by the late Rev. James S. Sinclair
(continued from page 177)
Two years after this time Mr Duncan underwent a new experience which he was accustomed to describe as his “second conversion”. His first spiritual joy had gradually ebbed away. The Lord’s comfortable and powerful presence had been withdrawn. He found himself preaching a faith and assurance of which he had no inward conscious experience. Hitherto overlooking to a large extent the deceitfulness and wickedness of the heart, he now awakened to a new sense of the moral corruption within, and charged himself with wretched hypocrisy, “babbling,” as he said, “but an assurance to which he himself was a stranger, deceiving himself and, he feared, deceiving others too.” A mere sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. He passed through a severe and protracted conflict, in which he went down to the bottoms of the mountains, in his soul’s exercise, condemning himself, and imploring the Lord’s mercy. On one occasion when outside in distress, he ran into certain brick kilns that were near, went down on his knees and prayed thus: “O Lord, I have broken thy law, and I have not believed in thy Son, and I have refused thy Holy Spirit; and if thou shouldest now cast me into hell, all holy beings would say, ‘Righteous art thou O Lord, when thou judgest’. But Lord, for thy mercy’s sake, give me thy Holy Spirit, that I may believe in thy Son.”
He was deeply taught at this time the holiness of God’s law, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the justice of the sentence of eternal death, the sovereignty of God in bestowing salvation through Christ, and the necessity of the Holy Spirit’s work to the production of saving faith and all other Christian graces — truths that he was familiar with and in agreement with before, but which were now made real and powerful in his personal experience by a special discipline of the Divine Spirit. He was thus more fully qualified — qualified to a degree, to say the least, not excelled by any in his generation — to speak to his fellow-sinners and to the household of faith of the depths and heights of the redemption which was finished upon the cross, and of the love and other perfections of a Triune God as therein gloriously manifested, as well as of the trials, temptations, and comforts of God’s people in their journey to the land of eternal light and blessedness.
As to his messengers of help in this trying but blessed period, he acknowledges special indebtedness to the Rev. Gavin Parker, Dr Kidd, and the writings of Dr Love, Dr Owen, and Herman Witsius, the Dutch divine. Mr Parker, who was a disciple of Dr Love, was a gospel minister of great solidity and weight, whose labours were much crowned of the Lord, and his teaching at this time more than that of any other on the great subjects of sin and grace was blessed to Mr Duncan.
Mr Duncan’s preaching engagements now increased, and, through a series of providences, which need not be presently detailed, he was chosen in 1830 minister of the Chapel of Ease at Persie, in the parish of Bendochy, situated towards the eastern boundary of Perthshire (a chapel, by the way, that was at one time ministered to by the Rev. Mr Shaw, afterwards of Bracadale in Skye). Here he laboured (without ordination) for a period of ten months, and proved himself not only a profound preacher of the gospel, but a faithful witness against sin in every form — Sabbath desecration, promiscuous dancing, and other evils.
At the close of one of the services, where he had preached with great originality and power, two strangers from a distance met and talked on the sermon they had heard. One of them said, “What did you think of Mr Duncan’s sermon today?” The other replied in the words of Prov. 31:29. “Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.” His stay in Persie was short. Through the influence of Mr Hugh MacKay, “a most estimable Glasgow gentleman”, who heard him and was “profoundly impressed with the spirituality and depth of his ministrations”, he was brought, in 1831, to Glasgow, as an assistant to the Rev. Robert Clark, A.M., minister of Duke Street Gaelic Chapel (afterwards of Kinlochbervie, Sutherlandshire). Mr Duncan’s special work was to deliver an English lecture every Sabbath afternoon. He also delivered a week-night lecture. His preaching was much followed by those persons who hungered for “the deeper and richer things” of God’s word, and their number at length so increased that it was resolved to make an effort to have him settled in a congregation of his own. A Church-Building Association had been started in Glasgow at the time, and on certain conditions the association consented to make a grant so as to enable Mr Duncan’s people to proceed with the erection of a place of worship. The site chosen was in the district of the Cowcaddens, but before the building was erected Mr Duncan was ordained on the 28th April 1836 as minister of what was to be known as the Milton Parish congregation. He was introduced to his new pastoral charge by Mr (afterwards Dr) MacDonald of Ferintosh, “The Apostle of the North”. Here he ministered for upwards of four years to the great edification of hearers who hungered for the bread of life. Among his eminent contemporaries in the pulpit at this period was the late Rev. J. R. Anderson, who had begun his useful and honoured ministry in Kirkfield Chapel, and Mr Duncan and he highly esteemed one another in the Lord.
