The Power of Moral Force – Sunday, October 27, 1940
We hear much these days about the use of moral force. It is a thing to be reckoned with, as it always has been in the affairs of men. It is the only weapon in the world that does not become obsolete. It has led many peoples to victory after they have suffered physical defeat. It is the first and last line of defense.
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 to be 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 they don’t have to.
That is why the dictators of our day still give reasons for their atrocious 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 offered 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 pay oppressive taxes, 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, for their jobs, their patronage; and for business favor, 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 fifty million or a hundred million who are thinking and praying and hoping against you; to know that you stand convicted in the eyes of man and God, even though no judgement has been pronounced and no punishment has been executed. It is no imaginary thing – this preponderant 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. Of such is the power of moral force; no wise man reckons without it, and no fool can for long.
October 27, 1940
Broadcast Number 0,584