The late Donald MacKenzie, Elder, North Tolsta
With the passing of this eminent Christian on Tuesday, the 12th day of April 1966, the Cause of Christ sustained a very great loss. For almost half a century he gave every evidence of one who walked in the fear of the Lord all the day long. For many years Donald MacKenzie was a well known and highly respected figure in our Church circles in Lewis. If he failed to appear on the Thursday of any Communion season on the Island one might safely conclude that he was truly indisposed. Having reached the ripe old age of 93 years, he outlived most of his contemporaries in grace, and would readily admit that he was more at home with those who were in the Father’s House, than with those who were still with him in the valley of Baca.
Donald was born in 1873, he was the eldest son of the late Donald MacKenzie, a worthy elder in North Tolsta, and a brother of the late John MacKenzie, student, whose praise was in all the churches. It was thus his happy lot to be reared in a home where Christ was loved and served.
It would appear that the Spirit of God was striving with our late friend even in youth. He used to tell of how, in his early days, he yearned for a secret place where he could pour out his soul to God in prayer. Such experiences however passed away, and left him going astray like a lost sheep. While still a young man he heard one of the local godly men saying in prayer that “the blood was sprinkled on the lintel and the two door posts, but not on the threshold, the blood being too precious to be trampled upon.” This remark made a deep impression on Donald’s mind, but he was to hear more about it later on. Sometime afterwards, when he was a married man, he compeared before the Session seeking the privilege of baptism for his first born child. Unlike many
fathers, whose ignorance of the Scripture is shameful, he had no difficulty in answering the questions put to him by the Session. Strangely enough, the last question put to him was “why did the Lord not ask that the blood of the Paschal lamb be sprinkled on the threshold?” Without any hesitation, and apparently with no little sense of pleasure, Donald answered with the words which had been stored in his memory for many years. The minister, the late Rev. George Mackay, commented favourably on how well he had answered the questions, while adding that it was very sad to meet one on his way to Eternity with nothing but a store of head knowledge and the bare letter of the Word. This faithful and timely admonition pricked Donald’s conscience, and he was convinced not only of the sin of his spiritual ignorance, but of his readiness to boast before the Session with the borrowed words of the godly man.
Like many others of his generation Donald was called up for active service in 1914 when the clouds of war burst upon Europe. These were days of soul trouble for the young seaman. Above all else he was concerned for the salvation of his immortal soul. In this state of mind Donald was drafted to sail on an ammunition ship bound for China, and he often told of how conscious he was, on that voyage that there was nothing between him and a lost eternity, but the boards that kept the vessel afloat. Hong Kong was duly reached, and he was stationed ashore there for some time, where he enjoyed much more privacy than aboard ship. While there, Donald in company with an Englishman, whom he respected as a Christian, was taking a walk in the market place, when they noticed a dying man lying on a bed, and weeping bitterly. Through an interpreter the Englishman asked him why he wept. His reply was “I am yearning and seeking for a Being whom my soul loves; I know that He exists and is somewhere to be found in this world, and my only concern is to find Him before I die.” Donald’s friend took out his Bible, and preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified to the dying man. In his extreme weakness he made a great effort to sit up, and with a radiant face he clapped his hands and cried ‘I have found Him, I have found Him.’ When relating this incident to others Donald would always add that he verily believed that he would meet that Chinaman in Heaven.
His stay in Hong Kong was now over, and Donald was drafted to a ship carrying 800 troops to the homeland. In vain he looked for one likeminded with himself. As far as he could judge by their talk and conduct there was none to whom he could speak about the care of his soul. Every corner of the ship was filled, and even his tiny cabin was shared with a young lad, who had taken such a liking to him that he insisted on being always with
him, thus preventing him from having any privacy. On a particular day in April 1916, a memorable day in Donald’s experience, while sailing through the Indian Ocean, he cried from his heart to the Lord, for a quiet place where he could pour out his requests before Him. The only places affording him the privacy he so desired were the ship’s latrines. He made one of these his little sanctuary, and on rising from his knees the words of Jeremiah 31, 16 spoke to his soul with power “Thus saith the Lord: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.” A ray of light and joy darted into Donald’s soul, to be followed almost immediately by a fiery dart from Diabolus. The enemy of his soul suggested that the truth which had given him comfort could not possibly be from the Lord, because of the place where it had spoken to him. The thought that had presented itself to Donald’s mind was, that nobody could find Christ in a latrine. A second whisper from the enemy suggested, that at best the truth referred only to the safety of his body from the dangers of war. Donald was at a standstill: shaken by this sudden and early assault of Satan he prayed that the ship might sink so that the truth might be fulfilled with regard to his soul, but just then, the words of Luke 12: 32 spoke with power and comfort to his soul “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” As Donald was wont to say in narrating his experience, “The words rang through every faculty of my soul, and there and then, I had a glimpse by faith of Jesus the Son of God, in my nature bleeding on the Cross for me, as if I were the only sinner in the world.” He compared this word in season to the staff upon which Jacob leaned, and his prayer concerning it, was that of David in Psalm 119 “Confirm to me thy gracious word, which I did gladly hear, ev’n to thy servant, Lord, who is devoted to thy fear.”
