Article June 1, 1918 Issue

The Strength of an Army

JOHN ELLIS SEDMAN

As with ever increasing earnestness of purpose the United States prepares to perform to the full its part in the world war, great events in the history of our country appear to its citizens in a clearer light and with a deeper signification. We feel a new thrill as we contemplate the coming of the Pilgrims from the old England they loved to New England, impelled by no mad dream of world conquest but solely by the desire to enjoy, unmolested, the privilege of worshiping God in their own way. In the world's long history, no nation ever had its foundation laid in a purpose more pure; and quite naturally this country was the first to adopt, as a part of its basic law, the provision that its inhabitants should always be free to worship God according to the dictates of conscience. In the light of present events we appreciate more fully than ever before the great blessing which resulted to the whole world from the publication of the Declaration of Independence, which gave new impetus to that ideal of government now so dear to all lovers of liberty everywhere. Christian Scientists perceive that in the forward march of events, only that which was natural and inevitable occurred when Christian Science, the Science of freedom, was discovered in New England, from whence rang out in clear tones that wonderful message to humanity contained in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 224, 227): "Truth brings the elements of liberty. On its banner is the Soul-inspired motto, 'Slavery is abolished;'" and "Citizens of the world, accept the 'glorious liberty of the children of God,' and be free! This is your divine right."

Our country now faces the situation to which Mrs. Eddy prophetically referred, when she said: "But if our nation's rights or honor were seized, every citizen would be a soldier and woman would be armed with power girt for the hour" (Miscellany, p. 277). To-day, the battalions of the nations are indeed being set in array, and the issue is squarely drawn: Shall freedom and justice be trampled under the heel of tyranny, and all people be brought under the domination of carnal-mindedness, expressing its spurious and despotic power through elaborately developed human organizations; or shall those ideals of civil and religious liberty, with roots extending far back into the centuries, but which first blossomed in America, spread over and possess the earth, in fulfillment of prophecy, and in preparation for that day when every man shall be his own king and his own priest, and Christ's Kingdom shall be established on earth as in heaven?

As our army takes its place beside those other armies which are fighting with a steadfastness and heroism possible only to those who fight for Principle, and we consider the power of this army (and it is destined to be an army of tremendous power; let us make no mistake about that), thought turns to Old Testament days. We see the shepherd boy, fresh from tending his flock, meet and overthrow the giant champion of the Philistines, not because a sling and a stone constitute a superior weapon, but because the youthful shepherd fought for "a cause" which he knew was right, and clearly realized that right alone has power. Had David accepted Goliath's invitation to "come down" to his mental level of trust in carnality he would have fared no better than the soldiers of Soul, who for forty days had fled before the giant's display of physical force. But the dauntless shepherd boy, who had seen the moral issue involved so clearly that he had dared to rescue an innocent lamb from a greed-impelled bear or lion, instantly saw what an untenable position Goliath occupied when, trusting in brute force, he defied the God of the armies of Israel, and proposed to enslave those who worshiped the only true God. This moral courage and spiritual discernment were David's real strength when he faced the Philistine, and they gave him both freedom and power to reveal the victory of Principle.

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