0^3 
 
 & Rev D Stuart Dod^e 
 
 FAREWELL ADDRESS 
 
 PREVIOUS TO HIS RETURN TO INDIA : 
 
 THE FREE PRESBYTERY OF EDINBURGH, 
 ON THE llTH OCTOBER 1855. 
 
 REPORTED EXCLESIVELT FOR “ THE WITNESS.” 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 PRINTED AT “ THE WITNESS” OFFICE. 
 
 ^ e'fWi i 
 
 A pr, 03 
 
 or THE 
 
 11EV. DR DUFF 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 MDCCCLV. 
 
DR DUFF'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 A meeting of the Free Presbytery of Edinburgh was held in 
 the Free High Church of that city, on the afternoon of Thurs- 
 day the 11th October 1855, for the purpose of commending the 
 Rev. Dr Duff, the Rev. Janies Mitchell, and the Rev. John 
 Braidwood, — about to return to their spheres of labour at Cal- 
 cutta, Poonah, and Madras, and the cause of Missions in India, — 
 to the guidance and blessing of God. 
 
 Dr T we edie presided on this interesting occasion. The 
 church was filled in every part by a highly respectable audience. 
 After the opening devotional exercises, Dr Tweedie briefly 
 stated the object for which they had met, and called upon Dr 
 Candi.ish to engage in prayer. 
 
 Dr Duff, who, on rising, was labouring under deep emotion, 
 said, — It has often been my lot in many lands to address meet- 
 ings in peculiar, and even under agitating circumstances ; but I 
 know not whether I have ever risen to address any meeting under 
 circumstances to my own mind more peculiar, or even agitating, 
 than the present. It has long been a matter of hesitation with 
 me whether I ought to make the attempt at all. In making such 
 an attempt, there is, even as yet, the threat of a tremendous 
 penalty hanging over me, somewhat like that of the naked sword 
 which was suspended by a single thread over the head of the Si- 
 cilian monarch of old. No wonder, then, that there was hesita- 
 tion. But, dear friends and brethren, I feel intensely that life 
 
4 
 
 is very short, — very uncertain. I feel, in a way I never did be- 
 fore, that we are continually in contact with an awful, inconceiv- 
 able eternity ; and this morning, therefore, I felt impelled, if 
 the Lord spared me, to attempt at least something in a few part- 
 ing words. I am thankful to God, at the outset, that I have 
 been so far anticipated in a way so plain, pointed, and solemn, 
 by the revered friend who preceded me in prayer. There were 
 allusions in that prayer, on the score of our manifold sins, fail- 
 ings, and shortcomings, which went direct to the heart. It has 
 been an intense and a growing conviction in the minds of some 
 of us, that there is not at this moment one single Church in 
 Christendom, as a whole, in anyway adequately alive to the 
 reality, the true nature, and transcendent grandeur, of God’s 
 greatest work on earth, — even that of the evangelization of the 
 world. We cannot except in this even the Free Church of 
 Scotland. Would to God I had been enabled to return to the 
 field of Missions more cheered and more encouraged than I can 
 now well do ; but at the same time it were ingratitude not to 
 bless God for what I have seen. In saying this, I do not look 
 to what our Church is with reference to other Churches ; as, in 
 my opinion, the standard of what ought to be, as authoritatively 
 revealed in God’s Word, is that by which we should measure all 
 our doings. Now, there is one idea which w'e have been endea- 
 vouring almost in vain to impress upon the minds of most people 
 in this country, — though there are some minds to which it is not 
 new, — and it is this, that a real mission to the heathen is, from 
 its very nature, a militant, aggressive expedition, so to speak, 
 into an enemy’s territory. The whole world, as we profess to 
 believe, is lying in wickedness. It has been rcbelliously usurped 
 and occupied by Satan as his special domain ; and one grand ob- 
 ject of the Son of God in coming into this world was to expel 
 the usurper, and rescue the captives from his cruel grasp. The 
 Redeemer has now ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on 
 high, but he has committed to those who profess to be his fol- 
 lowers the grand and glorious work of carrying on his mighty de- 
 sign of this world’s conquest, even until it be consummated. By 
 every figure and emblem which even inspiration could select we 
 know that Christianity is meant to be aggressively outspreading, 
 until it has filled the globe. It is compared to a fountain opened 
 in the house of David and the city of Jerusalem, which is to 
 send forth its waters till its waves have rolled over and fertilized 
 
every land ; or to a tree, which is to grow and send forth its roots 
 till the branches have overshadowed the nations. Now, then, 
 the law of the kingdom is that of growth and progress ; and 
 what we maintain is, that whether it be in the soul of an indivi- 
 dual man, or in the body of a collective Church, if we try to ar- 
 rest its growth and outspreading, or, in other words, if we try to 
 keep the good we have acquired to ourselves, we will find that, if 
 there be truth in the Bible, and faithfulness in the God of hea- 
 ven, that Church and that individual will begin to droop, and 
 wither, and decay, and finally lose what has been attained to ; 
 for they are then manifestly fighting against an eternal law of 
 God. 
 
 What, then, is a mission, as I have already asked ? It is an 
 aggressive expedition into an enemy’s territory. And here, I 
 may ask, are not the children of this world wiser in their gene- 
 ration than the children of light ? This country is at this mo- 
 ment at war with a mighty empire. Suppose you were to send 
 forth your forces to occupy some small point of the territory of 
 the enemy ; is the work done when that portion of the territory 
 is occupied at the outskirts ? No ; we hear that it is but begun. 
 If you were to stand still there, what would be the use of going 
 to war at all ? Or are you now to push forward a little, and 
 then, from want of timely or sufficient supplies, to be driven 
 back to the narrow point you previously occupied ; and to pro- 
 ceed year after year in this manner, fluctuating backwards and 
 forwards ? You would never thus succeed in striking terror into 
 the enemy, or in gaining the object originally proposed. Or 
 are you, from negligence or cowardice, to recede from the posi- 
 tion already gained ? Then you may be covered with irretriev- 
 able confusion and disgrace. The world knows this, and is wiser 
 in its generation. It knows that if we are in earnest in maintain- 
 ing such a warfare, we must act with increasing energy, and push 
 forward, from one stronghold to another, into the very heart of 
 the enemy’s territory ; and, feeling that the cause of righteous- 
 ness, as well as the national glory and honour, are at stake, it is 
 resolved that it shall be upheld, cost what it may. The money 
 of the nation is counted but as the small dust of the balance, and 
 its blood, as well as its treasures, is made to flow forth like water. 
 Those who profess to be the followers and friends of the blessed 
 Jesus too often, however, act a part the converse of the world’s, 
 in seeking to advance its design and promote its policy. Friends 
 
