MRS. Matheson was born in Bernera, Harris, about fifty-four years ago. Her father, the Rev. M. Morrison, was minister of the Free Church and, after 1900, of the U.F. Church there. His family had the advantage of receiving a good education and Mrs. Matheson, after finishing her training, got an appointment as a Sister in one of the London hospitals. It was while in London she became interested in the Free Presbyterian Church and she regularly attended the services in Eccleston Hall when her off duty hours permitted. After leaving London she attended the Free Presbyterian services when they were within reach and we understand that her father raised no objection to the choice his daughter made. She married, in 1919, Murdo Matheson, a son of the late Donald Matheson, who was a missionary of our Church for many years. She spent the first part of her married life in Strond, Harris, and was District Nurse there for some time. Her affectionate manner endeared her to all classes. This was evident from the crowd of men, women and children that met the funeral on its arrival from Stornoway at Rodel cemetery. She and her family came to reside in Stornoway at the beginning of the last war and there she finished her course two years ago.
It would seem that it was while in London she decided to choose the Free Presbyterian Church as her spiritual home, but it was some years after she married that she became a member in full communion in our Harris Congregation. After coming to Stornoway, she was under the ministry of the late Rev. M. Gillies, to whom she was very devoted, and was one of those who truly mourned his loss to the Church. Mrs. Matheson was known to many of our ministers who, with many others, partook of her hospitality. She had a genuine interest in the cause of Christ, and spared no effort by prayer and example to commend it to the consciences of those she knew. One of the things that grieved her most was the small value that some put on the means of grace, and even when bodily disability made it very difficult for her, she would attend public worship. According to entries in her diary during her illness, she yearned after the salvation of the young. Her absence, therefore, is a loss to the young in as much as that they are deprived of her prayers.
From a most remarkable experience she had in London, it is evident that the Lord had a special interest in her. At the time she had a very sore bereavement. One of her brothers, who was a Chaplain to the Forces, was home on leave, and on his return journey he called on his sister, who was very devoted to him. Only a few days after he had left London, she received news that he had been killed in action. By this dispensation of Divine providence she was greatly distressed, and that she was at the time among strangers did not help matters. Not knowing how to relieve her distressed mind, she thought she would go out for a walk, and while she was going down Oxford Street, she saw, on the other side of the street, a tall gentleman, whom she noticed to be a clergyman, walking in the opposite direction. She never saw the man before, but the thought passed through her mind that is was the Rev. J. R. Mackay, then minister of our own Church in Inverness. She immediately crossed the street, and approaching the man, she said, “Excuse me, sir, are you Mr. Mackay, Inverness?” “Yes, madam,” he said, “but I do not know who you are?” She then told him who she was and of her bereavement, and of the thought which passed through her mind when seeing him coming along the street. A conversation ensued, from which she derived great comfort. Before parting, Mr. Mackay said he believed he was directed by the Lord to comfort her and of that she was convinced herself. The incident made a lasting impression on Mr. Mackay himself as well as on Mrs. Matheson—for on meeting a friend many years after, he repeated it with lively interest. That the Lord was the “guide of her youth” she felt convinced that day, and she endeavoured ever after to commit herself to Him as unto a faithful Creator.
She was one that was often in the exercise of prayer and she was not left without evidence that the Lord heard and answered. One Sabbath evening in Strond, when she, along with other friends, was about to leave for the service, she expressed the wish that the missionary would take for his Text, a certain portion in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, which she repeated. When the missionary gave out his Text, it was the very passage she mentioned.
While in the hospital in Glasgow for treatment during her last illness, her prayer was that she would be restored to her family for a season and she received a promise that her prayer would be answered. She felt, therefore, confident of a safe arrival in Stornoway, although the plane had a stormy crossing the day she came home. When asked if she was afraid, she said, “No,”—because she had the promise “underneath are the everlasting arms.”
Although she derived benefit from her operation, and the treatment that followed, it proved to be of a temporary nature, as there was a recurrence by the end of the year. During her last illness she told a friend that her prayer when in health was that the Lord would give her time for meditation and energy to study His Word, and she believed that to be answered in her illness. During the latter part of her illness she devoted her time, except when interrupted by the presence of others, to the reading of the Bible and to prayer. The blessings of the covenant of grace were precious to her soul, and the nearer she drew to the end of her pilgrimage, the more precious they were to her. She seemed to have had much of the presence of the Lord towards the end and earnestly prayed for His blessing on those she was to leave behind in this world. She was a most affectionate woman and for hospitality she had few equals. She deemed it a duty to help all kinds when in trouble and truly her presence was congenial at such a time. She had the welfare of the Church at heart and was a most active member of it. Of her it may be said “she did what she could.”
The time came that she should enter into the joy of her Lord. She passed away in the beginning of July, 1947, after an illness, which she endured with patience and Christian fortitude. She was fifty-two years of age and left her husband and son and daughter to mourn after her. In their great loss we sympathise with them and other relatives. May they all be enabled to follow her example in choosing the good part, which shall not be taken from them.—D. Campbell.