6. Closing Years
Rev J L Goldby
Mr Macdonald was now growing old and living in the only house that could be obtained for him. This was on the other side of Loch Shieldaig, which he crossed by boat to preach at the open-air site where he had been ordained in 1872. Once again he set about the task of collecting money for a new church. There was no difficulty this time with the landowner. The new proprietor, Mr Murray, and his wife were very kind and readily agreed to provide a suitable site for manse and church. Throughout the years of trial there had been a steady number of converts and, with the exception of Torridon, the people of the district adhered to Mr Macdonald’s stand and followed him into the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
A few years later, in September 1904, an article appeared in The Scotsman entitled “The Tender Mercies of the Majority”. The following extracts illustrate the situation faced by Mr Macfarlane and Mr Macdonald: “The two ministers with their students and congregations departed not a jot or tittle from the old foundations of the Free Church. Their only purpose was to move not, to change not, but only to stand still in the old paths. Their congregations were poor folk, crofters and fishermen, possessing none of the riches of this world. The majority, on whose lips are the words of brotherly kindness and equity, drove from their homes two aged ministers whose only fault was that they refused to accept an Act which the Church had no legal right to pass, deprived them of their livings, and left them to starve so far as the majority were concerned. That was the tender mercy of the majority a decade ago.”
“On a beautiful September day ten years ago, the writer happened to be in the Bay of Shieldaig on board the Clansman. As soon as the anchor was dropped, a procession of large fishing boats came out from the shore. In the stern of one of them sat a white-haired patriarchal minister, whom the men in the boat seemed to address with great reverence. He was the Rev Donald Macdonald, the minister evicted from his church for too faithful an adherence to the Church’s standards; and the assembled boats were there to convey to the shore the wood, the lime and other materials wherewith his people were to build him a new church. Leaning over the taffrail, the tourists, who crowded the steamer, asked wonderingly what the fleet of boats led by the white-haired minister meant; and they smiled indulgently when they were told that these men were come to carry ashore materials wherewith to build another church for conscience’ sake.
“The writer has never forgotten the impression made on him by that scene. It focused for him the great gulf which is fixed between those smiling seekers of pleasure leaning over the taffrail of the steamer, and those blue-eyed dwellers in the west whose engrossing thought is the Eternal, and for whom the sum of all purpose is: ‘Come, let us build a tabernacle, where we will preserve the things that are left us and are ready to perish’. The poorly-clad men, the open boats, the earnest faces, the old minister bent with years, the great hills rising above, the sunshine flooding the bay . . . the unloading of the materials for a new tabernacle in the desert – that scene always rises before the eyes of the writer when he reads the unctuous phrases in which the leaders of ecclesiastical majorities speak of brotherly love and equity.”
The new Shieldaig church was opened on 26 February 1896, and the weather was all that could be desired. The church was crowded with about 700 persons. Rev J R Mackay, Gairloch, preached from Hebrews 1:10-12. Mr Macdonald spoke, making reference to the kindness which he had experienced since the Free Church put him out of his church and manse. He praised the endeavours of the congregation, the kindness of the proprietor and the generosity of the public, high and low.
It has been estimated that something of the order of 20 000 people joined the Free Presbyterian Church. After the separation, Mr Macdonald was busier than ever in his spiritual duties. He assisted at the first Moy/Tomatín communion held under the auspices of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, in a congregation where all the members had joined this Church. The other ministers assisting were Revs D Macfarlane, J R Mackay and A Macrae. Many strangers were present; 800 people attended the Gaelic service on the Sabbath morning and 200 the English. The weather was beautiful and all the services were held in the open air. It was a season of refreshing after the trying times of the preceding months and years, with a bright new prospect opening up before them.
In 1900 Mr Macdonald visited most of our congregations in the north, but after returning home in July his health began to deteriorate. His work was coming to a close. A letter written from Shieldaig, dated 28 March 1901, reveals the state of his mind in the evening of his days. The troubles which beset him in the trying times through which he lived did not dry up the springs of grace within, coming as they did from a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. He wrote to a friend in Harris: “I have no doubt but you have been told that I am an invalid, and not able, on account of bodily weakness, to go much out of the house, or to preach. My elder, Finlay Macdonald, officiates for me. . . . Jesus Christ is extraordinarily kind to me, liberal and attentive. His smiles and company make one very happy and forgetful of reverses.” After asking about various friends and the cause of Christ, he continued: “O how loving Christ is to me in my sickness! How tender, affectionate and liberal! How sweet His kisses are! He likes to entertain me with the kisses of His love. He does not leave me sorrowful with short visits. He allows beams of His holy face to dart into my heart, to set my whole heart in a ferment of love.”
Mr Macdonald’s death took place on 20 August 1901. His remains were taken by boat to Applecross on a calm sea, without a breath of wind. It was a fitting providence: the storm was changed into a calm at God’s command and will (Ps 107:29). The boat, rowed all the way from Shieldaig, arrived in Applecross at midnight and the remains were interred in the graveyard there.
The Synod tribute says of him: “His whole soul – from the time in which he was made willing in the day of the power of the Holy Ghost to look to Christ by faith – was almost constantly absorbed in contemplating the love of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost as that love is manifested in the scheme of redemption. This continued until the termination of his life. This was his daily, yea, hourly song in the house of his pilgrimage. From the dawn of this light of life upon his soul in early youth until his old age, it continued to be the sum and substance of his message to his fellow sinners.”
Mr Macfarlane preached his funeral sermon in Shieldaig the Sabbath after his death. He said that “when Mr Macdonald received from the Lord, he would give to the people, and living souls would be fed, refreshed and comforted. . . . There is no doubt he preached on some texts over and over again, but the sermons were almost invariably delivered with new unction. . . . such was his nearness to Him who is the fountain of life. Prayer was his element; he prayed without ceasing. . . . I never saw a man who prayed as much as he did. He kept up communion with the Lord by prayer and meditation. The enjoyment of God was all in all to him. He was a most spiritually-minded man and he, like Enoch, “walked with God”. This nearness to, and dependence upon, Christ was his strength, carrying him through trials with comfort.
Mr Macfarlane concluded his address with a word to the congregation: “The Lord favoured you much by giving you such a godly pastor as Mr Macdonald. Much was given you and much shall be required of you. He laboured long among you, preached the gospel to you in love and faithfulness, and earnestly and sincerely sought your salvation. Though dead, he yet speaketh. Pray that the word spoken to you may be blessed to you. If you die in your sins after all you have heard from the lips that are now closed in death, he will rise up in judgement against you at the last day and add his amen to your everlasting condemnation. . . . Be faithful unto death and you shall receive a crown of life.”