The Happy Man by Rev. Lachlan MacKenzie. Banner of Truth Trust. Pages 249. Price £2.75.
More than a century-and-a-half has passed since the saintly minister of Lochcarron, Rev. Lachlan MacKenzie, affectionately known as “Mister Lachlan,” laboured in this remote parish on the Western seaboard of Ross-shire, yet none among his contemporaries has retained the hold upon the memories or enjoyed such a place in the affections of the people as is still true of this eminent servant of Christ. The handsome volume before us, “The Happy Man” — the title is taken from the opening piece on the pious Christian by Mister Lachlan — may supply the reason. The sermons and comments upon passages of the Word of God contained in the volume, belong to the early period of his ministry when incessant labour and travel allowed him no leisure to write out his sermons in full, and they may lack therefore the vivid illustrations and the efforts of a rich imagination for which he was long remembered. They represent, nevertheless, the fruits of a spiritually minded, exercised, faithful servant of Christ which brought consolation, refreshment and strength to many a wayfarer on the way to Sion. They do not belie the opinion of Dr Kennedy that Rev. Lachlan MacKenzie was the greatest of the Highland preachers of his day.
For many years very little was known of Rev. L. MacKenzie, apart from anecdotes, traditional sayings which were in circulation among the people, and occasional sermons in Gaelic and English. In 1928 and 1930 respectively, two large volumes of Mr Lachlan’s remains were published by one of our Inverness elders, the late Mr James Campbell, who occupied his years of retirement in their preparation for the press. A very fine picture of Mr Campbell appears in the volume. There is a romantic interest attached to the way in which the hamper, thought to contain “the whole of Mr Lachlan’s documents,” fell into his hands. From these two volumes, the present book is made up with the addition of a sermon on “The Rose of Sharon,” from some other source. A short account of Mr Lachlan’s life appears as an introduction, followed by sermons, expositions of passages of scripture, and miscellanea which includes Muckle Kate, the Christian’s Firm Bank, etc. Some of the remarks in the account of Mr Lachlan’s life appear inadequate. A fit of disbelief, to which such a highly gifted but sensitive and temperamental Christian was always liable, such as befell Mr Lachlan in regard to the coming of ministers to assist him at one communion occasion, cannot be explained by saying that his foresight was at fault, that “he was sometimes wrong.” A full explanation of the insight into coming events, often granted to the Lord’s people, is offered in the sermon by Dr Kennedy on “The Secret of the Lord,” in the appendix to the “Days of the Fathers in Ross-shire.” It is surely an unnecessary criticism to say that “all aspects of the Christian faith and Christian ministry” may not be expected to be dealt with in Mr Lachlan’s ministry. Whose ministry would survive such a test? When the two large volumes of Mr James Campbell are now out of print and hard to get, this volume is all the more prized. No higher commendation is needed than to say that here we have the choice spiritual exercises of the prince of Highland preachers of a past age, printed in a well bound, handsomely produced volume by the Banner of Truth Trust, at a remarkably low price. May it receive a wide circulation and may these rich expositions of God’s Word be blessed to many. A.F.M.
The Christian is bred by the Word, and he must be fed by it.
William Gurnall.