The Rev. Donald Campbell, M.A., Edinburgh
Donald Campbell was born on 3rd January, 1908, in Skinnidin, Isle-of-Skye, where his parents, Alexander and Flora Campbell then lived. Born into a home where the Word of God was valued, he had the privilege of a Christian upbringing. When he was about 11 years of age his parents moved to a croft at Eboast in the parish of Bracadale. At the age of 17 years a serious illness required his removal to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where he underwent a successful operation. As he quite often referred to this incident, it would appear to have made a marked impression on his mind.
Oval portrait of an elderly man, likely Rev. Donald Campbell, wearing clerical attire.
During the late 1920’s Mr Campbell worked for a time in Glasgow and had the opportunity of attending the faithful ministry of the Rev. Neil Cameron which he greatly appreciated. It would appear that the spiritual experience through which he was brought to a saving knowledge of the truth was a gradual process and that the words of Psalm 118 became very precious to him. In particular verse 17 of this Psalm, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord”, was made savingly precious to him. It may well be that his illness in 1925 could be related to the comfort he found in this text. At the March Communion in Portree in 1931 he came before the Session and was received as a member in full communion. In August of the following year he was received as a student for the Ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church, the same portion of truth in Psalm 118 giving him encouragement with regard to his call to the ministry.
To prepare for the ministry Mr Campbell had to resume his formal education which he did with commendable zeal and diligence. Afterwards he undertook his university classes in Edinburgh from which University he was later to graduate M.A. From 1939-42 he studied Divinity at Dingwall under the tutorship of Rev. D. A. MacFarlane, whose intellectual and teaching abilities he greatly admired, and he obtained high commendation for his work. Two sad events left their mark on him at this time. The first was the death in 1940 of his eldest brother who was drowned at sea while serving in the Merchant Navy during the Second World War. Then in 1941, only a year before his ordination, his mother, to whom he was deeply attached and who was a source of strength to him, passed away very suddenly. Such sorrows no doubt were a preparation for him in connection with the work of the ministry, when often it would be his lot to sympathise with the bereaved in the congregations of which he was pastor and elsewhere too. Donald Campbell was licensed to preach the gospel at a meeting of the Western Presbytery at Bracadale on 27th July, 1942, the day his fellow student Rev. Malcolm MacSween was ordained and inducted at Bracadale.
A call from the Raasay Congregation was shortly after addressed to Mr Campbell which he accepted and his ordination and induction took place on Tuesday, 20th October, 1942. The call was signed by 270 including members and adherents. Here he was warmly received by the Congregation in which Rev. Donald MacFarlane had once laboured and where there was a genuine attachment to the witness of the Free Presbyterian Church. On this island he laboured for a period of over four years until called in 1949 by the Stornoway congregation in the Island of Lewis. For the people in Raasay Mr Campbell ever retained a warm affection and high regard and he enjoyed working in their midst. While in Raasay he married Margaret Montgomery, who proved a true helpmeet to him during the years she was spared to him. Of this marriage there were two sons, Neil and Alastair Peter, and a daughter, Flora.
On 29th January, 1947, Mr Campbell was inducted to the pastoral charge of the Stornoway Congregation. Mr Neil Nicolson, an elder in Stornoway, when suggesting that he be approached, said, “If I am not deceived he will respond to the call.” This expectation was fulfilled. Mr Campbell’s predecessors in Stornoway had been Rev. Malcolm Gillies and Rev. Neil MacIntyre, both of whom he highly esteemed, and the latter of which he was to succeed in Edinburgh. To succeed such noted preachers was no easy task, yet here in the opinion of many, Mr Campbell’s preaching reached great heights and was highly appreciated by the exercised people in Stornoway and throughout Lewis. Consequently when the call came to him from Edinburgh it was with the greatest reluctance that the people of Stornoway and the rest of Lewis parted with him. For a period of a year during his time in Lewis he was the only Free Presbyterian minister there and had pastoral responsibility throughout the Island. In this way he became well acquainted with the people of the various congregations. Thus with mixed feelings Mr Campbell left Lewis for a city charge as he was fondly attached to the Stornoway Congregation and they to him.
