It is one great comfort in affliction, that it draws toward them who are exercised thereby a greater tenderness of regard from their friends on earth; and this may well assure us of what Scripture tells, that it in like manner draws a more special regard from our kind and merciful Father who is in heaven. And accordingly we are told that it is in love that He chasteneth-that He afflicts not willingly that He has no pleasure in our death-that His Son, who is the express image of His own person, is touched with the fellowfeeling of our infirmities; and surely with such a Father and such a High-priest at His right hand, we may well rest in the quiet confidence that we are in good hands, and that all things will work together for good to them who love God.

The great, object with you at present is not to fatigue yourself with care of any sort, but to cast that care, whatever it may be, on Him who careth for you. The defects and infirmities of one's own spirit may well grieve us; but even this cause of uneasiness is best disposed of by rolling it over upon, God. "Take this heart, such as it is make it such as it should be." Let us commit our souls unto Him, and He will keep that which is so committed. He will bless us with a present as well as a future salvation, making us holy by grace here, as a preparation for being happy in the eternal glory that is to be revealed hereafter.

May the Bible be felt by you in all its preciousness; may its verses be more and more prized as pearls of consolation and great worth. Take in all the comfort of them; and instead of exercising your mind upon them, so as to exceed the strength of your attention, let them rather say unto you

Peace, be still." Thus may you enjoy the repose of a spirit that is staid upon God, and experience that in quietness and in confidence ye shall have strength.

It is my earnest prayer that He who in Christ Jesus is reconciled to all who have faith in His blood, may stablish and strengthen you, and make you perfect. I ever am, my dear Miss Young, yours, most affectionately, THOS. CHALMERS.

P.S.-I am reading Buchanan's work with great satisfaction. Our elder brother was made perfect through suffering.

No. CCCLXXII. TO CHARLES COWAN, Esq.

T. C.

EDINBURGH, 19th December, 1831. MY DEAR SIR-Mrs. Chalmers unites with me in every feeling and expression of sympathy with you and Mrs. Cowan on the occasion of this afflictive bereavement. I am glad to observe that you are deriving comfort from the only true source; and I can not believe that the Savior who evinced such attachment to children upon earth, who took them in His arms and blessed them, who rebuked the apostles for forbidding their approach to His person, who declared that of such is the kingdom of Heaven I can not believe that the infant flower, which so soon lies withered upon its stalk, is not transplanted into those unfading bowers where it will flourish in all the bloom and vigor of immortality.

With kindest regards and condolences to Mrs. Cowan, and to Mr. and Mrs. Menzies, if still with you, I am, my dear sir, yours very truly, THOMAS CHALMERS.

No. CCCLXXIII.-TO THE REV. DR. SOMERVILLE, OF DRUMMELZIER.

KINGHORN, 22d August, 1832. MY DEAR SIR-This is truly a sad visitation to you and poor Mrs. Somerville as parents of one of the best of sons, and to myself in having lost a pupil of whom I may honestly say, that none stood higher in my personal regards.

I might expatiate on his great, and interesting, and superior talents as a scholar, but these are unavailing now. Your strong consolation lies in what we all know of his faith in the Savior, and decided piety; and I do hope that these precious recollections will sweeten the cup of discipline both to you and your sorrowing family.

It is an appalling scourge that has come upon our land,

and death, I am told, in its most hideous and revolting form, is the consequence. *Never than in such a peculiar case is the comfort of the following passage more applicable, and I trust your faith will prevail over sense and memory in appropriating it: "Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption ; sown in weakness, raised in power; sown in dishonor, raised in glory." May you both rejoice in the prospect of that day when that fine form and countenance, in which you witnessed so grievous a transformation, will again be restored; when the grave will deliver up its dead; and they who, once near and dear to us, are now mouldering there shall be invested with the bloom and vigor of immortality.

