Lo, I am with you always

V/fRS. MACKAY, familiarly known throughout 
**• * the North as Bean a Chreidimh Mhoir, was 
so interesting a personality and such a distin- 
guished Christian that after a century her 
memory is still fresh and fragrant. Those who 
knew her personally and who have written regard- 
ing her have used language which at first may 
seem highly extravagant but which fuller know- 
ledge of her fully justifies. 

Dr. Kennedy, in " The Days of the Fathers," 
p. 169, says : " She was one among a thousand. 
Her brilliant wit, her exuberant spirits, her 
intense originality of thought and speech and 
manner, her great faith and her fervent love, 
formed a combination but rarely found." 

Mr. Sage wrote in " Memorabilia Domestica," 
p. 283 : " There were a few individuals of whom 
I have the most pleasing recollections. . . . The 
most distinguished as a Christian was Mrs. 
MacKay of Sheiggira. . . . She was naturally 
a superior woman, quick in apprehension and 
particularly ready in repartee, especially so when 
provoked by ungodly taunts and sneers. She was 
above all things, howeyer, distinguished for the 
vitality of her Christiàn character. " 

The Rev. Eric Findlater, of Lochearnhead, 
who knew her •.mtim^ely-- frorri bovhood, wrote : 
" The glory of GbeV-seemed'to 'haye been her chief 
end ; though mingìi'ng* in the*"~\vurld, she was not 
of the world, as the most careless could notice ; 
her conversation was in heaven, and she was truly 
an epistle unto Christ, known and read of all 
men. ' ' 



Still more cordial are the sentiments of the 
Rev. William Findlater, of Durness, who knew 
her better than any other of her contemporaries. 
After he had passed his 66th birthday, and dur- 
ing the trying period that immediately succeeded 
the Disruption, he composed a beautiful elegy in 
her memory consisting of forty-one double verses, 
in which he portrayed her life and character, in 
incisive language, and with real sympathy and 
insight. 

She represents a type of religion which pre- 
vailed generally throughout the North Highlands 
during the period of the evangelical revival in the 
first half of the nineteenth century, and which was 
associat.ed with such names as Dr. MacDonald, 
Mr. John Kennedy, Mr. John MacRae, and Mr. 
Roderick MacLeod. It had its roots in a definite 
experience of conversion, and in a conscieus de- 
pendence on the presence of the Holy Spirit for 
the maintenance of the life of grace in the soul 
The source of its life and the object of its affec- 
tion and inspiration was the Lord Jesus Christ, 
crucified, risen, glorified, and ever present to the 
believing consciousness of His people. There are 
many who hold that nothing better could happen 
for the life of our land than a revival of such a 
type of living religion. 



5 
HER CONYERSION. 

Towards the end of the i8th eentury, Margaret 
MacDiarmid came from Argyll to Sutherland 
along with her brother, Colin, who was employed 
as a deer stalker in the Reay Forest. Their 
father is believed to have been a Perthshire man. 
Their mother was a daughter of Colin Campbell, 
of Glenure, a man of high standing in the religious 
and social life of Argyll in his day and the grand- 
father of the Rev. Principal Peter Colin Campbell, 
D.D. , of Aberdeen University. 

They had not been very long in the district 
when her brother was drowned. In order to 
intercept a herd of deer he ventured to cross an 
arm of a loch on ice. According to tradition it 
was Loch Stack. Peggy, as she was familiarly 
known, was already engaged to a young man 
Donald MacKay, o'f Sheiggira, in the parish of 
Kinlochbervie. They married, and she lived in 
Sheiggira during a considerable period of her 
marned life, where their children were born and 
reared. 

The tragic death of her beloved brother was to 
her a desolating blow. Her grief was deep and 
sore, and even her marriage did not relieve he." 
gloom. What she may have thought of death anc. 
of her own preparedness for it and for all that ìt 
implies is not known. But that solemn event 
awakened her to real concern. Her natural grief 
deepened into conviction of personal sin and o f 
souì sorrow, and she began to seek the Lord. 

