2. Becomes Minister in Dingwall
Kennedy’s diary entry for Sabbath, 17 October 1841, begins: “Found considerable freedom in the morning in pleading for a revival in the parish, when Psalm 50:3 came powerfully before my mind and continued so during most of the day. Was pleased with Donald’s sermons,2 particularly the Gaelic sermon on the words, ‘His blood’. Thought I felt satisfied with the blood.” That evening John Kennedy at least prayed in the Sabbath school, but commented: “Was tried with my prayers afterwards, for saying too much and feeling too little”.3
Three days later, he wrote, “Came to see today that I had been separating the Saviour too much from God and viewing Him as a different Being altogether. ‘Trust in the Lord Jehovah’ came before my mind in this light. Trust in the Lord on account of what Christ has done to enable Him consistently to exercise mercy from which I am not excluded. Found peace and quietness in receiving the free offer and in taking in some new relations between the Lord and salvation. Still hard and insensible to the enormity of my sins” (pp 20-21).
And three further days later: “Leaving my soul with the Lord to do unto me as seemeth good in His sight, in grace and in providence. Found considerable earnestness of soul and simple hope in laying my case before the Lord. Perhaps the Lord is teaching me that the offer of Christ is not dependent in any way on conviction of sin, and that I am thus brought out from resting on my convictions as I have often done. It is written – and this is enough for safety though not for comfort – ‘I will in no wise cast out’ ” (p 21).
On November 12, verses about Christ’s sufferings in the Garden of Gethsemane took hold of his mind and he wrote, “I was permitted to see more of the sufferings of Christ than ever I did. The Blessed One subjected to the wrath of the Father, with His sin-maddened creatures let loose upon Him, along with the powers of darkness, and He too a divine person suffering for them on the earth which His own hand had formed, and for His rebellious creatures! O what must have been the strength of that love which bore Him
1Last month’s article dealt with Kennedy’s background in a godly home in the parish of Killearnan, which is north of Inverness. In that parish, his father was minister and Kennedy himself was in contact with many godly people; the article also gave some details of his conversion experience.
2Donald was John Kennedy’s brother, who followed his father as minister in Killearnan.
3Alexander Auld, John Kennedy, DD, London, 1887, p 20. Unidentified quotations in this paper are from this volume.
through! How cold and callous is my heart, how dead, how dark, how sin-encrusted! . . . My mind [was] sometimes engaged with what may be my duty in prospect of the communion next week as to communicating. The command never varies, and this is the warrant, and if the Lord impresses on my soul the authority of the command, in His strength I will go; but I leave myself in His hands, to do with me in reference to it as seemeth good in His sight” (pp 26,27).
Kennedy noted that, at family worship the next morning, the command, “This do in remembrance of Me”, “came before my mind with such power that I was constrained to promise obedience” (p 27). The communion season began the following week and, on the Thursday, he heard a sermon on John 3:16 and was thankful to have done so. He “got some glimpses both of the greatness and of the freeness of the love of Christ” and “was enabled to realise my sin and fall in Adam a little more simply and thoroughly”. On the Saturday evening, Colin Forsyth pointed out to Kennedy that the real warrant for coming to the Lord’s table was higher than a “feeling of the command”; it was “an apprehension of the authority of Christ on the ordinance” (p 29).
On the Sabbath, Kennedy appreciated the action sermon on Isaiah 53:6, preached by his brother Donald, especially when he spoke on “the Father’s act of laying on Him the iniquities of His people”. At the Lord’s table, John Kennedy “for a short time felt strong temptations and fears, and afterwards a simple, clear perception of the freeness of the covenant-fullness in and with Christ” (p 30).
The following day, he listened to two sermons from John Macdonald, Ferintosh. In English, Macdonald spoke from Isaiah 45:22: “Look unto Me . . . all ye ends of the earth . . . ”. He clearly opened up the freeness of the gospel call, “meeting my doubts”, Kennedy wrote, “as to the genuineness of my faith, from the little sense of guilt I had and have in viewing Christ in the office of Priest. . . I was impressed with the littleness of my sensible burden of guilt, and this made me look more to the offices of Prophet and King for the supply of my immediate wants and diverted my mind from the priestly office. Perhaps the Lord was thus weaning me from resting on convictions of sin” (p 31).
In June 1842 Kennedy came before the local Presbytery with a view to being licensed – presumably in two years’ time. He listed in his diary his felt needs, which included: (1.) A lack “of a thorough conviction so as thoroughly to acknowledge the right of divine justice according to the first covenant” (of works). He was “eagerly pressing for this”. (2.) A lack “of singleness of aim at the glory of God; self uncrucified”. (3.) “Wanderings of mind in and out of duty.” (4.) “Cannot feel assured of having gone through a thorough
conversion work”. (5.) A lack “of a proper appreciation of the honour of Christ’s service”. (6.) “An adequate feeling of the immense responsibility of preaching the gospel.” (7.) “Not appreciating the value of immortal souls.” (8.) “A prey to slavish fears of man, which bring a snare.” (9.) “Cannot clear my call to the ministry.” He then exclaims, “What a proper catalogue of wants!” But, conscious of the provision made in Christ, he adds, “What a fullness!” (pp 41-42).
