Presbytery Meetings (D.V.)
Skye: At Portree on 4th October at 11 a.m.
Western: At Laide on 4th October at 12 noon.
Outer Isles: At Stornoway on 15th November at 11 a.m.
Northern: At Bonar on 15th November at 2.30 p.m.
Southern: At Glasgow on 29th November at 6 p.m.
Northern Presbytery Protest
Rt. Hon. R. MacLennan, M.P.,
House of Commons,
Westminster,
London.
Free Presbyterian Manse,
11 Auldcastle Road,
Inverness.
5th September 1977.
Sir,
The Northern Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church at its meeting at Dingwall on 30th August 1977 considered with disappointment and indignation the request which you are reported in the press to have made to British Rail for the operating of a train service between Inverness and Wick on the Lord’s Day. We feel constrained — and I have been instructed to express our strong feelings on this matter — to make known to you our condemnation of this unwarranted demand for open unnecessary travel on God’s Holy Day.
The reply which you received from Mr Leslie Sloan, the General Manager of British Rail, makes it clear that no demand has come from either the local authorities or from the Railway staff for such a service. The only ground you can offer for this Sabbath train service, apart from the familiar pretences of people wishing to visit sick relatives in hospital and the connexion that such a service would provide for Sabbath travellers for London and the Continent is that it would be popular with tourists. On this ground you are evidently prepared to persuade British Rail to depart from their declared policy of providing no Train service on Sabbath, which holds good throughout the whole Highland area apart from the short Sabbath train service between Inverness and Lairg which the North could do well without.
We wish to point out that even amidst the complicated conditions of modern life, the Lord’s Command remains unaltered: “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy”. We read in God’s Word that Mary, the mother of our Lord, when Christ lay in the grave on that first Sabbath day, oppressed and distracted as she was, nevertheless “rested according to the Commandment”.
We wish to appeal to you, Sir, to cease this agitation for further expansion of Sabbath desecration on the Railway, and to abide by God’s holy commandment.
It is encouraging to us to read in the same press report that the economic reasons of expense would make such a train service on Sabbath prohibitive and impracticable.
The present alarming condition of our country, morally, religiously and economically, with discontent and violence filling the land and unemployment steadily rising, call for national repentance for, among other sins, our great Sabbath desecration. This is not a time for our public leaders and Parliamentary representatives to immerse our land in further sins against the Divine Law of the Sabbath.
On behalf of the Northern Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church,
A. F. MacKay, Clerk.
God can never be exhausted. His fulness is overflowing and ever-flowing. Thos. Watson
It is better to limp in the way, than run with the greatest swiftness out of it. John Calvin
A true saint carries Christ in his heart and the cross on his shoulders.
THOS. WATSON