THE Synod would put on record their sense of the great loss sustained by the Free Presbyterian Church and the cause of Christ at home and abroad through the sudden and unexpected removal of the late Rev. Donald Macleod, Shieldaig.
Mr. Macleod was born in Uig, Lewis, in 1884, and would have been 53 years old had he lived a few days longer. He was noted from his earliest days for his respect for the things of God, and for his desire for the company of God’s people.
Mr. Macleod went as young man to England, and it was there he was awakened to see his personal need of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Saviour and to find in Him One able to save to the uttermost. He proved the genuineness of this experience being a reality to the end of his life. Soon after he had undergone a saving change, he went to Canada and was closely associated with our Winnipeg congregation there from its beginning, being ordained an elder there in 1913. Thereafter he studied for the ministry of our Church, and having returned to this country in 1925, he, after completing the usual course of study, was licensed as a preacher of the gospel and ordained minister over our Shieldaig and Lochearron Congregation.
The cause of Christ is much the poorer by Mr. Macleod’s premature death, and his congregation now mourns the loss of a
faithful and affectionate pastor. The prominent features of his character were gentleness, humility, love for the cause and people of God, along with love for his fellow-sinners. He did not seek a prominent place for himself but was always ready to take the lowest place, thus manifesting a fine Christian spirit and temper.
Mr. Macleod was always ready to help his brethren and to do what he could to advance the Kingdom of Christ in the world. He was an example to the flock over which he was placed and earnestly sought their highest welfare.
The Synod would express their profound sympathy with his bereaved widow and family in their heavy loss and commend them to the tender mercy and grace of Him who is the Husband of the widow and the Father of the fatherless.
The late Miss Margaret Durran, Thurso.
MISS MARGARET DURRAN, Thurso, was the last surviving member of an old and well-known Caithness family. She gave clear evidence of being saved by grace, and her long life of over four score years was largely spent in the conflicts to which such are called. The plague of her own heart, and her need of the atonement of Christ, she knew experimentally. Thick clouds and darkness at different periods came over her soul leaving her mentally and physically distressed. Then her cry was heard: “O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me,” and “He, her fainting soul with strength did strengthen inwardly.” The bitter waters of Marah were sweetened by the tree which the Lord shewed her.
She was a lover of the “good old paths,” and a consistent opponent of all unscriptural changes in doctrine and worship. The preachers of her early days, of whom she loved to speak, were men in whose mouth the trumpet gave no uncertain sound. Few could equal her in relating notes and sayings heard from witnessing fathers and mothers in Israel. Of these two
generations ago, Caithness had many (as may be seen from that interesting book, Ministers and Men of the Far North, by the late Rev. Alexander Auld). Efforts made to maintain truth in a day of declension met with genuine appreciation on her part. The flattering, ultra-charitable form of religion so common in the present day, was nauseous to her soul. Following the sudden death of her brother, (Dr. Durran), she had a break-down in health from which she did not recover. The world became an empty place to her in various ways. In May, 1935, the end came, and her dust was laid with kindred dust in Thurso Cemetery. Many friends mourned her departure, while rejoicing that their loss was her gain.—Wm. Grant.
The late Mrs. Catherina Macrae, Banniskirk, Halkirk.
IN the Cottage at Banniskirk, this humble, warm-hearted Christian and her like-minded husband, George Macrae, resided for over forty years. The latter predeceased her in 1931, having been for many years a loyal and much-respected member of this congregation. The solemn, loving words of advice given by him on his deathbed to members of his family will yet be required of them. Death breaks earthly ties, separates soul and body, but cannot separate the soul of the believer from the Lord Jesus Christ, who redeemed it with His precious blood.
In her early days Mrs. Macrae sat under the preaching of the eminent the Rev. Alexander Gunn (Junior), Watten. She wondered why he so often spoke of “the blood”; she was yet to learn that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. At one period, when her troubles were many, she was sorely tried by sins of thought. At length sweet relief came to her by these words, “the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Her hope was Christ crucified and the infinite merit of His atoning death on Calvary. The public
means of grace were dear to her. Her liberality in supporting them, and diligence in attending them, were evidence of this.
The bereaved family of two surviving sons and seven daughters have been set an example worthy of being followed by them, of steadfast adherence to Scripture principles, doctrines, and worship. This implies definite witnessing against Modernistic teaching and practices. For the last two years, Mrs. Macrae was physically disabled by paralysis. She was removed to Thurso, and there in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Swanson, she was devotedly and tenderly nursed to the last. As the weak body was coming down she could say:
“My flesh and heart doth faint and fail,
But God doth fail me never:
For of my heart God is the strength
And portion for ever.”
On the 17th October last she passed away at the age of 76.
To the bereaved at home and abroad, we extend our sincere sympathy. May grace be given them to know the God of their fathers and to be followers of those who by faith and patience are inheriting the promises.—Wm. Grant.
— Literary Notices.
THE VATICAN IS BRITAIN’S ENEMY.—This is the latest addition to the Protestant Truth Society’s well-known ‘Vatican Series’ of pamphlets which deal with the menace of Romanism, mainly from the political angle. The Roman Catholic Church constitutes “a state within a state,” and her activities in various lands form a great object lesson for Britain in these days. Warning voices echo and re-echo both in history and by contemporary events as to the danger of what Ruskin called “that slavish religion” gaining the upper hand, in Protestant Britain. A single copy of this pamphlet may be had for 2½d. post free from the Protestant Truth Society, 31 Cannon Street, London, E.C.4.
MEN OF SUTHERLAND by George Macdonald, Lairg; With Preface by the Rev. John Macleod, D.D. Inverness: Printed at the Northern Chronicle Office. Price, 2/6. Post free, 2/9.
The book before us contains interesting biographical sketches of worthy ministers, men and women of other days in Sutherland. Among the ministers are included John Mackay, Lairg, and his son, Thomas; Alexander Macleod, Rogart; John Macdonald, Helmsdale, and Dr. Aird, Creich. The sketches of these messengers of God will be read with interest. Sutherland was likewise honoured by having an abundant crop of the excellent of the earth—men and women. Among these the late Mr. Macdonald made a selection and in doing so we miss the names in his list of prominent men like Angus Gray, Lairg; David Ross, Evelix; and Angus Murray, Balloan, Dornoch, etc. It is true, of course, that reference is made to David Ross and Angus Murray in a highly commendatory way in passing but one could wish for more space being devoted to them. Among the women singled out are: Marion Macleod, Elphin, and Mrs. Mackay, Shegra (Bean a’ Chreidimh mhoir). In the book under review, some of the stories told might with decided advantage have been omitted. The Gaelic would have been the better of a Gaelic-speaking proof reader. Bathadh p. 92 should be Bàgh.
PIONEER DAYS IN DARKEST AFRICA by A. G. Ingleby. Glasgow: Pickering and Inglis, Bothwell Street. Price, 2/6.
This book tells the story of the labours of Charles A. Swan in the heart of Darkest Africa. Mr. Swan along with Arnot Campbell and Crawford faced untold difficulties in his work of evangelising the heathen. We are chiefly interested in the light cast on the low depths of degradation in which heathenism held its poor, benighted victims. The gospel came not only to set men free from the slavery of the devil, the most cruel slavery under the sun, but it struck off the shackles by which unfeeling men bound their fellows. The account of the slave traffic in this book is fitted to make one’s blood run cold. Mr. Swan,
after spending years in Africa, carried on work as an evangelist in Portugal and we have many side-lights of the low condition of things in that land under the withering blight of Romanism.