Notoriety is one thing, and true glory is quite another thing. Many persons
have become notorious around whose lives no true glory or dignity has
appeared; and many men have been honorable in the highest sense who have
lived unknown to fame, and unheard of beyond a narrow boundary.

The world's estimate of glory is a false one. It attaches too much
importance to physical force, to noisy pomp, to the glitter and show of
conquest, and gives too little honor to the silent but majestic movements
of moral heroes.

Had any body of men labored long and suffered much to save poor human life
and draw from burning dwelling or sinking wreck some fellow-man, their
deeds would be mentioned in every circle; humane societies would award them
tokens of distinction and approbation; and they would be deemed worthy of
exalted honor. Nor would it be wrong thus to give them praise. The man who
risks his life to save another deserves a higher, prouder monument than
ever lifted itself above the tombs of fallen warriors who on the gory field
have slaughtered their thousands.

Nor will the deserved approbation of the great and good of earth long be
withheld from the heralds of salvation on heathen shores. The majesty
of the missionary enterprise is beginning to develop itself; success is
crowning the toil of years; and heathendom is assuming a new aspect. Under
the faithful labors of self-denying men, the wilderness is beginning to
blossom as the rose. Here and there, amid the sands of the wide desert once
parched by sin and consumed by the fiery blaze of heathenish cruelty,
the plants of grace are beginning to appear, and Christian churches are
springing up to spread themselves like green vines upon the broken ruins of
demolished idols.