Letter to Anne
ON the 17th March 1845, Dr. Chalmers made the following
entry in his Journal :
"My birthday; I have got over the half of my
seventh decade, being now sixty-five, and have entered on what I call the
Sabbath afternoon. My God, may it have a more Sabbatical character than my
Sabbath forenoon has had. I would henceforth live wholly unto Thee." The
outward Sabbath quiet was not given to him, but there came an increasing
gentleness and spirituality which gave few more affecting exhibitions of its
depth and tenderness than in the peculiar anxiety which he now manifested for
the spiritual welfare of his children. Every reader of his biblical
compositions must have been struck with the frequency to which the topic is
there reverted to, sad the fervour with which so many petitions are presented.
His letters of this period present the same characteristics. To his eldest
daughter, who, in 1836, had been united in marriage the writer of these
Memoirs, he, in 1841, addressed the following letter
"Burntisland,
.June 1, 1841. "My DEAR ANNE,This is an important change that has taken
place in my state and circumstances, now that I am disengaged from all the
public business of the Church. It is true that the time heretofore devoted to
this department I could find ample occupation for in the work of literary
preparation both for the press and for my Chair; and I shall feel it any duty
to do a great deal more, if spared, in each of these walks than I have been
able to do hitherto. Yet important as these are, I have the urgent sense of its
being a still prior and preferable duty to do all which in me lies, not for my
own personal Christianity alone, but for that of my immediate relatives and
friends. For these last thirty years, there has been always a strong
undercurrent of earnest and anxious feeling in this direction, but sadly
impeded and overborne among the fatigues and distractionsand manifold calls on
my attention and time to which my various offlcial duties exposed me. These
have all been removed, and that which was but an under-current before, I
desire, throughout the remainder of my days, to have full and free vent in
every possible thing which I can either devise or do for the religious
wellbeing whether of myself or of my family. And I do hope that the
consideration of the few years (it may be much shorter) which I have to live in
this world may incline one and all of them to second my earnest wishes for the
good of their imperishable spirits - for the high end, in comparison with which
all other objects sink into insignificance, their preferment to that state of
blessedness, in which it will be our everlasting employmont to glorify God, and
to enjoy Him for ever.
"I have not forgotten the impression made upon
me by a short visit, of some years back, from Dr. Hanna,* and whence I could
gather how intimately religion was blended and identified with his moral being
- forming part and parcel, as it were, of the element in which be breathed. I
am quite sure that when such is the pervading tone of all the inmates in any
household, it forms the high road to a well-conditioned and happy family. It is
a condition which I long, and with the grace of God will labour, to realize;
for Heaven forbid that the purposed Sabbath of my life, which should have
commenced sooner and which I trust will only be terminated by deathHeaven
forbid that it should be limited in its effects to the selfish object of my own
enjoyment, or my own preparation for the happiness of an immortal state. My
longing desire is, that others also, and especially those who are nearest and
dearest to me, should receive an impulse in the same direction, and be
fellow-travellers along with me to a blissful eternity - I ever am, my dear
Anne, yours very affectionately and truly,
THOMAS CHALMERS."
* The
Rev. Dr. Hanna of Belfast
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