prove our benefactor; he may scourge us, but the sufferings he inflicts
may bring healing along with them, being that very medicine which the
sick soul needs. Let us meet then this new and heavy trial as a part of
the providence of God, as a part of that mysterious plan--the lines of
which are in so great part hidden from our eyes--by which he educates
his children, and at the same time, and by the same means, prepares and
transmits to future generations the richest blessings. If we,
Christians, suffer for the cause of truth, if our blood is poured out
like water, let us remember that it serves to fertilize that soil out of
which divine nutriment shall grow for generations yet unborn, whom it
shall nourish up unto a better life. Let your hearts then be strong
within you; faint not, nor fear; God will be with you and his Spirit
comfort you.

'But why do I say these things? Why do I exhort you to courage? For when
was it known that the followers of Christ shrunk from the path of duty,
though it were evidently the path of death? When and in what age have
those been wanting who should bear witness to the truth, and seal it
with their blood? There have been those who in time of persecution have
fallen away--but for one apostate there have been a thousand martyrs. We
have been, I may rather affirm, too prodigal of life--too lavish of our
blood. There has been, in former ages, not only a willingness, a
readiness to die for Christ, but an eagerness. Christians have not
waited to be searched for and found by the ministers of Roman power;
they have thrust themselves forward; they have gone up of their own
accord to the tribunal and proclaimed their faith, and invited the death
at which nature trembles and revolts. But shall we blame this divine
ardor? this more than human contempt of suffering and death? this
burning zeal for the great cause of our Master? Let us rather honor and
revere it as a temper truly divine and of more than mortal force. But
let us be just to all. While we honor the courage and self-sacrificing
love of so many, let us not require that all should be such, nor cast
suspicion upon those who--loving Christ not less in their hearts--shrink
from the sufferings in which others glory. Ye need not, Christian men
and women, yourselves rush to the tribunal of Varus, ere you can feel
that you are Christ's indeed. It is not needful that to be a Christian
you must also be a martyr. Ye need not, ye ought not, impatiently