Morning journal and courier., 1886-03-20
LYMAN REEoHER LECTURES.

Rev. pr. William M. Taylor To The
 Yale Theological StHdents-The Life
 And Work of Thomas Chalmers
 Considered.
 The sixth lecture of the Lyman Beecher course was given by Dr. William M. Taylor yesterday afternoon to large audience in the Marquand chapel. Many ladies were present and several clergymen from out of town Dr. Taylor lectured upon ''The Life and Work of Thomas Chalmers" At the death of Andrew Thompson, Thomas Chal- mers, the greatest of the Scottish preachers, was professor of theology at Edinburgh. He was born in 1780, about a year after the birth of Thompson. He was ordained Ill 1902, but his ambition was entirely academ- ical. He considered his preaching and pas toral work as secondary to his other work, and at the same time with his ministerial la bors he was assistant professor at St. An drew's. But there was turning point in his life, and about the time of his speech to the General Assembly in 1909 he was con- verted. From that time the Bible was his handbook and preaching the great absorbing theme of his life. from that time his church became crowded and conversions frequent. He was great on all sides of his nature and had the subtle, indescribable thing called genius which makes magnetic all that it touches. He claimed and proved by his life and work that to preach Christianity is the only way of preaching morality in all it's branches. The old theme of Christ enforced by 8 new man is fresher than the most ad- vaneed thinking of the age. The test case ot Chalmers should never be lost sight of and the preachers of the gospel should never be diverted. from the great central truths which revolve around the cross of Christ. Chalmers brought back the cross of the cultured and refined without alternating the common people. His church was perfect beehive with no drones ill it; all were at work and they were always at work But he was obliged to have an assistant and Edward Irving was called. His is the only name which comes unsullied out of the mess these Reformations have made. Irving was romantic almost to the neglect of the practical; his mental well as his physical vision was oblique, and the influence which might have been for good went out to form 8 new denomination. With him, as with all, there is danger of los ing sight of the present in the exclusive of the church that is to keep it orthodox, and when schemes of speculation take the place of direct efforts for conversion there must be rising up.
 The Free church of Scotland was the out come of the work of Chalmers. He valued the church as the means of securing the reli- gious welfare of the people and severed his connection with the State church that he might better realize the ends which he had in view. At the disruption he became pro lessor of theology of the Free church; he was not so much an instructor as he was quick ener. Having given himself to the work of bringing the lower classes of people into the church he engaged the loft of a tanner and from a small beginning built up a new church in which the first communion service was observed about month before he died.
 In the mind of Chalmers we find 8 won derful equipoise of opposites. He was a man of science and man of philosophy; he had the glowing imagination of the poet combined with all the practical sagacity of the canniest of his countrymen. In person he was stout, almost stocky, and in speech he was strongly provincial. His force was due to two characteristics in addition to those already named-his power of concen- tration upon the work he had in hand and the oneness of his sermons. He saw only one thing in the text and laid himself wholly upon that. He made only one impression with his whole sermon, but that impression was indelible. It was said of him that if he would throw aside his pa pers and preach without notes he would be- come King of Scotland; but he did not be- come King of Scotland, and that through his papers, for his earnestness went through his papers into the souls of his hearers. It is not the presence of papers, but what is upon them and behind them that deter mine whether they are help or hindrance. The last lecture of this course will be given by Dr. Taylor next Friday evening. The week following Dr John Hall will lecture.