THIS worthy man was called to his eternal rest last summer. In his death the congregation lost a great supporter. He was a very lively Christian, a great lover of the Word of God, whose heart’s delight it was to search its pages and digest its contents.
Sometimes when asked if he felt the time long, he would answer—“What do you mean, man? How can I feel the time long and this Book beside me?” He had a great desire to see the young converted to the Lord, and in all his prayers in public, he would break out in these words—“Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? What have you against Christ? It must be turn or burn.”
To us he would say—“I remember the time when, through fear, my hair would be standing on end, when Mr Macfarlane would be preaching at Garve Communion, appealing to the young to seek the Lord in the days of their youth. One day, as he cried, ‘Is it your old carcase you will bring to Christ, after spending soul and body in the service of the devil till your old age? I thought David would say, I almost stood up and cried, ‘I do not want to serve the devil longer; I want to serve Christ.’”
We believe these were the beginning of days with David Bryden.
Another very worthy minister he loved to remember and speak of was Mr Macdougall, of Fodderty. He was married to a very worthy woman, who died young, leaving him with a son and two daughters. He much mourned her loss, but submitted to the will of the Lord in a meek and gentle way.
The son was killed in the Great War. David, like the palm tree, flourished in his affliction, and before his own end came, no one would think when conversing with him but that he always dwelt in sunshine.
He very much dreaded Arminian doctrines, and would try to get every one whom he thought favoured such, to see the evil of them, as he saw it. The Free Presbyterian Church he loved, because he would say they keep to the Word of God.
In 1893 he joined, with all his heart, those who stood for the truth, and never looked back from the stand taken then. His death came suddenly at last, but he died rejoicing in the hope of a glorious resurrection. We miss him much, but we know that what is our loss is his unspeakable gain.
To his two sorrowing daughters we tender our sincerest sympathy.—E. MacQ.