Editorial September 9, 1939 Issue

Spiritual Victory

Duncan Sinclair

On page 268 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy writes: "From lack of moral strength empires fall. Right alone is irresistible, permanent, eternal. Remember that human pride forfeits spiritual power, and either vacillating good or self-assertive error dies of its own elements." What a warning her words convey; and what a call they are for spiritual awakening on the part of men and nations!

It is strange that men do not more quickly learn that wrongdoing leads to human downfall. How plain it should be, to all who do not willfully close their eyes, that indulgence in sensuous pleasures inevitably ends in weakness and decadence! Conduct that is immoral always ultimates in ineptitude and, possibly, in mental degeneracy. These results are sure to occur if the sinful indulgence be not arrested, and righteous living take its place. The history of the human race shows the past to be strewn with human derelicts, victims of indulgence in the sins of the flesh, mortals who have failed to take warning that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). The pity is that mankind so often fails to profit by the lessons which history so plainly teaches.

As with individuals, so it is with nations, lack of moral strength and moral courage precipitates their downfall. If those in control of a nation's affairs, those who sit in the judgment seats, those who make the laws which should ensure justice to the people—if those in authority be corrupt, dishonest, morally weak, lacking in spirituality, decline is bound to result, decline in national prestige and power. Were the records to be examined of all the nations of the earth that have flourished, and perished, it would be found that invariably their downfall resulted from lack of moral strength.

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