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March 3, 1909. THE PRESBYTERI
great work it has been doing for the last forty years
in the furnishing of so large a proportion of our ministers.
Of course, his chief work on behalf of Christian
education and the spr.ead of the gospel was his endowment
of the theological institution in Chicago which
bears his name.
It is evident then that, great as are the results of
Mr. Mccormick's invention in enabling men to reap the
material harvests of the world, still more beneficent
and far-reaching are the results of his consecrated
wealth in fitting men to reap God's spiritual harvest.
The equipment of seminaries is obedience, of the most
practical and fruitful kind, to the command given by
the Saviour when he said: "The harvest truly is
plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore
the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers
into his harvest," for they are sending out annually
large bands of soul-reapers, and will continue to do so
tor generations to come.
Mr. McCormick's private life was a singularly happy
one. In nothing was the goodness of God to him more
clearly shown than in his home life. In 1858 he married
Miss Nettie Fowler, of Jefferson county, New
York, an elect lady indeed, one whose earnest piety,
loving spirit, and gracious address, made her the worthy
help-meet of the gifted and large hearted man and
stalwart Christian, whose life she brightened and
blessed for twenty-six happy years, and who since his
death has continued to abound in all good works. Of
their seven children, five lived to grow up, the son who
bears his father's name now occupying his father's
place at the head of the great works in Chicago, and
also wearing worthily his father's mantle as a Christian
philanthropist. The great inventor died on the
13th of May, 1884. One- of his friends has happily
characterized the real secret of his success as follows:
"That which gave intensity to his purpose, strength to
his will, and nerved him with perseverance' that never
failed was his supreme regard for justice, his worshipful
reverence for the true and right. The thoroughness
of his conviction that justice must be done, that
right must be maintained, made him insensible to reproach
and patient of delay. I do not wonder that his
character was strong, nor that his purpose was invincible,
nor that bis plans were crowned with an ultimate
and signal success, for where conviction of right
is the motive-power, and the attainment of justice the
end in view, with faith in God, there is no such word
as fail."
We gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity offered
by the centennial anniversary of his birth to pay this
tribute of gratitude and affection to the memory of
Cyrus Hall McCormick, inventor, philanthropist, and
man of God, and we rejoice that his name is forever
linked with th#? rrrAOf tirnrlr nf Ai?f?
...... v..? &1 vuk nuiiv ut uui UWU utIUVCU StIIUUl
of the prophets.
Do we know ourselves or what good or evil circumstances
may bring from us? Thrice fortunate is he to
whom circumstances are made easy, whom fate visits with
gentle trial and heaven keeps out of temptation.?Thackeray.
AN OF THE SOUTH. 9
Contributed
WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST.
Matt. 22: .42.
Around Uie Master a "Contentious throng?
In Pharasalc pride?
Had gather'd, Beeking to affix some wrong,
That should make sure and fast, a felon's thong?
Upon the Nazarene.
Shrewd questions would they ask, seeking to catch
Some treason in h;s speech;
Seeking by craft, his teachings now to match,
That Roman law might seal the prison latch?
Upon the Nazareue.
"Ho, Master!" quoth a lawyer,."what command
Stands foremost of them all?
For we would fain, Jehovah understand,
And ali seditious mandates would we brand?
Tell us?O, Nazarene!"
"To love with earnest heart and soul and mind
. Thy God," He doth reply.
. And next to it, within the law we find?
What may not be according to thy kind?
A mandate, clear and clean.
"Thy neighbour thou shalt love e'en as thyself,
Here law and prophets stand;
Seek not b.v stealth to gather paltry pelf,
Nor live alone in ease to pamper self,"
Thus spake the Nazarene.
And now the Master would a question ask:
"The Christ?whose Son is He?'1
'Tis He cloth give logicians here a task,
Ah, Phaiasee,?and sadness un-mask?
Show forth tliy hate and spleen.
Quoth they in truth, "Jesus is David's Son"?
To that they all agree.
And thinking now their victory was won,
The answer to the Master, neatly done,
Fear'd not the Nazarene.
The Master turns upon the group a look,
Presaging He had won.
'"Tis written in plain words upon the Book,
'Sit, Lord, on my right hand'?thus David spoke;
How. then, is Christ his Son?"
With, a satanic rage and hate, their tongues were still'd,
Nor dared they question more;
"What think ye of the Christ?" a world shall thrill?
True faith shall millions nerve, to do His will,
Enthrone the Nazarene.
Wm. Laurie Hill.
Floral Manse, N. C., Feb. 19, 1909.
Prayer pierces through appearances to the reality of
God, draws his presence about the soul, calms and
strengthens the weary and tired heart.
A man once stopped a* preacher in a street of London
and said: "I once heard you preach in Paris, and you
said something which I have never forgotten, and
which has, through God, been the means of my conversion.
" "What was that?" said the preacher. "It was
that the latch was on our side of the door, I had always
thought that God was a hard God, and that we must
do something to propitiate him. It was a new thought
to me that Christ was waiting for me to open to him."