I would like to thank Lord Banside for those kind words of welcome. It is a joy for me to be here especially on the 60th anniversary of the foundation of our church and I have been asked to speak a little bit about the early days And I can only do that through my own experiences because, in a sense, I was there at many of the great events that took place in those very early days. And I would just like to share with you this evening some of the way that the Lord led me and spoke to me and fitted me for the task that he had for me. Because to be quite truthful, when I commenced my Christian life, I had no real intention of ever being involved with the Free Presbyterian Church. So I think I have to go right back to the beginning, those long years ago, and make mention to you of the establishment and founding of the Free Presbyterian Church and the great effect that it had on my own life. I was saved some 18 months before the church came into being. In the Christian Memorial Church, through the ministry of Dr. Oswald J. Smith, in September of 1949, I came and put my trust in Christ. I was brought up Presbyterian, and my people were Presbyterians, but my mother, even in those far-off days, was not really happy about the church that she attended, which was Ravenhill Presbyterian Church at that time. And she had prayed long and hard for me, and when I came and put my trust in Christ, she was very, very keen that I would go on with God. She had been on Sunday evenings while attending her own church in the morning, had gone down further down the Ravenhill Road to what was known as Ravenhill Evangelical Mission Church. And she had heard, as he was known then, the Reverend Ian Paisley. And she was very impressed with his ministry and with his preaching. And so when I got saved, she drew me aside, she said, I do think that you would be helped if you went down to that church and see what you think about it and hear that man Paisley. So I went down to the church and of course I enjoyed the meetings and I never went back to the Presbyterian Church. I met Dr. Paisley and we became good friends. My cousin John Douglas was already there. Another fellow called Bob Scott, who afterwards became a missionary to India. He was there and there was a great band of young people. And we enjoyed the ministry of the Reverend Paisley as he was known then. And then moved on into 1950. Now 1950 was a defining year in my own life. It was the first complete year of my Christian experience. And I may be looking back on it with rose-colored spectacles, I don't know, but when I think of 1950, I think of a year of evangelism. Because our brother here was not only a pastor, but he was an evangelist, and a very good evangelist at that. And in 1950, he seemed to be going hither and thither across the countryside, holding missions and preaching the gospel. And those of us who were there and were close to him as far as the prayer meetings and so forth were concerned, he would invite some of us to go with him on the journeys. He was a bachelor boy in those days, and he looked for some company. So we went with him on numerous occasions. He drove a little Morris Minor. I don't know whether you could envisage that or not, but it's kind of a car that's the same size as a Mini, only there's not enough room in it. When he got into it, he could have driven it with his knees, because he was so crushed, and we sat in the back seat and hoped for the best. And so we went from place to place, and you know, My heart was thrilled in that great year of 1950, because it was a year of crowds, it was a year of powerful preaching, soul winning preaching, and my heart was thrilled with the gospel. And I had been saved through a man who had preached the gospel very clear and very plain and now I was in a church where that gospel was again preached fully and powerfully and in a soul winning fashion. And so I enjoyed 1950 immensely and then we move on into 1951 and the Free Presbyterian Church began. I was there, of course, at the protests and the founding of the church, but I was shocked by the impact of the free church in 1951. To my mind, there was a complete contrast, because the church was hated. It was really hated. Back in those days, you may, when I think of Ulster today, but back in those days it was a church-going province. Even McQuiston Memorial Church that I went to on Sunday nights, because I had a lot of friends up the Castlemere Road, I went to my own church in Ravenhill, but I went to McQuiston on Sunday night. There was over a thousand people there. And it didn't matter who was preaching, there was a thousand people there. A vast group of young people, and I'm afraid they just went to meet one another, in my opinion. So it was a church-going province in those days. And, of course, the churchy people, the people who were self-righteous, the Pharisees of the church, they hated the free church. They looked upon it as some people wrecking the churches. And even Christians, you'd be surprised at the attitude that many, many Christians, not just a few, but many Christians were totally opposed to everything it stood for. In fact, some A time later an aunt of mine had a visit from her own minister, he was an evangelical at the time, and she asked him what he thought of the Free Presbyterian Church. This man was, as I say, a very strong evangelical. He also was an orange man. He looked at her and he says, that church is of the devil and every minister in it. In fact, when I was some time later, I heard that two other ministers