Article September 8, 1945 Issue

"Victory under arms"

RAY H. OLIPHANT

Victory in war must be more than won. It must be earned, and it must be deserved. Already thinking men and women are exploring courageously and intelligently methods of arbitration, and in this way are assisting in making the world ready for a sound and permanent peace.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says in her book "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 268): "From lack of moral strength empires fall. Right alone is irresistible, permanent, eternal." In warfare the most valuable, the most potent asset is a righteous cause. That people which has it, and the moral stamina and spiritual courage to support it, is under the protection of the Most High.

But if war is an evil, how can a righteous nation expect success in it? Because its objective is not fundamentally success in war; rather is it the overcoming, the destruction, of selfishness, greed, aggression, fear, cruelty, and other evils, of which war is the embodiment. It is the valiant struggle to establish, protect, and support freedom, peace, and safety—by both prayer and works. This effort is unquestionably just and, under God's law, is entitled to success.

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