AHARACLE, ARGYLLSHIRE.
WHILE the cedars of Lebanon were numerous the cutting down of one did not affect the view of the landscape so much; but when they are few and far between the blank becomes very discernible. In our day “the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord for His own glory,” are very few; and therefore, a breach in their ranks leaves a barren wilderness behind it. There departed to be with Christ, at the ripe age of 82 years, about the beginning of this year an eminently godly man, concerning whom we humbly offer the following remarks:—
Alexander Cameron was born at the township of Aharacle, in the parish of Ardnamurchan, county of Argyll, in the year 1814, his father being one of the small farmers of that place. During the first twenty-nine years of his life, Alexander Cameron lived “without God and without hope in the world.” In the year 1843, that eminent servant of Christ, the Rev. Peter M’Bride of Rothesay, was sent by the evangelical party in the Church of Scotland, to enlighten the people of the west coast of Argyllshire concerning the matters of controversy which culminated in the famous Disruption. Many looked back to him, upon this occasion, as the messenger of the King Eternal to their immortal souls. He preached at Aharacle. Alexander Cameron went to hear him, and the arrows of the Holy Spirit pierced into the darkness of his benighted soul. The struggle was long and very trying. At last relief came, as he thought, but such was its nature that were it not for the faithfulness of Him who called him he would, according to his own testimony, have been eternally lost. This is the warning he gave at a question meeting four years before he died: “Had the Lord left me in the first peace I obtained I would spend my eternity with the devil and his angels.” Being questioned seriously afterwards about the nature of the peace he had found so dangerous, he said: “I was for two years under a delusive peace, going to many communions and other means of grace, thinking that all was well; but still ignorant of Christ Jesus, and Him crucified, as the only foundation. The blessed Lord, by His word and Spirit, revealed to me that I was building my hope for eternity upon a foundation of sand; and that though there was an outward reformation in my conduct, my nature remained unchanged; and that I was basing my hope of eternal salvation upon my attendance on the means of grace, rather than upon Christ Jesus and Him crucified.” This plunged him almost to despair of ever being saved. The necessity of regeneration was so indelibly stamped upon his soul during this long trial that we never heard him pray without imploring that sinners might “be born of the water and of the Spirit.” During this crisis in his history the sympathy and advice of the godly Alexander Cameron, catechist, Strontian, were very helpful to him. His love and reverence for this godly man continued unabated to the end; though the catechist died many years before him. He became an elder in the Free Church, and few were more faithful in fulfilling the sacred vows of that responsible office than he. He was a mighty man of prayer; and his knowledge of the Scriptures was both accurate and comprehensive. The cavils of infidels against the Bible, with which the Free Church abounds, were intolerable to his honest and God-given faith. His love and reverence for the Word of God was most profound. To him, an appeal “to the law and to the testimony,” was the settling of all controversy. The doubting spirit of this ungodly generation he dreaded with the utmost abhorrence. He often said, to such as he found in doubts and distresses about their interest in Christ, “The word of the blessed God never deceived any man.” His zeal for the Sabbath-day was very great; and many were the faithful rebukes he uttered, both in public and private, in its defence. That day was to him “the holy of the Lord, honourable;” and a sweet solemnity would be seen on his bright and intelligent countenance as he would “go up to the house of God.” His yearnings after the salvation of lost sinners were most intense, and when he saw the people of the township indulging in sinful practices it grieved him deeply. There were not many living, at last, of the brethren with whom he felt peculiarly bound in the Lord, and when any of them came the way he would take them in his arms and kiss them. His love for the brethren in Christ was not superficial, but deeply rooted in the hidden man of the renewed heart. Many, who did not know him intimately, thought he was a censorious and abrupt man; but a more loving man than Alexander Cameron could seldom be met with.
Not being able to follow the subtleties of the so-called men of christian progress in the Free Church, which led to the formulating and passing of the infamous Declaratory Act, he was, for some time, much grieved at seeing some who were before intimate friends divided regarding the proper path of duty. In consequence, the testimony raised for truth, principles, and conscience in 1893, caused him some confusion; but as soon as he saw that the Rev. Messrs. Macfarlane and Macdonald were thrust out from their churches and manses by the Declaratory Act Church, his difficulties vanished. Immediately he recognised the Church of Christ suffering and hated of all men for the word He gave them, and he sent a message to that effect to one of their followers. A few weeks before his death he told one that called to see him, that he was so thoroughly convinced in his mind they had done their duty that he never bent his knees without remembering them before the Lord, and that he was certain the Lord would prosper their weak efforts for His cause and glory. We mourn his loss much; but rejoice that he has gone to his everlasting rest. His grave sweet countenance we shall not see any more. His tears and sorrows were many in the valley of Achor; but now “sorrow and sighing have for ever fled away.” “A mighty man has fallen in Israel,” and left the house of David to mourn his loss. Joabs there are many, but “Israelites indeed,” are very few. He left one son and an aged widow. The Lord be to them “a Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widows in His holy habitation.” “Help Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men.”
N. C.