THE Lord is gathering home, according to His gracious purpose, one by one of His redeemed, and time and again our pages bear record of the passing hence to their everlasting rest of those who adorned the doctrine of God their Saviour as they journeyed to the home He had prepared for them. Within a short interval of time two ladies—Mrs Auld, Thurso, and Mrs Ross, Wick—life-long friends and well known in religious circles in the North—passed to their rest. Mrs Auld had reached a great age—she was 94 when she died—and in her passing a link in the chain with the religious past of Caithness in its better days was broken. Alike in her early home and during her married life she was privileged to come into contact with some of the excellent of the earth.
Mrs Auld was the eldest daughter of the Rev. Dr Walter Ross Taylor, Thurso, whose gracious gospel preaching was greatly appreciated by the Lord’s people in the far north. In her father’s home she was privileged to meet with such eminent ministers as Dr Macdonald, Ferintosh; Messrs Archibald and Finlay Cook, Mr John Munro, Halkirk; Mr Alexander Gunn, Watten, both of the latter, strange to say, dying in her father’s manse. She used to relate the solemn impression made on her youthful mind by Dr Macdonald’s preaching. She had heard so much about the great preacher that when he came she was awed in his presence. With the other members of the family she attended the service which was held on a week day, and more than half a century afterwards, in telling the impression made on her, she said: “I thought in every word he said that it was God speaking.” When Dr Macdonald was leaving the manse, in her childish simplicity, she thought she wouldn’t hear God speaking again, and she burst into tears. “What is the matter with you, Christina?” asked her father, and on telling him the cause of her grief he requested Dr Macdonald to go back and speak to the child. Dr Macdonald returned, and laying his hand on the weeping girl’s head, said: “Some believed and some believed not,” and in telling this story she used to add: “I am in that uncertainty until this day.” As to when the change came when she passed from death to life we are not in a position to say, but she herself used to tell of a remarkable experience she had when she first came forward as a young woman to bear witness on the side of the Lord. She appeared before the Session in Thurso and was received as a communicant, but when the time came to go forward to the Lord’s Table her courage failed her, while her mind was harassed by temptations of Satan. Some time after this the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was to be dispensed at Halkirk, and she accompanied her father there. On the Sabbath, as invitations were given to go forward to the last Table she rose and took her place at the Table. She was troubled as to whether she had a right to be there—whether a true work of grace had ever been wrought in her heart or not, as these thoughts were passing through her mind, and when she was coming to the conclusion that all the religion she had was only what she had received from man in her father’s house, Mr F. Cook, who was addressing the communicants, said in dealing with various fears that some of the communicants might have—”Some may be saying that the only religion they have is what they got from man, but if the Lord has spoken to you follow on and after forty years you will pay your vows to Him in this place.” Owing to divisions in the Church Mrs Auld had long ceased attending the Communion gatherings at Halkirk, but after the Free Presbyterian Church came into existence, especially after she took up residence in Thurso, she attended regularly, while her health permitted, the Communion seasons in Halkirk, and it was while in the Halkirk Free Presbyterian Manse on one of these occasions she told the above. On being asked by one present: “Now is it over forty years since that happened?” She replied in her playful way: “Aye, but I’m no to tell ye that.”
In 1857 Miss Taylor, as she then was, was married to the Rev. Alexander Auld, Free Church minister of Olrig, Caithness. Mr Auld was one of the most appreciated of the post-Disruption Free Church ministers of Caithness. He had a very original style of preaching, which was attractive to even careless hearers. His memory is kept fresh in his “Ministers and Men in the Far North”; “Life of Dr John Kennedy, Dingwall”; “Life of David Steven,” etc.
At Communion gatherings and on other occasions some of the outstanding ministers and “men” would be visitors at the Manse, and Mrs Auld had a fund of anecdotes about the Christian worthies that are now gone home. Possessed of a mind of more than ordinary grasp, deeply in love with the truth, possessing a most retentive memory and a born conversationalist she could discuss deep matters of religion and experience with such men as Dr Kennedy and Dr Hugh Martin. It was a pleasure to be in her company, for her conversation was always on the great matters of salvation, and with comparative ease she could recall from the well-furnished storehouse of her memory anecdotes so appropriate to the occasion that captivated the mind of the listener. Her fund of anecdotes about some of the more noted of the Caithness ministers and “men” seemed to be almost inexhaustible, and one regrets that she never, though often requested to do so, brought out a third edition of her husband’s “Ministers and Men in the Far North.” The pages of the Magazine bear evidence of her correspondence with Dr Kennedy and Dr Hugh Martin, but the anecdotes about James Macadie; the late Murdo Mackay, Strathy Point; David Steven, Bower; Donald Duff, Stratherrick; and a host of other worthy men and women are now to a great extent buried with herself.
After her husband’s death Mrs Auld came to reside in Thurso, and attended our meetings there in the school-house as long as her health permitted. Though possessed of intellectual gifts above the ordinary, and having been associated during her long life with some of the most noted ministers and Christians of her day, she never despised anyone, however young and inexperienced he might be, if she believed he had the root of the matter in him. She sat listening to his message, and was o’er-joyed when she heard anything that gave her hope. She had a child-like humility in this respect, and though she had her own favourites as preachers, she was willing to take the bread of heaven when set on the table however youthful the preacher might be. She was often in deep waters, and there can be little doubt that her powerful intellect was many a time made a snare to her, leading her into depths which it would have been wiser to avoid, and where a simpler mind would not have wandered. Her complaint often was that all her religion was gone, but on being unconsciously led into a conversation about the redeeming work of Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost, no one could be more happy in speaking about these things: and when it would be asked how could she have such joy in these matters if she had not undergone a saving change, her quick reply would be: “Aye, but others received the Word with joy, and what were they?”