At that time the Rev. John Kennedy, after- 
wards minister of Killearnan, the father of tht 
celebrated Dr. John Kennedy, of Dingwall, was 
missionary at Eriboll, and it was part of his dutv 
to preach at Kinlochbervie every third or fourth 
Sabbath. The Lord used his preaching to the 
conversion and comforting of many in the district 



Among these was Peg-gy. She passed out of dark- 
ness into God's marvellous light, and she becamp 
at once a bright and shining witness to the saving 
grace of Gocl. 

Her circumstances, however, were f'ar from 
helpful to progress in religious knowledge anc 
holiness of life. Such occasional spiritual minis 
try as came within her reach was fully used b) 
her keen and eager soul. The wells of salvation 
were graciously opened for her in the Scriptures, 
and out of them she drank with joy. 

It was in those cfays she used lo walk bare- 
footed thrOugh the moor by Gualin to Durness 
to hear Mr. Findlater, and to walk back at night 
— a distance of fully fourteen miles each way. 
She carried her boots and put them on again at 
some distance from the church. On one occasion 
she found she had only one. She had lost the 
other in the moor. What was she to do? Was 
she to go to church barefoot was the thought that 
naturally rose to her mind? " You devil," she 
exclaimed, addressing the evil one that made the 
suggestion, " you thought you would cheat me 
out of the service to-day, but I'll put my pride 
where my boots should be — under my feet," and, 
so saying, she walked to church in her stocking 
soles ! She found her lost boot on her way home 
again. 

Her husband, though always kind to her, was 
not in the Kingdom of God himself; her children 
were young and needing her loving care ; the work 
of the home and of the farm was exacting, and 
years of hard work and of want of spiritual help 
and comfort was a discipline which threw her 
more and more into secret communion with God 
and His Word for the life and light she needed. 
It was a hard school in which she devcloped that 
whole-hearted trust in God whieli so distinguished 
her in after years. 



Her husband was led to the Lord by her 
prayers. He was opposed to her wandering, as 
he called it, to communions and other religious 
gatherings. The preaching of the Gospel was 
life to her soul. He could not understand her 
hunger for it. On one occasion, after a heated 
argument, she retired into the barn to pray. He 
followed, and overheard her passionate tones as 
she pled for his conversion. That was the first 
thing that moved him to repentance and to seek 
tlie Lord for himself. 

Long afterwards she said of him : " He was 
just made for me by the Lord's own hand ; the 
grace he had not at first has now been given him, 
and he will all®w me to wander for bread to my 
soul wherever I can fìnd it. " 

Of his pre-converted days the following story 
is told. A ship that traded in smuggled brandy 
had been wrecked on the coast, and some casks 
came ashore on the beach at Sheiggira. Mac- 
Kay's neighbours, the Morrisons, were away at 
a market, and, during the night, he yoked the 
black pony and removed three or the kegs to a 
place of concealment in the sand. Presently he 
was seized by severe abdominal pains — a not un- 
likely thing in the circumstances — and nothing 
could give him relief. After acute sufTering, 
Peggy, who was not supposed to have known 
anything about the kegs, said to him : " You can 
get no relief till you yoke the black pony again 
and return the kegs you have hid to where you 
found them. " He knew she was in the secret, 
rose quietly, and did what she told him. Peace 
and rest followed. 

Then there took place one of those lamentable 
events which had so tried and harried the life of 
the people of Sutherland in the fìrst half of the 
icjth century — a clearance. Sheiggira has good 



8 



arable and pasture land with a large outrun. The 
tenants had been long established there, and had 
a specially comfortable living". The Estate evicted 
them and turned the land into a sheep run. The 
poor people were sent adrift to find a home wher- 
ever they could. The MacKays were allowed to 
settle in Achininver, Melness, in the parish of 
Tongue. So Peggy came to Melness, no longer 
a young- woman, but with her soul schooled to 
trust the providence and grace of an over-ruling 
and an all-wise and all-loving Father. 