and brethren, we must charge almost all the Churches of Chris- 
 tendom with guilt under this head ; and we must this day ask 
 our own Church, what have you been doing for your missionaries 
 into the realms of heathendom? You have sent forth a small 
 force. They have succeeded in occupying a few small points on 
 the outskirts of the enemy’s territory ; and there they are trying 
 not only to maintain themselves, but to push forward aggressive- 
 ly into the surrounding domains of the great foe. In order to 
 this, they have been crying for help, help ; and where is the 
 adequate help to be found ? For want of such timely and ade- 
 quate help, they work on, and labour themselves into the grave ; 
 and then people begin to think about doing something by way of 
 help, when the veterans have prematurely fallen unsupported in 
 the high places of the field. 
 
 Are you, then, in accordance with the Divine law, to advance 
 and make progress ? or arc you to stand idly still on the enemy’s 
 frontier ? If you are not prepared to move forward at whatever 
 cost or peril, in the name of decency or consistency withdraw 
 your petty, paltry forces altogether ; abandon the field, give up the 
 work, and no longer insult your Maker with the semblance and 
 mockery of an aggressive warfare. Better, far better, because 
 far more honest, to repudiate the obligation of the Divine com- 
 mand, and withdraw altogether, than go on at this stationary, 
 or oscillating, or retrogressive rate. Ah, friends and brethren ! 
 it is to be feared that you have hitherto been acting, to a great 
 extent, as we hoar it said of a certain movement that took place 
 the other day. Some mighty entrenchment is to be captured. 
 A force is sent forward as a forlorn hope. They fearlessly mount 
 the breach, and take possession of the ramparts. They could 
 hold these, if they were only properly supported by those who 
 ought to send forth the supports. But they are not properly 
 supported. For a time, with desperate heroism, they maintain 
 their ground, until the most of them, by an unequal and over- 
 whelming force, are laid level with the dust. Now, this is the 
 way in which the Churches in general have been dealing with 
 their small aggressive band, the heralds of the Cross, in foreign 
 realms. Hitherto they have been sent forth, not as a mighty 
 army, — God knows that they have been, on the contrary, a mere 
 handful — a forlorn hope, — to contend with potent foes, or hurled 
 against the towers and ramparts of heathenism. And wheu they 
 looked and appealed for support, none, none that is adequate, 
 
lias been forthcoming. Thoy, however, with dauntless and un- 
 conquerable spirit, continue to toil and war at their posts, until 
 struck down by exhaustion or overbearing force. IIow long is 
 this sad state of things to last ? How long will the patient, long- 
 suffering God bear with the Churches that are shamefully acting 
 thus ? 
 
 From the very nature of the case, an aggressive war is an in- 
 creasingly expensive war, and must continue to be so until the 
 end be at least approximately gained. Have you not found it 
 so in the contest in which the nation is now engaged ? When 
 the first point is gained, you must advance to another and another ; 
 and the necessity for more men and more means is proportionally 
 augmenting. It must, indeed, entail an enlarging expenditure, 
 until sufficient territory has been conquered to supply internally 
 the means and the resources of support. And so is it precisely 
 with missions to the heathen. When the first point is gained, 
 we must advance to another and another ; and this implies the 
 necessity of more men and more means. The very success of 
 your Mission is a reason for renewed and increasing demands. 
 Are these not to be responded to ? If not, you have already 
 heard what the result will be. 
 
 But is there not, it may be asked, a limit to these constantly 
 swelling demands ? There is. What is it, then? you will next 
 ask. It is, that we go on, by means of your continually increas- 
 ing support, conquering and still conquering, until, by the bless - 
 ing of God upon the work, there shall be a sufficient extent of 
 territory gained from the enemy, that it may itself supply the 
 needful resources in men and means, and begin to be self-main- 
 taining, and sell -propagating too. And when once this point of 
 indigenous self-support has been reached in a mission, then your 
 hands will be liberated, and you may carry your appliances of 
 warfare elsewhere. But 1 insist that, till this point be reached, 
 you must make up your minds to the fact, that the very success 
 of your Mission must for a time entail increasing expense. This 
 fact you must be prepared wisely to meet and heroically to en- 
 counter. And it does cut one’s heart to the quick, — and 1 have 
 felt it oftener than once, — when, wdth almost infinite toil and 
 suffering, we have succeeded in gaining one point, and then an- 
 other, — when it pleased the Lord to raise up human agents, one 
 after another, waiting to be sent forth, — and when we reported 
 that they were ready to enter on the glorious enterprise, — to 
 
8 
 
 find that, instead of meeting with a prompt, and earnest, and cor- 
 dial response, rejoicing in our success under God, and urging us 
 to engage these voluntary recruits, and proceed onwards, and 
 be outspreading, — the cold, freezing, killing answer has too often 
 been, that, on looking into the treasury at home, there are not 
 means to employ these disciplined soldiers, and that we must 
 not take them into our services. In short, you pray to God for 
 success upon the labours of your missionaries, and when that 
 success is granted, you heedlessly or wantonly fling it to the 
 winds. You, in effect, tell your missionaries, “ You have faith- 
 fully toiled and laboured, and spent your streugth in bringing 
 souls to God, and in training them for the office of evangelists ; 
 but we are resolved that your labour shall be in vain, and your 
 strength shall have been spent for nought.” Is it not enough to 
 raise the feeling of moral indignation in one’s soul when he is 
 dealt with in this manner ? I pray you to excuse my plainness 
 of speech ; I cannot help it. He must be a traitor to his God 
 and to the souls of the perishing, who, through cowardice or 
 other similar motive, could be silent in such a case as this. I 
 again ask you, then, how long is this state of things to continue ? 
 The missions abroad have, through 'God’s blessing, wonderfully 
 prospered. Converts have been, and are still, raised on every 
 hand ; and when we find them prepared to go forth on the right 
 hand and on the left, as some have already done, are we, instead 
 of being cheered and urged to proceed, to be again chilled by the 
 warning that we must not employ them, — that we must stand 
 still, — and, by making no further progress into the realms of 
 darkness, must exhibit ourselves a spectacle of derision to hellish 
 foes, and of pity and lamentation to the hosts of light ? 
 
