The congregation of South Harris, in common with other congregations throughout the Church, has suffered the loss of some of its oldest members, over the years, since our coming among them. The following brief tributes to the memory of three of those, who have passed away since 1961, may serve to preserve the remembrance of such as were, we humbly believe, true followers of the Lamb, in this world, and whose ransomed souls, we also humbly believe, are now worshipping that same glorious Person before the throne. Owing to lack of information regarding the spiritual experiences of the first two under-mentioned, I am only able to give a few general impressions of their life and witness, as I knew it.
Mrs Julia Ross, Geocrab, South Harris
This worthy woman passed to her everlasting rest in September 1961, at the age of seventy-seven years. She was the widow of the respected Mr Archibald Ross, who was a deacon in the congregation. From the time that we first knew her she appeared to us to be a person, much conscious of her own unworthiness, yet clinging to the precious promises, which are Yea and Amen, in Christ Jesus, for strength and support. The blood of Jesus was precious to her soul, and she adorned her profession with a meek and lowly spirit, esteeming, always, others above herself. Her love for the Word was always manifest, when we would visit her in her hospitable home: and it was this alone which comforted her dying pillow.
“This word of thine my comfort is
in mine affliction.”
Ps. cxix, 50.
The end came peacefully, in the presence of some of her daughters, who had tenderly and devotedly nursed her in her weakness. Her place in the earthly sanctuary, which had been seldom empty, while health and strength permitted, has now been vacant these many years. It is our confident hope, however, that the place in the mansions above, purchased and prepared for her by the Redeemer, has been filled since her ransomed soul departed from the ‘earthly tabernacle’. To her large family of daughters and their families, who, we are sure, still miss a dear mother, who taught them the way of life, we can only say: Be ye followers of her, inasmuch as she followed Christ, and all shall be well.
Miss Mary MacLean, Finsbay, South Harris
In November 1961, the subject of these few lines of remembrance was taken from the Church below, and her redeemed soul entered the realms of glory, to join the Church above. Such indeed is our humble hope, for Mary MacLean was one of those few, who seem to walk in this world, with a tenderness of conscience not given to all that fear the Lord, and call upon His name. Her voice was hardly ever heard, but it was enough to see her face to know that here was one to whom the Lord Jesus Christ was indeed precious, as the Beloved of heaven, and the Fairest among the children of men. She sought to keep herself unspotted from the world, and her delights were in God’s Word, His house and among His people. She was often at Communions throughout the island and would testify to the spiritual benefit which these seasons afforded her, in the wilderness journey. A favourite author for private reading on Sabbath evenings was Rev. Archibald Cook, Daviot. His ‘Sermons in Gaelic’ were greatly appreciated by our late friend, and truly she could not have gleaned in better fields for experimental godliness.
Her end likewise was peaceful, after a gradual decline in health and strength, and she departed this life, in her mid-seventies, in the month of November 1961, to be forever with the Lord. To her sorrowing relatives, and especially to the sister with whom she stayed so long, we can but say, ‘The memory of the just is blessed’. May they make choice of the good part which this Mary was enabled to choose and so be prepared to follow her example and profession.
Mrs Mary MacKay, Geocrab, South Harris
It is just over two years since this gracious woman passed away to her everlasting rest, on 14th October 1967. She was born at Geocrab, on 1st January 1875, her father being the late respected Roderick MacLeod, who was an elder in the Free Church at Manish, prior to the separation in 1893.
It was in 1901 that the Holy Spirit made use of the 116th Psalm to convince her of her lost state before a holy God. She remained a year under deep conviction until, at length, deliverance came through the words of the Lord in Isaiah, chapter 43, verse 25 — “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” On account of the temptation that she might be eating and drinking damnation to herself by coming to the Lord’s Table and professing His name publicly, she refrained from appearing before the Session until the autumn of 1912. Tossed between fear of judgment and fear of failing in her duty to the Lord, she was finally enabled to go forward, in the strength of words, from the very Psalm which had been blessed of the Lord to awaken her to a realisation of her lost state. These words were,
“What shall I render to the Lord
for all his gifts to me?”
Psalm cxvi, 12.
She was admitted to membership, in full communion, in September 1912, while the late Rev. D. N. MacLeod was minister at Tarbert, and often remarked that the sermon preached that day by the late Rev. Neil Macintyre, who was then in Stornoway, was a great source of comfort and strength to her, in going forward. The text that day was: “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Col. iii, 3.
For the long period of fifty-five years, this worthy woman upheld her solemn profession that day and gave ample evidence, at home and from home, that her hope and confidence was placed in God alone. She was a person of strong character, who was not afraid to speak her mind in any company, and for long she was a faithful witness for the truth, wherever she would go. Until old age began to take its toll of her bodily strength, she was a regular attender at Communions throughout the whole Long Island and in North Uist, and her reminiscences of the men and women whom she met there were always sweet and refreshing to herself. She had a great attachment to the witness raised in 1893, on the side of truth, by the godly fathers of the Church, and continued to the end in that attachment. Her love for God’s Word and people, His House and Cause were easily to be seen.
Her place in home and church is empty now, and consequently she is and will be missed. Her mind was unimpaired until very shortly before the end, when the Lord gently called her away to be with Himself for ever. Her husband, whom she married in 1897, predeceased her in 1946, but to the surviving members of her family we would say, may your mother’s God be your God, even the God of your salvation. “The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.”
We hope that the above tributes to the consistent life and testimony of some of those godly women, whom it has been our privilege to meet in Harris, may serve to perpetuate their memory and show to the more immediate kith and kin of the deceased, as well as to all who knew them at large, that they are not forgotten. May the Lord, who made them what they were, by His grace, pour His Holy Spirit upon others so that it shall be fulfilled.
“Instead of those thy fathers dear,
thy children thou may’st take,
And in all places of the earth
Them noble princes make.”
Psalm xlv, 16.
A.M.C.