Williamsport Pioneer
Indiana

Victory is a word that is on every tongue these days; it is expressed in every reference to the world conflict in which we with our allies are engaged to put down an aggression that has threatened the peace and happiness of the entire world.

In our zealousness for achievement, let us not overlook the necessity of continued effort against all forms of aggression, even after victory has been attained and peace on earth, "good will toward men," has again been established "in earth, as it is in heaven." for if we neglect this solemn duty we invite a repetition of the turmoil which today has engulfed all mankind. Constant vigilance is the price of freedom, and we cannot overestimate the importance of this watchfulness.

In the ultimate there can be but one kind of victory, and this victory will be permanently established not with bayonet or bomb, nor with the cannon's blast, but with the rule and reign of everlasting love—universal harmony among all peoples. Our present efforts are toward the great final victory, to be perpetuated through the years. It was Paul who wrote...: "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," and the experiences of this just man convince us that he voiced a truth to which all may adhere with assurance that no other victory is substantial and true.

Peace treaties become scraps of paper and events change the path of procedure overnight, but spiritual victory cannot be trampled underfoot, for one with God is always a majority.

J. Gordon Anderson
The Roblin Review, Manitoba, Canada

Noah was able to conquer over ridicule, hardship, and flood to make a finer home for himself and his family, simply because he walked with God and listened to His voice.... There comes an end to everything that might have been unpleasant, the sun breaks through the clouds, and we behold the earth shining round us in all its glory.

A. Huber, as quoted in The King's Business, Los Angeles, California

Climbing is hard work, but every rung and every step lead closer to the goal. If we are well prepared, climbing will be the only important thing in our life.

Someone has said, "Work becomes play if you find joy in it." That is also true in climbing the greater heights in our Christian life. Do not be afraid of obstacles, but make the obstacle the stepping stone in your climb.

The Rev. J. Rolph Morden
Albertan, Calgary, Canada

The Christians of the first century were persecuted by people present, and impeded by things present, but they were never overcome. Knowing they had the key to man's righteousness and peace in their keeping, they valiantly carried on through the present to the future.

Practicing, active Christians of our generation have inherited that key, and it is for us to extend its use so that the new day of righteousness and peace may soon be ushered in.

The Rev. A. T. Stewart
The Christian Advocate
Chicago, Illinois

The greatest work ever accomplished in this world was done by one who has been called "a man of sorrows," and who had not "where to lay his head." The most successful life ever lived in this world was called a failure by the contemporaries. The greatest victory was thought by men to be an utter and shameful defeat.

Whatever seeming failure and disappointments we may experience, it is never time for us to tling ourselves down despairingly and declare, "It is enough." What we call failure may be divine success with God, and our sorest defeat may be the preparation for the most glorious triumph.

It is not the chief end of man to achieve what the world will applaud as success. It is our main business to show ourselves as true men, loving righteousness, hating evil, and willing to take such measures of present happiness and success as flow from obedience to the truth.

The poorest man in the world has something for which to live ... so long as he preserves the integrity of his own conscience. The most successful man in the world is the one who gives himself most earnestly to the cause of God and never varies one jot of heart or hope in his good work.

Take courage, when the burden is heavy and the work moves slowly and the temptations are many and strong. Never say, "It is enough!" so long as you have one wrong disposition in your own heart to subdue, for the crown of life is offered only "to him that overcometh."

Ralph W. Sockman
Christian Herald, New York, New York

How long are we willing to wait for success? Do we want the quick returns, or are we willing to wait with Emerson to hear what the centuries say as against the hours? Do we want to win the immediate contest we are in, even though the victory may be rather temporary; or are we willing to wait?

The follower of Christ wants his work to succeed. Yes. But he prefers the enduring success of rightness rather than the quick and spurious rewards of cleverness. The follower of Christ is "stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as" he knows that his "labour is not in vain in the Lord."

Journal-Herald
Dayton, Ohio

The Scriptures tell us of the triumphal procession when Jerusalem seemed at length ready to recognize the power and glory which rested in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.... The disciples must have been glad indeed, and the Nazarene himself must have been happy because so many had benefited through his life and instructions. However, he was not looking at the present, but beyond to the crucifixion, and on to the resurrection and the ascension.

It is natural that as human beings we wish to obtain success in earthly things, that we seek after approbation. But the Biblical record... points out to us the lesson that such award is an emptiness, that we must look ahead to the glorification of our characters.

What is our heart's ambition? What do we term achievement? The praise of mortals is but as a whining wind which is come one moment and is gone the next. It is made of nothingness and it gives us nothing save perhaps a sense of inflation, and then vanishes.

We as seekers of the great good must direct our aims toward daily resurrection from evil, even if the cross of self-denial be exacted of us in the process. Nor let us dwell too much upon our crucifixions, for they shall be but waymarks on the journey toward the reality of existence, that of which the Scriptures tell us again and again—a state of being in which we shall know completeness, shall be aware that we are the children of Spirit, and that our God and creator is Love.

The Rev. James Reid, D.D.
British Weekly, London. England

"And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them."... To the friends waiting in Lydia's house, the experience through which Paul had passed must have seemed a terrible ordeal. But Paul could tell them that their fears had been groundless.... The springs of joy that were released in his soul when things were at their blackest may have astonished himself. He may not have realized that the jewel of his faith could shine so brightly in the dark. But so it was; and so also Jesus promised that it would be.