Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/304

440 remained till he had attained his twelfth year, when he was removed to that of the neighbouring parish of Earlston, where the schoolmaster was celebrated as a teacher of Latin and Greek. Here he remained till 1770, when he entered the university of Edinburgh, leaving behind him at Earlston a reputation for talents and piety which, young as he then was, made a deep impression on all who knew him, and led them to anticipate for him the celebrity he afterwards attained as a preacher.

Mr Waugh continued al the university throughout four sessions prior to his entering on his theological studies, during which he attended the Latin, Greek, and Natural and Moral philosophy classes. He subsequently studied and acquired a competent knowledge of Hebrew. At the end of this period, he was examined by the presbytery regarding his proficiency in philosophy and the learned languages, and, having been found qualified, was admitted to the study of divinity, which he commenced in August, 1774, under the tuition of the Rev. John Brown of Haddington. Three years afterwards, he repaired to the university of Aberdeen, and attended for one session the lectures of Dr Beattie, professor of moral philosophy, and of Dr Campbell, professor of divinity in the Marischal college. In the following year, having been found amply qualified by prior attainments, he received his degree of M. A. On the completion of his studies, Mr Waugh was licensed to preach the gospel by the presbytery of Edinburgh at Dunse, June 28, 1779, and in two months afterwards was appointed by the presbytery to supply the Secession congregation of Wells-street, London, left vacant by the death of the Rev. Archibald Hall. On this occasion he remained in London for about ten weeks, when he returned to Scotland, and soon after received a unanimous call from the congregation of Newton, which was sustained by the presbytery at their meeting on December 21, 1779, and on the 30th of August, 1780, he was formally inducted to this charge.

The effects of the favourable impression, however, which he had made upon his hearers in London reached him, even in the retired and obscure situation in which he was now placed. A call to him from the Wells-street congregation was brought before the Synod which met at Edinburgh in May, 1781, but he was continued in Newton by a large majority. He himself had declined this call previously to its being brought before the Synod, and that for reasons which strikingly exhibit the benevolence of his disposition and the uprightness of his character. Amongst these were the unsettled slate of his congregation, which was yet but in its infancy, the strong attachment which they had manifested to him, and the struggles which they had made for the settlement of a minister among them. But so desirous were the Wells-street congregation to secure his services, that, undeterred by the result of their first application, they forwarded another call to him, which was brought before the Synod on the 27th November, 1781, when it was again decided that he should continue at Newton. The second call, however, was followed by a third from the same congregation, and on this occasion the call was sustained by the presbytery on the 19th March, 1782. Mr Waugh received at the same time a call from the Bristo-street congregation of Edinburgh, but, owing to some informality, it did not come into direct competition with the former, and therefore was not discussed.

The presbytery of Edinburgh having been appointed to admit him to his new charge, this ceremony took place at Dalkeith on the 30th May, 1782; and in June following he set out for London, where he arrived on the 14th of that month, and immediately commenced his ministry in the Secession church, Wells-street. He soon extended the reputation, which he had already acquired, amongst the body of Christians in London to which he belonged, and became