These are good questions and deserve an answer. It is universally recognised that Chalmers is one of Scotland's greatest sons. He was a mathematician, economist, philosopher and Theologian. He was an expert on Poor Laws and their application; he was the greatest orator of his age; the most successful minister of the Gospel of his generation. He was a dynamic leader with power to enthuse and arouse to activity all those he worked with. He put new life and power into almost every project he undertook.

Above all, he was a man of vision and a man of faith. His great vision was the Christianising of Scotland thro' Christian education and the Scottish Presbyterian Church. He had the vision of a united Presbyterian Church in which all Christians partook (having laid aside secondary differences) going forward to leaven Scotland with Christ's Gospel. He passionately believed that the Gospel remedy was the only answer to Man's ruin and that a consensus of Christian truth was the only way to obtain a society in which there was order, reverence for God and the recognition of human worth and dignity. He was both Evangelist and Patriot.

What is exemplified in Chalmers and what we need today is a compelling desire to reach the unchurched masses for Christ and to bring christian truth to bear upon every aspect of our society, using our God-given Presbyterian system and harnessing the energies and resources of all our people in this great task.

If there is any example which may be blessed to us to lift us out of the rut of the acceptance of the status quo and mediocrity of vision, that example is Chalmers.

THE EARLY YEARS (1780-1803)

Thomas Chalmers was the sixth child of a prosperous merchant of Anstruther Fife, Scotland. He was born on March 17, 1780. As a child he was physically robust and he had a great love of games and sport. He showed at an early age his remarkable genius for thought and oratory that earned him renown in later years.

He entered school at the age of three; matriculated to university at the age of twelve and entered on a Divinity course at fifteen. He graduated in Divinity at nineteen years of age and was licensed to preach the Gospel.

His passion at that time was mathematics. Having served as an assistant minister at Roxburgh on the borders, he was presented to the charge at Kilmany, Fifeshire as the minister. He was within a short distance from St. Andrew's University where he could teach his beloved mathematics while filling in the rest of his time as a minister of the Gospel.

KILMANY (1803-1815)

Ordained and inducted to the charge of Kilmany in 1803, Chalmers lectured in the University first in mathematics and then in chemistry. He spent five days each week in St. Andrew's and the weekends at Kilmany visiting and preaching. He considered this ample time for the ministry and defended himself successfully at the Presbytery when complaints arose about his conduct.

He was popular in his charge. He had a pleasing personality and much natural friendliness. He was an able preacher. His themes in the pulpit were the moral requirements of Christianity and the repugnant nature of vice. He did not preach Christ and the way of salvation by faith.

In 1809, thro' the death of loved ones and his own serious illness, the inadequacy of his religious beliefs was brought home to him. He began to seek God earnestly and he strove for that 'pure morality' that would commend him to God. Two years later, he found the truth, chiefly thro' reading Christian literature including a book, 'A Practical View of Christianity' by Wilberforce. He found Christ and salvation, by faith.

His life and ministry changed. He gave himself wholly to the work of the ministry. He preached Christ and the way of salvation. Many were blessed under his ministry. People thronged from near and far to hear his fervent Gospel preaching. He became an ardent supporter of Foreign Missions and Bible Societies. He passed from the ranks of the 'Moderate' churchmen into the ranks of the 'Evangelicals'. He was however, never a mere conformist Evangelical.

THE TRON CHURCH GLASGOW (1815-1819)

In 1815, Chalmers moved to the Tron Church in Glasgow. It was a large parish. His fame as a preacher was soon known and he preached to a capacity congregation. The old Evangelical Religion was preached with passion and warmth and the truth presented by the most gripping and telling literary images. His own fresh experience called forth fresh ways of expressing the truth and he did it from a full heart. His sermons were profoundly theological and yet very practical. So popular was he as a preacher that he tried the expedient of preaching the same sermon at night that he had given in the morning. This was intended to keep the crowds smaller. He failed miserably.

