The Power of Moral Force – Sunday, October 11, 1942
There comes forward in the train of our thoughts a much-discussed question— the question of. moral force. Moral force is a thing to be reckoned with, is it always has been in the affairs of men. It ‘is one of the few weapons in the world that does not become obsolete. It has led many peoples to victory after they have suffered physical defeat. And yet, without it fortresses crumble, guns become useless, and men lose heart and give up. It is one of the few things that a dictator cannot ignore and ride over.
There is something about the nature of man that makes it necessary for him to justify himself—to seem right in the eyes of others before he can effectively sustain his position. That is one reason why men in public power so frequently take the trouble to explain themselves, even when seemingly they don’t have to. That is why the dictators of our day still give excuses for their infamous actions. No country has been violated, no right has been disregarded, no principle has been set aside without some attempt at justification, without some excuse of emergency or expediency—without some effort to make the world think it was a right cause and a right course, because even a dictator must justify himself to exist, no matter how completely he controls the material and physical elements about him. He may force the people to goose-step, to go through the motions of loyalty, to labor long for his cause, to raise hands in salute, to cease the outward forms of their accustomed worship, to come to him for bread; he may force them to vote as he wishes, to perpetuate him in office, and to become dependent upon him for all of the physical elements of life—but he can’t prevent a man from thinking against him and praying against him, and contributing with moral force to his ultimate downfall.
It is no small thing to face ten people whose wills are set against you, even if you have no physical harm to fear from them. And it is cumulatively more terrifying to face a hundred. And then think what it means to contemplate that there may be a million or a hundred million or many hundred millions who are thinking and praying and hoping against you; to know that you stand convicted in the eyes of man and God. It is no imaginary thing—this power of moral force. It is a power that overrides in its own time and in its own way all of the barriers set up against it and all of those who disregard it. It is a power so real that no wise man reckons without it, and no fool can for long.
By Richard L. Evans, from the book, This Day … and Always. Spoken from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, October 11, 1942, over Radio Station KSL and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System. Copyright – 1942.
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October 11, 1942
Broadcast Number 0,686