But though her sky was often overcast, yet when the sun shone through the clouds, and her bright, cheerful disposition infected the whole company in which she was, she was unspeakably happy. During a long and painful illness (iritis) she was nursed with devoted attention by her maid, Miss Lizzie Leitch, from whom no mistress could have received more constant devotion ungrudgingly given. She suffered at times excruciating pain, and it was marvellous how courageously she bore up under it all. As the end drew near, her hope grew brighter, and she passed into the presence of the Lord, whom she loved and followed as one who heard Him calling her into a land where the inhabitant shall not say I am sick. Mrs Auld had seven of a family—four sons survive. One of the sons (Walter) died at the age of 21, and his mother wrote a beautiful memoir of him, which passed through three editions. One of her last sayings noted by Miss Leitch was: “Time is passing, I want now nothing but Christ and salvation and to be clad in the robe of Immanuel’s righteousness. There is enough in His humiliation and exaltation to meet our case. Shine forth from between the cherubims and look upon Sion, the city of our solemnities.” As the Rev. William Grant has written a brief account of her last days, we have pleasure in giving it here, and, in doing so, we would join in the wish that a devoted mother’s prayers for her sons may be heard in Heaven.
“The privilege of having been much in the company of the late Mrs Auld during the last two years of her life prompts one to give an indication of her soul exercise. Her conversation was in the truth, savoury and instructive. The Lord searched her by His Word, consequently “self-loathing” was a marked feature of her experience. The tempter said: “You have acquired a religion by your long association with Christians. You are a hypocrite.” Again, he would suggest: “Your religion is all in your head and tongue.” She was afraid of herself, and of a name to live, and was not ignorant of Satan’s devices. Sweet deliverance through the Word was frequently experienced.
In the midst of great bodily suffering, she remarked: “I was a healthy woman, and had many years of that blessing, but now I am a broken, bruised, and frail creature. I would like to get an invitation to heaven: do you think the Lord will be willing to take me?”—quoting, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.’ If I get in there to know a sin-forgiving God, I am safe. O! the goodness of the Lord.” On my entering the room on one occasion and enquiring as to how she felt, she replied: “O very happy, very happy; come look at Psalm 51, and verse one (prose)—’According to the loving-kindness of the Lord.’ Since half-an-hour I have seen there what I never saw before. Yes, His mercy is according to His loving kindness, and, as that is so, there can be no end or measuring of it; come with the largest of vessels for it is—’According to His loving kindness.'” Thus, while she went down to the depths in her conflicts, she mounted heavenward on the wings of faith and love, enabled to do so by heavenly breezes. She mourned the sad declensions of these latter days, and was heard pleading: “Take the sword into thine own hand, and cut down the works of sin and Satan, and set up the Kingdom of Thy dear Son.” The golden rule, “Make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the Mount,” was quoted by her.
One Sabbath afternoon, before she was confined to bed, she saw a man repairing his car in an adjoining building. She opened the window and said: “Sabbath work will not prosper; you better stop it. Have you forgotten the Commandment—’Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.'” The man answered roughly: “You have nothing to do with me.” Mrs Auld replied: “I have got nothing to do with you, but I have got to do with my Maker, and so have you.” She turned to her room, and was heard singing:—
“‘Tis time thou work Lord, for they have made void thy law divine.
Therefore, thy precepts more I love than gold, yea. gold most fine.”
Her memory continued strong, and she would frequently quote those whom she heard in early days, such as Rev. Finlay Cook and Dr Kennedy, also the worthy David Steven, Donald Duff, and others. The memorable occasion of her first communicating at Halkirk was ever fresh to her mind. The late Rev. D. Macfarlane’s experiences, as related in our Magazine for 1927, were very helpful to her. The remarks of one of the older ministers of the Church (contained in a letter she received) concerning “faith acting, the Spirit working, the soul receiving for Christ’s sake”; also his quotation of a portion of Scripture to her on another occasion were repeatedly referred to as having refreshed her soul.
On Sabbath (the last on earth), she said: “I lost something that was very precious, but I have got it again; it is this—She shall be brought unto the King,” etc. (Ps. xlv.14-15.) “I hear singing,” she remarked. “Do you?” “I hear someone say: ‘The sceptre of thy Kingdom is a sceptre that is right.'” Again she said: “I hear them sing: ‘O daughter hearken and regard.’ Do you think the Lord is in this room? Death comes first, then the morning. We read that David got his ‘sackcloth loosed, and was girded with gladness.'”
The Communion season about to begin in the recently acquired Thurso Free Presbyterian Church was occupying her thoughts. Her interest in the cause of Christ there continued to the end, and her removal is mourned. On Monday (the day before her death), she said: “There is but one step between me and heaven. I am on the way to heaven; I am on the Lord’s side, and the vail will be taken away.” An hour before the soul left the body, she asked: “Do you think that we should write a remembrance of this day?” And then, in a whisper, said: “You will find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,” adding: “Oh, is it not fine?” and then she passed peacefully away to be, we believe, forever with the Lord.
She yearned for the spiritual welfare of her sons. To them and others sincere sympathy is extended, particularly to Miss Lizzie Leitch, by whom she was devotedly nursed for many years (latterly assisted by Miss Banks.) For some of the sayings recorded we are indebted to Miss Leitch. May each of those who mourn be found at last among the “Lord’s jewels,” of which He says, “they shall be mine.”