The Rev. John Angus Macdonald was born in Drinishader, on the Isle of Harris, on the 16th August, 1910. His childhood was spent in his native isle to which he had a life-long heart’s attachment. His mother, Mary Ann MacLeod, was a communicant member in the Harris congregation, so that he received an early training in the way of godliness. As a schoolboy he was greatly influenced by a bed-ridden relative, a godly woman whom he visited after school. The writer is unable to ascertain how old Mr Macdonald was when he was born again by the Spirit of God, but his childhood acquaintances remember that a spiritual change took place at a very young age, some saying he may have been converted in his schooldays, although too young to become a member; others concurring that he was changed before he went to sea.
Two ministers were instrumental in his early spiritual pilgrimage. The minister in Harris at that time was the Rev. Donald N Macleod who was inducted to Tarbert, Harris, on the 3rd August, 1911, and who remained his minister until translated to Ullapool on the 9th July, 1924. In those days Harris was one undivided charge, and Mr Macleod’s later years of service to the church proved the sterling quality of the minister whom the young John Angus heard in his youth. Mr Macleod was instrumental in the saving change wrought in his mother. Mr Macdonald later acknowledged his indebtedness to this saintly minister, under whose ministry it is possible that he obtained the liberty of the Gospel. He was very fond of the Rev. D N Macleod, who later moved to Ullapool, and Mr Macdonald once said: “What a prize the people in Ullapool got”. His minister molded him another way. In 1948, Mr Macleod said at Synod: “There is no going back my friends, for the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. So far as I understand things, it was not nearly so necessary in 1893 for the Church to make the stand she did, as it is now. Things have gone from bad to worse every day.” This emphasis upon the scriptural testimony of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland was also to be found in the Rev. John Angus Macdonald to his dying day.
But it appears that he did not obtain the sense of the liberty of the Gospel under Mr Macleod’s preaching. While under concern for his soul, he would listen to Mr Macleod, but when he closed the book at the end of the sermon, there was no change in the young John Angus. The other minister who had an early influence on Mr Macdonald was the Rev. James MacLeod. As the minister of Glendale, Mr MacLeod was the interim Moderator of Harris after the Rev. D N Macleod moved to Ullapool. At some point during this period, Mr MacLeod preached from the Song of Solomon chapter 2, verse 1: “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys”. A fellow-student and lifelong friend of Mr Macdonald says that he spoke of this sermon in such a way that he concluded that it was on this occasion that he got the liberty of the Gospel. His love for the Rev. James MacLeod was lifelong; later he was to marry Mr MacLeod’s niece.
John Angus left school at 14 years old. He went to the whaling station in Harris, then to the seasonal salmon fishing on the river Tay. Then, like many young people from the islands, he found employment in the seafaring way of life. His cousin Donald John MacKillop was the captain of Sir Thomas Sopwith’s yacht, the Vita. John Angus was employed on it as a steward for a few years until his decision to enter the ministry, and his twin brother, Roddy, was also on the yacht as a sailor. The scriptures declare: “Who go to sea in ships, and in great waters trading be, within the deep these men God’s works and his great wonders see.” (Ps. 107:23). This was true of John Angus Macdonald who was to learn the value of having a captain on board who would be able to navigate the ship through storms. In the spiritual realm, he saw his need of the Captain of salvation, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, if he was to be brought to the glory of heaven. “That blessed yacht” he called it because of the spiritual fellowship he obtained with the Saviour while on it.
During this period, Mr Macdonald was accepted as a communicant member at Tarbert on the 9th March, 1929. However his mind was being drawn towards the preaching of the everlasting Gospel. While still a teenager, he was impressed by the triumphant death of his godly older sister Catherine when she was a mere 17 years old. His burden to preach the Gospel can be seen by an entry in the Kirk-Session record, dated the 6th November, 1930. “John A Macdonald and Wm Morrison appeared craving permission to hold Prayer meetings in Meavaig meeting house. Granted.” By August, 1931, he had made up his mind to apply to study for the ministry. He appeared before the Harris Kirk-Session on the 13th of that month, was granted his disjunction certificate, and proceeded south to Glasgow. Here his character and godliness won the confidence of such stalwarts of the faith as the Rev. Neil Cameron, Glasgow. On the 25th January, 1932, he was accepted by the St Jude’s Kirk-Session and he was recommended to the Presbytery as a student for the ministry. On Mr Cameron’s recommendation he was accepted at the Southern Presbytery on the 27th January, 1932, the day after the induction of the Rev. James MacLeod to Greenock, and just six weeks prior to Mr Cameron’s passing to his heavenly reward. Mr Macdonald ever held Mr Cameron in high esteem.
Mr Macdonald’s retentive memory aided him in commencing his studies at Skerry’s College where he applied himself with diligence and perseverance to his studies. From 1933 until 1936 he gave years of valuable service to the London mission while continuing his studies at the University of London. During this time, London was raised to a sanctioned charge, and his last duty to the growing congregation was to obtain additional names for the Call to the Rev. J. P. MacQueen who was inducted there on the 26th December, 1936. At this stage, we see his tenacity in improving his education and furthering the London mission at the same time; he showed great perseverance in all the difficulties he encountered.
