ROULLE CARY was the captain of the " Spirit of the Ocean," which was wrecked on the coast of South Devon, in the terrible storm of Friday, March 23rd. The vessel was bound from London to Halifax, with a valuable cargo; her crew numbered eighteen, and the passengers twenty-four, making a total of forty-two, of whom only four were saved-the mate and three seamen, who owe their lives to the heroic exertions of a neighbouring farmer, Mr. Popplestone, by whom the wreck was witnessed. Captain Cary had been mercifully preserved, from youth up, from the vices and follies to which sailors are, alas! too much addicted, and was most exemplary for filial respect and love. Some years since, he received the grace of God in truth, and became a member of the Congregational Church at Penzance. His consistent and useful Christian life endeared him to his fellow-members, who expressed deep regret on losing him, when some time since he removed, with his family, to London, and became a member of the Church under the pastoral care of Rev. James Bowrey, Shadwell.

On the last Sabbath evening allotted to him on earth, he listened to a sermon on the brevity and uncertainty of human life (Deut. xxxii. 29), which was preached by his pastor on account of a strange and powerful impression of its special suitability. A prayer-meeting was then held, to commit him, his crew, and passengers, to the care of God. The captain's voice was then heard for the last time by his fellow-members in fervent supplications at a throne of grace, after which, with greater solemnity than usual, the pastor and his flock committed him to the protection of God, who has now answered their prayer in a way they did not expect, by bringing their departed brother safely and swiftly "to his desired haven." His last act before leaving the vestry was to put into the pastor's hand a donation towards a new Chapel being erected in Burdett-road, the special claims of which had been that day advocated.

From the Downs he wrote a letter to a Christian friend, which breathes the spirit of child-like confidence. After referring to the boisterous weather, and other matters of a secular nature, he writes: "My daily prayer to God is to be kept from sin, and made more like Him; and if I know anything of myself, I have strong confidence in the God of Jacob, who is my God. While I

have His love in my heart, all must be well. Glory be to His name, He has taken me out, and brought me back again many a time in safety, and He is the same God over all, blessed for evermore; this moment I feel His love in my heart sweeter than life itself. O for more of it! to be found praying without ceasing, and in every thing giving thanks, which is the will of God concerning us.

I must now bid adieu, hoping that our prayers may prevail for one another, and that we shall have the happiness of again meeting on earth; if not, may we meet where parting will be no more for ever."

When the vessel struck and parted, he hurried, with the mate, into the cabin, to render assistance to a family of four children, who were there with their parents. As he took one of the little ones in his arms, and the mate another, the remaining two being in the arms of the father and mother, he said, with calmness, "I am prepared to die—.” The sentence was unfinished; a mountainous billow rolled over the helpless group, and he was seen no more alive.

On hearing of the sad event, his father, seventy-five years of age, hurried to the coast, and resolved not to leave, if God should so will, without recoDay by day he paced the lonely shore, till, fifteen days

vering the body of his son.

after the wreck took place, the precious remains, for which he had so long kept almost sleepless watch, were recovered. "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."

RICHARD ASH, ESQ., OF BRISTOL,

Bristol knows, and will long remember that name. It was, eighty-five years ago, entered in the family register of Edward Ash, his father, with hopes and prayers which both father and son, now in heaven, thank God for having fulfilled. It was prominent on placards during the great political struggles which issued in the abolition of slavery and gave us Reform, It was inscribed on the list of town councillors and magistrates of the city, amongst her charity trustees, and amongst the founders and benefactors of some of her most beneficent institutions. More than fifty-five years ago it was enrolled in the church register of Bridge-street Chapel by the Rev. Samuel Lowell, his revered pastor; it has since then headed probably hundreds of subscription lists, in full or under the modest but not effectual disguise of X. Y., and now, alas! is carved on a tomb.