Early in the year 1837 Mr Duncan was married to Miss Janet Tower, of Aberdeen, one of Mr Parker’s devoted hearers, and an excellent Christian lady who proved a helpmeet in every sense of the word to her husband. Their first-born child (born 10th March, 1838) was a daughter who was named Annie, Mr Macdonald of Ferintosh officiating at the Baptism. But their married life was short, for Mrs Duncan passed away in the spring of 1839, a week after the premature birth of a second child, also a daughter, who did not survive. Our godly divine thus passed through still further sore and trying experiences which undoubtedly contributed more and more to make him a son of consolation to the flock of Christ and to deserve for himself the encomium which an old worthy woman in Glasgow (Judith Jack), who was one of his hearers, passed upon him to the speaker, “Oh, he was rare merciful!” During this period he took his share in several courses of lectures — on Protestantism, The Ten Commandments, and the Jews — which were delivered by ministers of the Established Church. One of these lectures, entitled “The work of the Holy Spirit in Connection with the Conversion of the Jews” is a truly noble production, full of genius, massive doctrine, and solemn, wise, affectionate appeal to the Jewish people.
In the year 1838 there was the dawn of a new era in the history of Mr Duncan which led to the dissolution of his tie with the Milton Church. Much interest had arisen in the Church of Scotland on the subject of the conversion of the Jews, and Mr Duncan was appointed a member of the Glasgow Jewish Committee. The issue was that he formally offered his services as an agent of the Church, either at home or abroad, for the promotion of Christianity among the Jews. This offer was cordially accepted. Shortly thereafter a vacancy occurred in the Hebrew Chair of Glasgow University, and with the permission of the Committee, Mr Duncan sent a letter of application to the University authorities, and a remarkable letter it was. At the end of a lengthened statement of his varied and vast attainments in Oriental learning, he wrote: “In conclusion, with the exception of Cabbalistic works, which are exceedingly obtruse, and require deep study, I profess all Hebrew; and I would most willingly present myself, along with any other, for competitive examination by any men throughout the world, whether Christian or Jew.” Though a more profound scholar in the field described could not be found, he was unsuccessful. Still his application brought him into notice so remarkably that his Alma Mater, the University of Aberdeen, conferred on him the degree of LL.D. as a mark of respect for his outstanding linguistic attainments.
This year, 1839, was also signalised by the departure of a famous deputation from the Church of Scotland to the Continent for the purpose of collecting information respecting the Jews. The members of it were Revs. Drs Black and Keith, R. M. Mac-Cheyne, and A. A. Bonar. They went as far as the Holy Land, and were absent seven months. Their report gave rise to much discussion and prayer as to when the first mission could be started. It was ultimately agreed in 1840 that the first mission should be planted in Moldavia, to be followed by another at Pesth, the capital of Hungary, in which places there were a large number of Jews. Dr Duncan was appointed to go to Pesth. The pastoral tie was dissolved in October 1840, but he continued to officiate in the Milton Church on the Sabbaths, while during the week he spent the winter between Edinburgh and Glasgow, conducting Hebrew classes, and superintending the studies of the aspirants to mission work among the Jews. He was married the second time in the spring of 1841 to a lady of excellent qualities. Here a story of his absence of mind may be related. On the day of the marriage his niece sent him upstairs to dress for the ceremony. Undressing was associated in his mind with going to bed. The cab came to take him away, but there was no sign of the dressed bridegroom. His niece went upstairs and found him fast asleep in bed, with a Hebrew book in his hand!
