* The Bible for Youth: with Introduction and Notes by Rev. R. C. Gillie, M.A., D.C.L., and Rev. James Reid, M.A. London: T. C. and E. C. Jack. Price 6s net.
A NUMBER of years ago we took occasion to make reference in the pages of the Magazine to the undisguised higher critical sympathies of the Syllabus of Religious Instruction for Schools compiled by a Joint Committee representing the Church of Scotland, the United Free Church of Scotland, and the Educational Institute of Scotland. In that article we said, referring to the writers whose works were recommended in the Appendix of the Syllabus:—”We have no hesitation in saying that, if teachers and pupils imbibe the teaching of these scholars, any faith they once had in the Bible as the inerrable Word of God will get a rude shock.” Dr Baxter, the author of the well-known work, “Sanctuary and Sacrifice,” wrote an article for the Princeton Theological Review, which was afterwards reprinted under the title, “Smooth Stones from the Brook,” in which he exposed in a masterly way the strong higher critical bias of the Syllabus. In furtherance of the Syllabus scheme of lessons for religious instruction in the Scottish national schools there has been recently issued a book of selections from the Scriptures which are adopted (with additions and omissions) from the above Syllabus, under the editorship of Rev. R. C. Gillie, D.C.L., and Rev. James Reid, Eastbourne. The book, we are informed in the preface, “is an attempt to provide what may be called a Bible for youth,” and the editors further say:—”The utmost we could hope to achieve in this direction within the scope at our disposal is to secure that nothing will be unlearned as the reader proceeds to further study.” We shall lay before our readers sufficient proof to show that the teaching in these notes is undistinguished modernistic and along the lines of the teaching of modern Higher Criticism. Take, to begin with, the divine name Jehovah, and in leading up to their explanation how Jehovah became Israel’s God the editors make reference to customs of Eastern tribes having tribal gods, and then add:—”At first the Israelites shared this idea. Jehovah, their god (sic), they thought of as theirs, as distinct from the gods of other tribes. But in the desert under Moses they began to learn that God cared for righteousness and reverence” (p. 5). These words speak for themselves, and if this be one of the assured results of modern biblical learning we trust it will never be taught our children in the national schools of Scotland. Dr Orr, in his “Problem of the Old Testament,” says in reference to the attempts to trace the divine name to a religious tribal origin: “The one thing not proved is that it ever denoted in Israel a merely tribal god” (p. 498). Their crude ideas of inspiration are in keeping with the foregoing: we know the Bible to be inspired, the editors inform us, because its truth inspires us. To make the meaning clearer, they add:—”Every true book and every good man is in some measure inspired, because they reveal the Spirit of God; but we cherish the Bible above all books, and trust its message, because most of all it helps us to know God, and brings us face to face with God’s very glory in the presence of Jesus Christ” (p. 6). Their teaching on miracles leans heavily towards Modernism. Take their treatment of the miracle of the sun standing still, and this is what they tell us:—”The first reference to it is in a poem which the writer quotes, and then goes on to treat it as if it were true.” “But even if it is actually true,” they say, “it adds very little to our thought of God to tell us that He interfered with the sun to help Joshua.” In the same naturalistic way they refer to the fire that came down from heaven in answer to Elijah’s prayer. What really convinced the Israelites, they inform us, that Jehovah was God was the truth of God shining through Elijah’s courage and character. When reference is made to the mighty works of the Son of God the same poison seems to have entered the stream of their thoughts. “We are not then,” they say, “to look for God in the marvellous events, but in the lives and deeds of men and women who have His Spirit. Jesus would not have us adore Him for His miracles. When He was urged to work a miracle to show His power and impress the people He refused to do it. That is the meaning of one of His temptations in the desert” (p. 9). There is a great deal of confused thinking in these statements, as is naturally to be expected from those who have evidently been wandering among the fog-enveloped valleys of Modernism. The Lord said to the unbelieving Jews:—”If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in Him” (John x. 38, 39).