Mr. Ash's father, an eminent and highly-esteemed member of the Society of Friends, and conspicuous, even among them, for his active philanthropy, gave his son, according to the standard of the times, a first-class education, chiefly at the school of the Thompsons', at Compton, near Sherborne, where most of the families of the Friends in the West of England were trained for several generations. Law was to have been his profession. He was articled to one of the leading firms in the city, and afterwards was offered, and for a brief period accepted, a partnership. But not needing the emoluments of a profession, and having an extreme dread of close air, and strong benevolent sympathies, he retired early, and for fifty years devoted himself to works more congenial to his tastes. The greater part of his working hours he devoted to charitable and religious institutions, and affairs of the Church. Mainly to his exertions public morality is indebted for the suppression of the pleasure fairs which were so prolific of evil. He was in the forefront of the battle for the abolition of West Indian slavery, and was courageous enough to be chairman of the meetings which the powerful and unscrupulous planter interest rendered exciting and stormy.

No particulars of his conversion have been preserved, but it is known that, on leaving the Society of Friends, he was somewhat inclined towards Unitarianism; but about that time he became acquainted with the Rev. Samuel Lowell, and afterwards entered the Church under his care. There his voice was soon heard in public prayer; and his good sense and piety speedily secured his election to the diaconate, an office which he held successively in connection with the churches at Bridge-street, Brunswick, and Highbury chapels, for upwards of forty years. Those who knew him needed no dying testimony to his faith and hope. He was unable to speak after being seized with paralysis, but by signs he assured his friends of his perfect peace. He rests from his labours, and his works do follow him.

ABRAHAM CALOVIUS SIMPSON, LL.D.

Abraham Calovius Simpson was born in 1792. He was the third son of Dr. Robert Simpson, who was Theological Tutor from 1790 till his death in 1817, of the Hoxton Academy, London, for the training of Ministers. Dr. Robert Simpson named his son " Abraham Calovius" after a Professor of Theology in Wittenburg, whose works he held in great admiration, and who mightily vindicated the Divinity of Christ. And time proved the name was well given, for the bearer of the adopted name became a doughty champion for the great doctrines of the Gospel, and had little sympathy with timid apologists for those truths that deserved to be boldly asserted and maintained. The subject of this sketch early in life joined the Church meeting at Old Gravel-lane, Ratcliff, then under the pastorate of his brother-in-law, the

Rev. John Hooper. His training was at the University of Glasgow only, where he was a favourite pupil of the celebrated Professor Young, who held the chair of Greek Literature. He took his M.A. degree in 1814; and in 1828, when he was in his thirty-sixth year, the same University, at the instance, it is believed, of the Ethical Professor, Dr. Mylne, and without any expectation on his part, conferred on him the degree of LL.D.

In 1817 he became the minister of a small Independent Church at Fulbourne, near Cambridge. From thence, in 1820, he removed to Haverhill, Suffolk, where he was ordained, and where he remained till 1831. Thence he removed to Hereford, and afterwards to Oundle, Northamptonshire, where he remained six years. Subsequently, he was for a time at Cardiff, and in August, 1844, he entered upon his last charge at Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, where he remained eleven years, and was greatly honoured and beloved. Various positions of influence had opened before him, but his modesty restrained him from accepting them. In 1855 the state of his health rendered it necessary for him to retire from the active duties of the ministry. He resided from 1855, until his death, with his family at Islington. Some particulars of his latter days are given in the letter quoted below. His paralytic affection had so impaired his powers that his former force and fire were wanting; but now and again there were looks and words which showed that, although the temple was in decay, the altar fire was still burning steadily within. He died on the 17th of March, 1866, in his 74th year, and was buried on the 23rd at Abney Park Cemetery. A widow and five children are left to lament his loss. He had married in early life.

66

'He was," says a relative who pays homage to his memory, generous and genial, and impetuous; sympathetic in manner-at once at home with all classes and conditions of men, women, and children, and they with him. And a more perfectly unaffected man never lived. For metaphysical inquiries, his love amounted to a passion; and his detection of the weak points of a theory or an argument was instant. In general literature, his reading was wide; and his powers of conversation were by general consent very remarkable. Unfeignedly humble in his estimate of his own abilities, he was so severely critical and even fastidious in taste about everything his own, that he could not bear in print what he had spoken or written. He had a transcendent idea of the requirements of the ministry of the Gospel, and felt it an honour to take as much pains in the service of a small congregation as if its hundreds had been thousands; nor did he ever, under any circumstances, pass by the doors of the believing poor for the sake of the society of the richer members of the flock."