 What, then ! are we to be next told that you arc tired with 
 success, since it costs more money, and money is not in the trea- 
 sury of the Church? When I look abroad over Scotland, 1 ask 
 myself, is there not plenty of money there ? Yes, even to over- 
 flowing ; but it does not find its way into the treasury of the 
 Lord. Such being the case, we must come to the question of 
 stewardship ; and we insist upon it, that every farthing which 
 God gives to an individual is a farthing for which we must ac- 
 count as to how and why we spend it ; and until that doctrine 
 be enshrined in the soul and conscience, we need never expect 
 to have fulness of means. But to mo, who have had sore travel- 
 ling and wandering through many lauds, it has been a matter 
 
o 
 
 utterly overwhelming to the spirit, when I often saw such re- 
 dundancy of means in the possession of professing Christians, 
 and when I have been told, in reply to earnest pleadings in be- 
 half of a perishing world, “ Oh, we have nothing to spare.” How 
 depressing has it been to hear this said, and then to look at the 
 stately mansions, the gorgeous lawns, tlio splendid equipages, 
 the extravagant furniture, and the costly entertainments, be- 
 sides the thousands which are spent upon nameless idle and 
 useless luxuries ! It was as much as to say to God, the great 
 Proprietor, who has given it all, “ Lord, pray, excuse me, as 
 I wish to spend all tins upon myself ; and if I have a little 
 driblet remaining over after I have satisfied myself, I will con- 
 sent to give that driblet back to Thee.” The exclamation has 
 been on my lip, in the hearing of such men, “ Why, you are 
 treating the cause of Christ much as the rich man in the parablo 
 treated Lazarus : you are driving that cause to the outside of 
 the gate ; and, while self is made to fair sumptuously in the pa- 
 lace within, clothed in purple and fine linen, you leave the cause 
 of Christ to starve outside yonder, or to feed on the crumbs that 
 fall from your table, while covered with sores of many a foul in- 
 dignity. Why not reverse the picture in the parable ? Why 
 not bring the cause of Christ inside the palace, and array it in 
 royal attire, while wretched self is cast out to famish at the door, 
 rather than, by pampering it, to drag its possessor down to the 
 pit of eternal woe ?” When I talk in this general way, don’t 
 suppose that I am not aware that there are individuals who are 
 making sacrifices. Thank God, there are many such among you. 
 1 know not any Church where the proportional number of such 
 is really greater than in the F ree Church of Scotland. There 
 are those ; but it is not, for the most part, amongst the wealthiest, 
 — although there are precious exceptions there too ; but it is 
 chiefly amongst the middle and poorer classes. 
 
 Now, then, what is to be done ? What can the Committee 
 do ? What, but dispense what they receive ? This is the cur- 
 rent doctrine on the subject. But we hold that it is the duty of 
 such a Committee as ours, not merely to dispense, but to create, 
 — not merely to distribute, but to put forth its utmost energy in 
 replenishing its too scanty stores. Moreover, we hold that, with 
 reference to an aggressive warfare in an enemy’s territory in dis- 
 tant lands, it involves a great practical fallacy. In unexpected 
 emergencies, or in cases of difficulty springing from success, a 
 
]0 
 
 Committee should just act in the way in which the Governments 
 of the world carry on their wars. When the cry is raised that 
 men are fast perishing from scantiness of number and overwork, 
 — that the whole enterprise is jeopardized from utter destitu- 
 tion of the needful means and appliances, — what do earthly Go- 
 vernments do 1 Do they coldly and cautiously look first into 
 their treasury, and ask if they have got enough of money there ? 
 No ; they feel that the enterprise must be abandoned, or these 
 absolute wants must be promptly supplied, — these needful im- 
 plements furnished, — these demanded forces instantly sent forth. 
 They then look around them, to discover the best means of re- 
 plenishing the treasury, and cast themselves in confidence on the 
 support of a willing people. Why ought not a Committee of the 
 Church, in similar circumstances, to act a somewhat similar part, 
 when carrying forward her mighty aggressive warfare in foreign 
 realms ? Why should not a boldly wise Committee be ready, 
 under the pressure of sudden catastrophes, or of mighty open- 
 ings and successes, to make great ventures of faith, and then 
 throw themselves with confidence on a generous and willing 
 people ? And if, on making good the pressing urgency of the 
 case, they arc not sustained, why, then, let the whole work be 
 abandoned, rather than continue it with ignominy and shame. 
 But we have no fear that such should be the treatment ever ex- 
 perienced at the hands of God’s own people, when made anew to 
 gaze at the Cross of Cavalry', and the amazing sacrifice there. 
 
 The reverend Doctor then referred to the embarrassing cir- 
 cumstances in which the Foreign Mission Scheme was placed 
 some years ago, in consequence of which the Committee had 
 urged him to visit this country,— the steps which were taken to 
 supply its treasury, — and the great care evinced to prevent the 
 quarterly contributions from interfering with other Schemes, 
 the funds of which were collected monthly ; and stated, that al- 
 though he found that what had been accomplished had been re- 
 garded as extraordinarily great by somo, it was not viewed 
 in such a light by himsolf, looking to the unexhausted, yea, 
 unreachcd, resources of professing Christians on the one hand, 
 and to the magnitude of the mighty enterprise on the other. 
 I did not (said Dr Duff) go forth over the length and breadth 
 of Scotland for money alone. I repudiated the idea. I aimed 
 at something higher and better. 1 felt in some degree in my 
 own soul the greatness and glory of this enterprise ; and my in- 
 
11 
 
 tense desire was to communicate, if I could, somewhat of the 
 same impression throughout the length and breadth of my native 
 land — and thousands and tens of thousands can testify to it — to 
 the souls of others, and to tell them what was their duty in this 
 respect. Unless an individual be boru again, and truly convert- 
 ed to God, he can never have any right feeling of heartfelt sym- 
 pathy with the perishing heathen ; and therefore I appealed to 
 the consciences of men on the subject of their personal regene- 
 ration. To those still dead in trespasses and sins, and needing 
 to be first evangelized themselves, my first appeal ever was, 
 “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, that 
 Christ may give thee life.” 
 