Little wonder then that our late worthy friend would say with evident emotion that there was no spot in the universe more dear to him than that part of the Indian Ocean where he found the Lord. Indeed, shortly before he died, it brought tears to his eyes to read in the Press that the very ship on which he sailed was taken to the breaker’s yard.
The long sea voyage was over, and Donald found himself with a number of other Lewismen stationed in Portsmouth. Now that a true thirst for the ‘water of life’ had been created in his soul, he, with others likeminded, prayerfully petitioned that a Gaelic preacher of the pure Gospel should be sent to minister to them in Portsmouth. The outcome was that the late Rev. James MacLeod, Greenock, then a divinity student in the Church was sent by the
Synod to supply their spiritual needs. It was at that time, and under these circumstances that he and Donald MacKenzie met for the first time. The delight which Donald took in describing this first meeting, convinced us that a spiritual and lasting bond was formed between them. If he enjoyed relating the experience no less did Mr Macleod, who, in after years revelled in telling the same incident. These were the days of Donald’s first love, and the fact that he had the Gospel preached to him in his native tongue among the Sassenachs only served to increase the joy and wonder of it all. With his newly found joy, his thoughts naturally turned to Stornoway where the death of Christ was to be commemorated by His people at the communion season there. As might be expected he desired to profess the Lord publicly at the earliest opportunity, and the matter was made the subject of prayer. In the kindness of the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, leave was granted, and Donald set out for Stornoway with every intention of professing his Lord and Saviour. Strangely enough, when the opportunity was extended on the Saturday of that Communion, he failed to do his duty. At that time Stornoway and North Tolsta were one congregation, and under the jurisdiction of the same Kirk Session, yet Donald was tempted to think that it would be wrong for him to appear before the Session in Stornoway rather than in North Tolsta, his own congregation. Subsequent rebukes from the Lord left no doubt in his mind as to what quarter this suggestion came from. We have heard him warn others of the folly of postponing this solemn duty incumbent upon all who have a hope that the Lord has dealt savingly and sovereignly with them. After that, although the opportunity was frequently afforded, eight years elapsed before our late worthy friend appeared before the Kirk Session seeking the privilege of the Lord’s Supper. It was not until October 1924, on the Friday of the North Tolsta Communion that Donald was so strengthened and uplifted by certain remarks by the late eminent Calum Macleod, Ness, that he determined that very night to appear before the Session. There was no turning back this time: Donald was examined by the Session and granted the privilege he desired. Apparently on leaving the Session, he was so sorely tried by Satan, that he was forced to bend his knees several times before reaching home.
Donald MacKenzie was duly ordained to the eldership, and carried out his duties in a serious yet cheerful manner. It was evident to all who knew him intimately, that he had a very high sense of duty, and was actuated by the highest of motives. With the passing of the years, his zeal increased rather than flagged. He was a Christian of great spiritual stature and a most informed and intelligent Free Presbyterian who never wavered in his
loyalty to the Church. Our late friend was twenty years old when the Free Presbyterian Church took up a separate position from the Free Church in defence of Reformation principles, and could well remember the events of that time. He had a fund of interesting anecdotes relating to that period of our Church’s history. One of these evidently made an indelible impression upon Donald, and contributed in its own measure to convince him, that the stand made by the Free Presbyterian Church was of God, and not of man. He remembered clearly, at that time, that the late Rev. Neil Cameron, Glasgow, came to Knock, and late Rev. J. R. Mackay, to North Tolsta respectively, to explain the position of the Church to the people in these parts. Rev Neil Cameron found that the door of the church was closed upon him. An elder suggested breaking the door to force an entrance. To this, the minister would not agree, but said there and then, that when the door of that church would be opened, the world would hear of it. That same night, sixteen fishermen were drowned out of Back, and their bodies, washed ashore on the other side, were taken to that church in Knock, where their relatives came to identify them.
