September 23

Courage necessary to nobility

“The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” (Psa. 118:6).
“So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb. 13:6).

Luther, when making his way into the presence of Cardinal Cajetan, who had summoned him to answer for his heretical opinions at Augsburg, was asked by one of the cardinal’s minions where he should find a shelter if his patron, the Elector of Saxony, should desert him? “Under the shield of Heaven!” was the reply. The silenced minion turned round, and went his way.

A wonderful comrade is Courage,
He tears the black bandage of fear
From the eyes of the frightened and stumbling,
And lets in the sunshine of cheer;
He rejoices in all that is righteous,
He claims the Almighty as Friend,
And “Forward!” is always his motto,
As he leads on toward Heaven at the end.

I would have you regard courage as nearly the supreme quality in character. One may get rich without it; one may live a good easy life without it; but one cannot live a full and noble life without it. It is the quality by which one rises in the line of each faculty; it is the wings that turn dull plodding into flight. It is the courage especially that redeems life from the curse of commonness
—T. T. Munger.

The true hero is the man whose soul is armed by truth and supported by the smile of God; he who meets life’s perils with a cautious but tranquil spirit, dies, if he is called to die, as a Christian victor at the post of duty. And if we must have heroes, and wars wherein to make them, there is not so brilliant a war as a war with wrong, no hero so fit to be sung as he who has gained the bloodless victory of truth and mercy.
—Horace Bushnell.

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