- Home
- Speakers
- James Stalker
- Different Temptations
James Stalker
James Stalker (February 21, 1848 – February 5, 1927) was a Scottish preacher, scholar, and author whose calling from God within the United Free Church of Scotland ignited a passion for biblical exposition and evangelistic preaching across five decades. Born in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland, to a joiner father and a mother whose details are unrecorded, he grew up in a modest Presbyterian family. Converted during the 1873 Moody and Sankey revival at age 25—an event that left an evangelical glow on his ministry—he excelled at the University of Edinburgh, winning prizes in every class, and studied divinity at New College, Edinburgh, later spending summers at Berlin and Halle under theologians like Tholuck and Dorner. Stalker’s calling from God was affirmed with his ordination in 1874, leading him to serve as minister of St. Brycedale Free Church in Kirkcaldy (1874–1887) and St. Matthew’s Free Church in Glasgow (1887–1902), where his sermons called vast audiences to faith with commanding eloquence and devotional depth. Appointed Professor of Church History at United Free Church College in Aberdeen (1902–1926), he preached to students and delivered the 1891 Yale Lectures on Preaching, published as The Preacher and His Models, emphasizing the preacher’s divine commission. Author of over 20 works, including The Life of Jesus Christ (1879) and The Life of St. Paul (1884), he became Scotland’s most renowned preacher in America. Never married, he passed away at age 78 in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
James Stalker delves into the mystery of providence, emphasizing the unequal distribution of temptation among individuals. He compares sheltered situations to ships in a harbor, protected from real storms, and contrasts them with those facing the full force of tempests on the high seas. Stalker acknowledges the diverse challenges people encounter, whether in solitude or society, highlighting that temptation can manifest in various forms and environments.
Different Temptations
"A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven" (John 3:27). There is, indeed, no greater mystery in providence than the unequal proportion in which temptation is distributed among different individuals. Some are comparatively little tempted; others are thrown into a fiery furnace of it, seven times heated. There are in the world sheltered situations, in which a man may be compared to a ship in the harbor, where the waves may sometimes heave a little, but a real storm never comes; there are others, where a man may be compared to the vessel which has to sail the high seas and face the full force of the tempest. Many of you must know well what this means. Perhaps you know it so well that you feel inclined to say to me, Preacher, you know little about it: if you had to live where we live--if you had to associate with the companions with whom we have to work and hear the kind of language to which we have to listen--you would know better the truth of what you are saying. Do not be too sure of that. Perhaps my library is as dangerous a place for me as the market-place or the workshop is for you. Solitude has its temptations as well as society.
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
James Stalker (February 21, 1848 – February 5, 1927) was a Scottish preacher, scholar, and author whose calling from God within the United Free Church of Scotland ignited a passion for biblical exposition and evangelistic preaching across five decades. Born in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland, to a joiner father and a mother whose details are unrecorded, he grew up in a modest Presbyterian family. Converted during the 1873 Moody and Sankey revival at age 25—an event that left an evangelical glow on his ministry—he excelled at the University of Edinburgh, winning prizes in every class, and studied divinity at New College, Edinburgh, later spending summers at Berlin and Halle under theologians like Tholuck and Dorner. Stalker’s calling from God was affirmed with his ordination in 1874, leading him to serve as minister of St. Brycedale Free Church in Kirkcaldy (1874–1887) and St. Matthew’s Free Church in Glasgow (1887–1902), where his sermons called vast audiences to faith with commanding eloquence and devotional depth. Appointed Professor of Church History at United Free Church College in Aberdeen (1902–1926), he preached to students and delivered the 1891 Yale Lectures on Preaching, published as The Preacher and His Models, emphasizing the preacher’s divine commission. Author of over 20 works, including The Life of Jesus Christ (1879) and The Life of St. Paul (1884), he became Scotland’s most renowned preacher in America. Never married, he passed away at age 78 in Aberdeen, Scotland.