James Haldane, Scottish Preacher, Led a Bold, Adventurous Life
James Haldane lived an adventurous, seafaring life.
WHEN JAMES HALDANE was seventeen, he embarked on the ship The Duke of Montrose as a midshipman (junior officer), lugging with him a chest of books. It was understood he would become captain of another ship, the Melville Castle, once he had the necessary experience. The books were to prepare him for that. As it turned out, God had other plans for him.
His maritime career spanned eight adventurous years. No adventure may have been more important than one that occurred during a storm. The captain ordered Haldane to let an able seaman (a sailor of lower rank) precede him up the shrouds. That man was struck in the head by loose rigging and plunged to his death in the sea. Had Haldane been the foremost, it might have been him.
Other close calls for Haldane included the time a cavalry officer flung a drink in his face and he fought a duel for honor’s sake. However, neither duelist was seriously injured. At many times, Haldane’s quick thinking and strong determination saved his ship. The captain was dithering in the face of a crisis when Haldane took charge, ordered all hands on deck and turned the vessel around just in time to save it from piling onto some breakers.
His most daring act came after he had passed his exams and become captain of the Melville Castle. While his ship was detained in harbor, mutiny broke out on a nearby ship, the Dutton. Despite threats from the mutineers, Haldane boarded the ship, cutlass in hand and single-handedly relieved the ship’s officers, quelling the mutiny. Two of the crew then tried to blow up the Dutton by breaking into the magazine (where ammunition was stored) with live coals, but Haldane acted with such promptness and determination that he prevented them.
While lying in harbor, Haldane began to study the Bible. The conviction grew on him that all was not right with his soul. “However dark my mind still was, I have no doubt but that God began a work of grace on my soul while living on board the Melville Castle,” he later wrote. He prayed to be freed of his commitment as captain. It seemed he could not, but suddenly, two days before the ship was to sail, he obtained release. He sold his share in the ship for enough to support himself and his wife for the time being.
Haldane became a pastor and evangelist in his native Scotland. He visited all the inhabited isles of Orkney and preached to their people, whose religious needs had long been ignored by the church. With friends, he also spent summer weeks preaching out of doors in neglected Scottish towns. Pastors said his sermons were the deepest they had ever heard. He emphasized the essential connection of the Christian with Christ. “Were it possible for the believer to lose sight of Christ he would die, but his life is preserved by the supply of the Spirit, taking of the things of Christ, and showing them to his mind.”
Haldane formed the first Congregationalist church in Scotland, an anomaly in the overwhelmingly Presbyterian country. This did not prevent Presbyterian pastors from sincerely appreciating him, many of whom turned out to his funeral. He died on this day 8 February 1851. About an hour before his death, his wife said, “You are going to Jesus. How happy you will be soon.” His face lit up with joy as he replied, “Oh! yes.”
—Dan Graves
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Read more about the origin and spread of the Baptists in Christian History #6, The Baptists
