THE Lord’s people are called “the generation of them that seek Him.” Prayer is their necessary duty. When God takes them to be with Himself, their place among the praying ones is left vacant, and the Church militant is poorer. One who frequented the throne of grace is the subject of this paper.
Mrs. Mackenzie was born in Sand, Gairloch, in December, 1878; but she removed with her parents at an early age to Porthenderson, in the same parish. Her father was one of the faithful godly band of elders who, with others, made the stand against the inroads of erroneous doctrine in the Free Church and formed the Free Presbyterian Church in order to conserve the creed and constitution of the Free Church. He was also a lay missionary, first in the Free Church, and afterwards in the Free Presbyterian Church. He is still fragmentarily remembered in Gairloch. It is said that he had a very melodious voice, and was very acceptable as a leader of the praise. Dr. Hugh Martin, who spent some time in the Free Church manse at Gairloch, was wont to call him “the sweet singer of Israel.” Her mother, too, was noted for her piety. Sketches of the life of both the parents of our late friend are to be found in the pages of this magazine, Volumes ix and xxvii respectively. Mrs. Mackenzie had a godly upbringing. We have heard her say many times, that she owed much, under God, to the precious influence of her home life, such was her appreciation of the teaching her parents gave.
Notwithstanding the home influence, she would freely admit that she was not any better than others when she left her father’s house for the city of Glasgow. She may have had the strivings of the Spirit; but it was not until she had heard the late Rev. N. Cameron preach on one occasion from the words: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts xvi, 30), that she was awakened to a real soul concern. An intimate friend to whom she related her experience while she listened to that never-forgotten sermon, writes: “She was so overpowered by the truth declared and so absorbed in her thoughts about her lost state as a sinner, that when the congregation was leaving the building, she was still seated quite oblivious to her surroundings until some friend spoke to her.” Her knowledge that day was of the kind the great Apostle had: “When the commandment came.” She got a clear view of her want of “original righteousness” and of “the corruption of her whole nature.” She did not rest—she could not: “the arrows of the Almighty” were within till she found peace in believing.
The Lord used the same instrument to minister comfort to her as He used to awaken her—the Rev. N. Cameron. On this occasion his text was: “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins,” (Isaiah xliii, 25). We remember hearing her relate this happy experience with some feeling after listening to another preach on that text. She appeared as if she had an answer to the Psalmist’s prayer, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,” or as if she sang, “As in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.”
Mrs. Mackenzie adorned the profession she made on the side of her Saviour. A more loving Christian one could seldom meet with. In her, in fact, was all a woman’s tenderness and sympathy could be. By her warm, guileless, loving disposition she endeared herself to all who intimately knew her. She was a firm Free Presbyterian, and was never ashamed of her convictions, and never hesitated to avow them as opportunity offered.
She enjoyed good health through life till a few years ago when she showed symptoms of heart trouble, which attacked her periodically. She took one of these turns while in Glasgow on a visit, and she and others thought her end was near. Her Lord was pleased to vouchsafe much of His presence to her during this trying period, so that she was quite willing to depart to be with Christ: “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.” Her interest was made then sure, and she had much of His sweet presence. The Lord, however, in His good providence restored her in some measure, so that she was able to return to her home at Gairloch during the summer of 1947. She took ill again in the autumn of that year and lay in bed for about eleven months, at her daughter’s house, the District Nurse at Kildary, till the end came on 22nd July, 1948. During this time she suffered much, but she bore it with Christian patience. During the last period of her illness, she had her complaints because of Satan’s temptations, but by the sword of the Spirit she was able to overcome all his machinations. Though she did not have the same measure of assurance during her last illness, she always remembered her Glasgow experience with pleasure and comfort:
“I’ll mind the years of the right hand of him that is most high.”
The Word of God was her staff of support all along, and she was heard quoting it till the end.
She had her share of the troubles of this world. She lost a son at the age of four in 1920, and a beloved daughter in 1936. Her husband was taken away four years before herself.
“The troubles that afflict the just in number many be;
But yet at length out of them all, the Lord doth set him free.”
With her family of one son and three daughters, we sympathise in their loss of a devoted mother.—A. B.
Providence is like a curious piece of array, made up of a thousand shreds, which single, we know not what to make of, but put together they present us with a beautiful history.—Flavel.