heresy. He was convicted, and suspended from preaching and teaching. There were some who thought the sentence inadequate. Boston, of Ettrick, was one of them. He was a shy man. But no one else offering to rise, he rose, overcoming his timidity, to enter his dissent against the inadequate condemnation of Simson—to enter his dissent in his own name and in the names of all who would adhere to him, adding, amid solemn silence on the part of the assembly, "And for myself if nobody shall adhere."
(600)
See Achievement; Fitness.
Courage, Calm—See Faithfulness.
COURAGE, CHRISTIAN
During the Boxer rebellion the railroad tracks laid by the Russians in Manchuria were torn up, and the Russian troops were sent on an expedition to punish the Chinese insurgents. The Russians marched from city to city destroying and looting, meeting with practically no resistance. But at one place something unexpected happened, as told by Mr. H. J. Whigham in V.C. (London):
The Russians marched up to the gates and
were just about to enter when the Boxers
opened fire upon them. The army was withdrawn,
the batteries were got out, and the
general was just going to smash up the city
when the Scotch missionary, Doctor Westwater
(acting as interpreter) approached him
and asked for a moment's truce.
"I undertake," he said, "to enter the city and to induce it to surrender without a shot being fired on one condition."
"Which is?"
"That there shall be no destruction and no looting; none whatever."
The general yielded, and mounting his pony, Doctor Westwater rode forward to the city alone.
Now, when you consider that the city was full of Boxers, you will realize that it was a pretty considerable act of courage for a minister, of all men, to ride unarmed through those seething streets. This was what Westwater did. The city was a roaring hive of armed Boxers, muskets peeping from roof and window, and the streets ringing with the noise of arms. At the missionary quarters Doctor Westwater was fortunate enough to find a Christian convert, who conducted him to a place where the merchant gild were holding a sort of cabinet council.
Westwater explained matters, appealed to the citizens to avoid bloodshed, and pledged his word that neither destruction nor looting should mark the Russian occupation of their city. The appeal was successful, and he rode quietly back to the Russian general.
The general was an awful brute, as bad as he could be, but Westwater's action seemed to impress him, and his orders were very exact. During his occupation of the city there was no single instance of crime. Westwater's gallant action, too, imprest even the Boxers. They named him the savior of the town, and when, some months later, he took his departure for home, he was made the honored guest of extraordinary banquets, and was accompanied to the railway station by all the grateful citizens, half of them waving flags and half of them banging musical instruments.
(601)
See Trouble Bravely Met.
COURAGE CONTAGIOUS
Charles Wagner, in "The Gospel of Life," says:
You are struggling with difficulties, your
look is troubled and your good will as well.
One of those painful moments of strife and
discouragement, when man is no longer anything
but the shadow of himself, is passing
over. In these circumstances a newspaper
falls into your hands. In it you read that, on
such and such a day, in the heart of Africa,
surprized by an ambuscade, surrounded by
enemies in superior numbers, an officer, who
does not speak your language and who is
not fighting for your cause, has kept calm;
that, the better to show his tranquil resolution,
he has, at a moment like that, before
his troops, hemmed in, lost, lighted his cigar,
recalled in few words the memory of the
fatherland and the duty of a soldier; and
then marched toward the enemy and to certain
death. It is all told in three lines. And
when you have read it, you arise, you come
out of your depression, you organize your
resistance; you look your trouble in the face,
you feel high spirits, virility, a certain generous
ardor for the strife. And all this life,
this precious elasticity of courage that animates
you, you owe to those who are unknown
to you, to the vanquished, and to the
dead lying out yonder without burial and
