BY THE REV. JOHN R. MACKAY, M.A., INVERNESS.
DEAR MR. EDITOR,—The very interesting reports of my three predecessors in this field will have rendered the ground in which this Mission has been working already somewhat familiar to your readers, so that my report may be briefer. In one if not in two respects, the work that fell to me to do in this sphere was less exacting than had been the allotment of any of my predecessors. In their time a very great amount of sickness—resulting in many cases in death—was prevalent in both Bedford and Kimbolton. In my time that trouble was mainly a memory, save that there were a few cases of men in convalescent hospitals, and the health of the Highland troops in Bedford and in Kimbolton, as in the other stations visited, was excellent. On this account, however, I had fewer opportunities—except for a minute or two—of coming in direct contact with many of the men. Furthermore, as compared with the congregations that gathered to hear our deputies for the first few months after the war broke out, the congregations to whom I had to minister—I refer especially just now to congregations in Portsmouth and Bedford—were somewhat small. This was for the very good reason that large contingents of men had in the meanwhile been drafted away for foreign service.
I arrived in London on the Wednesday before the last Sabbath of February. The programme I followed was in the main as follows:—Chatham on Thursday night, Portsmouth on Friday night, Bedford on Sabbath days, Kimbolton on Monday night, and Buckden on Tuesday night. I was not quite able to work out this programme for the six weeks during which I was responsible for this Mission, without a break, but with the help of Mr. James MacLeod, student missionary, and of the Rev. Ewen Macqueen, I almost realised my programme. That is, I preached on four different occasions in Chatham, on three in Portsmouth, on four (those being Sabbaths) in Bedford, on four (one of these being a Sabbath) in Kimbolton, and on three occasions in Buckden. Mr. James MacLeod supplied for me once in Chatham and on another occasion (a Sabbath) in Kimbolton, and the Rev. Ewen Macqueen gave one service within my period in Chatham.
So far as numbers were concerned, the congregations, if not very large, were by no means discouraging, and the less so because, at least in a majority of the stations visited, one had the impression that practically all the available men were present. The congregations in Chatham ranged from between fifty to eighty, in Bedford from between thirty to seventy, in Kimbolton one might almost always reckon on a good sixty, but in Portsmouth and Buckden the numbers were smaller. In Chatham one met with fellow-Highlanders mainly from Lewis; in Portsmouth, from Lewis and Harris; in Kimbolton, mainly from Skye and
Uist; in Bedford there were representatives of the four main Highland counties; and in Buckden there were men from the north and east coasts of Sutherland, from the east of Ross-shire, from the towns and glens of Inverness, and from the parishes of Lochbroom and Gairloch on the west of Ross. The men in Chatham and in Portsmouth do, of course, belong to the Navy; in Bedford, Kimbolton, and Buckden they belong to the Army. In Bedford one met mainly with Cameron and Seaforth Highlanders; in Kimbolton and in Buckden, only with Lovat Scouts. Buckden was the only place out of London where I preached English whilst in England.
I everywhere met with the warmest reception from the men, although of course some appeared to listen with more seriousness than others. My one aim—I hope I may say it—was to set the way of life in the plainest possible manner before young men who were in all likelihood very soon to be called to take their natural life in their hand on their country’s behalf. The work—to keep it up even for a few weeks—called for strenuous effort, but I will take the liberty to say that when all was over and I looked back on my own imperfect, if honest, efforts to set forth the way of life, and the eager attention that, as a rule, was given to the word spoken, my mind became full of comfort, which I hope was from the Holy Ghost, and I felt my love, as if revived, going forth towards those dear young men, and a hope begotten that the Lord had a purpose of love towards them.
I thus look back with pleasure on the time spent in England, and I should like to allude to some of the circumstances which, under the hand of God, contributed to this. I, of course, felt at home in 1 Upper Montagu Street, London, which, as in the case of the other deputies, was my headquarters. Our worthy young friend, Mr. James MacLeod, student-missionary, London, was always willing—if I felt the need of sparing myself for a service—to supply my place, not regarding his own comfort. To the deacons of our London congregation—I mean Mr. Donald Sutherland and Mr. William Grant—the Church as a whole, and I as deputy, are under debt for their disinterested kindness and ready services towards the Mission.
In going to Chatham, where—as reported by former deputies—there is a prayer meeting every night of the week, one met with some at least who feared God. At Portsmouth the number present at the service was never in my time above twenty-six, but the few who did gather gave the deputy a warm reception. In Bedford I met with nothing but kindness from those whose services I in anywise required, but I owe a special debt in this regard to Donald and Robert Morrison, the sons of Mr. Robert Morrison, Tarbert, Harris, for they put themselves to a good deal of trouble in order to render my stay in Bedford comfortable. In no place had one the impression that the largest proportion possible of the men available attended the services than in
Kimbolton, and this was a condition of things towards which Sergeant Mackinnon, a native of Kilmuir, Skye, contributed not a little. If in Buckden the services were comparatively meagre, those who did gather to the services seemed to appreciate the privilege very highly, and Miss Cope, at whose house I stayed, and to whom the Rev. Alexander Macrae has paid a deserved tribute, acted as one who thought she could not do enough for those whom she received as the Lord’s servants.
It is my earnest wish that, with the divine help, the Church will keep this Mission to the Forces going on while the war lasts, or at least as long as there are Gaelic-speaking soldiers and sailors anxious to hear the word in the stations mentioned. There is nothing properly denominational, in the sense of sectarian, about the Mission, but by means of it the Free Presbyterian Church has an opportunity in the present crisis of contributing its own little share of service to the national cause. And all Highlanders of every denomination have thanked us for the interest shown towards the nation’s Forces. It is true that Bedford is, for the present, almost forsaken of the class of men to whom we ministered. It was, at the commencement of the Mission, the most important of all our stations. But then, at an early date, the 4th Seaforths left it for the front. They were followed at a later date by the 4th Camerons. In my own time a group of fine-looking young men, belonging to the Mountain Battery—not a few of whom hail from Applecross and Lochcarron—took their departure, I suppose, for the Dardanelles. I expect the 5th (Sutherland and Caithness) Seaforths are just about to leave Bedford for foreign service. Even the few Cameron and Seaforth Reserves that were left have come now to the north of Scotland. But although the case is so as regards Bedford, it is not the same with Chatham and Portsmouth. There is a likelihood of there being always more or less men at those seaports. Nor is it likely that the Lovat Scouts will leave Kimbolton, or perhaps even Buckden, for a good while to come. Besides, the authorities, both naval and military, have entirely encouraged us. The Admiralty are willing to recognise our services to the Gaelic-speaking Naval Forces in Chatham and Portsmouth, by making good at least part of our expenses, on account of services rendered in those seaports. And the War Office—very much, I believe, on account of Major and Adjutant Hilleary’s kind offices on our behalf—have agreed to pay all our expenses in going to Kimbolton up to the end of March. These are surely tokens that the God of providence is calling us to perform a duty in England at the present hour.
I am glad to have had the Rev. Ewen Macqueen as successor and to a slight extent as colleague in this ministry. But I have written more than, to begin with, I had a definite purpose of writing.—Yours, etc.,
JOHN R. MACKAY.