THE signs of the times in which we live are ominous, from several points of view. The Lord has arisen to shake terribly the earth. It continues to be convulsed by His righteous judgments. It is saturated with the blood of hundreds of thousands, and developments of an appalling character are brewing. The nations are called to drink at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury in the murderous war that is being waged. And amidst all this evidence of fearful divine judgments there are signs of even more withering judgments arresting us, in the spiritual apathy and indifference that abound. In some quarters a remedy is sought against the prevailing state of matters by having recourse to idolatrous and superstitious practices—practices that accentuate the spiritual blight that has so largely spread over the reformed nations. Signs of turning back to the Lord and to His Word by individual and national repentance are wanting. When the earth has thus most need of those who received the Spirit of supplications, to plead for its good and for the welfare of its sinful inhabitants, the Lord sees fit to call them away to Himself. He calls them away in these sad times from a scene of greater disturbance and confusion than has been the lot of any previous generation of men in the world to witness. It was in such circumstances as these the late Mr. John A. MacCaskill, our missionary at Carboſt, in the parish of Bracadale, was called to his everlasting rest, whose death has already been notified in the Magazine.
John MacCaskill was born at Fernlea, Carboſt, in November, 1839. He ended his earthly course in the place of his birth on 14th October last. He was favoured with a strong, healthy bodily frame, and for one of his advanced years, he appeared lively and vigorous to well-nigh the end. In his boyhood educational advantages were not so accessible as they generally now are. These were not the days of compulsory education. He much appreciated the freedom that he enjoyed from compulsory attendance at school, as he did not care for even the very limited extent to which educational facilities were provided in the district. He afterwards regretted his negligence. When he got a more comprehensive view of life, and was able to appreciate the value of a liberal education, he spared no effort to gather as much information as possible. For one who was mainly self-taught the extent of his intelligence was very much to his credit.
He left his parents’ home when young. They wisely decided on his learning a trade. For this purpose he was sent to Portree, and there he entered upon his duties as an apprentice in the shoe-making trade. He did not like the trade, nor did he afterwards engage much in the practice of it. But the Lord, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working, had a purpose in his having been sent to Portree. It is not known that as a young man he gave way, like many, to any particular form of indulgence. Outwardly he pursued an undeviating and straightforward course, but he was a stranger to his sinfulness in the sight of God. When satisfied with himself in this condition of spiritual self-complacency he heard one of the greatest preachers of the Gospel that Skye was ever favoured with—the Rev. Roderick MacLeod, Snizort. He delivered a sermon in the young man’s hearing from the words, “It is time to seek the Lord.” The words made an indelible impression on his mind. They were used by the Holy Spirit to awaken him to a sense of his lost condition by nature. He was convinced of sin, and he then prayed in reality as a guilty and lost sinner before God, justly meriting the wages of sin for ever. He had a never-forgotten experience in his conscience of the terrors of the Lord, as exhibited in the holiness of a broken law, and he miserably failed in his efforts to assuage, in any degree, the waters of the flood in which he found himself submerged. It is not known how long he was tossed on these angry billows before he was led into the haven where he found rest and peace. In any case it was at Bracadale that he first tasted that the Lord is gracious. His mourning was turned into dancing, his sackcloth was loosed, and he was girded with gladness on occasion of his listening to the same honoured servant of Christ, through whose instrumentality he was awakened to a sense of his lost condition. He preached from the words, “That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” The Holy Spirit owned these precious words for enabling our friend to look to a crucified Christ alone for salvation, and he was enabled to appropriate Him by faith in the infinite merit of His atoning sacrifice.
