IN the June issue of the Magazine the death of Isabella Murchison was noticed, and a promise given that a further notice would be published next month. We regret that we found it impossible to fulfil that promise then, and we feel that, in order to do anything like justice to the memory of such an eminently pious woman, some more competent hand should have been employed. It is, however, a labour of love on our part to put her name on permanent record.
Isabella Murchison was, like all the other daughters of fallen Eve, born in sin and shapen in iniquity, and she lived in her
1 Eòin x. 28.—Agus bheir mi a’ bheatha mhaireannach dhoibh; agus cha sgriosar iad am feasd, ni mò a splonas neach air bith as mo làimh iad. R. 29, M’Athair a thug dhomh-sa iad, is mò e na h-uile; agus cha’n urrainn neach air bith an splonadh à làimh m’ Athar. Ròm. viii. 38.—Oir a ta dearbh-bheachd agam nach bi bàs, no beatha, no aingil, no uachdaranachda, no cumhachda, no nithe a ta làthair, no nithe a ta ri teachd. R. 39, No àirde, no doimhne, no creutair sam bith eile, comasach air sinne a sgaradh o ghràdh Dhé a ta ann an Iosa Criosd ar Tighearn. Philip. i. 6.—Air dhomh bhi dearbhta as an ni so féin, eadhon an ti a thòisich deachd obair annaibh, gu’n coimhlion e i gu là Iosa Criosd.
2 Gnlomh. xvi. 31.—Agus thubhairt ladsan, Creid anns an Tighearn Iosa Criosd agus teàrnar thu-fein, agus do thig. Ròm. iii. 28.—Tha sinn uime sin a’ meas gu’m bheil duine air ‘fhireanachadh tre chreidimh as eugmhais oibre an lagha. Ròm. v. 1.—Uime sin air dhuinne bhi air ar fireanachadh tre chreidimh, tha sìth againn ri Dia tre ar Tighearn Iosa Crìosd. Ephes. ii. 8.—Oir is ann le gràs a ta sibh air bhur teàrnadh, tre chreidimh: agus sin cha’n ann uaibh féin: is e tioclac Dhé e. R. 9, Cha’n ann o oibrìbh, chum nach deanadh neach air bith uaill.
3 Taib. vii. 10.—Agus ghlaodh iad le guth àrd, ag ràdh, Slàinte do ar Dia-ne a ta ‘n a shuidhe air an righ-caithir, agus do’n Uan.
early years without God and without hope in the world. Being possessed of a very social disposition and full of carnal mirth, she lived in forgetfulness of her immortal soul’s great and everlasting interests. A relation of hers lived some time in the farm called the “Castle,” on the north-east side of the island of Raasay. She went to visit him. On a certain Sabbath day a minister came to preach to the south end of the island, and several of the people from the north end went to hear him. When they came to the “Castle,” Isabella was not ready to go along with them, but they told her that a Catechist was to address a meeting in the extreme north of the island that day. Thither she went, and during that address the Lord opened her heart, so that she gave heed to the things which were spoken. It proved to have been the day of her espousals to Christ. Ever after that day she became a companion of them who follow Christ through evil and good report. She did not attain to twenty years at this time.
Some time after this never-to-be-forgotten day in her history she heard a sermon preached by Rev. Francis M’Bean from the text, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hands.” This discourse made an abiding impression on her mind. She told us that she never, before nor after, felt heaven and earth so near each other as she did that day. She told us that she heard another sermon from him about that time also on the text, “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” This discourse impressed on her mind the unchangeableness of the covenant of grace, and the Lord’s inviolate faithfulness in keeping His promise to the poor sinner that trusts his all to it. Her powerful intellect, savingly enlightened by the Holy Spirit, enabled her to grasp the unchangeableness and faithfulness of God in covenant, so that, like David, she held Him by faith as her strong habitation, whereunto she continually resorted.
She was a great admirer of the Rev. Dr. Kennedy, late of Dingwall, and of the Rev. A. MacColl, late of Lochalsh. Mr. MacColl esteemed her very highly, and took her to be one of his most intimate friends. Indeed, she was considered an outstanding mother in Israel by all the pious ministers, men, and women of discernment in the north during the last fifty years. She was looked up to as a woman of great prudence, both in spiritual and temporal affairs. Her knowledge of the Word of God was comprehensive, accurate, and clear, and she made good use of it. She was not easily imposed upon, for her keen discernment of character enabled her to walk prudently toward them that she considered pious or graceless. The Lord’s people had a very warm nook in her affections and prayers, while poor sinners had a large room in her pity and also in her prayers. We have not made the acquaintance of many who had a better understanding of the doctrines and principles of the Free Church of Scotland
than she had, and her faith in them was not based on the words of any man, but on the truth of the living God. Her sagacity in dealing with the godly when Satan’s temptations overwhelmed them, was one of her strongest graces. A striking instance occurs to us. A pious man in the parish of Lochcarron had a son who studied for the ministry. At the first General Assembly of the Free Church which he attended he voted for Dr. Rainy’s party in the matters that were then rending that Church. When his father heard of it, he took to his bed and became seriously ill. Isabella, hearing of her dear friend’s sickness, went a long distance to see him. When she arrived she asked him what was the nature of his trouble. He told her: “I was sure that I had a promise from the Lord that my son would build His house, but I see now that I was deceived, and consequently I was deceived in the promise upon which I rested the salvation of my soul; for I thought I was as sure of the one as of the other.” She answered him: “Did the Lord say to you that it would be that son that should build His house? Haven’t you other sons?” He answered, “Yes, I have other sons, and the Lord may fulfil His promise to me in one of them.” The tempter was vanquished, and the man arose. The Lord did fulfil His promise by raising up another of the man’s sons to build His house.
