Only those who believe attempt the seemingly impossible, and, by attempting, prove that one, with God, can chase a thousand and that two can put ten thousand to flight.  I can imagine that the early Christians who were carried into the coliseum to make a spectacle for those more savage than the beasts, were entreated by their doubting companions not to endanger their lives.  But, kneeling in the center of the arena, they prayed and sang until they were devoured.  How helpless they seemed, and, measured by every human rule, how hopeless was their cause!  And yet within a few decades the power which they invoked proved mightier than the legions of the emperor and the faith in which they died was triumphant o’er all the land.  It is said that those who went to mock at their sufferings returned asking themselves, “What is it that can enter into the heart of man and make him die as these die?” They were greater conquerors in their death than they could have been had they purchased life by a surrender of their faith.

What would have been the fate of the church if the early Christians had had as little faith as many of our Christians of to-day?  And if the Christians of to-day had the faith of the martyrs, how long would it be before the fulfilment of the prophecy that “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess?”

I am glad that He, who is called the Prince of Peace—­who can bring peace to every troubled heart and whose teachings, exemplified in life, will bring peace between man and man, between community and community, between State and State, between nation and nation throughout the world—­I am glad that He brings courage as well as peace so that those who follow Him may take up and each day bravely do the duties that to that day fall.

As the Christian grows older he appreciates more and more the completeness with which Christ satisfies the longings of the heart, and, grateful for the peace which he enjoys and for the strength which he has received, he repeats the words of the great scholar, Sir William Jones: 

    “Before thy mystic altar, heavenly truth,
        I kneel in manhood, as I knelt in youth,
    Thus let me kneel, till this dull form decay,
        And life’s last shade be brightened by thy ray.”

RUFUS CHOATE

EULOGY OF WEBSTER

Delivered at Dartmouth College, July 27, 1853.

Webster possessed the element of an impressive character, inspiring regard, trust and admiration, not unmingled with love.  It had, I think, intrinsically a charm such as belongs only to a good, noble, and beautiful nature.  In its combination with so much fame, so much force of will, and so much intellect, it filled and fascinated the imagination and heart.  It was affectionate in childhood and youth, and it was more than ever so in the few last months of his long life.  It is the universal testimony that he gave to his parents, in largest measure, honor, love, obedience; that he eagerly appropriated the first means which he could command to relieve the father from the debts contracted to educate his brother and himself; that he selected his first place of professional practice that he might soothe the coming on of his old age.