Rev. William Duke.
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The Rev. William Duke was born in the southern part of what is now Harford county, but was at the time of his birth included in Baltimore county, on the 15th of September, 1757, and died in Elkton on the 31st of May, 1840. He became enamoured of the doctrines of Methodism in early youth, and allied himself with that denomination before its separation from the Protestant Episcopal Church, and was licensed to preach by Rev. Francis Asbury when he was only seventeen years old. Mr. Duke’s name appears upon the minutes of the first Conference, held in Philadelphia in 1774, as one of the seven ministers who were that year taken on trial. The next year he was admitted to full membership, and remained in connection with the Conference as a traveling preacher until 1779, when he ceased to travel, and subsequently took orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church; being impelled to do so by his opposition to the erection of the Methodist Society into an independent Church.
Mr. Duke became Rector of North Elk Parish in 1793, but resigned the charge three years later, and removed to Anne Arundel county, but returned to Elkton about a year afterwards; soon after he removed to Kent county, where he taught a parochial school for a short time, but returned to Elkton again in 1799 and opened a school, and preached during the three following years at North East, Elkton, and at the Episcopal Church near New London, Pa.
In 1803 he was appointed Professor of Languages in St. John’s College, Annapolis, and had charge of St. Ann’s Church, in that city, until 1806, when he returned to Elkton, and the next year took charge of the Elkton Academy.
Mr. Duke remained in Cecil county until 1812, when he took charge of Charlotte Hall, in St. Mary’s county, and continued in charge of the school at that place until 1814, when he returned to Elkton, where he officiated as aforetime until the Spring of 1818, when he was appointed Principal of the Academy. He continued to reside in Elkton until the time of his death.
In 1793 Mr. Duke married Hetty Coudon, the daughter of the Rev. Joseph Coudon, a former Rector of North Elk Parish, and the ancestor of the Coudon family of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Duke were the parents of Miss Hetty Duke, who was their only child, and who died in Elkton, February 19th, 1875.
Mr. Duke was a very learned man, and is said by the Rev. Ethan Allan, the Historian of “The Old Parishes of Maryland,” to have been more of the student than the preacher. He was the author of a pamphlet published in Elkton in 1795, entitled “Observations on the Present State of Religion in Maryland,” which is now of great rarity and value. He also published a small volume entitled “Hymns and Poems on Various Occasions,” which was printed by Samuel and John Adams, of Baltimore, in 1790; and several other poems of considerable length, the most popular of which was entitled “A View of the Woods,” which was descriptive of the adventures and experience of Western emigrants in the latter part of the last century.
The following selections have been made from “Hymns and Poems on Various Occasions.”
Hymn.
And truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned; but now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly.
—Hebrews 11:15,16.
Abr’am, the father of the Jews, The servant, and the friend of God, When call’d from heaven, did not refuse To leave his Syrian abode.
His father’s house and kindred dear Plead, and dissuaded him in vain; Neither could earthly hope nor fear The noble enterprise restrain.
Nor he alone; a host of saints Renounced the world, and nobly chose That heavenly inheritance Which neither death nor sorrow knows.
No intervening dangers check Their ardent progress to the skies, Well may they venture, who expect An heavenly and immortal prize.
When faith to their delighted view Their future blissful portion brings, They, firm and cheerful, bid adieu To sin, and self, and earthly things.
Happy to leave the world behind, Their conduct speaks a noble aim; They seek a city, and shall find The promised new Jerusalem.
Nor yet does impotence or fear Their sense of earthly bliss restrain, Did they not heaven to earth prefer, They soon might wed the world again.
In heaven their treasure is laid up Beyond the reach of accident, There shall their lively glorious hope Receive its full accomplishment.
Hymn.
But yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead; and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
—Romans 6:13.
My heart, the world forsake, And every earthly toy; The Lord of all thy portion make, And in Him all enjoy.
May sensible delight, Corrected and refined, A thirst of nobler joys excite, And urge the lingering mind.
Should ardent love impel And actuate my soul, Still may celestial fires prevail, And every thought control.
Should glory stimulate, And daring deeds propose, That only fame I’d emulate, To triumph in the cross.
Or should my yielding powers Acknowledge pleasure’s sway, I’d think of sacred streams and bowers, And sweets that ne’er decay.
Should soaring science me Her votary avow, My only excellence should be Christ crucified to know.
Should wealth my mind impress, With the desire of more, In Christ the fullness I possess, Of Heaven’s exhaustless store.
With all that nature craves, Fully from thence supplied, No aching want my bosom heaves No wish unsatisfied.
Rejoicing in Hope.
Tost on the troubled sea of life, On every side assailed, Involved in passion’s stormy strife, In irksome suff’rance held.
The faithful word of promise cheers And bears my spirits up, Dispels my dark desponding fears And stablishes my hope.
Hope that shall every toil survive, That smoothes the rugged path, That mitigates the ills of life, And soothes the hour of death.
And when the storms of life are o’er, And all our conflicts cease, When landed on the heavenly shore To enjoy eternal peace.
Hope at the last, her charge resigned, Securely we dismiss, And an abundant entrance find, To the abodes of bliss.
Till then our progress she attends To solace and relieve: And waits till every conflict ends To take her final leave.
Possessed of all we hoped below, Our utmost wish attained, Our happiness complete, we know Our full perfection gained.
Thus may I cheerfully endure, Till thus my warfare past;— Suffice for me the promise sure, I shall be crowned at last.
Hymn.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
—Hebrews 4:9.
Oh how I languish to possess, A safe and permanent abode! To rest in unmolested peace, And cast my care on thee, my God.
In thee I joy, in thee I rest, Though all inferior comforts fail; No hopeless anguish heaves my breast, And no tormenting fears assail.
To thee with confidence I look, And calmly wait thy promised aid; I rest securely on that Rock, On which Almighty help is laid.
Oh may I on His firmness stand, The ground of my immortal hope; Or nobly rise, at his command, To Pisgah’s heaven-aspiring top.
That I may with ecstatic view, My future heritage descry, Where pleasures spring forever new, And perfect love shall never die.
Remorse.
What racking fear, what painful grief Ensue a pleasant sin! In vain the world proffers relief For maladies within. Its blandishments and smooth deceit No real succor bring; Its remedies but irritate And pleasure leaves a sting. Confusion, shame, and slavish fear O’erwhelm a guilty mind; A burden more than I can bear, My sins upon me bind. Oh had I weighed the matter well Ere my consent was given! Avoided then the gates of hell And urged my way to heaven! Lord, give me strength now to resume My former confidence; Remove my terrors, bid me come With hopeful penitence. In mercy hear my humble cry, Redeem my soul from sin, My guilty conscience pacify And speak the peace serene.
Morning.
But now the dawn of day appears, And now the dappled East declares Ambrosial morn again arrived, And nature’s slumbering powers revived, And while they into action spring The infant breeze with odorous wing, Perfumes of sweetest scent exhales, And the enlivened sense regales, With sweets exempt from all alloy Which neither irritate nor cloy. Nor less the calmly gladdened sight Enjoys the milder forms of light, Reflected soft in twinkling beams, From numberless translucent gems. But now Aurora dries her tears, And with a gayer mien appears, With cheerful aspect smiles serene, And ushers in the splendid scene Of golden day: while feeble night Precipitates his dreary flight Dispelled by the all cheering sway Of the resplendent God of day, Who, mounted in his royal car, And all arrayed in golden glare With arduous career drives on Ascending his meridian throne: From thence a Sovereign of the day, His full-grown glories to display.