On 13th December, 1951, Mr Campbell was inducted to the pastoral charge of the Edinburgh Congregation and here he was to labour until he passed away 32 years later. His very first sermon as pastor of the congregation was in Gaelic and was from the text, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His Holy Place?” Psalm 24: 3. As it happens this was a favourite Psalm especially in his latter years and in particular the concluding part of the Metrical version, “But who is He that is the King of Glory? Who is this? The Lord of Hosts, and none but He, the King of Glory is.” In the evening in English he preached from the text, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” 1st Corinthians 2: 2. The words which encouraged him to accept the call to Edinburgh were, “Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it. 1st Thessalonians 5: 24. in the congregation to which he had come, as was also true of the congregations in which he had previously laboured, there were men and women of a decided Christian stamp, some of them outstanding Christians, who by their prayers upheld the hands of the Lord’s servant in the work in which he was engaged. Apart from the ordinary congregation which waited on his ministry in Edinburgh, there were many university and college students who were privileged to sit under his ministry during their period of study in the city of Edinburgh. The number of these varied from year to year, but few or many they were sure of a warm welcome from Mr Campbell and of hospitable entertainment in his manse. In a letter received since his passing one such hearer wrote that he, “was the first to open my eyes to the richness and verity of Scripture” and went on to say, “We thank God for the witness of His saints and the far-reaching influence of Rev. Campbell’s life and preaching.”
Two-and-a-half years after his settlement in Edinburgh, Mr Campbell was to experience a sad affliction when he was bereaved of his wife and was left with the care of his three young children. This was a devastating blow to him but he was given wonderful strength to carry on with his ministerial work. Three years later, in October 1957, he married Jane Macdonald, a daughter of the Rev. D. M. Macdonald who laboured for many years in Portree, Skye. She was to prove a worthy helpmeet to him throughout the rest of his life and to be spared to survive him and to mourn his passing. Of this marriage there was one son, Donald, who has proved a comfort to his mother in her widowhood. To all his family Mr Campbell showed a warm affection and ever desired and sought their highest good. Indeed Mr Campbell’s warm-heartedness endeared him to all who had intimate acquaintance with him.
With regard to the wider burdens of the Church at large — of these Mr Campbell took his full share. He was twice called to be Moderator of Synod, in 1953 and again in 1974, a position he occupied with wisdom and dignity. For about 20 years he was a member of the Jewish and Foreign Missions Committee and followed the work of the Committee with interest. He had a particular feeling for the Jews, marvelling at the establishment of Israel as a nation again in 1948, and he was always looking for the day of their spiritual revival. One of his favourite texts was, “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” Zechariah 12: 3 from which he frequently spoke at the Monday service of Communion seasons. He always had a deep interest in current affairs, viewing such developments in relation to Scripture. Mr Campbell also served for a period on the Publications Committee and the Sabbath Observance Committee, being Clerk of the latter committee for a time. The steady erosion of the Lord’s Day was a great grief to him. He was also a member of the Board of Examiners for many years, being thus involved in setting and correcting examination papers for Divinity students.
Mr Campbell’s dominant interest, however, outside his congregation was with the work of the Dominions and Overseas Committee of the Church. Convener of this committee from 1963 until his death, he travelled overseas on four occasions visiting parts of the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Three of these journeys were undertaken after he had been appointed Convener of the Committee, the other immediately before his appointment. Accordingly, he obtained a first hand knowledge of the needs in these different countries. His interest in these countries was never to flag and he did all in his power to further the Cause of Christ in them by sending out deputies to help the ministers who were ultimately settled in the various congregations, with supply. He encouraged and saw to the establishing of a Presbytery in Australia and New Zealand, and desired the same for Canada which was to be accomplished after he passed away. He was responsible for conducting negotiations with the Presbytery of the Presbyterian Reformed Church of Canada for the reception of the congregations of Toronto and Chesley and achieved this when everything appeared to be against it. He drew up the proposals for union and viewed these proposals as coming, as it were, from Heaven. A pro-re-nata Meeting of Synod in December 1974 received these congregations into the Church. In Winnipeg, where he spent some time on his first overseas visit, Mr Campbell took a great interest, and it was always his desire that regular services would be established there again. He counted it a privilege to meet the friends overseas in the different countries, some of whom he had heard so much about over the years. The Dominions and Overseas work of the Church was very near to his heart and his great desire was for the spread of the Gospel throughout these lands. “The field is the world,” he always maintained.
