Posted by: drmmm on: June 21, 2011
Angus of the Hills (Angus Macleod)
Taken from The Men of Skye
‘God’s law is perfect, and converts
the soul in sin that lies:
God’s testimony is most sure,
and makes the simple wise’ (Ps. 19:7).
‘Angus of the Hills,’ or, in Gaelic, ‘Aonghas nam Beann,’ was born in the parish of Uig, Lewis, early in the nineteenth century. From his childhood he was of weak intellect, and it is said he had two sisters who were also mentally weak. He was led to the knowledge of Christ as his Saviour at the time of the awakening in his native place under the ministry of the Rev. Alexander MacLeod, who went there in 1824. The inhabitants of that place, like many other parts, had been spiritually asleep during the long night of Moderatism. Angus was fond of roaming here and there, especially after his conversion, to hear different evangelical ministers, and no doubt his intercourse with various classes of people improved and sharpened his mind:
‘How much the dunce that has been sent to roam,
Excels the dunce that has been kept at home.’
The Rev. John MacRae was parish minister at Uig. Angus made his acquaintance, and this acquaintance grew into attachment. When Mr. MacRae became minister of Cross, Angus paid him a visit and passed some time with him. He was one day entrusted with the herding of the minister’s cattle, but while he prayed, the cattle made their way into the corn. The minister came out and began to advise and rebuke him, but Angus said: ‘Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head’ (Ps. 141:5). It was while here it was thought advisable to teach him, but he failed to acquire the alphabet. ‘A, B,’ ‘Ab,’ he would say. ‘Ah! this is but dry. There is no food here for my soul. There is no word about Christ or God here; no word about forgiveness of sin. I would rather be at the back of a dyke where I would get a moment of the presence of the Lord.’
Once Angus left Lewis, it is said he never returned there. The occasion of his departure from his native place and his kindred is related as follows: His father was one day repairing a dyke; Angus tried to assist him, and broke the spade. His father’s temper was roused, and he ran after his son to punish him. Angus ran away calling out, ‘Oh, Lord, avenge me of mine adversary.’
I consider Angus is entitled to be mentioned among the Skye ‘fathers’, for he loved to be among them himself. He was a wonderful man, and was much loved in Skye. Above all places, he had a special liking for Snizort, which he called ‘Jerusalem’. Above all men, he loved the godly men in Skye. Once he came to Skye he seldom left it, and only on communion occasions went elsewhere. There is a large number of his sayings and interesting anecdotes about him related in Skye, a few of which I record.
At a prayer meeting he was called upon to pray, but he refused to engage. After dismissing, someone asked him the reason of his refusal. ‘I could not,’ he said. ‘But,’ said the other, ‘Jonah prayed in the whale’s belly.’ ‘Yes,’ replied Angus, ‘but I was worse than Jonah, for the whale was in my belly.’
He was at a communion, and he happened to lose the token which was given him to produce on admission to the Lord’s Table. The elder who was serving said: ‘Oh, Angus, I see you have lost the token.’ ‘No,’ was the reply; ‘I only lost the bit of iron.’
After the minister would finish the service of the day, Angus would rise and say a few words to the people in parting especially if he had been hearing an evangelical preacher, and his cup was overflowing. To an audience in Lewis, he said: ‘Poor Angus will be a witness against you if you reject the Word of God. You know him and his weaknesses. You have your natural faculties, and he has not, so this will be your increased guilt, if you do not make use of faculties which were never given to him.’
On another occasion in Skye, Angus rose, and Mr. Roderick [Macleod] asked a minister who was assisting at the communion to ask him to sit down. The stranger asked Angus who gave him authority to preach. ‘The minister of the holy place and of the true tabernacle that the Lord pitched, and not man, and neither you nor any other person will silence me.’
On a similar occasion someone said, to test him, ‘You spoke some errors just now.’ ‘And are you not astonished,’ said Angus, ‘that it was not errors altogether? You should wonder if I spoke truth.’
It was customary with him to rise early, especially on the Sabbath morning of a communion, and resort to a quiet place to pray. The communion was at Snizort, and he was staying in Bernisdale. He rose early, and went down to the shore. One of the godly men was up early, and went in the same direction. He met Angus returning, and said, ‘You rose early today.’ ‘No,’ said Angus, ‘the women were up before me,’ meaning those who went to ‘the grave’ before dawn. Angus, if we may so say, lived with the people of the Bible, such a place had the Word of God in him.
Someone asked him, ‘What do you compare man in a state of nature to?’ ‘He is like the sow,’ he replied, ‘that is never pleased but when in the dung; and though you brought the sow to the castle he would seek back to the dunghill, or make it such.’
He once happened to be entertained to food in the house of an ungodly man in Skye. When the food was laid on the table, Angus was called upon to ask a blessing. He began: ‘Lord, have pity on this wicked family.’
He was one day standing near the church at Snizort,. and one person remarked to another, pointing to him, ‘There’s one that wants something.’ ‘Yes,’ said Angus, ‘I want something. I want Jesus Christ, the true bread that came down from heaven.’
He was on one occasion in the house of Mr. Lillingstone, the humble, pious, and hospitable proprietor of Lochalsh, and it was said to him at the table, ‘You have reason to be proud when the lady would ask you to her table.’ ‘She has reason to be proud herself,’ said Angus, ‘when the Lord would humble her so much that she would take me to her table.’
