Dear Sir

I wrote you, some years since—if you remember—on the most momentous of all topics: having been impelled, thereto, by a sincere and anxious solicitude, that you might become, through divine grace, a sharer in that greatest of all blessings, both in time and eternity—the salvation of the immortal soul.¹ To that letter you replied, in a very courteous and gentlemanly manner—readily admitting the vast importance of the subject on which I had written you, and thanking me for my concern for, and interest in your eternal welfare and happiness—and for the ample manner in which I had brought it before your notice.² My solicitude for your soul’s eternal salvation—did not end with that procedure on my part, and appreciative response on yours. For many years I have cherished a fervent desire for your rescue from everlasting destruction—through neglect of the great salvation so freely offered to all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and consecrate their lives, their affections, their worship, and services to Him—as He is so fully revealed in “the glorious gospel of the blessed God”³—and for your becoming the possessor of everlasting life and happiness—as the result of your obedience to the precepts of that gospel—especially that cardinal mandate—“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”.⁴ That desire has moved me oftentimes to bear you in mind, when at a throne of grace, and to implore Him who sitteth on that throne, and who has at his sovereign disposal—life, and bliss, and glory, unceasing, in the world to come—and a meetness for that eternal felicity and exaltation, by the purifying influence on the human soul, of faith in the World’s Redeemer, in virtue of His self-sacrifice and death, on Calvary—his resurrection, ascension to the heavenly world, and intercession there on our behalf—as High Priest—Advocate—and the One great Mediator betwixt God and man.—to visit you—personally, individually—Charles Darwin—with His great salvation: to make you an heir of God, and a joint heir with Jesus Christ, his Son: to bestow on you the gift of repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ: to sanctify you wholly, and to make you meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. As this may be the last time I shall ever write to you—drawing near to the close of my earthly pilgrimage, as I am—and in the possession of a hope that is full of immortality and eternal life, and looking daily and hourly, as I am, for the glorious appearance of our God and Saviour—when “He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe”⁵—I do most earnestly entreat you—to delay not the all-important work of seeking a personal interest in the great salvation accomplished for our race, on Calvary—but to “flee for refuge to the hope set before you in the Gospel:⁶ to cast yourself on the infinite mercy of God, through Christ—pleading the merits of His beloved Son: pleading also those exceeding great and precious promises contained in His holy word—“Come unto me, all ye who labour and are heavy laden—(who labour and are heavy laden, that is—with a deep sense of their sinfulness and obnoxiousness to divine condemnation, and wrath—of their lost, and perishing condition, and urgent need of an almighty and divine Saviour.) and I will give you rest”.⁷ “Whosoever will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely.”⁸ “God so loved the world, that He gave to it, His well-beloved Son,—that whosoever believeth in Him, might not perish, but have everlasting life”.⁹ “Turn ye—turn ye—for why will ye die!”¹⁰ “As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the sinner—but would have all men repent and believe, and be saved”—¹¹ “Whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out”.¹² “How then shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation”¹³—the Holy Scriptures may well exclaim after such promises of pardon and salvation have been offered to believing sinners! Praying that the Almighty may give you grace to lay these all-important matters deeply to heart, and constrain you, by His holy Spirit—thus to lay hold on eternal life, and duly to avail yourself of the inestimable blessings thus offered you in the Gospel,

I remain, dear Sir, | your sincere well-wisher— | J. Plimsoll. M.D