AT Swordle, Stornoway, on the 15th of December last, there passed into rest, in the person of Kenneth Macleod, a man who will be long and sadly missed. Kenneth was brother to the late worthy Donald Macleod, elder, Stornoway, whose demise about three years ago was noticed in these pages. And it appears that, like Donald, Kenneth came early under the influence of his godly father’s teaching. He was between eleven and twelve when his father died. But the good seed of the Kingdom, sown, through parental teaching, in the tender soil, took root and sprang up; for it is well known that about the age of seventeen he was obliged, under “soul concern,” to abandon his calling as a fisherman for a whole season. It was, however, some years later—under the faithful ministry of the late Rev. Malcolm M’Ritchie, Garrabost—that he saw his way clear to make public profession of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Being the second youngest of a large family, and naturally bright and intelligent, he received the most liberal, and what (in those days) might be termed good education. He read much, and was always abreast of the times in general knowledge. He was thus considered and respected as being much above the average, so that in matters affecting the interests of the parish, concerning sea and land, Kenneth’s counsel was much in evidence. He very efficiently filled important offices, of which appropriate and suitable notice has been taken elsewhere by his fellow-councillors. In his early life he was a deep-sea sailor, and to hear him relate some of his experiences of sea and foreign lands was instructive and entertaining. For a time he prosecuted the fishing, as skipper, with success. The last twenty-five years or so of his life he spent ashore on his native soil, to the considerable benefit and advancement of the parish of Point.
When the much-heard-of Declaratory Act became law, Kenneth became a Free Presbyterian—a position he unflinchingly held to the end. Beyond the duties devolving upon private, consistent members of the Church, he took no part in the conduct of her affairs. The Church, however, possessed no more loyal and staunch supporter than he. It would seem as if the Most High acknowledged his faithfulness in the fact of the extraordinary spiritual liberty he enjoyed during the closing weeks of his earthly pilgrimage. For the past several months he was confined to the house, and at times suffered much, but was bright and hopeful, exhibiting much Christian fortitude. Two weeks before the end came he rallied out of a turn (in which his family thought he had died) with the words, “I am better, and soon will be much better.” From that moment to the close, he would not bear to hear he was unwell or suffering. He would say, “How can a man having the God of Jacob as his own God be unwell?” and “What are my trifling sufferings compared with the glory about to be revealed?” He would then call for his family, relatives, and neighbours, and declare to them his hope, and tell how they should attain to the same. This went on to his last. When reminded that speaking was weakening him, he would say, “I know my time is short, and I am neither ashamed nor afraid to spend the last thread of my strength in declaring the truth.” “Ah, friends, I am only in the presence of eternity.” He frequently expressed the pleasure it afforded him to have a Church established now in the island, to which, with all his heart, he commended all to whom he wished well, to go. His family and many others bear witness to the fearless, faithful, and solemn injunctions received in this connection. He charged his wife to be sure to support only the Free Presbyterian cause, and even if, through poverty, she could give not more than a pailful of potatoes, not to forget to support the Church. The strength of speaking left with him to the end was most remarkable, and it is to be hoped that it was for a special purpose. He was audibly praying when his soul fled.
His example in coming up to worship at Stornoway in all kinds of weather during the past fifteen years should long live in the memory of the people of the parish, when, if true to themselves, they must confess he did so in obedience to the dictates of truth and conscience. He was possessed of a liberal and sympathetic, but at the same time, independent mind. He could bear with faults and failings where he saw the “root of the matter” was, but gifts and eloquence which he thought did not saviour of “the new creation,” he ignored, and the “truth” he would not have compromised under any circumstances.
With the widow there is left a large family, nearly all grown up, to whom much sympathy is extended. It is the prayer of many on their behalf, that they receive grace to walk worthy of the high Christian example and precepts left them, and that they may rise to run in the race for eternal life, in which they saw their late father run, with patience to the end, to obtain “the crown.”
The funeral was one of the largest seen in the district, many having come long distances to pay their last respects to the remains of the departed. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace” (Ps. xxxvii. 37).
A. M’K.