It was Alexander Macleod, of whom we have spoken already, that called David to speak to the question for the first time and, as he said to us once when we were taking him home to Achosnich a few years prior to his death: “I have as much expectation that you will turn and murder me as I had that I would be called that day to speak to the Word. But I did not like to be disobedient to the servant of God. I rose and there was a certain verse that was useful to me often in past days which came to mind and encouraged me. I could not say that I was forsaken, but I did not stay long on my feet.” This followed him to his death. No person would be wearied by him by his taking too long in prayer or in speaking to the question. Grace and wisdom regulated everything that he did.
He was chosen to be an elder in the parish in which he was born, long before the most recent divisions occurred in the Church [in 1893, and the most enlightened preachers in the place looked up to him as one who was directly taught from above. He took account over many years of the Free Church departing from the firm foundation on which she came out of the state Church, and many a day he would say to us that he was never in reality uplifted much by the Disruption in 1843; but there were ministers at that time to whom he felt bound.
When they passed what they called the Declaratory Act, David was in great straits, but because there were old ministers to whom he felt united, he stayed for a little while with them, thinking that they would repeal the Act. But instead of things getting better, they were only getting worse. He went and told Dr Aird that matters were weighing heavily upon him and that he was saying that he would have to depart from them. He would say himself that Dr Aird did not discourage him. Angus Murray had by this time parted from the Free Church, and the first Sabbath that David joined Angus to read the Word, Angus would say, “A great burden fell off me”. David had now to take the lead in meetings held in Dornoch in connection with the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and for many a day he was a light and a guide to the people that assembled. For a number of years he and Angus held forth the Word of truth to the people until a settled minister was in the place, except that perhaps a minister might come once in three months or so to keep a service in the locality. There are those who continue to testify that, on many occasions, they felt their souls warmed while listening to David Ross and Angus Murray.
The school house at Birichen was where they usually met on Sabbath and weekday. As Satan is wont to stir up envy in his children and in some in whom there may be a spark of grace, it was thus that he awakened opposition against David and Angus for having associated themselves with the “Seceders”, as they called them. We remember being in the place at the time of the winter communion and, without as much as a warning given on a cold, snowy night, we found the door of the schoolhouse shut in our faces. A generous man who was building a house for himself asked us to go and hold the meeting in his house. David and Angus were at its head and they are now, I believe, where no door will be shut against them any more. Although this was done, it is believed that for many a day their action, to those who were responsible, was to them as the ashes of the golden calf was to the children of Israel. It was then, with David at their head, that the people began to build the corrugated iron church which is in Evelix to this day,2 and it was a painful sight to those who thought that, by closing the building where they met, that the “Seceders” would be eliminated.
It was David that had to take the lead at every public and private meeting at which he and Angus would be present. We remember being in Lairg one communion Friday and asking Angus first to speak to the question because David had only come into the church before the verse was given out. Angus rose and said, “No one is going to speak here today until you call David first”. We replied, “We have nothing against that: we only desired to give David the opportunity of a short breather, since he has only come in”. David also reproved Angus, saying, “Now, Angus, will you not go ahead in your path of duty?” Angus turned with eyes full of tears, saying, “My noble youth, I have borne witness before my Maker but I shall not go ahead of you”. Thus David had to rise. This showed the place Angus had for David. It appears that there was only three years’ difference in age between them, but Angus was looking to David as a child looked to his father. Often he said, “My natural fear is that David will be taken away before me”. But God spared him that.
As David became older, he was losing both his sight and hearing. Cataracts were impairing his sight and a loving physician in Inverness, called David Grant, was offering to remove them. But David Ross would say, “A man of my days should be thankful that my eyes served me for so long”. Being deaf himself, every word that he spoke in private prayer would be heard throughout the house. After seeking mercy for himself, he then went out to his near relations. From them he would go to the ministers of the Church to which he was attached, naming them as he besought his Saviour to anoint, strengthen and encourage them in view of the duties before them. And it is we who have to say that we lost a prayer book the day he left us.
David was never married, and from the time that we knew him until shortly before his death, his sister kept house for him. We do not say that his sister was endowed with the graces that David had, but she was of great help to him in keeping the house. David was much given to reading, and at times she would knock on the door of his room and at the same time accuse him of laziness, but this would not bother David in the least. He would do what she asked him to do. When we first came to the district we remember going up to Achavaich to catechise. We called at David’s door and he and his sister came out, and she said, “O, is there no one with you?” We replied, “No, but will you come yourself, David?” Christina turned to him and said, “Yes he will: go and make yourself ready.” David was not long and we remembered that, when he came into the trap and the horse set off in a very lively way, David would say, “Be careful, you poor beast”.
It would appear that he was concerned as to the way in which people would react to the catechising and he turned and said, “It was never my custom to offer advice to ministers; I knew they would not take it from me, but I think you will not be offended. To which I replied, “I hope you will not think that. Counsel me as you would counsel your own son.”
