66

to a friend in London, an eminent virtuoso, speaks of him in the following terms; which we quote, not only as adverting to his general reputation as a young preacher, but as also evincing the very affectionate regard in which he was held by those to whom he was most intimately known: -" I admire Mr. Waugh as much as any of his acquaintance, but not for his taste for antiquity; for often has he rallied me on the possession, and I him upon the want, of inclination for it. But he has a real genius for the investigation of divinity and morals, and for composition; he possesses the finest disposition for friendship and for company; and seems to me one who will long be improving in excellence - longer, indeed, than any person I know so that I expect, if Providence spare him and me, that he will make an eminent clergyman, and that I shall rejoice in such a friend. He has got a call to Newtown,- a poor place. Many of the people in Edinburgh wish to have him: sincerely do I desire that they would give him a unanimous call. I hope he will be a blessing to the congregation, and to the Secession in general. But whither am I going? When Waugh is the subject, I can no more get off it than a young lover can get his mistress out of his head."

The following letter will shew how another of his most valued friends felt on the subject of his call to Newtown.

"MY DEAREST FRIEND, St. Croix, Aug. 21, 1780. "Wednesday last being the anniversary of the birthday of the Rev. Mr. Waugh, it did not pass unnoticed.

May you live, my dear Sir, to see many happy returns of the 16th of August! May you be an able, faithful, and successful labourer, to whatever part of the Lord's vineyard you may be appointed; so that many, by your instrumentality, being turned from the error of their ways, may bless the day in which your mother forgot her sorrows by being told that a man-child was born! and may you, after a long, happy, and useful life spent here, enter the gates of the heavenly Zion amidst the joyous acclamations of holy angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and confessors, exerting themselves afresh in singing praises to Him that was dead, and is now alive; who by means of a helpless infant, sent into the world on the 16th August, 1754, has added many members to the church triumphant; and hath appointed him, as the gracious reward of having turned many to righteousness, to shine with them as stars for ever and ever!

"But let us return to the place of our present sojourning. Pray, my dear solitudinarian, have you really accepted the charge of Newtown? Were it lawful to repine. at any of the dispensations of Providence, at this I would really murmur. I think the Presbytery ought to annul the call. Truly, Sir, one possessing such a share of urbanity as you do, (I shall say this betwixt ourselves), would be more useful in a town or a city than in such a moorland hermitage, a rural cloister, as I take Newtown to be. What could induce the people to give you the preference? You will tell me, perhaps, that the election of a minister is providential. I readily grant you that; but is it not also preceptive? We ought to make choice of those, when we have a choice, that can become all things to all men in the place they are called to; whose tempers, dispositions, and way of life, adapt them in some measure for their situation, and offer least violence to their natural feelings. However, if my remarks are too late or impertinent, may congregation and pastor be happy in one another, is my sincere prayer. Whatever is, is right,'

says Alexander Pope; so must I say relative to the election of a Seceding minister for Newtown.

The subject of this memoir, after long deliberation with himself and his friends, and much fervent prayer for Divine direction in this important step of life, came at last to see that it was the will of Providence that he should take the pastoral care of this infant society. He therefore resolved to go forward in what now appeared the path of duty, devolving all his apprehensions and anxieties on that affectionate and faithful Master who hath kindly promised to his ministers, "As thy day is, so shall thy strength be." His trial for ordination being completed at a preceding meeting of Presbytery, he was set apart to the office of the holy ministry at Newtown, by prayer and the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, on August 30, 1780. The Rev. Mr. Riddoch, of Coldstream, as moderator, gave the charge to the minister and congregation.

On the following Sabbath, September 3, he commenced his ministrations with a lecture on Psalm xlv. 1-9; and preached, in the afternoon, on verse 2 of the same Psalm. He did not regularly lecture in any particular book of Scripture, till a short time before his removal from this charge, when he commenced a course of lectures in Luke. It was a custom with Mr. Brown, soon after the ordination of any of his students, to write the individual ordained a letter of salutary

counsel, regarding the particular duties which had devolved upon him in the new and serious relation into which he had entered. The very solemn admonition which Mr. Waugh received from the worthy professor on this occasion, he published, many years afterwards, in the Evangelical Maga

zine.

66 HINT TO MINISTERS.

"The Rev. J. Brown, of Haddington, tutor in divinity to the Associate Synod, in a letter of paternal counsels and cautions to one of his pupils newly settled in a small congregation, wrote thus:

'I I know the vanity of your heart, and that you will feel mortified that your congregation is very small in comparison with those of your brethren around you; but assure yourself, on the word of an old man, that when you come to give an account of them to the Lord Christ, at his judgment-seat, you will think you have had enough.'

It would appear that this short letter had sunk deep into his susceptible mind, so as not only to awaken that salutary anxiety which every minister will feel who watches for souls as one that must give an account, but to cause very considerable dejection regarding his fitness for that sacred trust which had been committed to him. On this matter he had unbosomed his heart to his confidential friend, who thus writes:

"St. Croix, June 19, 1781.

"What is the cause of all this dejection, diffidence, and pusillanimity, so very discernible in my friend's letter?

Really, from your innate benevolence and generosity of disposition, of which I have had repeated experience, I imagined that, instead of fearing that your small congregation would appear too large at the day of final retribution, your exercise would be-studying a perfect resignation to the Divine will, that had been pleased to confine your labour and talents to so small a spot, thus preventing you from being more extensively useful in another corner of the Christian vineyard. I hope you are determined, with a humble, steadfast affiance on Divine aid, to act as a faithful watchman upon Zion's walls, to sound the trumpet, and warn the people when danger approaches, or is likely to approach, whether your congregation be large or small. If they take not warning, they shall perish in their iniquity; but you, by your faithfulness, will deliver your own soul. Our glorious, all-conquering Captain has promulgated a manifesto long ago, and it stands still on record; it is to this purport, that he sends none of his disciples on warfare at their own charge; and that he will be with his faithful servants at all times, even unto the end of the world. Perhaps old Adam is too strong for Consider, my dear Sir, no cross, no run before you reach the goal; you must fight ere you gain the prize. Be of good courage; He that is for you is stronger than he that is against you."

my young friend. crown.' You must

His settlement at Newtown was very agreeable to all his relations except his mother, who felt considerable disappointment that her beloved son, who had received so liberal an education, and had been the object of her unceasing solicitude, should be stationed for life in such a small and obscure place. The congregation was not in circumstances to give him an adequate support; and as no convenient house could be procured in