When crossing Tongue ferry the Duke's prin- 
cipal agent responsible for these clearances was 
on the boat. Peggy remonstrated with him for 
his part in those callous and cruel proceedings. 
He tried to defend himself by saying that, as the 
evictions had been determined upon someone had 
to execute them ; if he had not done it someone 
else would have. " Yes," she retorted, " truly 
the Son of man goeth as it was determined, but 
woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. " 



HER PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 

Hers was a beautiful countenance. Her hair 
was dark brown, almost black, and wavy. She 
had brilliant black eves. In her youth they had 
the natural sparkle of health, and, as life 
matured, the light of holy love that glowed in 
her soul shone in her eyes. The pure white skin, 
the high broad forehead, and the oval contour of 
a bright and sunny face, made her the centre of 
attraction in youthful circles when she was a girl. 
She was full of fun. 

" But it's not her hair, her form, her face, 
Tho' matching beauty's fabled queen ; 
'Tis the mind that shined in every grace, 
An' chiefly in her rogueish een. " 

She owed little to art and nothing to artful- 
ness. Her handiest mirror was often the surface 
of a pail of water. She had another mirror into 
which she loved to gaze with adoring- eyes that 
turned in criticism on herself. From that mirror, 
and from such soul toilet, she was never long 
away. She was careless about dress and outward 
personal appearance, but she bore herself with 
such native grace and dignity that she never 
appeared slovenly or even dowdy. There was 

" Something in her gait 
Gars ony dress look weel." 

From some of the stories told of her it might 
be inferred that she did pay some attention to 
dress and even affected gay colours. Passing 
home from Caithness she asked a woman whom 
she casually met where she came from. On 
being told she came from Armadale, she said : 
" Then you know the queen. " " The Queen," 
said the other. " Wlio is she? " " Jean," she 
replied, referring to a pious woman known by 
everyone as " Shine Armadail. " " Yes, I do 



10 



know Jean," said the other. Peggy took half a 
crown out of her purse and gave it to the woman 
saying : " Give her that with my regards. " 
" Who shall I say sent it to her? " the woman 
asked. She smilingly replied, "Say it is from 
Cailleach nan ribeanan dearg " (i.c, The woman 
of the red ribbons). The reference may not 
have been to a fondness for red ribbons on her 
part, but to an old harvest season custom. There 
used to be great emulation as to who should have 
the harvest in first, for whoever was last, accord- 
ing to an unwritten law, came under an obliga- 
tion, in case of a famine in spring, to feed all 
the rest ! The last sheaf was tied with a red 
ribbon and hung upon a nail above the kitchen 
fìre till spring, and was called " Cailleach nan 
Ribeanan Dearg. On the first day of spring 
ploughing it was taken down and given as a 
hansel for luck to the horses. It was like our 
Peggy to refer to Jean as the Queen and to her- 
self as a mere wisp of straw hung up to wither 
in the smoke ! 

She made everything a matter of prayer, even 
her dress. When she needed a new dress she 
prayed for it. She gave thanks for the robe of 
righteousness and the garments of salvation with 
which the Lord had clothed her soul, and then 
prayed for suitable raiment for the body. When 
the prayer was ended, her daughter, who had 
overheard her, said : " If you would ask father 
he would give you a new dress. " " Perhaps he 
might," was her reply, " but my heavenly Father 
will give it, and He will never cast it up to me. " 

Passing through Bettyhill on a beautirul 
morning, when the glory of God seemed to be 
fully disclosed on the face of nature, Peggy was 
happy in meditation, and transported by the 
glories revealed without and within. She was 
carrying her hat in her hand by its ribbon strings 
and twirling it round and round — that is how she 



11 



often wore her hats. " What is your news this 
morning? " she said to a man who was herding 
his cows at the roadside. " I have no news," he 
replied in his dull bucolic way. She caught him 
by the shoulder, and looking into his eyes, trying 
to reach and awake his soul, she said : " Man, is 
it not good news that you are still alive in the 
land of mercy? " and passed on into a house. 
He looked after her in a maze, and when she left 
the house he went to the door and enquired : " Co 
i an onseach a bha sud? " (" What fool of a 
woman was yon? ")— a fool for Christ. 

