To the late Rev. John Nicolson
It is with deep sorrow that we record the passing of our friend and brother minister, Rev. John Nicolson. His passing leaves a great blank, not only in his own immediate family circle, but also in the congregation at Tain and Fearn and in the Church at large. His removal at the comparatively early age of 58 years is a reminder to us that the Lord claims the right to take away His people and His servants at whatever time it may please Him. “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?” was the lament of Zechariah in his day. Mr Nicolson’s death is a solemn reminder to us that the ministry which we are privileged to enjoy today may be taken away from us tomorrow. So it has happened here. The lips which proclaimed the gospel of God’s grace in Tain and Fearn during the past six years now lie silent in death. For Mr Nicolson himself his preaching has given place to praising — praising that shall know no end.
John Nicolson was one who had a ‘Damascus road’ experience. In the very midst of a godless course, the Lord was pleased to arrest him and bring him to a saving knowledge of Himself. The change in his life was so evident that none could deny it. Doubtless men began to say of him then, as was said of the Apostle Paul, “Behold, he prayeth.” From that time on, through the strength of divine grace, John Nicolson lived a new life — a life of faith on the Son of God. He set out on a new course from which he never deviated till he closed his eyes in death. For him now to live was Christ, as on Wednesday, 24th August, for him to die was gain. Like Paul, he was not only called to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, but a preacher of the great Evangel. With earnestness and vigour he pressed upon his fellow-sinners the claims of Christ and their need of closing in with Him for eternity. His ministry was marked particularly by his setting before sinners life and death, blessing and cursing. It was evident that he intended to be free from the blood of his fellow-men; that if they died in their sins, it was because they chose death rather than life. He delighted in setting forth Christ as the sinner’s only refuge and the believer’s only righteousness. The ministry which he began 13 years ago, he carried on with all the energy at his disposal to the very end. His last hours were spent proclaiming the glories of Christ. Early on in his studies he resolved never to refuse an invitation to preach Christ crucified. A crucified Saviour was his theme to the end. If he desired to live any longer on earth, it was only to preach the glorious Gospel. Still, when it was evident that His Master’s will was otherwise, he uttered no complaint but submitted himself to the will of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will and who knows what is best for His servants and for His church.
John Nicolson never ceased to be in his own eyes anything but a poor needy sinner. The expression of Poor Joseph in the well-known story aptly fitted him:—
“I am a poor sinner, and nothing at all,
But Jesus Christ is my all in all.”
So, too, would the letters S.S. (Saved Sinner), which William Huntingdon appended to his name, be suitable in his case also. He never ceased to be a saved sinner — a sinner, saved by grace. His oft repeated ‘Why me?’ on his death-bed gave utterance to the wonder of his heart that the Lord should ever have looked in mercy upon such a vile wretch as he felt himself to be.
But all this is at an end now. He has left sin and sorrow behind. He has entered into the joy of his Lord. “There the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest.” He now rests from his labours, having received the Saviour’s “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Having served Christ here in much weakness, and conscious of many imperfections and shortcomings, he now serves Him in glory as he would have desired to serve Him while here. He gazes no longer on the face of his congregation here on earth but on his King of grace. He can now say with Samuel Rutherford:
“I will not gaze at glory,
But on my King of grace,
Not at the crown He giveth,
But on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Immanuel’s land.”
We mourn the loss of Mr Nicolson from the Courts of the Church and particularly this Presbytery, and from the ranks of the ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Church to whose testimony he faithfully adhered to the end. We rejoice, however, in the abundant entrance he had into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
To the sorrowing widow, Mrs Nicolson, in her great loss and to his two sisters, Mrs Hector Macleod and Miss Annie Nicolson, in the removal of a beloved brother, we extend our loving sympathy; also to his brother-in-law, Mr Hector Macleod, Mrs Nicolson’s daughters and other relatives. We pray that the Lord, into whose loving care we commit them, will sustain each of them with His own comforting presence. With the congregation we mourn the loss of a faithful pastor and true servant of Jesus Christ and desire that they may be sustained by divine grace in this their time of sorrow. Though loved ones and pastors must leave us, there is One who says to His people and Church, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”