John Urquhart, part 2: First Year at St. Andrews

Shortly before he left for St. Andrews in the fall of 1822, John Urquhart heard his pastor preach a sermon on a Sunday night. Having grown up in the church, he had heard many such sermons, but the Spirit of God caused him to hear the Scriptures that evening in a new way. Over a year later he wrote to his pastor, William Orme, to let him know that the sermon that evening had given him the first real sense of his sinful condition before God. This sense of fear and foreboding led him to what he felt were his first true prayers.

He was soon off to St. Andrews as a 14-year-old prodigy. His father and Pastor Orme accompanied him on the trip, and Orme made sure to introduce him to William Lothian, the pastor of the Independent Chapel in St. Andrews. This ensured that Urquhart would receive spiritual care while away from home. His first few days at school were, to use his words, “very dull,” but he was happy when when Alexander Duff, his close friend from grammar school, showed up on campus. He and Duff would room together for the rest of that school session.

William Orme (1787-1830).
Pastor of the Congregational Church of Perth and Urquhart’s biographer.

Early in the fall term, John competed with 33 other students for a bursary (a scholarship) and won first place. The competition involved translating a passage from Latin into English and then one from English into Latin. They took about four hours to complete each part; considering that John was only 14, his success is even more noteworthy. By winning this competition, he was enabled to receive £8 (8 British pounds) towards his tuition for the next four years. This made him happy because it took some of the financial pressure off of his parents.

The spiritual stirrings that he had felt before leaving Perth remained with him during the school year. He was faithful at church every Sunday, and Pastor Lothian kept a caring eye on him. Orme, his pastor back in Perth, continued his pastoral care through letters. In one of his letters to John he wrote:

Do not forget to read the Bible; —and read it, —not as an exercise, but as an enjoyment, and as the means of knowing the will of God; and of being taught how to cleanse your ways. It contains the words of eternal life; which, if you understand and believe, will make you happier than all things together which this world can afford. . .Do make [God] your friend: you know not what need you may have for support and direction in your journey through life, and if he is near you, all will be well.

In later years, Alexander Duff recalled the spiritual activities that he had shared with John during that year. He said that throughout the whole year the two of them worshiped God regularly morning and evening. They read the Bible, and they prayed, but Duff recalled that as yet neither of their hearts were really warmed with the truth of God’s word. He said that in almost every case, “there was much coldness, and much formality.” For neither of them was religion “the great object. There was little appearance of the savor and unction of divine grace, —little appearance of real joy and delight in communion with God.”

While Urquhart continued these spiritual disciplines, he was also maintaining a full course load. In mid-December, shortly before coming home for a short Christmas holiday, he gave his mother a picture of his typical day—

7AM, Rise by candlelight
8AM, Greek class
9AM, Breakfast and library time
10AM, Mathematics
11AM, Greek class
12PM, Go for a walk
1PM, Latin class
2PM, Afternoon meal
3PM, Study time
4PM, Go for a walk
5PM till bedtime, In my room studying

He was convinced that this regularity of schedule was good for him. Not only did he measure his time, he even measured out the same amount of food each day. This aided his delicate constitution; he recorded that he had not had any headaches recently and felt that he was keeping his health better than ever before. The exercise which he got by walking was a good balance for the mental exertion that his classes required. St. Andrews is situated on the sea, and he enjoyed taking his walks along the seashore and scrambling among the rocks near the town.

The 1822-23 school year passed by in the routine way that school years usually do. But John’s gifts and diligence showed at the end of the session when he won first prize in the Greek class, several prizes in Latin, and one in mathematics. Duff noted that he won all of these prizes “with little labor or exertion.” Outwardly, then, John had a successful freshman year. But that is not the greatest measure of success in life. He still lacked the one thing needful. In his Bible reading, “the spiritual meaning of the Bible was not understood, and the subduing power of its doctrines not felt.” In his prayers, “the real spirit of prayer was lacking, —the fervent, out-pouring of the heart to God.” In his talks with Duff, “the wonders of redeeming love formed but a small share of [their] discourse.”

William Lothian.
Pastor of the Independent Chapel of St. Andrews.
(Image courtesy of University of St Andrews Libraries and Museums.)

Yet as Pastor Orme looked back on those days, he could see that the Spirit of God was still working and drawing John toward seeing the wonders of Christ and his love. He realized that in John’s case, a boy who had grown up around the gospel and who looked outwardly good, there would likely not be a profound change of lifestyle when the internal change came. He did not lack “the intellectual perception of the gospel” but “the moral taste for its beauty.” Orme continued, “Man can cultivate and enlarge his understanding; but only God can touch and renovate the heart.” Before the close of 1823, when John was 15, a change of heart would be clear to all.