“The Rev. Alex. McLeod commenced his exertions as minister of Uig in 1824. The people attended public worship tolerably well from the time of his admission; but he describes his painful conviction that the fixed gaze with which they beheld him was not an intelligent, but what Wesley used to call ‘a stupid attention.’ This lasted but one month, when he began to observe one and another melt into tears, and a tender wistful listening, a ‘living ear’ substituted for the former stupid one. Presently enquirers came to obtain private instruction, and the exigencies of the people led to the extension of religious opportunities—such as a lecture on Thursdays, and many regular prayer meetings, which still exist, and are attended with avidity. In 1827, upwards of 600 pupils, of various ages, attended the schools—and in 1834, mention is made of 13 Sabbath schools in that one parish. Auxiliaries were required to aid the teachers and catechists, and everything seemed to be in a state of lively movement. When Mr McL. first entered on his office, all the people of a certain age were accustomed to flock to the table of communion. He had reason to apprehend that few of them discerned the Lord in the feast, and preached to them carefully for a year, before he ventured to celebrate that solemn ordinance; and so much had their light increased, that but a small portion of the old communicants presented themselves, and they with silent tears.—It is very remarkable, that in the course of years wherein he has acted as their pastor, he has scarcely been obliged to reject or keep back anyone from this feast of love. Indeed there are many whom their pastor would be glad to admit, who keep back perhaps from some erroneous apprehension of the nature of the ordinance. This is the case in several other Highland parishes. At the communion services of 1828, the island seemed to be moved with
one emotion, for 9,000 people flocked to Uig on that occasion. Then and subsequently, the days and nights, from the fast to the thanksgiving days, have been occupied in exhortation and prayer, by the various ministers and elders, amongst whom the name of John Macdonald of Ferintosh or Urquhart stands pre-eminent. In 1833, an immense concourse of persons attended, following and seeking the truth, from the isles of Harris and Uist, as they had done for a year or two before; and the cautious pastor, speaking of this and similar occasions, describes to a Christian friend the ‘deep impression’ which was then made, the ‘deepening work,’ the ‘new and old converts,’ the ‘liberty of the ministers in preaching,’ the ‘refreshment of the people in hearing,’ and the ‘fervent longing for another such season.’ He also speaks of ‘the knowledge and experience of the people,’ of ‘the Gospel prospering in Lewis,’ of ‘many new converts being brought in during the solemnities.’ It is not in our power to give much particular detail, the honourable and judicious caution of the faithful pastor, for the present, declining to bring into public view the cases of individuals in whose real devotion to God he has much comfort. General results, however, are in the possession of the public, and may be thankfully and humbly stated, to the praise of that blessed Spirit who has wrought such changes. In proof of the minister’s own enjoyment of his scene of labour it is pleasing to state, that he remarks in 1834: ‘Ten winters have I passed here, all wonderfully short, pleasant and delightful;’ and his teachers are all so much interested in their occupation, that they would rather expend their lives in that retired region than remove to wealthier and more southern districts. We hope the faithful records preserved by him who watches for their souls as one who must give account, will, at no distant day, be published, to revive the drooping Church. In the meantime, all that we are about to relate of the general aspect of society there, we mention as detailed by witnesses much interested in stating the truth correctly:
“1. The prayerfulness of the people.—One gentleman, who annually visits the Lewis, mentions that he has often walked forth at eventide to have his spirit refreshed by observing the devotional temper of the people of Uig—and that at all hours, from eight o’clock at night till one in the morning, he has passed by and overheard persons engaged in prayer. Many a bush formed a shelter for a soul communing with its God; and along the brown ridges of the fallow, by stooping, so as to cast the figures between the eye and the clear margin of the horizon, dim forms might be discerned, either alone, or two and three together, kneeling
and pouring out their wants at the footstool of mercy. The captain of a king’s ship, which lay for a considerable time off the island, who, in pursuing his sports, has crossed and recrossed the lands in all directions, bears witness that he never met with any intoxication, any profanity, nor indeed a single person engaged in any occupation which might tempt him to wish to shrink from public inspection, except during their frequent retirements for prayer. He mentioned, in particular, his having entered a wood-yard in the town of Stornoway, to enquire into the progress of some repairs making on his boat, when he saw two men retire behind the logs to pray together, and though their Gaelic was unintelligible to him, their occupation, and obvious abstraction from the world, and solemn impression of the divine presence, softened and subdued the man of the sea, though not given to the melting mood.
“He said, ‘They are an extraordinary people here; one cannot but be struck with their honest, kindness, and sobriety. I am told they make a good deal of whisky for sale. It cannot be for home consumption, for I think I never met a drunk person out of the town. One hears of Religion elsewhere, but one sees it here in everything.’
“We have pleasure in mentioning, as another example of the devotional habits of these people, what a friend, who was rowed up the Loch Roag, witnessed. The way being long, it is customary to stop to rest and refresh the oarsman. When they had drawn their boat up into the little bay, and ceased from their toil, the men, before they tasted of their food, raised their blue bonnets, and united in prayer.
“It may be proper to state, that the cabins of the inhabitants, consisting of but one apartment, furnish no opportunity of retirement; and this explains in part the custom of praying in the open air. There is, however, another and more affecting reason. The people want to repair far more frequently to the footstool of mercy than at morning and evening; and as their occupations are in general out of doors, or on the waves, so also are their prayers.
“There are five natives of the parish of Uig who were enlisted when a regiment was raised on the island, and having gone with the army to Egypt, lost their sight by ophthalmia, and after their return have become acquainted with the doctrines of the Gospel. It is common with them to bless God for having taken away their bodily eyes, since they regard that as one of the instruments in his hand for opening the mental sight, which was before in a state of darkness. Three of them are active fellow-helpers in the extension of Christian truth and consolation. One is a most
efficient and zealous elder in the parish of Uig; of another we shall have occasion to relate a curious circumstance under the head of liberality; and of the third we present the following well authenticated narrative, under the head of prayerfulness.
“This blind man, whose name is even unknown to us, had the affliction of losing a wife who was a very pious character. She left a daughter old enough to distinguish the excellencies of her mother. In the course of time the father took another wife, of a very feeble constitution, who, though a good woman, had not attained to the Christian advancement of the first. The girl was most exemplary in all her duties, obeying and reverencing her stepmother as if she had been her own mother. She was in all respects a most promising and pleasing character; and her father having often enjoyed spiritual conversation with her, was, from these mutual communings, fully satisfied of her happy state. On a Saturday, when the weather was tempestuous, the young people, as was customary with them, were going out a-fishing. The father urged his daughter to remain at home, but she said her mother liked a fish for her dinner, and she would try to catch one for tomorrow, as it was the only sustenance she cared for. They went to fish, when suddenly a huge billow swept the face of the rock on which they were set. The boys managed to scramble up the rock, but the beloved daughter of the blind veteran was swept into the boiling ocean. The last view her terrified comrades had of her, was sitting on the crest of a wave, with her fishing-rod in one hand, and basket in the other. They returned with the sorrowful tidings; and from the nature of the rocky coast, and the course of the tides and currents, no one entertained a hope of finding the remnants of her mangled body. The Christians around, came as they did of old to Martha and Mary, to weep with the afflicted father, and passed the mournful night in prayer. His mind, though before so satisfied, became filled with alarm and concern about her final state, now that she was gone, and his soul refused to be comforted. In the course of prayer he was led to reiterate the petition, that if she were one of the assembly of the redeemed, he might know it by this token, that the sea should give back his dead, and that he might bury her. In the morning those who passed along the shore in their way to the house of God, found the dear girl gently deposited on the sand, her limbs decently composed, as if she had been adjusted for burial, and in no way defaced or injured. Then went the weeping father, and with solemn joy took up his dead, witnessing that ‘precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints;’ that their very dust is dear to him; and also, that he is verily the hearer and the answerer of prayer.
“Are there some who read this fact, that count it the extreme of credulous superstition, and stamp the work in Lewis as of this character for its sake? That is because they do not know the sweet intimacy and communion that subsists between the Father in heaven and his reconciled children. They cannot judge of a case in which they have no experience. Perhaps even some of those who believe in the efficacy of prayer, may say there is a want of caution in narrating this story. Why then should we be cautious to hide what God reveals? His own spirit dictated the narration of the prayers of Gideon, how he selected his tokens himself once and again, and they were granted to him. And if Gideon, who knew the Lord only by the more obscure early promises of redemption, could venture to ask so much, are those who have heard all that we have of the benignity and the compassion of Jesus, not to come boldly to the throne of grace in time of need? Is the divine character changed? Is he not the same God who filled the fleece with dew, and left the earth around dry; and again bedewed the ground, and preserved the fleece from moisture—that heard the cry of his afflicted servant in the Lewis? His mighty billow swept the lamb from the rock into the engulfing ocean. His gentle wave restored her vacated tabernacle to console her father, and answer his doubt, by an assurance that she was that day with her Saviour in paradise. If he hath done the great thing of dying for us, will he despise to do the less of consoling us, and proving that his eye is upon us still?