It was with reference to her dress that she 
gave utterance to the saying by which she is most 
widely known. When travelling by stage coach 
her fellow-passengers were amused by her attire 
and manner. One of them ventured to ask where 
she came from. " I came from Cape Wrath,' 
she answered. " And where are you going? " 
" I am going to the Cape of Good Hope," was 
her quick reply, which at first somewhat mystified 
her questioner. 

He was not kept long in doubt, however, for 
Peggy got her opportunity to speak of the deep 
things of God and the soul. They were soon dis- 
cussing the universality of sin, the sinfulness of 
the human heart and the necessity of the new 
birth. The gentleman did not admit that his heart 
was evil. He stoutly maintained the innocence 
of his mind and the purity of his disposition and 
motives. As the coach lumbered on it gave a 
sudden lurch, which had the effect of throwing a 
box off the roof. It broke in pieces on the road, 
and, to the amusement of the passengers, a 
number of live chickens flew out. " Did you 
know before it fell what was inside that box? " 
she asked her fellow-traveller. " No," he replied 
innocently. " Neither can you know what is in 
your heart till it is broken open to the Spirit of 
Truth." 



12 



HER PERSONÀLITY. 

Hers was a singularly attractive personality. 
The vivacity of her spirit, the sprightliness of her 
wit, the incessant animation of her countenance, 
revealing the activity of her mind ; the compres- 
sion of her mouth, indicating the earnestness and 
sincerity of her soul ; the tender kindliness of her 
soft voice, that spoke of the love of her heart ; 
and the peculiar cordiality of her greeting, gave 
her a magnetic power over others, which was, if 
not unique, very rare. Children would look after 
her with a loving respect. They would drop their 
play and gather round to listen to her serious 
talk, often playfully spoken. Her piety did not 
scare them ; it drew them. She spoke to them 
about Jesus with the naturalness of one speaking 
about a mutual friend, and with a love that was 
engaging. 

The genuineness of her piety disarmed criticism. 
Even those who had little sympathy with her 
ways and with her views of the truth always 
regarded her with respect and admiration. Her 
presence in a congregation radiated goodwill and 
spiritual joy. Mr. Eric Findlater, who, when a 
boy, used to watch her from the manse pew in 
his father's church, wrote : — " When she entered 
a worshipping congregation her very appearance 
would circulate a wave of joy over the faces of all 
— a circumstance that could not escape a 
stranger's notice, though he could not account for 
it. " His father put the same thought in verse, 
somewhat after this fashion — 

Preachers and people seeing thee 

At worship on the Mount, 
Sang out with sweeter melody, 

Revived on thy account. 



13 



The enchantment of thy presence, 

Re-echoecl in their song, 
Revealed that of the wine of life 

Thou drankest deep and long. 

Like the holy women of old, she came on the 
first day of the week bearing the spices she had 
prepared, the fragrance of which was felt by all 
who truly worshipped along with her. 

Her quick wit and power of repartee were gifts 
she possessed to an uncommon degree. People 
were attracted by these, and yet were afraid of 
them. Her sharpest thrusts, however, never left 
a sore feeling, for they were always prompted by 
love, and on the side of righteousness and truth. 

When leaving Glendhu, after a visit to Mr. 
Gunn, he accompanied her to the gateway, which 
was closed by loose spars across the road. When 
he was in the act of removing one of the spars 
she bent down and darted through. " Is that 
how you expect to enter the Kingdom? " he 
asked. " Yes," said she, " and if you expect 
to enter it you must bend your head also. " 

There was a thoughtful man in Oldshore, 
known as Uilleam Buidhe, to whom Peggy 
said, " Well, Uilleam, I wonder if you 
can tell me where all the fairies, ghosts, 
and evil spirits have gone that people used 
to see when we were young, for we do not 
see them now. " " I am sure I do not know," 
said Uilleam, " unless the people have swallowed 
them, and they now live in their hearts. " " I 
dare say you are right, Uilleam," she remarked. 
" Many a true saying have I heard falling from 
simple lips, and I did not expect to hear such 
wisdom even from you. " 

On a communion Sabbath evening the conver- 
sation took a worldly turn which Peggy thought 



14 



unbecoming. She said nothing, but bent down 
under tlie table as if looking for something. Her 
host asked if she had lost anything. " I thought 
we all had lost the Sabbath," was her quiet reply, 
which had the desired effect. 