 After stating that he was accustomed to show how engaging 
 in missionary work, contributing by prayer and free- will offer- 
 ings to its support, and cultivating a missionary spirit, promoted 
 self-sanctification, by giving scope to practical self denial, and 
 arresting and helping to cure that intense and miserable selfish- 
 ness which was natural to the heart of man, and was thus at once 
 a duty and a privilege, — and after showing that it was not that 
 God needed the substance of men, but that it was men that 
 needed some process of devoting it to God’s cause, for their own 
 benefit as well as that of others, — and after remarking that the 
 Christian grace of self-denial, in its full, large, comprehensive, 
 Christ-exemplified sense, had almost gone into oblivion in these 
 days, and dwelling upon the paramount importance of cultivat- 
 ing this grace, as really essential to the development of the 
 Christian character, — Dr Duff stated, that he was wont to refer 
 at length to the extraordinary position, with reference to uni- 
 versal usefulness, which Great Britain occupied amongst the na- 
 tions of the world, and especially in connection with heathen 
 realms, as she had relationships with the latter, not merely by 
 commerce, but by holding the sway of actual empire over vast 
 portions of them in every zone and region of the earth. Her 
 supremacy extending over one-fifth part of the whole of this 
 world’s inhabitants, she was so placed as to be in immediate con- 
 tact with every distinct form and type of heathenism on the 
 earth ; and, remembering that to whom much is given, of them 
 shall much be required, it was not merely as Christians, but as 
 British patriots, that the people of this country were called on 
 to come to the help of the Lord against the mighty. He stated, 
 that in the addresses which he delivered when journeying over 
 
12 
 
 Scotland, all these things, — together with arguments and infer- 
 ences from Scripture prophecies, and divine commands, and 
 openings of Providence, and claims of philanthropy, — he pressed 
 upon the attention of his hearers. Referring to the response 
 which had been elicited by these appeals, he said, — Never in any 
 part of this land did I come in contact with the people, — by whom 
 I mean more especially the membership of the congregations of 
 the Free Church, — that I had not from them a fair, and reason- 
 able, and satisfactory response. There were here and there 
 petty, cross-grained hindrances and difficulties ; but I did not find 
 these usually amongst the ordinary membership of the Church. 
 The people in general seemed only to require the subject to be 
 exhibited in the combined light of Scripture, duty, and privilege, 
 in order promptly to lend us their sympathy and their aid. In 
 these ways, doubtless, seed has been sown in different parts of 
 the land, which may spring up and bear fruit at some other day, 
 when he who acted as the mere instrument in sowing it may be 
 laid low in the dust. At the same time, I must candidly confess 
 that in some respects I have been often disappointed. While it 
 is true that — to the praise of God be it stated — in every district 
 of this land I found individual ministers, and individual office- 
 bearers, and the generality of the membership of the Church, who 
 nobly responded, it is equally true, that very often in quarters 
 where I might reasonably have expected a different reception, 1 
 have found the reverse. And I must confess, that when I have 
 heard many petty difficulties and petty objections started, — ob- 
 jections and difficulties of such a poor, carnal, insignificant kind, 
 that a resolute mind nerved by faith and prayer would at once 
 break through or overleap them, reckoning them as the dust of tho 
 balance, — 1 have often, perhaps, been a little impatient under 
 the process of such unworthy antagonisms : there was something 
 cheerless and chilling in them, llut if, under this feeling of impa- 
 tience, so irritating to tho poor fallible creature, any words of 
 undue warmth or vehemence may have been uttered, I can only 
 say, let men that judge me learn to judge righteous judgment, 
 and, for the sake of the motive, forgive the mere forms of vehe- 
 ment expression. I frankly confess that, under petty, torturing 
 processes of nettle- and-tliistle-liko opposition, I have often groan- 
 ed in spirit, and manifested, perhaps, undue symptoms of impa- 
 tience. Nor need you wonder much at this. How could I, con- 
 stituted as mere man is, well help it? Having been in the 
 
13 
 
 midst of tlie densest and most lurid gloom of heathenism in all 
 parts of India, — having with my eyes witnessed spectacles of 
 loathsomncss and horror that are indescribable, — having with 
 these cars heard sounds of blasphemous dissonance that are un- 
 utterable, as in very mockery of the great Jehovah, — and having 
 consequently wept over the dishonour reflected on the God 
 of heaven, and the foulness, degradation, and ruin of myriads of 
 our fellow-men, — I ask you whether, with these spectacles 
 ever before my mind’s eye, — with these sounds ever ringing 
 in my mind’s ear, — and all of them ever and anon haunting 
 my imagination through the very dreams and visions of the 
 night, — with the dire pressure of their loathsomness and Satanic 
 opposition to the great Jehovah, — it was possible to repress 
 feeling a sort of moral indignation, and to keep one’s self stoically 
 cool, or calmly deliberate, when some petty, trivial, cold-hearted, 
 empty-headed objection was started against the more effective 
 home modes of carrying forward the great work of evangelization 
 iu India ? Such heartlessness and apathy, — such disgraceful con- 
 tempt or ignorance of Jehovah’s requirements in such a cause, — 
 were enough to harrow one’s feelings, aud rouse one’s pity or 
 holy indignation. I repeat it, I could not help often feeling 
 and often expressing myself as I did ; and may the Lord forgive 
 me if I have been over hasty and unnecessarily impatient under 
 such dire rovocation. 
 