While at the Tron, Chalmers gave a series of Thursday lectures which created quite a stir in Glasgow and elsewhere. The first series, the Astronomical Lectures - dealing with God, man and the Universe - were a sensation. The second series, "The Application of Christianity to the Commercial and Ordinary Affairs of Life", was also printed and widely distributed.

It was at the Tron, that he began the experiment that he became famous for viz., the application of the old Parish system to the densely populated cities. At one time, Scotland had been divided into manageable Parishes. The industrial Revolution had changed all that. People had moved off the land and into the towns and cities. The numbers in parishes had increased to unmanageable proportions. Many of the inhabitants had lost touch with Christianity and in the hovels and slums were little better than pagans.

Chalmers concentrated on his parish. The many fashionable people who were among his hearers and lived outside the parish, he almost totally ignored. He concentrated on the squalid area that comprised his Charge. He divided it into districts having completed an exhausting survey of the homes and families. He appointed young Elders and gave each their district. He called upon members of the congregation to help him and organised Sunday Schools to cover the whole parish, each teacher having his own 'patch' and class. He held weekly services alternating in each district. He began a day school which he confined to parish scholars.

Chalmers believed passionately in the old Presbyterian Parish system and he believed that the Established Church of Scotland was the effective instrument for bringing the Gospel to the people of Scotland. He put to work the Presbyterian system of Elders and Deacons and called on the energies and enthusiasm of the Christian people.

ST. JOHN'S, GLASGOW (1819 - 1823)

In 1819, Thomas Chalmers moved to a Parish especially created for him and his experiments. There were certain hindrances to his Territorial methods of dealing with irreligion and poverty in the Tron Parish. There were other duties that distracted him from the work of the ministry. The Tron method of dealing with poverty was repugnant to him. He did not believe in handouts of public money. He believed in encouraging independence and helping the poor to rise up out of their poverty and not assisting them to stay in it. He was also convinced that in times of need, the relatives, friends and neighbours should rally around to help. Only when no other help was available should help come from Public Funds.

In St. John's, he had a free hand. He quickly implemented his Territorial strategy. Districts were mapped out; Elders and Deacons appointed to each district. Sunday schools and day schools were started. He intended to combat irreligion and poverty in the new parish. Enthusiastic helpers came from the Tron church but most of the seats in the new church were reserved for the poor of the parish.

St. John's was a tremendous success. Chalmers not only filled his church with the poor, neglected people of the charge, he almost abolished paupery from the Parish. He proved that Christianity mediated thro' the Presbyterian Church system was the effective answer to Scotland's needs. He demonstrated that Christianity was able to save the individual and to influence and purify every aspect of human life and activity.

ST. ANDREW'S (1823 - 1827)

In 1823, Chalmers accepted the Chair of Moral Philosophy at the University of St. Andrews his Alma Mater. He was physically and mentally exhausted. He health was deteriorating. He was always inclined to an academic life and he wanted a place of influence among the youth of the country. Furthermore, the academic year lasted only six months and this would leave him time for preaching and for implementing and extending the system of poor relief which he had started in St. John's.

His lecture room was thronged with students. His powers of address drew prolonged demonstrations of appreciation and more than once he had to appeal to the students to be more active with the heads than with their heels.

He started a Sunday School for poor children in his own home. He began Sunday Bible Classes for the students. He galvanised into life the near-extinct missionary society. From this society came the great Scottish missionary, Alexander Duff and others.

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY (1828-1843)

In 1827, the Chair of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh fell vacant. Chalmers was unanimously elected. He stayed in St. Andrews until the following year. The years in Edinburgh were to be the climax of Thomas Chalmers' life. His fully-developed powers and his ripe experience were to be called into play to make him the leading influence in epoch-making decisions that would change the course of Scottish history. As the Professor of Divinity, he was a tremendous success. His classroom was crowded with students. A gallery had to be built to accommodate the public who wished to attend the lectures. Chalmers made no new contribution to Theological thought but he did present the old Theology in new and striking ways. His practical wisdom, passionate feelings and eloquent tongue all combined to give his audience an enthusiasm for the subject. No professor can do more than that. His students went out into the Church to become influential in its life and activity.

