Meeting of Synod
The Synod will meet (D.V.) on Tuesday 22nd May 1973 in the Free Presbyterian Church, Inverness at 6.30 p.m. when the retiring Moderator, Rev. J. A. MacDonald, Fort William, is expected to preach.
Aid to Distressed in Ulster
Dear Mr Macleod,
I shall be grateful if you can find room in your magazine for this short note. I have recently moved from Belfast to Dervock and when I was transferring my bank account, I decided to wind up the No. 2 Account which had been opened when “The Aid to Distressed in Ulster” fund was started. No contribution had been received since June of last year, so I thought there was not much point in keeping it open any longer. The balance at date of closure was £16.82 and this was sent to two young ladies in Londonderry, who had already received a grant from the fund. These two ladies had lost their business and home and all their personal belongings. They have not as yet received any compensation from the authorities. This is a typical case.
This help has been possible because of the kindness and generosity of the people of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland who contributed so willingly and gladly to this fund. Their kindness has been much appreciated by those who have benefited from the fund. They have asked me to express their gratitude to their kind benefactors.
I pray that God may bless your Church, and own and use your testimony for precious but despised truths.
Yours sincerely,
W. YOUNG
Southern Presbytery
Ordination and Induction of the Rev. Ian R. Tallach to the Church Extension Charge of Stirling, Perth and Dundee.
The Southern Presbytery met within the Tolbooth, Lesser Hall, Broad Street, Stirling, on Tuesday, the 6th day of March, 1973, at 6 p.m.; and at 7 p.m. with the assembled Congregation in the Larger Hall in order to carry out the above service.
After the usual preliminaries the Rev. H. R. M. Radcliff, Moderator, proceeded to conduct public worship, preaching a most appropriate sermon from Exodus, Chapter 3: Verse 14: — “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Public worship being ended, the Clerk read out the Narrative, Questions and Formula. Rev. Ian Tallach returned satisfactory answers to all the Questions, and then signed the Formula in the present of the Congregation. The Moderator then asked Mr Tallach to kneel down and, with the imposition of hands, the Moderator engaged in solemn prayer. Prayer being ended, the Moderator did then Ordain and Induct Mr Tallach in the following words — “I do now, by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, the alone King and Head of His Church, and in the name of the Southern Presbytery, Ordain and Induct you, Mr Ian Ross Tallach, to the Church Extension Charge of Stirling, Perth and Dundee.” The Moderator then gave Mr Tallach the right hand of fellowship and the other members of Presbytery and the associated member, Rev. D. A. MacLean, did likewise.
Addresses in appropriate terms were given by Rev. L. MacLeod to the newly-ordained minister, and by Rev. D. Campbell to the Congregation. The Rev. D. A. MacLean, Clerk to the Church Extension Committee, on the request of the Moderator, then addressed the meeting in a few suitable words, and the Clerk — again on the request of the Moderator — read out two letters expressing prayerful good wishes to the Rev. Ian Tallach and the people under his charge from the Rev. Robert R. Sinclair, Wick, and the Rev. A. F. MacKay, Inverness. The Moderator then announced that the Presbytery would continue their meeting after the close of the Service, and that Mr Tallach would shake hands with the Congregation at the door as they left. The Moderator then gave out Psalm 122 from Verse 6 for singing, and thereafter dismissed the Congregation with the Benediction.
The Presbytery, in collaboration with the Church Extension Committee, thus carried out the wish of the Synod with respect to the settlement of a minister of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland in the Church Extension Charge of Stirling, Perth and Dundee. Doubtless, the occasion was an auspicious one for our Church and for the Southern Presbytery, on whose Roll of Ministers Mr Tallach’s name now appears. Mr Tallach is the first minister of our Church to be settled in this part of our land. Stirling, Perth and Dundee are places famous in Scottish Church History. In these places there are many reminders of those who loved Christ and His Word and Cause, and of some who, like Rev. James Guthrie, sealed their testimony with their blood. May the ministry now begun be accompanied with the Lord’s blessing, and may Mr Tallach enjoy much of the Lord’s help and presence in the difficult field upon which he is now entering. May many tokens of the Lord’s favour be enjoyed by both pastor and people. The Lord Jesus Christ, the alone Head of His Church, is the same yesterday and today and forever. The Word of God, with its exceeding great and precious promises, is still full of encouragement to all the Lord’s heaven-sent messengers. “And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, ‘Fear not; I am the first and the last.'” Revelation, Ch. 1, v. 17.
It was most encouraging to see a Congregation of over 150 people at the Service in Stirling. We were reminded of the promise in Isaiah 60:22, “A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.”
MALCOLM MACSWEEN
Clerk to the Southern Presbytery
Perth Services
Readers will be interested to learn that church services began in Perth on the first Sabbath of April. The address of our place of meeting is as follows: The Forteviot Hall, Pomarium (off Leonard Street), Perth. The times of services on the Lord’s Day are 11 a.m. and 6.30 p.m.
We welcome all who may read this notice, and who are within reasonable distance of the above hall, to attend our services. Readers who may know of friends resident in and around Perth, and whom they think may be interested, should write to me giving their names and addresses. (My address is: 77 Nimmo Place, Perth).
So far, the numbers attending the services in Perth have been encouraging, but we desire and pray that these would increase. Perth is well-known as ‘the Fair City’, but like any of our other cities it bears the marks of the moral ugliness that prevails in our day. What the city needs is the transforming grace of God to change it, and to give it that spiritual and moral comeliness which it once bore in Reformation days. Let such as love the Cause of Christ and desire the advancement of His Kingdom remember the Church’s work of extension in their prayers.
‘Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, strengthen thy stakes.’ — Isa. 54.2.
IAN R. TALLACH