Kennedy’s divinity course lasted for three years, rather than the usual four. His last session finished in 1843, and shortly afterwards the Disruption took place. Kennedy was one of the “promising students” who were encouraged to seek licence early to meet the needs of the many new Free Church congregations who were without ministers. Accordingly, Kennedy was licensed to preach the gospel in September 1843. At that time the noted Alexander Stewart of Cromarty gave him much-appreciated advice: “Think well over your subject; do not be too careful as to your modes of expression; if you fail in language, it is because you have not sufficiently studied your ideas” (p 43).
In February 1844 Kennedy was inducted to Dingwall. Among his congregation, there were some experienced, praying Christians. Among them was a Lily Cameron, who used to say of her pastor: “He already preaches as if his grey hairs were thick upon him, and it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for us if we profit not by his ministrations” (p 50). His Sabbath work involved three services. The first, in Gaelic, consisted of both a lecture – that is, an exposition of a passage of Scripture – and a sermon; this service lasted from 11 am until 1:30 pm. The second service, in English, began at 1:45; and the evening service was alternately in Gaelic and English. But later, because the young people no longer spoke Gaelic, this service was always in English. Besides, he conducted classes for young men and for young women and two prayer meetings, one in Gaelic and one in English. He particularly enjoyed the latter as many Christians attended from neighbouring congregations; they heard the Book of Psalms expounded, a verse or two at a time. He told a close friend that he did not think he would reach the end of the Psalms until his ministry would end in Dingwall. In fact, his last prayer meeting address was on Psalm 150.
Four years after coming to Dingwall, Kennedy married Mary Mackenzie, and the ceremony was performed by John Macdonald of Ferintosh. The Kennedys had four children and the oldest was a daughter, Cathy, but she died at the age of four, having given good evidence that she was prepared for eternity. One day she spoke of God’s power to wash her “in His own blood”. Her mother asked her if she thought He would wash away everyone’s sins. “No,” she answered, “only those who come to Him.” Her mother then asked,
“How can you come to Him?” After a moment’s thought, she replied, “I think He will bring me Himself” (p 65). Kennedy no doubt came across to others as a man with a great deal of inner strength, but his daughter’s death left him unable to conduct services for some days. Yet he often spoke of the “glorious views” that he had, at Cathy’s open grave, of Jesus’ words: “I am the resurrection and the life”. The Kennedys’ second child, a boy, also died young; twin daughters, however, were spared to become adults.
A close friend wrote of Kennedy’s mental power in discussion. He noted also his marked love for children and his sympathy with them. His biographer considered that “his intellect was one of extraordinary power” and that his mind “took a comprehensive grasp” of every subject he applied himself to (p 89). This was undoubtedly helped by a very good memory. Kennedy was credited with a good degree of common sense and was regarded as free from eccentricities.
He was noted for his kindness; others often warned him about giving to people indiscriminately. He often gave to people whom he only suspected to be in need; they might decline what he offered but they would often acknowledge that the offer had been made at exactly the time when they were in need. William Nixon, who preached in Dingwall Free Church on the afternoon of the Sabbath following Kennedy’s death, told of a Saturday early in Kennedy’s ministry “when he had nothing but 10 shillings left in the world to meet his daily expenses”. He visited a poor invalid whose situation moved him to give her all the money in his pocket. However, Kennedy’s own needs were supplied on the Monday, when a lady from England who had heard him preach the previous day and presumably appreciated what he had said, called at his manse and left him with £100. Nixon believed that similar experiences “filled his life”.4
Auld comments that there were preachers in the north of Scotland, from the time of the Reformation, who were as saintly, intellectually gifted, faithful to the truth, zealous and successful as Kennedy, but that none of them had “such a combination of these ministerial qualifications”. His ministry, as Auld goes on to describe it, met the spiritual needs of four groups of hearers:
(1.) Experienced Christians, who “recognised him to be . . . deeply taught in the things of God, one who fervently desired the glory of God and the advancement of the kingdom of Christ – a man of prayer and one who realised the importance and solemnity of dealing with immortal souls, as did few besides”.
(2.) Those less grounded in the faith, “who needed special spiritual help
4 In memoriam: Rev John Kennedy, DD, Dingwall, p 42. Nixon was a noted Free Church minister in Montrose.
and guidance in their Christian course. . . . Certainly many a poor burdened one has often hung upon the lips of John Kennedy as a messenger of God to their souls.”
(3.) Those who, more or less, felt their need of a saving change. “He preached Christ with a fullness and power to which few have attained. He paused not to consider how the doctrine of the certain redemption of the elect . . . could be reconciled with the universal call of the gospel. . . . He saw these two doctrines lying alongside of each other on the page of God’s Word. His duty was to take up and re-echo each, and that he did. He had no doubt that, whether his reason could comprehend their consistency or not, the infinite Wisdom whence they had both emanated could reconcile them and would do so in due season.”
(4.) The many who had no care for their souls. “He would ply the consciences of the careless, showing the emptiness of their excuses for not receiving the Saviour, and the awfulness of their aggravated guilt in rejecting the offers of mercy” (pp 92-95).