CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 



had finished counting its dead, it was Cyrus 

 H. McCormick whose voice was first heard in 

 favor of church unity. Among the many 

 speeches and letters of his which have been 

 preserved, the most beautifully phrased para- 

 graph is the ending of an article that he pub- 

 lished in 1869, protesting against the invasion 

 of political partisanism into the religious life. 



" When are we to look for the return of broth- 

 erly love and Christian fellowship," he asked, 

 "so long as those who aspire to fill the high 

 places of the church indulge in such wrath and 

 bitterness ? Now that the great conflict of the 

 Civil War is past, and its issues settled, religion 

 and patriotism alike require the exercise of 

 mutual forbearance, and the pursuit of those 

 things which tend to peace." 



For the mere game of party politics Mr. 

 McCormick cared little or nothing. It was all 

 as irksome to him as the task of governing 

 Geneva was to John Calvin; but he could not 

 help himself. His political convictions were 

 bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. They 

 were racial traits which his forefathers and fore- 



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