In the year 1893 she was among the first to cast in her lot with Revs. D. Macfarlane and D. Macdonald in forming the Free Presbyterian Church. That deliverance from the heresies and corruption which Dr. Rainy and his followers brought into the Free Church was to her, and to many others, like life from the dead. They rejoiced that they could hold Church fellowship and worship God, in accordance with Christ’s institution, set forth in the Scriptures of truth, in a Church freed from Rainy’s corruptions. She was present at Raasay the day that congregation decided to adhere to the Rev. D. Macfarlane in having separated from the Declaratory Act Church, in order to maintain the Free Church in all her interests. On the evening of that day one asked her, “What do you think of the position Mr. Macfarlane and this congregation took up to-day?” “I think,” she said, “that they have done what was right, and what was their duty. If I were a man I would be away to the hill to cut divots in order to build a house for Mr. Macfarlane.” She said that to prepare their minds for the eviction out of church and manse which she perceived was sure to follow, for she knew from God’s Word that the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
In the year 1897 (so far as we can remember) she came south to attend Communions at Glasgow, Greenock, and Kames. This trip to the south extended her knowledge of the Lord’s people in these places, and she always asked after their welfare up to the very last. At that time she was lame owing to rheumatism in one of her legs. It worked its way to the small of her back, and left her so helpless that she could hardly go from her bed to a chair.
She suffered a great deal of pain in her back and limbs, but she was fully resigned to the Lord’s will. Even in this afflicted condition she came out to Communion Services, and on other occasions by being wheeled in a bath chair, and by making use of two crutches in moving from the chair into the Church. A friend called to see her one morning before she got up, and when he saw the great difficulty with which she passed from her bedroom to her chair, he said to her, “I am very sorry to see you suffer so severely, Isabella.” After she got seated on the chair, she said, “I justify the Lord in taking from me the use of my legs on account of the wicked use I made of them in dancing in my young days.” Her friend felt such sincerity, contrition, and abhorrence of the sin confessed in her words that he concluded in his own mind that she had reached the bottom of that affliction. So it happened; for the next time he saw her she required neither bath-chair nor crutches—only a light walking staff. She went several times to Communions to Dingwall and Portree after that.
For many years she kept a prayer meeting in her own house, exclusively for women. She continued this meeting as long as she was able to do so. A few of the women in her neighbourhood attended, and they feel now that a precious fountain in the valley has dried up. She never allowed any man to be present at these meetings, for she held with religious care the place God assigns to women in His Church. Her religious convictions and her womanly modesty caused her to abhor the masculine boldness with which women go out of their place to address a meeting of men in the house of God.
She believed that the second Commandment forbids photographs and pictures of men, and consequently she would have none of them. She was asked on one occasion in our presence—”Would you not like to have in your possession the likeness of Dr. Kennedy?” She replied, “I have his likeness in my heart.” This may be considered by some to have arisen from ignorance, but we would prefer to place it to the account of a tender conscience. We find that there were such in the Church in the days of the Apostles, and we have an injunction concerning them:—”We, then, that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” The only consideration some would grant to a weak conscience is, “They ought to be educated”; but we think Paul was an excellent teacher, nevertheless; he urged forbearance on the part of the strong.
A small pimple grew on her lip about twelve years ago. At first it did not cause much pain, but year after year it became worse and caused more pain. At last it began to dawn on her own mind and that of others that it might be cancer. During the last three or four years of her life, it became quite evident that it was cancer. She suffered very much with it the last year, but especially toward the end the pain was almost unbearable. But
right through, her resignation to the will of God was very exemplary. It was all in accordance with the Lord’s promise—”I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” It was the messenger sent to pull down her earthly tabernacle; but she had an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. To that house she has departed. The breach made is painfully felt by all the Lord’s people who knew her, and not only the Church but the world also is much colder after her, for much of the spirit of grace and supplication has been withdrawn from the earth by her removal.
She was one of the truest and most steady friends we have had the privilege of being acquainted with in our day, and in an evil time when iniquity abounds and the love of many waxing cold, she will be sorely missed. She departed this life on Sabbath morning the eighth day of May, and was laid to rest in Balmacarra Churchyard on Tuesday following. Her age would be about eighty-four years. Her body rests there to await the day “in the which all that are in the graves shall hear Christ’s voice and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” “But go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of days.” N. C.