When the solemnities of a Highland com- 
munion season are ended with the thanksgiving 
service on Monday, there are few companies, as 
a rule, more joyously happy than those of the 
manse study or drawing-room. Theirs is the joy 
of elevated thought. It is, at any rate, a natural 
rebound of spirit, which may very naturally and 
easily become worldly and frivolous, unless some 
strong and wise personality exercises a restraining 
influence. 

Being at dinner in a manse on such an occasion, 
Peggy felt that the conversation was of too fri- 
volous a nature, after the solemn privileges they 
had been enjoying, and she ventured to make a 
remark about it. The Rev. Dr. Ross, of Loch- 
broom, who was present, remarked that the 
Apostle Paul did not allow women to speak in 
public. " Indeed, sir," she retorted, " if the 
Apostle Paul were here no woman had any need 
to speak. " 

At a fellowship meeting in the house of 
George Brotchie, Thurso, Alexander Keith, of 
Dunbeath, wishing to draw a smart saying from 
her, asked : " What opinion have you been led 
to form of the woman of Samaria? " " Indeed." 
she replied, " I never entertained a high opinion 
of her." " That astonishes me," he said, " for 
did she not say to the people, ' Come, see a Man 
that told me all things that ever I did ? Is not 
this the Christ? ' " " All that is very true," 
she said, " but when the Lord first met her she 
declined to give him a drink of cold water. " 



15 



Among her first visits to Caithness on com- 
munion occasions, and before she became gener- 
ally known, she called at a manse and asked to 
see the minister. The housekeeper told her he 
was then engaged getting ready for the service, 
and could not see her. " Then I shall leave mv 
basket here in the kitchen and call for it after the 
service. " After service she went back but was 
told the minister had company and could not see 
her. She persisted, however, and the minister 
went to the kitchen to see her. He asked her 
what she wanted, and she told him : " I want to 
learn the Lord's prayer, and I thought you might 
teach me. " " Well, yes," he said, " sit down. " 
She did so, and he went on : " Say, ' Our Father 
which art in heaven.' " " Our Father which arr 
in heaven," she repeated. " Have I a Father in 
heaven? " " Yes. " " And have you a Father 
in heaven? " " Yes. " " And is my Father h 
heaven your Father in heaven? " " Yes. " 
Then you and I must be brother and sister. " 
" Yes," he admitted. " Then if a sister came 
to see a brother, would it be a brother's part not 
to receive her? " The identity of his visitor 
then dawned upon him and he showed Bean a 
Chreidimh Mhoir into the dining-room. 



16 

HER GREÀT FAITH. 

Mr. Sage, in Memorabilia Domestica, relates 
a conversation he had with her. Speaking of the 
name by which she had become popularly known, 
11 The Woman of Great Faith," she said that 
was a character she did not wish to take from 
others, nor even to realise for herself. He ob- 
served that a great God was justly entitled to 
great faith on our part on account of the great- 
ness of His own truth and of His promises. 
" True," said she, " but my desire is only to be 
enabled to exercise a little faith in a great God. " 
" How so? " he asked. " Because I need tc 
behold that greatness, not in my faith, but in 
Himself," was her reply. 

Her faith in God was the simple trust of a 
child in a father. He was always near her. He 
spoke to her in the scenes of nature and in the 
events of providence. Heaven was her Father's 
throne ; earth was His footstool. The sun, moon, 
and stars were standing witnesses of His ever 
acting power and of His ever watchful presence 
The stream that babbled past her door had for 
her a constant message. It repeated the word — 
Eternity, Eternity, Eternity. The thunder was 
her Father's voice. In an extraordinary thunder- 
storm some one remarked that she showed no 
sense of fear. " Why should I be afraid to hear 
my Father's voice calling from the third loft? ' 
was her trustful reply. 

