Mr Iain MacLeod, Portree
Iain MacLeod was born at Glendale, on the Isle of Skye, on the last day of the year 1927. His father, Rev James MacLeod, was then the eminent Free Presbyterian minister of Glendale. Rev James MacLeod’s powerful preaching and fearless stance for the truth are well remembered by those who knew him. His sense of the fear of God put out the fear of man to an unusual extent, so that he spoke out boldly against the errors of Rome and on behalf of the distinctive principles of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Those who knew both Iain and his father would say that they saw much of the father’s character in the son, and interestingly, there were to be striking parallels in their spiritual experiences.
When Iain was around 5 years of age, the MacLeod family moved to Greenock, where Rev James MacLeod was inducted as pastor in 1932. Iain had the privilege of growing up in a home where godliness was both taught and practised in no ordinary degree. However, religious instruction and example are not sufficient in themselves to change the heart of man, which by nature is independent and rebellious like the wild ass’s colt. He was naturally headstrong to boot, and in these early days, like all the fallen children of Adam, lived carelessly in enmity to God and His truth, until divine grace and power intervened.
When and by what means the Lord began to deal with him at first is not clear. He seems to have had serious thoughts from time to time, though these were like the early dew and the morning cloud which vanished away. On leaving school he joined the naval cadets and then served an apprenticeship as an engineer in Greenock, before leaving his native Scotland for Canada. There he joined the mounted police and spent time in various parts of that country, including Vancouver. On one occasion, when called to attend a fire which had broken out in a local hospital, he showed great bravery. During that emergency he happened to notice a tall tower in the grounds on the verge of collapsing; in the event it fell close to where Iain was. He was unhurt, and would afterwards remark on the goodness of God in preserving his life on that occasion.
His father, anxious for the spiritual well-being of his son, and likely suspecting that the moral influence in this far country was far from beneficial to his soul, advised Iain to return home. In providence, the illness and death of one of his sisters, Daisy, proved to be the occasion of his returning home to Greenock. In 1956 he married a Skye girl, Anna MacKinnon, and they settled in Skye, eventually at Broadford, where Iain worked as caretaker at the hospital for 30 years.
He would refer to a conversation which he had with his father at some stage during these years, when his father questioned him about his spiritual state. Iain’s reply was, “I have nothing. Of course, I desire to be holy, but that is common sense.” His father responded quick as a flash, “No one ever got that [desire] from common sense!” Iain would add that at that very point in his experience he felt as lost as the devil himself. During his years at Broadford, the Lord was teaching him deeply in the knowledge of his lost state and the corruption of his whole nature. His experience under concern of soul and in coming to the liberty of the gospel appears to have been gradual and prolonged over many years. Yet matters came to a crisis when, under a crushing sense of the burden of sin, Iain’s mind was so deeply affected that he was reduced to taking to his bed. He had none among the sons of men with whom to share his grief of soul, and those around him thought his trouble was merely an illness in his body.
As was stated above, there were parallels with his own father’s spiritual experience in being led to a saving knowledge of the Divine Redeemer. He too was brought low in bodily weakness as a result of his spiritual trouble when first awakened to a sense of his sinnership before a holy God, so much so that he also took to bed and sank so low that, at one point, his life was despaired of, before spiritual relief came which soon brought a restoration of health to his body. Returning to the subject of this obituary, Iain’s own time of liberty drew near.
One day he went alone out of his room to an out-building near the hospital where he worked and there in seeking the Lord he drank deeply of the consolations of the gospel. The Word came with great power and sweetness to the afflicted one through these words in Isaiah 44:22, “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee”. Our late friend was like the bird set free out of the fowler’s snare, and sweet was the liberty he enjoyed as a sense of pardon and the favour of God in Christ flooded into his soul. He afterwards spoke more than once in a fellowship meeting about this experience, comparing it to what he experienced as a soldier during his national service when he was given a large and heavy backpack to carry for some weeks during training. Great was the relief which came when that backpack was taken away from the soldier. But then they were given another, smaller backpack to carry, which though much lighter was, he would say, “an awful nuisance”, and Iain would compare it to the believer’s trouble with indwelling sin.
It was some years after, when he had retired to Kensaleyre, that he made a public profession of saving faith in the Portree Congregation, in 2003. He was ordained to the office of elder on 23 November 2005 in the same congregation, where he remained until his death. He was a most willing and courageous soldier of Jesus Christ when it came to taking services in Portree and across the other Skye congregations. During a vacancy of around 8 years he, along with his fellow elder, bore the burden of the day in keeping the services in Portree. Often in later years, now in his late 80s and early 90s, he went out to keep services in felt weakness of body and a sincere sense of inadequacy. The source of his strength, he well knew, was from the Lord above and it was manifest that it was to the King of Zion that our late friend was looking for strength in these labours.
