Author: Bruce, Archibald
Biography:
BRUCE, Archibald (1746-1816: ancestry.co.uk)
ODNB gives the date of his baptism at the Stirling Secession church as 1748, but information from ancestry.co.uk indicates that he was baptised on 12 Nov. 1746. He was born at Broomhall, Stirlingshire, to John Bruce and Isobel (Taylor) Bruce who had married on 21 Sept. 1739. He was educated privately and at the University of Glasgow until 1761. He studied theology and was ordained in the “anti-burgher” church at Whitburn, Linlithgowshire, in 1768. In 1786 he was appointed Professor of Divinity for the General Associate Synod, becoming widely influential as a teacher. His numerous prose writings focus on the relationship between civil government and religion; because of their political cast, he occasionally found publication difficult and resorted to setting up his own printing press at Whitburn. Later in life he came to disagree with the direction his church was taking, and in 1806 he was deposed for his views. However, he was able to continue teaching until his death at Whitburn. He never married. (ODNB 25 Apr. 2019; ancestry.co.uk 25 Apr. 2018, 27 Nov. 2024) SR