JOHN MUNRO, LL.D., OF SHEFFIELD.

The late Dr. Munro was born at Knockando, in Strathspey, on the 3rd of October, 1807. His father was pastor of an Independent Church, and acquired no small fame in the North in the Baptist controversy, being a keen and clearheaded champion of Pædobaptism. John was the eldest of ten children, and received his early education mainly at the Knockando Parish School, and partly at the Elgin Academy. In his seventeenth year, he entered King's College, Aberdeen, and gained by competition a bursary of £15 per annum. The many prizes which he gained at college attest his diligence and success. of his curriculum, in the spring of 1829, he took his degree of M.A. three years after, he became one of the masters of Mill Hill Grammar School, where he remained seven years; and in the summer of 1838 he was appointed Principal of the Northern Congregational School at Silcoates, near Wakefield. This office he held for eleven years, and the lette which he received time after

At the end

Two or

time, from ministers at home and missionaries abroad, old pupils and friends of pupils, breathing the same strain of respect and gratitude, might be counted by hundreds. In 1846, he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from his Alma Mater; and in 1849 he opened a scholastic establishment of his own at Sheffield, where he continued till his death, on the 15th of March, 1866. In addition to his many laborious home duties, he occupied many positions of trust at Sheffield, such as treasurerships and secretaryships, and was at the time of his death, and had been for many years, a deacon of the Church under the pastoral care of the Rev. David Loxton.

It was only on his going to Silcoates that John Munro made a public profession of faith. Whether this arose from the extreme reserve and reticence which we (the Editor) know characterised him in youth, or from some other cause, we cannot say; but he became an eminently useful and trusted Christian.

In his funeral sermon, Mr. Loxton remarked on his firm attachment to his principles as a Congregational Dissenter, on his catholicity of spirit, on his liberal support of religious and charitable institutions, and on his spirit of Christian forgiveness. He described him as a man of a reticent and self-contained character, and as being eminently and in the best sense "a gentleman." Of his end he said, "I saw him alone a few times during his last illness; once on the day before he died, and asked very seriously about the ground of the hope that was in him. He told me that he could look forward with great comfort to eternity, that his belief in immortality and hope of eternal life were founded, not upon any philosophical speculation or reasoning of his own, but upon the great fact that Jesus Christ had come into the world to save sinners, and had brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel, that he rested all his hope upon the word of that great and loving one who had said "I will give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand." Dr. Munro has left a widow and family at Eccleshall College to mourn his loss.

NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

The British Quarterly Review, April, 1866. London: Jackson, Walford, and Hodder.

We are glad to receive a second number of our own Quarterly from the hands of its new Editors, and one which leavos no doubt of their competency. It contains articles on Anglicanism and Romanism, Praed and his Works, Bradshaw as repre sentative of the modern Railway system, Club Life and Society in London, Peter the Great, the Reformed Church of France, the Rinderpest in Great Britain, with nearly fifty pages of Critical notices. Our tastes have drawn our attention more especially to the article on Anglicanism and Romanism, and to that on the Re. formed Church in France. These alone give character and value to this number of the British Quarterly. The first of these occupies fifty pages, and is by far the most complete and satisfactory exposition of the question raised by Dr. Pusey in his Eirenicon that we have seen.

The second is evidently by a Frenchman, who has a thorough understanding of the history of French Protestantism, and an intimate acquaintance with the great conflict now in progress between a liberalism which is but a disguise for the most unlicensed unbelief, and a faith which holds fast the Divinity of our Lord and the Redemption which He has wrought. Turning to the Critical notioes it is with no small satisfaction we observe the manner in which "The Vicarious Sacrifice," by Dr. Bushnell, is reviewed. While giving full credit to Dr. Bushnell for certain admirable qualities which are found in all his writings, the reviewer, in strong and decisive terms, rejects his theory as utterly failing to satisfy his conscience, his intellect, or his heart. We think we are not wrong in tracing this notice of Bushnell to a certain old College in Herts, and we rejoice that utterances so clear are given forth where they must be so influential for good.