No. CCLI. TO REV. DR. RYLAND. GLASGOW, 18th February, 1818. MY DEAR SIR-I return you many thanks for the kind present of Fuller's Life," and also for your very excellent pamphlet on Antinomianism,"-both of which I received from the hands of your son.

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I can assure you that I read the latter with much interest and pleasure. It revived all my recollections of the excellent Jonathan Edwards, to whose principles on the subject of Freewill I have long been a decided convert. You have given a very clear and judicious exposition, indeed, of the perfect consistency which obtains between the absolute sovereignty of God on the one hand, and the fitness of bringing forward the urgency of Gospel calls and Gospel invitations on the other. I trust that your performance will do much good. It reminds me of your conversation when I had the pleasure of meeting you at Bristol, and which I shall not soon forget. I feel greatly indebted to you for the question you proposed to put to him who said, "I have come unto Christ"- -"What have you gotten from Him?"

I rejoiced in recognizing it as a very prevalent feature in your connection, your horror at Antinomianism; and it is my prayer that, both by doctrine and example, you may succeed more and more in vindicating the truth as it is in Jesus, as being, indeed, altogether according to godliness.

I have read nothing with greater excitement for a very long time than Hall's "Sermon" on the late lamented death. It is, indeed, a very rich and wonderful composition, and I think more impregnated with theology than any of his former works. It whets the appetite more than ever for a volume of congregational sermons from him. Do wrestle this point with him till you have prevailed. I read lately his and your excellent prefaces to his father's work.

I know nothing

Mr. Foster is now in your neighborhood. that would more interest me than a communication from him.

I carried away with me a very great affection for him, and I retain it. There appeared a vile unchristian attack on him lately in one of our Magazines, and I heard nothing around me but indignation against it. He has many admirers in this part of the country. Your son I see occasionally. I entreat a part in your prayers. Oh that we felt more and more a child-like dependence on the teachings of the Holy Spirit! May God prosper your abundant labors, and cause you to rejoice in the fruit of them. I am, my dear sir, yours most truly, THOMAS CHALMERS.

No. CCLII.-To MR. J. E. RYLAND.*

EDINBURGH, 2d March, 1831

MY DEAR SIR-I received your melancholy intimation of Mr. Hall's death with the greatest emotion, and consider it as a severe blow to the Church universal-as an event to be deplored not by his own flock and family alone, but by all the friends of our common Christianity.

I felt a particular interest in your narrative of his death, and was struck with the coincidence between his dying testimonies and those of Fuller, Dwight, and others of our best established Christians. The "humble hope" of his last moments deserves to be enshrined among the most precious of those memorabilia which he has given to the world.

Will you tell Mrs. Hall (to whom I expect to write shortly) that I do feel a melancholy satisfaction in her having selected me, as one of those friends of her venerable and illustrious husband, who should be especially apprized of the sad event that afflicts and solemnizes us all. Believe me, my dear sir, THOMAS CHALMERS. yours most truly,

No. CCLIII.-To MR. J. E. RYLAND.

EDINBURGH, 17th November, 1843.

MY DEAR SIR-I should have acknowledged long ago your letter of the 17th of October, announcing the death of John *Author of the "Life of Foster," &c.

Foster-a man of gigantic intellect, and whose writings have earned for him an imperishable name, but who I trust is now enjoying a better and a higher immortality. I ever had the greatest veneration both for him and Mr. Hall, who, along with Dr. Ryland, Andrew Fuller, Drs. Carey, Marshman, and Ward, made up altogether a very bright constellation, and which serves to signalize the Baptists of England more than any other denomination which I at present recollect.

I forget whether Mr. Sheppard, of Frome, is a Baptist. I am much interested by this renewal of our correspondence. It is now twenty-one years since we met at Bristol, and I am now made to understand by your letter that you are settled at Northampton.

Mrs. Chalmers unites with me in kindest remembrances, and I entreat you to believe me, my dear sir, yours very truly, THOMAS CHALMERS.

