you, without emotion. Your dear and departed husband I became acquainted with so far back as 1806, when he spent some time with me and my brother George at the manse of Kilmany, when my brother was languishing under an illness which carried him soon to his grave. At the commencement of our acquaintance neither of us was adequately impressed by the momentous realities of an eternal world; but I rejoice to think of him in a more advanced life, and of all the converse that he had with yourself, and of the love he bore to one whose works declare that she loved the Lord Jesus. I have finished, and on the last Sabbath of last year*, the perusal of your affectionate testimony and tribute to the cause of the Savior. May the precious truths which you there deal out to others soothe and sustain your own spirit under this heavy visitation of Providence, and by which the nearest and dearest of all your earthly relationships has been broken 66 * EDINBURGH, 29th December, 1843.-MY DEAR MADAM-I offer you my grateful acknowledgments for your Sabbath Musings," of which I mean to read one for every Sabbath of the coming year. I am very sorry to hear of poor Colonel Mackay's severe illness. With every prayer for the best interests both of him and of yourself, ever believe me, my dear madam, yours very truly, THOMAS CHALMERS. In a letter to Colonel Mackay, dated 11th December, 1837, Dr. Chalmers referred to a previous publication of Mrs. Mackay in the following terms: I read the "Family at Heatherdale" with great pleasure, as did also my daughters. I think it a beautiful tale, and written in a pure and scriptural style of sentiment. Its simplicity is a great charm to me, though I would have you to be apprised that this very property, though in my estimation a very high one, may operate adversely on the sale of the work, or on the amount of public demand for it. Such is the depraved taste nowadays for excitement, that nothing but a story of great incident and bustle will satiate the appetite. The work, however, must have its select readers and admirers notwithstanding; and, at all events, you have obviously great reason to felicitate yourself as being associated with one of such an accomplished, but, above all, of such a Christian mind as that manifested by its author. With my best regards to Mrs. Mackay, I ever am, my dear sir, yours most truly, THOMAS CHALMERS. asunder. May He who is the Husband of the widow be your support and consolation in this your day of trial, and fill your sinking heart with the bright and elevating thoughts of that enduring world where sorrow, and suffering, and separation are unknown. What a blessed consideration that we have a Friend on high who is touched with a fellow-feeling of our sorrows. May you be filled with a realizing sense both of His power and His willingness to save you. May you enjoy the manifestations of His love, so as that you may learn to glory not only in the hope of that inheritance which He hath purchased for all who believe, but even to glory in tribulations also. (Rom., v., 23.) Through patience and comfort of the precious Scriptures may you have hope, nay, abound therein, through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom., xv., 13.) The last of these two verses is truly precious; and may you have full experience of the blessings there prayed for by the Apostlepeace and joy in believing, even on Him whose blood cleanseth from all sin; and why not from your sin? Ever believe me, my very dear madam, yours with great esteem and regard, THOMAS CHALMERS. No. CCCLXXXV.—TO JAMES CUNNINGHAM, Esq., EDIN BURGH. ANSTRUTHER, 18th May, 1845. MY DEAR SIR-I should have replied much sooner to your melancholy and affecting intimation of the 2d of May. I have been advertised lately of many deaths, and some of them my own relatives. But this, though it has occupied my time, has not diverted my sympathies from you in the bereavement which you have been called upon to sustain by the tearing asunder of the nearest and dearest of all earthly relationships. Yet I rejoice to think of your many alleviations. Our Savior Himself has given the sacred sanction of His own example to the sorrow of nature. But what a call for gratitude that you sorrow not even as others that have no hope. What a precious consolation is the remembrance of that faith and its fruits, which give you the blessed assurance, that when she fell asleep she slept in Jesus. And what a preservative against being swallowed up of overmuch sorrow-when our affections, instead of being desolated, are only transferred from that passing and present world, the nearest and dearest objects of which are taken away from us, to that bright and enduring world where sin, and sorrow, and separation are unknown. Let us, therefore, comfort one another with these words. As friends drop away from us, let us draw nearer together as the followers in one common pursuit of those who through faith and patience are now inheriting the promises. It is my earnest prayer that this heavy affliction may be sanctified and made the vehicle of the richest spiritual blessings to you and to your children. They are deprived of a mother's presence, but not, let us confidently hope, of the fruit and efficacy of a mother's prayers, lifted up by her while on earth, and the reward of which is upon high. Ever believe me, my dear sir, yours very respectfully and truly, THOMAS CHALMERS. No. CCCLXXXVI.