In the month of May he was finally set apart to his new office in St. George’s Church, Glasgow, and only four weeks after a party consisting of Dr Duncan, his wife, Mrs Torrance, an officer’s widow, and her daughter by a first marriage, and his own, still a child, as well as two young missionaries (Messrs Smith and Allan), set out for the appointed field, where they safely arrived in the month of August. I regret that in the limited time at my disposal I can only notice in a few sentences this short but spiritually romantic period in the history of Dr Duncan. My hearers must read the memoirs for themselves, if they have not already done so.
He was only in Pesth for two years, but it was a time of crowded activity and precious fruitfulness. What a combination of providential circumstances had led to the inception of this Mission! The deputation had been advised by their Committee not to waste time by visiting Austria, as it was reckoned a hopeless field for a Protestant Mission, but an accident befalling Dr Black in the Egyptian desert it was found necessary that he and Dr Keith should separate from their two junior brethren and return homeward by the Danube. They came to Pesth. Dr Keith took seriously ill in a hotel there. The Archduchess of Hungary, a noble and pious lady of the Protestant faith, heard of his illness and sent immediate orders that everything possible should be done for him. He was restored from the very point of death. The Archduchess had been long praying that God would send His true gospel to Pesth, and she had premonitions for a fortnight before she heard of Dr Keith’s illness that something was to happen to her. She had long conversations with him, and when she learnt his earnest desire that a Mission to the Jews would be started, she assured him that should the Church of Scotland plant a mission there she would place her own person between it and whatever danger might assail it. It was to this scene that Dr Duncan came with his assistants, and the Lord blessed his labours to the conversion of not a few, such as the well-known family of Saphirs and others, who became notable witnesses for Christ. The mission also exercised a most beneficent influence upon a variety of classes besides the Jews, Protestants, and Roman Catholics, learned and unlearned. Dr Duncan and his family had a short change for health reasons in the winter and spring (1842-43) to Leghorn in Italy; they returned in June 1843. In the course of their return journey they got a copy of the Witness newspaper containing an account of the Disruption which they read with deep interest and sympathy.
The Disruption of 1843 made many changes. Two of the Divinity Professors, Drs Chalmers and Welsh, came out, and were at once recognised in their respective offices in the Free Church of Scotland. The Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages adhered to the Establishment, and so a new professor was required. When the news came that Dr Duncan and all the other missionaries of the Church of Scotland had adhered to the Free Church, the Education Committee unanimously elected Dr Duncan to the Hebrew Chair, and the appointment was finally confirmed by the General Assembly which met at Glasgow in the autumn. He accepted the office, and arrived in Scotland at the beginning of November, when he had immediately to begin his professorial work. This important position he occupied for the remaining twenty-seven years of his life with untold benefit to his students.
It certainly cannot be said, however, that he was a success in systematically drilling the students in the elements of the language, in its grammatical structure, peculiarities, and niceties. Not but he had all these things at his finger ends, and was capable of doing so, if he only could methodically concentrate his mind in such rudimentary work. But he was defective in orderly method, and so students who were not themselves enthusiastic in the study of Hebrew suffered in their acquisition of a knowledge of the language. On the other hand, he was admirably qualified (as one of his students bore testimony) to handle the exegesis of Scripture, especially that of the Old Testament, and in this department his vast learning, his still more remarkable powers of thought, and, above all, the profound reaches of his spiritual experience, made him a rare master.