Instead of giving the advice directly, he began thus: “The people here could not read Gaelic at first; they would be translating and there were some words which they failed to express in Gaelic. The minister of the place was quite short tempered by nature and, in catechising one day in a certain place, he asked one of the men present: “What is the Second Commandment, O man?” The man solemnly began, “The Second Commandment is, Thou shalt not make a gravel image”. The minister stamped his foot, “Be quiet, man; it’s yourself that is the gravel image”. The minister was beside himself and the catechising came to an abrupt end.
“A certain woman was sitting behind the minister who was more strong minded than others and she caught the hem of his coat, saying, ‘Sit down, man, and control your abrupt nature’. The minister turned round and said to her, ‘Although I may be short[-tempered], I will not be that for long’. To whom the woman replied, ‘What good is that, O man? No sooner are you out of it than you are back in it.”” After this David said to me, “If you could refrain from condemning them for every misplaced word, you would see that you would get on much better”. This is the way that David was not only a blessing to the people, but also to ministers of the gospel. No one felt, when he offered advice, that he was seeking to lord it over anyone but that he was dealing with them like beloved children.
I believe that David was the wisest and most fatherly person I ever met. In one way, Angus Murray could enter into depths that he could not, especially concerning the love and sufferings of Christ. But taking them man for man, David had a grasp, not only on things belonging to the Church of Christ, but also of things pertaining to this life. It was very rarely that one detected quick temper in his nature; patience and good sense accompanied one another in him. As he got older, so he became more affectionate and loving, grieving over the state of the young and, in public and private, pleading with God that He would bring them to the knowledge of His ways.
When the sacrament of the Supper was dispensed, it was uplifting and joyful to be with him. After he had lost the sight of both eyes we were together at a communion in Lairg. He could not shave himself and when someone was brought to do this for him, he said, “I wish you better service”. With radiant face he began to tell of a good man in Tarbert-beg behind the parish of Dornoch. “They were doing for him what you are doing for me now and he gave utterance to the words, ‘The three things that shall grow on old men are, beard, nails and grumpiness”, but whatever beard and nails grew on David, grumpiness certainly did not.
At family worship, and at meetings, he was much opposed to the custom that some followed, of taking long when engaging in any public duty. He would say, “The spirits of the prophets are obedient to the prophets. We are not bettered by squeezing the flesh.” Another thing that would trouble him was chanting while leading in public prayer, and in his own orderly way, he often told the story of the man who was engaged in public prayer and chanting away. He thought that all was very good, but at last he realised that it was pride that was blowing it and, after that, he never added chanting to his voice.
At parting time on Monday evening and when engaging in worship, it would be worth going a long way to hear him pleading for those who gave hospitality and extended friendship to us: that God would reward them by His grace. There was not a person young or old that did not think it an honour to minister to him and we think that one of the most pleasant things that we ever did in our life was to minister to him, although he would also crown what was done with, “I wish you better service”.
I think he was at least four years without sight before he departed, but even so that did not prevent him attending the house of God on Sabbath and weekday. He would always sit with the person leading the praise; and in order that he might not lose a word or syllable of what was said, he would have his hand to his ear so as to catch every word. And if the dew was descending, David would be earnestly praying that it would be blessed to the hearers. He and Angus were indeed like Aaron and Hur, and where both of them would be found together, it would not be difficult to preach the Word. Angus had the habit of blowing his breath when he was in a happy frame of mind and David had one hand to his ear and the other moving up and down while saying, “Beloved, wilt Thou not come”. Verily it was true of him that “the path of the just . . . shineth more and more unto the perfect day”.
Although his bodily eyes had lost their sight, the eyes of his mind were as if they had received doubled vision. I remember a communion Monday at Creich when that beloved physician of whom we spoke already, David Grant, who spent the prime of his life as a missionary to the heathen in China, had come home and was near to death. Before the service began this day, since David Ross was going to return home after the service and desiring to see David Grant before he left the world, the two of us set off to visit him. If my memory serves me right, it was very little of sight that David then had, but it was not difficult to guide him. He was brought into the room where David Grant was battling with the king of terrors. It was heart trouble that he suffered from and it was not at all difficult to be around him. David went on his knees at the bedside, and it was indeed melting how earnestly he prayed that his friend would be prepared for the journey ahead of him. Not once did David plead that his friend would recover, as it would seem that it was laid on his spirit that the end had come. When he rose from his knees, he and David Grant embraced one another as if it was difficult for them to part. When they parted and we left, David Ross turned to me and said, “O the noble youth, what strength there was in his hand; I felt mine as if it were that of a child”. But my recollection is that David Grant departed that evening.
1This article continues a translation, by Rev John MacLeod, of an account of the life of David Ross, Dornoch, which was written in Gaelic. The first articles were printed in volume 22 of The Free Presbyterian Magazine.
2This was written in 1917. The building was destroyed by a gale in 1951 and replaced by a stronger structure afterwards.
If I felt that my salvation depended on my own freedom of choice, I should be as one that beats the air. But since God has taken my salvation into His own hands, I am certain of His faithfulness and His promise. What an anxious life it would be if we could only comfort ourselves with the assurance of grace when we had fulfilled the law – for who does that?
Christians are not made righteous in doing righteous things, but being now made righteous by faith in Christ, they do righteous things.
Martin Luther