That spirit of childlike trust in her Father's 
loving will to bless was revealed in her prayers. 
Prayer was not for her a formal occasional exer- 
cise, but a oonstant, loving, and believing atti- 
tude and exercise of soul in her Father's fellow- 
ship. Her prayers expressed thanksgiving and 
praise for mercies enjoyed. They abounded in 
intercession for others. She seldom asked any- 



17 



thing for herself. To some one who made a 
remark to her on that point she said : "I am 
only a messenger pleading for others in the 
Saviour's name, and I remember that when I 
used to do messages for my father he sometimes 
gave me a halfpennv for mvself though I did 
not ask for it. " 

There is a large gray stone in Sheiggira called 
Clach Pheggie, because she was in the habit of 
resorting to its side for meditation and prayer. 

From the day of her redemption she never 
seemed to have any doubt as to the saving and 
keeping power of God. Her faith in Him was 
absolute as the God of Providence. Whatever 
she asked of Him in her need she unquestion- 
ingly believed she would receive. Her Father in 
heaven would supply all her needs, both spiritual 
and temporal. She used to hold up her open 
empty purse and say, " Jehovah-Jireh," and 
meet every reference to her personal needs by 
saying, " The children ought not to provide for 
the fathers, but the fathers for the children, and 
it is not the Heavenly Father that will fail to do 
so. " No sooner, however, was her purse well 
filled than she emptied it again. She always 
met worthy people more needy than herself. Thc 
gifts of God to her were not for her own exclu- 
sive use. She was but the steward of His mani- 
fold riches. She gave as she received, freely. 
On her way to Edinburgh she was the guest of 
Mr. Kennedy at the Manse of Killearnan ; and 
" hearing that the Sacrament of the Supper was 
to be dispensed at Kirkhill on the following week, 
she resolved to attend it, and to postpone her 
visit to the South till after it was over. She 
went, and on Monday a gentleman made up to 
her, after the close of the service, who handed to 
her a sum of money, at the request of a lady who 
had been moved to offer her the gift. Mrs, 



18 



MacKay gratefully accepted it, but being accom- 
panied on her way back to Killearnan by a group 
of worthies, all of whom she knew to be poor, 
she divided all the money among them, assured 
that it was for them she received it, and that 
provision for her journey would be made by some 
other hand. Her expectation was realised, and 
a sum fully sufficient was given to her, and she 
started on her journey to the south. " * 

On one of her many journeys she stayed for a 
night at an inn, where she was not known. It 
is said to be the case that many people arrived 
at an inn at night, with money in their pockets, 
who woke up next morning to find that they had 
none. Peggy found herself in that plight, and 
when her bill was presented she could not pay it. 
She looked at the maid and said, " The Lord will 
provide. " The maid, not understanding Peggy's 
meaning, said : " Just wait here a minute till I 
go and see. " There happened to be a certain 
lord occupying a suite of rooms upstairs, to whom 
the maid thought Peggy referred. She went 
straight to him and presented Peggy's bill, with 
explanations. His lordship came down to see 
this person that presumed to take such liberties 
with him. He was not long in her company 
when the bill was paid and her empty purse re- 
plenished, though she asked for nothing. 

At that time there was a change of drivers at 
each (coach) stage, and at every halt " Remem- 
ber the coachman " was called out at the window. 
Mrs. MacKay invariably gave a silver coin and a 
good advice to each of the drivers. Her com- 
panions, not liking to be outdone by their strange 
fellow-passenger, and liking still less to part so 
freely with their money, at last remonstrated. 
" We cannot afford to give silver always," one of 

* In the Days of the Fathers. 



19 



them said, " and we cannot keep pace with your 
liberality. " " The King's daughter must travel 
as becomes her rank," she said, as she again 
handed the silver coin and spoke the golden 
advice to the driver.* 

She regarded nothing that was given her, or 
that she pòssessed, as her own. It was hers only 
to be used for the good of those who had need. 
This habit often caused misunderstanding", and 

sometimes gave pain to her best friends. When 
her daughter was on the eve ot" getting married, 
the two set out to make some purchases for the 
interesting event. They had but the sum of seven 
pounds to spend. By the way they fell in with a 
man who was threatened with eviction for arrears 
of rent. He told Peggy his distressing story. 
Five pounds would tide him over his difficulties 
and stay proceedings. Much against her 
daughter's wishes, as may well be imagined, she 
gave that sum to the man, but before arriving 
where the shopping was to be done gifts amount- 
ing to ten pounds were handed to her. 

