17 March 1780 A.D. Free Church of Scotland: Rev. Mr. Thomas Chalmers Born
17 March 1780 A.D. Free Church of Scotland: Rev. Mr. Thomas Chalmers Born Editors. “Thomas Chalmers.” Encyclopedia Britannica. N.d. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/104778/Thomas-Chalmers . Accessed 16 Mar 2015. Thomas Chalmers , (born March 17, 1780, Anstruther, Fife , Scot.—died May 30, 1847, Edinburgh ), Presbyterian minister, theologian, author, and social reformer who was the first moderator of the Free Church of Scotland . Chalmers was ordained as minister of Kilmeny parish, Fife, in 1803. After reading William Wilberforce’s Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System (1797), Chalmers adopted the evangelical position, which stressed the importance of faith for salvation. From 1815 he gained fame as one of the great pulpit orators in his ministry of Tron parish, Glasgow. On becoming minister at St. John’s, the largest and also the poorest parish in Glasgow, in 1819, Chalmers addressed himself to the problems of poverty. Receivin...