In their note on the Creation the higher critical view of a two-fold story of the Creation is accepted. We need not wait to refute this, but as it has been time and again shown to be wrong, and notably by Dr W. H. Green in his “Unity of Genesis,” there is no excuse for presenting this so-called assured result of the Higher Criticism to our young people, for in doing so what lies in the background of this theory—viz., the various writers—would require to be explained, and their young minds would be perplexed with numerous authors who are said to have had a hand in composing the Pentateuch. In dealing with the Fall the same naturalistic tendency manifests itself: “When this writer,” they say, “makes the serpent talk and speaks of God walking in the garden, that was the natural way to make early hearers understand the big things about sin and temptation, and what God asks from men and women. We do not talk in this fashion now, but if we take a little trouble we can learn a great deal from this old story, so beautiful and so sad.”
The story of the Flood is accepted as received from the Babylonians, though they admit that there are great differences between the two accounts. They recognise in all this “another example of a legend concerning some early event which a writer, guided by God, made use of to set forth the character of God” (p. 21). In reference to the meaning of “unclean” and “clean” animals in the ark, they say in a note—”It was believed that certain things were sacred to the gods; ordinary people were forbidden to touch them. Certain animals among the Jews were considered unclean and used not to be touched, partly because they were unwholesome, partly because of ancient ideas that they were sacred to the gods” (p. 29). In a footnote in reference to Jacob’s question at Peniel to the mysterious Person who wrestled with him, the editors say—”If a man knew and could pronounce the name of a spirit, he could make the spirit obey him. The spirit, it was thought, could not remain after the sun was risen” (p. 71). It would appear that the editors in their study of comparative religion and folklore are desirous of giving a naturalistic explanation of Bible usages wherever they can. One might expect such things from the author of the “Golden Bough,” but better things are expected of those who set out to provide a Bible for youth.
The Plagues in Egypt were all natural occurrences, only they seemed to have happened at this time in an unusually severe form (p. 118). The Manna was a substance supplied by a plant growing in the desert, and known to the Arabs of the present day by the same name, only the Israelites were taught to look higher than the natural sources of this mysterious food in their hour of need (p. 143). As to the law given at Sinai, we are told: “It may be that Moses took the best of what he knew of the learning of the Egyptians, and used it while he taught the Children of Israel. For we have always to remember that God’s Spirit has been at work in all nations, though there was a clear revelation only given to the Jews. But it is certain Moses received as much of God’s enlightenment that he made a quite new beginning in national religion” (p. 154). In the case of the Bible story of Samson, we are informed that “the inspired man who put together the records of the book of Judges found this old folk-tale among the traditions of the people, and gave it a place in his book because it shows the tragedy of great gifts misused” (p. 231). The Deutero-Isaiah of the Critics is designated by the editors as “The Anonymous Prophet of the Exile,” and two and a-half pages are devoted to him. It was this “anonymous prophet” who prophesied concerning the Suffering Servant of God (Is. liii.).
When we come to the New Testament, in answer to the question in connection with the authorship of the Gospel according to John—”Was he the disciple whom Jesus loved?” the editors answer—”We do not know for certain” (p. 680). There other prints to which attention might be called, but we have taken up too much of our space already.
We notice that the “United Free Church Record” bestows its benediction on this dangerous book, saying—”We know nothing better that could be put into the hands of our young people.” Perhaps we should look for nothing else from that quarter; still, such a recommendation, in view of the nature of so many of the notes in the book, is ominous. In the preface, as already noted, they indicate that the scope of their work was to secure that nothing will need to be unlearned as the reader proceeds to further study. We sincerely trust if any of our children in the national schools will ever accept the teaching given to them in so many of these notes, that they will get rid of it as soon as possible; otherwise between such teaching and that given in the Proletarian schools, there is a black outlook for Scotland.
— Sermon. —
BY THE LATE REV. ALEXANDER MACLEOD, ROGART
(FORMERLY ÚIG, LEWIS.)
“Cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee.”—Ps. lv. 22.
(Continued from p. 253.)
II. How we are to cast these burdens upon the Lord.
Man, in consequence of his apostacy from God, labours under the most deplorable inability in a moral sense. Any one of these burdens we have enumerated would be more than sufficient to prevent his ever arriving at that rest which remaineth for the people of God. But blessed be God we are not left to have an unavailing struggle with difficulties. We have a mighty one as our defence, and underneath are the everlasting arms. To encourage our approaches, He has assumed human form, and most graciously bore Himself all these burdens. This makes a faithful and fellow-feeling High Priest. This of itself must be matter of encouragement for feeble and helpless sinners. But they are not left to conjecture. He condescends in the most endearing unequivocal manner, to invite them to His pardoning, refreshing, and supporting mercy, much readier to communicate strength than they are to ask him. “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. xi. 28). In this state of trial and difficulties we groan, being burdened, but we labour not alone. The Angel of the Covenant that appeared unto Jacob in the way is ever present with us. But there is such humility and condescension in God towards sinners that they find a difficulty in believing it possible—“Dost thou wash my feet?” But the *difficulty rests on his own part. That impotency which incapacitated him for bearing under his burdens, disables him also from casting them upon the Lord. There are two hands wherewith the believing soul should cast his burdens upon the Lord: these are faith and prayer. If at any time, which often happens, one of these begins to fail, it must be cast by the other, and sometimes their joint efforts must be exercised. Like as Moses and the inferior judges managed the concerns of the children of Israel. I speak not of counterfeits. Both these must be inseparable if they be of the genuine kind. Faith may sometimes be weak, but prayer may be had recourse to in all cases. Prayer must be offered in faith; but it may be the prayer of faith, when faith itself is not in exercise. Faith, likewise, partakes of the nature of prayer. In any and in every situation when we have recourse to these, they prove effectual. There is no burden which we may groan under but can be supported in this manner. How comfortable may the soul who has freedom of access to God in prayer be in any situation. And I may appeal to the experience of some who now hear me, that not infrequently they had approached a throne of grace bitterly complaining of their many hardships and trials; but, if in the goodness of their God, they have been admitted to any intimacy there, they find themselves eased of their burdens and possessed of unexpected strength for their Christian course. A burden can never bear too heavy upon the believer while he has freedom of access to God, to make known unto Him all his complaints.
III. What is implied in this promise—”He shall sustain thee?”
This does not imply that a belief in the all-sufficient, all-free grace of God in Christ should make us more careless in our walk through the world. This would be to sin, because grace doth abound. If a man be rescued from sudden destruction by the benevolent exertions of another, should this induce him to expose himself to the same danger, even should his former benefactor stand by; and surely no man in his sober senses would be so mad. This imputation upon the doctrines of free grace is the most unfair and unjust that can be conceived. The clearer and firmer a believer’s assurance in the favour and protection of God is, the greater watchfulness and circumspection does this beget in him. Neither does this promise imply that when we cast our burdens upon the Lord we ourselves are henceforward to go free. This would not be to consult our good, which God uniformly does. Such is the corruption and deceitfulness of the human heart that did we but for any length of time want something to humble us, we should in a short time turn wanton against the Lord, and bring upon ourselves the sorest burdens. For there are no burdens so severe as those which we have brought upon ourselves by our unwatchfulness. The promise, therefore, does not run in this way. You shall be free, but He shall sustain thee, labouring under the burden and often ready to fear that you shall fail. But the promise implies—
1st. That no unnecessary burden shall be laid upon us, that even a dog cannot bark against us without permission.
