⁵ He used to speak with great delight of a poor woman, who told him
that by going out at seven in the morning she earned enough, by
raking among the ashes, to pay for the schooling of her eldest
daughter, but wished the second also to attend. His first impulse
was to offer to pay for her, but that, he feared, would hurt her
independence; so he said: ’What would you say to rise at six in
the morning and earn enough to pay for her too?’ On the following
Saturday she came to tell him she had done it. ’I could have
stood before her,’ he said, ’with cap in hand, for in truth she
was above myself.’
’We would give Thee no rest, O God, until Thou hast opened the window of
heaven and caused righteousness to flow down that street like a mighty
river.’ ’Let such a memorial of Christian philanthropy be set up in
that place as to be a praise and an example both in the city of our
habitation and in other cities of the land.’ ’Reveal to me, O God, the
right tactics, the right way and method of proceeding in the management
of the affairs of the West Port. Oh that I were enabled to pull down
the strongholds of sin and of Satan which are there!’ ’O my God, give
me the power of ordering matters aright in the West Port.... And more
especially, O God, let me understand Thy will in regard to the right
place and performances of a female agency.’ ’Draw close the affections
and affinity between Mr. Tasker and the families of the West Port....
Do Thou guide and encourage him, O Lord.... Oh may he not only be
himself saved, but may he be the instrument of salvation to many; and
may both he and I be carried in safety, and at length with triumph, to
that prosperous termination for which we are jointly labouring!’
We have no space to dwell further on the history of the West Port. The
sweep of the experiment was complete. On 19th February 1847 a new church
was opened; and on the 25th April, one month before his death, Dr.
Chalmers administered the Lord’s Supper to the congregation. On that
occasion he said to Mr. Tasker, ’I have got now the desire of my heart;
God has indeed answered my prayer, and I could now lay down my head in
peace and die.’ And he wrote to Mr. Lennox, ’I wish to communicate what
to me is the most joyful event of my life. I have been intent for
thirty years on the completion of a territorial experiment, and I have
now to bless God for the consummation of it.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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