A word of cheer to a United States soldier
Originally published in the 1918 pamphlet “Security”
My dear boy:
In war there is nothing more important than the right kind of confidence.
One of the tricks of the enemy is to get at you in such a way as to break your confidence.
Don’t let him do that to you.
All the enemy propaganda has had this object in view.
Refuse to entertain such thoughts, just as you would refuse the temptation to commit a crime.
The enemy wants you to feel hopeless and full of forebodings, and whenever you feel that way you may be sure you are playing into his hands, and you can know that you cannot be fooled by that kind of strategy nor by any other kind.
The only hopeless side of this war is the enemy’s side. Don’t forget that fact.
Look at the history of the United States. Our forefathers had few resources, and only a small army, but they had Principle to maintain them. They had to oppose a foolish and tyrannical king, and although his conduct was repugnant to the best element among his own subjects, he had an army and great resources. Outward things were discouraging to the American patriots, but their confidence remained unshaken. They felt that Truth and right in nations as in men are allied to God and partake of His invincibility. To maintain a confidence so founded makes nations invincible.
This is the spirit of our country and of the allied cause. It has always triumphed in the long run and will triumph now.
Confidence is really what the French call the morale of the army. The enemy, and their autocratic governments, by all the treacherous means it can muster, try to get you to think contrary to that spirit.
There is a calmness, and yet a swing, to democracy the world over. It makes one think of the Bible where God says of man: “Let them have dominion.” Don’t let go of it. The Bible also says: “In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” You find it with the English, French, Italian, and other allied nations, where freedom is the habit of thought. This calm energy is founded upon Principle, and for that reason it sustained our allies through the trying years while we were waking up and getting ready to help.
You are allied with the soldiers and saiIors of the greatest and best nations on earth, and they, together with our own, are the greatest and best soldiers and sailors on earth. Think what that means.
Besides that, the whole vast power and resources of our own government are back of you every minute. Every man, woman, and child is personally interested in you. Your family consists of a hundred million people and they are all ready to make any sacrifice for your sake and for the sake of the country and the cause that you stand for. Their every thought is a prayer for you, and because that prayer is not tainted by any kind of selfishness it reaches God and is answered.
For the same reason your own thought and actions should be guarded. Mary Baker Eddy writes on page 304 of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” “Divine Principle is the Life of man.” If everything that you do, even the smallest task that duty or discipline requires, is done with the thought and endeavor to make it perfect, and at the same time spontaneous and energetic, you are praying, because you are reflecting the divine Principle, God, whose nature is perfection.
This helps you to commune with God, because God is thus seen to be ever present, and surely the presence of God is safety. “Mortal man can never rise from the temporal débris of error, belief in sin, sickness, and death, until he learns that God is the only Life” (Science and Health, p. 289 ).
Then as “God is the only Life,” God is your life, and you are safe in the very face of danger.
You are to know this, and we are to know it, and in the strength and security of that knowing you are to return triumphant and in great peace.