and for which he laboured,
no one has ever questioned, and no one ever will. And if, though
possessed of solid, though perhaps not brilliant talent, he failed on
this occasion 'in finding his hands,' we are to seek an explanation of
his failure simply in the circumstance that truths of principle--such
as those which establish the right and duty of every Government to
educate its people, or which demonstrate the schoolmaster to possess a
purely secular, not an ecclesiastical standing--or yet truths of fact,
such as that for many years the national teaching of Scotland has
_not_ been religious, or that the better Scottish people will on no
account or consideration sacrifice the secular education of their
children to the dream of a spiritual pedagogy,--are truths which can
neither be controverted nor set aside. He did on one occasion, during
the course--what he no doubt afterwards regretted--raise against us
the cry of infidelity,--a cry which, when employed respecting matters
on which Christ or His apostles have not spoken, really means no more
than that he who employs it, if truly a good man, is bilious, or has a
bad stomach, or has lost the thread of his argument or the equanimity
of his temper. Feeling somewhat annoyed, however, we wished to see
Chalmers once more; but the matter had not escaped his quick eye, and
his kind heart suggested the remedy. In the course of the day in which
our views and reasonings were posted as infidel, we received the
following note from Morningside:--

MORNINGSIDE, _March 13, 1847_.

MY DEAR SIR,--You are getting nobly on on education; not only
groping your way, but making way, and that by a very sensible
step in advance this day.

On my own mind the truth evolves itself very gradually; and I am
yet a far way from the landing-place. Kindest respects to Mrs.
Miller; and with earnest prayer for the comfort and happiness of
both, I ever am, my dear Sir, yours very truly,

THOMAS CHALMERS.

Hugh Miller, Esq.

In short, Thomas Chalmers, by his sympathy and his connivance, had
become as great an infidel as ourselves; and we have submitted to our
readers the evidence of the fact, fully certified under his own
hand.{4} There is a sort of perfection in everything; and perfection
once reached, deterioration usually begins. And when, in bandying the
phrases _infidel_ and _infidelity_--like the feathered missiles in the
game of battledore and shuttlecock--th