THREE WORTHY WOMEN OF BREASCLETE, LEWIS.
WE regret to have to record that within the past three years the messenger of death has taken from Breasclete, Lewis, three notable women. The three were indeed mothers in Israel. The breach made on the walls of Zion in the district is truly great.
WIDOW CATHERINE MACAULAY departed three years ago at the ripe age of 96 years, 76 of which were spent under the power and influence of divine grace. It is understood that at about the age of twenty Catherine passed “from death to life.” She was of a cheerful disposition naturally, very kind and amiable. It was pleasing and edifying to visit the old lady, who was, for several years prior to her demise, unable to attend the public means of grace. Visitors were invariably certain to find her, when able to sit up in bed or at the fireside, poring over the Bible, the Shorter Catechism, or some author such as Boston. It was interesting to note how she was at home commenting on the doctrines of the utter Ruin of man through the Fall, Redemption through Christ, and Sanctification through the Spirit. It was vain to say to her that any flesh could be justified in His sight by the deeds of the law.
The witness of 1893 came to her as a very welcome relief, from the grief she felt on account of the manifest declensions of the day, and she readily identified herself as in complete sympathy with the movement. The frailties peculiar to her age prevented her taking an active part beyond a year or two in the public services. But the Communion seasons were to her great times, as many of “the salt of the earth” gathered on those occasions, and were privileged to spend much time in her company. Those visitors can well remember how Catherine was quickened and revived at these seasons, and the affectionate Christian welcome extended to them by her.
Her unmarried daughter, Mary, came early under the good influence of the home training and Christian discipline, with the result that, while in her teens, she used to walk long distances to church. It is evident she came to the knowledge of the truth by the time she was twenty. She spent with her mother a most consistent and strong Christian life. It was an occasion of thankfulness to the mother to see the daughter proving a true and faithful friend to the Free Presbyterian Church, and that she would brook no compromise. Mary feared no man or woman, and her influence for good in Breasclete was very marked. Her chart was the truth—the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. She fully realised that to obtain the crown, she must run her race to the end, and so all attempts to make her resile from her position and testimony, to amalgamate with the neighbouring Church, were futile. Latterly she was in delicate health and suffered much pain at times, which she bore with fortitude, patience, and resignation. Occasionally her spiritual comforts were low, but her hopes were centred upon Him “who loved the church and gave Himself for it,” so that she was never left nor forsaken. It was vouchsafed to her to depart at the appointed time to enter into the joy of her Lord, about a year ago, when she was 68 years old.
In the neighbourhood of this mother and daughter was Mrs. ANN MACLEAN, a widow of mature years. This woman was a pious, humble person, who delighted in following and waiting upon the means of grace while strength of body permitted. She, however, had to be resigned to long confinement to the house and often to bed for several years before her death. The removal of Widow MacAulay from beside her was like cutting off a limb. On one occasion, when confined, she made up in her mind that the missionary expected to arrive and preach in church that day would speak from the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, and she envied much those able to go to church. On being told by a member of her family the text was in Revelations, she immediately became dull and downcast, and, upon her own confession, was tempted to believe that in her hopes for eternity she would as certainly be disappointed at death as she was that day in her expectations of the missionary. The missionary, however, visited the bedridden woman in the evening, and read where the book opened—the 53rd of Isaiah—and, after a few remarks, engaged in prayer. When parting she said, with signs of relief on her face, “I am right yet; what I expected to be heard in church to-day, has only come to my bedside, and I have got much more than I expected in spite of the adversary.” At the death of Mary, she felt quite disconsolate, not having one now in her neighbourhood to confide in, but it was allowed them to be close in death as they were in life, for Mrs. Maclean departed exactly a week after to inherit the kingdom prepared for her from the foundation of the world. While we sympathise with the bereaved relatives of those three precious women, we feel more the loss sustained by the cause of Christ in the township in the removal of three wrestlers at the throne of grace. Let us ask that others be raised up in their stead, and that Breasclete become again the beautiful green spot it once was.
A. M’K.