In 1970 Mr Campbell took seriously ill through a haemorrhage behind his right eye which could have resulted in a stroke. He persevered at work for a time, not realising the danger, which resulted in the loss of the sight of his right eye. During this period of illness, on medical advice, he had to relinquish his duties for a time but in the good providence of the Lord was able later to resume them. The Lord gave marvellous grace in this affliction and was pleased to restore him to usefulness in the vineyard and so fulfilling a text that proved of comfort during the period, “Yea he shall live and given to him shall be of Sheba’s gold, For him still shall they pray and he shall daily be extolled.” Psalm 72: 15.
Some years later he suffered an injury to his shoulder but recovered from it and was active in the ministry for the remaining three years of his life. In June 1983 he attended a meeting of Presbytery for the last time. Being Moderator of the court it fell to him to address the student who was licensed on that occasion. In doing so he stressed the importance of maintaining the dignity appropriate to the office of the ministry. Earlier that year on his last occasion of administering the Sacrament of Baptism his text was, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. . . .” Luke 2: 29. He was able to attend the Synod for the last time in May 1983. After returning from holiday in September 1983 he contracted pneumonia from which he seemed to make a good recovery. He resumed his duties on the first Sabbath of November. That morning he was to preach his last sermon, for he had a faint turn at the end of the service. The text was, “As for God, His way is perfect: the Word of the Lord is tried: He is a buckler to all that trust in Him.” Psalm 18: 30. By the Saturday of the Edinburgh Communion in the third week in November he felt sufficiently recovered to attend the Saturday afternoon service and presided at the Session. On the Sabbath morning he again went to church but at an early stage of the service he took seriously ill in the pulpit suffering severe chest pains. Remarkably he was enabled to walk, with only minimal assistance, to the vestry where medical help was obtained. He was then removed to the Royal Infirmary where a severe heart attack was diagnosed. When admitted to a ward he still remained conscious and was visited there by his wife and family. Within an hour, however, they were called to the hospital as he had collapsed. Cardiac arrest treatment was given to him but efforts to revive him failed and he passed away at 2.40 p.m., only shortly after the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper had been dispensed in his congregation. The Lord in His kindness had removed him from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant, from the Communion Sabbath here to the Communion of the Eternal Sabbath above.
The funeral which was presided over by Rev. L. MacLeod, Greenock, and in which other ministers took part, took place on the following Thursday, the 24th of November when the church was well filled with those who mourned the passing of the servant of the Lord. The portion read was the 17th chapter of the Gospel according to John, “I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am:” and, “The Lord’s my Shepherd” was sung. Psalm 23 was the Psalm he had given out at the conclusion of the last service he conducted earlier that month. Thereafter his remains were interred in the Grange Cemetery where many eminent Scottish ministers are buried including his own predecessor Rev. Neil MacIntyre. On the Monday of the previous Communion in Edinburgh Mr Campbell had conducted the funeral of the late Miss Jessie Campbell, Edinburgh, formerly of London. They were mutually attached in the bonds of Christian love and she had been buried near to where he himself was laid to rest to await the morning call of the resurrection. “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”
During recent times the Church has suffered many losses in its ministerial ranks through death. In the passing of the Rev. Donald Campbell the Church has suffered a great loss. He was a man who commanded respect among his fellowmen. They admired him for his integrity. He was one who shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God. It was ever evident that he was a true and faithful ambassador for Christ. A Free Presbyterian by conviction as well as by birth, he remained keenly aware of the value of and need for the Church’s distinctive witness. He was an admirer of the founding fathers of the Church, Rev. Donald MacFarlane and Rev. Donald MacDonald, whilst thankful for the strength given to them to stand for the defence of the truth. His wise counsels are missed in the affairs of the Church on earth as is his presence in the midst of his brethren and in the Church at large. But it has pleased the Lord to remove him to the House of many Mansions eternal in the heavens. He has gone, we believe, to the mountain of myrrh and frankincense to be forever with the Lord. What reason there is then to plead with the Lord to raise up faithful servants to take the place of those whom He has removed.
His sorrowing widow and family we would commend anew to the God of all comfort, desiring for the family that their father’s God may be their God also. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” Hebrews 4: 9.
D. B. MacLeod