The Lord is infinitely wise; He does not proportion our burdens according to our resolutions, but according to our danger; and what He has designed for us, or what He is to do by us. There are many who may suppose that a less burden might serve, and that should he have easier burdens he might make a greater progress in the Christian life. But this proceeds from ignorance. A little acquaintance with your heart will convince you that even the measure of affliction you have is scarcely sufficient for keeping down the pride and haughtiness of your heart. They are all measured out by infinite wisdom. They are necessary for preserving us right in our journey through life, lest we might make a shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience; and though we may not know it now, we shall know it hereafter. For we are yet but children in knowledge; nor do we know what the wisdom of our father intends for us. He shall sustain us; and surely if we must be indebted for strength, we should leave the manner to Himself.
2nd. This implies that we shall have every necessary direction and discipline under these burdens.
When we have at first engaged in the Christian course, we are impatient of restraint: we think that nothing but comforts and uninterrupted communion and fellowship with God is to be enjoyed. But we have not gone far when we find that we are not yet made perfect. We must undergo a discipline here, that we may arrive safely and qualified for the enjoyment of the higher house. When we begin the Christian life we may have many struggles. Ephraim most emphatically compares himself to a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke (Jer. xxxi. 18). The untoward disposition of his heart was much severer than the service to which he was called. The Lord shall teach His children this discipline until they are at length brought to rejoice and joy in tribulation. They bear the yoke not of constraint, but of a willing mind. They are under the tuition of infinite wisdom and unalterable love.
3rd. This promise implies that they are perfectly secure under every burden, and that at length they shall be delivered out of them all.
He shall sustain thee. He, who is the Almighty, He who is Lord of Hosts; all thy burdens are under His immediate inspection; yea, they are ordered by Himself: “Fear not, for I am with thee, be not afraid, for I am thy God.” While there is omnipotence in Jehovah to sustain a fellow-feeling and grace in Christ, and the fellowship of the Spirit, the true and sincere believer cannot fail. It is true that even the most sincere believer is but weaker than frailty itself; but the appointing of the burden for believers belongs to God: troubles arise not out of the dust. Omnipotence itself cannot lay any burden which itself is not able to bear. Pray not then, O believer, that thy burden may be removed or even lightened, but in a consistency with infinite wisdom, well knowing that though of yourself you are insufficient, yet your sufficiency is of God: “His grace shall be sufficient for you, for His strength is made perfect in weakness.” But think not that even God Himself is to support you under these afflictions always. He has a nobler service for you yet in the higher house. Even while we are supported under afflictions, and they are thus joyous, there is a desire of deliverance natural to man. This time of redemption draweth nigh. The end of the journey will ease us. Our salvation is nearer than when we have believed. Who would grudge a few trials and difficulties, if need be, in this world when there is the more unquestionable certainty of a sudden and certain deliverance. More especially when we reflect that these very distresses shall enhance the value of the enjoyments, and that they are, moreover, one chief means whereby we are prepared for heaven. “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (II. Cor. iv. 17).
IV. Practical inferences.
(1) Hence we may remark what an inestimable privilege the Gospel of Jesus is.
It has among many other advantages given us clear and comprehensive notions of that great Being whose we are, and whom we serve. It has made Him, who was formerly little more than an object of terror, an object of love and unshaken confidence. Believers can now contemplate His adorable perfections and see them in the face of Jesus all exercised on their behalf encouraging their hearts, and giving them good hope and consolation through grace. Nor can any one consider God out of Christ but as an object of terror; on the other hand, connected with this knowledge of God is our happiness. Let the advantages we enjoy be duly estimated.
(2) Hence, we may learn the true cause of our disquietudes and anxious fears.
It is true that we must suffer many things in this our probation state. These are not, however, the cause of our fears. Our fears do not arise either from our sufferings or wants. Many of our fellow mortals had these to endure, and yet they were not cast down, but rejoiced in them. There is none who is in the least acquainted with the history of the saints but will know this. Have we not the same unchangeable God? Is not His goodness, His power, wisdom and love equally free to us as to them, and yet we do not find such unshaken confidence? The reason is plain, they had more real intimacy with God; were much more exercised by afflictions than we are, yet they fainted not because they believed that underneath were the everlasting arms. It is necessary in order to constitute God an object of dependence, that there be a special revelation of Him to us as individuals.
