This famous divine was unquestionably one of the greatest and most powerful pulpit-orators the world has ever seen, and he was also one of the best of men. He is acknowledged by all, whatever their views and opinions on the subjects with which his name is chiefly associated, to have been guided by the worthiest motives, sustained by the highest spirit, and animated by the loftiest aspirations. His boyhood presents an example, which may be very profitably studied and mused on by youth; because in his wildest, and merriest, and most mischievous days he never forgot the duty he owed to Him, to whose service his subsequent life was piously and actively dedicated.

Thomas Chalmers, fitted by nature to distinguish himself in almost any career which he might have chosen, was born on the 17th of March, 1780, the sixth of a family of fourteen children, at Anstruther, a sea-port town of Fife, and one of five small boroughs that then returned a member to Parliament. There his father, for several years the provost, carried on a flourishing business as a general merchant, as his father, the son of a Scottish clergyman and the grandson of a "laird," had done before him. The parents of this great man seem to have been strictly religious, and to have endeavoured, by precept and example, to convey devout impressions to the minds of their numerous offspring.

When two years old he was placed in the charge of a nurse, whose cruel treatment and deceitful conduct made a lasting impression on his memory, and had the effect of producing a rare willingness to go to school, where he was placed at the age when ordinary children are devoting their energies to the destruction of toys. His parents had not, as may be imagined, much time to devote to the instruction of so very numerous a family; and the future divine was left to profit as he best might by the daily lessons he received from the public preceptor. This worthy pedagogue, however competent he might have been in former years, had at that time become too old and too blind to be a successful imparter of knowledge; but he retained all the enthusiastic love of flogging that characterised the teachers of the period, and indulged it with a zeal and to an extent which his erring pupils did not by any means admire or relish. Even in total blindness, the ruling passion was so strong that he exerted his ingenuity to the utmost to bring the unwary imps within reach of his in-elegant implement of torture. When utterly sight-less, he employed as an assistant a Mr. Daniel Earn-say, who, being somewhat eccentric, sought celebrity without finding it by writing a treatise on mixed schools, which has since slumbered, unread and uncut, on many a dusty shelf. Having little to induce him to do so, Chalmers did not at first apply himself with any assiduity to his studies. On the con-trary, he is still recollected as one of the idlest, strongest, merriest, and most frolicsome boys in the parish school of Anstruther; though when he set himself to learn, no one could do it so speedily or so well. He was remarkably quick; yet when the awe-inspiring lesson came to be said, it was generally found half, or wholly, unlearned. On such occasions, the young culprit was consigned to the coal-hole with its accumulated horrors, and there compelled to re-main in a most unpleasant and irksome solitude till he had performed his neglected duty to the master's satisfaction; but such was the readiness of his comprehension, that his term of durance was always the very briefest; and he was soon once more directing or leading some hazardous exploit, and raising above the youthful crowd that voice which afterwards, in tones of surpassing eloquence, thrilled the hearts and swayed the judgments of men, whether unlettered peasants or accomplished scholars. He was always, however, most indignant when falsehood or ribaldry mingled with their boyish mirth, and was ever looked to as a protector by the weak and injured, whose cause he was chivalrously prompt to espouse and defend against their stronger and more powerful assailants. Strongly averse to quarrels and brawls, he never failed to act as peace-maker when his mediation could be of any avail; and when there was no prospect of his efforts proving effectual, and his angry companions were contending fiercely with oyster-shells, he was wont to shelter himself from the raging storm in some secure retreat, exclaiming, in his native dialect, "I'm no for powder and ball."

As soon as he had acquired the power of reading, he immediately applied it to perusing and feeding his imagination with the "Pilgrim's Progress," which conveyed to him both pleasure and instruction, and no doubt many a great and burning thought destined in other days to be turned to noble purposes. When a very little boy, he was summoned to receive his first lesson in mathematics from his uncle, a sailing master in the navy, who was a man of considerable attainments in the science, and considered it far more important than any other branch of human knowledge.

"What is that?" asked the retired seaman, making a point on the slate.

"A dot," answered the young recipient of instruc-tion.

"Try again," said the uncle, encouragingly, "try again; what is it?"

"A tick," was the reply.

Several members of the family to which Dr. Chalmers belonged had been clergymen, and at as early a period as he could form and announce a purpose, he declared his intention of following in their footsteps. Some passages in the Bible had been early impressed on his memory, and when three years old he was found, one dark evening, alone in the nursery, marching up and down, and repeating to himself some of the sayings of David. He very soon fixed upon a text for his first sermon, and is still remembered to have stood upon a chair, and preached from it with promising vigour to a single, but attentive, listener.