Chalmers played a decisive part in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in these years. He threw all his weight into the getting the Veto Act thro' the Assembly. This gave male members of congregations the right before the Presbytery, to reject the presentee of the Patron. The congregation was no longer to have a minister it did not want. In a similar manner, he used his influence to obtain the passing of the Chapel Act by which ministers of unendowed Churches (set up to cope with overloaded parishes) could have a Session and sit on higher Church Courts. This gave them the same status as the Parish ministers.

Among the most outstanding of his achievements was his work as Convenor of the Church Extension Committee. In six or seven years, he raised 300,000 Pounds and built over two hundred churches to meet the needs of the over-populated parishes.

In 1837 Chalmers delivered in London a series of lectures to audiences including many distinguished people. Bishops, Lords, members of Parliament and even royalty attended. His subject was Church Establishments. The whole city was stirred and the meetings were crowded to suffocation. These lectures played a great part in blocking a strong movement in Parliament to disestablish the Church of England.

Oxford University honoured Chalmers with the degree of Doctor of Laws and the Academy of France made him a distinguished member of its Assembly. No other Scot has received this dual honour.

THE FREE CHURCH (1843-1847)

All his ministerial career, Dr. Chalmers had defended the Establishment principle. The State provided the stipends of ministers, the churches and manses; the Church, mistress in her own house and subject only to her Lord, went about the task of Christianising the nation. For Chalmers the Establishment was the only instrument to reach the national life of Scotland with the Gospel. He with others believed that the Nation as well the individual should honour Christ.

The late l830's were golden years for the Church of Scotland. Reforming legislation thriving Home and Foreign Missions, spectacular increase in income, growing unity in the Assembly, these marked the time. But a cloud was arising in the ecclesiastical sky. A man presented to a charge by a Patron and rejected by the Presbytery under the Veto Act, appealed to the law courts to have the Presbytery's decision reversed. He claimed that their act was illegal under the Law of Patronage. The court upheld his appeal and the House of Lords confirmed the decision. In another case, a rejected presentee sought a court order restraining a Presbytery from ordaining another (acceptable) man to the charge from which he, the first presentee, was rejected. The Presbytery narrowly escaped imprisonment for contempt of Court when it went ahead and ordained the acceptable man.

The cases multiplied. A collision course was set between the majority of the Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the Law Courts of the land. The Assembly appealed to the Government at Westminster but it took the view of the Law courts that the Veto Act was illegal and that the Church must comply with the Law of the Land. Only serious and palpable moral or doctrinal shortcomings could disqualify a man from being ordained to any charge to which he was presented. The wish of the congregation was irrelevant. A private Bill introduced into Parliament to remedy the situation, was thrown out on a technical matter. The situation was further aggravated by the Secular court of Session in Scotland issuing an injunction to prevent certain members of the General Assembly from taking their seats in the Assembly. It was plain that arrogant men considered that the Church was the tool of the State.

Chalmers and the Evangelicals in the Assembly, took the ancient ground of the 'Crown rights of the Redeemer.' Christ alone was Head of the Church and the Church in spiritual matters was subject only to Him. Under her Lord, the Church was mistress in her own house. Ordination was a spiritual act and no Law Court could dictate whom she was and was not to ordain. The State gave temporal things and the State could do as it pleased with its temporalities. But it could not interfere in the life and order of the Church. The Evangelicals stood also on the principle that the Congregation had the right to choose its own Pastor and that no one had the right to intrude an unwanted man upon them. The Moderates in the Church Assembly believed in implicit obedience to the Law of the Land as interpreted by the Law Courts.