Moreover, the students had before their eyes daily a man of the most powerful and penetrating intellect and prodigious learning, who was naturally of a sceptical turn of mind, and who had lived at one time, as he said himself, in almost all the heresies, expounding the Scriptures with profound loyalty and reverence, walking in the fear of God and the faith of Jesus Christ, trembling and alive to his personal relationship with the Lord, and seeking above everything else the experimental enjoyment of divine favour and fellowship. Sometimes he was treading the dark valley of desertion, at other times rejoicing in the light, and when his soul was come into deep waters, such was his profound humility and open frankness of disposition that he did not hesitate to ask his students in the class, or as he met them going in and out, to pray for him, or to put the question whether they had a word from the Lord for him.
His prayers, further were remarkable, and constituted an intellectual, doctrinal, and spiritual education in themselves. He frequently forgot himself in the exercise, and the prayer occupied nearly the whole of the class hour, while on more than one occasion it was the bell at the end of the hour that awoke him to the fact that he had gone entirely beyond the limits.
But one must not think from these circumstances that he was entirely oblivious to the technical details of his work. Sometimes, indeed, a student allowed this idea to take possession of him, and grossly neglected his preparations, but he discerned, perhaps, before the class hour was over that this was far from a safe policy. On one occasion a student who made a shameful exhibition of his ignorance of the simplest elements of Hebrew in the class received the following unexpected but scathing rebuke: “I trust, sir, for the honour of Christianity, that you will never meet with an unconverted Jew.” This was as if a thunderbolt had suddenly crashed down upon the class, and made the most careless feel that their professor, with all his apparent obliviousness and patience, was not to be trifled with. He had also a keen sense of humour, though it was not always apparent from the seriousness and gravity of his demeanour. An amusing illustration of this occurred one day. The students were reading in the 22nd chapter of Numbers, the story of Balaam. One of them was found very deficient in the nicer details of the Hebrew, and Dr Duncan almost lost his temper with him. At last, in despair he said to the student, “Well read on,” and the very first words that he came to were, “And the ass said unto Balaam, am I not thine ass?” The scene was truly ludicrous, and the Professor broke out into a loud burst of laughter, in which the class joined.
But no sooner was the explosion over than the sensitive conscience of Dr Duncan smote him. “A cloud passed over his face, and his eyes filled with tears while he confessed to the class that he had done wrong and set a bad example. He said that no one should ever laugh over the word of Jehovah, and that he especially, a Professor of the Old Testament Scriptures, should have been the last to do so.” (see Life by Dr Brown).
As time wore on, Dr Duncan had assistance in his class teaching, which relieved him largely of the kind of work he was least fitted for, and latterly, owing to the infirmities of age, a colleague and successor (Rev. A. B. Davidson) who undertook all the elementary instruction. He was able himself, however, to do his own part until a few weeks before his death.
During this long and closing period of his career he was frequently a member of the Assembly, and took part in its deliberations. His most impressive appearances were in connection with the Jewish Missions Day, when he delivered addresses of remarkable elevation and enthusiasm, still on record in the Assembly blue-books. The question of Union with the United Presbyterian Church was also started in his time. Dr Duncan though a lover of the image of Christ, no matter where he saw it, was a conscientious and ardent opponent of the union movement — he viewed what is called Voluntaryism with the greatest dread, as through its lack of acknowledging sufficiently God and Christ in the affairs of the State having a tendency to Atheism — and he would have made any sacrifice rather than enter the proposed United Church.
There was one sphere of service outside his ordinary work during this time in which his labours were of the highest spiritual value and usefulness, that is, in assisting ministers in the pulpit at Communion and other seasons. For many years he assisted Dr Moody Stuart in Free St. Luke’s, and latterly Dr Horatius Bonar in the Grange Free Church. The Great Day will only declare the amount of spiritual benefit which godly and exercised souls derived from his profoundly illuminating and comforting discourses. Some such followed him wherever he went, and drank in “the living water” with rare satisfaction and delight. He was a nonesuch as a messenger of Christ in their esteem, and they could not get enough from his heaven-taught lips.