In those days people were in the habit of killing 
a cow or bullock at the beginning of the winter 
season. The flesh was pickled and preserved for 
family use. On one occasion, when the cow was 
killed, Peggy had so many friends to whom she 
wished to send a bit of meat that very soon the 
whole carcase was disposed of. There was only 
one piece left, and she had marked it out for 
some one. Some member of her household was 
in the act of protesting that if she gave that away 
there would be nothing left for themselves, when 
one of the lads came in announcing that their best 
bullock had fallen and broken his neck. Peggy 
lifted her heart in thanksgiving, saying : " Praise 
to Thee, Thou rich Provider, Thou hast selected 

* In the Days of the Fathers, 



20 



this from the herd that would miss it least," and 
sent her messenger on her errand with the last 
remaining piece of beef. 

On being presented with a small bag of apples 
she was told not to take the string off till she 
reached home. She promised she would not. 
By the way, however, she met some one to whom 
the apples would be a greater treat than to her- 
self, and remembering her promise not to take 
the string off the bag, she cut the bottom out of 
it and gave the apples awav. 

The strength of her faith was especially revealed 
when passing through trial and under the shadows 
of death. She then showed entire acquiescence 
in the will of God, and however sore her mother 
heart must have been she was not known to 
murmur at the events of His holy providence. 
When one of her sons was drowned near her 
home, the sorrow of her heart was great, but the 
words, " He that spared not His own Son but 
g'ave Him up for us all," checked any feelings 
of bitterness that may have mingled with her 
sorrow, and she never uttered a word of com- 
plaint. A friend who went to express sympathy 
was met by a smiling face and a most cheerful 
spirit. The friend expressed the surprise she felt, 
remarking : "I am surprised you can look so 
cheerful in your sad circumstances. " " You 
know," was the beautiful reply, " we ought 
always to return a loan with a smile. " 

She frequented the house of sorrow to express 
her sympathy and to minister comfort, as few 
could so wisely and so lovingly do, and to take 
advantage of the opportunity, while hearts were 
tender, to win them for the Saviour's love. At 
such times her knowledge of the Scriptures and 
her wisdom in applying them brought a word in 
season to many. She travelled many a mile to 
visit the sick, She felt that if she could speak a 



21 

word of comfort to any trembling soul she was 
doing a Christ-like service. There was a gentle- 
ness, a kindliness, and a fortitude of spirit shown 
by her that communicated a comforting feeling 
to the patients. At the bedside of the dying she 
vvas always bright and cheerful. There was no 
sign of grief or gloom as she pointed the dying 
to the living Redeemer. 

She was a true and eager soul winner. The 
late Donald Gow, of Melness, used to tell that 
when he was in spiritual darkness and soul dis- 
tress till he could endure it no longer, he went to 
interview her. She persuaded him to stay over- 
night. In the morning the sun rose on Donald. 
His darkness passed away, and, henceforth, he 
was known as a man who walked in the light of 
the Lord. 

She accompanied him back to Skinnet, where 
there was a tinker's encampment, to which she 
went on some errand. She probably made the 
errand an excuse to get into touch with the wan- 
dering people. On reaching the tent they found 
them beginning breakfast, and the head of the 
family invited her to drink a cup of tea with 
them. "J will do that," she said, " if you will 
ask a blessing," which he reverently did, and 
Peggy drank the tea to Donald's lasting amaze- 
ment. 

Through the night she was in travail over the 
new birth of a soul into the kingdom of God, and 
m the morning she was along with her convert in 
the highways and hedges seeking the outcast and 
the lost. 

During the later years of her life she suffered 
from a painful disease, which was eventually the 
cause of her death. She went to Strathpeffer 
almost every summer. Its waters helped her 



22 



greatly. While there she visited Ferintosh and 
Redcastle at the time of their great communion 
gatherings, where she was the honoured guest of 
Dr. Macdonald and of Mr. Kennedy, and where 
she was the centre of a group of worthies. She 
had even conceived the idea of going to reside in 
the parish of Killearnan that she might be under 
" the latter rain " of Mr. Kennedy's ministry, 
and be also within easy reach of the healing 
waters of Strathpeffer Spa. Her purpose, how- 
ever, was not realised. 

