The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, cites Daniel Webster twice in her Prose Works to dismiss the view that Christianity is “fit only for women and weak men.” To refute this claim, so belittling of the exercise of spiritual power, she quotes two decidedly not weak men: the French emperor Napoleon, who changed the face of Europe by force of arms, and New Englander Daniel Webster, who moved a new nation by the power of his words.
“My heart has always assured and reassured me that Christianity must be a divine reality,” Webster said, as cited in Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, page 345 (see also The People’s Idea of God, p. 13).
Daniel Webster—also known as “the Godlike Daniel,” “the Yankee Demosthenes,” or, simply, the greatest orator in American history—spoke with astonishing power. His style was clear and direct, laced with rugged Anglo-Saxon words, and delivered in a manner and a voice of distinguishing beauty and grandeur, with the range and power of a pipe organ. Many who heard him speak said that the expressions on his face and the sweep of his gestures were as eloquent as his words.
