Dear Friends

We write this letter to you at a critical time in the history of our beloved Free Church.

Many of you have spent a lifetime in the Free Church of Scotland. Some of you have been baptised according to her practice. You have attended the weekly services and received instruction from her ministry that has impressed on you the greatness, majesty and sovereignty of God, the wonder of the redeeming love of Christ Jesus the Saviour and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Church in which you have formed blessed friendships with like-minded people. And it is the Church where your families have been nurtured in the gospel. Others have been attracted and drawn to the Free Church of Scotland because of her stand for the truth and the doctrines of the Reformed faith.

However all is not well in our Church and a state of friction exists. Standards once accepted and maintained as part of Christian behaviour in the lives of office-bearers and members seem to have been eroded in some cases and a spirit of the 'worldly-world' has crept in among us. Church discipline which is meant to be corrective has now become a means of silencing those who would use it for correction, so that to challenge a non-judicial finding of an Assembly brings upon one the charge of contumacy with its ecclesiastical penalty.

The ministers who refuse to accept the unlawful demands of the General Assembly and who for conscience' sake will be separated from the majority Free Church have no intention of abandoning the unique heritage that has been bequeathed to them by the founding Fathers of the Free Church of Scotland of 1843 and preserved and passed on by the noble minority who at great cost to themselves upheld it in 1900. We will remain true to the constitution of our Church as that is to be found in our supreme standard, which is the Word of God, and in our subordinate standard which is the Westminster Confession of Faith. The legal documents of the Free Church, the Practice in her several courts and the Formula of 1843 will be accepted and preserved by us. We shall by God's grace endeavour to maintain the witness and testimony contended for by the Free Church of Scotland.

The days before us may appear bleak and unpromising. But if what we are doing is being done out of a conscience bound to God's Word then that is all that really matters.

We shall look to God for His blessing, and if we have His favour then He will 'strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees' (Isa. 35:3). We shall pray not only for ourselves but for brethren from whom we have been forcibly separated that the day may come when we shall be able to sing together, 'When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing; then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them'(Psalm 126:1,2).

Dear Friends, if you love the truth and righteousness and the high and holy standards which have characterised the old Free Church, and if you believe in the stand which we have taken then please pray for us and support us in whatever way you can.

May the 'Spirit of grace and supplications' (Zech.12:l0) be given to us so that we shall intercede with God for his blessing. 'Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth' (Isa. 62:6,7).

Yours very sincerely

HUGH M FERRIER
JOHN ANGUS GILLIES

'Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls' (Jer. 6:16).

Any comments or questions please E-Mail me or Rev William Macleod the Editor.

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