WE record with deep regret this month the death on 15th April of Mr. David Ross, one of the elders in our congregation at Dornoch, Sutherlandshire. Mr. Ross, who had reached the advanced age of 95 years, was highly venerated by all who knew him as a man of deep piety and ripe wisdom, a living example of true and consistent godliness. His removal causes a great blank in the congregation where he was a pillar and an ornament. It may be truly said of David Ross that he feared the Lord from his youth, and that he has now passed away at the close of an unblemished life. His memory will be sweet to surviving friends. We extend our deepest sympathy to his relatives (he was unmarried), to the Rev. Ewen Macqueen, his minister, and the congregation among whom he went in and out for many years, in the great loss they have sustained—a loss shared by the whole Church. May the Lord in His infinite mercy heal the breaches! We sincerely trust that some more extended notice may yet appear in the Magazine. Meantime, we cannot refrain from reproducing in our pages a notice and tribute which appeared in the Northern Chronicle of Wednesday the 17th April, and which is specially valuable as showing the universal esteem in which Mr. Ross was held outside as well as within our Church’s borders:—
“The death occurred at Evelix, Dornoch, on Monday, of Mr. David Ross, a conspicuous figure in the ecclesiastical life of the Highlands. He was one of the last of the ‘men’ so well known in Sutherland and Ross in the middle of the last century. A grandson of David Ross, tacksman at Duchally, Glencassley, one of the first, if not actually the first Sutherland tenant who had to leave his holding to make way for the introduction of sheep, the deceased was himself old enough to witness the revolution in the land system which took place under Young and Sellar, whereby the older tenants were removed from the best arable and grazing land in Sutherland to make way for large farms. He was born at Evelix, in the parish of Dornoch in 1817, and completed his 95th year on 17th January last. As a young man he was an attached member of the Church of Scotland, at first in his native parish and afterwards in Glasgow. He strongly supported the anti-patronage party during the ten years’ struggle preceding the Disruption of 1843. At that period he was for some years employed at St. Rollox, Glasgow, and while there frequently heard leading preachers such as Chalmers and old Norman Macleod. In subsequent years, on his return to Sutherland, he became an earnest follower of Dr. Kennedy, Dingwall; Dr. Aird, Creich; and his own minister, Rev. G. R. Kennedy, Dornoch. Intellectual and philosophic in disposition, Mr. Ross was a devotee of what has been called plain living and high thinking. He was widely read, particularly in Scottish Church history and theology, and had the command of a somewhat elevated English style, which characterised his ordinary conversation as well as his public utterances. Few men in the north of Scotland had an equally competent and fluent command of good literary Gaelic and English. He was also well versed in the local history of Easter Ross and Sutherland.
“On his return from Glasgow to his native parish, Mr. Ross resided for many years at Achosnich with his uncle, the late Mr. John Grant, who also attained to the patriarchal age of 95 years. For half a century after the Disruption of 1843 he was a faithful member of the Dornoch Free Church, where for many years he was a ruling elder. At this period he was well-known and much respected throughout the north, as he was accustomed to attend the Sacrament services in various parishes. On the passing of the Declaratory Act by the General Assembly of the Free Church in 1893, Mr. Ross took a lead in the formation of the Free Presbyterian body, particularly in the county of Sutherland. The newly-formed communion soon erected a neat church for public worship at Evelix, and there for now nearly 20 years he was one of the leading lights. The Free Presbyterian minister of Evelix, Rev. Mr. M’Queen, is also minister for one or two of the adjoining parishes, and so is unable to officiate regularly at Evelix. Up to a recent date Mr. Ross was accustomed in the absence of the minister to conduct the services, which he did to the satisfaction of the people, notwithstanding his weight of years. In 1903 the congregation presented him with a silver snuff-box and a purse of sovereigns as a token of their appreciation of his work on behalf of the church. It will be seen that he was an active churchman for well-nigh 80 years. Upon all the many ecclesiastical questions that have occupied men’s minds during that lengthened period he formed his opinions with singular independence. He took an intelligent and comprehensive grasp of every subject. In politics Mr. Ross was a moderate Conservative, and he supported Lord Stafford at both elections in 1910.”
Established Church Minister Joins the Episcopal Church.
Last month the Rev. A. C. Buchanan, minister of Forres, intimated that he intended joining the Episcopal Church. Mr. Buchanan has gone to the place where he ought to have been in long ago. It is an unfortunate thing that the man’s conscience did not make him see the inconsistency of his position long ago. About six years ago complaint was made by members and adherents of Forres Parish Church regarding certain innovations which were alleged to be ritualistic. The presence in the church of a cross and a lectern was objected to, and the matter came before the Presbytery on several occasions. As recently as last year the Court was asked to enforce its decision of five years previously, which, it was alleged by petitioners, had been disregarded. This last petition was dismissed by the Presbytery.