John Milton Hay (1838-1905), an ambassador to Great Britain under President McKinley, was renowned for being the Secretary of State who helped negotiate over fifty treaties.  From the Open-Door Policy with China, to the Panama Canal, to the Alaskan boundary, to the Philippine policy, he exerted a lasting impact on American foreign policy.  In addition to serving as private secretary to President Lincoln, he was a poet and editorial writer for the New York Tribune.  John Hay composed the poem:

"Sinai and Calvary

But Calvary stands to ransom

The earth from utter loss;

In shade than light more glorious

The shadow of the Cross.

To heal a sick world’s trouble,

To sooth its woe and pain,

On Calvary’s sacred summit

The Pascal Lamb was slain.

Almighty God! direct us

To keep Thy perfect Law!

O blessed Saviour, help us

Nearer to Thee to draw!

Let Sinai’s thunder aid us

To guard our feet from sin,

And Calvary’s light inspire us

The love of God to win." ¹

¹ Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, Oregon: American Heritage Ministries, 1987), p. 245.