Angus often engaged in prayer in the church, and on few prayers would there be more unction and dew from heaven; yet such was his simplicity that when he came out of church he was sometimes seen to go aside with children to play at pebbles. He was a walking commentary on the passage, ‘The law of God makes wise the simple.’
He was so intellectually weak that he could not count his fingers, and never understood the use of money. Someone gave him five shillings, and he said himself that Satan began to tempt him, saying that he loved the five shillings more than his Saviour, so he went and placed the money in a hole in a dyke. Afterwards he was telling this to one of his friends how Satan tried to tempt him, but that he laid the money in a hole. This man, knowing Angus’s weakness, tried to recover the money, but Angus could not find the place where he hid it.
There was another man, Ebenezer Rose, who had been a Gaelic schoolmaster, but had become mentally weak. Angus was much attached to him, and they were often together. Ebenezer was a heavenly-minded man. He would continue long in prayer, and Angus would give him a push and tell him to stop, ‘as the people would have to attend to other’ things. In his manner of living among the people, he was not so easily satisfied or put up with as Angus. When he came to a house, and food was prepared for him, if it was not to his taste he would say, ‘Have you no better food than this?’ ‘No’ would be the reply; ‘we did not expect you.’ ‘But,’ he would say, ‘why did you not go and borrow it from your neighbour when a stranger came to see you?’ There was an allowance made for his intellectual weakness, but the people were generally very kind and hospitable to them both, and there was a striving as to who would have them in their houses. They were once together, walking to a communion, and the day was warm. They saw a carriage coming behind them. ‘It would be a good thing if we got into this carriage,’ said Ebenezer. ‘You foolish man,’ said Angus, ‘it were far better if we got into the chariots of Amminadab.’
It is related that there was another man at Ardnamurchan, Ewen Cameron, distinguished for his godliness and artlessness of mind. Angus and he met for the first time at Tobermory, when the Rev. Peter MacLean, a native of Uig, Lewis, was minister there. They heard of each other before, and when these simple, innocent men met the one said to the other, ‘Come,’ and they went to the back of a hill, and the one began to preach to the other. One of the ministers, passing by, observed them, and fearing that boys would come after them, said, ‘What are you doing there?’ ‘Never mind him,’ said the one to the other, ‘that is always the work of the devil to take men away from the means of grace.’
There is evidence that the Word of God, through Angus, was blessed to the conversion of souls. ‘Unto babes,’ the Lord in His sovereignty, ‘reveals the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,’ while they are hidden from ‘the wise and prudent’. It is related that a woman was awakened to a real concern for her soul through a passage of Scripture Angus quoted in prayer. She lived an answerable life after. When she came before the kirk-session with a view to communicate, they asked her her reason for coming forward, to which she answered, ‘I am afraid I have no ground at all, as the truth which came to me came through an idiot.’ The kirk-session had enough discernment to see that Satan was trying to make a handle of the weakness of Angus to tempt one who was, to all appearance, one of the Lord’s people Though Angus was simple, and his intellectual faculties lacking strength for the things of this world, yet he could find an answer to gainsayers in God’s Word. A woman whom he rebuked spoke abruptly to him for venturing to speak to her. He was silent for a little, then finding his reply, he stood up and said: ‘I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.’
Angus did no ordinary work, but went from house to house, and, as a rule, stayed with the Lord’s people. They were not tired of him, but highly valued his company. Some one quoted to him the Scripture, ‘If any man would not work, neither should he eat.’ ‘Well,’ said Angus, ‘that speaks to you. You are able to work, and the Lord gave you strength of mind and body for it, but He has not given that to me.’
I think it was either at Kilmuir or Uig, Skye, that this holy and wonderful man ended his days. On his deathbed he gave instructions to those around him to bury his body in a certain place of the graveyard at Uig. They did as he wished, and it was remarkable that when the flood came which took away a large part of this burying-place, it did not interfere with the dust of this saintly man. His body sleeps there till it awake on the morning of the resurrection. ‘The memory of the just is blessed.’
Posted by: drmmm on: May 11, 2011
‘The case of Peter is sometimes coarsely handled. Many deal with the sad scene of his denial of Christ as though he were placed on the pillory to be branded as a traitor and coward by every passer-by. But when they scan and censure Peter’s fall, it would be well if they inquired whether their own lives be not one continued denial of Christ; whether their hearts ever dictated Peter’s question and confession, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life’; whether they have ever shared Peter’s blessing, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven”; and whether, if they can see the greatness of his sin, they can also enter into the pungency of his sorrow over it. Not that we would dare to speak lightly of Peter’s sin; but it is dangerous to contemplate the falls and infirmities of the saints of God without respect to their life of faith and obedience, and especially to the deep repentance consequent on their reclaiming and their experience of mercy; – to probe into their sins and faults, while our own hearts’ corruptions remain unexplored by us. We are then in danger of extracting poison from such a precious passage of God’s Word as this, if we are content to bring to its consideration a hard unhumbled heart.’
‘Christ would have Peter to remember, ever to remember, the wondrous mercy he had experienced in being restored and forgiven, that there might be, as it were, a pillar set up here to which he might look back at every succeeding step of his journey; and we cannot doubt that where he now is, before the throne of God, he often looks back to this period, and from its review gathers fresh impulse to join in the song, “To Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood”‘ (extracts from sermon on John 21:15-17 by Charles Calder Macintosh, a minister in Tain, Ross-shire, in the nineteenth century).