Mr. Kennedy died on the ioth of January, 1841. 
Mrs. Mackay was then confined to bed in her last 
illness. When the news came, her husband 
resolved to wilhhold it from her. " With this 
resolution he entered the room, and sat down 
gloomily by the fire. ' I know what ails you,' 
his wife said to him, after he was seated. ' You 
have heard of Mr. Kennedy's death ; I knew it 
before. ' He died,' she added, ' on Sabbath 
evening, and, mentioning a certain day, ' before 
then I will join him in the Father's house,' and 
so it was. " * 

When it became generally known that she was 
seriously ill, and that her end was approaching, 
many of her friends came from great distances 
to watch with and comfort her. One of them 
reported : " Perhaps the solemn scene was so 
truly grand that our age could not produce an- 
other instance wherein Christian fortitude and 
bravery shone so brilliant and conspicuous in and 
around a death bed." No sound of complaint or 
murmuring was heard from her during the whole 
course of her sufferings, which were often very 
acute. She longed, not so much for ease and rest 
from pain as for fitness for the life to which she 
was fast hastening. She longed for holiness of 
soul and spirit. " Patience, patience : Holiness, 
* In thc Days of the Fathers. 



23 

holiness : Purify me and take me away," were 
her ejaculations and prayers while passing through 
the shadow of death. She died as she lived by 
the faith of the Son of God who loved her. 

Her friends asked her many questions, hoping 
that her replies would be a means of comfort to 
themselves and to others. These she answered 
with a clearness which proved that her mind 
remained unclouded to the end, and with a wis- 
dom which showed how well taught she had 
been and how valuable were her views. 

The prolonged struggle between Church and 
State which ended in the Disruption was raging 
at the time. " The Witness " kept her in con- 
stant touch with the progress of events. On being 
asked what she thoug-ht the issue would be, she 
replied : " ' I will refine her but not with silver. ' 
I do not think that the Lord will deliver the 
Church by means of money, or by great talents 
or great speeches made on her behalf. He has 
His own way of deliverance. " That was two 
years before the Disruption took place. 

When asked if Satan tempted her, now that she 
was so weak, she answered : "The Lord redeemed 
my soul by the blood of the everlasting covenant 
when I was young. That shut the door with a 
bang in his face, and all he can do now is to stand 
outside the back door, whispering in my ears, 
How great noise, but how little good you have 
done by your loud profession of religion all 
through your earthly life,' but is it not written, 
1 They overcame him through the blood of the 
Lamb ' ? " 

As the time of her departure drew near, her 
spirit was consumed by an intense longing to 
depart and to be with Christ. That longing found 
expression in the language of Scripture. She was 



24 



heard to say repeatedly, " Why is His chariot so 
long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of His 
chariots? " There was no impatience, however, 
only a holy desire to be with her Lord. 

The night before she passed away she called her 
husband and such of the family as were with them 
to her bedside, and, after bidding them an affec- 
tionate and an affecting farewell, she asked him to 
kneel with them in prayer before the Lord. When 
that touching act of dedication was over she said, 
and these were her last words, " There is only one 
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. I travelled many 
a step through the wilderness seeking- and follow- 
ing Him, which I do not regret. I kept an open 
breast to many, many who professed the Saviour, 
and who, I knew, were entire strangers to Him. 

I did so upon this ground, that I knew He could 
and would do much more abundantly in saving 
sinners than I could think of or oomprehend. " 

11 Shortly afterwards," sang Mr. Findlater, 
" the angels raised thee up on high, and the 
King received thee into His palaces, wearing a 
crown of excessive brilliance. " 

That was on the i^th of April, 184 1, in the 
73rd year of age. With solemn and affectionate 
reverence, she was buried in the Melness Ceme- 
tery, where her dust rests till the resurrection. 

II Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. " 



The Rdghteous shall be in Everlasting 
Remembrance,