THE EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE, AND MISSIONARY CHRONICLE. FOR AUGUST, 1852. MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. WILLIAM ROOKER, [This honoured servant of Christ, "whose praise is in all the churches," was for many years a Trustee of the EVAN GELICAL MAGAZINE, and a frequent contributor to its pages. He was warmly attached to the spirit and plan of the work; and, in his last illness, expressed to his beloved daughter the pleasure he felt, that he left the EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE, to which he had occasionally contributed for more than fifty years, under the conduct of one whose heart is warm with love to Christ, and expands with comprehensive affection to embrace all who love his image." This was, perhaps, too partial an estimate of our humble labours; but, on the part of this dying servant of Christ, perfectly sincere and ingenuous, and we greatly value it. For the Memoir which follows, which is full of interest, we are indebted to the Rev. Eliezer Jones, of Plymouth, on whose ministry Mr. Rooker attended. It will be read with equal interest and profit.-EDITOR.] THE REV. WILLIAM ROOKER was born at Bridport, in Dorsetshire, on the 8th of November, 1772; and was the youngest son of the Rev. James Rooker, one VOL. XXX. of the early Tutors of the Western College. Mr. Rooker's great grandfather was a pious officer who came over to England with William the Third. On his mother's side he was descended from the Rev. William Yeo, one of the ejected ministers. When only seven years of age, Mr. Rooker lost his father; but the widow, who was a very pious and sensible woman, secured for her son the advantages of a sound and liberal edu cation. At the early age of fourteen, Mr. Rooker united himself, on a credible profession of faith, to the Congregational church at Bridport, then under the pastoral care of the Rev. W. Fabian; and, two years afterwards, he was admitted as a student in the Western Academy, at Taunton, then under the superintendence of the Rev. Thomas Reader. The subject of this Memoir always referred with thankfulness to the advantages which he had derived from the pious and judicious counsels of Mr. Reader, and his affectionate and fatherly care. During the latter part of his residence at Taunton, he appears to have 2 II been frequently engaged in preaching and before attaining the age of twenty, he had already supplied in more than one of the leading pulpits in London. In the month of December, 1792, being then about twenty years of age, Mr. Rooker settled at Chalfont, a village in Buckinghamshire (remembered as the place of Milton's residence when he wrote the "Paradise Regained"); and for nearly four years continued to preach with much acceptance, and not without tokens of the Divine blessing, in this and the adjacent villages of Coleshill and Chalford. Towards the close of his ministry at Chalfont, he was favoured by taking a part in the formation of the London Missionary Society; and was present in September, 1796, at the meetings which were held at the Castle and Falcon, in London, and afterwards at the Tabernacle, and which solemnly inaugurated this great Christian institution. The impression then made on his mind, by the claims of the heathen, was never lost: through life he continued a firm friend to the cause of missions; and his last audible prayer on earth closed with fervent petitions for the progress of the gospel of Christ in foreign lands. In the early part of the year 1796, Mr. Rooker was requested to become co-pastor with Mr. Angus, over the Congregational church at Bishop's Stortford; but this he declined, accepting, in October of the same year, an invitation from the church at Tavistock, which resulted in the uninterrupted and affectionate union of nearly half a century; and those who were best acquainted with Mr. Rooker's ministry will testify that, by Divine grace, he was enabled, through this long period, fully to illustrate the text which he selected as the subject of his first discourse at Tavistock" For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." The Congregational church at Tavi stock traces its origin to the operation of the Act of Uniformity, in 1662. About the middle of the 17th century, the living of Tavistock being vacant, the Earl of Bedford promised to present and pay any minister whom the inhabitants should choose. They accordingly fixed upon the Rev. Thomas Larkham, a graduate of the University of Cambridge, who, in early life, had been compelled by the tyranny of the bishops to take refuge in New England; but returned to his native land just at this period. A volume of his sermons, preached in the parish church of Tavistock, on the Attributes of God, is still extant. A short account of him is to be found in the Nonconformist Memorial. Whilst labouring with great zeal and success, he