Posted by: drmmm on: May 10, 2011
If we would see the heart of Christ, let us contemplate Him on the day of His resurrection. He had burst the prison gates and come forth a conqueror; He stood the head of a redeemed world; He had spoilt principalities and powers; a name above every name awaited Him; the hosts of heaven longed for His ascension that they might fall down and worship Him; – and how was He employed?
Behold Him first ministering consolation to a poor mourning disciple – Mary Magdalene. See Him next enlightening the ignorance and confirming the weak faith of the two travellers to Emmaus – conversing with them until their hearts burned within them. Then we find Him appearing to Cephas; he who had denied Him was singled out for this gracious visit, as specially needing it to assure him that he was graven on Christ’s heart still. Afterwards He appeared to His assembled disciples, and despite of their ignorance and slowness of heart to believe, despite of their desertion of Him in His hour of agony and distress, saluted them with ‘Peace be unto you.’
We have here the heart of Christ disclosed to us, His love and pity for His people, His zeal for their interests, His fixed purpose of saving them, and His determination that none of them should perish, and that none should pluck them out of His hand. And Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever (From a sermon by Charles Calder MacIntosh on John 21:15-17)
Posted by: drmmm on: May 1, 2011
Alexander Munro grew up in Inverness, where his father was a dyer – the father was also Laird of Kitwell, in Kiltearn, and more importantly his home was marked by devotion to God. Although he had a Christian upbringing, it in itself did not make Alexander a Christian. But the Lord had his eye on him.
In the providence of God, Robert Bruce, the minister of St. Giles in Edinburgh, was banished by James VI to Inverness in 1605, which at that time was a very small town of two streets in the shadow of a castle designed to oversee the area. While in Inverness, Bruce preached once every Sunday and Wednesday and took public prayers three evenings a week.
The king of Scotland may have banished Bruce to Inverness, but it was the King of heaven who sent him there. Soon large crowds gathered in Inverness to listen to him and they were drawn from all over the eastern Highlands, from Caithness down to Nairnshire. It was while listening to Bruce that Alexander Munro trusted in Jesus and became a Christian.
Alexander developed a strong prayer life and received very powerful impressions that he should become a minister of the gospel, and included among them was the awareness that he would become the minister of the parish of Durness in the north-west of Scotland. Initially he resisted the call from God, but eventually he consented and went to the University of Aberdeen to study for the ministry. Shortly afterwards, he became the minister of the parish of Durness.
The parish was very extensive, covering the area between Tongue and Scourie. It was inhabited by thousands of people, uncivilised in many ways, and one of the things that marked them was their ignorance of the gospel. Yet through Munro’s preaching, God brought a great spiritual revival into the parish, the effects of which lasted for generations. Two of his sons also became ministers: Hew followed in Durness and John was a minister in Alness.
Although Munro’s preaching was so blessed, nothing has survived of it. One feature, however, that did endure was his spiritual songs. When he went to Durness, he soon realised that his parishioners were very ignorant of the Bible. Their language was Gaelic, and the Bible had not yet been translated into that language. It is probably the case that most of them could not read, so they could not translate the English versions that were available. In order to help them develop a knowledge of the Bible, Munro composed many songs, based on biblical passages, and designed for individuals to sing at work and at home. Through this means, his people greatly increased in their knowledge of the gospel, and his songs were sung in private gatherings for generations.
There are many lessons to note from this story. One is that God’s providence is working in many ways at the one time. During the period in which Alexander was identifying his call, the king who had banished Bruce to Inverness had also arranged for a group of persons to produce the King James Version. His motives for the version were not all good. Yet God over-ruled him and he over-ruled him with regard to Bruce.
Second, we can see that there are many links in a chain. What would a person in Durness have thought in 1605 of the decision in Edinburgh to banish a minister? Not very much. But when that person later responded to the gospel preached by Munro, he would see that God had many links in his chain.
Third, Munro’s ministry is a reminder of the great blessing that God can bring through one man. It is true that every minister does not see such success. The point I am making is that our society today is not that different from the parish of Durness in Munro’s day, especially in its ignorance of the gospel. How many men does God need to use to transform an area? Munro’s experience tells us that the answer is one. No doubt others were praying for him, especially as his number of converts increased. Nevertheless, the necessary number of preachers is the same.
Fourth, Munro is a reminder that Christ’s servants should use their natural talents and flexible means in order to promote the gospel. Munro had the ability to turn large portions of the Bible into the kind of rhyme that could be recalled by others and sung by them wherever they were. And he was flexible enough to let them do so in their times of fellowship with one another.
Fifth, Munro is only one of many influential servants of Christ that are totally forgotten. There are only passing references to him in a few books. But the record of his achievements is on high, and it will wonderful on the final day to discover all that Jesus did through many unknown servants. And it will be wonderful as well to meet with the many individuals who discovered spiritual life through their ministries.
