JOHNSTON, William, Rev , B.A. (1859-1945)
Assembly memorial minute, 1945
Our Victorian Church owes a great debt to men from the North of Ireland, and among these William Johnston, who died on January 10th, 1945, holds an honourable place.
He was born on May 21st, 1859, near Ballynahinch, County Down, Ulster. A Providential preparation for his work is plainly discernible. From godly and hardy forefathers he inherited a vigorous constitution. The Ulster Revival (1859) created an atmosphere which he breathed from his infancy. His parents dedicated him at birth to the ministry. They followed this up by providing for him a thorough education. He was sent to the Royal Academical Institution, Belfast, and later to Queen’s College, Belfast, where in 1880 he graduated Bachelor of Arts with honours, after a distinguished course. He then took his Theological Course at the Assembly’s College, Belfast, in 1880-1882.
In three lands the Presbyterian Church has had the privilege of his services. In October, 1884, at the age of 25 years, he was ordained in Omagh, County Tyrone, Ireland, and inducted as minister of Second Omagh Church. In July, 1884, he married Miss Watt.
From 1887 to 1919 he exercised three notable ministries in England: first at Wolverhampton (1887-1893), for six years, next at Clapton Church, North-east London, for eight years (1893-1901); and finally at Trinity Church, Leeds, for 18 years (1901-1919).
By this time he was 60 years old and had been an active minister for 35 years. But God had much work in store for him in a third land.. The health of his son and daughter led him to seek the more congenial climate of Australia, where he arrived in February, 1920. He had two Charges in this land.
For about three years (1920-1923) he was at St.Stephen’s, Toowoomba, where he exercised a remarkably inspiring and creative ministry. Then in March, 1923, he was inducted at Ewing Memorial Church, East Malvern, where he laboured till his resignation on May 31st, 1942. In all, his active ministry lasted about 58 years, and it can safely be said that the last 19 years (when he passed from his 64, th to his 83rd year) showed no sign of decay in his mental and spiritual vigour.
Beyond all doubt William Johnston was one of our outstanding preachers. He proclaimed the great evangelical truths with convincing power. He never wasted a word. His sermons were gems. He was perennially fresh. He was a master of illustration, drawing material from wide and diverse tracts of literature. To the end, he was a student. The prophet’s words fitted him exactly: “he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out his roots by the river... his leaf shall be green... neither shall he cease from yielding fruit. ” Those words also reveal the secret of his life: he spread out his roots to the River.
As a pastor, too, he was outstanding. He was tireless in his visitations to the sick, the aged, the careless, the sorrowing. Nowhere did his genuine tenderness and sympathy stand more revealed. He took his part in the wider work of the Church. One fine and exacting piece of work was done by him as Convener of the West. Melbourne Commission. In 1933 he visited the Old Country, attending meetings of the Pan-Presbyterian Alliance in Belfast, also meetings of the General Assemblies in Ireland, Scotland and England. The impression made by his masterly report to the November Commission was profound. He was thanked in the House for “his eloquent, graphic and virile presentation of his impressions. ”
Toward himself William Johnston always exercised a Spartan sternness of control. He never spared himself. It was typical of him that he could never be induced to engage in recreation, and was rarely induced to take a holiday; that he never willingly accepted favours (he would refuse the offer of a car ride if walking would do); that he never even told his Session of the jubilee of his ordination; and that by his instruction his funeral was to be the simplest possible, with little publicity.
He had his share of sorrow. He lost his wife in 1924, a son in 1928, and a daughter in 1940. These losses brought an enrichment of sympathy and faith. In 1933 he married Miss Sarah Black, of the well-known Black family in Lilydale, and she was a tower of strength to him. To her, and to his three sons—Dr. O., Mr. R. O., and A. C., R.A.A.F. —the Assembly tenders its sincere sympathy.
Gender
- Male