In 1885 Mr Darling was chosen to the office of
the eldership in Broughton Place Congregation, of which, from the
time of his coming to Edinburgh, he had been a member. He was
cordially welcomed into the ranks of the Session by his brother
elders, and more than realised all the favourable anticipations
which they had formed regarding him, as one who would keep before
his mind the solemn thought that he had been called to "watch for
souls as those who must give an account." Combining in his character
a sound judgment with a large-hearted charity, he could work
pleasantly with others, and believe in their conscientiousness, and
love them not the less, when he sometimes differed from them in his
practical judgments. He had a most wholesome horror of fads and
crotchets. In his district as elsewhere, he was self-forgetting in
seeking the good of others to an extent reached by few. And he was a
man of prayer, and an earnest lover of peace. During the few years
in which he lived to discharge the duties of the
eldership, which to him was no sinecure, or downy pillow on which to
fall asleep, every member in the district which was specially
committed to his oversight had come to regard him as a personal
friend. The poor among the people were always on his heart. He was
quite the kind of elder to whom a perplexed member would go for
advice, or a sorrowful spirit for consolation.
One member in his district, an earnest Christian
worker like himself, sends us this grateful testimony to the benefit
she derived from his visits. "His visits were a great pleasure to
me, and, however busy I might be, I always felt myself quite willing
to leave the most pressing work and have a little talk with him. He
was so full of love to Jesus, and to souls. After his visits, I
always felt myself stirred up to new effort in rescuing the
perishing and doing all that I could to win back souls to Christ. Mr
Darling had ever some new case in hand, and he would tell out all
that was being done by himself and others to lift up some one who
had sunk far down through drink, or some other indulged sin.
"Although he was greatly interested in cases that
came more directly under his own notice yet he was a most willing
listener to all that others had to tell of their work for Jesus.
Often have I seen the tear come to his eyes as he listened to the
story of some weary wanderer returning to the bosom of his Lord. It
was this deep interest and sympathy, shown in all departments of the
Lord's vineyard, that made his visits so helpful to me as a
Christian worker; and one felt that he was most suited for an elder,
not only because he was a great worker himself, but because he
encouraged others to go and do likewise."
