Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/93

 CHAPTER IV.

the summer of 1846, Mr. Carter again went to Europe, taking with him his wife and eldest son, a child of eight years, and his infant daughter.

“In that second visit, I met many men in Scotland and England who did me much good. It was the last year of Dr. Chalmers’s life, and I was touched by his kind reception of me. He inquired particularly about the working of the voluntary system in America, and expressed his pleasure at meeting me. ‘We have corresponded for many years, and it is well to meet,’ he said. I told him how Mr. R. L. Stuart and I had gone from house to house and solicited aid for the Free Church. I can never forget the childlike simplicity and humble bearing of the man whom I had so long revered. I met Dr. Guthrie too at that time, and it was the beginning of many years of pleasant intercourse. Dr. John Brown and Dr. Norman McLeod showed me no little kindness. In England I attended the first great meeting of Evangelical Clergymen at the Alliance, where I met Edward Bickersteth, Baptist Noel, Tholuck, and many others. In the list of American delegates republished recently, Charles Butler was the only one that remained with me. Joseph died, and his brethren, and all that generation.”

The little party returned to America on the “Great Western,” Captain Matthews, sailing September 12.