(3) Have we cast our burdens upon Jehovah?
This is an important question. Sooner or later we shall all feel the need of Him. But unless it is done as an act of the will, with the consent of the mind we should not imagine ourselves safe. A reliance upon God is the believer’s privilege.
(4) A word to those who have unshaken confidence and freedom of access to God.
They should walk circumspectly, lest they may in their experience deprive themselves of this greatest of all blessings. They should, also, have compassion upon those that weary themselves for very vanity. They should bear with the weak. They should guard against self-sufficiency.
(5) Those who entertain doubts of an interest in God and can not say whether they have laid their burden upon Him, they should examine whether He has done anything for them in time past from which they may comfortably conclude that they are objects of His peculiar care.
They should, also, endeavour to commit their ways unto God and having done so to leave the issue with Him. They should often contemplate the unchangeableness of God their Saviour.
Lastly, a word to hypocrites and self-secure sinners.
It happens often that those who have least cause, are the most seemingly comfortable. But their joy is like the crackling of thorns under a pot it shall be turned into sorrow. They should examine upon what their confidence is founded. If they would but listen to the voice of conscience it would inform them that it is nothing more than presumption. Real trials and severe difficulties are before them. Let careless sinners also consider the awful situation wherein they stand. Consider what is said, and the Lord give you understanding.
Story of Andrew Lindsay.*
*The original narrative from Mr Davidson’s MS. appeared in the “Gospel Magazine” (1776).
I.
OUR country has many bays and firths; but one of the finest in Scotland is the Bay of Cromarty. At its opening stands two hills, or rocky cliffs, called the Sutors of Cromarty, and up between these hills the waters of the German Ocean flow, spreading out into a wide firth for many miles. So deep is this bay that any navy could float in it, and so sheltered is it that it affords refuge to vessels from every storm. It is on the south side of the bay, and not far from its mouth, that the little town of Cromarty stands.
If you and I were taking a walk there, very likely we might first climb some height, to look all around on the waters, and the green slopes, and the rocks, and more distant hills. But we would soon return to the town, perhaps to visit the spot where the old castle stood, and then to linger among the ruins of the old chapel of St Relugas, on a green eminence east of the town. The old burying-ground is there. There are some of the tombs and tombstones more interesting than others, like that one set up in 1679, on a woman, of whom it is said:—
“Here lies at rest a faithful one,
Whom God hath pleased to call upon.
Her life she lived both poor and just,
And aye in God she put her trust.
God’s laws obeyed; to sin was loath:
No doubt she died a happy death.”
About the middle of the burying-ground is a large, rude stone, reared on two shapeless balusters. This stone is inscribed with a brief record of the family of Lindsay, for four generations. They were once a wealthy family, well-known in that country-side; but the Lord made their riches take wings and fly away, so that the only descendant of that house, about the beginning of
This image is a scan of a blank white piece of paper. It contains no text, figures, or tables. There are a few very small, faint dark specks scattered across the page, which are likely scanning artifacts or dust on the scanner.
young or old, do not fully believe the Gospel, fancying (through their own mistake and ignorance) that Christ is not willing to receive them at once. They are unconsciously “establishing their own righteousness,” dwelling on their own feelings, and wants, and weakness, instead of making haste to get all supplied out of Christ’s fulness. Andrew Lindsay, we said, was one of this class; and, when opportunity occurred, went in search of help to other ministers besides his own. The people in that part of the country used to travel long distances to other places, crossing ferries and climbing hills, to hear the preachings and other services at the times when the Lord’s Supper was dispensed. Andrew Lindsay sometimes did the same, hoping always to find something which might lead him to Christ.