It appears that Chalmers profited little by the instruction he received at Anstruther school, and his parents resolved to send him elsewhere. Ac-cordingly, in November 1791, he was enrolled as a student in the ancient University of St. Andrews, where one of his contemporaries was the present distinguished Lord Chief-Justice of England. A letter to his mother, during the summer after his first session at college, is still preserved as the earliest specimen of his writings, and is said to prove, by its orthographical and grammatical errors, that he had still to commence the task of learning to compose with correctness in that language of which he, ere long, became so mighty a master. Indeed, though the self-sufficient Ramsay was, as time rolled on, excessively proud of having taught him, Chalmers was, when he entered the college, ill prepared by previous education to benefit by the instruction which it afforded; and the greater part of the first two sessions was devoted rather to golf and football, the games of the locality, than to the appointed exercises of the seat of learning.

Next year, however, he began in earnest the study of mathematics; he applied his mind to it with ardour, and henceforth his intellectual faculties knew no repose. He was enthusiastic in, and gave his whole attention to, whatever he undertook. Even after he was enrolled as a student of divinity, mathematics continued to occupy the greater part of his time, and having learned enough of French for the purpose, he perused attentively all the principal writings in that language on the higher branches of the subject. His interest in the study continued unabated, and not even the attractive lectures of one of the most eminent of theological professors could win him from his devotion. But towards the close of the session of 1795 he read "Edwards on the Freedom of the "Will," and was so absorbed with it, that he could for some time talk of nothing else. He used to wander early in the morning into quiet rural scenes in the vicinity, to luxuriate in solitary musing on the mighty theme.

In the following summer he paid a visit to Liverpool, where an elder brother was settled; and while there speculations of the loftiest order strangely mingled in his mind, with the shipping and docks on one side of the Mersey, and the ploughed and pasture land on the other. He now began earnestly to cultivate his powers of composition, and his progress was so remarkably rapid, that in two years he acquired habits of quick and easy writing. When the ordinary difficulties of expression were once overcome, the thoughts pent up in his great soul found free and open vent in forms of surpassing power and beauty. Moreover, he very soon gave ample proof of his oratorical talent in the morning and evening prayers, which were then conducted by the students in the hall of the University, and to which the public were admitted. The latter did not generally manifest particular eagerness to avail themselves of the privilege, but when it was known that Chalmers was to officiate, they came in crowds; and though then only a youth of sixteen, the wonderful flow of vivid and glowing eloquence showed exquisite taste and capacity for composition, and produced a striking effect on the thronging audience. It is said, that on such occasions he usually paraphrased the Lord's prayer, and his style is reported to have been then very much the same as when he produced such splendid impressions from the pulpit and through the press. For his cultivation in oratory, he was much indebted to his practice in debating societies formed among the students. He had early become a member of the Political Society, whose proceedings have not, unfortunately, been recorded; but in the Theological Society, to which he was in due time admitted, he particularly distinguished himself on some subjects, which interested and engaged his attention almost to the close of his earthly career. It is worthy of remark, that one of the exercises, written during his attendance at the Divinity Hall on the ardour and enthusiasm of the earlier Christians, supplied him with the very words in which, forty years after, he addressed four hundred of his brethren, when they were assembled to deliberate on the propriety of separating themselves from that Church whose annals could hardly furnish a more bright or venerable name than that of the illustrious divine, who stood in the midst to cheer their fainting hearts and sustain their drooping spirits

At the close of his seventh session at St. Andrews, Chalmers accepted a situation as tutor to a family in the north. On the day of his departure to enter upon his new duties, a somewhat ludicrous incident occurred. His father's whole household turned out to hid him farewell, and having taken, as he thought, his last fond look at them, he proceeded to mount his horse, which stood at the door; hut having done so, he found himself in a most awkward position, his face being most unaccountably turned towards the animal's tail. This was too much for the gravity of all parties, and especially for his own, so vaulting round with as much equestrian dexterity as he was master of, he spurred on his steed, and amid shouts of laughter, in which he heartily joined, soon left the dye-houses, salt-pans, and malt-steeps of An-struther far behind. On arrival, he found his new residence so exceedingly unpleasant and uncomfort-able, that in a few months he was compelled to re-linquish the post.

In January, 1799, he returned to St. Andrews, and before long applied to the Presbytery to be examined preparatory to his being admitted as a preacher. Difficulties were raised from his being too young to be intrusted with the sacred functions; but one of his friends having luckily discovered that the rule could be set aside in the case of an aspirant possessing rare and singular talents, he was, after the usual formalities, licensed in the end of July; and, starting immediately on foot for the south, preached his first sermon in a Scotch chapel at Wigan, in Lancashire, while yet in his twentieth year. Betaking himself soon after to Edinburgh, he zealously pursued his studies for two years at the university of that fair city. Having for some time preached at Cavers, in "pleasant Teviotdale," he was ordained minister of the parish of Kilmany, May 1803. There he remained till 1814, when, having during the previous year been elected to the Tron Kirk at Glasgow, he removed to undertake more extensive and onerous duties, and exercise his genius in a wider sphere. In 1823, being appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of St. Andrews, he removed thither, and in 1828 became Professor of Theology in that of Edinburgh. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Oxford, and he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Royal Institute of France.

On the 31st of May, 1817, he died at his resi-dence at Morningside, near Edinburgh; and all who knew him felt that pang, which accompanies the disappearance of a truly great and good man from the earth.