As a speaker at the Fellowship meeting he was solemn, lively, and interesting. He had a clear and experimental grasp of the doctrines of justification by faith alone, but was no Antinomian. He was zealous of good works. His life was a living commentary on the words “If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live.” How frequently we heard him say “Se an fàsach a dhearbhas ciod a tha anns an duine” (It’s the wilderness that will prove a man’s character).
It often fell to Donald’s lot to take his share of the services of the Sanctuary. His favourite theme was the journeyings and experiences of the children of Israel in the wilderness. To hear him speak on this subject, one would think he had actually accompanied them on their wanderings. And so he had, in one sense. Spiritually, Donald had been in Egypt—had known the power of the oppressor, and the deliverance by the blood of the Paschal Lamb. He had been to Marah, to Elim, to the Red Sea, to Dophkah, to Rephidim, and to Kibroth-hattaavah. Thus he made each stage of the journey from Egypt to Canaan come alive, and held the interest of old and young alike. Another field in which he loved to glean, was that of the old Testament sacrifices, in which he held forth again and again the purity and glory of the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. When asked to pray Donald would very often begin with the words “Cha b’ann’gad àicheadh a bhuineadh dhuinn a bhi” (It is not denying Thee we should be). He would then launch into the deep, and
praise God for the great Sacrifice of Christ, saying in his own inimitable way “Bha ceartas ann an Dia, ag iarraidh fuil anns nach robh peacadh, anns an náduir a pheacaich, agus cha robh air neamh no air talamh a bheireadh sin seachad, mur a gabh a Mhac shiorruidh thein náduir na daondachd. Rinn Criosda sin agus thug a riarachadh siorruidh do cheartais Dhé” (The justice of God was seeking a sacrifice in which there was no sin, in the nature that had sinned, and there was none in heaven or in earth who could give that, unless the Eternal Son would take our human nature into union with his Divine person. This Christ did, and gave infinite satisfaction to the justice of God.)
Donald, unlike some, was as good a listener as a speaker. We shall never forget the rapt and reverent way in which he listened to the Gospel in Gaelic or in English. Even in his declining years, when the strength of his spirit well outstripped that of his body, he was an example to the whole congregation. Donald listened for Eternity, and we never heard him complain that the sermon was too long.
The last portion given out by this worthy man for the Fellowship meeting in North Tolsta was John 6-40 “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” In March 1962, he attended his last Communion Season on this earth. On the Friday, he thought of giving out 1st John chapter 4 verse 10 as a suitable portion for the exercises of that day, but refrained from doing so. On the following Sabbath however, to his great satisfaction the portion so strongly before his mind on the Friday was taken by Rev. A. MacAskill, Lochinver, as the text for the Action Sermon. That day, Donald went home rejoicing in his soul for this token for good, and that he had heard so much regarding God’s Eternal and unchangeable love to His people.
It was his happy providence to have enjoyed many years of health, but his time of sickness and confinement was drawing near. As the result of a slight stroke his left side was paralysed. This meant that Donald could no longer reach the house of God. To one who had suffered so little previously, it was no small trial to be confined to the house for four years, but we never heard him murmur. To the end he retained his faculties, and had a retentive memory which he used, to regale visitors with precious and edifying anecdotes of the distant past, too numerous to be recorded here.
The last two years of his life, during which he was more or less confined to bed, were spent in prayer and communion with God. He longed to be rid of sin and to be with Christ which is
far better. More than once we found him crying like a child with the desire he had to reach the Father’s House. During this time, he endured much from the assaults of Satan. One of his greatest fears was that he would bring a spot on the Cause of Christ. A visitor expressed surprise at the presence of such a fear when Donald could no longer leave his bed. His apt reply was that he could still speak, and was dreadfully afraid of bringing a spot on the Cause by anything he might yet say. At one stage in his last illness, he was greatly distressed lest he should provoke the Lord by the fervency of his desire to be taken away. Ere the end came however, he was given grace to leave himself unreservedly in the hands of the Lord. The Holy Ghost was preparing dear Donald for eternal glory. Very near the end, he would say that there was nothing now left for the Lord to do, but to sever the knot between his soul and his body. His fears were soon to be banished for ever, and the promise given to him many years ago on the Indian Ocean fulfilled to the letter. He was indeed one of the ‘little flock’ to whom the Saviour said “Fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
On the morning of April 12th, 1966, this worthy man passed peacefully away to join the spirits of just men made perfect. He is sadly missed and deeply mourned, not only by his own family circle, but by the North Tolsta Congregation and community.
To his son and five daughters, and other members of the family we extend our sincere sympathy.
“Mark thou the perfect, and behold
The way of uprightness;
Because that surely of this way
The latter end is peace”
Psalm 37-37.