Welcome to the “Chalmers Audio Library,” a collection of sermons, essays, and works by the great 19th century Scottish preacher and social reformer, Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847). These are presently being hosted on SermonAudio here.
See all WPE Audio resources.
Chalmers is regrettably a largely forgotten figure both in his own country and even within the confessional legacy to which he belonged, historic Presbyterianism. Yet in his day, he drew high praise for his churchmanship, his social vision and activity, and perhaps above all, his preaching.
Writing about a preaching engagement London, William Wilberforce remarked of Chalmers in his diary, “All the world [is] wild about Dr. Chalmers. . . Vast crowds . . . Chalmers most awful on the carnal and spiritual man.” “I am off early to hear Chalmers. I was surprised to see how greatly Canning was affected: at times he was melted to tears.” Another enthusiast wrote of the same occasion, “I never witnessed the place so full in my life, pews, passages, pulpit stairs, windows, etc., etc., all crowded to excess; and some noblemen, members of Parliament, and even some most beautiful young ladies of distinction hauled through the vestry window . . . . The carriages stood from the head of Vigo Lane to near Sackville Street in Piccadilly.”
Other notable contemporaries praised him. William Ewart Gladstone, eventual four-time Prime Minister of Great Britain wrote of his “absorbed and absorbing earnestness.” And perhaps it will be praise enough that Karl Marx sneeringly dubbed him the “arch-parson.” Hughes Oliphant Old, then, was surely on the mark when he recently wrote, “truly one of the most exemplary preachers of Christian history [who] began an age.”
Ever since I started reading about and researching Chalmers and his parish plan, I’ve begun recording his sermons and public lectures. Keep in mind that they are amateur – and I welcome feedback, especially in the event that evident mistakes occur!
It’s also worth mentioning that Chalmers ministered during the Georgian and Victorian eras, making his prose almost Pauline in its complexity. He also wrote out his sermons in full and essential read-preached them, contrary to conventional homiletical rules. But while, like Whitefield said, they can hardly capture “the thunder,” I imagine that the good listener will at least feel some rumblings.
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Secondary sources
Interested in learning more about Chalmers? Here are several helpful resources (in addition to mine) for those who want to explore his life and thought further.
(1) Introductions online
- “The Legacy of Thomas Chalmers,” by John Roxborogh. A helpful starter from co-author of The St. Andrews Seven, published by the Banner of Truth.
- “Thomas Chalmers and His Vision of the Church of Scotland” by William M. Mackay. A great little piece from a retired Free Church of Scotland missionary. (Located on Alan Newble’s page on Chalmers, which contains many more valuable resources.)
- “Thomas Chalmers and the Recovery of the Parish,” by George Grant
(2) Audio/visual resources online
- George Grant, “Scottish and American History #05: Thomas Chalmers and Modernism” and “Thomas Chalmers And The Parish Centered Ministry”
- William Macleod, “Contending for the Faith: Thomas Chalmers“
(3) Books, scholarly and popular
- Sandy Finlayson, Thomas Chalmers (Bitesize Biographies)
- John Roxborogh, Thomas Chalmers, Enthusiast for Mission
- Hugh Watt, Thomas Chalmers and the Disruption
- Stewart J. Brown, Thomas Chalmers and the Godly Commonwealth in Scotland
West Port Experiment 
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