DONALD MACLEOD (familiarly known as Domhnull Bàn) was born at Holman, Raasay and brought up at Dryharbour, Rona. Donald was the oldest of a family of nine, three sons and three daughters. Very early in life he proved that he was a fallen son of Adam and lived carelessly and quite unconcernedly about his soul’s everlasting interests. He got married when quite a young man at the age of 28 years and was blessed in the providence of God with a large family of five sons and three daughters. One of the sons (Alexander) died in Glasgow at the end of the Great War. Although Donald was not without hope regarding Alexander’s soul’s salvation, yet he and his family felt it a very severe blow in providence, but bore it both in patience and submission—the worthy man using the words of Job: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
At what age he was awakened to a realisation of his lost condition as a sinner before God we are not able to say, but it was sometime after he was married; when at the East Coast fishing he met with an accident by which he sustained a broken leg. The view Donald got of himself as a sinner before God was both real and deep. He was for a long time without rest, without sleep, and without peace, and could not even partake of any food, owing to the view he got of himself as a hell-deserving sinner before God. But in the Lord’s good time, Donald’s sadness was turned to dancing, and his sackcloth loos’d and he was girded with gladness by the Holy Spirit revealing Jesus Christ as an everlasting Saviour to his soul in the promise of the Word as it is in Hebrews, xiii. 5:—”I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” There is no doubt but that Donald was a God-fearing man, and one would not be long in his company when he would feel that he loved the Lord, His Word, His people, and His cause. He was often at private prayer and like some others of the Lord’s people left the marks of his knees on the hills and rocks of the Island of Rona pouring out his complaints before the Lord. When the Declaratory Act was passed, Donald had no doubt as to which party he would follow. He loved the Free Presbyterian Church, and prayed much for her prosperity. Donald had his own share of the troubles that afflict the just during his pilgrimage in the world. The inward corrupt nature in himself, and sin in the world around him gave him much sorrow. He had many sore temptations from the Adversary, but the Lord always gave him the victory through His Word, which Satan cannot withstand.
He suffered much on his death-bed; and on one occasion when asked by a friend if he had much pain, Donald’s reply was; “It is nothing to what was suffered for me;” meaning what Christ suffered in his room and stead. Shortly before the end he was very weak and spoke very little but, we believe, his anchor was firmly fastened within the vail, and that being so, he was safe for an endless eternity. The last portion of Scripture he asked to be read to him was the 69th Psalm from the beginning. He passed away on the 12th March, 1933, at the age of 76 years. His mortal remains were laid to rest in the Old Cemetery, Raasay, to await the Second Coming of the Lord to judge the quick and the dead on the last day. He will then stand in his place.
“Then are they glad, because at rest
And quiet now they be:
So to the haven he them brings,
Which they desir’d to see,”
(Metrical Psalm cvii. 30.)
We desire to express our sincere sympathy with the widow and each member of the family in their bereavement. May the blessing of the Lord rest upon them!—John Nicolson.