Parish life in the north of scotland
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| By the providence of God Mr. Cook was led to accept, in 1829, of a call to Cross, in the island of Lewis. In 1833 he became minister of the East Church, Inverness, and in 1835 of Reay, 5: as successor to Mr. David Mackay who, for a long time previous, had been aged and infirm. On the 12th of October of the year of his settlement in Lewis he addressed to me an interesting letter, describing the feelings of a faithful minister of Christ when suddenly removed from the society of a religious people, such as the majority of those were whom he had left, to the midst of a population rude in manners, filthy in habits, and lying under the thickest folds of moral and spiritual darkness. The people of the Hebrides were utterly unacquainted with the ordinary means of religious instruction. Their public teachers were both idle and inefficient. The ministers of Barvas and Stornoway were models of Moderatism in their day, but they were the "ruins grey" of what their system was in past ages. My friend Mr. Cook, however, found among the people generally a willingness to be taught the things of God, which they knew not before. One poor man had to testify that he never either witnessed or heard of a diet of catechetical instruction, and another that five of his children had been baptised, but that not one question was ever asked of him by the "reverend" incumbent concerning his own salvation or that of any of his children. The sacraments were administered, but in a stupified manner, and the usual services were curtailed or mutilated. Tents for the sale of intoxicating drinks were erected on the communion Mondays, and from them proceeded all the riot and drunkenness of a Highland country fair, commencing almost immediately after the benediction was pronounced at the thanksgiving-day service in the open air. 6:
Mr. Cook's firm but humble and unassuming services, though despised by the God-disowning multitude, and covertly opposed by his faithless fellow-ministers, were to a large extent acknowledged from on High. Not only at Ness, but throughout the whole island of Lewis, a strong religious light broke out, while the savour of Divine things was, by the purity of gospel preaching, universally diffused throughout the moral wilderness of the Hebrides. Even until now the fruits remain. In that land God is well-known ; the gospel is not only understood, but ardently sought after, and now, long after the venerable and faithful pastor, who first sowed the seed, has left the Lewis and the world, "this man and that man" there, as in Sion, may be seen whose names are written in the book of life. I may mention, in passing, though Mr. Cook was not permitted to see it, that about twelve years ago, a great and plenteous rain of spiritual blessing was showered down from on High, with which it pleased God to visit his heritage in these distant isles, so that it has become one of the most enlightened parts of Christian Scotland. About this time I had an affectionate letter from Mr. Alexander MacLeod, minister of Uig, Island of Lewis, and formerly of the Gaelic Chapel, Cromarty. He states that both he and Mrs. Macleod were in the enjoyment of health and of all other comforts fully up to their expectations in that distant country. He misses much, however, the sweet converse of Christian friends; `nothing less,' he says, "than special communion with the Head of all Divine influences, and the joy of seeing the work of the Lord prospering around us can possibly make it up to us." He affirms that "appearances throughout the island furnish very cheering evidences that there is plainly a revival, exhibiting itself under the preaching of the gospel in religious impressions, in a general thirst after instruction, and in a marked and almost incredible change in the morals of the people." He justly observes that there is a danger of underrating revivals on the one hand, and of exaggerating them on the other, and he feels considerable delicacy in saying anything with confidence, lest he should speak prematurely or inaccurately. He earnestly invites me to come over and witness for myself the heart-cheering prospects of that benighted land, now gladdened with the beams of the " Sun of Righteousness,' and rendered fruitful unto God. Mr. Macleod concludes his letter by asking, "Who got the chapel at Cromarty?" The answer to this question could not be glad tidings to him. It was given to a death-dealing Moderate, while Mr. Finlay Cook, then of Dirlot, the choice of all the serious people there, was rejected. Mr. David Campbell, minister of Glenlyon, Perthshire, became in 1836 Mr. Finlay Cook's immediate successor at Inverness. On the death of Mr. William Forbes, he was presented to the parish of Tarbat. Mr. Archibald Cook, missionary-minister at Berriedale and Bruan, was proposed as his brother's successor in the Chapel of Ease. But that congregation, so united and harmonious under the ministry of Mr. Finlay, divided on Mr. Archibald being nominated. The majority voted for Mr. David Campbell, and the minority, rather than be without the minister of their