 While, therefore, I have to thank God for the considerable re- 
 sponse which I met with to my appeals from many of our godly 
 ministers, and office-bearers, and membership, I must at the same 
 time say, with regard to the Free Church as a whole, that it is 
 not what I would wish, or had even reasonably anticipated. 
 What was my thought, and that of the other missionaries in 
 India, before coming to this country 1 We did not expect great 
 things for India at the very time you were first engaged iu this 
 country in raising churches, manses, and schools ; but we did 
 expect that, when these were to some good extent finished, 
 something mighty, and worthy of her great name and noble con- 
 tendings for the Redeemer’s Headship, not only over the Church, 
 but the nations, would be done for the world at large. When 
 you were, in the providence of God, driven, as it were, out of the 
 old Establishment for adherence to great Bible principles, it 
 was not surely that you might sustain and perpetuate the bless- 
 ings you enjoyed among yourselves. Was that the only T end 
 
14 
 
 you liad in view ? If so, you would be resisting the progress of 
 Christianity, and fighting against that divine law to which I re- 
 ferred at the outset of my address. We certainly expected, that 
 when the noble vessel that was then begun was finished and 
 launched upon the great deep, it would be found directing its 
 course to other countries, and bearing its rich treasures of gos- 
 pel truth and gospel grace to every region of the earth. But, 
 alas! we are waiting for that day yet. When will it come? 
 That is the question. Looking at it, then, in this light, there 
 is, on the one hand, much to thank God for ; but there is, on 
 the other hand, much to plead for. Oh ! do not, I solemnly ab- 
 jure you, in the name of the living God, — do not settle down on 
 your privileges ; do not settle down on the mere fact that you 
 have fought a great battle and gained a great victory, — that you 
 have, as it were, the ark of the Covenant, the ark of the living 
 God, with its priceless jewel, the Headship of the Redeemer, in 
 your keeping ; for if, in the spirit of indolence or contracted self- 
 ishness, you keep it idly to yourselves, instead of proving your 
 safety, it will prove your destruction. I long, therefore, for tho 
 time when the Church shall rise up and face the whole question, 
 not in the light of a paltry and wretched carnalizing expediency, 
 but in the light of God’s own unchanging truth. I believe that 
 neither this Church nor any other Church has, as a whole, yet 
 fully estimated the magnitude of tlie work to be done, or the 
 force and resources of the enemy to be contended with, and that 
 wc have only hitherto been, as it were, playing at missions. 
 
 The reverend Doctor then drew a graphic picture of the pro- 
 digious vastness and all-comprehending character of Indian ido- 
 latry and superstition, and of the desperately tenacious hold they 
 havo over the native mind. He showed, from their multitudi- 
 nous, hydra- headed forms, how, as in a stupendous reservoir, in 
 their embrace were to be found the essential germs and manifes - 
 tations of all those pernicious errors and practices in false philo- 
 sophy and false religion which were ever prevalent in Europe 
 or tho world at large, — whether under the name of Pantheism, 
 Polytheism, Atheism, or Theism, — and said that one was almost 
 tempted to believe in the theory of Milton in his “ Paradise 
 Lost,” when characterizing the idol gods of the nations as incar- 
 nations, so to speak, of the demons and tyrannies of hell. Ido- 
 latry, in many of its aspects, was so repugnant to natural reason, 
 natural affection, and natural conscience, that it was really difli- 
 
15 
 
 cult to account for the almost inseverable hold which it had of 
 the heads, hearts, and consciences of hundreds of millions, on any 
 other supposition. If behind these visible idols, or under their 
 tangible forms, the arch-fiend and his legions really exercised 
 their diabolical craft, one might understand the secret of that 
 blinding, stupifying, fascinating spell which, in the service of 
 such, would stifle, and even annihilate, the strongest affections of 
 the heart, turning even tender mothers into very monsters of 
 inhumanity ; so that, in a sense not usually thought of, mis- 
 sionaries may have, in the words of Scripture, to fight, not 
 against flesh and blood, but literally against principalities and 
 powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places. He next 
 showed how idolatry, in most lands, lay scattered in compa- 
 ratively disjointed fragments, while in India it had been ela- 
 borately systematized, gathering and concentrating in one enor- 
 mous pile for four thousand years ; and how, in this respect, the 
 Indian system might well be designated the Sebastopol of idola- 
 try and superstition in Satan’s wide-spread empire ; and if they 
 succeeded in inflicting a decisive blow upon this mightiest of its 
 strongholds, it would be felt throughout all parts of his dire do- 
 minion, and would tell upon the world at large, just as they 
 knew that the fall of Sebastopol was felt in every part of the 
 vast Russian empire, and over the whole globe. And yet against 
 this Sebastopol of heathenism, instead of hurling the forces of 
 armies, the Churches hitherto have been content with sending 
 out mere handfuls of men, who are cut down in constant suc- 
 cession. 
 
 What, then, is to be done ? Ah ! the sad want is the want 
 of primitive apostolic piety, with its strong faith, its unconquer- 
 able zeal, its self-consuming devotedness. How, then, is the 
 temperature of piety throughout the Churches to be raised in 
 warmth and vividness, effervescing with faith and zeal, and love 
 and self-denial, and all the other Christian graces? Dr Duff 
 briefly glanced at a few things that might be done,— pointing to 
 the necessity of fervent prayer for the effusion of the Spirit of all 
 grace, — dwelling on the service which Christian mothers could 
 render to the missionary cause, in moulding the minds of their 
 children, and giving them a bent in this direction, — how Chris- 
 tian instructors, when teaching their pupils geography, could fix 
 their thoughts upon countries where missionary labour was re- 
 quired, and could make a great impression upon their minds by 
 