-TO FREDERICK ADAMSON, ESQ. GOUROCK HOUSE, 25th July, 1845. MY DEAR SIR-I am not sure if I could state so well in conversation as I can attempt to do in writing, the very deep interest I feel in you, and my earnest desire that these brief and casual meetings on this side of death should be followed up on the other side of it in that reign of perfect blessedness where sorrow, and sickness, and separation are unknown. Believing as I do in the solemn realities of a coming judg ment and coming eternity, I beg that you will consider it to be from no other cause than the strength of my affection for you that I venture to remind you of the everlasting weal or the everlasting woe to which we are fast hastening. If I did not think that there is a patent way of transition from death to life, from a state of condemnation to a state of acceptance, I would be the last man to offer any disturbance on a matter which, if altogether hopeless, had better be let alone; but confident as I am that there is no want of goodwill on the part of our Father who is in heaven, that He is waiting to be gracious-nay, beseeching one and all of us to enter into reconciliation, I can not refrain from pressing the assurance upon you of the perfect readiness wherewith your very first approaches will be met and rejoiced in by Him who dwelleth above on that throne which is at once the throne of grace and righteousness. Let us be very certain that Christ will cast out none who come unto Him, and that God will cast out none who come unto Him through Christ. It is true that He is determined, and that in the most authoritative and peremptory manner, that this is the only footing upon which He will receive us, and that there is salvation in no other way than by the name of Christ. But let us only recollect that He is the party sinned against, and that it is for Him, and not for us, to dictate the terms and the treaty of reconciliation; and so He has expressly said, that no man cometh to the Father but by the Son. It may look stern and repulsive the being told that out of this way we shall never meet with acceptance from God; but surely this is all made up for, all most fully and generously compensated, when we are further told that in this way of it we shall never miss acceptance with God. He who out of Christ is a consuming fire, is in Christ a reconciled Father. (2 Cor., v., 18-20.) By this open door of access the worst and ungodliest of men are invited to draw nigh, that our sins may be washed out in that blood which cleanseth from all sin, and why not our sin? He who hath the Son hath life; he who hath not the Son hath not life. The acceptance of Christ, then, may be called the turning-point of our salvation; it is the great act upon the doing or not doing of which there hinges our eternity. On the one hand, if we receive Him by faith, we shall receive all that is needful, whether for the preparation here, or the enjoyment hereafter, of life everlasting; but on the other hand, how can we escape if we neglect so great salvation? (Heb., ii., 3.) May the Spirit, whose office it is to bring home the word to our hearts-may He open our hearts to the truth and ten. derness of these sayings; they are simple but sure, and would we only place faith in the gracious promises and calls held out in the Gospel, even to the farthest off in rebellion, then should we find that according to our faith so will it be done unto us. Do indulge me, my dear sir, in all this, and put it down to the right cause, which is my sense of the duty I owe to a muchloved friend; for although we have not met often during half a century, I have ever entertained a very strong affection toward you. I remember well the strength of those amiable and deeply-felt affinities which bound together, as with all the force of mutual instinct, our family; and which often since I have witnessed streaming forth, as first one and then another of your desolated household in St. Andrews was taken off by death. In a few years we shall all be mouldering in our coffins; then be wise, and join us. May Heaven grant that we shall be found side by side, sharing together in the resurrection of the blessed; and He who saith, "I am the resurrection and the life," now stands with open arms to receive all who come unto Him, and declaring this unto all in words of deepest pathos-grant that unto us they may prove words of power" He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." May the Giver of all grace pour forth His best blessings upon you and yours, upon dear Mrs. Adamson, and upon one and all of your much-loved family. Farewell, my dear sir; I leave this by Monday's boat at eleven o'clock; and I can say truly, that far the most interesting visits I have made since I left home were those to yourself and Mr. C. I can not express how much I was delighted by his state of mind |