MANY years ago there lived in the Island of Rona a man of the name of John MacLennan, and who was locally known as Iain Og. He was one who feared the Lord above many, and who, on account of his piety deserves that something should be put on record concerning him. My first acquaintance with Iain Og was in the winter of 1875, when the late Rev. Angus Galbraith, of the Free Church, Raasay, asked me to go to Rona to teach a school. On the Tuesday following my being engaged by him I left home before daylight in order to get the lighthouse boat to take me there, but before I reached Portree the boat was away. Someone told me that there was a boat from Rona at the mill in Portree, and on making enquiries I found two brothers of the name of MacSween, who told me to wait at the pier and that they would not be long. However, it was dark before we started in a small boat, full of bags of meal, with two women, the brothers MacSween, my father and I on board. That night we got the length of Fladda and the next day landed at Dry Harbour about three o’clock in the afternoon. Having secured lodgings I started the school the next morning.
The first Sabbath after I arrived the Rev. Angus Galbraith was preaching at Torran, and a number of boats left Fladda early in the morning. My father and I got away in one of them and landed about a mile from Torran. After the service Mr. Galbraith intimated to the people of Rona that the teacher he secured was now among them, and advised them to keep their children in school. The following Sabbath the missionary who was in the district had a service in the schoolhouse. It began at noon and it was dark when we got out, so that the people were grumbling.
The next Sabbath again the missionary was at Kylerna, so
* We regret to note that the writer of the above, who was our esteemed missionary at Braes, Portree, has passed away. The sketch was sent us about three weeks before his death, and in the covering note sent along with it, he remarked, “It is a solemn thing to be on the verge of eternity.” We believe that for him it was a great gain.—J.C.
there was no Service in the schoolhouse, but the people with whom I was staying told me that there would be a meeting in the house of Iain Og. All the people of the place gathered to his house. When I arrived Iain was sitting in an old-fashioned chair, known in the Highlands as a sunnaig, and I would take him to be about sixty years of age. He began the meeting by asking one of the name of Neil MacLeod to sing four verses of a psalm, and then asked a venerable old man to pray. After the prayer he struggled to his feet with the aid of two walking sticks, dropping them when he was fairly on his feet. On being given the Bible he read a chapter and asked Neil MacLeod to sing some more verses. He then began to expound a portion of the chapter read, mentioning verse after verse of Scripture accurately showing their bearing on the portions he was expounding, and although the meeting continued for fully two and a half hours no one felt tired. When he finished speaking he engaged in prayer, and if his exposition was remarkable his prayer may be described as wonderful. He gave one the impression that he was unconscious of anyone listening to him but the Invisible One.
I was in Rona for six months and saw him often, and heard many things about him. He was born at Balgay on the south side of Loch Torridon, and came to Rona as a young man. He was lame on both feet but I was never able to find out how he became crippled; neither was I able to find out how or when the Lord turned him from darkness to light, but it was the opinion of many that it was the reading of the Bible that was blessed to his soul, for he had very few opportunities of hearing the gospel preached. He was a man of prayer and spent the most of his time with the Bible and on his knees. After breakfast and worship he would crawl to the back of a hillock behind his house and spend the most of the day on his knees, except when it was too cold or too wet, and I had it on good authority that the marks of his toes, knees and elbows were to be seen there a long time after he was gone.
