AFTER a pilgrimage of but a couple of years short of a century, there passed into her rest at Goderich, Ontario, on 25th December last, a worthy witness to the grace and power of Christ, of whom a number of our ministers cherish comforting remembrances. Mrs. Morrison, whose maiden name was Christina Graham, was born in the Ness district of the Island of Lewis. She came to Canada, with her husband and young family, when over forty years of age, so that her recollections of the past largely concerned the home of her nativity. Being a woman of more than ordinary intelligence and of a deeply religious life, it was like coming upon a rich find to hold conversation with her. And with what lively interest, pleasure, and simplicity she engaged in conversation about the things of God, and about those ambassadors for Christ whom she had had the privilege of hearing!
As she was a diligent follower of the means from her very youth, she heard many of the most weighty preachers of the Word in the Highlands of Scotland during the last century. The two whose preaching seemed to leave the greatest impression on her heart, were Robert Finlayson and “Big Macrae.” Sometimes one would be impressed that under no one had her soul been more deeply moved than under Mr. Finlayson. She was a woman of prayer, and a most constant reader of the Bible. Of the Word of Scripture she bore witness that, as Goliath’s sword was to David, so was it to her. “There is none like that: give it me.” Of other reading, her delight seemed to be “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners,” and of it she never wearied.
For over a score of years she seldom moved from home, where her faithful and worthy daughter, Sarah, cared for her with that tender care which she herself had known in childhood’s days at her mother’s hand. A few of our ministers, as opportunity offered, preached in her home there, and these were indeed times of refreshing for her. But though living so retired she did not forget her needy fellowmen. Up to the very last her earnest inquiry every evening would be as to the weather. How characteristic of her it was to be found scanning the horizon as she looked over the broad bosom of Lake Huron! Her prayers revealed that her thoughts were with the sailors on the deep.
Now she is gone, a mother beloved and honoured by her sons and daughters, by her children’s children unto the fourth generation, and by others who knew her care as that of a mother. May her testimony—so open and plain to all, and so striking in its very quiet and simplicity—be blessed unto each and all of her family circle, and far beyond. To them all, and especially to Sarah, to whom the world must seem empty in many ways without her, we extend sincere sympathy. W. M.