IN the death of this worthy office-bearer our cause in the Far North has lost a warm-hearted and faithful friend. Though Mr Cormack had been ailing for years with a heart affection, the end came quite unexpectedly. He had been laid aside for a short time through illness, but in the opinion of his doctor and his family he was making progress towards recovery, when all of a sudden, on the 25th December, the messenger that comes sooner or later came with his summons from Heaven, and Duncan Cormack was gone. He himself, however, felt that it was his last illness, as he plainly indicated to a friend who had come to see him Duncan Cormack was born at Smerlie, near Lybster, on 2nd April 1854, and was thus in his 72nd year when he died. He had the inestimable privilege of being brought up in a home where a godly example was set him, and though this in itself will not change the heart, yet it is a blessing which those who enjoy it should be devoutly thankful for, and a privilege that they should pray to God might be blessed to them. He used to relate the solemn impression made on his mind when his father, on Duncan’s attainment to manhood, took him into a room, and speaking most seriously to him, reminded him that in his infant days his father had taken most solemn vows at his baptism to bring up his son in the right way, and that now he was warning him what a solemn thing it would be for that son to be on the left hand of Jesus Christ at last. It was an interview and a warning Duncan never forgot, and he ever referred to it with a solemnity that indicated how deep was the impression it made upon his spirit. This was a custom, followed by this worthy man and others, when the members of their families attained to years of discretion.
In the days of his youth he was privileged to enjoy the ministry of that true minister of Christ, the Rev. John Mackay, Lybster, but whatever strivings the Spirit of God may have had with Duncan, it would appear that the really serious and lasting impression made on his heart was when an uncle died to whom he was devotedly attached. It was then that the new life which with all its ups and downs began, and bore abundant evidence to all who were brought into contact with him that here was a man who was saved by grace, who knew something of the work of the Holy Spirit, who was not ignorant of the plagues of his own heart, and who leaned with childlike confidence upon Christ alone for salvation. Duncan was about twenty years of age when the great change came, so that for fifty years passing through this vale of tears he bore witness to the thoroughness of the change when his back was turned for ever on the darkness and his face set upon the light.
He was a cooper by trade, and in the prosecution of his calling he had to follow the fishing fleets to Lewis and Ireland. It was preparatory to leaving home for Ireland on one occasion that he came in from the barn where he had been praying and announced to his wife that he would give anything to be allowed to remain at home, as he felt that something was to happen to them. He left for Ireland in March, and in the following month one of his children was burnt so badly that he only lived about three weeks after the accident. The stricken father wrote home to his wife, telling her to be submissive to the Lord’s hand, and directed her to look to the only source whence comfort of lasting value was to be found.
Duncan was elected an elder of the joint-congregation of Wick and Lybster in 1902, and he never forgot all those years the solemn promises he had made at his ordination. Steadfastly and faithfully he adhered to the testimony of the Free Presbyterian Church, and he did not desire to have company with those who thought lightly of their ordination promises. During all the years that he was an elder of the Wick Kirk-Session no minister could wish for a more faithful and sympathetic friend, and none of his fellow-elders could desire one who through all the years during which he was associated with them conducted himself so truly as a Christian and a gentleman. Though an elder of Wick Kirk-Session, it was only on Communion seasons and on certain other occasions that he worshipped at Wick, owing to his home being about 16 miles distant from the latter place. But on these occasions he always brought with him a fragrance of one who had been on the mountain of spices. There was a depth and solemnity in his prayers, a sweetness and an unction that made very plain to all God’s people that though he was far removed from the public means in which his heart delighted, he was having sweet communion with his God and Saviour. Now that he is gone those gracious, heaven-bedewed prayers will be heard no more by us. His singing also as he led the praise was much relished by God’s people. The melody was not that of the natural voice, though he had a sweet voice, neither was it from technical knowledge of the musicians’ art. There was something in it pleasing to the ears of God’s people that no art of man could produce. It was the melody of a heart which had tasted that the Lord was gracious and was touched to its depths by the loving kindness of the Lord to him, a perishing sinner.
On the “Men’s Day” he was one of the most appreciated of the speakers. He always spoke with special solemnity, and there was an unction in his words that showed plainly he was speaking from the heart. His knowledge of the deceitfulness of the human heart, his deep appreciation of God’s infinite mercy in sending His Son into the world, and a sense of his own defilement by sin, and his utter inability to do anything in, and of, himself that was well pleasing to God, made his words to be a helpful message to his fellow-pilgrims on the way to Sion.
The Free Presbyterian cause in particular has lost in Duncan Cormack one who prayed for its welfare and rejoiced in every token of prosperity that came to it, and was saddened when anything weakened it. And the cause of Christ in general has lost one of its earnest suppliants at a throne of grace who longed for the dawning of better days, and who waited for them not without hope. It was not his happiness to see the dawning of these better days, for the Lord saw meet to take him home to his everlasting rest. On Tuesday, 29th December, his remains were laid to rest in Latheron Burying-ground, awaiting the call of the Son of God when the earth shall yield its dead. Near his grave rests the dust of such eminent witnesses of Christ as Alexander Gair, Donald Grant, and a great number of the excellent of the earth, both men and women.
We tender our heartfelt sympathy to the widow bereft of a devoted husband, the widowed daughter at home, and her children, to whom the grandfather was devotedly attached; to the other members of the family in this country, and to those who are in the United States. We know with what tender solicitude he prayed for their salvation, and our desire is that the prayer of their beloved father may be answered in the Lord’s appointed time according to His purpose. We conclude with the words of David to Solomon, so applicable to them and to others like-privilegeu :— “And, thou Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts; if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off for ever” (I. Chron. xxviii. 9).
Little sins multiplied become great. There is nothing less than a grain of sand; there is nothing heavier than the sand of the sea when multiplied.—Brooks.