Posted by: drmmm on: April 29, 2011
Donald M’Queen was for seventy years catechist in Bracadale and Duirinish in Skye. A short book about M’Queen was written by his minister (James Ross) and published in 1891, perhaps surprisingly, by London-based company, Thomas Nelson. The author’s method is not to give a chronological account of M’Queen; instead he focuses on several traits that were prominent in the catechist. In fact, we learn more about Ross’ outlook than we do of M’Queen. We can also read about M’Queen in Roderick MacCowan’s Men of Skye in which a chapter is given to his life, and this chapter gives more biographical details as well as several anecdotes.
M’Queen died on 13th November 1885, when he was one hundred years of age. His father had been a farmer and an innkeeper in Skye and had been able to give his son a good education (including attending a school in Inverness), which enabled him in later years to read current literature and also to contribute effectively in church courts. After his schooldays, he returned to Skye and was a tutor in the families of wealthy persons. In his twenties, he heard James Farquharson, the Haldane preacher, who was instrumental under the hand of God in bringing many in Skye into the kingdom of Christ. M’Queen also was converted through this preacher (his wife also became a Christian through Farquharson, although the account does not indicate if the M’Queens were married at the time).
In 1815, M’Queen moved to the parish of Bracadale when the minister there (Mr. Shaw) appointed him as the first English teacher on the island of Soay. For about twenty-nine years he was employed by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge as a teacher in several districts of the parish, and after the Disruption in 1843 he became a catechist for the Free Church. As a catechist he served for fourteen years in Duirinish before returning to Bracadale where he served until his death.
Shaw had come to Bracadale in 1814. When he began his ministry there, Skye was not in a healthy spiritual state. The gospel was not preached in many of its pulpits. Instead the people heard a form of legalism that indicated a person’s good works were sufficient for entrance to heaven. For the eight years that he had in Bracadale before his death in 1823, Shaw had a willing helper in M’Queen in bringing the gospel to sinners.
The ignorance of the way of salvation that prevailed in the community meant that M’Queen had to explain clearly the meaning of sin so that his listeners would understand and feel the plague of their own hearts. Of course, he realised that such conviction is the result of the work of the Spirit. Further he preached as one who knew the sinfulness of his own heart, and that is usually the kind of preacher that the Spirit uses to bring genuine conversions. On one occasion, a lady asked him what Bunyan meant by the Slough of Despond? His reply was, ‘Whatever Bunyan meant by that, I wish I saw you in it; I wish I saw you in the Slough of Despond.’ What M’Queen meant was that such an experience was a good way of getting rid of notions of self-righteousness and turning to Christ alone for mercy. His biographer cites with approval this statement by John Owen: ‘A poor ungodly sinner going to God with the guilt of all his sins upon him, to receive forgiveness at His hand, doth bring more glory unto Him than the obedience of an angel.’
A notable convert of M’Queen’s was John Maclean, a man who was one hundred years old. M’Queen called at his home and found him confined to bed and blind. Although he was in a bad way physically, he was worse off spiritually. M’Queen discovered that the man’s hopes for eternity were based on his own good works. However, through the words of M’Queen, the man was savingly changed and was given seven more years in which he witnessed to the grace he had received from God.
One of the striking features of M’Queen’s character as a catechist was his patience. He persisted in preaching publicly and counselling personally those who showed no interest in the gospel. His dealings with the wayward were marked by wisdom and his policy was never to discuss the sins of one person with another person — instead he spoke to each individually about his or her sins. Often he had to exercise patience with those who misunderstood his messages; his response was to let them speak so that he would discover their misconceptions and correct them from the Bible.
His patience was also revealed in his persistence in prayer for the gospel to be blessed; ‘if the answer was not given presently, he was kept in an elevated frame of mind waiting patiently for it.’ His colleagues recognised that his patient personality made him an ideal person for healing disputes between people; he ‘excelled in finding ways and means of restoring peace and in inducing those at variance to become reconciled.’
Patience was also seen in the way he responded to troubles: he regarded each ordeal ‘as a fatherly chastisement, designed for his good, and intended to increase his faith’. He knew that he needed daily grace to bear these trials patiently and he sought and obtained it. Personal failures in exercising patience caused him to mourn, which is a reminder that devout believers are strongly affected by such sins.
Posted by: drmmm on: April 26, 2011
Mr. MacPherson, in his biographical sketch, has given a number of notes from his sermons illustrative of Mr. Finlayson’s allegorical style. One of these – Zeal and Knowledge – may be given as indicative of how truth could be presented in a pleasing and arresting form. ‘On a certain day,’ said the preacher, ‘Zeal said to Knowledge, “I will go with Christ today,” and, on His speaking about His death, Zeal said: “Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee.” But Christ, turning to Zeal, said, “Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me.” And Zeal went home with bent head. “What has happened?” asked Knowledge. “Much, indeed,” said Zeal. “I went so far astray that Christ called me Satan.”
‘On another day after this Christ was going out, and Knowledge said to Zeal, “This is my day; you went out the last time.” “You will not be able to do so well as I,” protested Zeal. “I will require to go out myself, today.” So Zeal went forth with Christ, and when Christ said, “You will be all offended in me this night,” Zeal answered, “Although all will be offended, yet will not I.” To which Christ replied, “Verily I say unto thee that this day, even in this night, before the cock shall crow twice, that thou shalt deny me thrice.” Zeal came home weeping. “What has happened now?” asked Knowledge. “Woe is me,” said Zeal, “I am demented. The Lord solemnly affirmed that I would deny Him.”
