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the city, by this and by other discourses which he preached, as well as by the known excellence of his character, that chiefly on that account the Magistrates and Council elected him to one of the charges of the East Church, on the thirtieth of August in the same year. He entered immediately on the office of preaching, though he was not ordained till the eleventh of June of the year following. And now he was introduced into a sphere congenial to his heart; and for the space of the thirty years during which he occupied it, the whole bent of his mind was directed to the improving of the numerous opportunities which it presented, of promoting the spiritual benefit of the objects of his ministrations.

In May, 1796, he married MARGARET LEITH, daughter of the deceased PATRICK LEITH, Esq. of Allathan. This was a marriage of pure affection, as the lady had little or no fortune at that time; although, soon after her marriage, by the death of her brother, in St. Vincent, they sueceeded to the half of his fortune. This afforded to Mr. Ross an opportunity of gratifying his benevolent disposition, by aiding many a poor family, which his limited means before this accession to his income, often prevented him from

doing as he would have wished. He made, indeed, a point of always expending the amount of his income by enlarging his charity in proportion. With Mrs. Ross, whose piety and amiable dispositions were in harmony with his own, he enjoyed much domestic happiness during the few years that Providence spared them together. He had three children, two girls who died in infancy, and a son, ALEXANDER LEITH Ross, who lived to excite the highest hopes of eminence in literature, and in every good attainment, when he was prematurely removed at the age of twenty-three. Mrs. Ross died on the twentieth of April, 1802, in the fortieth year of her age.

Amidst these vicissitudes and repeated afflictions in his family relations, Mr. Ross exhibited the happy influence of religion on his own heart, in bearing his trials with Christian resignation, and proceeding in his indefatigable course of useful exertion in his pastoral charge. His discourses were well adapted to instruct and to comfort his hearers, and to arouse them to serious thought on the momentous concerns of religion. His own views of Divine Revelation were those which must commend themselves to every devout and reflecting mind. He considered the Word of God

as the only source from which, in the humble and diligent exercise of our mental faculties, with the promised assistance of the Holy Spirit, we can derive that knowledge of the divine will which is necessary to the salvation of our souls. This word declares that man is fallen, and is no longer capable in the present life of that perfect obedience to the law of God which was appointed at first as the condition of everlasting happiness, and which, by the immutable obligation of the divine law, must still be the ground on which eternal life is to be obtained—that this obedience was given in our nature by the Son of God, who thus magnified the law and made it honourable-that he suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God-that it is in virtue of his obedience and sufferings alone that any of the human race can be saved-but, that none can expect salvation through the merits of Christ, who strive not, by the influences of his Spirit, and in the diligent use of all the means of grace, to keep the commandments of God, and to honour his law by uniform, active, and persevering obedience. This simple, yet sublime and comprehensive, system of truth, of which the traces are impressed on every page of the Scriptures, the public instructions of Mr. Ross were formed to illustrate and expand

and apply to the various mental habits and moral circumstances of those who heard him. And while he expatiated with pleasure on the congenial subject of the delightful privileges afforded by the Gospel, and while he invited the humble penitent to repose on the mercy of God through the Redeemer, he failed not to arouse the careless by a reference to the terror of the Lord, and to inculcate and enforce upon all the obligation of the divine law, as a rule of life and of conduct embracing every conceivable relation of human duty, In his manner of preaching and of addressing his hearers he was exceedingly gentle, affectionate, and winning. His compositions were marked by good taste and simplicity. His voice was melodious and powerful. His delivery was generally very easy, and thus additional effect was given to passages which he spoke with peculiar energy and feeling. His prayers were comprehensive and suitable, pervaded by the solemn and impressive language of Scripture, and varied according to the subjects of his discourses.

That his ministry was successful to a very considerable degree there can be no reason to doubt, from the ardent and steady and increasing attachment of his hearers. And there are, indeed, some

pleasing evidences of the benefit resulting from his instructions. It seems no unwarrantable indulgence of hope to believe, that divine and moral truth was never presented to an audience without producing some good effect, though of a nature and to an extent which it may often be impossible exactly to ascertain. While this general hope, however, may be reasonably entertained by all who labour faithfully in dispensing the Word of God, it cannot but be peculiarly encouraging, when circumstances of a definite nature make it appear that the labour has not been in vain; and this encouragement was enjoyed by Mr. Ross, who came to the knowledge of several particular instances of good being done by his preaching. To a course of lectures which he delivered on the Epistles of Peter, several individuals were indebted as the means of being first led to reflect with thoughtfulness on religion, and to understand the nature of the Gospel; and his lectures on Isaiah contributed to administer comfort to some serious persons, who, by dejection of mind, had been walking in darkness. He related, too, the following circumstance, as an encouragement to keep up the week-day sermon. One day a man, apparently between sixty and seventy years of age, came to him, with a desire to be admitted

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