Alexander Stewart

Alexander Stewart (1794 - 1847) was born at the manse in Moulin,Perthshire, on25September1794. He was the son ofAlexander Stewart,ministerofCanongate,Edinburgh. He waseducatedatKing's College,Aberdeen,and the University of Glasgow. He wasordainedto the Chapel-of-Ease,Rothesay,on 10February1824 and latertranslated, and admitted to Cromarty on23September1824.He joinedtheFree Churchin1843. He continued as theministerof the FreeChurch, Cromarty, from 1843 to 1847. He was electedtoFree St George's,Edinburgh(assuccessortoDr Candlish),butdiedbefore the induction, on 5 November1847,ofafever.He wasreckonedoneofthemosteminent preachersin the Church. Hugh Miller wrotewarmlyofhim.

Alexander Stewart was the son of Alexander Stewart, Church of Scotland minister at Moulin,Perthshire and he was born at the manse in Moulin, on25September1794. He was educatedinthe MoulinParishSchool,andthereafterattheTainAcademy.Subsequently, hebecameastudentofKing'sCollege,OldAberdeen,wherehecontinued fortwosessions.Then,beingconsideredsufficientlyeducatedforentering onthebusinessoflifeinthelinechosenforhim,hefirstbecamea clerkinahouseatPerth,andthereafterinahouseinLondon. While in London,heattendedtheministryofMr 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 paternalauntwas a residentinGlasgow,so hecamethere,andwasenrolledastudentGlagow University.Duringhiscoursethere,hesought nodistinction,butshrankinstinctively,from anynoticeofapublickindwhichatanytimewastakenofhim.Inthe DivinityHall,asastudentwithDr M'Gill,hewasmoreespecially noticed.

Fromthedateofhisfirstappearanceinthepulpit,hebecame eminentasapreacher.Theattentionofthefirstministersofhistime wasattractedtohim.ItwaswellknownbyhiscontemporariesthatThomas Chalmers,afterhearinghim,wassoimpressedwithhispreaching, thatheusedeveryinfluencewithhimtogainhisconsenttobenominated ashissuccessorinthe churchandparishofStJohn's, Glasgow,fromwhichhewasabout,himself,toberemovedtotheMoral PhilosophyChair,StAndrews.

He was licensed to preach by Presbytery of Lornin1822. In November1823hewaschosentobetheministeroftheChapelofEase, Rothesay,wheretheSabbathserviceswerehalfinGaelicandhalfinEnglish. He was subsequentlyordainedto the Chapel-of-Ease,Rothesay,on 10February1824. He was presentedbyGeorgeIV.inJune,translated,and admitted to Cromarty on23September1824.AtCromartyhewasnotrequiredtopreachinGaelic,butasthetownissituatedinaHighlanddistrict,andashewasthereinchargeofalargeHighlandpopulation,hisknowledgeofthelanguagewasreported to be ofmuchvalue. Hugh Miller was one of his parishioners there.

MrStewartcontinuedministerofCromartytillhisdeath.Atthe Disruptionheabandonedhisconnection withtheState,abjuringthenewecclesiasticalEstablishment. Henevermadehimselfprominentinthediscussionswhich,inhistimefilledtheland.Beith reports that hislocalinfluencewasgreat.Speechesbyhiminhis PresbyteryandSynodweredescribed, says Beith, bythosewhoheardthemassomething unlikeanythatothermenhadeverspoken.Butonnooccasion duringhisministrydidheopenhismouthintheGeneralAssemblyofthe Church.Hedidnotfeelittoberequired.Hedidnotthinkitwould havebeenuseful.

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 hisconsent 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 — "WillI not be more useful in Edinburgh, though I were to live there only three months, than if I remained in Cromarty three yearsindulging 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.

• TheTree ofPromise(Edinburgh,1864)
• Man's, Redemption,theJoyofAngels,asermon on1Peteri.12(PreciousSeedDiscourses) (Edinburgh,1877)
• TheMosaicSacrifices (Edinburgh,1883)

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. Amaternalaunt,thewidowofaminister,became,afterthedeathofherhusband,aninmate,putinchargeofthedomesticaffairsofthemanseofCromarty.