Many a preacher misses the mark because, though he knows books, he does not know men.
– James Stalker
Preaching | Books
Where the Gospel is faithfully preached and affectionately believed, there is gradually wrought into the very features of people the stamp of the Son of man.
– James Stalker
The Gospel
It is not mere reading, but meditation — “meditation all the day,” as the Psalmist says — which extracts the sweetness and the power out of Scripture.
– James Stalker
Meditation | Scripture
Augustine says that we may, out of our dead sins, make stepping stones to rise to the heights of perfection. What did he mean by that? He meant that the memory of our falls may breed in us such a humility, such a distrust of self, such a constant clinging to Christ as we could never have had without the experience of our own weakness.
– James Stalker
Weakness
There is a beauty bestowed in some degree on all God’s saints who pray much which is of the same nature and is the most precious of all answers to prayer. Character flows from the well-spring of prayer.
– James Stalker
Character | Prayer
Conscience comes to us in lonely hours; it wakens us in the night; it stands at the side of the bed and says, Come, wake up and listen to me! And there it holds us with its remorseless eye; and our buried sins rise out of the grave of the past; they march by in melancholy procession; and we lie in terror looking at them. Nobody knows but ourselves. Next morning we go forth to business with a smiling face; but conscience has had its revenge.
– James Stalker
Conscience
When we are engaged in His work we are very close to Christ. We are expending our anxiety and affections on the same objects on which His heart is set.
– James Stalker
Service
There are those who can venture far into the world and yet everywhere be true to their Savior; they are known as Christians wherever they appear, and people respect their position; they would not go anywhere if they knew that their mouths were to be stopped on the subjects lying nearest their hearts; the energy of Christ in them is so glowing and victorious a force that they mould the society in which they are, instead of being molded by it.
– James Stalker
Christians
The essential question is not, however, how love began, but whether it is growing.
– James Stalker
Love
How poor a guide enthusiasm is when it is not informed with the mind and spirit of God.
– James Stalker
The Holy Spirit
Where two or three are met together, the prayer of one strikes fire from the soul of another; and the latter in his turn leads the way to nobler heights of devotion. And lo! As their joy increases, there is One in their midst whom they all recognize and cling to. He was there before, but it is only when their hearts begin to burn that they recognize Him; and in a true sense they may be said to bring Him there.
– James Stalker
Prayer | Unity
You occasionally hear a preacher who can quote a text so that it becomes transfigured and shines in his argument like a gem. What gives this power? It comes when the mind can go down and down through the text till it reaches the great lake of light that lies beneath all the texts, and a jet from that fiery sea comes up and burns on the surface.
– James Stalker
Preaching | Power