LATE DR CAMERON

Evening Star, Issue 19803, 29 February 1928, Page 4

LATE DR CAMERON

MEMORIAL WIND&W UNVEILED SERVICE AT ANDERSON'S BAY 1 PROFESSOR HEWITSON’S TRIBUTE. At a well-attended Service in tho church last evening at Anderson’s Bay the Presbyterians unveiled a beautiful stained glass window to the memory of, the late Dr Cameron, who from December, 1884, to July, 1919—a period of thirty-four and-a-half years—was their minister * The Rev. G. Jupp, the present minister, presided, and Mr Henry Duckworth, who was a well-grown boy when the first minister, tho Rev. James M'Naughton, was inducted to the church in the early sixties, and whose homo has been at the Bay ever since, with a few well-chosen words unveiled the window.

The Rev. W. Trotter, who is Dr Cameron’s successor as convener of the Presbyterian Social Service Association, offered the prayer of dedication. The memorial address was delivered by Professor Hewitson, who took as his text Hebrews xiii., 7: “Remember them that had the rule over you (your leaders), which spake unto you the word of God ; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.” The passage, he said, was an exhortation to remember and to imitate departed leaders. and the subjects suggested for remembrance and imitation were among the outstanding features of Dr Cameron’s work and character—leadership, preaching, and faith. It was sadly easy to forget the, dead, even when they had been our friends and benefactors. Time fought against memory. It swept all but the greatest names into oblivion. Duty, urgent, clamorous duty, fought against memory, it engrossed our energy and thoughts, and left us no leisure for reflection. Worst of all, ingratitude fought against memory. Generous-hearted men dreaded tho appearance of ingratitude, much more its reality. They also felt that to lose the memory of great events and of good men was to lose one of life’s best inspirations, and most beneficent influences, and, accordingly, they took measures to resist the tendency he bad named. To keep our memories vivid and our gratitude alive, we hung portraits and pictures on the walls of our homes and of our public institutions; we erected monuments in our streets and squares; we placed windows in our churches; we observed days as fasts and festivals of remembrance. Even with the aid of such monuments and of such days, it was difficult not to forget With all tho aids to memory available we should find that gratitude was a virtue that required sedulous cultivation. Acts of remembrance required to bo repeated again and again. Monuments needed to be interpreted from time to time by writing and speech. The aspects of work and hie to bo remembered were leadership, preaching, and faith. A lender was a master ol affairs and a ruler of men. He knew principles in their wide sweep, and ho mastered details; he was a man of mdo horizons, and saw tlio land of f<u ci tances, not merely the one step ml rout of him. He also knew tho way by which those distant scenes were to ho reached. He had a strong will which enabled him in pursuit ot bis end to climb mountains, cross valleys, to ovacome tho immeasurable sand of the desert, and not to iaint beneath its heat. Further, he was a master of men, ho carried their judgment, stirred their feelings, conciliated their prejudices, and evoked their goodwill and co-opera-tion. Dr Cameron combined in a remarkable degree those qualities. He had long foresight and spacious dreams; he persisted in following Ins vision through years of difficulty. ‘ I, remember standing talking with him. m Knox Church manSo during the difficult beginnings of the social service work ol our church. That work, in its care of children and of the aged, owes more to his vision and courage than to the work of any other man.” Let them remember his leadership, and, so iar as thev could, imitate it. They should remember bun also as a preacher of the word. Dr Cameion s qualities as a preacher wore a deep love of the Bilile, in which ho rend carefully and constantly, a closo alhnity with spiritual truth, and a perserial experience of the deeper things of God. When one noticed that the pulpit treatment of the great doctrines .and duties of the Christian religion was sometimes so exceedingly superficial and sometimes accompanied by an emotionalism so unwholesome, one could not help feeling that the thing most te he desired in the pulpit to-day was Biblical preaching that delights in the deep and universal truths of God, and declares them in words of grace and with a glow of feeling, strong and controlled. Finally, the Hebrews were bidden to remember and copy the faith of their leaders and preachers. Dr Cameron was a man of faith. He had made the great submission of himself to God, and in experience be had found assurance of the truth of what be believed. “On this day, when _ you have come with affection and gratitude to remember your late minister, I, as one of bis most intimate friends, hid you remember his leadership, with its fine combination of the ideal and the practical, bis preaching of the Word with his love of its deeper and more spiritual truths, and his living trust in God which sustained him in his work, and in his sorrows gave him peace and joy. His faith and hope made him not ashamed. When he died suddenly in the streets of Christchurch the projects to which he bad given his strength were progressing, and from his personal life the clouds had cleared and the sun was shining.” The subject of the memorial window is Christ blessing little children. Our Lord, Who is in the act of blessing a little child, is wearing a rich ruby overdress, the under garment being treated in silver and gold. Facing our Lord is a female figure in beautiful blue, as well as other child figures in delicate colors, which give a very translucent effect. The background is treated in a broken Gresaille design. At the base there are two angels kneeling and holding a. scroll, which contains the following inscription:—“To the glory of God and in loving memory _of Andrew' Cameron, 8.A., LL.D., thirty-four and a-half years minister of this congregation. Obit. 19th May, 1925.”