choice, formed themselves into a separate congregation, built the present North Church, and gave Mr. Archibald Cook a unanimous call, which he accepted. He had not been many years there, however, when he accepted a call to Daviot and Moy, where he still lives.7: Mr. Archibald Cook became in early life a subject of divine grace. He has continued ever since to be a growing and deeply-exercised Christian. When his views were first directed to the ministry he at once recognised that a decidedly Christian character was necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of that sacred office, and should be inseparably connected with it. He did not wish to be one of those who "run without being sent," and he laboured to realise in his own soul the influence and saving impressions of that gospel which he now felt himself called of God to preach to his fellow-sinners. In the discharge of this all-important function, his mind has ever been awake to the great end of the ministry, warning the careless and impenitent, unmasking the delusions of the hypocrite, entering minutely into all the perplexities of mind which so often harass the true but trembling believer in the Divine Word; and in addition to all this he earnestly and prayerfully watches the "lights and shadows " of the spiritual firmament. He diligently sows the seed of the word in the part of the great world-" field " given him to labour ; and for the fulfilment of the promise that "the Spirit shall be poured upon us from on high," and " the wilderness shall become a fruitful field," none among a thousand in his day looks more earnestly, longs more ardently, or prays more frequently than does Archibald Cook. And yet, with all these brilliant features of Christian and ministerial character, no man was ever afflicted with a larger measure of human frailities and failings than is this otherwise truly excellent preacher. Though he is without doubt a devout and pious man, who has made great progress in the Christian life, yet, owing to the very limited range of his intellectual abilities, there has been gradually superinduced on his mind a large amount of spiritual pride, which greatly interferes with his usefulness. He deprives himself thereby of much spiritual enjoyment in intercourse with most of the really pious men and truly Christian ministers among his contemporaries. If any one departs a hair's-breadth from his own precise view of Scriptural doctrine or religious experience, he stands in doubt of him; nay, though he may never have held any intercourse with such a one, if he has but heard of him, he feels warranted to place him, without a moment's hesitation, in the category of those who " have a name to live but are dead." His literary attainments are not high; his Gaelic is bad, his English worse. He rigidly adheres to the dialect of his native district, the Isle of Arran, one of the worst dialects in Scotland. His attempts to preach in the English language, both in regard to pronunciation and grammatical construction, are provocative of the ridicule of thoughtless men in the audience. He had of course attended school, and passed through the usual curriculum at college. Yet, in spite of these failings - merely human after all - I question if there be any of the age in which we live who, in pure disinterested zeal, in holy abstractedness from the world, in vital godliness, or in exclusive devotedness to the external interests of the kingdom of heaven, more nearly approximates to the divinely trained disciples of Galilee than does Archibald Cook. 1: Mr. William Mackintosh, a native of Inverness-shire, was ordained to the mission at Brian and Berriedale in 1795, and translated from thence to Thurso 29th Aug., 1805. He was much esteemed as an eloquent preacher, an able expounder of the Word of God, and a vivid but faithful delineator of the Christian's spiritual experiences. He died whilst or, a visit to Strathpeffer mineral springs on the 18th July, 1830, in the 67th yeas of his age and 35th of his ministry. His body was interred at Cullicudden in Resolis. 2: Sir George Sinclair, Bart. of Ulbster, was born at Edinburgh 28th Aug., 1790, and educated at Harrow and Gottingen. Travelling through Prussia when a student, he was taken prisoner as a spy by the French and examined by Napoleon the Great, but soon afterwards liberated. He became M.P. for Caithness in the 20th year of his age, and associated with the great and notable of his time. In 1816 he married Lady Camilla, daughter of Sir William Manners, and sister of the Earl of Dysart, who inherited the title from his grandmother. Endowed with extraordinary powers of memory, Sir George was an accomplished scholar, and, like his gifted father, a voluminous writer of books, pamphlets, and letters. In 1843, although an ecclesiastical Non-intrusionist, he remained in the Establishment, but ultimately joined the Free Church of Scotland. He died in Edinburgh 23rd Oct., 1868, from whence his remains were conveyed to Thurso and laid beside those of Lady Camilla in Harrold's Tower. 