Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/203

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DR. McCOSH.
187

rocate any feeling of kindness expressed by the people of this country. I rejoice in the opportunity which I had in the General Assemblies at St. Louis of making statements which I trust tend towards bringing Christians in your country into closer communion with Christians in our land.

“There was such a spirit exhibited at all our meetings about the Evangelical Alliance in New York, that I am confidently expecting that there will soon be a public announcement of the formation of an American organization to act along with the British in exhibiting and realizing the unity of the Church of Christ. It will now be my pleasant duty to report all this to Christians here, and thus join the other end of the chain and connect the countries by a quicker and a stronger bond than the Atlantic Cable. I have seen how much you owe to education, I have seen much in your higher schools and colleges to admire and to copy. I am ready to testify that in New England and in other parts, including the West, you have been able to raise the working classes to a state of physical comfort and of intelligence such as has not been realized in any country in Europe. Yon owe this to the Word of God, to your quiet Sabbaths, and to education.”

The following letter from Dr. McCosh bears date January 22, 1868:—

“In a letter which I had last week from a gentleman of some influence in the States, he mentions incidentally that Dr. Maclean has resigned the presidency of the New Jersey University, and that some are greatly talking of me for the office. I had occasion to write him, and said simply that I was not seeking any office here or elsewhere, but that if any such proposal was laid before me I would favorably consider it. I think it due to the friendship subsisting between you and me to let you know this. I am willing to go wherever my Master may call me to a wider field of usefulness, in this country or America. I have just declined a proposal to make