Whenever the stress of daily existence grows too insistent and oppressive to an individual, the longing for peace becomes uppermost in his thinking. He may recall the Master's words in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, "Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled," the record continuing a little farther on: "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." The problem of to-day, as this entire chapter so clearly reveals, is how to be at peace in the midst of strife. To be just when injustice seems rife; to be loving amid evidences of lack of love, or even of good will; to maintain harmony when discord seems rampant—this is to be at peace.
The incentive to be good, to do better things each day, is constantly renewed through the study of Christian Science. The peace which this revelation of God and His Christ brings to the human heart is permanent, priceless. The harmony, physical and mental, which Christian Science treatment brings when the rules for this treatment as set forth in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, are strictly obeyed, "passeth all understanding." In this book our revered Leader says(pp. 365, 366), "The poor suffering heart needs its rightful nutriment, such as peace, patience in tribulation, and a priceless sense of the dear Father's loving-kindness."
The Master proved that peace accompanies work, healing, and rejoicing. His joy when the seventy returned victorious over many forms of discord was great. He admonished these eager students, however, not to dwell in thought upon the victories they had won, but upon Truth itself—to rejoice because they were reflecting God in the essential qualities of Truth and Love, and that therefore their names were "written in heaven," and their peace could not be taken from them. The poet Whittier has written, "There 's life alone in duty done, and rest alone in striving." The peaceful understanding which Christ Jesus exemplified healed apathy, selfishness, and lethargy by silencing an egotistical sense of a selfhood apart from God. He said, "He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him."
