A Generous Soul - Part 7

John Watson (3 November 1850 – 6 May 1907), was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland. He is remembered as an author of fiction, known by his pen name Ian Maclaren. I'm currently reading his short story collection "St Jude", but am also fascinated by his life. Here was a man who stood out against a narrowness in his creed, and who was indeed "a generous soul".

The Life of The Rev. John Watson, D.D. "Ian Maclaren"
A Generous Soul
By W. Robertson Nicoll

Dr. Watson's prayers had a dignity not often noticeable in extempore utterances, and withal a most widespread remembrance of different members of the community. He would pray not only for the sick, but for " those who wait upon them " ; for " the little children at home " ; for " the boys and girls at school " ; for " those bereft of the kindly light of reason " ; for " those who have fallen into sin, and for whom the help of man is vain " ; and continuously, and with most tender emphasis, for " lonely people" This last prayer to my knowledge endeared him greatly to many who came under that sad category, but who left the church heartened to find that they were not forgotten.

To the order of divine worship in his church Watson gave the most scrupulous care. His own prayers were largely liturgical. He made conscience of every detail, studying to make the whole service from beginning to end an impressive unity. It was a matter of grief to him that among so many of the Protestant Churches public worship without a sermon was thought to be unattractive. While, as we have seen, he gave a great place to the sermon, he yet believed that there ought to be solemn services of praise and prayer, of devout worship and communion where no sermon was needed.

Nothing called forth his great powers of sarcasm as did the degrading and debasing of public worship. He was perhaps hardly quite just to those who were trying in England to make Church life really popular. He loathed the idea of " running " a church upon modern lines. He conceived that the type of minister required for such a purpose would not be a man of learning and insight and devotion and charity. The teacher who expounded the Bible after a thorough and edifying fashion, the pastor who watched over and trained the character of his people would hardly be needed, and certainly would not be much appreciated.

“The chief demand is a sharp little man with the gifts of an impresario, a commercial traveller, and an auctioneer combined, with the slightest flavour of a peripatetic evangelist. Instead of a study lined with books of grave divinity and classical literature, let him have an office with pigeon-holes for his programmes, circulars, and endless correspondence, and cupboards for huge books with cuttings from newspapers and reports of other organisations, and a telephone ever tingling, and a set of handbooks, How to Make a Sermon in Thirty Minutes, Splinters of Ice and Scraps of Coral; or, One Thousand Racy Anecdotes from the Mission Field, The Secrets of a Happy Social, and suchlike practical works for the modern minister."

That such ways would be successful even as their promoters desired he did not believe. Christianity would not have existed if the Apostles had been " pleasing preachers " and " bright men." The Church was not a place of second-rate entertainments or a cheap business concern, but the witness to immortality, the spiritual home of souls, the servant of the poor, and the protector of the friendless.