PETER SPENCE. 



Lord Macaulay in his essay on Milton 

 describes the Puritans as: "Men whose 

 minds had derived a peculiar character from 

 the daily contemplation of superior beings 

 and eternal interests. Not content with 

 acknowledging in general terms an over-ruling 

 Providence, they habitually ascribed every 

 event to the will of the Great Being, for 

 whose power nothing was too vast, for whose 

 inspection nothing was too minute. To know 

 Him, to serve Him, to enjoy Him, was 

 with them the great end of existence. If 

 were unacquainted with the works of 

 philosophers and poets, they were deeply : 

 in the works of God. If their names were 

 not found in the register of heralds, they 

 were recorded in the Book of Lite. It was 

 from families of this class that Peter Sp< 

 was descended. His mother's family had for 

 generations farmed lands, situated on the 

 npians; his lather was a hand-loom 

 er in the hur^h <>f Brechin. Though of 

 lowly station, his parents were distinguished 

 for their genuine piety and lofty character; 