3: Sir Alexander Matheson, Bart, of Ardross, M.P. 4: Mr. Alexander Cook was a man of scholarly attainments, varied culture, and saintly disposition. He became minister of the Free Church congregation of Stratherrick, Inverness-shire, but was always in delicate health, and died at Inverness in 1862, aged 37 years. 5: Mr. Finlay Cook died at Thurso 12th June, 1858, in his 80th year and the 41st of his ministry, "Unable latterly to go to church without crutches, and help from some one, it was delightful to see him sitting in the pulpit, and with the whole energy of his soul declaring `the unsearchable riches of Christ' to his fellow-men."(Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae.) 6: Such scenes were not unfrequent throughout Scotland in those earlier times. They have been described with realistic force by Robert Burns in `The Holy Fair." 7: Mr. Archibald Cook was ordained to the Bruan mission 15th Jan., 1823; admitted minister of the North Church, Inverness, 31st Aug.. 1837 ; and translated to the Free Church, Daviot, in 1844; he died 6th May, 1865, in the 75th year of his age and 43rd of his ministry. CHAPTER XXIII. EVANGELISTIC JOURNEYS. 1822-1825. ABOUT the 28th of May, 1822, I received a letter from Mr. MacDonald, of Ferintosh, in reply to an application I had made to him as to the dispensation of the sacrament in my parish on the 10th of June. He wrote me to say that I should not depend upon his assistance, as he had resolved to visit St. Kilda, an island of the west, situated nearly midway between the northern coast of Ireland and the Scottish mainland. He would, he said, hold himself in readiness from the 1st of June to proceed to St. Kilda, waiting only for a call to go thither when the Revenue cutter which, at the time, was employed in a cruise to the Western Isles, should be ready to sail. I may here observe that Mr. MacDonald was distinguished above all his contemporaries by his missionary zeal. Living and labouring statedly in Ross-shire, Mr. MacDonald often cast an eye of pity towards those " dark places " of the north whose inhabitants, from one end of the year to the other, "heard not the voice of the Dove." Not satisfied, therefore, with engaging in the stated and ever-returning duties of the pastoral office at home, he made engagements for week-day preaching excursions. I accompanied him, not to assist-he had no occasion for that-but to witness the extent of his labours, and from Tuesday to Friday he preached thrice daily. But these daily engagements were not yet enough to satisfy his ardent desire to " spend and be spent " in the service of his Lord. It had, as he himself observed, become his element to preach the gospel, and, like our modern tourists in their own peculiar sphere making out new tours of pleasure through countries untravelled before, so he, in his heaven-bound course, cut out new work and sought earnestly after new fields of apostolic labour. St. Kilda was one of his recently discovered spheres. The inhabitants, on his arrival, he found sitting under that darkness which, for ages gone by had been gradually but steadily accumulating. The island formed a part of the parish of Harris, the ministers of which in succession no more troubled themselves about their parishioners there than they might be supposed to do about the inhabitants of Kamtschatka. Mr. MacDonald, however, came to them, "preaching peace by Jesus Christ." The subject was new to them, and they listened to the message with undivided attention and cordial welcome. An affecting illustration of this he personally communicated to me. He said that, after having set before them the plan of redemption and shown the necessity of faith in Christ for salvation, not only from its nature but from its fruits, he enforced the necessity of a holy life, which consisted in keeping Christ's commandments from love to Him. In his private intercourse with them he understood that, as fishermen on the sea and hunters on the land, they were in the habit of devoting to these pursuits the Sabbath no less than the weekdays. Mr. MacDonald showed them that, to sanctify the first day of the week, in remembrance of Christ's glorious resurrection, was one of His commandments just as sure as any other precept of the moral law. " 0 yes, yes sir," said they, "did we but know that it was a sin we should not have done it." The gospel thus preached was not slow in producing its proper effects, and before Mr. MacDonald terminated his first visit the islanders were already united as a congregation of simple-minded lovers of the truth. They desired a stated ministry - a privilege of which for ages they had been deprived. This, therefore, became the next object of Mr. MacDonald's labours, and hence he annexed, as the indispensable condition of his compliance with the many requests made to him, either to assist at sacraments or for week-day preachings, that a collection be made for erecting a church in St. Kilda. His object was accomplished. A gentleman, whose name I cannot recall, was tacksman of St. Kilda, and went twice a year to receive his rent, which the inhabitants paid in kind, namely, in fish and feathers. He proceeded in a Revenue cutter which cruised on the Western Archipelago during the summer mouths, and afforded the