MEMORIAL CROSS

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1932, Page 5

MEMORIAL CROSS

LATE MRS. SEDDON. ■ CANON JAMES’ TRIBUTE. A beautiful processional cross given by the family of the late Mrs. Richard John Seddon, wife of the former Prime Minister, to St Paul’s pro-Cathedral, was dedicated at the morning . service last Sunday by the Bishop of’Wellington (the Rt. Rev. Dr. T. H. Sprqtt). • In .the course, of the sfermon following the dedication ceremony Canon Percival James,. speaking on the.xtext, Proverbs ch. 31, v. 28, “Her children' arise-, upland call - her blessed,” said that the pulpit of St. Paul’s was a memorial -of the, illustrious husband of Mrs; Seddon—a great Prime Minister of New Zealand and an Imperial statesman. The preacher recalled that in St Paul’s Parish Church was placed one of the first memorials to Mr. Seddon. It was most fitting that the present memorial should be to Whs. Seddon; it was a memorial which spoke not only to this generation but also to generations .to come; Canon James referred to the love of Mrs. Seddon for St Paul’s Church, which had been her-spiri-tual home for a great part of. her life. Her strength was rapidly failing, said Canon James, when he-came to St Paul’s Church, but she was present at the service when, he was instituted as vicar; that was almost her last appearance in the church. The preacher said he would always count it a privilege to have known her,, to have learned something of her sweetness and -goodness, and to have witnessed the patience and courage with which she bore her last illness, and the uncomplaining peacefulness with which she awaited-the “call to go home”—tokens of that calm faith that had sustained her throughout life. To the end she . was eager to know of the well-being of St. Paul’s, and she rejoiced in her only opportunity, of sharing the worship and in hearing the service broadcast. Not many days before her death she heard the service, and told the speaker of her joy in being-again, in some sense, one of the congregation, and especially in hearing again one of her favourite hymns. A few days before her death, almost her last conscious act, she received Holy Communion with much joy and peace. It was right that a. cross should be her memorial in; St. Paul’s Church—the memorial of a quiet, gentle, brave, strong life, directed by a deep and true religion. . ■ < .•

The preacher referred tb the burdens borne by Prime Ministers and . the need they had for quiet, peaceful home life.. He remarked that Mrs. Seddon once said to him, quite simply, “I never allowed him to have any trouble about his home.” Her loving care and wisdom, and her utter devotion, were factors weightier than we could measure in the signal service she had rendered to this country and the Empire. She was moved by the same humane sympathies that directed the public life of her husband. Canon James said that as vicar he accepted the gift with much gratitude, not only as a memorial they would cherish of a faithful and, devoted member of the church, but also as an ornament of the church, for it would enhance the’ dignity of their .worship.