THE great leveller death has been busy in taking away during the past year or two those who were useful to the cause of Christ in the world. Some of these did not make a public profession of their faith; others not only professed their faith in the Saviour but also proved their faithfulness to Him in word and deed. Among them was the late Mrs. Mackenzie, Kiltaraglen, Portree.
She was the second daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Porteous, Vatten, Skye, and was brought up from childhood in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Her parents were notable for their piety and Christian hospitality. Mr. Porteous had an interesting career in his early days, having sailed round the world and in one of these voyages contracted a fever which left him a semi-invalid the rest of his days. He came to Skye in search of health and in due time became married to Mrs. Porteous who proved an excellent helpmate to him, being like-minded with him in religion and active in supporting every good cause.
Both were members in the Free Church before 1893, and when it was necessary to separate from it owing to the passing of the notorious and uncalled for Declaratory Act, they joined in heartily with those who formed the Free Presbyterian Church in Vatten.
Mrs. Mackenzie was therefore from childhood in touch with vital religion and godly example; but these, although valuable in themselves, will not change the heart. Grace alone can do that and she was well aware of it. In 1925 she became a member in Vatten congregation, feeling a strong impulse at the time to profess her Saviour publicly because He had become precious to her soul and like many she had made choice of Him as the good part that would not be taken from her.
She was married (before she became a member) to the late Mr. Roderick Mackenzie, of the North of Scotland College of Agriculture, he being an elder in the U.F. Church of Scotland, and a very considerate and kind-hearted man who did not interfere with her religious convictions but even encouraged her to follow the light of her conscience. He suffered for some time from an illness which ended in death and if we are not mistaken expressed his dissatisfaction with his church before his death and departed this life, we believe, trusting in Christ. He was Superintendent of the Sabbath School and his love for his pupils and desire that they should be taught sound doctrine kept him where he was, long after he was out of sympathy with the way his church was going.
The acquisition of Kiltaraglen gave Mrs. Mackenzie an excellent opportunity of showing hospitality to the Lord’s people, for in this she delighted to follow the example of her godly parents.
At one time she went through a severe operation which left her in delicate health but was wonderfully sustained in body and soul. Her afflictions were blessed to her as they are generally to the children of God, for the Psalmist’s declaration will always be fulfilled. “The troubles that afflict the just in number many be; but yet at length out of them all the Lord doth set him free” (Ps. xxxiv. 19).
The Lord’s Day was precious to her and in the summer season for some years she kept visitors who had to keep the Sabbath as it should be kept while under her roof. On this score she is affectionately remembered by some who are abroad. She had the cause of Christ much at heart and any injury done to it grieved her. A more loyal supporter the Church could not have. Her soul was bound up with its testimony and she earnestly desired its prosperity.
With Christian fortitude and patience she bore her last illness and when the call came she entered into the joy of her Lord. It seems that before her death, the twenty-third psalm—the shepherd psalm—was much in her mind and she must have felt comforted and sustained by it. Goodness and mercy had followed her all the days of her life. Two major operations and severe diabetes for many years, along with the struggle to maintain the home, would tax the strength of a strong person, yet her faith and Christian courage remained steadfast because she was sustained by grace; and while encouraging her own family her great desire for them was that they would walk in the path of life.
It grieved her that she was not able to attend church as often as she would like, but wide reading in the Word and in godly authors made up, to some extent, for this lack.
She had two great occasions for happiness—one, in welcoming and attending to God’s people; the other was to hold a Sabbath School Class—first of all the church one, then latterly when she would gather her young relatives on Sabbath afternoons to instruct them.
She had been fed in the green pastures of the Word many years and the Saviour—the great Shepherd of His sheep—had enabled her to follow Himself through good and evil report, restoring her soul and finally delivering her from all evil. When the call came to come up higher she was ready, we believe, for the change. Her calm trust in the Lord and the strength of will He gave her were commented on even by the surgeons when she underwent her last operation (the fifth). She was not spared to return home but she left it happy—though in great pain—that once more before she died she had seen her friends, friends of the cause, who meant so much to her, gathered under her roof at a communion season in Portree.
Those who knew her worth and experienced her Christian hospitality will miss her much—and they are numerous. Her removal has caused a great blank in our congregation in Portree which will be long felt unless the Lord in His mercy will raise up others like her.
To her family and relatives we extend our deepest sympathy in this great loss and may they, through grace, follow, as she did, in the footsteps of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Psalm xxiii. was sung at the funeral service and the large and representative gathering testified to the general esteem in which she was held.
—D. M. M.