THE subject of this obituary notice was a member in full communion, of which we have very few in Sollas, as in other districts. It is a matter for mourning when a breach is made on the small company of those who seek to honour the Lord by professing Him publicly, when so many are ashamed to do so. When our unfortunate dispute arose about the site of a proposed place of worship at Sollas, which resulted in some malcontents leaving the Church, he was one of those who remained faithful to the Free Presbyterian testimony.
He had the reputation of being a staunch Free Presbyterian, which cannot be said of many nowadays, as few are staunch for any principles, but consider one denomination as good as another. To have convictions and to be loyal to them is to be admired, although some think it is reprehensible and to be condemned. If we are custodians of the legacy, which has been handed down from God-fearing fathers and mothers, who are at their rest, it is disloyalty to be hobnobbing with and countenancing those who have no regard nor respect for such a legacy or testimony.
By this we do not mean that discourtesy or ill-will should be shown or cherished against our fellow-men who see differently from us in religious matters. We are told “to be pitiful, to be courteous” to all, although they do not see eye to eye with us in religion. Mr. Macdonald was an octogenarian. He seemed to be of a very cheerful disposition, notwithstanding his advanced age, to which labour and sorrow are attached. He had his share of bereavements and sickness in his family, two of his sons having been killed in the first World War.
It is only the consolations of religion that can make a man courageous in the face of losses and trials. “Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.” The Lord’s people wonder sometimes that their troubles are so few and light, when they consider the amount of suffering in the world, and how much they deserve for rebellion against God. When we are permitted to breathe his air and see His sun and tread His earth, it should make us thankful, although our fellow-men might have something which we do not have in the wise ruling of God. We would express our deepest sympathy with the family bereaved.—D. J. Macaskill.