DUFF, Alexander

[s. 233] : Born April 26, 1806, in Perthsliire, Scotland. He entered the university of St. Andrews at the age of fifteen, and studied the celebrated Chalmers. The Church of under Scotland having awakened to the duty of sending the Gospel to the heathen. Dr. Duff was appointed its first mi ionary, and at the age of 23 embarked, During his voyage October, 1829, for India. he was wrecked twice, first on a reef of rock while rounding the Cape of Good Hope, again on the coast of Ceylon, and barely escaped a third wreck near the mouths of the Ganges. In the first wreck he and his wife lost everything, including his library, plans of operation and many valuHe reached Calcutta after a able manuscripts. voyage of eight months. One of the chief objects in going to India was the estabhe had in view lishment of a collegiate institute which should confer the highest education on native youth. His school was to be conducted on two great principles: (a) the Christian Scriptures should be read in every cla , be the entire foundation and pervading salt of the school; (b) since the vernaculars of India could not supply the medium for all the requisite instruction, the sciences of the West should be taught through the English language. This was against the opinion of the government, all learned Orientalists and the most experienced mi ionaries in Bengal. All these insisted that higher instruction ought to be given With the a istance of Rammohun in Sanskrit. Roy, who entered fully into Dr. Duff’s views, the school was opened July 12, 1830, under a banian tree, with five young men, but was soon removed to a commodious building. The instruction was in English, and the Bible held a chief Before the end of the first week there place. were more than 300 applicants. Of these, 250 Dnir, Alexander Dvraraliat At the end of the first year a public examination, attended by a large number of Europe ans and natives of high rank, gave great satisfaction. The next year the number of applicants was more than trebled. In 1839 Dr. Duff wrote: “The five who entered the first day have since swollen to an average attendance of 800. The Governor-General, Lord Bentinck, considered the ablest and most enlightened Governor-General India has po e ed, did homage to it by publicly proclaiming in the face of all India that it had produced unparalleled results.” The number of pupils was soon increased to a you sand. Among the first converts were two from the educated and influential cla . One was Babu Krishna Banerjea, a Brahman of high social position, editor of a newspaper, afterward a minister of the English Church, and a distinguished profe or in Bishop’s College, Calcutta. His influence on natives of all cla es, especially the educated, has always been great. The other was Gopeenath Nundi, afterward a preacher in connection with the American Presbyterian Mi ion in the Northwest Provinces, who during the Sepoy mutiny, when threatened with death, nobly testified for Christ, In 1834 Dr. Duff returned home in ill-health. On his recovery he made a tour through Scotland, and greatly increased the interest in the mi ionary cause by his thrilling appeals and the report of his succe ful work. The degree of doctor of divinity was at this time conferred upon him by the University of Aberdeen. He returned to India in 1839. At the disruption in the Church of Scotland in 1843 he cast in his lot with the Free Church, abandoning his beloved and prosperous institution, its valuable library and apparatus, and for twenty years conducted mi ionary work under that body. He built a new institution from the foundation, and equipped it as well as the old had been. The influence of his work continued to increase. Interesting conversions took place. In 1846, on the death of Dr. Chalmers, he was offered the office of principal and profe or of theology in the Free Church College in Scotland, and, tho urged by Presbyteries, Synods and General A embly to sacrifice his own predilections and accept, he declined, begging them to “allow him to retain, in the view of all men, the clearly marked and distinguishing character of a mi ionary to the heathen.” In 1850 he again returned home to work for the mi ionary cause, and sought to arouse the Free Church to more earnest efforts in India. In 1851 he was elected moderator of the General A embly. In 1854, under the auspices of Mr. George H. Stuart, he visited the were received. United States, where, as also in Canada, he addre ed you sands on the mi ionary work in India. The University of New York honored him with the degree of LL.D. Returning to India in 1857, he opened his school for high-caste girls in the house of a Brahman. At the first examination, attended by distinguished native gentlemen, who expre ed great satisfaction, 62 were on the roll. In 1864, his health having utterly failed, he took a final leave of India. On leaving Calcutta he received from all cla es of the community, native and European, heathen and Christian, emphatic testimony of the great value of his services rendered for nearly thirty five years in India. During the fourteen years spent in Scotland he urged with great eloquence upon the churches their duty to give the Gospel 216 to the millions of India. His correspondence was extensive, many letters being to native converts and Hindu students. He had the chief management of the foreign work of the Free Church. In 1873 he was again elected moderator of the A embly. In 1867 he was appointed profe or of evangelistic theology in the college of the Free Church, which office he held for eleven years. He died at Sidmouth, Devons hire, February 12, 1878, aged 72. He has been well described as “a man of dauntle will, consummate eloquence, impa ioned piety, great self reliance.” His published works are: New Era of the English Language and Literature (1837); Mi ions the Chief End of the Christian Church (1839); India and Indian Mi ions (1839); The Indian Rebellion, its Causes and Results (1858). The Calcutta Review was mainly established by him. Day (Lai Bahari), lAfe of Alexander Duff, London, 1878; Smith (G.), Life of Alexander Duff London and New York, 1879 and 1881; Maratt, Two Standard Bearers in the East, London, 1882., DUKE TOWN: A town in Lower Nigeria, W. Africa, situated on the left bank of the Old Calabar River, about 10 miles from the estuary. Population about 40,000. The climate is hot and unhealthy. Station of the UFS (1846), with (1902) 2 mi ionaries (one with his wife), 4 mi ionary women, 12 native workers, men and women; 1 high school, 1 industrial school, 1 dispensary, 1 hospital, 1 printing house and 394 profe ing Christians. DULLES, John “Welsh: Born Philadelphia, Pa., November 4, 1823; graduated at Yale College with high honor in 1844, and at Union Theolog New York. 1847; married Harriet Winslow, daughter of Rev. Dr. Miron Winslow; ordained October 2, 1848; sailed as a mi ionary of the ABCFM the same year for Madras. He was stationed at Rajapuram, having charge of the church and schools. In 1850 he made a tour with Rev. Henry Scudder with a view to establishing an outstation to the Madras mi ion, and on their advice Arcot was selected and afterward became the field of the Arcot mi ion. Mr. ical Seminary, Dulles was well fitted by talents, education, acquisition of the language and genial manners for the mi ionary work. But his own ill-health and that of his wife compelled them to relinquish the field, and they returned in 1852. For three years after his return he served the American Sunday School Union. In 1856 he was appointed editorial secretary of the Publishing Committee of the Board of Publication in the New School branch of the Presbyterian Church. He was appointed to the same position in the reunited church in 1870, and, on the resignation of Dr. Schenck in 1885, was elected General Secretary of the Board. He wrote Life in India and The Ride through Palestine. Dr. Dulles died at his home in Philadelphia, April 13, 1887. 234