— The Late Rev. J. B. Radasi, Bembesi. —
IT is with sincere sorrow we announce the removal from time to an endless eternity of the Rev. J. B. Radasi, Bembesi, Matabeleland, Rhodesia, on the 4th November. Rev. John Tallach arrived there on the 6th (two days after the sad event), and sent immediately a cablegram to inform us that Mr Radasi was no more, and that he himself had a good passage, and arrived there in good health.
Mr Radasi was truly an eminently godly man. He served, with the utmost faithfulness, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland at Bembesi during nineteen years. The Lord set many seals to his ministry there, and, we have no doubt, received him with the words—”Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” May the Lord comfort, uphold, and provide for the widow and fatherless children, and may He adapt His grace and strength to Mr Tallach’s needs and the needs of all the people under his care.—N. C.
Organization Fund.—This Fund, according to the Synod’s finding, is to be taken up this month. As our readers are probably aware, the Fund is meant to meet expenses connected with the administration of the affairs of the Church, and it is to be hoped that our people will respond heartily to it.
Noted Preachers of the Northern Highlands.
REV. ALEXANDER STEWART, CROMARTY.
THE Rev. Alexander Stewart was the son of the Rev. Dr Alexander Stewart, Dingwall, and was born in the Manse of Moulin, Perthshire, where his father was then minister. Alexander was born on the 25th September 1794. His mother, an excellent and pious lady, died when he was only five years old. He received the first elements of his education at Moulin Parish School. When Alexander was about ten years of age his father was translated to Dingwall, and the young lad was sent to Tain Academy, one of the most northern educational seminaries, to continue his studies. Here he enjoyed not only exceptional educational advantages, but had the great privilege of enjoying the ministrations of Dr Angus Mackintosh, one of the noted servants of Christ in Easter Ross. He was welcomed as a relative in Dr Mackintosh’s home. From Tain he proceeded to Aberdeen, where he spent two sessions at the University. His cousin, Mr P. G. Stewart, Perth, becoming interested in Alexander, asked him to enter into business with him with the view of being initiated into the business of a manufacturer. He remained in Perth about eighteen months. The training he received in his father’s home stood him in good stead during this period, and in his observance of the Lord’s Day and shunning of questionable pleasures, such as the theatre, he showed he had the moral courage to refuse to go in the way wherein destroyers go. In one of his father’s letters, written about this time, he says:—”I do hope, dear boy! that the Lord has made Himself savingly known to his soul. He lately sent a very pious and affecting letter to his sister Catherine, which I pray may be the appointed means of doing her good.”
In 1813 Alexander went to London, and under the preaching of the Rev. C. Clayton, a true servant of Christ, the religious impressions already referred to were deepened. He now became very discontented with his commercial career, and longed to return to his studies, with a view of preparing himself for the ministry. But he had bound himself by an agreement with his master for a number of years, and there were other difficulties in the way that stood as mountains in his path. Owing to his master becoming a bankrupt, he was set free from his engagement, and in 1815 he returned to Dingwall. Dr Stewart, in a letter to his sister, says:—”I am persuaded that his (Alexander’s) time and labour these last five years have not been spent in a useless manner. He has lived among strangers; he has had to think a good deal for himself. At the same time, the Lord has been teaching him the best knowledge—the saving knowledge of Himself. He has thought and read, closely and practically, on the most important points of religion. He and I have had much sweet fellowship and several turns of prayer together; and I think that I can now heartily offer him to the Lord; and in doing so, that I only give Him what is His own already.” Miss Stewart, Alexander’s aunt, to whom this letter was written, was matron of the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, and took a deep interest in her nephew. It was probably owing to this interest that Alexander went to Glasgow and took up his classes in Arts at the University. On the completion of his Arts course, he entered the Divinity Hall, and it was during his first session that his tender heart received a staggering blow through the death of his beloved aunt. “To mourn for a dear beloved friend,” he says, in a letter to his father, “is a painful thing; but to mourn is salutary, and surely far preferable to a state of foolish levity or callous indifference. I have lately finished a lecture on Roms. iii. 19-31, and am at present in the middle of a sermon on II. Cor. ix. 15. How much more does my dear aunt know of the subject than I do! How much better is she able to tell of the unspeakable greatness of the gift, and also to thank God for it!” While in Glasgow he was brought into touch with Dr Chalmers and Dr Love among others, and it is interesting to know that so high was Dr Chalmers’ opinion of the young student that he wished him to be his successor in St John’s, Glasgow. Mr Stewart’s natural diffidence and self-distrust, which were marked features of his character, made him shrink from considering the proposal.
