some very congenial and much valued fellowship. I am, my dear sir, yours most affectionately, THOMAS CHALMERS. No. CCLXXVI.-TO THE COUNTESS OF ELGIN. EDINBURGH, 1st June, 1826. MY LADY-Your ladyship's very kind letter was long of reaching me, partly from Mr. Whyte's ignorance of the place where I first resided when I came to Edinburgh, and partly from the change of place which I have undergone during my stay in the metropolis. I feel myself greatly flattered and obliged by your ladyship's goodness in having again tendered me so pressing an invitation to come to Broomhall; and there is nothing which could afford me greater enjoyment than to renew the Christian and intellectual gratifications which I have had the happiness so often to experience there. This is an object which I shall study to achieve in the course of my present college vacation. Just now there is a very particular avocation which makes it impossible for me to go any where but the east of Fife, and that is, the marriage of a sister, which takes place early next week. I shall be much occupied both before and after that event with home matters; but I am not without hopes of being able through the summer to realize that converse which, I crave your ladyship's forgiveness for saying, has left a fragrance behind it, and the remembrance of which is sweet. We have lost ground numerically this year on the plurality question, but we have not lost heart; and it is my feeling that bating this and another distressing division, this Assembly has, on the whole, had a very promising aspect, and the spirit of our Church is unequivocally improving. I beg my most respectful compliments to the Ladies Bruce, and to Lords Elgin and Bruce, who I know are at present from home. I have the honor to be, my lady, your ladyship's most obliged and obedient servant, THOMAS CHALMERS. No. CCLXXVII. TO THE COUNTESS OF ELGIN. MY LADY-I received your deeply interesting letter, the perusal of which, I can assure your ladyship, has given me unfeigned satisfaction. I hold the faith and the feelings therein expressed to be altogether legitimate-warranted as they are by the terms in which the Gospel overtures are framed, and which direct us to look for the primary object of our confidence, not inwardly upon ourselves, but outwardly to the Savior. I have repeatedly expressed my regret that the admirable general lesson of Mr. Erskine's book should have had the burden of one questionable and obnoxious expression laid upon it, and which I foresaw would frustrate and overbear the good of his publication by the interminable controversy that would arise from it. All men are not pardoned, but all men have the pardon laid down for their acceptance; and the latter is just as effective an exhibition of the Divine character as the former, without the heavy exception of being unscriptural, and liable to be abused to Antinomianism. I feel that I could talk on this subject far better than write; and therefore I look forward with great interest to my purposed visit to Broomhall, so soon as we are fairly settled in our new house, which I expect will take place in the middle of April. With most respectful compliments to Lord Elgin, I have the honor to be, my lady, your ladyship's most obliged and obedient servant, THOMAS CHALMERS. No. CCLXXVIII.-TO THE COUNTESS OF ELGIN. EDINBURGH, 2d June, 1831. MY LADY-I beg to send your ladyship the pamphlet on the Poor Laws, along with Sir John Sinclair's and two tracts of my own. The one on the National Debt may not be very interesting, yet if sound, and I can not find out a flaw in the reasoning, leads to a conclusion of great practical importance. I regret that I can not lay my hands on Mr. Drummond's or Mr. Irving's letter on the subject of Miss Mowbray, and I suspect they are still in her father's hands. I have, however, the satisfaction of sending Mr. Campbell's. I returned in time to be present at the discussion of Mr. S.'s and Mr. Irving's cases. Mr. S.'s very appearance at the bar of the Assembly involved in it a practical bull, and the decision was inevitable. Of all the motions that were fabricated on Mr. Irving's question, I think the one adopted was the best. I grieve for poor Campbell. He was probably right in idea, but if he obstinately persist in couching that right idea in a wrong phraseology, he may not be the less dangerous as an expounder of truth. The man whose sound views may save himself, might still, by abandoning the form of sound words, mislead others. Yet I can not help being in great heaviness on his account. It is ominous that Spencer Drummond, who is now in Edinburgh, should at this moment have seceded from the Church of England because of its tenet of universal redemption, when our own tenet of particular redemption has driven Mr. Campbell beyond the pale of the Scottish Establishment. I never leave Broomhall without the feeling of its being the most congenial moral atmosphere I breathe any where. My regret at parting from it at this time was aggravated greatly by what I perceived were the sufferings of Lord Elgin. It is our duty earnestly to pray for their alleviation. I have the honor to be, my lady, your ladyship's most obliged and obedient servant, THOMAS CHALMERS. No. CCLXXIX.