David Magie
David Magie [1]
a Presbyterian minister of note, was born in Elizabeth, N. J., March 13, 1795; became a subject of renewing grace at the age of eighteen; two years after united with the Presbyterian Church; soon after entered Princeton College, and, subsequent to his graduation from the theological seminary, was for two years tutor in the college. In 1821 he was installed pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth, "to which he was bound as by a golden chain, giving them the services of his life, till, with bleeding and grateful hearts, they yielded him, at the call of God, to enter his eternal joy," May 10, 1865. Dr. Magie declined many calls to other stations of responsibility and eminence, believing the pastoral relation too sacred to be dissolved but at the unquestionable bidding of the great Master. "He was indeed ‘ a model pastor.'... Combining temperance, charity, humility, prudence, sound judgment, simplicity, and earnestness, he was a faithful, persevering, successful laborer in the vineyard committed to his charge. He preached and prayed with a power and unction which sank deep into the hearts of his hearers. None went from any sermon without having had the way of salvation by Christ affectionately and clearly presented to them." He was a trustee of the College of New Jersey; a pillar in the Theological Seminary; a member of the American Board of Foreign Missions, also of the Publishing Committee of the American Tract Society, etc. Besides several able published discourses, Dr. Magie was the author of The Spring- time of Life (an excellent volume of 350 pages, published by the American Tract Society, N. York, 1852, 16mo; 1855, 16mo), "in which his own character, and especially his care and counsels for the young, are happily perpetuated." See Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1866, p. 128.
