Birth :15-04-1806 Death :12-02-1878 Native Place : Perthshire Country: Scotland Place of Vision : India
One day, a veteran missionary was appealing to the Scotland church for missionary work in India. But there was no response. In midst of the sermon, he had a heart attack and fainted. Despite the advice of the doctors, he stood again on the pulpit to finish his sermon. He said, “When Queen Victoria calls for volunteers to India, hundreds of young men respond, but, when King Jesus calls, no one goes.” There was only silence. Then the missionary concluded, “Very well, then aged though I am, I will go back to India. I can lie down on the banks of the Ganges and I can die and thereby I can let the people of India know that there was one man in Scotland who loved them.” At this moment, the silence gave way to the cries of many young people who said, “I will go! I will go.” The veteran missionary was none other than Dr. Alexander Duff.
Born in Perthshire, Alexander was a son of a farmer. He graduated in Arts and Theology from St. Andrews University, where he founded a student missionary society. Soon after his studies, he accepted the offer made by the Church of Scotland to be their first missionary to India. After surviving a couple of shipwrecks en route, Duff arrived at Calcutta along with his wife in 1830.
Duff initially devoted all his energies to establishing schools. He strongly believed that education is the Gospel tool that can make inroads into the higher caste Hindus and Muslims. He introduced a Western system of education set in Christian philosophy by combining Bible studies with science to challenge the local religious beliefs. Scottish Church College and University of Calcutta are some of the standing proofs of his educational endeavors in India. Duff’s work expanded beyond India. He campaigned across, America, Europe, and Africa, expanding the horizons of the Gospel and recruiting the missionaries. Duff earned thousands of souls for Christ and trained hundreds of ministers to serve Christ before he left for heavenly abode in 1878.