It may interest some of my audience to learn what the late Dr Kennedy of Dingwall — himself a master of Assemblies in the work of proclaiming the glorious Gospel — thought of Dr Duncan’s preaching. A friend asked Dr Kennedy on one occasion if he had ever heard Dr Duncan preach. “Yes,” he replied, “on two occasions. When I was a student at Aberdeen I won a money bursary, and at the close of the session I went to Glasgow, sight-seeing, and having been informed that he was preaching one week evening I went to Milton Church to hear him. The building was fairly large, but the congregation small and scattered. The light was not very good, but the brilliance of the sermon in close reasoning and soul-stirring power. I’ll never forget. On another occasion,” he said, “I was assisting Dr Begg at the Communion season in Edinburgh, and Dr Moody Stuart invited me to take the Friday evening service at Free St. Luke’s, which I would have done but for the closing remark in his letter, saying that otherwise he would have to fall back upon Dr Duncan. My reply was, ‘Great is your privilege in having such a one to fall back upon: I’ll not be coming to preach’. Then,” added Dr Kennedy, “when I estimated Dr Duncan had got under weigh with the service I stole quietly into the church, and heard a sermon that did not seem to have been prepared on earth, but felt as if one of the old prophets had come from within the veil to tell us what was going on there. Nothing more heavenly did I ever hear from human lips.”
Dr Duncan’s labours were owned of God, both to the conversion of sinners and to the edification of the saints, particularly to the latter. Apart from a large number of godly people in general there was one notable instance of a public servant of Christ, the Rev. William C. Burns, the eminent evangelist and devoted missionary, whose preaching was signally blessed to hundreds, if not thousands of persons about the Disruption time in Scotland and elsewhere. During his divinity studies in Glasgow, especially the last two years of them (1838-39), Mr Burns attended closely on the ministry of Mr Duncan in the Milton Church, and obtained, as biographers tell us, “deeper views of divine truth and more solemn aspects of the Christian calling and discipleship than he had known before.” “Every Sabbath spent by him in Milton Church” was as “a day in Patmos, and every sermon almost as an opening of the gate of heaven.” (Life of Rev. W. C. Burns, p. 38). Mr Burns at an after time bore testimony at a large meeting of those who had benefited by his ministrations at Perth, as follows: “If you have got any good from me, you owe it all to that remarkable man of God, Dr Duncan of Edinburgh. I have just taught you what he has taught me.” He added, “When leaving Edinburgh I asked him, ‘What advice will you give me?’ He answered, ‘Take you care of His Church, and He will take care of your interests; look after His glory, and He will look after your comfort’.” (Dr Moody Stuart’s Recollections, pp. 52, 53).
Dr Duncan, after a few weeks’ illness, entered his rest on the morning of the 26th February, 1870, at the age of 74 years. His remains were buried in the Grange Cemetery amid a large concourse of mourners, professors and ministers, students and the general public. An obelisk of granite was erected on his grave by his daughter Maria (Mrs Spaeth) and it bears the following inscription, admirable both for the truth and modesty of its terms: “In memory of the Rev. John Duncan, LL.D., Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages in the Free Church College, Edinburgh. An Eminent Scholar and Metaphysician, a Profound Theologian. A man of tender piety, and of a lively and loving spirit. Born, 1796. Died, 1870.”
I have given only the barest outline of the life and character of one of the brightest Christian ornaments that the Church of Christ in Scotland had in modern times, and must express regret for my very imperfect effort. One of his friends said, “He seemed to be a child and a giant in one — both characters curiously intermingled, making intercourse with him peculiarly delightful. No man ever inspired less awe, nor called forth deeper reverence.” And Dr Moody Stuart, commenting on his death, makes the fitting and beautiful remark: “It seemed to be as if in the company of the blessed receiving him into the everlasting habitations, the enquiry might be made, ‘Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon the Beloved?’ and that they might be answered with the reply, ‘This is he who, when bidden to the marriage feast, went and sat down in the lowest room’.”
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”