- “The uprightness of the people.—On occasion of a year of famine, the natives were put to great straits, and in danger of perishing for want. A vessel laden with meal was driven upon their shores by stress of weather. Did the famine-stricken natives seize on the ship, and lawlessly apply her cargo to the supply of their necessities? If they had, hunger would have formed for them a plausible excuse. Twenty years before, they would doubtless have done so, and held themselves guiltless. But now it was not so. Every portion was accurately weighed or divided, and as their necessities were so great that they had nothing then to pay, their affectionate minister gave a promissory-note for it, knowing well that the excellent lady, whose property the lands are, would not suffer him to be impoverished. The people knew this also, but none took advantage of it, all were occupied in economising to the utmost till one after another they had repaid their debt. Thus they obtained not only the great blessing of necessary food, but preserved the still greater blessing of integrity, and a spirit free from covetousness.
“It is the rule in this and the other isles of the Hebrides, that when a man meets a stray sheep on the moor, he is entitled to
carry it home as his own, and obliged to make an equivalent offering in the collection for the poor on the Sabbath day. After the commencement of the revival in the Lewis, many came to confess to their minister the trouble of conscience they experienced by reason of having what they called a black sheep in their flocks—some having had them for several winters. The minister always directed them to make restitution now in the appointed way, and in one season the sum of L.16 was deposited in the plate. The number of sheep annually lost has wonderfully diminished since the commencement of the revival, leading to the conclusion that the loss imputed to accident arose from dishonesty.
- “The Christian liberality of the people.—It has long been the custom to make a collection at the Thursday lecture, for the most necessitous persons in the district where the lecture is held—and thus, without poor rates, these people support their own poor. For many years they have contributed L.13 or upwards to the Gaelic School Society, sometimes L.16, and one year when the society was in difficulty, the contribution amounted to L.20. On transmitting L.16, which was the sum collected in Uig in 1830, Mr McLeod remarks—’Considering the circumstances of the people, I bear testimony that their liberality and zeal in this case have cause to provoke very many to similar duties. It was most delightful to see the hoary head, and the young scholar of eight or nine years, joining in this contribution. The will preponderates over our purse, so that we cannot do exactly what we would.’ In 1831, Mr McLeod, while he petitions that a teacher may not be removed from his present station for another year, says, ‘A poor man in that station declared to me lately, that should the directors demand one of his cows, he would readily give one before he would part with the teacher.’
“The journal of the superintendent, in stating the examination of one of the schools in Uig, mentions the case of a man, named Norman McLeod, who is one of the many hundred of souls in the isle of Lewis that have come out of gross darkness into the sweet and blessed light of the knowledge of God, partly by means of the Gaelic schools, and partly by the ministration of the truth:—’Norman McLeod is a native of this parish, and at an early age enlisted into the army, went abroad, and was in several engagements.’ ‘Balls,’ says he, ‘whizzed about me in numbers, but the Lord directed them so that they did me no harm.’ He was in Egypt, and there lived in drunkenness and profligacy. ‘There,’ says he, in his native Gaelic, ‘the Lord took from me my bodily sight. I came home, and on the way was wonderfully preserved. At length I found myself in my native land. Here I found things
not as I left them. I found the Bible of God, of which I was totally ignorant, among my friends; and schools amongst them for teaching the knowledge of that blessed book. I found such a work amongst them with Bibles and schools as was altogether new to me. Nay, the very children would correct and reprove me, though an old man. In one of these schools, the Bible caught my ear, it sunk into my heart; it there opened an eye that sin had ever kept sealed; it read to me my deeds, it led me to trace my former ways; yea, times, places, and deeds that were quite banished from my memory, were recalled into full view. It recorded a black catalogue against me, and seemed to fix my portion amongst the damned. I thought my case altogether a hopeless one, but the same Bible brought to my ears tidings of unutterable worth—salvation through a crucified Saviour.’
“The superintendent mentions this as a preface to a little story, ‘which, were the honesty and simplicity of the old man known to the reader, would be considered more interesting still.’