16 
 
 a few simple remarks, — and also the great opportunities enjoyed 
 by ministers for creating an interest in this department of the 
 Lord’s cause, in their pulpit ministrations and in their prayers. 
 He also urged the instituting of a professorship or lectureship on 
 missionary subjects or Evangelistic Theology, by which means 
 the minds of the young men studying for the ministry would be 
 imbued with a missionary spirit ; and stated that this want had 
 been felt in America, insomuch that last year, at a convention of 
 ministers of various denominations, at which it was his privilege 
 to be present, it was formally discussed ; and he had since learned 
 that one of the smaller Presbyterian bodies of that country had 
 not only taken up the idea, but, in remodelling their theological 
 hall, had resolved to set apart the fifth Professor for lecturing 
 on the subject of Evangelistic Theology. And a nobler subject 
 could not be found for exhibiting the virulent disease of sin in its 
 almost infinite variety of phases throughout the world, as well as 
 the infinitely varied and efficacious adaptation of the gospel re- 
 medy. And he asked whether some might not be present there 
 that day who would grant ten thousand pounds for the establish- 
 ment of such a professorship or lectureship. If young men were 
 only thereby imbued with the pure evangelistic spirit, which is 
 that of seeking and saving the lost, even if they did not go to 
 foreign lands, they would prove more effective men at home. Still 
 farther adverting to home subjects, Dr Duff expressed regret to 
 find, that in some places the old system of house-to-house mi- 
 nistration had been more or less neglected, and that the neglect 
 of this part of a minister’s duty threatened to be on the increase. 
 Instead of this, the door of every family, and not that of adher- 
 ents only, ought to be knocked at in the name of Christ, not for 
 the purposes of proselytism, but for the conversion and edifica- 
 tion of souls. 
 
 As regarded the reclaiming of the masses, he said that there 
 was something rotten and hollow in some of the existing modes 
 of dealing with them. Their reformation is not only an object 
 intensely desirable, but it is attended with practical difficulties 
 of no ordinary kind, requiring the highest description cf agency, 
 with subordinate ministries. 1 have had (he said) many oppor- 
 tunities of coming in contact with them when in London, which 
 is tho greatest field of Home Missions in Britain. I went down 
 to the deepest dens of misery by night and by day, and have had 
 scowling, blasphemous audiences, before we parted, dissolved in 
 
17 
 
 tears. I even became a street-preacher in crowded London, and 
 havo had hundreds around me. Among thorn were raging in- 
 fidels and Papists of all kinds ; and, after sundry rough preli- 
 minaries, I have never seen more attentive audiences. What I 
 am going to say is a fact which I have learned from my own ex- 
 perience, viz., that so long as you arc satisfied with sending down 
 to those dens as home missionaries men who are reckoned hy 
 the world inferior or subordinate, — 1 am not speaking of the 
 men in themselves, for they are godly men, — you will never ef- 
 fectually gain your end. There is in the minds of these masses 
 a latent spirit of bitter hostility towards an ordained gospel mi- 
 nistry in the ordinary Churches, which needs to be dispelled, and 
 you must go down to these yourselves, and show them, hy your 
 earnest countenances and love-breathing words, that you are 
 their friends. If I had a congregation in Edinburgh, or in any 
 other great city, I would act thus, not confining my home evan- 
 gelistic labours to week-days, or even the mornings or evenings 
 of Sabbath-days : I would from time to time say to my people, 
 “ It is not right that you should be fed with what you reckon 
 the highest seasoned food twice every Sabbath, whilst there arc 
 myriads perishing without, at our very doors, for lack of all food. 
 We must cease to be selfish : you must deny yourselves, and 1 
 must deny myself : and therefore in the afternoon I will get 
 another person to take my place in the pulpit. He may not be 
 so entirely to your tastes as your own pastor ; but if not, he will 
 at least give you wholesome and sound truth upon which to feed ; 
 and you are to remember, that at the moment when he is address- 
 ing you, I am down yonder, speaking to poor souls who have 
 never got any of the bread that came down from Heaven ; and 
 therefore in your prayers remember them and me.” Ah ! me- 
 thinks, were that done for a Sabbath or two, the minister might 
 be able, when in his own pulpit, to set before his flock intelligence 
 which would refresh their own souls, informing them that one 
 had been born yonder and another here. Then might the gleam 
 of happiness, not felt before, be awakened in many a soul ; and 
 it would be felt that self-denying benevolence was its own re- 
 ward. And then, why should this evangelistic process be confin- 
 ed to the ministry ? Why should not all the godly membership 
 of the Church take their share, according to their varying capa- 
 cities and opportunities, in this blessed work, some in one way 
 and some in another ? If I cannot speak, I can carry with me a 
 
18 
 
 tract, or I perhaps can read to those who cannot read for them- 
 selves. Methinks that the Churches will never be in a sound 
 condition until somewhat of such a state of things be realized, — 
 till this development in the application of doctrine to practice is 
 realized, — till the membership of our congregations become not 
 only hearers of the W ord, but, in the peculiar gospel sense, doers 
 also ; for surely Paganism itself can scarcely be so hateful to a 
 righteous God, as that barren orthodoxy of mere abstract belief, 
 and idle talk, and unproductive profession. Ah ! were this bet- 
 ter spirit to prevail more widely through all Protestant Churches, 
 — the spirit that would prompt men to be, not receivers only, 
 but dispensers also of what they had received, — the spirit that 
 would lead all ecclesiastical bodies to make the doing of some 
 active work for the Lord in his own vineyard as indispensable 
 a condition of Church membership as the abstract soundness of 
 a creed, and the outward consistency of moral life and conduct, 
 — what a strange and happy revolution would soon be effected ! 
 — how soon would infidelity and home heathenism be cast down ! 
 what a new spirit of ennobling self-denial would be evoked ! — 
 what a spirit of large-lieartedness, which would flow forth in co- 
 pious streams in behalf of a perishing world ! W ere this realized, 
 we might then suppose that the dawn of millennial glory was 
 upon us. But alas ! alas ! though the horizon seemed already 
 reddening with the dawn, the Churches of Christ are still most- 
 ly drowsy and fast asleep. Ah ! it is this that saddens my own 
 spirit. Of the cause of Christ 1 have never desponded, and never 
 will. It will advance till the whole earth be filled with Ilis 
 glory. He will accomplish it, too, through the instrumentality 
 of Churches and individual men. But lie is not dependent on 
 any particular Church or men. Yea, if any of these prove sloth- 
 ful or negligent, He may in sore judgment remove their candle- 
 stick, or pluck the stars out of the ecclesiastical firmament. 
 
