He was the second son of William Bruce of Balquharg, Commissary for St Andrews.
[1] In May 1665 he began ministering in the Church of Scotland serving the parish of Kilrenny on the eastern edge of Fife.
He was made Bishop of Dunkeld in 1679, being consecrated at St Andrews Cathedral on 28 October 1679 but was deprived of the bishopric in 1686 for disapproving of certain newly enacted laws.
Two years later, in July 1688, he was made Bishop of Orkney, but only held this position for a few months, as the Glorious Revolution brought an end to the Restoration Episcopate of the Scottish church.
He married Elizabeth Bethune, youngest daughter of John Bethune, 12th of Balfour, and his wife Catherine Haliburton, and they had a son James Bruce born in 1676.