was ejected by the Act of Uniformity. His attached congregation, unwilling to be deprived of his services, applied, in their perplexity, to the Countess of Bedford, who was pre-eminently distinguished by her pious and amiable character. She not only listened to their application, but solicited and obtained from the Earl one of the vacant Abbey buildings as a place of worship. Mr. Larkham lived only seven years after his ejectment. In this interval the feeling against him, as the champion of Nonconformity, was so strong, that he was threatened with imprisonment if he went beyond his house. The malice of some of his enemies followed him even after his death; and would have prevented his interment in the church, but the steward of the Earl of Bedford interposed, and he was buried in that part of the chancel which belonged to the House of Russell. Mr. Larkham was succeeded in the pastorate by two other eminent ejected ministers-the Rev. W. Pearse and Rev. H. Flamank. It is well known, that about the middle of the 18th century most of the Presbyterian churches in the west of England adopted Arian views, and ultimately lapsed into Socinianism. The church at Tavistock was among the number. Still, however,¦ orthodox belief and true piety were not extinguished; and when the change of opinion in the minister and congregation was fully recognised under Mr. Edwards, who became the pastor of the church in 1772, those few families (and they were but few) who retained evangelical principles, seceded, and constituted the church and congregation over which Mr. Rooker was invited to preside. Shortly after his settlement in Tavistock, a chapel was erected for the accommodation of the increasing congregation, and double galleries were afterwards added; but in the year 1820 it became necessary to build a larger and more commodious place of worship; and mainly through the contributions of the church and congregation, aided by the liberality of Churchmen, and Dissenters of different denominations, resident in the town, this object was effected. In 1832, this handsome edifice was almost entirely destroyed by fire; and again rebuilt, without the encumbrance of debt, by the zealous and honourable liberality of the church and congregation. In the year 1799, Mr. Rooker was ordained to the pastoral care of the church at Tavistock; and the service was rendered peculiarly interesting, from the circumstance that his elder and only brother - the Rev. Samuel Rooker-was at the same time ordained to be a co-pastor with the Rev. Samuel Lavington, over the church at Bideford, where he afterwards continued as sole pastor, until his death,-Mr. Lavington giving the charge to both brothers at the same time. About this period Mr. Rooker established, at Tavistock, the first Sabbath School in the county of Devon; and the suggestion, thus afforded, led Mr. Tucker (then a young man, but now an aged and faithful deacon of the church assembling in George-street Chapel) to institute a similar school in Plymouth. Mr. Rooker's labours were not, however, confined to Tavistock. As early as the year 1797 he prepared, in conjunction with the ministers of the "Calvinistical Association," at Exeter, a plan for the establishment of a Home Mission in Devon and Cornwall, and drew up an address to the churches on the subject: his own personal efforts ultimately resulting in the establishment of the church and congregation at Beeralston, near Tavistock, over which, for more than forty years, the Rev. William Whillans has faithfully presided. It is interesting, also, to find, among the papers of the deceased, a correspondence with Mr. Ambrose Scarle (author of the "Christian Remembrancer "), who was at that time in the War Office, with a view of inducing Government to make adequate provision for the spiritual instruction of the French prisoners, who were then in confinement in the Dartmoor Prisons; and amongst whom, as far as was permitted, he had already laboured. In the year 1801, Mr. Rooker was invited to become the Classical and Mathematical Tutor at the Hoxton Institution, for the Education of Young Men for the Christian Ministry; and on the resignation of Dr. Simpson, sixteen years afterwards, he was requested to become its Theological Professor. He also received, at different times, similar invitations from the Colleges at Wy. mondly and Blackburn; and in 1818 was solicited to accept the office of Classical Tutor at Mill-hill Grammar School; but, having devoted himself to the ministry of the word, and believing that God had appointed him to his right sphere of labour, he resolved to abide faithfully with the church of which God had given him the oversight. In the year 1810, Mr. Rooker married Miss Angas, of Bridport; and this union, based in sincere Christian attachment, was productive of lasting happiness. Mrs. Rooker still survives, sustained and strengthened by those |