Rev Beattie went to be with the Lord on 13th February 2025.
“And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. . . For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father,” Genesis 50:7-8, 13-14.
Those words from Genesis chapter 50, were part of my daily reading on Monday 17th February. I thought of the brief glimpse that the children of Jacob had of the promised land as they buried their father Jacob, before returning to Egypt.
I mused on how it is that Christians too catch a glimpse of the promised land at the funerals of their believing family members, before returning to the daily routine in the ‘Egypt’ of this world in which we dwell. May it be so as we consider the service of a faithful preacher and bid farewell to a brother in Christ.
Just 60 years ago, on January 5th 1965, Willie and I met in the first gathering of the slightly reorganised ‘Theological Hall’ in the men’s prayer room of the old Ravenhill Free Presbyterian Church. Jim Beggs and James McClelland were there as well.
Later, in February of that year, Willie and I were tasked with looking after Whiteabbey Free Presbyterian Church, which later relocated and became Newtownabbey Free Presbyterian Church. We shared that duty for a short while and then Willie moved to Dunmurry where he later was ordained and installed as minister. He remained there until his retirement.
On March 8th, 1968, I married his sister Ann, who went to be with Christ on 8th June last year. Her brother William took part in the wedding service, conducted by Dr Ian Paisley, along with Rev James Beggs, who was my best man.
Back in those days Willie and I were pilloried in an article in the ‘Belfast Telegraph’ as ‘Paisley’s two acolytes’. It was meant to be a demeaning of us but to this day I count it a privilege to have been counted as such in those zenith days of Dr Paisley’s ministry.
I would have us remember William Beattie for three things.
1. HE WAS A SOUL-WINNER. Back in the 1960s, soul-winning was a feature of Free Presbyterian meetings.
Before his permanent move to Dunmurry, Willie was often asked to conduct the services in Limavady Free Presbyterian Church, which was vacant at that time. His preaching there was blessed by conversions and often on Sabbath evenings we would exchange phone calls to hear how our meetings had gone. The news was most encouraging for us both.
2. HE WAS A CHURCH-PLANTER. He was preaching at a gospel mission in Whiteabbey for me in June1966. On Monday, 6th, we cancelled the meeting in order to attend the Presbytery organised protest outside the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The lives of us both changed from that night on. I went to jail with Dr Paisley and Rev John Wylie for three months and Willie became Dr Paisley’s Prison Chaplain during that time. He was also placed in charge of Ravenhill Free Presbyterian Church. As a result of the stir caused by the imprisonment, Willie, along with other Free Presbyterian ministers, was sought after to speak at meetings in various places throughout Ulster.
Hillsborough Church sprang from a gospel tent mission conducted by brother Beattie and that congregation’s first Lord’s Day service took place on September 4, 1966.
He also conducted two protest rallies in Kilkeel during the imprisonment and then a gospel mission in Ballyvea Orange Hall. Mourne Free Presbyterian Church was born out of those meetings.
Dr Paisley and he conducted a gospel mission in Lisburn during the month of June 1968. Those meetings gave rise to the Lisburn congregation, constituted on Saturday 12th October 1968.
In May 1969, Gardenmore Presbyterian Church in Larne opened a new church hall. Two priests were invited to the opening. A number of local men, who to this day are still in the work at Larne Free Presbyterian Church, felt the need for a strong protest against this Romeward trend and sought the support of Rev. William Beattie to lead the protest along with others of like mind. Out of that protest sprang the present Free Presbyterian congregation in Larne.
Yes, Willie was engaged in church-planting.
3. HE WAS A CONTENDER FOR THE FAITH. His standing up for the Saviour took him, in company with other Free Presbyterians, to many parts of the world. One place he frequented was Dr Carl McIntire’s conferences at the ‘Christian Admiral’ in Cape May, New Jersey, USA.
But chiefly he contended against the ecumenical churches in and around Dunmurry and they felt the weight of his ‘earnest contending for the faith’.
There is much more that I could say about Willie but I believe that it is for his toils in these three areas of labour in his Master’s vineyard that he would want to be remembered.
May the Lord comfort his sorrowing family circle and cause them to rest on the glorious truth that: “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” 2 Corinthians 5:1.