‘On a third occasion, Zeal said, “I will go forth with Christ again.” “No,” said Knowledge, “this is my day.” But Zeal would not listen. Off it set, not simply running, but leaping, and followed the Lord into the Garden of Gethsemane, and when His enemies put their hand on Christ, Zeal stretched forth the hand and drew the sword, and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. It went into the hall of the high priest, and, on being charged with being with Christ, “I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest,” said Zeal. And after denying him twice, and the third time with cursing and swearing, Christ turned and looked at Zeal, and Zeal came home, weeping bitterly. “What has happened?” asked Knowledge. “I have done it at last! I have done it at last!” said Zeal, shedding bitter tears. “I have denied my Lord three times, and the last time with cursing and swearing.” “What will you do now,” said Knowledge. “I will make an agreement with you, and promise that I will not go out again without you.”
‘The agreement was kept, and when Zeal went forth again, Knowledge was with it. A great sermon was preached on the day of Pentecost, and, for every time Zeal denied its Lord, a thousand souls were added to the Church.’
Specimens of Mr. Finlayson’s sermons are given in Mr. MacPherson’s Short Sketch, but one cannot get an idea from these notes – for, after all, they are only notes – what Mr. Finlayson was as a preacher. His method of presenting divine truth was original, attractive and arresting, and one hears striking notes from his sermons often quoted, even to this day.
Taken from Donald Beaton’s chapter on Finlayson in Noted Ministers of the Northern Highlands
Posted by: drmmm on: April 26, 2011
Mr. Finlayson’s characteristics as a preacher have been very happily described by the Rev. Duncan MacGregor. ‘Mr. Finlayson,’ he says, ‘was a perfect master of allegory. We used to call him the John Bunyan of the Highlands. And, hence, his preaching, while retaining a spice of the quaintness of Dr. Kidd, under whose ministry he sat as a student in Aberdeen, more closely resembled that of Mr. Porteous, of Kilmuir Easter, and of Mr. Lachlan MacKenzie, of Lochcarron. He spoke in parables; he preached to the whole man, for parables are the people’s speech – they are the language of nature. He studied the word and works of God, and drew aids from earth and sea and sky to unveil the glories of Christ crucified. To him all nature was vocal with God, and all her phenomena waiting as handmaids to be enlisted in the Master’s service. His fertile fancy, sometimes by a parable, sometimes by an analogy from everyday life, cast a clearness even on the deeper doctrines, and set them forth with dramatic vividness.
‘His church at Lochs for five-and-twenty years was an “Interpreter’s house,” frequented by pilgrims to the Celestial City, where every room was hung round with typical figures and subjects, whose very floor was inlaid with mystic emblems, and each figure and emblem a key to some intricate spiritual truth, and where many a pilgrim was braced by what he heard and saw for climbing the Hill Difficulty and encountering the other perils of the journey.
‘This faculty predisposed him to the exposition of the typology of the Old Testament, surely the most profitable of all forms of exposition. None excelled him in explaining the New Testament truth by the Old Testament type. And, though, occasionally, he was a little Cocceian in his typical expositions – in his exposition of the typical character of Jonah, for example – and though his lively fancy mayhap soared into a region where his hearers could not follow without risk of giddiness, the themes were ineffaceably dented in their memories. Hence hundreds of his sayings are quoted daily. The same instinct led him to study Jesus’ parables profoundly. He was better fitted to preach on the parable of the good Samaritan than on the ninth chapter of Romans. His ripest thoughts on the types of the Old Testament and the parables of the New, like rich old wine, were often a cordial to heavy hearts.
‘When listening to him we often thought of Job’s saying: “Unto men men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain” (Job 29:21-23). And how concisely was it done. Preaching on John 13:14 – the duty of disciples to wash one another’s feet – he observed: “One way in which disciples wash one another’s feet is by reproving one another. But the reproof must not be couched in angry words, so as to destroy the effect; nor in tame, so as to fail of effect. Just as in washing a brother’s feet, you must not use boiling water to scald, nor frozen water to freeze them.”
‘They said of Charles of Bala, that it was a good sermon to see him. To see Mr. Finlayson, as Isaac-like he went out to meditate in his little garden at Lochs at the eventide, to see him wending along in his gig so deep in reverie that, when a fellow-traveller once asked him, “Where are we now?” his reply was, “Aye, aye: wherever you are, I am between Genesis and Revelation” – was no bad sermon either. His appearance as he preached his action sermon in 1850 on the parable of the two foundations, as he preached his action sermon in 1852 on the two disciples going to Emmaus, and in 1853 on the brazen serpent, is vividly before us at this moment. The tall, portly figure, so full of loving simplicity, the brown hair and fair complexion, indicating the Scandinavian blood in the population of his native Caithness-shire, the large features, which, judging from the portraits, must have closely resembled those of the celebrated Professor Jardine of Glasgow – the meek eyes, that, soon as he kindled, became suffused with tenderness; the sonorous voice, deep at first, as if it almost came out of the ground, but which rose by-and-by to tones of silvery sweetness; the smiles of joy which after played on his features, like sunshine on the deep sea; the words he uttered, and the vast audience on the hillside – the whole is daguerrotyped in our memory. Never did we feel the power of personal holiness in reinforcing the truth spoken from the pulpit more than when hearing him.’