were talking about the free church, and one of them said, is there a free church in your town? He says, it's getting to be that there's a sewer in every town. So you can guess just what kind of reception the free church was getting in those days. And moreover, Dr. Paisley, his invitations dried up to a great degree. Once he took the stand that he did, he was ostracized by many people, and the campaigns that he did have, they were low-key, and his own church was doing very well, but the outreach and the invitations were drying up all around. Now, you've got to think of me as a young Christian, just a novice. And I look at 1950 and I see the blessings and the preaching and the crowds. Then I look at 1951 and I see the hatred, I see persecution, I see being isolated, as it were, and every hand, more or less, against you. Now, in my own life, you see, the Lord was dealing with me. Ever since I became a Christian, I began to think about full-time service. I had never taken part in public worship or anything like that before my conversion. But once I got saved, I began to take an interest and to pray publicly, to give my testimony, to look for experience, to try and see how I would do as far as preaching was concerned. I even preached for the first time in December 24, 1950. It wasn't a Christmas message. It was the only message I had and I told the people, now is the accepted time and now is the day of salvation. So they could take it or leave it if they were looking at anything about a Christmas message. So I was thinking very seriously about what I would do and what way my path would go. And how would I serve God? Because when I looked at the free church, I said, no, no, no, no. If I go there, well, that's like a dead end. And so in my heart of hearts, I hoped that the Lord would never call me there and that I would somehow get into some sort of independent work. try to be some sort of an evangelist. Of course, the whole thing was silly anyway because I had no real experience. Now, as I was debating what to do with my life and what way to turn, Dr. Paisley himself, although he doesn't know to this day, he got me an invitation to join a gospel choir. And how he did it was that a year after I was saved, I was in the prayer meeting. That was 1950, September 1950. And I happened to be praying and thanking the Lord for saving my soul a year ago. And so when I was sitting up in the gallery, or standing up actually because we were singing the first hymn, He suddenly announced, there's a young man here, just saved a year, and he's going to come down right now and tell you how the Lord did it. And so my hands were laid upon me, as it were, and I was brought down, and I gave my testimony, and the Lord helped. And there was a man sitting in the congregation who actually cut my hair. He's a barber. And the next time I caught up with him, he says, I heard you giving your testimony. He says, why don't you join the choir? He says, I could get you in. And he says, you'd have a great opportunity to testify and be able to preach and so forth. I said, I can't sing. Oh, he says, don't worry about that. There's 30 of us. There's 30 of us, he said, and we'll fit you in somehow. Actually, the Lord did undertake for me, because there was a big fella in that choir. I was in the first bass line. How they ever got me there, I don't know, but I was there. And the conductor used to have this wee gadget, and he blew upon it to get the note. That was supposed to be the tune. And then the other three sections of the choir, they would get their notes. Well, of course, I couldn't have got my note to save my life. But Big Debbie was right beside me and he would get up and go MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM That's how I got to trying to stay with the tune. But anyway, it turned out that I did. We moved around. I had two and a half years with the choir, and I've got to say I enjoyed it. We moved from place to place, singing and preaching and testifying and so forth. And slowly but surely, I was picked to do the preaching. And this went on. All the time I was wondering what way God was going to lead me. What would I do? What's my life? And then I decided one time when the choir was going to a fairly large church, I told the Lord, I was a preacher, and I said, well, Lord, if you really want me to go into full-time service, I want you to save two souls a night. And believe it or not, he did. And I got word that a person had waited behind the first night, or the first, as soon as we left, the meeting finished, and then later on I heard another person had come to Christ. So I knew that day was cast now. There was no going back. I had to really do something about my life and I was praying for God to open up some door. Of course, not that door, but all these other doors that would help me and get me started. I couldn't have any leading at all as to where to go, where to train or anything. And just at that time, Dr. Paisley had a a visit from an independent Methodist evangelist, would you believe, and he was preaching in the Ravenhill Church, William Hudson, Happy Hudson was his middle name. He was looking for workers to go with him in the summertime up to northeast England to do evangelism. And so my good friend Ian, he asked me, would you like to go? I said, well, I'm looking for experience. I better go. The Lord has opened the way. So I went over there for three months and preached in all kinds of places. I'm not going to go into it tonight because you'll be here all night. But for