-TO LADY MATILDA MAXWELL. 22d October, 1843. DEAR LADY MATILDA-I very sincerely regret that I can not avail myself of your kind invitation-obliged to leave on Wednesday, and engrossed every moment before it. I must confess myself to have been greatly touched by your allusions, both to your dear father and to poor Lady Elgin, whose tragical death moved and affected me greatly. I should have rejoiced if I had had it in my power to have taken refuge for a few days in the asylum of peace and friendship which your goodness has proposed for me, there to have renewed the associations of former days, and to have had a brief but happy breathing-time from the fatigues and anxieties of this stormy period. I beg that you will offer my most respectful acknowledgments to Mr. Maxwell; and with earnest prayer that we may all meet in that heaven where separation is unknown, and charity ever reigneth, I always am, my dear Lady Matilda, yours with greatest esteem and regard, THOMAS CHALMERS. No. CCLXXX.-TO LADY CARNEGIE, GLASGOW, 3d February, 1823. MY DEAR LADY CARNEGIE-I have looked over the papers which relate to Ireland, and shall give them over to Mr. M'Gregor as your ladyship directed me. I feel the weight and magnitude of the object to be such that I would not venture on any deliverance without the actual survey of an Irish district in person, and the leisurely attention of many weeks to the topic in all its bearings. I shall, therefore, satisfy myself at present with a few remarks that have occurred to me during the perusal of those interesting documents which have been put into my hand. 1. I rejoice to observe a progress toward that subdivision of effort which is so requisite. In proportion as this is carried forward will there be a relief felt from that unwieldiness which has hitherto stamped such an impotency on all the plans of a very ambitious and extended benevolence. 2. So much am I impressed with the truth of the above remark, that I should have greater comfort in the mean time did I contribute my subscription to one complete and concentrated operation on a single parish than to a thin and evanes cent sprinkling of good over a whole country. I feel quite assured that the exhibition of a model in philanthropy will do more for the cause than a magnificent aim with an execution that lags at a most hopeless distance behind it. The success of a process upon an experimental farm would give a far more beneficial impulse to agriculture than a large grant from the Exchequer, to be divided equally among all the parishes of the empire. 3. I feel the more comfort in advancing this suggestion that I do not thereby supercede or discourage any extended operation which may be going on at present in the county of Clare. I simply recommend, as an addition to the whole, that there shall be the singling out of one manageable parish in which there may be immediately established a full system of the means of moral and economical amelioration devised on the soundest principles, and which shall not be suffered to labor under the want or the shortcoming of any one instrument that is fitted to give efficacy to the experiment. 4. I liked the small pamphlet very much, and chiefly because of the intercourse which its plans would necessarily produce between females of the higher and lower orders. All my experience has convinced me that from no human influence does a more rapid civilization ensue than from the personal attention of ladies to the children of the poor. 5. I liked the simplicity of its objects, viz., the cleanliness and personal habits of the peasantry, and to which I would superadd, as far as practicable, their education, comprehensive of reading to all, and sewing to the girls. 6. It is a mistake to think that there is no limit to profitable work; we can no more provide work for the employment of all in a well-peopled country than food for the subsistence of all. I should like to see every plan delivered from errors in political economy; and be assured that there is no permanent amelioration to be looked for but in such an elevation of mind and manners throughout the general mass of the natives as that, under the impulse of their own improved |