Excerpt from Life of George Leslie Mackay, D.D: 1844-1901 Characteristics - 1. Intensity in Home Agitation. - It has been said that the power of a preacher con sists chiefly in the intensity of his beliefs. The words that move men are the words of burning conviction, the whole-hearted and unwavering faith in the cen tral verities of the gospel. That appeared in every utterance from Mackay, whether by voice or pen. His correspondence, as will appear, was glowing with a white heat. When a student missionary in Ontario before his appointment to China, his intensity never cooled. After his appointment he visited many con gregations and felt the chill; it was to his ardent spirit like a cold plunge. They called him an excited young man; he called them the ice age of the Presby terian Church in Canada. But from that day the thermometer began to rise. To letters sent home by him, specimens of which we shall see, and to annual reports of his wonderful work is largely due the im proved condition in this land. H is first furlough was taken in 1881, ten years after he had gone-forth, not knowing whither he went. His return was expected with much interest, but the ef feets of that visit far surpassed all expectations. He went through the Church like a whirlwind, and his reception was everywhere an ovation. On that occa sion the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Queen's University, Kingston. His sec ond and only other visit to his native land was made twelve years later. During the intervening years the Church had become somewhat familiar with mission aries and their story, so that the excitement was less intense; yet he never fell one degree in the estimation of the Church which he represented. Although he had never sat in a General Assembly in his life, apprecia tion was expressed by unanimously electing him to the moderator's chair, the highest honor of his Church. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.