Mr Stewart was licensed to preach the gospel early in 1823, by the Presbytery of Lorn. In November of this year he was chosen to be minister of the Chapel of Ease, Rothesay. His stay at Rothesay was brief, for in the following year he was called to Cromarty, though the great bulk of the parishioners had never seen him. His friend, Dr Beith, Stirling, gives the following interesting description of Mr Stewart’s appearance and preaching:—”I see him enter the pulpit with a solemnity of aspect which is the fruit of real feeling. He is a tall, clumsily-made man—five feet eleven at least. The outline of his figure is more that of the female than the male. His limbs are full and round. There is a little tendency to stoop; a little tendency, too, to corpulence, but very little. His chest is well thrown out, his shoulders are somewhat raised, and his neck is short. The head is a curiosity. It is nearly round, with a sort of wrench to one side. It rises high, being well developed in a circular arch above his ears, which are small and beautifully formed. It is covered with thick-set hair of a lightish sandy colour, which invades the brow, covers the temples, and reaches to within an inch and a-half of the eyebrows on all sides. Instead of being brushed down in the direction of its natural set, it is brushed up, to clear it off the short brow, and so stands like a peak at right angles with the brow. The noble dimensions of that portion of the head are wholly concealed, and the effect on the beholder, at first sight, is to make him think that he is looking on one who must be a half idiot. The eyebrows are not large nor expanded, but they rise a little at the extremities towards the temples. The nose is beautifully formed; large, but not too large, aquiline and symmetrical, as if cut with the chisel. The eyes are small, grey, rather deep set, sparkling and expressive. The mouth is large, the line of the lips, which are thin, being beautifully curved. The lips shut easily, and look as if they had a superabundance of longitude. The chin is rather long, and is in a slight degree peaked, but it is neither retiring nor protruding. The skin is smooth, as that of early youth. The cheeks are not large. Taking it all in all, it is a handsome, though most uncommon, head and face. I have never seen anything to compare with it.
Well, he enters the pulpit, and after a moment’s pause, rises to read the Psalm. It is not a female voice, and yet it is not the rough voice of a man of his size and form. It is deep, clear, solemn, sweet, flexible, and of great compass. Every word is uttered as if the speaker felt himself standing in the presence of God, and in the sight of the throne, and as if he desired all should feel the same. The emphasis is so laid in reading the Psalm, as to bring out a meaning I had never discovered. His prayer is simplicity itself; a child can comprehend every word, yet his thoughts are of the richest; whilst Scripture phraseology, employed and applied as I never heard it in another, clothes them all. By the time the prayer is ended, I have been instructed and edified. I have received views of truth I had not possessed before, and have had awakened feelings which have set me on edge for the sermon, and which I desire to cherish for ever. The sermon comes. It seems to be a most deeply interesting and animated conversation on a common topic. ‘We ought to think like great men, and speak like the common people,’ appears to be the maxim which regulates the style. The manner is that of one who converses with a friend, and who has chosen a subject by the discussion of which he desires, from his inmost soul, to do him good. Illustration follows illustration in rapid succession, shedding light on his doctrine, and confirming it. Sometimes the illustrations seem puerile, scarcely dignified enough for the pulpit, but that impression lasts only for a moment. Some Scripture allusion, or Scripture quotation, reveals the source from which they have been drawn; and I am filled with admiration of the genius which has discovered what I never discovered, and has made a use of the discovery, which I think I and every man should have made, but which I never did. Scarcely any gesture is employed. One hand rests usually on the open Bible. The other is sometimes quietly raised, and its impressive, short motion gives emphasis to the earnest words which are being spoken. The earnestness seems under severe control. It looks as if the speaker desired to conceal the emotion of his heart in speaking for Christ to sinners—as if he thought noise and gesticulation unbecoming. The eyelids grow red, the tears apparently struggle to escape, but no tear comes. A pink spot, almost a hectish flush—but it is not so—appears like the reflection of an evening sunbeam on the cheek. Some burning words clothe some fine thought, which seems to come fresh from heaven; and the speaker, as I think, half-ashamed of the emotion which he has manifested, and which he has sensibly communicated to his hearers, returns to the calm manner from which he had for an instant departed, only, however, to be enticed from it again and again, yielding, as if by compulsion to the inspiration which ever revisits him. So he proceeds, until, to my deep regret, he closes his wonderful discourse, which has extended long beyond the hour.”