three months I was hither and thither over there in England, raising tents and bond outsides, and sleeping in churches that had just been opened by Hoppe, and he gave me these leaflets to go round the mining village and to give the invitations out and to preach. And so when I came back in September of 1953, Again I was faced with what I was going to do and again I was invited to join with the Free Presbyterian Theological Hall. He said to me, you just can attend anyway and then you can make up your mind. There's no ties, there's no commitments, just come along. So I said I would. I needed some training anyway, it would do me a lot of good. But still I was praying that the Lord would somehow get me out to somewhere else. That was always at the back of my mind. But anyway, we went on. I joined in September. I came March. And I remember John and I were praying, both of us, that God would somehow lead and guide in this matter. When I look back on it, you know, it was really very silly on my part wanting to do various things just there and then. But lo and behold, about six weeks later, a door opened. The minister of Mount Merion had resigned and the Presbytery in their wisdom appointed John Douglas and me for three months in Mount Merion. That's probably all they could trust us with and wonder how we would get on because I was a first year student and he was a second year student. Nowadays in Whitfield you wouldn't get anywhere near what we were doing on your first year. But anyway, we went for three months. And amazingly enough, when I settled into pastoral life, I began to enjoy it. I would preach one week, and John would preach the next week, and we would attend the classes at the same time. And the church actually increased, and things began to go well. And I was really thrilled and very happy about it. And that continued right on through to the following year. I can remember all these dates very clearly. There's other dates I can't remember, but in those early days I do remember. And I came to May 1955, and John had been taken to, I think, White Abbey, and I was left on my own in Mount Merion and Charge. And we had a committee meeting. And this committee meeting changed my outlook on life, although I was not to know it. Because after we'd done the ordinary items of business, as far as the church was concerned, there was no session in the church. The Ravenhill session looked after Mount Marian. And the committee men were in charge of the financial aspect of it and the upkeep of the church and so forth. And I enjoyed good fellowship with them all. But after the business was over, one of them got up, a very good friend of mine, I may say. I do believe, although I wouldn't have proof of this, I believe he was restored during our preaching and time that John and I in that place. He became very active. He was the Sunday School superintendent. He played the organ. He was a committee member. And as I say, he was a very good friend. But this day he got up and he said, I'm not too happy about the way the presbytery protests against Presbyterian church and all these other churches, he said. He said that we are in a housing estate and all around us is Presbyterians. How on earth do we expect to get them to come in when our Presbytery protests against them all the time and criticizes them? And he said, I'm not happy about this. And then he turned around, and now there is he, nor him, nor him there. And he went down all the line. He says, we're not happy. And we're going to ask permission to go to the presbytery. And we're going to talk to them. And now, where do you stand? Well, I was a second year student. And I had never been to the presbytery. And I knew that they were heading for a confrontation, if ever anybody was heading for it. And I didn't know what to say. I was shocked, completely shocked. Because they went on to say that if you don't back us, and the press don't listen to us, we're all going to resign. And piff will go your finances. I remember that part. They were paying me four pound a week, by the way. Well, I said, I can't make up my mind. I don't know what to say. I said, I can't give an answer. I'll have to think about it and pray about it. So I went home, shocked. And I thought about the situation. And I asked myself this question. If standing for God and for the gospel and the truths of the gospel and standing up for the deity of Christ and the blood atonement and the bodily resurrection and speaking against those who deny it, if that is going to wreck this church Then the sooner I quit the ministry, the better. That's my own reasoning. And so I came back to it and I said, no, I'm not going with you to the presbytery. I'm in agreement with what they do. Well, they were very, very annoyed. They went on, of course, they wrote a letter and the Presbytery graciously received them, and they went. I wasn't there, but I could imagine their reception in the Presbytery with the Lake of Paisley and Whaley and all those elders from Crossgar and so forth. I could just imagine. But I heard afterwards that they Treated them very graciously. They brought them in and then they talked to him about why they were not going to change. That they were going to continue on in the protests and in the stand that they had taken. And of course, they were very angry. They began to mock the moderator. I reached a stage where this friend of mine who was the ringleader, he said to somebody he wouldn't pray under the same roof as me and I had done nothing on him at all except disagree