Peter Maclean was born in May 1800 in the parish of Uig, in the Isle of Lewis. He was educated in the parish school, but with no thought of the ministry. He began a business and was very successful, but that was not to be his life work. The Lord had bestowed on him qualities of both head and heart which were well fitted, in His providence, to succeed in business, but He had a use for those gifts in the highest work in which a man can labour, and they were consecrated to that work when the time came.1
1 Abridged from Disruption Worthies of the Highlands. The writer was a nineteenth-century Free Church minister of Kingussie, Inverness-shire.
A remarkable spiritual awakening began in Lewis in 1823. Alexander Macleod was minister of Uig, and his parish received a great blessing. In November 1825 Peter Maclean came under the power of the truth. One evening, he had, for the first time, to conduct family worship at home. The part of Scripture he began to read was Hosea 6. He had only read a sentence or two when he was arrested by the arrow of conviction in his soul. At the end of the second verse he had to pause and go back to the beginning, but sobs made him unable to proceed. His convictions were deep and thorough.
Yet, in the midst of his own alarm and anguish, he thought of the souls of others, and that very night he went to his neighbours and called on them to rise from their beds and seek God’s mercy. The people were awestruck. Some rose and began to pray; and at least one gave sufficient evidence in after life that his arousing that night resulted in a saving change. Having found rest in the Saviour, Maclean was possessed with an ardent desire for the conversion of others. To the last, this was one of the most prominent features of his character. After a time, he lost all heart for the work he was doing; he decided to give up his business and pursue his education with a view to the ministry, should the Lord be pleased to make his call clear. In winding up his affairs he gave a clear proof of his love to the brethren by blotting out of his books all the money they owed him.
After a short time at Aberdeen Grammar School, he entered King’s College, also in Aberdeen, in 1828. The following session he went to Edinburgh, where he completed his arts and theological courses. In 1832 he became a missionary among Highlanders, especially non-churchgoers, in Edinburgh and Leith. He visited them during the week and addressed meetings on Sabbath evenings. He became deeply interested in this work, and the Lord blessed it. It was therefore very reluctantly that, later that year, he went to take charge of the parish school in Uig.
In 1836 he was licensed. Soon afterwards a call was sent to him from Highland settlers in Cape Breton, Canada, some of whom had known him before they emigrated. He felt it his duty to accept it and he was ordained to the mission in 1837. After arriving, he threw himself into his work in this extensive field with characteristic zeal and thoroughness. He made his headquarters at Whycocomah and laboured throughout the island, preaching almost daily. From the outset, the people had a thirst for the Word and crowds came to hear him.
In 1839, it was seen that the Spirit of the Lord was at work; many had been brought under concern for their salvation. He had seen the first drops of a shower. A deep, widespread awakening soon followed. To all Maclean’s other labours – of preaching, promoting schools, distributing books, selling Bibles – there was now added the welcome task of visiting, or meeting at his house, multitudes of anxious inquirers. When visiting the settlement many years afterwards, his former elders told him that all those whom he and they had believed were truly converted were continuing consistently in their Christian profession. This is a striking testimony to the reality of the work, as well as to the soundness of his discernment.
Maclean often suffered from the exposure and fatigue of long journeys through the settlement. He might say that he was “in journeyings often, in perils of waters . . . in perils in the wilderness . . . in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often”. Once, returning home by night across a frozen lake, after having become hot while preaching, a dangerous illness seized him and people despaired of his life. Another time, while far from home, a raging storm overtook him at night and he was glad to pass the night in a log cabin, sharing the accommodation – 10 feet by 12 – with children, parents, grandparents, and a black cow! On another occasion, hurrying to a Presbytery meeting, he had to urge his horse through a forest on fire, while burning branches fell all round. But as long as his strength held out and his Master’s work was prospering, he was happy, and thought little of the toil and hardship. But after labouring in the colony for five years, his strength gave way completely, and in 1842 he had to return to Scotland. His health was so poor that his friends scarcely expected him to get better.
After a short period of rest, he recovered a good measure of strength and he felt it a sin to be idle. The Disruption was now imminent and he resolved to preach the gospel in those parts of the West Highlands and Islands where the need was greatest as a result of the blighting reign of Moderatism. His fame as a powerful preacher soon spread far and near, and immense crowds flocked over moors and seas to hear him. The effects were remarkable: often large gatherings seemed powerfully moved as one man, numbers being unable to refrain from expressing their feelings aloud. The fruit is never so abundant as the blossom; this is true in the spiritual world as in the physical. But genuine fruit did follow, much of which has been harvested, while some remains to this day.
