Mr Angus MacKenzie, Elder, Drumbeg
Angus MacKenzie was born in Achnacarnia, Assynt, on 16th August 1914. His mother was held in very high esteem for her godliness. There was a family of five sons and three daughters. One of the sons, Neil, was elected an elder of the Assynt Congregation in 1945. Of him the Records of Session record: “As an elder he showed a real desire for the prosperity of the Cause and a faithfulness to the souls of men. So far as his practical godliness was concerned, he was a living epistle that could be seen and read of all men.” Although Neil was dependent on crutches, he regularly attended the place of worship which was three miles from his home. There were other members of the family who made a public profession of the Lord.
Angus lived at home until the war broke out in 1939. He served in the Royal Navy until 1945. It was in 1944 that he married Miss Agnes Morrison, a daughter of a respected member of our St. Jude’s Congregation, Glasgow. After his war service he settled in Edinburgh and joined the Edinburgh City Police, which he served for a period of twenty five years. During this time he manifested strong attachment to the Cause of Christ. It was in Edinburgh that he first made public profession of his faith in Christ. His spiritual exercises in prayer and in speaking to the Question on Fridays of communion seasons, made it very evident that he was one who had been taught by the Holy Spirit of God. His outward life bore testimony to the sincerity of his profession. In his public life he was held in high regard. After leaving the Edinburgh City Police he was successively engaged in the Court of Session and Sheriff Court for several years.
In 1974 Angus was ordained an elder in the Edinburgh congregation and he performed the duties of this office in a most gracious manner. He was characterised by a spirit of deep humility. In him, his pastor, the late Rev. Donald Campbell, found one upon whom he could rely. At very short notice Angus was often called upon to conduct the public worship of God and this he did to the satisfaction of his hearers. He was a peaceable man and lived in harmony with his fellow elders. Not only so but he was sharing with them in a way that only those who are bound together spiritually understand as the following incident reveals. One winter’s evening upon returning from his day’s work, he suggested to his wife that they together should visit his fellow-elder, Peter Anderson. His wife suggested that he should wait until another occasion but Angus insisted they should go that very evening. Upon arriving at the house of Mr Anderson he informed them that he had been praying much that day that one of the Lord’s people would pay him a visit.
Although of a very meek disposition, Angus did not hesitate to stand firm on the side of the truth and of the Church when in 1989 trouble arose in which a former fellow-elder was involved.
It was in 1986 that Angus left Edinburgh to return to his place of birth. He was not long there when the congregation elected him to serve as an elder and, like his brother before him, he too showed a real desire for the prosperity of the Cause and a faithfulness to the souls of men, exhibiting in his own life marks of true godliness.
Upon his return to the Western Presbytery area of the Church he became a member of that Presbytery. The Western Presbytery Record bears testimony to him in its Tribute testifying that he was one who had a single eye to the glory of God. He was ‘slow to speak and swift to hear’ so that when he spoke he did so as one who waited upon the Lord for direction.
Angus (with the full support of his wife) was most liberal to the Cause of Christ. Not only did he give his services freely but he contributed very liberally to the Church Funds.
For the last few months of his life he was hospitalised but even when deprived of the use of speech, he was able to convey his appreciation of the Word of God when it was read to him. He died on 5th December 1993, and we have every reason to believe that in him the words of the psalmist were fulfilled: “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” Psalm 17, last verse.
To his widow, who proved a life-long support to him, and to his relatives we would extend our deep sympathy, sharing, in some measure their sense of loss. The Scriptural injunction is “Whose faith follow.” — A.E.W.M.