In 1842, the Church issued its final appeal to the Government when the General Assembly drew up the Claim of Right and Protest. The Church asserted its right to run its affairs according to Christ's Word. It went unheeded by the Government who had now abandoned any intention of redressing the Church's grievances. An unfavourable decision from the House of Lords plainly asserting the subjection of the Established Church to the State did not help matters.

The stage was set for a Disruption of the Church. One of two courses was open to the Assembly - submission to the State or separation from the State. The Moderates chose the former, the Evangelicals the latter. In the same year (1842) a Convocation was called in Edinburgh of Ministers and Elders to determine what action to take in the light of the Government's attitude. Plans were carefully laid for the next Assembly. In May 1843, the Retiring Moderator Dr. Welsh, having conducted the opening devotions read a protest in which he stressed the inconsistency of Constituting the Assembly in the light of the Government's attitude. Putting the paper on the Assembly table, he walked out followed by Chalmers and another two hundred ministerial delegates to the Assembly, and many Elders. They were joined by another two hundred ministers who were not members of the Assembly and adjourned to the Tanfield Hall where the Assembly of the Church of Scotland Free was constituted. Dr. Chalmers was elected Moderator and they proceeded to formalise their separation from the State by signing an Act of Separation and Deed of Demission. (A framed facsimile of this is in the Session Room of the Taree Church).

Chalmers played a prominent part in the construction of the Free Church. He was appointed Principal and Professor of Theology in the Free Church College. He organised the scheme of financial support of the ministry known as the Sustentation Fund. Under this scheme ministers were paid from a central fund to which congregations sent money for the support of ministers. The stipend fund collections were made by collectors visiting the members and the money was sent to Edinburgh. The minimum stipend was determined by the amount of money that came in. The stronger congregations supported the weaker. Every minister got the same stipend from central funds. The system is still used in the Free Church of Scotland.

Chalmers also took a hand in his most valued activity - Church Extension. He organised a Free Church cause in one of the poorest parts of Edinburgh. With enthusiastic workers he got a church started in an old disused tannery. This 'doubled' as a school in the week. His old territorial scheme was a great success. The scheme with its minister, new church and school buildings, its library, savings bank and its model flats for working men, was his pride and joy.

Another joy to him in these last years, was to participate in the cause of Christian Unity. He was behind the formation of the Evangelical Alliance which convened in Liverpool (U.K.) in 1845. He wanted cooperation between Evangelicals in a great National Home Mission. He wanted a fuller union kept in mind wherever it was possible. Where it was not, he desired a bond of affinity and a mutual recognition that would make it apparent to the world that all Evangelical Christians were one in Christ Jesus.

The good Doctor did not survive the Disruption very long. He passed away in his sleep on 30th May, 1847. The city of Edinburgh was Stirred by his funeral. Crowds lined the Streets, civic dignitaries followed the casket. One newsman reported, "It was the dust of a Presbyterian minister that the coffin contained; and yet they were burying him amidst the tears of a nation and with more than kingly honours."

What has the life and work of Thomas Chalmers to teach us in Australia in 1980?

I suggest the following:-

1. We should have a passionate desire to see our country won for Christ and our society permeated with Christian truth. This should be our great pre-occupation as a Church and as congregations.

2. We should have confidence in the Word of God and the superb formulation of that truth at the Reformation. We should be convinced that it is adequate for our times and spread it among our fellow countrymen.

3. In the Presbyterian system, we have the perfect instrument for application of the truth to our generation. The Elders and Deacons in their respective districts exercising their office and functions and the harnessed energies and abilities of the Christian people along with the teaching of the Word - this is adequate for the task.

4. The way to proceed to the task is by concentration on a given area of unchurched people and saturate it with loving Christian service. The social problems of our times may be used as avenues of approach.

5. We should hold to the truth of the duty of the State to lend all its support to the Church of God and honour Christ in this way.

6. Having such an example before us, having the truth of the Reformation as our heritage, having the ideal system for applying the truth to our generation and a tried and tested method of approach, we have every reason to be ashamed of ourselves if we fail to rise to our task and opportunities.