Dr Beith also calls attention to the joyousness—the boisterous joyousness—in which Mr Stewart indulged in the company of congenial friends. And in this connection reference may be made here to an incident connected with a rebuke administered to Mr Stewart by “MacRath Mor” (Rev. John Macrae). “Dr Macdonald and Mr Stewart,” says Mr Macmaster, Mr Macrae’s son-in-law, “were both at Knockbain assisting at the services. At dinner Mr Stewart, on the Monday, was in the most exuberant spirits, and kept the table in a roar of laughter. At last Mr Macrae, who had been silent and impatient, interfered, and said—’Really, Mr Stewart, this is going too far; you can’t call this a fitting conclusion to the work in which we have been engaged’ . . . Late in the evening, when the others had retired, Mr Stewart very solemnly observed—’Macrae, you rebuked me at dinner for my apparent levity; but with my habits, spending so much of my time alone, I think I would have been dead long ago, but that I have occasional times of relaxation when I find myself among friends.’ ‘I felt in his presence,’ Mr Macrae afterwards said, ‘as if I would be glad to hide myself in the earth.'”
In 1847 the congregation of Free St George’s, Edinburgh, addressed a call to him, and though his sensitive mind shrank from the onerous charge, at length he was prevailed upon to accept the call. After the meeting of the Presbytery of Chanonry at which he accepted the call, Mr Stewart was walking along the street with Dr Buchanan, one of the commissioners sent north to prosecute the call, who, noticing Mr Stewart’s dejected look, remarked to him—”You look as if you were carrying a mountain on your back.” “No, Dr Buchanan,” came the sad reply, “I am not carrying a mountain, but I am carrying my gravestone on my back.” His words proved too true. An attack of fever came on. To an enquiry made by his doctor, he answered—”I am going to die. It is a solemn thing, doctor, to die, and to meet God in judgment.” He quietly fell asleep, 5th November 1847, in the fifty-third year of his age.
Two posthumous works have appeared from his pen, “The Tree of Promise” and “The Mosaic Sacrifices.” These books deal with the typology of Scripture, and though only skeletons of sermons, they are very useful and valuable. They give us only a faint idea what he was as a preacher. “His sermons,” says Rev. D. Sage, Resolis, “were truly expressions of the character of his mind, and were powerfully intellectual. His comprehension of a subject never stopped half-way but reached over the whole of it; and any subject which he, at the outset, felt difficult fully and clearly to understand, he declined to enter upon. The language, therefore, which he employed was strictly appropriate. From the beginning to the close of his public addresses a single superfluous word could not be detected. His views of divine truth in general, but more especially of the deeper mysteries of redemption, were not only sound and scriptural, but vivid, striking, and impressive. He had also, in common with all great orators in argument, the happy but rare art of concentrating the whole force of his previous illustration of the subject into one short, comprehensive sentence at the close. In the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, or any of its practical precepts, I never heard a preacher so exquisitely simple and impressive.” — (Memorabilia Domestica, p. 377, 1st Edit.).