Strong in body and striking in appearance, Iain also had a vigorous mind coupled with an almost child-like enthusiasm of spirit. All he did was done heartily, and very notably his participation in, and leading, the praises of Zion. His prayers were choice, fresh and lively, with the brokenness of a self-condemned sinner, casting himself entirely on the merits of the Divine Redeemer. He viewed himself as a beggar at the throne of grace, and often did we hear him say after lamenting the awful power of sin, “But we are allowed to beg”. He was a warm-hearted man, and in his prayers his sympathy with those who were in trouble and affliction was palpable and he would often refer with feeling to the “ocean of tears” shed in this fallen and sorrowful world. His contributions at fellowship meetings were received with much relish and appreciation by the Lord’s people. He was neither lengthy nor tedious, and he spoke intelligently and from the heart, sending forth the praises of redeeming love, such as when he spoke most sweetly, on one memorable occasion, of the “exquisite beauty of Christ”.
He was a loyal-hearted Free Presbyterian, with an intelligent grasp of the Church’s distinctive position and the need to maintain that testimony unimpaired. Iain took a prayerful interest in the cause of Christ in his native Skye and throughout the nation, as well as farther afield. Indeed, he often spoke of the promised days when the kingdoms of this world will “become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ”. He had an excellent grasp of the history of the Church in Scotland from the earliest days of the Celtic Church to the present time. From this knowledge, as well as from Scripture, he formed a spiritual opposition to the Papacy and so was very much alive to the deadly opposition which that evil system poses to the true Church of Christ. He also took a close interest in current affairs, scanning world-wide developments on the political arena with a keen eye, especially as these impacted on the cause of Christ for better or worse. Thus, he was well equipped to maintain a prayerful watchfulness on the walls of Zion.
Early in 2018, Iain was admitted to the Broadford hospital with sepsis, and though seriously ill initially, he apparently recovered health and was permitted to return home. Those who had been visiting him while in hospital were somewhat surprised at this recovery as some of his expressions were like those of one ripening for glory. One such visitor found him in his hospital bed with his eyes closed and obviously in prayer. When he opened his eyes he said, “Just now the devil was tempting me to give up Christ”, and with great feeling he added, “but I will never deny Him”. To the same visitor he said on another occasion, “I believe you and I will be in glory together”. On 17 February 2018, he passed away suddenly, a few days after returning home, and entered, we believe, that place where glory dwells and where there is neither sin nor tempting devil. He is greatly missed by the Portree Congregation, who were much attached to him, and by our other congregations in Skye, where he was well known also.
In his passing away we have lost a cheerful, prayerful and exercised Christian, a true friend to the cause of Christ among ourselves as a Church and at large, and an upright and diligent elder. Our sympathies are with his widow, Anna, and his daughter and grandchildren, who have lost one who gave them an example of godliness and who sought to point them to Christ and His merits as the only hope for poor sinners. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb 11:13). (Rev) ID MacDonald
Mr Iain MacLeod, Stornoway
Mr Iain MacLeod, Ranish, a deacon in the Stornoway and Achmore congregation, passed away on 23 November 2019, aged 77. Though Iain’s parents were both from Harris, he was brought up in Glasgow, where he trained as an architect and latterly owned his own business. For many years he was regularly under the ministry of the late Rev Donald MacLean, and it was while considering the serious and solemn vows he was to take at the baptism of his son Angus, in Glasgow, that the Word came with power to his soul. It would appear from his prayers that Isaiah 42:3, “A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgement unto truth,” was made precious to him.
He made a public profession of faith at the Stornoway communion season in February 1999. Of special help to him were two books he was given at the time by his pastor, Rev John MacLeod: J C Ryle’s Old Paths and William Guthrie’s The Christian’s Great Interest. Matthew Henry was his favourite author while studying the Scriptures.
Iain became a deacon in 2001 and took over the superintendence of the Sabbath School. He showed a real interest in that work. His training as an architect was of use to the wider Church and, having been appointed Clerk to the Deacons Court, Iain gave of his time and gifts to the care of the properties under the hand of the Court. In other ways too Iain entered into the life of the Church, speaking at question meetings, occasionally reading a sermon from M’Cheyne to “keep the door of a meeting house open”, and providing transport to the church for the elderly.
He remarked at one question meeting that “the first creation commandment was, ‘Let there be light’, and it was only in the mercy of God that the Lord’s people come to know their darkness. The darkness the Lord’s people found in their hearts would be a burden to them all their days.” Iain frequently said during his last few weeks, “The Lord gave me 77 years of good health. Why should I complain?”
We extend our deep sympathy to Iain’s grieving widow Christine, son Angus and sister Catherine, and record our own loss at the death of Iain MacLeod, Ranish.
“Mark thou the perfect, and behold the man of uprightness;
Because that surely of this man the latter end is peace.” (Ps 39:37).
(Rev) J R Tallach