A FAMOUS SCOTSMAN.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1440, 5 October 1899, Page 14

A FAMOUS SCOTSMAN.

DEATH OF PROFESSOR BRUCE. SKETCH OF HIS CAREER. Deep and widespread regret will be occasioned (says the " Glasgow Herald" of August 6th) by the announcement we have to make this week of the death of the Rev Professor Bruce, of the Free Church College, one of our most honoured citizens, and one of Scotland's foremost theologians. In the morLih of March last the professor underwent a serious operation necessitated by an internal trouble. The immediate results seemed favourable, and hopes were entertained that the patient might be spared for a measure at least of his former work. It was not to be. Graver symptoms supervened; the relief which surgical skill had brought proved temporary; one by one hopes even for partial restoration had to be relinquished, and the end came painlessly and gently on Monday afternoon. Professor Bruce was. born in the year 1831 in the parish of Forgandenny, in Perthshire, where his father was a farmer, and received his preliminary education in the local school. Thence he went to the University of Edinburgh, where he completed the curriculum' in Arts. Actuated partly by the enthusiasm which followed the Disruption in the previous decade, partly by the example of his elder brother —Dr David Bruce, recently Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand —young Bruce decided to study for the ministrv. After qualifying at the Free Church" College in Edinburgh, he acted as assistant first at Ancrum and then at Lochwinnoch. In 1859 he was ordained at Cardross, undertaking the difficult task of re-organising the congregation, which had become famous through the "Cardross Case." It was there he preached the sermons on the Gospels which were afterwards published under the title of The Training of the Twelve," the first fruits of study in that field of New Testament exegesis which Professor Bruce made ?o distinctively his own. The volume h?d a hearty reception, and its author was spoken of as one of the coming men c the Free Church. In 1868 Mr Bruce wis translated to the East Free Ulmich, Broughty Ferrv, in succession to Dr fv.nrray Mitchell, where his shifts steadily consolidated a new enterprise. In 1871 he was appointed to the Cunnim-ham Lectureship. The subject chosen -vas the Incarnation, and the lectures were quently published under the title of " The Humiliation of Christ." In the following year Mr Bruce was called by the Assembly to fill the Chair of Apologetic*? and New Testament Exegesis in Glasgow Free Church College, vacant by the death cf Principal Patrick Fairbairn; and about the same time his Alma Mater honoured him with the degree of D.D.

VAs a preacher Professor Bruce was exceedingly popular with thoughts hearers. - As a teacher he was adored by his students, while no modern theological 'writer commands a wider circle of readers throughout the English-speaking world. ; But he was more than a theologian, for to his musical taste and accomplishments the Free Church is indebted for the valuable services rendered in his capacity of convener of the Hymnal Committee. To these are mainly due. the compilation first of the "Free Church Hymnal" about twenty years ago, and recently of tho ""Church Hymnary." Professor Bruce was as highly esteemed in the United States as in his native land, and on the occasion of his visits to our kin beyond the Atlantic he was always received with enthusiasm, and once at least delivered a jabort course of lectures at one of the

colleges. His Gifford Lectures fin: Glasgow University, which produced a marked impression,. were delivered on successive Sunday afternoons for two seasons in the Bute Hall, in the presence of two large audiences. Take him all in all, Professor Bruce was; a great and progressive thinker, a brilliant scholar, a genial companion, a faithful friend, an inspiring teacher, kind of heart, broad in -sympathy. ."'• ' '•■ DR BRUCE AS. '.' SUSPECT." Professor Bruce was appointed to the chair at a critical time in the history of his Church. The Disruption leaders had passed away. Questions which their powerful hands had repressed, and with which they were incapable of dealing, were calling for settlement. Historical criticism cf the books of Scripture, involving new adjustment of ideas on many points, was affecting men's minds, especially those who had access to German theological literature. The conviction was growing that old formulas and canons of interpretation had outlived their day, and that it was no longer possible for the Church to maintain "a conservative attitude, and ignore the results of recent Biblical echolarship. Men were needed v who knew the ground and could pilot the Church through the threatening assaults of destructive criticism. Everybody knows how issues of a far-reaching kind were presently precipitated by the Robertson .Smith controversy. And foremost among "the men who stood forward to exhort the Church to abstain from panic and possess her soul in patience, men whose knowledge of the subject entitled them to speak with authority, was Professor Brace. The Liberal party in the Church was defeated for the moment, but on this we need not enter now. There emerged from the controversy a personal ascendancy of Dr Bruce over the rising ministry, borne witness to in the often-repeated—even if somewhat enthusiastic —remark by the youth of the Western Hall, that there was hope for a Church so long as it held a man like him within its commtmion. To truth in dogmatic dress he had an instinctive aversion, and we can hardly be surprised in the circumstances that Professor Bruce should become a suspect to a section of his Church. It was an honotir shared with some of the noblest names in her communion. Exception was publicly taken to statements in several cf his works, and over " The Kingdom of God" the College Committee was exercised for a Avhole winter, while at the suggestion of a majority of the members a gentle admonition was administered to him in the ensuing Assembly. • On that occasion Professor Bruce delivered a speech which convinced many prejudiced minds that they had mistaken the man, if it did not convince them of their fears. The speech was an impressive and touching claim that he was an Israelite indeed, though Dingwall was ignorant of him and Glenelg Synod acknowledged him not.