the Sabbath he was amazed to hear the text given out in the congregation : “Behold a sower went forth to sow,” and we may imagine the feelings of pleasure and delight with which he listened to Mr Cameron discoursing on these words. He considered it a great privilege to sit under the preaching of this faithful ambassador of Christ, and between these two godly men there was a strong bond of friendship which lasted unbroken throughout their lives. Another minister of his early days to whom John Grant was greatly attached was the saintly Rev. D. MacDonald, Shieldaig, to whom he often listened with profit and enjoyment to his soul, and was present at the communion at Wick in 1894, when he listened to the sermon preached by Mr Mac Donald from the words of the Song: “I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys”—Song of Solomon chapter 11, verse 1, and Mr Mac Donald’s frequent references throughout the sermon to “Sharon’s sweet and lovely Rose.” Others besides John Grant recalled this remarkable communion season at Wick, and the sermon just referred to, during which Mr Mac Donald, time and again, during its delivery uttered the peculiar high pitched cry, which expressed the preacher’s own enjoyment of the Lord’s presence and of the intense delight he felt in preaching upon the subject which lay close to his heart, the lovely person of the Redeemer. There were some fastidious critics who spoke disparagingly of this striking characteristic of Mr Mac Donald’s preaching, but he himself in reply simply remarked: ‘I wish I experienced it more often.’
John Grant’s services to the Free Presbyterian Church will long be remembered with gratitude to the Most High. On the death of Mr Mac Gillivray, the Church’s General Treasurer, John Grant was appointed to succeed him by the Synod in 1924, and thereafter for the long period of 36 years, till failing powers decided him to retire in 1960, he gave ungrudging, skillful and faithful attention to the Church’s finances, wisely investing to the best advantage her funds, and maintaining the friendliest and most harmonious relations with all the Church office-bearers and courts, during his years in office. What endeared the General Treasurer to the wide circle of friends was the fact that he never sent out a communication in carrying out his duties, but invariably inserted a short, friendly note of enquiry and good wishes, and these friends he retained to the end of his life. For some years after retirement he acted as Hon. Treasurer of the Church’s publications. He was many years an elder of the Inverness congregation, and took his full share of the work on the Church’s committees on which he served. He was genial and friendly, and when necessary, knew how to administer a rebuke in the spirit of the Gospel, which completely overcame any resentment that might be aroused. He was accosted one rainy day with the words: ‘It’s a dirty day.’ He answered the thoughtless remark with the words: ‘It is not a dirty day, it is a day of mercy,’ and the man, arrested by these words, became his firm friend, and in his last will remembered the Church of which our friend was the treasurer.
In his last illness, some time before the end when lying unwell in bed, he asked specially that the verses should be read to him: “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away,” and then asked that the remaining verses of this second chapter of the Song be read. A verse that he loved to quote in the last year of his life was: “Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord”—John XX, v. 20. In the hospital to which he was taken, two days before the end he very peacefully quoted the last verse of Psalm XXIII: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” He loved to have the scriptures read to him and friends who visited him were asked to do him this small service, even the nurses were enlisted to read to him whole chapters at one time. He could hardly hear enough of the Word of God, and thought it a pity to stop, so much did he delight in the Word of Life. The last words he was heard to utter were: “Trust in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength”—Isaiah XXVI, v. 4. So closed with these appropriate words the life of this lovable servant of Christ to join the company of the Lord’s redeemed and now perfected saints, many of whom he knew and with whom he held fellowship in his wilderness journey on earth. The facts related above we received from our friend’s daughter, Miss Isobel Grant, to whom we are indebted for her affectionate remembrances, and to the family may the Lord continue to be the widow’s stay and a father to the fatherless. John Grant, passed to his eternal rest on 18th August 1967.
A.F.M.