The New Moderator.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10450, 3 December 1927, Page 6

The New Moderator.

; . REV ’ JAMES ■ AITKTCNy M.A.v By J. G. in 1 ‘The Outlook. ” v . Tfc would bo an interesting study tq consider the qualities and characteristics which from time to time append to, the '-Geneval Assembly -in-/ malting choice of..the- occupant -of-tlie highest office. in''its bestow al.- OccasAnaiiy /a successful pastorate, which has lasted through a long stretch ot years in ono charge, is the determining tactor...- More often -effective' leadership iu the courts and committees oi the Church points out tho-uuin whom the Assembly' desires;, to honor. Ami now and again ap’titudo i.s a student-and a. facile pen commend their possessor as a filling person lo preside ‘over the deliberations of i ho lathers and brethren, and to represent the Cluireh. to the c,ommun;ty . These aiiiU such like are factors of the Assembly’s- annual ehoieo /of their -Moderator. - - - ■ it is not too much to say that this year's Moderator —the Itev. James Aitken—unites ' in . himself nu ny, if not all, the qualities that inllnonee the Assembly in the appointment ol its chief officer. Tho i\jo.‘lerator is not an Admirable Crichton, excelling in everything, hut he is ununcsDonably a giitccl man. a tireless .student, a thoughtful preacher, a loader m progressive movements, and '■• writei whose pen L «ugod will) a keen sor.se of literary values and a power ot cultured exnres.iioa. In Jlcr.or.ll4 Mr Aitken the Assembly Juniors itseit. The Moderator, who is now in the fifty-ninth year of his age,, is. as his pleasant voice at once makes manifest. a Scot. He was born, bred, and educated in Glasgow, winch, as all the world knows, is the second city ot the Empire. Two hundred .years age was the day of small things, hut oven then it was 110 mean city. Lovers of Sir Walter will remember the ind-gnation of Andrew Eairservjee when asked lor direction to a hown called Glasgow. A toon ea’d Glasgow !” oAinalined Andrew, "Glaskow’s tu eecty, man!” It is now a great city, distinguished not less lor Hie eminence achieved by many ol Us sons than for its huge population and commercial supremacy. Glasgow has given not a few effective men to New Zealand, and among its gilts to the Presbyterian Chiircn none is more highly valued than Iho subject of this sketch. Mr. Aitken is an alumnus or the Gmvers-iy on Gilmore Hill, as Glaswegian .students love to .call it. Caere he graduated in l8t)0, and ;U----terwards studied tlieology lit tlie -Divinity j-Inil of the Ln.tetl Presbyterian Church in Edinburgh. The l-.p. Cnurch, as it was generally termed with questionable a.ibrcviauon, was the Cuui'cii ol our Moderator’s faith and baptism. In f'oi.O, seven years .alter Mr. A.tkeii’s licensure ' by the presh vtcry -ol Glasgow, that C nurcl. lost its identity 111 tlie union v.ith the .1' ree Cnureh, a loss, ot course, much more than compensated by the maiiv gams of union; blit it was a <>Teat communion, though much suspected m Gtago for its radical tendencies and imaginary heresies. _ ’J'o tlie younger m insters of -Now Zealand it may seem a well-nigh incredible tli.ig, hut it is true, tluu up to the date ot -Mr. Aitken's arrival in 18J3. and more so in still earlier vears, to be a United Pieshyterliin was to he a suspect with many of the old theological and ecclesiastical cue-iuiras. lte was a wolf in sheep's clothing. W hen the present writer was called in 1883 to the first Church, Dunedin, a retiree minister, one of the "stern, unbend,ng ’ Tories who was a/-member 01 that congregation, said to another 01 its members: "You have done it now. Vi.u have called a United Presbyterian. Well, Pm leaving. I shall not wait till the