cheapest, if not the only way of going thither. With the captain of the cutter it was arranged that Mr. MacDonald should be conveyed back to the coast of Skye at any time he should elect. Having settled the preliminaries of his voyage, he next entered into a brotherly paction with Mr. Shaw, minister of Bracadale, a simple-minded and worthy man, who had agreed to accompany him. 1: The night before they went on board the cutter Mr. MacDonald lodged at the manse of Bracadale. Each lay in a separate bed but in the same room. The terrors of a long and, in all probability, boisterous passage on the Atlantic so wrought upon Mr. Shaw's fears that, during the night, he kept tossing on his pillow in anticipation of the voyage. " Oh, Mr. MacDonald," said the afflicted man, "are you awake?" "No," said the other, " I am not." "Is not the Bible a good book, Mr. MacDonald? " " 0 yes, yes," said the other, "but let us sleep at present," and seconding his advice by his example he set to it with such earnestness as to drown all farther queries. The summons to sail came with the peep of dawn. Mr. MacDonald speedily started out of bed, and dressed himself. Mr. Shaw did the same. They walked to the beach, and found the ship's yawl awaiting them, but as do the ocean's billows, restrained by an invisible and all-controlling power, so did Mr. Shaw under the dominance of his fears, each so far came, but could no farther go. Mr. MacDonald sprang into the boat, took his seat, and beckoned to his friend to seat himself beside him. But Mr. Shaw's feet were rooted to the pebbles, his heart failed him, he waved his hands, bade him adieu, and returned to his home. Mr. Shaw's timidity was ludicrous, but it proved portentous. The cutter, with Mr. MacDonald as sole passenger, was overtaken on the return journey by a furious storm, and was so far driven out of its course as to be many weeks behind the usual time of its arrival on the coast of Skye. In the meantime the report became current that the good ship, with Mr. MacDonald, the captain, and crew, had foundered at sea, which report continued to circulate some time after Mr. MacDonald's safe arrival at home. He himself indeed told me that, sitting at his own fireside, he read in the Aberdeen Journal a long account of his death and character. On another voyage Mr. MacDonald was accompanied to St. Kilda by his son Simon. Whilst the father was engaged in making himself acquainted with the moral state and conduct of the inhabitants, the son was occupied in ascertaining the extent, dimensions, and even the very shape of their sea-girt habitation. Having surveyed the island on every side by coasting it all around in a boat, and travelling over its rugged surface on foot, he contrived to block out a miniature model of it. The material consisted of a mass of blue clay, of more than ordinary tenacity, which he had so moulded and shaped as to exhibit all the heights and hollows and beetling precipices of the island more vividly and accurately than the best constructed map or the most finished drawing could have done. I have seen the model. 2: My correspondence for 1825 reminds me of. a society shortly before formed at Inverness under the imposing name of "The Northern Institution for the Promotion of Science and Literature," and having for its object the investigation of the antiquities of the country and its civil and natural history. The association was chiefly, if not wholly, got up by the Messrs. Anderson of that town, both men of considerable literary attainments. They had already published "The Tourists' Guide Book through the Highlands of Scotland," a work of much utility and interest. On the 21st of June, 1825, Mr. George Anderson, secretary to the institution, solicited my aid and co-operation in forwarding this object by furnishing replies to some queries on the antiquities and natural history of Resoles. My avocations were such as to afford me no time to spare for the purpose, and I was silent, while Mr. Anderson, as I had reason to know, was equally unsuccessful with the great majority of my brethren. During the course of the same year, Mr. Kirkcaldy, a wealthy merchant in Dundee, paid a visit to the north. I have already referred to him as a man of eminent piety, and, though he is now in great poverty and advanced in years, he was then a young man in easy and even affluent circumstances. He came to reside for a few days among his friends in Ross-shire. One particular incident is recalled to my recollection. Mr. MacDonald was to preach a week-day sermon at Cromarty. For that town he and Mr. Kirkcaldy and I set out from Resolis together. The day began to rain, but it was only a commencement. We got to Cromarty without being much inconvenienced. During the continuance of the service, however, and whilst we remained at Cromarty, the rain continued. In the evening all three set out for the manse of Resolis, and arrived at the bridge of Newhall. But all farther progress homewards was here interdicted. The burn was swollen over " bank and brae." It had cut out a new channel on the north side of the bridge, so as to preclude all possibility of crossing. There was, however, still