 Pardon me, dear friends and brethren : from peculiarity of 
 circumstances, I have been throwing out these remarks in a 
 crude, disjointed, unsystematized form. Take them as passing 
 thoughts, for the right ordering or expression of which there 
 has been no time. They have been feeble, and feebly expressed ; 
 but God can take the feeblest words of man, and bring them 
 homo to the conscience with power, and by means of them break 
 the hardest heart. At all events, take the words as the words 
 of one who is not likely soon to trouble you again. If it wore 
 
19 
 
 in ray power, as I once thought it would have been, but God 
 brought me low, it was ray intention to have gone largely, not 
 only into these, but also into many other collateral themes, ere 1 
 left Scotland. It so happened, that originally the Lord, in his 
 gracious providence, endowed me with a physical frame that fit- 
 ted me to encounter almost any amount of labour and fatigue 
 with comparative impunity ; but from riding, as it were, on the 
 topmost waves of active exertion, it had pleased Him to lay me 
 low ; and, flinging me wholly aside, to address me, as it were, 
 thus : “You must now, for a time at least, retire from your 
 work, a shattered and broken man, and learn to bear your soul 
 in silence before the Lord alone. Sit still, away from the world 
 of busy men, and learn the power of solemn silence.” And al- 
 though 1 must confess that this was hard to bear, with hundreds 
 of doors of usefulness presenting themselves on every side, and 
 that I convulsively struggled against the sentence, yet He soon 
 made me feel that I was in the grasp of an Almighty and Invi- 
 sible Power, that held me fast, till I was made to learn the grace 
 of patience, and silent, enduring submission to his holy will. And 
 now, when God has in some measure raised me up again, you 
 must excuse me for speaking as I have done ; more especially as 
 I am now, in all probability, about to take a final leave of dear 
 old Scotland. 
 
 When I look abroad over all Scotland, there is much to re- 
 fresh, and revive, and rivet me to its very soil. Different per- 
 sons are differently constituted ; and I cannot help feeling that 
 1 am at times under a witching fascination, even from outward 
 natural scenery. There are scenes in Scotland which exercise 
 something like a magic spell over me. Though, in the provi- 
 dence of God, called upon to behold many of the fairest and 
 grandest scenes on the face of the globe, from the Ganges on the 
 one hand to the Mississippi on the other, I alw T ays return to 
 Scotland, discovering something of almost fresher beauty and 
 loftier grandeur in its old familiar landscapes. And as to cities, 
 I have felt also that we have in this, the city of our habitation, 
 so many of the excellencies of nature and art, and, taken in con- 
 nection with the surrounding country, so rare a combination of 
 the beautiful, the romantic, and picturesque, that, taking it all 
 in all, I know no other city worthy of being compared to it ; and 
 I confess that, as a natural man, all this has something of a spell- 
 like influence over me. But, after all, it is the intellectual, moral, 
 
20 
 
 and spiritual scenery of Scotland that has the cliiefest hold over 
 my soul, and that now, almost more than ever. I have confess- 
 ed to disappointment in many respects. At the same time I have 
 confessed to having been greatly cheered and encouraged in 
 Others ; and at this moment, when I cast my eyes from U nst, 
 the most northerly of the Shetland Isles, to the farthest shores 
 of the Solway Frith on the south, and from the Western He- 
 brides to the mouth of the Tweed eastward, there is not a dis- 
 trict in which I cannot picture to myself some dearly beloved 
 Christian friends in whose society I have found rich solace and 
 sweet communion. Now, apart from ties of mere consanguinity, 
 there is a spiritual fatherhood and motherhood, a spiritual sister- 
 hood and brotherhood, to which, agreeably to the spirit of the Sa- 
 viour’s remark, in many respects the renovated spirit is knit by a 
 higher, sweeter, stronger, and holier bond than we are even to 
 our kindred by the ties of blood alone. All these, and other ties, 
 bind me to Scotland, and exercise so potent a spell over my spirit, 
 that at times, when I felt them in their aggregate force and 
 weight, I have been so bound and chained to the spot as if I 
 could never leave it. 
 
 How, then, has the tie been loosened and shivered? It was, 
 as the Psalmist says when he had his difficulties and perplexities 
 on another subject, by going into the sanctuary. I do not mean 
 this, or any other poor, lower, earthly sanctuary, but the upper, 
 even the heavenly one, where Jehovah peculiarly manifests his 
 presence. It was when trying at least to rise up on the poor 
 dipt wings of a weak faith, and, in the visions of faith, reaching 
 within dim sight of the radiant throne, with its unutterable 
 glories, and when faith caught a glimpse of that strange and mys- 
 terious One who is the Lamb in the midst of the throne, — a Lamb 
 as it had been slain, — red in his apparel, and with garments dyed 
 in blood, — and when the soul, lost in wonder and amaze, has 
 tremblingly asked, who is that mysterious One, and has been led 
 immediately to look back to eternal ages, and listen to the re- 
 sponse, “ This is He who was in the bosom of the Father, Jeho- 
 vah’s fellow, wrapt up in bliss ineffable ; but such was his love 
 to man, that He wrenched himself, as it were, from the very 
 bosom of the Father, and came forth, His glory shrouded and 
 eclipsed ; aye, and descended to the depths of humiliation in the 
 manger-cradle of Bethlehem,” — when tho soul, looking upward, 
 has tried to realize the iulinitude of that stoop, and downward, has 
 
21 
 
 tried to gauge the unfathomable depths of that condescension, — 
 when one has been led, in traversing, as it has recently been my 
 privilege, the scenes traversed by the footsteps of that incarnate 
 Deity, — and when one is brought to sit down upon that arid, 
 naked spot at Jacob’s well, and thinks that He who is the foun- 
 tain of living water was for me athirst there, — and, turning round 
 the flank of Olivet, and standing there, remembers that He who 
 is the bread from heaven, to nourish and feed the whole intelli- 
 gent and spiritual universe, was himself an hungered there, — and 
 goes to sit down beneath the dark shade of Getlisemane, and vi- 
 vidly calls to mind that He who was the joy of cherubim and se- 
 raphim was in iutensest agony of spirit there, — that He who was 
 the beauty and light of heaven, — the chief among ten thousand, 
 and altogether lovely, — sweated, as it were, very drops of blood 
 there, — Ah ! it is when one gets a glimpse of this condescen- 
 sion, without a parallel and without a name in the wide uni- 
 verse of God, and before which acts of self-denial and self-sacri- 
 fice the greatest ever predicated of the most heroic martyrs and 
 confessors sink into utter nothingness, — Ah ! it is then, when 
 fortified by views and experiences like these, that one is prepared 
 to wrench himself from all he holds most dear on the earth, 
 whether of external or internal kind, if God in his providence 
 beckons him. 
 