It was evident from the fruit that he afterwards, and throughout his whole career of Christian profession, brought forth, that his experience of the power of law and gospel was real and thorough. Naturally, he was amiable and patient, remarkably sympathetic and kindly disposed; in company, he was agreeable and pleasant, free from all sourness and rancour; and in his deportment he everywhere carried himself as it became the Christian gentleman. He was thus highly respected and profoundly trusted by all who appreciate the value of a consistent Christian character—a fact, in his case, that proclaimed as eloquently as his words the integrity of his public profession. He was particularly reticent about his personal Christian experience, but it gave him unqualified pleasure in hearing those in whom he had confidence relating their experiences. It was in speaking at the Friday Fellowship Meeting on Communion occasions that one largely got at what was universally believed to be his own real experience. In his manner of expression he was concise and pithy. His matter was solid and weighty, and he exhibited a grasp of divine truth in its various aspects that only an experimental knowledge of its power could give. His remarks were usually pointed and impressive. He exemplified the apostolic injunction of esteeming others better than himself. Of himself, indeed, and of his attainments he had a growing depreciation. The last Communion he attended was at Vatten on the first Sabbath of September—about six weeks before the end. At the Fellowship Meeting on Friday he gave out the words, “But now in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ,” remarking that he gave out these words many years ago on such an occasion as the present, but that he now felt his need more than ever of an infallible token that he was made nigh in Christ Jesus. His presence was ever welcome at Zion’s solemnities, where he found his chief joy. The place that he worthily filled is now empty, and he will be long and sadly missed.
He was fond of a seafaring life, in course of which he took two trips, at least, to Africa. His experience of life generally was thus considerable, and he could tackle human affairs with commendable intelligence. His highest interests, however, were absorbed in what affected the honour and glory of the name of the Redeemer. The prosperity of His cause on earth lay nearest his thoughts. He always spoke with profound admiration of ministers whose proved integrity in their defence of the crown rights of the Redeemer entitled them to the highest degree of respect. Of the Skye ministers, next to Mr. Roderick MacLeod, Mr. MacColl, who was for many years in Duirinish, and Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Ross, successively ministers at Bracadale, had the highest place in his affection. From their ministry he derived much benefit and comfort. His seasons of despondency, which were frequent, fitted him all the more for the consolations of the Gospel as preached to “the poor;” and he often had reason to offer his sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord for the ministry of these worthy heralds of the cross, as instruments in His hand of reviving his drooping hope.
Ultimately his Christian attainments were recognised and acknowledged to the extent that he was persuaded to take up mission work. When the Free Presbyterian Church came into existence in 1893, his activities were exercised in this line. No one acquainted with him had the slightest doubt about the course he would adopt for the vindication of the honour and rights of Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King of the Church. He was in the front line of those who assumed an attitude of resolute and unbending opposition to any modification of the doctrines of the Westminster Confession of Faith; and when the Free Presbyterian Church took up a position of separate existence to maintain, inviolate, and in its entirety, the distinctive position of the Disruption Church, he heartily cast in his lot with it. In consequence of this step, he made his sacrifices, and willingly suffered persecution. Eventually, he was enrolled among the lay missionaries of the Free Presbyterian Church, in connection with which his labours were extensive and incessant as long as his physical strength held out. The wide but sparsely populated parish of Bracadale was placed under his charge. It was his lot to cross over extensive tracts of trackless moorland, on the other side of which lay an arm of the sea, swept by huge rollers from the wide Atlantic. It he had to cross, often in very stormy weather, before he could reach his destination. But the Lord suffered no ill to befall him in undertakings that were really hazardous. He was willing to spend and be spent in the service of his beloved Redeemer, and he did not want human recognition or commendation. He now has his reward.
Throughout he was given much to secret prayer, but latterly this feature in his Christian character was pre-eminent. Intelligent observers noticed that, for some time before he was wholly laid aside from active service, he enjoyed much freedom in expounding the truth; and when expostulated with for the unusual shortness of his exercises he repeated a saying attributed to Mr. Roderick MacLeod, Snizort: “What is the good of keeping up a sail when there is no wind.” He maintained a consistent course to the end. He did not shrink from denouncing sin in all its forms. Corrupters of the Word of God and Sabbath-breakers usually came under the sweep of his lash. He gave no quarter to those who did not lay hold of the whole truth. To him the Word of God was dearer than life, in the maintenance of which he was unmoved, and his testimony in its defence he held inviolate to the last. “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”
We tender to his widow, who was, in every respect, a real helpmeet for him for well nigh twenty-nine years, our sincerest sympathy in her sorrow and loneliness. A. M.
WHEN Christ is in court and religion in fashion, then the hypocrite will put on some fits of diligence. O what will not a hypocritical Jehu do when there is a crown to be had for following Christ and religion: “O come, then, and see my religion, and zeal for the Lord of Hosts.” But bring Christ to the hall of Caiaphas, then will he soon quit Him and scatter religion.—Gray.