pretty extensive knowledge of philosophy and books of taste; and withal he was not an unsuccessful student of the human heart.

The romantic scenery amidst which his childhood had been nursed, had strongly imaged on his mind the pure objects of nature; and, following his own propensity, as well as imitating the writers of the Bible, he made ample use of them, in summoning them forth to bear witness to God's power, and wisdom, and goodness, and in illustrating by them the doctrines of the gospel.

With a mind thus prepared, in his twenty-sixth year, Mr. Bruce received a call from the inhabitants of S(a small village on the water of Ayr) and its neighborhood, to be their minister. The call, as every minister of sincere heart would wish, was cordial and unanimous. The situation of the village, although this was only a secondary consideration with Mr. Bruce, was such as peculiarly concorded with his feelings and desires. Placed in a sequestered hollow, through which the Ayr led his stream, winding pleasantly, covered with hills, which rose abruptly on every side, giving root to the beech, the oak, and the birch, which interwove their varied robes in Nature's táste, the little village seemed to be the very home

of pensive goodness and holy meditation. These things urged him to accept the call. Above all, that he might be like his Saviour, continually engaged in his heavenly Father's work, instructing the ignorant, and training immortal spirits for heaven, he gladly complied with the invitation, and was, accordingly, settled among them.

Soon after this settlement he married Miss Eliza Inglis, the daughter of a gentleman who lived in the neighbourhood of Mr. Bruce's father. This marriage was the result of a long-nourished affection, founded on like tastes and like desires. As they had spent their childhood and youth near one another, they became early acquainted, and early attached to each other. Miss Inglis, as she grew up, added to a handsome person, and an engaging countenance, the prudence and industry of domestic management, as well as some of those more liberal acquirements, fitted to render her a proper companion for a person of learning and taste.

But what had attached Mr. Bruce to her, and what was still the charm that bound his heart closer and closer to her's, was the natural tenderness of her soul, and the meek loveliness of her piety. It was this holy kind-heartedness, this simplicity of nature, added to the humility of the

Christian, that threw enchantment into her look, and made her the more beloved, the more she was known.

Such was the young lady, whom, in her twentyfourth year, Mr. Bruce made the partner of his life. Her good report had reached the village before her, and she was received with joy. The meekness and innocence of her countenance was a passport into the hearts of all with whom she conversed; and the young as well as the old, the rich as well as the poor, applauded Mr. Bruce's prudent choice: and, no doubt, conscious as he was of this world's vanity, he pictured to himself a long perspective of the purest and sweetest of earthly felicity. And, indeed, if youth and health, the comforts of plenty, wedded affection, mutual and fondly cherished, founded on the best of motives, and strengthened and tempered by the influences of religion, together with the esteem and love of neighbors, and peace with ourself and our Maker, could warrant any man to hope for much and long lasting happiness under the sun, surely Mr. Bruce might well entertain this hope.

In the pulpit, Mr. Bruce was truly the messenger of God. He knew the dignity of his office, and its awful responsibility; and regardless of the

face of man, with an earnestness which was of the heart, and with a voice, and look, and gesture, which suited themselves at all times to his subject, he made known the momentous commandments with which his Master had intrusted him, and enforced the practice of them. Although he was by no means remiss in setting before his flock the terrors of God's wrath, which shall awfully fall on the finally impenitent, his natural mildness of disposition rather led him to enlarge on the eternal love of God, manifested in the scheme of redemption; and to allure his people from the evil of their ways, by painting the beauties of holiness, bringing home to their minds the joy of peace with God, and pointing their eye away to the rewards of immortality. He rather drew his flock after him, as with the suasive of irresistible melody, than drove them into the strait path, by the frownings of offended justice, and the threatenings of coming vengeance.

The abstract doctrines of Christianity he did not leave untaught; but he urged incessantly the practice of heart-felt godliness, faith in Jesus Christ, love to God, and charity to man. He never thought of wasting time, and defrauding his hearers, by heaping together numberless meanings

for one passage of scripture, or in proving what no one ever doubted, or in endeavoring to bring to the level of human capacity those truths of revelation which infinity alone can fully understand, and which we are rather commanded to believe than comprehend. He did not so much give reason after reason, to prove why God had a right to enjoin this or that duty, because he knew that few doubted this right, as he set himself to persuade his flock to the doing of it. What is practical in Christianity, he exhorted his people to practise; what is subject of credence merely, he believed, and taught others the reasonableness of believing it, and its influence on the heart and life; and instead of bewildering himself, and producing doubt and darkness in the minds of his auditors, by entering boldly, like many divines, on the explanation of what is in itself incomprehensible, he stood still, and believed, and adored, and took from it a lesson of humility.

But what, in his public ministrations, drew every ear into attention, and, through the blessing of God, produced such effects on the heart, was not more the soundness of his doctrines, than the earnestness of his persuasions. His was not the cold-hearted address of formality, which suits so