Maclean was in Edinburgh on the day of the Disruption and he rejoiced that so many were ready to sacrifice their earthly all for Christ’s crown and the liberties of His people. He accepted a call from the Free Church congregation of Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull, and was inducted there in August 1843. Soon afterwards, he married a godly lady who proved a true helpmeet. He applied himself energetically to his work in this new sphere. He made frequent preaching journeys to Ardnamurchan and Morven as well as to various places in Mull. The Lord continued to bless his labours. While his great aim was to be an instrument in bringing souls to Christ, he was a formidable champion of Free Church principles.
In 1853 Maclean visited Canada as a deputy from the Free Church. One of his first duties was to dispense the Lord’s Supper at Whycocomah. It was a profoundly stirring, but solemn, scene. “I may truly say”, he writes, “that I never witnessed a more solemn and interesting communion season.” Such a large gathering, estimated at 10 000 had never been seen in those parts. We may get some idea of size of the congregation from the 200 boats moored in the bay and the 500 horses tied up in the woods. During this visit of some months, Maclean scarcely rested a single day; he travelled 7289 miles, and preached 91 times, besides prayer-meetings and other addresses.
During his pastorate at Tobermory he refused proposed calls from various congregations at home and in the colonies. No minister could be more revered by his people than he was. But circumstances tended gradually to raise the question of a change of sphere. He lost fully half of his congregation, by emigration or by moving to the mainland. This was the result of the destitution which followed the failure of the potato crop.
Thus when a call from the Free Church congregation of Stornoway came to him in 1855, he was inclined to consider it, though it was only after much conflict and earnest prayer for light that he saw that it was his duty to accept it. He was inducted in Stornoway in June. His labours in this large congregation were very demanding: preaching three times every Sabbath, conducting two or three meetings during the week, along with other pastoral duties. Though here he met with a good deal to discourage him, he also had tokens of the presence of the Master. In 1859 especially, there was a time of revival in his congregation and in others on the island. The people had a great thirst for the means of grace, so that weekday services had to be multiplied, and an assistant appointed for a time. Not a few were added to the Church.
In 1861 Maclean’s health broke down again completely and he was laid aside from active work for two years. This was a great trial to him, not only because of his physical suffering, but chiefly because, to use his own words, “the Lord has been pleased to deprive me of the one thing that I had asked, that I might be engaged in preaching the gospel. My highest ambition on earth was to preach Christ crucified to poor sinners, and to enjoy fellowship with Himself and His saints in His house.” When his health did not improve under medical treatment, a sea voyage was recommended, and the liberality of his people supplied the means. He sailed to Boston, in the United States, but returned by the same ship. While on the passage, laid low by his trouble, he wrote in his diary: “Here I resolved and promised the Lord that, should He spare me and give me strength, I would cross the same sea again to America to preach the everlasting gospel”. It was not till the spring of 1863 that, still somewhat unwell but with unabated zeal, he was able to resume work.
After another visit to Cape Breton in 1866, he resumed his duties in Stornoway, often expressing a hope that the Lord would visit the congregation with times of refreshing. But his work was done. That winter, while returning from the communion at Uig, he got wet and caught a severe cold accompanied by a cough which developed into bronchitis. For 15 months he suffered much, and for eight of these he was confined to bed. Except for one short interval, his mind was always clear and his soul in perfect peace. More than once he was heard saying, “I have served a good Master, a good Master”. The good Master came at last, and removed him from his sufferings to rest and reward on 28 March 1868.
Peter Maclean possessed great force of character, and no one could know him without being struck with how entirely he was devoted to his Master’s work. Manly, straightforward and conscientious, he disdained ignoble ends and motives and carnal policy. This purity was as conspicuous as the strength of his character. He was most uncompromising and faithful in maintaining what he believed to be Bible truth and Bible principle, and in re proving error and sin. He did not fear the face of man or shrink from re proving and exhorting, in private as well as from the pulpit. As a preacher, he was forcible and effective. Possessing a vigorous mind, a ready memory and a warm heart, he grasped his subject vividly, and could expound clearly and illustrate graphically. He had an earnest and impressive manner – sometimes vehement, then tender.
The last day will declare his success in the ministry. On this subject he was extremely reserved; he never spoke of what he had done. Once his wife referred to a paragraph in a Canadian paper, in which he was spoken of as the spiritual father of thousands. She asked him if it was true that his labours had been so greatly blessed. He answered, “It would have been better if the writer of that notice had used the word ‘hundreds’; yes, I think he might have said ‘hundreds’.” That was the only reference he ever made to the matter. We cannot, however, doubt that he was instrumental in turning many unto righteousness, and that he has no obscure place among those who shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever.