In the early hours of Sabbath morning, 1st September 1968, this worthy servant of the Lord entered into that rest which remaineth to the people of God. He had lived to a good old age, being only a few days short of the 86th birthday when he was taken away. He had spent 34 years actively engaged in the ministry of the Gospel and 20 years in semi-retirement owing to the complete loss of his hearing.
Donald Malcolm Macdonald was born on 4th September 1882 in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis. His father, John Macdonald, whose obituary was reprinted not long ago in the pages of the Young People’s Magazine, was an elder in the Free Presbyterian congregation there. His mother, although she never made a public profession, gave witness on her deathbed to her hope in the Saviour. It was in the atmosphere of a Christian home that Donald Macdonald was brought up and he gave evidence before many years that the Gospel which he was taught from his early days had found a place in his heart through the Lord’s blessing. On two occasions during his boyhood he had very narrow escapes from drowning, while at another time he was so extremely ill with pneumonia that his life was despaired of. However, the Lord had work for him to do, and in God’s good providence he recovered.
He was educated at the Nicolson Institute in the town of Stornoway and afterwards entered the local office of the Collector of Rates. It was at this period that his conversion took place, of which we do not have any details but to the reality of which his after life bore eloquent testimony. In 1901 he was accepted as a member in full communion. Soon after this he was conscious of a call to the ministry of the Gospel and he was received as a student of the Church in August 1903. After preparatory studies, he entered Glasgow University in 1906 and completed the usual arts course then prescribed for students studying for the ministry. His divinity classes were taken later at Inverness and at Wick under Revs. J. R. Mackay and D. Beaton. He was ordained by the Northern Presbytery in April 1914 to go as Church Deputy to Canada and the U.S.A. where he laboured in different stations for two years. He was again to visit Canada as Deputy twenty years later.
Mr Macdonald was settled as minister of Bayhead, North Uist, in 1916. The same year he married Marion Grant of Evelix, Dornoch, a person likeminded with himself and one who proved a worthy helpmeet to him. She predeceased him by seven years. She passed away in February 1961 when they were resident in Edinburgh. This loss Mr Macdonald bore with wonderful submission to the Lord’s will.
During the years of the Great War (1914-1918) Mr Macdonald gave several periods of service as Chaplain to the Highland sailors in the Portsmouth and Chatham Naval Depots and he often referred with pleasure to his experiences there. While in Portsmouth he met that worthy Christian lady, Miss Agnes Weston, who took such an interest in the spiritual and temporal welfare of the sailors. Mr Macdonald had a high regard for her Christian character, witness and work.
From North Uist he was translated to Portree in 1919, where he was to labour for twenty-nine years. One of the most highly esteemed and useful of the office-bearers of the Church, Neil Mackinnon, was one of his elders for a short time after he went to Portree. Mr Macdonald also had the pleasure of the assistance of one of his former elders in Bayhead, Alexander MacAskill (father of Rev. Alex. MacAskill, Lochinver), when Mr MacAskill came as missionary to Braes. During his long ministry in Portree Mr Macdonald enjoyed remarkable health. Only on one occasion was he prevented by illness from taking the services on Sabbath. In 1949, owing to extreme deafness, he resigned his charge and retired to Edinburgh. During the following years he often assisted with the services in Edinburgh and during the summer seasons gave assistance in supplying vacant congregations in the Highlands and Islands. A year after his wife’s death he came south to live with his son-in-law and daughter, Mr and Mrs John Campbell, at Worcester Park, Surrey. He was able for a time to return to Scotland each year and spend part of the year with Rev. and Mrs Donald Campbell at Edinburgh Manse. He was in this way lovingly and devotedly cared for by his own family during his remaining years. Their conduct towards their father was indeed exemplary and we are sure that they will not lose by it or have any regrets for it. Mr Macdonald attended the services in London during the last years of his life and his presence in the Church was a strength and encouragement to the minister and the congregation there. For a time he was able to assist with the services, especially during the vacancy after Rev. J. P. MacQueen’s death, but after a very severe illness in 1963 he was rarely able to preach again. He did, however, regularly engage in prayer in the public means of grace almost to the last. In February 1964 he was again taken to hospital.
A text which supported him at that time was:
O happy is that man and blest,
whom Jacob’s God doth aid;
Whose hope upon the Lord doth rest.
and on his God is stayed. (Ps. 146, 5. Met. Ver.)
He felt very much the loss of his brother-in-law, Mr John Grant, Inverness in August 1967. His own end came only a year later. In the good providence of the Lord his family were all with him the day before he passed away. That day he had been wonderfully bright in his mind, testifying to his hope in the Saviour and quoting the text: “There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4, 12). A very short time afterwards, in the early hours of the following morning, he passed away to be forever with the Lord.
Mr Macdonald was of an outstandingly bright and patient disposition and this remained with him notwithstanding eventual total loss of his hearing. His constant cheerfulness made him a shining example to others. He was open and sincere and possessed the unspeakable blessing of an unclouded trust in the Saviour. He was a Nathaniel indeed in whom there was no guile. The esteem in which he was held by his brethren may be seen from the Presbytery tribute in 1948, which states: “The Court would take this opportunity of expressing their unfeigned appreciation of his usefulness as a minister of the Gospel, and his efficiency and courtesy as a Clerk of Presbytery. His genial manner and his freedom from the spirit of strife helped considerably to guide the Presbytery out of many a difficult situation. Thus the loss of his services is all the more regrettable.”
Mr Macdonald also acted for many years as Convener of the Religion and Morals Committee of the Church. In this capacity he gave valuable service to which his excellent annual reports to the Synod, printed in the Free Presbyterian Magazines of that period, bear testimony. His interest in the affairs of our Church and of the Church universal never abated to the end. In his prayers he constantly pleaded for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom in all parts of the world, for the furtherance of the work of the different societies in which he was specially interested, for the downfall of Popery, and for the promised outpouring of the Spirit upon the Jews.
Mr Macdonald’s funeral was to Tomnahurich Cemetery, Inverness, where he was laid to rest beside his wife and an infant son who had died many years before. Several of the ministers of the Church took part in the worship held before the remains were carried to their last resting place. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Cor. 15, 55).
What encouragement there is for those who in his passing have lost a loved one in the words of Scripture that “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him” (1 Thess. 4, 14). May they have the consolations of the God of Israel, and may they be enabled to follow in the footsteps of those who are now inheriting the promises.
D.B.M.
Footnote: Mr Macdonald’s articles which appeared in the Magazine from time to time, often dealt with the lives and history of eminent persons in the Church of Christ in past days. He had the gift of making his subject most interesting and spiritually edifying to readers.—Editor.