And then Europe — that by now famously unrobust confederation — would, in fact, meet its "historic test".
The British foreign secretary, William Hague, described the moment as a "major test, a historic test for the E.U".
With the refugee crisis of 2015, Europe, Chancellor Merkel (commonly referred to as "the Decider") said, was about to face its "historic test".
Appalled at the huge scale of the suffering and outraged by the narrow-mindedness of Germany's southern neighbours, she declared the moment represented "a historic test" for Europe and threw Germany's gates open.
Just as Paddy Ashdown famously asked Tony Blair, "Are you a control freak or a pluralist?", Brown would be offering Ming and his would-be successors a potentially historic test: would the Lib Dems choose progressive pluralism or purist impotence?
Even while Old Trafford unfurls itself in new splendour and England advance confidently on an historic Test victory and step towards the 5-0 Ashes whitewash, we know well enough where the greatest drama will occur this morning.
Thus did this week's Supreme Court arguments over the Obama administration's health care law emerge as a historic test of federal power versus individual liberty, all the more remarkable given that just a few weeks ago, the overwhelming view of constitutional scholars was that this wouldn't be a close case, with even conservative justices likely to uphold the law.
"Today, as in the past, I am convinced that we can do it — to live up to our historic task, which is a historic test in the age of globalization," she said, in an attempt to reassure the nation after three recent violent attacks, two of them linked to the Islamic State.
"The current refugee crisis is putting the European Union and all of its member states to a historic test," they wrote, urging a more equitable distribution of bona fide refugees across the union and swifter deportations of those whose asylum claims are rejected.