farther up, another way of access to the other side of this furious stream, a little to the north-east of the house and place of Braelangwell. This also we attempted, but it was equally impossible. The ford across lay in the bottom of a deep hollow, with high banks, upwards of ten feet, on each side. The water, however, rose to the very edge of the banks, and even overflowed them. The question then came to be - what next? Poyntzfield House stood on this side the burn, and was then occupied by Mr. Munro, the proprietor, and his truly excellent wife, both equally hospitable. I suggested that we should go thither, and ask quarters. We did so, and were most kindly received. Mr. MacDonald, suo more at family worship, gave a short but comprehensive exposition of the chapter which he read. Next morning, all intervening obstacles being removed, we breakfasted at the manse, and before we parted, among our other themes of conversation was the high ministerial character of Mr. Lachlan Mackenzie, late minister of Lochcarron, who had died about six years before. Mr. Kirkcaldy proposed to erect, at his own expense, a marble slab to the memory of so eminent a man, to be placed in the wall of the church of Lochcarron, and requested that Mr. MacDonald and I should undertake to draw out for it a suitable inscription. For this purpose I wrote to Mr. Roderick Forbes, a relative of my own, then a teacher at Plockton of Lochalsh, requesting him to favour me with information respecting the date of Mr. Lachlan's death, his age, and the number of the years of his ministry. On the 13th of June Mr. Forbes replied to say that he was furnished with answers to my enquiries by the late Mr. Lachlan Mackenzie's nephew, Mr. Donald Mackenzie, then residing at Lochalsh, 3: who stated that his uncle died on 20th April, 1819; that his age was 65 years, those of his ministry amounting to 37, two of which he had spent in the island of Lewis. Mr. MacDonald and I, soon after the receipt of this communication, met to draw out the inscription, embodying in it the above mentioned particulars, which I afterwards transmitted to Mr. Kirkcaldy. But the monetary affairs of that gentleman had, meanwhile, experienced a reverse, the house with which he was connected failed, and the monument to the memory of Mr. Lachlan was never executed. His memorial, however, is embalmed in the hearts of the many to whom his ministry was blessed, while, as one of " the righteous," his name "shall be had in everlasting remembrance." My friend and relative, Mr. John Mackay of Rockfield, is recalled to my recollection by a letter, which I received from him, dated at Kildary on the 18th of June 1825. He usually resided, and especially during the winter, at his house, 122, Princes Street, Edinburgh. But, having purchased an estate in Ross-shire, he came north, where he spent the greater part of the summer months. His wife was niece of the late Mr. Donald MacLeod of Geanies, then Sheriff-Depute of Ross and Cromarty, the lineal representative of the ancient, but extinct, family of the MacLeods of Assynt, and the last of the lairds of Geanies; that property, after his death, having been purchased by a successful merchant of Tain, named Murray. With Mrs. Mackay I had got acquainted many years before, when on a visit to my fathers' house while I was but a mere youth. She was then Miss Bella Gordon, the third daughter of Mr. John Gordon, of Carrol, who lived at Kintradwell. My cousin and she had been married long before he wrote. The General Assembly's Schools for the instruction of the children of the poor in the Highlands-having a similar object in view with the Inverness Education Society-were in full operation. The former, however, added to their supply of initiatory teachers for the children a class of instructors for the parents, called catechists, who, in the more remote parts of the Highlands and Islands, were ignorant of the first principles of Scripture truth. Catechists were a class or order of religious teachers not recognised by the founders of the Scottish Church. They were employed for the purpose of teaching the people -both old and young-to commit to memory and to repeat the Shorter Catechism, of which they also gave a short explanation. This was all the more necessary, as in many if not all parishes throughout the Highlands, with a population amounting perhaps to 2000 people, not a single individual of the working-classes could read. So far as I can ascertain, the General Assembly's School Committee, if we except the Christian Knowledge Society, was the first to recognise this order of instructors. As I had already received a school for the west end of the parish from the Inverness Society, I applied to the Assembly's committee for another school in the east end, at Jemimaville. My application to Principal Baird and the committee on the 6th July was immediately acknowledged. In the month of March, 1826, I received intimation that my claims were favourably entertained. The school was afterwards established and examined by Dr. Baird more than once. 4: Download 1.26 Mb. Share with your friends:
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