Taken from Donald Beaton’s chapter on Finlayson in Noted Ministers of the Northern Highlands
Posted by: drmmm on: April 26, 2011
This biographical account is by Donald Beaton and is found in his book on Noted Ministers of the Northern Highlands.
Robert Finlayson was born in Clyth, Caithness, early in 1793, and was baptised in March of that year by the Rev. John Robertson, missionary-minister in Achrenie, Halsary and Halladale, who was afterwards minister of Rothesay, and Kingussie. It is reported that Mr. Robertson said to Robert’s mother: ‘Take care of this child, for you have got a Samuel from the Lord.’ Robert was the son of Robert Finlayson, Society schoolmaster in East Clyth, and afterwards at Dunbeath, and of Margaret Gunn. On the tombstone in Latheron churchyard it is recorded that ‘Robert Finlayson, once Society Schoolmaster at Dunbeath died in 1819, aged sixty-eight years, also his spouse, Margaret Gunn, who died in the year 1821, aged sixty-four years.’ Both Mr. Finlayson’s father and grandfather were held in high esteem for their piety, and his mother, Margaret Gunn, was a woman that feared God, and the daughter of a man who was a burning and shining light in his day.
When about ten years of age, Robert began to accompany his parents to the Mission Church at Berriedale, which at this time was under the care of the Rev. William Mackintosh, afterwards minister of Thurso. From an early age the boy took pleasure in hearing the Word preached, and was in the habit of praying. There were not wanting signs that the Holy Spirit was striving with him. He was in the habit in those early days of retiring to a quiet dell and preaching to an imaginary congregation. At such times he would be deeply impressed, but these impressions passed away, and a deeper and more lasting work was required and granted in after years. Rohert had also the privilege of being mentally nourished with sound literature, and read such books as Boston’s Fourfold State, Dyer’s Christ’s Famous Titles, Edwards’ History of Redemption, together with the works of Bunyan, Willison, and the Erskines.
When a lad in his teens he was appointed a teacher at a side school at Achscorriclete, Strathmore, in the parish of Halkirk. Here he lodged in the house of John MacDonald, a famous cattle dealer of those days. While here he was privileged to enjoy the ministry of the Rev. John Munro, missionary-minister of Achrenie, and afterwards minister of Halkirk. Achrenie was one of the most highly privileged mission stations in Scotland. It had not only a succession of missionaries who afterwards were burning and shining lights in the Church, but there were many notable Christians, men and women, who adorned the doctrine of God their Saviour, connected with the Mission. On the Lord’s Day it was the custom of the people on the way to divine worship to gather into a group, under the leadership of Robert Sutherland, one of the outstanding ‘Men’ of his day. Certain points in experimental religion would be raised and discussed by those who knew something of the Holy Spirit’s dealings. The result of such conversations was highly beneficial. On the return journey the company would be catechised by Robert Sutherland as to the sermon they had listened to, and questions were asked as to the points which had made the deepest impression. In this way the whole sermon would be recalled, and the good impressions made by it deepened. When the company came to the parting place Robert Sutherland would speed them on their way by committing them to the care of the Holy One of Israel, by engaging in prayer. By such a practice, all tendency to light and frivolous conversation, alike going to the service and returning from it, was checked, and the company, instead of going up to the house of God with a weary heart and leaden feet, to be a drag to themselves and the preacher, entered his courts with praise, and exemplified the psalmist’s experience, when he said: ‘I joyed when to the house of God, Go up, they said, to me.’
In due course Mr. Finlayson went to Aberdeen to prosecute his studies there. Dr. John Tulloch, a Caithness man, was professor of mathematics, and took an interest in the young student. Mr. Finlayson was thus led to attend the church where the professor worshipped, but, being dissatisfied with the preaching, he petitioned the Senatus of the University to change his place of worship, which request they readily granted, with the result that Mr. Finlayson attached himself to the congregation of the remarkable, though somewhat erratic, but fervent and evangelical preacher, Dr. Kidd. It was about this time that Mr. Finlayson was awakened to real concern. He had clear and deep views of sin, but was afraid that his convictions were not deep enough to warrant him coming to Christ. While in this state of concern he fell in with Hervey’s Theron and Aspasio. In the varied experiences of Theron Mr. Finlayson read his own. Then the words came with power to him: ‘This is His commandment, that we believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.’ As he was endeavouring to give heed to this command, he felt that gracious Gospel arguments were occurring to him and inclining his soul towards the great salvation.
While acting as tutor in the family of Mr. John Stewart, Berriedale, Mr. Finlayson took smallpox, and was blind for eighteen days, and his life was despaired of by many; but in the kindness of God he was to be raised up for a life of usefulness in God’s vineyard. On the restoration of his health, he became teacher of the school at Lybster, which post he held until he was licensed by the Presbytery of Caithness in May, 1826. His first sermon was preached in the church of Vatten from the text: ‘Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest.’ After the service, on speaking to one of the elders, Mr. Gunn said: ‘We had a young minister today.’ ‘I thought it was an old Christian,’ replied that worthy, indicating the impression the sermon had made on him.