No. CCLIV.-To MRS. PAUL.

ST. ANDREWS, 20th October, 1827. MY DEAR MRS. PAUL I have read the MS. on Prophecy which you kindly put into my hand, and I can assure you with a strong conviction of its soundness. I perfectly agree with the writer in thinking that there has been a very culpable negligence of this important department of that Scripture whereof it has been said that all is profitable. I myself am in for a full share of the blame, and I do hope that I shall not merely feel the obligation of giving more earnest heed unto prophecy, but that I shall henceforth act upon it. The perusal of your paper has freshened the impulse which I received some months ago from reading the work by Irving, and I certainly have of late attained a growing sense of the duty which attaches to this branch of sacred study. I am now reading in ordinary the book of Isaiah, and derive occasional aid from M'Culloch's "Lectures;" he is not a millenarian, which I am now very much inclined to be; and the other day read with great pleasure the 26th chapter, the lat

ter verses of which appear to describe the impotency of human and ordinary efforts to Christianize the world (verse 18), and then (verse 19) the commencement of the great era which is ushered in by the first resurrection. Believe me, my dear madam, yours very affectionately,

THOMAS CHALMERS.

No. CCLV. TO REV. C. BRIDGES.

EDINBURGH, 2d January, 1834. MY DEAR SIR-I gladly avail myself of the opportunity which the Christmas holidays afford me of acknowledging your most esteemed letter of October last, as, when engaged in teaching my classes, I find both my strength and time very much engrossed, having two distinct courses of lectures, and upward of two hundred students to deal with.

I feel the greatest value for your kind and instructive communication, and more particularly for those parts of it which I can turn to a useful purpose, whether in the way of suggestion or of warning, as to the special business of my own profession. I deeply feel my need of effort and prayer, that my whole course may be more and more spiritualized, assured as I am of the possibility of delivering all the lessons of theology in the strictest form of sound words, and with the fullest adherence to the letter of the truth as it is in Jesus, while the real unction and vitality of the Gospel spirit may be altogether wanting. I shall feel the utmost value, in connection with this all-important object, both for your advices and your prayIt is only by a manifestation from Him who is the Sun of Righteousness that the demonstrations of a professor can be brightened from the moonlight to the sunshine, of which you have so impressively told me, and have not only the greater light, but also the heat of the higher luminary imparted to them.

ers.

I have a distinct lectureship this winter on the methods and the machinery of Christian education, which subject leads me not only to the vindication of religious establishments, but

also to what may be termed the spiritual tactics of a parish; and I can assure you that there is not one sentiment which you have either written or spoken in my hearing which I more thoroughly sympathize with than the mighty importance of maintaining unbroken the conjunction between the ministerial and the pastoral. I think myself prepared to show that it is the dissolution of this sacred union that, instrumentally speaking, has so weakened the influence of the Christian ministry all over the land, and more especially in our large towns. When on this subject, I shall have occasion to make extracts from your admirable work on the various official and professional duties of clergymen.

I often think of your parish, which, as a hallowed abode of peace and piety, supplies me with far more interesting recollections than any thing I have seen in England. May the Giver of all grace continue to bless, and that abundantly, your ministrations among the dear cottage families around you, and pour down such a blessing that there may be no room to receive it.

I beg that you will offer my best regards to Mrs. Bridges, and to Miss Wakefield, if still with you. In their work and labor of love among the young, and particularly among your own dear children, may the pleasure of the Lord prosper in their hands. I ever am, my dear sir, yours with greatest esteem and attachment, THOMAS CHALMERS.

No. CCLVI.-To REV. C. BRIDGES.

BURNTISLAND, 12th April, 1836.

MY DEAR SIR-I take great blame to myself in having deferred so long to write you. It is true that I am much engrossed, and not so able for fatigue as I have been; but nothing can justify the remissness of my correspondence with one whose communications, and, above all, whose prayers I so highly value.

ter.

I have seen Mr. Drummond since I last received your letI highly approve of your proposal to publish Fox's