It is with deep regret that we from time to time record the passing on of the Lord’s people. Our sorrow is very often aggravated by the fact that the place of the departed one is left empty. May the Lord give us to hear in the removal of his own not merely the solemn call of death but a distinct call to prayer for Zion.
Early Experiences and Seeking the Lord
The Lord begins a work of grace in every elect soul. In this connection, although there are great diversities of experience ranging from years of bondage and earnest seeking to the almost momentary trembling and immediate relief, the issue in each is the same. This worthy man’s experience belongs to the former category.
Apparently he had been seeking the Lord for years before he realised any comforting liberty of soul. As early as the 1914-1918 war he appears to have had solemnising impressions regarding the awful doom of a Christless soul. On one occasion during that war he found himself locked in the magazine of a battleship. As he thought of the extreme danger and futility of his position there, should anything happen, another even more terrifying and paralysing thought entered his mind. He saw a faint but soul-haunting vision of a lost soul shut up to all eternity. Evidently, that experience so played upon his mind that he began then to seek the Lord in earnest. It was not, however, until after a lapse of many years that Angus found the salvation which he so ardently desired.
A Striking Incident and Finding Salvation
In the interval a very striking incident occurred. Our worthy friend heard that the Rev. Neil Cameron, one of the gracious and faithful fathers of our Church, was to assist at Stornoway communion. He decided to hear him preach, thinking surely, as he himself related it, that he would be converted by that great preacher and man of God. In this the worthy man was bitterly disappointed. He heard the preacher of his day, but remained in bondage. However, on the Sabbath evening at the prayer-meeting a well-known missionary from Ness, the late Malcolm MacLeod, stood up and made a few remarks to this effect: “You are here to-night who have come expressly to hear Mr. Cameron thinking thus to be saved, but you are going home without Christ.” His words exactly expressed the expectation and experience of Angus on that occasion. How wonderful does the Lord make provision for His own at every stage of their experience.
That was indeed a token for good, but it did not altogether relieve his mind. Some time afterwards he went to Breasclete communion, and there he found his Saviour while reading the truth. The passage which gave him light and liberty was, “He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans viii. 32).
Public Witness and Service
Despite such tokens of the Divine care and favour, he did not find strength to witness publicly until March, 1937. A few years later he was elected a deacon in the congregation and graciously held that office until his death in November, 1953.
It was a real pleasure to visit him on his death-bed. A saving interest in the Saviour and the prosperity of His cause upon earth were his only themes. Although he suffered much, he was slow to complain. The trouble which brought about his end was of a very trying nature and greatly impaired not only his physical frame but his mental powers as well.
Outstanding Qualities
I would say that there were four things which stood out in his Christian life. He was a lover of good men, one of the qualifications required for any holding office in the Church, and was given to hospitality as many of our ministers and others can well attest. Of his love to the house of God nobody could be in doubt. Even in his declining years he went far beyond his strength to be in the “Means of Grace.” Last but not least, he ruled his family well, and thus adorned the doctrine of his Saviour.
To his sorrowing widow and family we extend our heartfelt sympathy, and in commending them to God and the word of His Grace we plead with expectation the prayer—
“Instead of those, thy fathers dear,
Thy children thou mayest take;
And in all places of the earth
Them noble princes make” (Ps. xlv.).
—F. Macdonald.