Mr. Finlayson’s first charge was the Aberdeen Gaelic Church. Soon the church was crowded, and many professed to have received a blessing under his preaching. He continued in Aberdeen for three years, and thereafter was called to Knock, Lewis, in 1829. His preaching at Knock was signally owned of God. The people crowded the church at the diets of divine worship, and on the week evenings at the family worship in the manse, the sitting-room, stairs, and every place within hearing were crowded with people. Some came every evening all the way from Stornoway, a distance of four miles. Mr. Finlayson only remained two years at Knock. In 1831 he was presented by the Crown, through the influence of Lady Stuart Mackenzie, to the parish of Lochs.
His predecessor in Lochs was the Rev. Alexander Simpson, a man of some force of character, but who made no claims, at least by his conduct, to be a minister of Christ. He has been described as a blind leader of the blind. All the adult population were communicants. It was no unusual thing for him to freely invite all and sundry to the Lord’s Table in the words: ‘Come to the table of your own Father, come, everyone of you.’ Real Christians were shocked at the lack of discrimination shown by the minister in such weighty matters, and on one occasion some worthy men from Stornoway protested against it, and were tried and sentenced to a term of imprisonment for their pains, inasmuch as they were looked upon as disturbers of divine worship. The people of Lochs at this date were very illiterate, scarcely anyone could read, and there were but one or two Bibles in the parish.
Such was the state of the parish when Mr. Finlayson came to it. He was in the full plenitude of his powers, physical and mental, and devoted himself with whole-hearted devotion to the evangelisation of the parish.. His parish, roughly speaking, was about thirty-five miles long, and eighteen broad. ‘It was broken up by numerous arms of the sea, extending far inland, and there were no roads. In visiting he had to cross numerous ferries, and to walk miles upon miles over rough moorland, and to make long voyages by sea in an open boat. He had to stay nights in uncomfortable huts, and sleep in uncomfortable beds.’
Under the blessing of God, the wilderness soon showed signs of becoming a fruitful field. Prayer meetings were set up in every township. Fellowship meetings, at which only professed believers were present, were inaugurated. At these meetings the young men were chiefly called upon to speak, and were thus trained as public speakers for the Friday meetings. After a number had been called upon to speak, the minister reviewed what had been said, indicating the defects and irrelevancies of the various speakers in a sympathetic manner, and suggesting lines of improvement. Though Mr. Finlayson was very strict in admitting to the Lord’s Table, he felt at times that strictness might be carried too far, and on one occasion, hearing a brother minister fencing the tables with a rigidity which he considered too severe, he prayed at the opening prayer at the Table, ‘Lord, make the fence around Thy Table so high as it will keep out the swine, but let it not be so high as to keep out the sheep.’
At the Disruption, Mr. Finlayson, with the whole of his congregation, joined the Free Church, and, until a new church was built, they worshipped in the open air. In 1849, he was visited with a very sore bereavement. His two eldest boys, Donald, aged seventeen, and Robert, aged fourteen, were drowned while fishing on the loch in front of the manse. The broken-hearted parent joined with the patriarch in those words of resignation: ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ It is recorded that when one of his elders called and offered his condolences in the words: ‘This is very hard for flesh and blood, Mr. Finlayson.’ ‘Yes,’ came the reply from the grief-stricken father, ‘it is hard for grace itself.’ On one occasion he was overheard near the spot where his boys had been drowned, saying: ‘Since thou hast deprived me of my twa sons, make up to me my loss by giving me more love to thine own Son.’
In 1856, he was called to Helmsdale, and accepted the call. But highly esteemed and loved as a servant of Christ though he was at Helmsdale, it was nothing compared to the deep affection manifested towards him in Lochs. The day he left Lochs was a day of sadness and mourning. Mr. Finlayson’s ministerial activity at Helmsdale was of short duration. His last sermon was preached during a Communion season at Dunbeath from the text: ‘Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready’ (Rev. 19:7), and three weeks thereafter he was seized with the illness from which he died on 23rd June, 1861. Thus there passed to his everlasting rest an honoured servant of Christ, and it was a fitting close to his ministerial work that he should have been engaged in directing the thoughts of his hearers to that goodly banquet of everlasting joy prepared for all his faithful servants.
Posted by: drmmm on: April 26, 2011
This short extract from a book called Historical and Traditional Sketches of Highland Families, and of the Highlands by John Maclean records an incident in the life of John Porteous, one of the ministers of Ross-shire mention by John Kennedy in his book about religious life in Ross-shire.
‘The Rev. John Porteous. This eminent divine was born in Inverness in the year 1704, and was presented to the united parishes of Daviot and Dunlichity about the latter end of the year 1730.
‘The first place he preached at was Daviot, and although no obstruction was offered by those of that district of the parish, yet he was but coldly received. Next Sabbath-day, when he was to preach at Dunlichity, just as he was entering the church he was not a little surprised to be assailed with a shower of stones, and to his astonishment, he perceived upwards of fifty females, headed by a virago named Elspet Maclean, coming towards him with their aprons tied round their waists, in which were deposited a goodly supply of the article which slew Goliath.
‘Such unexpected treatment caused Mr Porteous to stand for a moment in suspense; but seeing the women approaching close to him shaking their hands, and also hearing their generalissimo Elspet vociferating, “Let us kill the Whig rascal,” at the same time issuing orders to her followers, he judged it the safest course to take to his heels. He ran down the strath towards Daviot, with Elspet and her lawless force in full chase after him, every now and then exclaiming, as she discharged a stone, “Another throw at the Whig minister.”
