[taken from Chapter 5 Manx Worthies, A.W.Moore, 1901]

MRS. KERRUISH.

In 1832, a book was published* entitled " Christianity considered of as founded in the nature, reality, and necessity, or eternal fitness of things; the original constitution of existing beings, the actual and necessary correspondence of existing objects." Its author was '` Mrs. Kerruish," who, writing from Castletown, makes the following statement in her preface:—

The author of the following pages, though conscious of their many defects, ventures to dedicate them, as the first efforts of a female pen, to true Christians of all denominations, trusting that when her views do not meet those of the divinely enlightened reader, they may yet be treated with that lenity, forbearance, and candid scriptural investigation, which is all that a Christian should desire, and their defects may be overlooked in consideration of the object that pervades the whole, namely, the exaltation of the Redeemer, and the consequent glory of the redeemed.

The writer, who treats her subject at some length," shows that she has studied the Bible and various writers on religious subjects with much zeal and care. She declares that it was not her design " to trace the progress of the divine life further than respects that grace, to the immediate enjoyment of which the believing soul is called at justification." Any one who reads her efforts will be more struck by her piety than by her clearness of expression. Diligent enquiries have failed to discover what Mrs. Kerruish's maiden name was, or where and when she was born or died.

* London. Hamilton, Adams & Co.. Paternoster Row.

+ The book contains 518 pages, crown octavo.