Chalmers poses for himself the question: How shall the human heart be freed from its love for the world? (How shall the air of world-love be removed from the soul-beaker?) This “love” is not a duty one performs. It is a delight one prefers. It is an affection before it is a commitment.

Christian Hedonism asserts that the most effective way to kill our own sin is by the power of a superior pleasure. No one sins out of duty. We sin because it is more pleasant or less painful than the way of righteousness. So bondage to sin is broken by a stronger attraction—a more compelling joy.

Two hundred years ago, Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847) wrote one of the most famous defenses of this truth. It was called “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.” We believe you would profit from knowing the man and this remarkable message.

He Created an Era

Converted to Christ while already in the pastorate (1810) in Kilmany, Scotland, Chalmers eventually became professor of moral philosophy in the University of St. Andrews, and then professor of theology in the University of Edinburgh.

His influence in church and politics in Scotland was so extensive that according to geologist Hugh Miller, Chalmers “may be said to have created than to have belonged to an era.” And William Gladstone, Britain’s foremost political leader of the century, called him “a man greatly lifted out of the region of mere flesh and blood” (Mark Noll, “Thomas Chalmers in North America,” 763). On his death, one estimate was that half the population of Edinburgh attended his funeral (764).

During his professorship at St. Andrews, his passion for global missions was so inspiring that six of his best students dedicated themselves to missions, resulting in 141 years of combined missionary service (St. Andrews Seven).

Blood-Earnest About Joy

Though he was influential in geology and astronomy, Christian apologetics, relief for the poor, economics, Calvinistic orthodoxy, and ecclesiastical leadership (helping create the Free Church of Scotland), nevertheless, it was the force of his words that gave effect to all of these engagements.

According to A.C. Cheyne, his oratorical power “bordered on wizardry” (Noll, 764). William Wilberforce wrote in his diary in 1817, “All the world [is] wild about Dr. Chalmers” (762). But why? Princeton’s James Alexander asked John Mason on his return from Scotland why Chalmers was so effective, and Mason replied, “It is his blood-earnestness” (Thoughts on Preaching).

If you ever read his most famous message, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection,” let that tone—blood-earnestness—shape the way you read. Don’t think he is trifling. He is very serious. Joyfully serious.

Expulsive Power

I recall once being asked a trick question: If you had access to all the latest machinery in a sophisticated science lab, what would be the most effective way to get all the air out of a glass beaker? One ponders the possible ways to suck the air out and create a vacuum. Eventually, the answer is given: fill it with water.

That is the point of Chalmers’s famous message. It is intended as an illumination of 1 John 2:15:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Chalmers poses for himself the question: How shall the human heart be freed from its love for the world? (How shall the air of world-love be removed from the soul-beaker?) This “love” is not a duty one performs. It is a delight one prefers. It is an affection before it is a commitment.

He says there are two ways one might seek to remove this controlling affection from the heart. One is to show that the world is not worthy of our affection and will let us down in the end. (This argument corresponds to using a pump to suck the air out of the beaker.)

Read More