‘Fortunately for him, he could lay no claim to what is alleged of some of our London aldermen – he being a tall but slender person, which no doubt enabled him to outrun his pursuers, particularly for the first three miles, that is, to Tordarroch; at which place, on a little knoll, the curate of the district was holding forth to a large assemblage, and, as ill-luck would have it, Mr Porteous in his flight had to pass hard by this congregation, from whom a large and formidable accession, headed by Rory Macraibart the tailor, joined Elspet’s corps, but much to the credit of the curate he vehemently denounced their proceedings.
‘The reverend fugitive had now to redouble his exertions to escape with his life, and the chase was continued regardless of running streams, which presented no impediment to Elspet and the tailor’s fairy bands, until they came near Daviot. It is not a little remarkable that, although the stones were flying like hail around him, only two or three of the enemy’s balls struck him, the effects of which were no way serious.
‘His pursuers having desisted from following him further, he sat down at the roadside to draw breath, and no doubt to return grateful thanks to Providence for the wonderful and hairbreadth escapes he had made that day – a day never to be effaced from his mind. While he was thus musing, a pious venerable man came up who sympathised with him very much. In the course of their conversation, Mr Porteous said, “Well, well, one thing I will say, that seven generations shall pass away before the people of Daviot and Dunlichity will have a minister who will please them.” This prediction was fulfilled to the very letter.
‘About the year 1732, and after Mr Porteous had remained upwards of a year in his father’s house, he got a presentation to the parish of Kilmuir-Easter, in the Presbytery of Tain, where he met with a far different flock to that of Daviot and Dunlichity, and where he was the honoured instrument of much good. By his sound reasoning and advice he tended greatly to suppress the spirit of rebellion in 1745-46, and along with Lord President Forbes he was constantly urging upon the young Earl of Cromartie to take no part in it. Lord Lovat hearing of Mr Porteous’s influence in Easter-Ross, and suspecting the cause of the Earl’s backwardness in embracing the Pretender’s cause, was constantly despatching his confidential valet, Donald Cameron, with letters to him requesting him not to listen to any suggestions, but to stand firm, as he (Lord Lovat) was to get a dukedom, and was perfectly satisfied that the same title would be conferred on him also.
‘Mr Porteous never married, and it was supposed the cause lay in the conduct of the fair sex at Dunlichity. He lived to a good old age, and died greatly lamented by all who knew him. He was cousin to the notorious Captain Porteous whom the mob in Edinburgh hanged in the Grassmarket.’
Posted by: drmmm on: April 26, 2011
This short extract from a book called Historical and Traditional Sketches of Highland Families, and of the Highlands by John Maclean records the career of an Inverness minister during difficult days for evangelicals in the Highlands during the second half of the seventeenth century. The preacher concerned, Murdo Mackenzie, was willing to side with the government’s interference in the Presbyterian church and so became a bishop during the Covenanting period. The extract points to a possible origin of the Question Meeting (once common at funerals) and also contains a rather strange response to one of Mackenzie’s sermons.
The Rev. Murdo Mackenzie. The above clergyman was a member of the family of Gairloch, and his first outset as a preacher was on being appointed chaplain to a regiment in the army of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden; after which he was settled minister of the parish of Contin, Ross-shire; and from thence translated to Inverness in 1640, where his ministrations were highly appreciated.
The ‘speaking on the question’, or the meeting of the ‘Men’, on Fridays before the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, originated with Mr Mackenzie – not in the church, however, but in his own house at Kingsmills, in which place, during his incumbency in Inverness, pious laymen were wont to assemble, edifying and instructing each other by stating their own Christian experience, as also their opinions of select passages of the Scriptures. Subsequently the meeting of the ‘Men’ became general throughout the Church in the North.
Although Mr Mackenzie had thus begun and established soul-edifying exercises in Inverness, yet he was so disgusted with the impiety of some of his parishioners that he determined on the first opportunity that presented itself to leave the parish. The following ludicrous affair heightened his resolution: Whilst addressing the Gaelic congregation from the important words, ‘Take up thy cross and follow me,’ a drouthy knight of the awl sat in the gallery in a state of inebriety, listening as attentively as he could to the impressive discourse of the preacher; and the words of the text attracting his attention, it occurred to him to turn them to a subject quite foreign to the purpose.
Accordingly, as Mr Mackenzie was returning home in the afternoon, and when ascending the Flesh Market Brae, he was suddenly alarmed by hearing moans and groans immediately behind him. Turning quickly round to his dismay he saw a man carrying a stout woman on his back. The bearer of the unwilling burden was the shoemaker, who, on Mr Mackenzie’s demanding to know why he behaved in such a manner to a female, was answered that he was hearing him that day in the Hielan’ Kirk, and that he (Mr Mackenzie) desired him to take up his cross and follow him, which he was just doing. The shoemaker had thus persisted in following the worthy minister, and it was only when the latter gave him a sixpence that he could get rid of him, desiring him at the same time to get out of his sight with his abominable cross.
Soon after this unhallowed affair, Mr Mackenzie, in 1645, was translated to Elgin, and on the restoration of Charles II., was consecrated Bishop of the diocese of Moray, on the 1st of May 1662; and in the end of the year 1676 was translated to the see of Orkney, where he died in February 1688.
