A Letter by James Stewart
I am still labouring in the cultivation of this field; insofar as external matters are concerned, everything proceeds as usual. I have large, often crowded, congregations, and people seemingly listen. My texts since I last saw you have been: “Grieve not the Holy Spirit . . . “; “Show me wherefore Thou
1Taken, with editing, from Remains of Rev. James Stewart by Robert Craig (Edinburgh 1847). The letter was written in 1839 from Wallacetown, Ayr, where Stewart (1813-46) began his ministry. For a sketch of his life, see this Magazine for October and November 2000.
contendest with me”; “Rejoice in the Lord alway”. I still lecture2 on the Epistle to the Galatians; but how great is the danger lest outward success should be a covering for inward and real unproductiveness, lest the strength of the tree should be put forth only in an abundance of wood and leaves! I would indeed feel sorry to think of bringing so many people together without ministering to their real edification – of taking them away from those who might be supplying them with bread, in order to give them a stone.
It is my anxious and constant endeavour to apprehend the mind of the Spirit, as it is contained in the inspired Word, and to present it with as much clearness and simplicity as possible. May the Divine Sanctifier make use of it as His own instrument in enlightening the understanding, in awakening the conscience, and in purifying the heart! How strong are the motives which prompt us to discharge the ministerial duty! Surely there must be a woeful deadness and hardness when they are not felt and yielded to! It is only when the awful importance of preaching the gospel is realised that anyone is in a state of mind which can make him fit for the work. It is only when the gospel and its Author are valued and reverenced, and when the inestimable preciousness of a soul is kept in mind, that there can be that true earnestness, heartiness, importunity and fervour which rule and influence the heart.
I see more and more the necessity for a minister to be what is called in Scripture a “man of God”. If he is not, there is no real consistency between the work in which he is engaged and his views and feelings and tastes. He must feel it irksome and repulsive; he cannot fulfill its ends, for he does not value them; he cannot be influenced by its motives, for they address themselves only to a heart that is occupied by God’s grace. Believers ought therefore, in their supplications for the ministers of the gospel, to seek the advancement of their personal godliness as one of the main qualifications for either understanding, or teaching, or applying the gospel. Personal and decided piety is indeed the only proper qualification for the successful discharge of the duties of any situation, and so that it may be acceptable to God.
I am grieved to hear of the illness of our friend Dr M4F3. I shall feel greatly obliged by your letting me know how he now is. May the Lord in mercy spare his useful life! I think God is kindly drawing us individually and collectively away from creature dependency, and producing greater subduedness and brokenness of spirit. If we were really to put the work in which we are engaged in God’s own hand, it would no doubt be done. We have been looking to men and means, to deputations and rousing addresses – to
2That is, he was preaching consecutively through the Epistle.
3Possibly Duncan Macfarlan of Renfrew, whose ministry in Anderston, Glasgow, Stewart had attended in his earlier years.
activity which is wearing out the physical frames of men, supposing that surely some great effect must be produced. I believe that a more practical acknowledgment of the great truth – it is “not by might, nor by power,” but by the Spirit of the Lord – is urgently called for and indispensably necessary.
An intense love of souls, combined with a deep and over-mastering conviction that their effectual calling is as much God’s work as their election, would send us to the closet as much as to the pulpit and fill the one with cries and tears as well as the other with instructions, invitations and appeals. O for such a love for my people as would chain me to the footstool of Jehovah. This is a department of the work of the ministry on which I cannot reflect without feeling constrained to pray, “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O Lord”. I find that not only does Scripture represent the duty of the ministry as consisting in prayer in the first instance, but also that those who, in our own and in foreign lands, have been eminently successful in winning souls have spent a large portion of their time, often whole nights, in prayer (John Welsh, for example). One mighty consolation we possess: He whom God has anointed shall not fail in His part. He “shall deal prudently”.