It has been the painful experience of the writer on several occasions to record in the pages of our Magazine the passing away of some who were living witnesses for Christ in the parish of Duirinish, Skye. There are many others who have been removed, who are equally worthy of notice, and whose consistent lives caused them to be living epistles known and read of all men, but their reticence in speaking of their own experience caused that material for their obituary notices to be very scanty. Their doings and their experiences are, however, written in God’s book of remembrance, and it is only when all things are revealed at last that these doings and experiences will be known. As a result of the preaching of the gospel in Berea we read that “Many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few” (Acts xvii. 12). Such honourable women are to be found in every congregation and among them were the subjects of the following short notices:—
Miss Mary MacDermid, Waternish.—Miss MacDermid was a comparatively young woman when she was called away from this world. We are not in a position to say when, or by what means, she underwent a saving change, but have been told by some who knew her intimately that, for three years after she came to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, her happiness was practically unbroken. At the end of that period her afflictions began. The Lord laid His hand on her body and following an operation she was deprived of the use of her limbs, a condition which continued to the end of her life. At the same time she began to experience some of the depths through which the Lord, as a rule, leads His own. Hard questions began to pour in upon her mind and they proved beyond her power to answer them. She, however, knew who to go to with these questions. The Queen of Sheba went with hard questions to Solomon and he told her all that was in her heart, and the subject of this sketch knew in her own experience the truth of the Saviour’s statement: “Behold, a greater than Solomon is here.” Christ was her all, and it was to Him she went with her trials and difficulties, knowing that He had a fullness to meet with all her felt emptiness. We remember on one occasion praying at her bedside and quoting the words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” and after rising from our knees she repeated these words, and added: “If we knew Him as the way, the truth, and the life, we would have everything that we need for time and eternity. It was evident at the time that her soul was feasting upon Christ.
One year followed another of affliction and temptation but each year was hastening her on to the hour of release. The Lord Jesus does not leave His own in the laver in which the work of sanctification is carried on one moment longer than is necessary, and when that work was finished in her case, her soul experienced a happy release from all trials and was welcomed to the bosom of Christ, there to have unbroken fellowship with the Saviour, world without end.
Mrs. Kate MacLean, Vatten.—Mrs. MacLean was the widow of Hector MacLean, Kensalroag, Vatten, of whom an obituary notice appeared in the pages of the Magazine some years ago. Though outwardly orderly and hospitable to the Lord’s people it was only after her husband’s death that she began to be concerned about spiritual and eternal realities. Though she could not claim to have sought the Lord yet He sought her, as it is written: “For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out,” and He was found of her who, to begin with, sought Him not. Christ, by His Spirit in the written Word began to speak to her, convincing her of sin and revealing to her the remedy in such a way that she had to say: “Never man spake like this man.” He not only showed her what was in her heart but He also showed her what was in His heart of love and compassion towards perishing sinners. Though death bereaved her of her husband, she could now say that she had a Husband from whom she would never be parted. After some time she became a member in full communion, and though then apparently in good health, she, in a year or two, began to show symptoms of the trouble that was very soon to terminate fatally. She was removed to Geston Hospital but nothing could be done. During the last few weeks she had no desire to see anyone except those who would speak to her about eternal realities. After a period of suffering she breathed her last and her mortal remains were laid beside those of her husband in Bracadale grave-yard there to await the blast of the last trumpet, which blast will be a joyous summons to all who are washed and redeemed by the blood of the Saviour.—J. C.