Your son's death has awakened great emotion among us all. He was a general favorite among his fellow-students; and from the first time I knew him I loved him. The grief he has left behind him in your family must be deep and tender. Nor would I have ventured to obtrude on the sacredness of your sorrow but for the sake of unbosoming my own. May He who inflicted the wound, and alone is able to heal it, pour abundantly into your hearts of the balm of His consolation, and bid you look with the believer's eye, and the believer's hope to that everlasting home where sorrow and separation are unknown.

With kindest and most sympathizing regards to Mrs. Somerville, and to the other members of your deeply afflicted family, ever believe me, my dear sir, yours most truly,

THOMAS CHALMERS.

No. CCCLXXIV.-To DR. SOMERVILLE.

EDINBURGH, 23d April, 1843.

MY VERY DEAR SIR-I have been much affected and concerned by the melancholy intimation of another breach in your family. To use the language of Paul, you have been "in deaths oft;" and God has been pleased in His sovereign wisdom to exercise you in your old age by sore and heavy be* Dr. Somerville's son was cut off by cholera.

reavements. May you have ample experience of succor and support from Him who has a fellow-feeling for all our infirmities and sorrows; and in the peaceable fruits of righteousness may you realize the truth of the precious declaration, that all things will be made to work together for good to them who love God.

The two admirable young men whom you have lost were both my students, and both of them very much valued and loved by me. Were it not for the hopes and comforts of the blessed Gospel, what a desolation would such deaths leave behind them!

God abundantly bless and sustain you, my dear sir, under the truly afflictive dispensation. Take refuge in Christ and in His righteousness, which opens up a better and abiding world to all who believe in Him. I ever am, my dear sir, yours with sincerest regard, and every feeling of condolence for yourself and your daughters, THOMAS CHALMERS.

No. CCCLXXV.-To MISS SOMERVILLE.

MORNINGSIDE, 12th May, 1844. MY DEAR MISS SOMERVILLE-I heard the melancholy intelligence of your venerable father's death with great emotion-having long had the highest respect for his character, and for his great services on the field of argument to the cause of Christianity. So long back as 1817, I was introduced to Lord Grenville, who spoke to me of Hume's infidelity, and of the desire he felt for an effective refutation of his sophistry on the subject of miracles. I told him of your father's work as the best then extant upon that subject; and I afterward saw a high-written testimony from him in its favor, he having perused it with a high estimation of its value and power. But I am sure that it is not so much the recollection of his talents or scholarship, but of his great faith and the love which he bore to the truth as it is in Jesus; it is this last which can minister the only effectual consolation in this season of your bereavement, and cause you to rejoice

even in the midst of a sore tribulation. There is a sanction and a sacredness given to the sorrow of nature by the example of our Savior, but you have great reason to sorrow not even as others who have no hope; and let the deaths of the wise and the good that are so fast thickening around us, let them incite us all the more to be followers of them who, through faith and patience, are now inheriting the promises.

You have had many and severe family trials. The first of your brothers, who was my student, and cut off while at college, was my most favorite pupil, and I had the greatest liking for him; and he, after the interval of some years, was followed by another who promised to be of great service in the Church. When to these I add dear Mrs. Somerville, you may truly be said to have been "in deaths oft." Heaven grant that they may teach us true wisdom, that they may lead us solemnly and practically to consider our latter end, and that we all withdraw our affections from a world that passeth away to that enduring world where there is joy at God's right hand and pleasures for evermore.

Give my best regards to your sister and brothers. May this visitation be sanctified to the mourning survivors; and with sincere and affectionate condolence for you all, I entreat you to believe me, my dear madam, yours most truly,

THOMAS CHALMERS.

No. CCCLXXVI.-To MRS. CHARLES NAIRNE.

MORNINGSIDE, 29th January, 1837.

MY DEAR MRS. NAIRNE -The same infirm health which prevented me from joining in the last melancholy offices to your departed husband has forced me out to the country, where I am now spending a Sabbath of complete retirement and repose. I feel that I can not better spend one hallowed hour of it, than by weeping with those who weep, and telling you in particular how deeply I sympathize with you under that awful and affecting visitation, by which the nearest and dearest of all earthly relationships is broken. This is truly