Cornerstone No. 183, page 19
Great Scot!
59: Jamie Stuart
Ay, like as not d’as never ‘eeard on ‘im, bu’ gi’oer, n’ ge’t di ‘eear’d dahn
on dis an’ da mun learn summat. Quite easy eh? (Translation below at
the end of the article).Well, it’s only a slice of South Yorkshire
‘vernacular’ – but where does it fit into
the GS Series?? It leads us to a great
Glaswegian, a patriot of ‘Lullen*’ a
dedicated member of the Scots Kirk
and a man who brought belief (and in
some cases, relief) to the proletariat
of the Scottish Lowlands. Jamie Stuart
was an evangelist who reached the
people. He created the
and the
. ‘Sacrilegious!’
I hear you say?? Och, no – read on.
Jamie Stuart was born, one of four
children, on September 10th, 1920 in
Stepps, a suburb of Glasgow. Who was he? Well, an athlete, an actor,
an airman (wireless operator in the 2nd WW), a social worker – a bit of
a nobody really... until he became a renowned Christian writer and a
pivotal figure in the life of the Scots Kirk; but let’s go back to Jamie’s
roots. Glasgow – well before the ‘Smiles Better’ campaign – was a city
well known for its Gorbals and its Cranhill districts – no-one talked of
Bearsden and Milngavie or any other affluent corner of Scotland’s
largest city. The home of Scotland’s oldest ‘fitba’ club (do you know
which one?) was looked upon as a place to be avoided after dark (dinna
go down Sauchiehall Street post gloaming) and it needed a strong man,
one who believed in the power of faith to convert this image. The hour
called forth that man. But before we look at his evangelical life let’s have
a wee example of Mr. Stuart’s Scots prose. Here, the elder brother of the
Prodigal Son rails with his father for welcoming the prodigal back into
the fold: