All honor to those who are giving themselves to break down the injustices of a cruel and unchristian caste, all honor to the noble men and women who are working to rescue millions from the woeful inheritance of centuries, as well as to save them from the dominion of the sin which is common to man.
Others may honor Kings and Queens and Princes who have had their greatness thrust upon them, but we will stand with those who accentuate their reverence for lives consecrated to the good of humanity, who are afflicted with the sorrows of God's poor, and oppressed with their burdens, and whose prayers and songs are God save the people, Their lives may not be chronicled in the pages which tell of those who lived to make others serve them, but they are shining names upon God's Book of Life, and in the day of the coronation of the nobility which God sees and records, their names will stand out like radiant stars in the heavens. One of such was JAMES POWELL, whose life was a grand sacrifice of undeviating love for those whose necessities made him feel that he was debtor to them, until he gave them the price of his life which Christ had redeemed.
Subordinating himself to this consecration with incessant desire, he has left his example which may well be inspiration and strength to all who are working and praying for those who have been trodden under the feet of the strong, and he has left his influence for tens of thousands.
In the prophecy which foretold Christ, centuries before he came it was written, "He shall not fail, nor be discouraged." Fellow workers, it is not the consecration of a year, nor of a generation, that is to restore the millions for whom we work to the places where God would bring them. The pitiless centuries cannot be redeemed in one day. Doubtless the work may seem slow and the time may seem long, but every good deed counts, and no prayer is unheard. The good work is not in vain. The progress already made is wonderful. The workers who have consecrated themselves may die in their unfinished work, but God has pledged himself that the work shall go on. His promises and his providences will work together like cogs in a wheel. We shall not fail, and we need not be discouraged. Such lives as that of JAMES POWELL are not too common in human history, but they show us how the divine can endue the human with its own power, and how God can make souls great witnesses for God. Some tell us that the heroic ages have passed away, but they have not. No! They will last until the world shall be saved, for the inspirations which come from the spirit of God and from the cross of Christ will live in hearts which will burn to save those who need to be saved.
Since the death of Dr. Powell, we have received numerous letters from all parts of the country expressing sympathy in our great bereavement, which the writers shared profoundly with us. The admiration and love entertained by the writers, and uttered in these letters, toward our beloved brother, is gratifying to us, as it is also to his family. In the pressure of duties consequent upon his death and burial, we have not found time to reply to these letters, and take this occasion to acknowledge their receipt and to express our heartfelt thankfulness to the writers.