THE LATE REV JM AULD died 5 December 1932
Obituary East London Dispatch

An Appreciation

The Presbyterian Church, and may I say the world, is poorer today through the passing to a higher sphere of labour of the Rev. J M Auld - the father of the Presbyterian Missions of the Church of Scotland in South Africa. It is due to him and to the cause which he so faithfully served through a period of over 50 years that a few facts relating to him should be mentioned.

He came of ministerial stock. His grandfather, the Rev. William Auld, minister of the Relief Church, Greenock, had a record of 50 years' service. The father of the subject of this sketch, the Rev. William Auld, minister of Tollcross U.P. Church, Glasgow, had a still longer service of 53 years. His son, the Rev. James M Auld, up to the time of his death had also given a long period of service - 57 years, truly a remarkable record. He was indeed a son of the Manse. Mr. Auld was educated in Glasgow. Having finished his school course there he entered the university of that great city in 1866. Along with the Arts curriculum he took extra-mural courses in medicine with a view to equipping himself more efficiently for life in distant Africa. The year of his entry into the university was also the year in which he consecrated himself for the foreign mission field. After the completion of his university course he took the usual theological course at the Divinity Hall, Edinburgh, that being about the year 1875. He was ordained to the ministry in 1875 and was appointed by the Foreign Mission Committee (Board) as Missionary to Kaffraria. That same year he was married to Miss Margaret Meikle of Glasgow, and together they sailed for South Africa in the Union Mail S.S. Anglian, and landed at East London on June 30 1875.

Their trials commenced at once. No station had been fixed upon for their residence and sphere of labour. Consequently they were moved about from place to place until eventually they were settled at Lujilo in the Ciskei. They had been in occupation of this station for about 2 years when the Gcaleka War (1877-8) broke out. A section of the Gaikas, amongst whom the Aulds laboured, joined up with their countrymen. Some of the hotheads among the Gaikas set fire to the manse at Lujilo. Mr Auld with his young wife then sought sanctuary at Emgwali, the station nearest to their own. Here they remained for a time in temporary but restricted quarters until things settled down.

At the conclusion of the war the Gaikas were dispossessed of their country as a punishment for their participation in it, and were sent over the Kei to occupy the country which the Gcalekas were compelled to vacate. The hardships which the war imposed on Mr. Auld did not lessen his eagerness to carry on the work to which he had been called. On the contrary, they imbued him with a new energy, an added patience, a growing experience and a steadfast hope. To follow up the Gaikas as their missionary, though he had received somewhat rough treatment at their hands, required courage and a fixity of purpose to an ideal of service, as well as a personal emancipation from resentment of injury, but this he did, consolidating his position, winning the confidence of the Gaikas and establishing a splendid mission at Columba. The call to heroic Christian living which the circumstances of isolation among a heathen people demanded, he with the active help of his wife fully met. Few missionaries, if any, can be a success in their work without the wholehearted help of their wives. Mr. Auld had this in full measure ... (original text obscured). His noble wife was a tower of strength to him.

Within the missions of the Scottish Presbyterian Church he exerted an influence far beyond his immediate charge. His was a whole-hearted service, ministering to the spiritual needs of the heathen among whom he laboured, and giving freely of his services to assist the brethren of other missionary charges.

Though his commission was to the natives of Kaffraria, he did not neglect the spiritual interests of his own countrymen. Traders and other Europeans of Kentani district were provided by him with an English service at regular intervals, his native work being so arranged as to make this possible. The little well-built church erected by him many years ago for the Europeans in Kentani village is still in use, a monument to his memory. Consecration and loyalty to Christ as Saviour, King and Friend were the keynote of his life's service.

One fact (though others could be cited) should be stated here, for it marks him out from some of his contemporaries, or rather, I should say, the European public, and it is due to him as a Christian and to the office of the Christian ministry of which he was a worthy example. It was his uncompromising attitude towards any departure from the spirit of his Master before Whom there is 'neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free.' He was above the unchristian racial trivialities so outstanding a feature of colonial life. His was no conventional Christianity that is content to accept such Scriptural doctrines as are convenient and reject such as conflict with its self-complacency and peace of mind. He was aflame with zeal for the cause which his presence in the mission field represented, an dared not hesitate a moment to follow in the footsteps of his Leader. He had strong convictions on the vital questions of life and could find no room for compromise.

The ministry of healing was part of his work. The extra-mural classes in medicine which he took were a wise provision, for he was enabled to attend the sick in his parish, healing all manner of diseases and sickness among the natives near him. Christianity finds as true expression in this form of service as in evangelistic and educational work.

In 1905 Mr Auld had the honour of being elected Moderator of the South African Presbyterian Church, a post which he filled with ability and grace. Later he was elected unanimously to the first Moderatorship of the newly-formed Bantu Presbyterian Church, but for personal reasons he had regretfully to decline, to the great sorrow of all members of that church.

In 1925 at Columba Mission, as Mr Auld's station was called, there met a large and influential body of natives as well as Europeans to celebrate the jubilee of the aged missionary and his wife, so important a gathering testified to the ties of affection which bound their people to them.

His was a pledged life, consecrated to the one great purpose, to lift the subject races of this land out of the darkness of heathenism into the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. Faithful to his duty, faithful to God, he was also strong and faithful in his human friendships.

On the fifth of this month, December 1932, our father and comrade in Christ was called home. It might truly be said of him, as it was of one whom David loved, 'a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel.'

Obituary and photograph reproduced here by kind permission of Ione White.