with him. And so this happened as the Presbyterian Church was meeting in June and I spoke against some of the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church when they were all there. But at the end of June, he came to me and he handed in the keys. The Sunday school excursion had just taken place and he had waited until that was over. And he said, I'm resigning. I'm finished, he said. And when I go, the for sale notices will be up in six months' time. Well, that was June 1955. And the for sale notices have never appeared yet, as far as Mount Marian is concerned. And moreover, they have a better church building now than we had in those far off days. And so my outlook changed completely. I realized that if you're going to be a servant of Christ, as the Bible says there, In Galatians 1, verse 8, though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. That's a very strong statement to make. There's not very many evangelicals today in these churches that could preach from that verse. And then he goes on to say, as we said before. So he wanted to make sure that he got the message. So say I now again, if anyone preach any other gospel unto you than that which ye have received, let him be accursed. He goes on to say, For do I persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. And as I say, I realized that if I was going to be a preacher and a servant of Christ, then I would have to take the rough with the smooth. I would have to take my stand. There was no such thing as evading these things and becoming independent and trying to get away from the great issues that face the church today. And of course, all those men, but I think one or two resigned. They all left. And a couple of them that didn't resign, he knew the ringleader that had been so much to the fore in this protest. He knew him very well. And he said to me some years later, I think I had long since left the church, the Mount Marian church that is, But he came to me years later and he said he met that man, Billy. He said, I met Billy years and years later, he said. And Billy told me to my face, he said, the day I left Mount Marion, the light went out in my life. It went out in my life. And I thought that was very sad, because in many, many respects he was a good friend of mine. And I looked up to him, and I was sorry for the way he took, the path that he took, and the things that happened to him. His children were just growing up at that time, some of them I think were 8 or 9, 10 years of age, they were all in the Sunday school. He took them all out. I often wonder, you know, what happened to those children, because I don't think Billy went on with God. I think he ended up far, far away. And I fear for his family. So, I had to face up to these things and when all those people left, it was a very hard station and I lost half of my congregation. It wasn't very large to begin with and so it was right down to the brass tacks. And I can remember one day I was preaching, there was only about 13 people there. And when I was home, I wondered in my heart of hearts, really, would this be the end? Because where would I go or what would I do if the thing collapsed completely? And when I came back that night and we went to the prayer meeting and I prayed, and I came out, and you come out of the prayer meeting and you go up the stairs to the pulpit there in the other church in Mount Mary, the old church. And the church held about 120 people. And you wouldn't believe it, when I walked out that night, there was over a hundred people at that meeting. And you know, so God said, we're not finished yet. And from then on, I never looked back. I was in Mount Miriam for nine years. And when I left Mount Miriam, it was in a better state under God than when I found it. to the Lord who carried us through, who leads and guides and sustains and blesses. You know, I was at the dinner there in Crossgar and we were looking back to the very first church, the first free Presbyterian church, and I said on that occasion, and I still believe it, it sums it up so well about the witness of the free church. Because, when you look back to Crossgower, they wanted to hear the gospel. Ian Paisley was an evangelist in those days. He was going to be preaching the gospel. But the down press really said no. And the people said, well, we want to hear the gospel. And we reject your false gospel. And we're pulling out and taking our stance so we can't hear the gospel. And I believe that that is the distinctive message of the free church. The free church came into existence to preach the gospel. Pre-eminently preach the gospel. That's the lifeblood of the church. It's the power of God unto salvation. But they also came into existence to go against the false gospel. The people who preach another message that's supposed to be a gospel, but are damned souls. The free church takes a stand against that. And not only that, but it came into existence to call the people out to worship God in spirit, listen, and in truth. In truth. Because many Christians today, they worship God certainly with their spirit, because they may be saved by His grace, but I'm afraid the foundation of their church in which they're in is not the truth as it should be. And so I trust that God will bless the free church. Sixty years has come and gone, and it moves on. And I trust that God will continue to bless it and prosper it and use it as an instrument to be blessings to multitudes and multitudes of people. Amen. And everybody said, Amen. It's great to hear that testimony.