walls of f irst Clull'd, ionic, tumbling about my cars. The older men among us will remember a great occasion in the -Synod, when tlie late Andrew Cameron tanother U.P), after listening to 1 tirade of abuse of the United Presh, ter.ans, v. as moved out ol tin customary placidity of his soul, anc; in ringing tones declared that then tradu'ers were not worthy to stoo] down and unloose the shoe latcheu of the men jit whom they had beer sneer.ng—C.tints and ICerr and manj more. It was an ciectr-c moment the most electric, 1 .think, ot an/ over experienced either in Synod 01 tlie later Assembly.. Shortly'after Ins arrival m Otago Mr. AitKcn was ordained and inducted into the charge of Wyndham, 11 the. Southland Presbytery, whore hi laboured for five years. In 100-1 lie received and accented a call to Khandallah, that delightful bill suburb of Wellington, in this chjjrgc he duexcellent service, and is still hen. in affectionate regard by Us people, rt.s work was, .however, interrupted hi- a serious illness, necessitating a break of 12 months, which, with his wife and two children, ho spent n hi, native country. Even alter his return his health was unsatisfactory and medical authority dociecc] • change from the hills to n pastorate m some love l region. This v as^scq 1 found in Mosgicl, 011 t ie laicrr] lain ana 111 1907 lie was inducted into tlm charge of Ibis kindly nqd dcsirabk parish. ,fn Mosgicl Mr. Aitkcn made his mark in the pulpit his Sunday owning lectures on-questions of vital import to the Church qnd the community exciting widespread jntciest. Nme vears later, m-HUb, he uacalled'to Ii s present sphere, St. Andrew’s, Gisborne, which had becomes vacant , through the doa 1 * th- front of its minister, Chnplan. william Grant,• of beloved, memory. In Gisborne, Mr. Aitken’s hrst years were rendered difficult and trynw by the acrimonious and persistent attacks of a small band of i.undamentalists. The guerilla tactics o his critics came at last to a head in a complaint ol unsound teaching on the inspiration of the Scripture to the Hawlca’s liay l-Ycsh.ytory. The Presbvtery stood unitedly by the allege! heretic. Since then Mr. Aitken and his folk have - enjoyed several years of unbroken peace, and th work has gcqe forward- with quiet hut real success. - In all his charges Mr. Aitkcn hanroved himself pn able expounder 0 iho evangel and its implicates ioi human society, national and international. No one would describe him as an orator., He is never Impassioned in snccch. a demerit perhaps, but nvwc than ce pi hen sated by a calm succession of ’well-considered sentences in which he sets foith toe truths and ideas That have grasped his own balanced; and penetrating odwl. Hnppilv |io never -hnds himself in the position ot Henrv . A\ aid Beecher’s father, who told jus distinguished son that, when Ins ideas ran out, ho used to come to the L of the pulpit, and ‘-holler —sound ,o»-a furv signifying'nothing. , The characteristics of Mr. Aitken s sneech in the pulpit are also m oudeiicc on. the platform, and he has done much platform work, and J inter veal's especially m Oie mteicsts of that greatest of pprelj" human institutions, the- League Rf ' Aations the one and onlv pistrunihntahtv hi which, under God, pence my bo reserved to the wcirld In Gisborne.. 1 is net too mucliAtq says that lie >• regarded as-the leader of that section Gisborne or- anywhere..in New lh„,l—ivho carp- for ihc; great issues of human society; and arc pager . o "uidanco and enlightenment. Jn tins nud ether important connections AltA’t'kon has re'iulprpfl/gj’Pfft sei’V' cc - • There is ill Aberdeenshire; a -remote parish called Mirss. and . tho good folic of the city, with then; taste lor graphic phrase, linye a saying: 'Oct.

