Bothwell Bridge come back again, and no Protestant country but Scotland could perhaps have given such an example.
Thus far Mr. Duncan had gone on, beloved by his people, to whom he was a fair example of all that is dignified and amiable in the natural man, as well as zealous in the discharge of all those general duties with which his office was connected. Something more, however, was still necessary to bring him into vital contact with the spiritual life of his sacred calling, and show how much as yet was wanting in his endeavours to promote the eternal welfare of those committed to his charge. His example and his efforts, excellent though they were, had still fallen short of the mark. But in 1804 the time had come when those spiritual perceptions were to be vouchsafed to him, under which he would continue his ministerial career with new ardour and redoubled efficacy. This new light, too, under which such a happy change was to be accomplished, was neither to arise from the study of the works of the great masters of theology, nor yet from the reasonings or example of his learned co-presbyters; but from a despised people, as yet almost new in Scotland, and whose names were seldom mentioned except for purposes of ridicule and merriment. One man and two women of the society called Friends, or Quakers, had arrived at Annan, and announced their intention of holding a meeting in the evening for worship. Induced by curiosity, Mr. Duncan, who was in the town, attended the meeting, and was struck by the warmth and simplicity with which these strange preachers enunciated those Christian doctrines that had long been familiar to his mind, but to which the new style, whereby they were now embodied, imparted the charm and power of novelty. An interview with the Quakers followed, and the impression was deepened; the minister gradually began to perceive that he had something still to learn before he could become an effective Christian teacher. The lesson abode with him until, through a course of years, its fruits were ripened and matured; and ever after he was wont to revert with pleasure to this visit of the "Friends," and the benefits he had derived from them. On the same year which so powerfully influenced him for the future, he married Miss Agnes Craig, the only surviving daughter of his predecessor, in whose energy of character, refined taste, and active practical disposition, he found a mind congenial to his own in the work of life that still lay before him, and a counsellor to whom he could refer in every difficulty.
And now that the stirring enterprising mind of the minister of Ruthwell had received a new impulse, as well as a fit companion and assistant, his career was to be traced in a series of benevolent parochial plans, from which he never desisted until they were realized. Ruthwell was not only a very poor parish, but subject to periodical visits of extreme destitution; and for such a population, amounting to 1100 souls, the fund for the poor, which was collected at the church door, amounted annually to only about ₤25. As this constitutional poverty threatened to grow with the changes of modern living, and as Mr. Duncan dreaded the establishment of that artificial and compulsory charity called a poor's-rate, by which idleness would be encouraged and the honourable independent spirit of the poor broken down, he had set in earnest from the beginning to make them a self-supporting people. A friendly society, indeed, had been established among them so early as 1796; but from the imperfection of its plan, and the inexperience of its supporters, it had come to nothing. Undismayed by the evil omen of such a failure, and the despondency it had occasioned,
