Alexander Stewart (minister)

Alexander Stewart (1794 - 1847) was born at the manse in Moulin, Perthshire, on  25  September  1794. He was the son of Alexander Stewart,  minister  of  Canongate,  Edinburgh. He was educated  at  King's College,  Aberdeen,  and the University of Glasgow. He was ordained  to the Chapel-of-Ease,  Rothesay,  on 10  February  1824 and later  translated, and admitted to Cromarty on  23  September  1824. He joined the  Free Church  in  1843. He continued as the minister  of the Free  Church, Cromarty, from 1843 to 1847. He was elected to  Free St George's,  Edinburgh  (as  successor  to  Dr Candlish),  but  died  before the induction, on 5 November  1847,  of  a  fever. He was reckoned  one  of  the  most  eminent preachers  in the Church. Hugh Miller wrote warmly  of  him.

Early life and education
Alexander Stewart was the son of Alexander Stewart, Church of Scotland minister at Moulin, Perthshire and he was born at the manse in Moulin, on  25  September  1794. He was educated in  the Moulin  Parish  School,  and  thereafter  at  the  Tain  Academy. Subsequently, he became  a  student  of  King's  College,  Old  Aberdeen,  where  he  continued for  two  sessions. Then, being  considered  sufficiently  educated  for  entering on  the  business  of  life  in  the  line  chosen  for  him,  he  first  became  a clerk  in  a  house  at  Perth,  and  thereafter  in  a  house  in  London. While in London, he  attended  the  ministry  of  Mr George Clayton, under whose ministry he is reported to have been influenced. Stewart decided to study for the ministry of the church while in London.

Stewart's paternal aunt  was a resident  in  Glasgow,  so he  came  there,  and  was  enrolled  a  student  Glagow University. During his  course  there,  he  sought no  distinction,  but  shrank  instinctively,  from any  notice  of  a  public  kind  which  at  any  time  was  taken  of  him. In the Divinity  Hall,  as  a  student  with  Dr M'Gill,  he  was  more  especially noticed.

From the  date  of  his  first  appearance  in  the  pulpit,  he  became eminent  as  a  preacher. The attention  of  the  first  ministers  of  his  time was  attracted  to  him. It was  well  known  by  his  contemporaries  that  Thomas Chalmers,  after  hearing  him,  was  so  impressed  with  his  preaching, that  he  used  every  influence  with  him  to  gain  his  consent  to  be  nominated as  his  successor  in  the church  and  parish  of  St  John's, Glasgow,  from  which  he  was  about,  himself,  to  be  removed  to  the  Moral Philosophy  Chair,  St  Andrews.

Church of Scotland ministry
He was licensed to preach by Presbytery of Lorn in  1822. In November 1823  he  was  chosen  to  be  the  minister  of  the  Chapel  of  Ease, Rothesay,  where  the  Sabbath  services  were  half  in  Gaelic  and  half  in  English. He was subsequently ordained  to the Chapel-of-Ease,  Rothesay,  on 10  February  1824. He was presented by  George  IV. in June,  translated,  and admitted to Cromarty on  23  September  1824. At Cromarty  he  was  not  required  to  preach  in  Gaelic,  but  as  the  town  is  situated  in  a  Highland  district,  and  as  he  was  there  in  charge  of  a  large  Highland  population,  his  knowledge  of  the  language  was  reported to be of  much  value. Hugh Miller was one of his parishioners there.

Cromarty Free Church ministry
Mr Stewart  continued  minister  of  Cromarty  till  his  death. At the Disruption  he  abandoned  his  connection with  the  State,  abjuring  the  new  ecclesiastical  Establishment. He never  made  himself  prominent  in  the  discussions  which,  in  his  time  filled  the  land. Beith reports that his local  influence  was  great. Speeches by  him  in  his Presbytery  and  Synod  were  described, says Beith, by  those  who  heard  them  as  something unlike  any  that  other  men  had  ever  spoken. But on  no  occasion during  his  ministry  did  he  open  his  mouth  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the Church. He did  not  feel  it  to  be  required. He did  not  think  it  would have  been  useful.

Call to Edinburgh and death
On the death of Thomas Chalmers, Robert Smith Candlish was appointed to replace him at New College. This left his congregation of St George's, Edinburgh without a full time minister. The congregation was summoned for 22 September, and with equal unanimity agreed to call Mr. Stewart to be their pastor. From the first Mr. Stewart regarded the call with alarm. He was of opinion that a great city congregation was not his proper sphere of labour ; and he dreaded a severance from Cromarty.

From the first, dark forebodings possessed him. He wrote to Alexander Beith, who had sought to aid St George's in obtaining his consent to come, — " I feel as if destitute of the faculties for dealing with men. I ought to have been a monk in a cloister, dealing with books and systems; among living people I feel myself powerless as a child." To one of his own office-bearers he said, — "I see a dark lurid cloud hanging over me; but I can discover, I think, a bright spot beyond it."

To one of the Commissioners from the south who went to Cromarty to prosecute the Call, and who said to Mr. Stewart, on leaving the Presbytery meeting-place, "You look as if you were carrying a mountain on your back," he replied — " No, I am not carrying a mountain, but I am carrying my gravestone on my back."

Yet he had resolved to accept the call, saying to friends who were discouraging him from facing a difficult position — "Will I not be more useful in Edinburgh, though I were to live there only three months, than if I remained in Cromarty three years indulging my own ease and feelings, while God forsook me because I forsook both Him and the call of duty."

Stewart died on Friday, 5 November 1847. He is reported to have had a fever; the stress of the recent call may have been an inflencial factor. He was buried between the doors of the Free Church in Cromarty.

Works

 * The Tree of  Promise  (Edinburgh,  1864)
 * Man's, Redemption, the  Joy  of  Angels,  a  sermon on  1  Peter  i.  12  (Precious  Seed  Discourses) (Edinburgh,  1877)
 * The Mosaic  Sacrifices (Edinburgh,  1883)

Family
Alexander Stewart was the son of Alexander Stewart, Church of Scotland minister (Canongate Edinburgh), who himself was a son of Alexander Stewart, Church of Scotland minister (Blair Athole). He died unmarried. A maternal  aunt,  the  widow  of  a  minister,  became,  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  an  inmate,  put  in  charge  of  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  manse  of  Cromarty.