OBITUARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 299, 16 December 1911, Page 10

OBITUARY.

REV. DAVID BRUCE. D.D. News has been received of the death in Sydney of the Rev. David Bruce, one of the pioneers of the Presbyterian Church in Auckland, who was for many years pastor of St. Andrew's Church. The deceased had attained the advanced ajre of S7 years, and was a ; native of Aberdeenshire. He was licensed tc preach in 1853, and ordained by -the' Presbytery of Aberdeenshire for wo* in the Colonial field, toeing sent out by the committee of St. Andrew's Church. He arrived here in the Simla on June S of the same year. In those days the church was ip. troublous times, as it had a debt of £I6OO, and in addition there Mae not that harmony amongst the members that is requisite to secure united action for the. common good. By energy, tact, and undoubted pulpit ability the new minister succeeded in healing all the breaches, and also in raising £ 1029 within three months, with the result that St: Andrew's Church entered upon an era of prosperity that astonished the office-bearers. A man of considerable foresight, coupled with force of character, Mr. Bruce was a great iactor in the progress of the Presbyterian Church in the Auckland Province.

The Bev. David Bruce put in 24 years' strenuous work in est. Andrew's Church, find resigned on January 27, 1877, to 1 undertake the even more important task of general agent of the church, later on he resigned that position after having done good service, and entered upon a career oe a journalist. Removing from New Zealand to Xew South Wales, the Rev. David Bruce was on February 4, 1592, inducted to the charge e>f St. Leonard's Presbyterian Church, Sydney, and later en was ouce more employed in the work for which he was specially adapted, the extension and strengthening 1 of the church. The degree of Doctor of Divinity jvas vaat erred upon the Bev. David Bruce by the University of St. Andrew's, as a mark of appreciation of his ability as a theologian and enterprise as a ! churchman. "Whatsoever thy hand findi eth to do, do it with all thy "might," was a text peculiarly adaptable to the character and life work of the Rev. Dr. 1 David Bruce.