In 1936, he began the church’s three year divinity course. There were a considerable number of divinity students at this time, and two of those with whom he concluded his course in 1939 left the church afterwards. Some of the friendships he formed at this time lasted unbroken till the end of his earthly pilgrimage.
He was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Outer Isles Presbytery on the 5th July, 1939. Shortly thereafter, he was ordained and inducted to the pastoral charge at Uig, Lewis, on the 12th September, 1939.
Although he was a cheerful Christian, Mr Macdonald experienced sorrow as a young man. Not only did he witness the death of his elder sister, but his twin brother, Roddy, died from tuberculosis while still a young man. Another sister Joanne also died young. Then, while at Uig, Mr Macdonald’s wife, Margaret, passed away shortly after the birth of their first son. Marrying for a second time, his next child died shortly after birth. Ministers of the Gospel need to be tried, and Mr Macdonald learnt to bear these trials by casting himself upon the Lord Whom he was to follow through his long life. He was a devoted father to his family of three sons and two daughters who are spared to the present, with whom we sorrow and to whom we would again commend their father’s God.
Mr Macdonald served several congregations of the Free Presbyterian Church. After eight years in Uig, he was translated to Applecross on the 10th September, 1947, then to Raasay on the 26th August, 1954, and finally to Fort William on the 14th December, 1960, where he remained for 27 years until his retiral on the 23rd February, 1988. In these places he was a faithful pastor, visiting the people regularly. He built up his congregations numerically and spiritually, and in most of them he obtained a new place of worship or upgraded the existing church building.
He served the church in other capacities also. He was Moderator of several Presbyteries, he was Moderator of Synod in 1950 and 1972, and he was Convener of more than one Committee of the church. He also contributed obituaries and devotional articles to The Free Presbyterian Magazine and The Young People’s Magazine.
Upon retiral Mr Macdonald moved to the Free Presbyterian Home of Rest in Inverness. He became a member of the Northern Presbytery at the 1989 Synod. Thus his jubilee year in the ministry found him still active in the affairs of the church. Only months before his jubilee, the church had experienced the schism of former colleagues in the ministry and the eldership. Therefore when he took his seat on the Northern Presbytery on the 6th June, 1989, it was the first and depleted Presbytery after the A.P.C. secession. He was duly appointed Moderator, and for the ensuing year. During this critical period of the Presbytery’s history, the Presbytery was heartened to have Mr Macdonald’s presence.
A loyal Free Presbyterian minister, who lived for the Cause of Christ in our midst, Mr Macdonald frequently referred to the faithful Protest of the Rev. Donald Macfarlane in 1893 for maintaining a witness to the truths of the Gospel and for preserving the constitution of the old Free Church of Scotland in the present Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Therefore it gave him great pleasure to be able to attend the church’s centenary commemoration in May, 1993. Although far from fit, he made the journey to Edinburgh to be present in that place where “the godly Mr Macfarlane” made his historic stand for the truth.
Increasing infirmity in his latter years, due to the effects of a car accident sustained in early 1970, began to take its toll. Having sustained the protracted illness of his cheerful and capable wife, Barbara, and her subsequent decease on the 9th April, 1994, Mr Macdonald succumbed to illness and passed away to his everlasting rest on Thursday evening, the 16th June, 1994, in Ballifary Home of Rest where he had been tenderly cared for until the end.
Mr Macdonald’s passing is the first death among the ministerial brethren of the home church since the secession. This is therefore an occasion for us to pray more earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into the harvest. It is also an occasion for us to be thankful for those who have served Christ faithfully to the end, and to “remember them which . . . have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Hebrews 13:7,8).
Although his latter days were crowded with troubles, he will be remembered by those who knew him through his life as a faithful pastor, a happy Christian, a devoted husband and father, and a man with wonderful charm. He was an affectionate man who lived to extol the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
His love for the Gaelic language was well-known. With feeling he often referred to the Gaelic translation of Psalm 107:30:
“Then are they glad, because at rest and quiet now they be:
So to the haven he them brings, which they desir’d to see.”
As one used to the dangers of the sea, having experienced the storms of the Bay of Biscay, he would explain that the “haven” in Gaelic is a delightfully peaceful place after the dangers of the open sea. As he spoke, his mind was evidently set upon the “rest which remains to the people of God.” We believe that our departed friend, father and counsellor, has now his heart’s desire in the haven above, enjoying the beatific vision of the saints in glory assembled around the throne of God, beholding the Lamb Who is in the midst of the Throne. “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” (Rev. 7:16). “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.” (Isaiah 25:8).
His funeral took place in Inverness Church on the 21st June, 1994, and tribute was paid to his lifelong years of service to the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. He often said: “There is nothing dearer to me under heaven than the Cause of Christ.” His mortal remains were laid to rest in the Kilvean Cemetery, Inverness, where his wife was buried just ten weeks before. The Rev. D. B. Macleod, who has so recently been taken to heaven, addressed the mourners at the grave.
Obituaries appeared in the national press. At the next meeting of the Northern Presbytery, on the 28th June, the Presbytery placed on record its deep sorrow at his passing. A tribute was placed on record and copies were sent to his family and relatives, to whom we extend our sympathies.
The memory of the just is blessed. (Proverbs 10:7). “Help, Lord, because the godly man doth daily fade away; and from among the sons of men the faithful do decay.” (Psalm 12:1). Donald M. Boyd