 And thus it has been with me. A few years ago, 1 felt that 
 God, inhis providence, called me to the discharge ofa certain work 
 in Scotland. So far as concerns my individual share in it, I 
 now feel that that work has been substantially accomplished. 
 The Foreign Mission, on w T hose prosperity all our operations 
 in India and Africa must for the present depend, was in a very 
 dilapidated state. By God’s blessing, that Fund has been res- 
 cued from its tottering state of insecurity, and placed on a stable 
 and permanent foundation, through the working of the associa- 
 tional plan, with its regular quarterly subscriptions and prayer- 
 meetings, in the great majority of the influential congregations 
 of the Church ; while in amount it has been doubled or trebled ; 
 and all that is now required is the maintenance of the present sys- 
 tem, through proper agency and periodic visitation, as well as 
 the extension of it to all the remaining congregations ; and as 
 the spirit of Missions rises in the Church, present contributions 
 may even be indefinitely enlarged. 
 
 And now, this my home work being for the present finished, 
 
22 
 
 while exigencies of a peculiar kind appear to call me back again 
 to the Indian field, I cheerfully obey the summons ; and, despite 
 its manifold ties and attractions, I now feel as if in fulness of 
 heart I can say, Farewell to Scotland, — to Scotland ! honoured 
 by ancient memories and associations of undying glory and re- 
 nown! — Scotland, on whose soil were fought some of the mightiest 
 battles for civil and religious liberty ! — Scotland, thou country 
 and home of the bravest among undaunted Reformers ! — Scotland, 
 thou chosen abode and last resting-place of the ashes of most he- 
 roic and daring martyrs ! — Yet farewell, Scotland ! Farewell to 
 all that is in thee ! Farewell, — from peculiarity of natural tempe- 
 rament I am prepared to say, — Farewell ye mountains and hills, 
 with your exhilarating breezes, where the soul has at times risen 
 to the elevation of the Rock of Ages, and looked to the hill 
 whence alone aid can come. Farewell, ye rivers and murmuring 
 brooks, along whose shady banks it has often been my lot to 
 roam, enjoying in your solitude the sweetest society ! Farewell, 
 ye rocky and rugged strands, where I have so often stood and 
 gazed at the foaming billows, as they dashed and surged ever- 
 lastingly at your feet ! Farewell, ye churches and halls through- 
 out this land, where it has been so often my privilege to plead 
 the cause of a perishing world ; and when, in so doing, 1 have 
 had such precious glimpses of the King in his beauty, wielding 
 the sceptre of grace over awakened, quickened, and ransomed 
 souls. Farewell, ye abodes of the righteous, whether manses or 
 ordinary dwellings, in which this weary, pilgrimed body, has 
 often found sweet rest and shelter, and this wearied spirit the 
 most genial Christian fellowship. Farewell, too, ye homes of 
 earliest youth, linked to my soul by associations of endearment 
 which time can never efface. Aye, ahd farewell, ye graves of my 
 fathers, never likely to receive my mortal remains ! And wel- 
 come, India! Welcome, India, with thy benighted, perishing 
 millions ; because in the vision of faith I sec the renovating 
 process that is to elevate them from the lowest depths of debase- 
 ment and shame, to the noblest heights of celestial glory. Wel- 
 come, ye majestic hills, the loftiest on this our globe ; for 
 though cold be your summits, and clothed with the drapery of 
 eternal winter, in the vision of faith I can go beyond, and behold 
 the mountain of the Lord’s house established on the top of the 
 mountains, with the innumerable multitudes of India’s adoring 
 worshippers joyously thronging towards it. Welcome, too, yo 
 
23 
 
 mighty, stupendous fabrics of a dark lowering idolatry, because 
 in the vision of faith 1 can see in your certain downfall, and in 
 the beauteous temples of Christianity reared over your ruins, 
 one of the mightiest monuments to the triumph and glory of our 
 adored Immanuel. Welcome, 'too, thou majestic Ganges, in 
 whose waters, through every age, such countless multitudes 
 have been cngulphed, in the vain hope of obtaining thereby a 
 sure passport to immortality, because in the vision of faith 1 be- 
 hold the myriads of thy deluded votaries forsaking thy turbid 
 though sacred waters, and learning to wash their robes and make 
 them white in the blood of the Lamb. Welcome, — if the Lord 
 so wills it, — welcome, sooner or later, a quiet resting-place on 
 thy sunny banks, amid the Hindu people, for whose deliverance 
 from the tyrannic sway of the foulest and crudest idolatries on 
 earth I have groaned and travailed in soul agony. Fare ye 
 well, then, reverend fathers and beloved brethren and sisters in 
 the Lord, — fare ye well in timo ; fare ye well through all eter- 
 nity ! And in the view of that bright and glorious eternity, wel- 
 come, thrice welcome, thou resurrection morn, when the graves 
 of every clime and every age, from the time of righteous Abel 
 down to the period of the last trumpet sound, will give up their 
 dead ; and the ransomed myriads of the Lord, ascending on high, 
 shall enter the mansions of glory, — the palaces of light,— in Im- 
 manuel’s land ; and there together, in indissoluble and blissful 
 harmony, celebrate the jubilee of a once groaning but then re- 
 novated universo ! Farewell ! Farewell ! 
 
 The delivery of this heart- stirring address excited the deepest 
 emotion in the audience, many of whom, at its close, were 
 even moved to tears ; and the Reverend Doctor himself, when 
 he resumed his seat, was evidently deeply affected. 
 
 Mr Gillies then engaged in prayer ; and the blessing having 
 been pronounced, the large audience separated.