“‘I began,’ said Norman to his minister, ‘to think how these Gaelic schools came to be planted in my country. I thought on the state of my country when I knew it before in my youth, and on the blessed fruits of these schools amongst my kindred. I contrasted both, and wondered, and thought, and wondered again. Said I, what is this? What a change of things! Blessed God! Blessed Bible! Blessed people, that sent their schools! and blessed schools that teach the Bible of God to perishing sinners! and blessed teachers, men of Christ! I thought what would my poor country be, but for the Bible and these schools. I was led into their history, and traced them to a society in Edinburgh. They engrossed my attention, and I thought them really the schools of Christ. I thought I would pray for them, and so I did; but this, thought I, is not enough. When the Lord took away my eyesight, he gave me a pension. I thought I should give some of that to help his schools. A public collection was proposed by you. I felt happy at this, and prayed that the Lord might open na sporain dhubhà (that is, the black purses, an appellation given to the purses of greedy worldlings), and I myself gave two shillings. When a collection was proposed this year, ‘I think,’ said I to myself, ‘I shall give this year four shillings, double what I gave last.’ ‘It is enough for you,’ said something within me, ‘to give what you gave last year, two shillings.’ Here follows a long and most original debate, between Norman with the enlarged and melted heart, and the old worldly-wise Norman. Sometimes he would give double, then five, then ten, then back to five. During all this debate he was in great agitation,
having, as he felt, lifted up his hand to the Lord that he would give so much. He thought of Ananias and Sapphira, and dared not go back; while the same inward voice asked him, ‘Ah, Norman, what are you about; you are now going crazy altogether; you are a poor blind man, you cannot work, you have a family of seven to support, and the money God gave you as a provision for your family, you should apply to the object for which it was given, which will be most acceptable to him.’ ‘I then began to ruminate on the whole process, and at length I thought my opposition might be the suggestion of Satan to keep me from giving so much to the cause of Christ. On reflecting on this for a while, I felt convinced it was he. I started upon my legs, and lifting up my hand with defiance, I said, ‘Ah! you devil, I will give a score of them. I will give a pound note every year I live, so the further you follow me, the more you shall lose.’ From that moment the temptation ceased.
“How interesting and encouraging it is to mark the wonderful and merciful working of God in preserving this poor blind man abroad, and in bringing him in safety home to his native land, until, by your instrumentality, he should be made acquainted with the ways and salvation of God. Thus, from Egypt all the way, a blind scholar has been brought to your schools. Thus, the Bible having been blessed to a poor blind man, in a remote hamlet of your land, has drawn forth the prayer of his heart in its own cause, and as much out of his small pittance for the cause of Christ, as out of the purses of those who have their hundreds and their thousands. Poor Norman contributed his ‘score of shillings’ both last year and the present, and says he means to do so while he lives, ‘unless the king becomes bankrupt!’ We have great pleasure in stating that Norman is not weary of his liberality, as he adds one penny to his pound for every year that God adds to his life.
“Their pastor, knowing that, by losses at sea and a bad harvest, they were one season unusually impoverished, did not call in the collection as usual; but they collected it among themselves, and carried it to him. He said he feared they could not afford it, but they would not be excused.
“In 1835, when, in addition to all their usual collections, they in one day at church gathered L.20 for church extension, they were favoured with such a successful fishing season, as enabled them to supply all the wants of the winter. The fishing had for many years failed, and the people observed that, by means of this wealth bestowed on them from the sea in 1835, they were amply repaid for all they had been enabled to give. This is another
of those facts which we note to the glory of him who is nigh unto all them that fear him. He knoweth what we have need of, and they who scatter in faith shall still increase. Let not any of those contributors shrink from this mention of the gracious dealing of God with them. The effort of their liberality was known to those interested in the church extension scheme, and the plentiful fishing was told in the newspapers. May those who see the divine hand give him the praise!
“Dr. Chalmers, who is well acquainted with the amount usually collected in such a situation, observed that L.7 would have been a handsome contribution for the parish of Uig. The parish of Lochs must also be mentioned as rivalling its neighbour in liberality, having contributed as much as L.20 to the Gaelic School Society in one year, influenced by the same feeling of gratitude and concern for the ignorant. It is pleasing to be enabled to trace this to the only genuine source of liberality. The faithful pastor at Lochs has lately been cheered by seeing several new souls awakened, and the good work has been going on prosperously in the early months of 1836. May the spirit of the Lord cause this thing to grow!”