Letter to Mrs. Dunlop
No. LXXXIX. — LETTER TO MRS. DUNLOP.
Skirling Manse, Siggar, 8th June 1842.
MY DEAR MRS. DUNLOP, — I was much impressed by your farewell sentence at our parting in the Meadows on Saturday afternoon, and have felt ever since that I could not do adequate justice to the common sentiment which I believe actuated us both, without addressing you a few lines upon the subject.
In one respect our experience is very much at one. In early life my fellowships, and of course my preferences, were all on the side of that cold and moderate system of Christianity which is sometimes dignified by the appellation of rational. I have heard you complain that you almost never heard any exposition of the evangelical system from the pulpit; and that when that mode of preaching became more frequent and fashionable, it came upon you with a sense of novelty. With me, again — and here perhaps we differ in. our histories — that system was not unknown, but then it was the object of antipathy and distaste; and nothing can be more distinct than my two mental states in reference to Christianity before and after the age of thirty, since which time the peculiar doctrines of the gospel have risen every year in my estimation; and I have long been persuaded that the only way of salvation is through the knowledge of Christ and of Him crucified.
To me the most precious verses in the Bible are those which give a specific and pointed direction to the overtures of reconciliation in such terms as warrant the reader to apply them to himself individually. For example, “The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin,” Why not from my sin? — “Come unto me all.” Why not I? — “Whosoever cometh shall in no wise be cast out.” Let me come then, sure of Heaven’s welcome and of Heaven’s good-will. — “If any man open the door of his heart, I will enter and be at peace with him.” Let me take to my self the encouragement of this blessed saying, “Every one that asketh receiveth.” Let me ask till I receive, seek till I find, knock till the door be opened. I have often said that there is not a greater help to the way of peace than a prayerful reading of the Bible. The profitable way of reading is to read it with application, and as if God through His word were holding individual converse with me.
I was much gratified by your favourable opinion of my daughter Grace. Though I say it myself she is no ordinary person; and therefore it is, that she has lived beyond the sight and sympathy of ordinary minds. She is with me here at Skirling, as well as Mrs. Chalmers, and I hope that both of them will benefit by the change of air. Mrs. Glasgow* I always regarded as a very intellectual person, and she blended the
* Mrs. Dunlop’s sister.
spiritual with it during the last years of her life; and I remember well the pleasure I felt in observing how she congenial ized with the homely but substantial writings of the good old puritans, and that notwithstanding her refined literary taste. It is this union of the literary with the evangelical which makes Grace so interesting to me.
It is my earnest prayer, my dear Mrs. Dunlop, that the evening of your life may be more and more irradiated with the hopes of the gospel; and that you may have great peace and great joy in placing your full reliance on that mercy which in the economy of our redemption stands associated with a truth which never fails. — I am, my dear Madam, yours very truly,