o’ , the '.'warld ai\ intae Birss.”, ..Gisborne, even When dependent eiiicHy ■ oil an unsatisfactory sea service. foV communication with .the rest of the country, was never .quite out of . the world, and now, with its fine fleet of motor cars, it may be regarded as' in no way ''/suffering from the !n<Tc of railways, it ' is, however, . far enough away to make it almost imjTosftinle for its "in 1 11 is tor to share to any extent in the committee work of the Church ; but'prior to /tills pasi.Orate Air. Aitken was atv eager and effective committee man. To the cause of Bible in. Schools and .Church Union he made a. weighty oohtr.bution. When a member of the jJunedin Presbytery lie. was convener of the Publications Committee, and everyone knows that the Church owes to him tho initiation -of that' valuable little magazine,.tho Break of .Day, pi which he"is-'still Yth'e"'editor.’’ "it is admittedly, an excellent production, and tho best' things‘in it are 'from the editor’s pen. Air. Aitken has indeed a distinct faculty for journalism. , He is an occas.onal contributor to' various- magazines and. reviews; ami while • settled in ,the: neighborhood ot Wellington lie 'wrote/ many of the leading’ articles of one of the newspapors-, ' These articles, marked by aii unusual. literary: ‘distinction, ati-rerf-ecl much attention. . '' .' In our small Church,' with' so'many of our ministers still doing /pioneer work, and the rest overburdened with administrative duties!, there is little time lor the. cultivation of scholarship'and the authorship of .boohs. But even the columns ol' the Outlook from time to time bearwitness that, if only the conditions ’of ministerial life in the Dominion'permitted it, we might very well have more books ,to our credit tliat We so far [-isscss. AY. H., and John Collie, and Hector AlaqLeaii, to '.hlentioii only three names have stores of knowledge and a faculty of expression which, under more suitable conditions,' would probably take shape in the form ot hooks. The number, however, of those who have essayed 'this.'.task ;s snial;. Among tli'ol n there is Dr. JJielcie, with his- translation ot Haeririg, reel with some ueiior puh)iT.it:oiis f o his credit. His coming volume ‘on ‘‘.Systematic Theoiogy” is coniidcntly expected to shod lustre on the scholarship and thought ot our Church. Dr. Waddell’s lightsome and facile pen has brought cheer and inspiration to many a heart. Air. Gibson Smith has given us one book in prose, and recently another in verse, and the hitter, whatever may ho thought ol some of its contentions, is marked by conspicuous ab.lity. Then \vc have tlie late Robert Francis, a minor poet hut . with a true gift of song. And there are a few others, among them the late James Chisholm, with Jiis memorable story *ot the Otago Church, "Fifty Years Sync.” To the list must he added tlie name of Air. Aitkcn. He is the author of a volume on Job, published as one of the due series of B.ble Class handbooks by tho' United Free Church' of Scotland." it is an admirable piece ol work. Already allusion has been made to the Moderator’s sense .of the significance of words and bis laculty lor stvlc. it ought to be added that his. mind has been nurtured bv Ins reading in a wide field of liuuv.turn. He knows the poets, not only Yi'oidsworth -and Keats and iciuiy..o/i and Browning, hut begin to i=l lk vitli him about more recent poetry, and you find at once that with this J'-C lias more than a passing acquaintance. Ho has read widely also in sociological l.itcratur'e, and knows how to deal with the implications against Ihe Christian laith of the new psychology, that latest and most subtle iff" the foes with whom in the region of thought we have to cufftend. It may, or may not, constitute a claim to the .Modorarorship that a man is the father of distinguished sons, but it surely is not 'jut of place here to refer to Air. Aitkcn s two boss, who, after exceptionally brilliant careers 111 Gtago l uiver.iity went Home lor further study—-the alder, Robin, as Rhodes Scholar; the younger, Daniel, on a ti at oiling scholarship. Dr. Robin is now engaged in medical research under hiah auspices, and Daniel is completing his literary course at Oxford. Inless I greatly err we shall hear more of these gifted young men. Alention of the beys demands mention of their mother. M mentality ,s an inher tanoo, the A.tlcen hoys derive as ranch their mothoivas their father. Airs. Aitkcn has through the vears been a true helpmeet to her'husband, and not only from the domestic point of view. She has shared his thoughts and ins reading, and has been to him an unlading source ol stimulus, and inspiration. Take him for all in all the Arodcrator is an outstanding man. His health has never been rohust, but in spite of this his career has been singularly effective. As i have said, the Church in honoring him honors itself. Air. Aitken, like the rest of us, has. no doubt, tho limitations of iiis virtues. But this 'is verycertain—the Assembly in calling hnn to the Alocleratorship has called one who in intellectual power, wise outlook, graceful speech, personal dignity, and devotion to the high ends of the Kingdom of God Twpll more than adequately represent the Rrosbvterinn Church to the -community. Ho will so discharge his various dates that at the end of his year ol office the wisdom of the Assembly’s choice'will he amply confirmed. A notable man is the Moderator, and I very confidently predict of him a notahie year of service as tlie chief officer of the Church.