I.
216 West Regent Street, Glasgow, 19th January, 1906.—Dear Miss Macleod,—Your letter came this evening. There were very few young men, if any, whom I loved more than John*, and I had good cause to believe that he loved me. This leaves an empty place in my affection which I feel very painful. I can say that your family has been very often on my mind before, but more since this sore trial came upon you as a family, and also upon me. I feel that my tears (not of despair but of hope drawn from God’s Word, and from an assurance of his being with Christ, which is far better), commingle with your tears in this our sad bereavement. May the Lord who had mercy on him be merciful to you all by drawing your hearts away from the world to Himself by the gospel. Kindly excuse me, as I have not been able to call to see you all, and believe it does not arise from want of a will but from the amount of other pressing duties. With kindest regards and deepest sympathy with you all.—Yours very sincerely, Neil Cameron.
*An obituary of this pious young man who died in New Zealand,
16th January, 1906, will be found in the Magazine, vol. xi. p. 257.
—Editor.
II.
216 West Regent Street, 19th September, 1927.—Dear Friends,
—My sister drew my attention to a notice in Saturday’s Glasgow Herald of the death of your sister in New Zealand. I desire to express to you my sincere sympathy in your grief. This has led my mind when I read it to your brother John, whom I loved dearly in the Lord, and upon whom my thoughts dwell often yet. I feel that your minds will be exercised that way also, and that consequently you will feel that wound opened again. That John departed to be with Christ is sure, and that his sorrows and sighings have past away for ever more. I like to think of him walking on Mount Zion above, clothed in the white robe of Christ’s righteousness in the midst of the Noble Company who are led by the Lamb to fountains of living waters. May the Lord give you all faith and repentance, so that when death will come you will not be found naked of that white robe, which is so freely offered you in the gospel. The prophet’s cry is continually sounding in our ears: “All flesh is grass, and the goodness thereof is as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever.” With kind regards and real sympathy, I am your friend, Neil Cameron.