IT is sad to observe that not a few valuable and exemplary young men have fallen in battle since the present terrible War began—men who, in God’s good time, if it had been so appointed, might have proved useful to His Church and cause upon earth. The loss of these men, though it has been in a manner highly honourable to themselves and in furtherance of the interests of righteousness among the nations, gives an added painfulness to the thought of the present dispensation of suffering and death through which we are passing. It cannot be doubted but the Lord is chastising for sin the nations on the right as well as those on the wrong side of the present conflict. Among the worthy young men, to whom reference has been made, we feel assured was Lieutenant Donald MacKillop, of Glasgow, who, after being about a year at “the front,” finished his course at the Battle of the Somme on the 20th July, 1916.
The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Ayr in 1885, and received his early education at the Ayr Academy. The family afterwards removed to Glasgow, and here he served his apprenticeship as an engineer. He completed his course in this respect at the Royal Technical College. Soon after war was declared in 1914 he thought it his duty to prepare for taking part in defence of his country, and for this purpose joined the Glasgow University Officers’ Training Corps. After some months’ exercise in this Corps he enlisted. His regiment was the Scottish Rifles or Cameronians, and he received his commission as a Second Lieutenant in connection therewith in March, 1915.
Shortly before Mr. MacKillop proceeded to Nigg, Ross-shire, where he was stationed for several months, the Communion in John Knox’s congregation, of which he was a regular adherent, took place. Prior to the services he had a private conversation with the writer, as minister, on the subject of going forward to the Lord’s Table. He then appeared before the Session, and the members of it, knowing his exemplary character, cordially admitted him as a member in full communion. Some who knew and respected him were deeply touched when they observed him on the Communion Sabbath going forward for the first time, and taking his seat among the communicants at the Table.
We have every reason to conclude that what Lieut. MacKillop was at home and among his intimate acquaintances, he was also among his new friends and associates in the Army. He was the same quiet, modest, cheerful, Christian gentleman; gentle yet firm and straight in all his dealings; true to his convictions in matters of religious truth and duty, and endeavouring, in Christ’s strength, to walk consistently with God’s Word and Gospel.
The loss of such an officer to the British Army was a great one, and much to be deplored. The following are a few testimonies from a number of letters of sympathy sent to the bereaved parents by his comrades and superior officers in the field. The first is from a Lieutenant, an immediate associate: “I saw your son, Donald, the night previous to his being killed. I was exceedingly shocked, and exceedingly sorry to learn that he had been killed. . . . I admired his bravery very much, for I have seen him quite calm under shell fire, and I heard he was the same on that day. Once—just before a raid—he prepared for it by reading to me his favourite chapter, the eighth Romans.” Another is from a companion who was himself wounded: “It was with no little concern that I heard, some hours before being hit, that, with many others, M’Killop had fallen in the attack. God’s will be done; and it is surely a great will to understand at times, needing much patience and implicit faith in Him who rules over all. . . . Donald was a keen, hard worker at the Lewis gun. We all admired him as a conscientious and straight-living officer. ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.'” Again, another: “He was by all considered to be one of the bravest officers we had in the battalion, and his death is a great loss to us all. The day we went into action your son said to me that the only fear he had was that, if anything happened to him, it would be a great shock to his parents.” A Captain writes as follows: “It must be some consolation to you to know that he died fighting for what we believe to be right and honourable, and that he has left such a fine example to us all. I know for a fact that in the midst of many temptations he remained true to his ideals, and set us all an example which we would do well to copy. May God comfort you and yours in your great loss, and give you strength to bear the burden He has called upon you to bear!” A Chaplain thus bears testimony: “He was one of the finest young men I have met here, and was a regular worshipper at our parades. It will be some comfort to know that his death was instantaneous. It will be some comfort, also, to think how splendidly he was doing his bit out here, and that he has made this sacrifice for a cause that was dearer to him than life itself. And yet for all at home it is a deep personal loss, and I pray that you will be upheld and kept.” The Lieut.-Colonel, in sending the condolences of the other officers and himself, writes: “Your son was a most gallant and conscientious officer, and his loss is deeply deplored by all ranks.” These testimonies, we are fully convinced, are not the least overdrawn, but true to the life. It is our earnest prayer that the character and example so described may, by the divine blessing, stimulate other young men who are engaged in His Majesty’s forces to seek to become (if not already such) good soldiers of Jesus Christ. For such as these there is in store at last a “crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
We conclude by expressing deepest sympathy with Capt. and Mrs. MacKillop and family in their great bereavement. “If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
J. S. S.