There was a small tarn at the back of Iain’s place of meditation and a young boy, a sister’s son was drowned there. Iain felt this very keenly for he was very fond of the boy. He was
remarkably fond of children, and all the children of the place were fond of him. Whenever they would get anything new they would run to show it to Iain Og, and share any sweets with him that would be given them. They always found him a friend who was so interested in their pleasures as they were themselves. When any of the ministers would be preaching in the schoolhouse, the young men of the place would vie with each other as to who would have the pleasure of carrying him on their backs to the service and back home again. When he was not able to go to the service he would say to a favourite niece of the name of Janet, “Bring me all you can.” On her return home he would cause her to sit beside him and question her about the service. He would begin by asking her the psalm read and the portion sung, then the chapter, the text and the heads of the sermon. He would then get her to repeat all that she remembered of what the minister said on the first, second and third heads, and the conclusion. After he would get from her all that she remembered he would arrange the sermon and it would keep him going for the whole of that week, and before the close of it he could repeat more of the sermon than any one of those who heard it preached. His remarkable influence over the young men is seen in the case of James Urquhart who came to Rona, a thoughtless young man, much taken up with dancing and playing the fiddle at weddings. Though careless about religion his admiration for Iain Og caused him to be often in his company, with the result that very soon the fiddle was burned, and reading the Bible and the prayer meetings had more attraction for him than the dance. The change soon became evident, not only in himself but also among the people, and a number were turned from darkness to light. James Urquhart died a young man, but the blessed fruit of his labours were to be seen in Rona after his death. No other individual was so much loved by all the people, especially the people of God, as James Urquhart was.
Some time after James Urquhart’s death, Iain’s sister and her husband died, and Janet his niece got married. She took up residence in Osgaig, a township in the south end of the Island of Raasay, and took her uncle with her. After Iain went there
he appeared to miss greatly his place of meditation at Rona, but he had visits, especially at Communion times from the ministers such as Mr. MacRae, Duirinish, Mr. Mackay, Glenshiel, and Mr. Galbraith; and from among the men, Major MacLeod, Walter Mackay the catechist, Duncan MacRae, Letterfearn, and Neil MacInnes, Glenbrittle. There is a remarkable story told of the brotherly love that existed between Iain Og and Neil McInnes. Major MacLeod called on Iain and gave him a half sovereign, and immediately the Major left Iain got it changed. The Major met Neil and gave him also a half sovereign. Neil got it changed and went straight to Osgaig. Whenever he saluted Iain he took out his purse and said, “A gentleman gave me a little thing here and I came to give the half of it to you Iain.” Iain put his hand under the pillow, saying, “A gentleman called on me and gave me a little thing here, and I kept the half of it for you Neil.” This is a clear instance of how much the thoughts of the one went out to the other. These visits were very refreshing to Iain’s soul but he was more ready to listen to the brethren than to be heard himself. On one such occasion Walter Mackay waited with Iain a whole afternoon trying to get him to pray but failed. When going away, Walter teasingly remarked, “I cannot call you an evil servant, but indeed I can call you a lazy one.”
An incident may be recorded here which shows how much Iain had the mind of the Lord. The proprietor took from the people of the township of Dry Harbour half of their grass land, then offered it to any of the people who would take it, and gave no compensation to the people of Dry Harbour. The people resented this keenly and none of them would take it. When the men went to their homes after their interview with the proprietor they told of his offer to their families. One of them was an old man with a family of five sons and three daughters. His family persuaded him to go back to the proprietor and take the place. He yielded to their persuasion and took two shares for himself, one share for a son, and another for one of his daughters. Another neighbour went along with him and took a share of the new township. When someone, in conversation with Iain
asked him what he thought of what this man did, he replied, that if he was a child of grace the Lord would chastise him in his family, but if not that he would suffer in his substance. In a short while three of the sons died and some of their families, and before twenty years passed away there was only one grandson left in the new place, for all his sons and the most of their families died. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” Psalm, xxv., 14.
I am sorry that I did not gather more of the sayings of this servant of the Lord, for I thought that an abler pen than mine would endeavour to keep him in memory. Owing to his feebleness I believe it was only once that he sat at the Lord’s Table at a Communion at Raasay. He told his niece that he would like to go to the Lord’s Table, so Mr. Stewart, the estate manager, was spoken to and he sent the coachman with a small basket trap to Iain’s house. Two men carried him out of the house and came with him in the trap, took him and set him down beside the Table, lifted him afterwards to the Table and again lifted him back to his seat. When the service was over the trap was waiting for him to bring him home again. It was a red letter day for Iain Og. “The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.” Psalm, cxii., 6.—JAMES NICOLSON.