IN human experience the desire for peace is seen from many aspects. The materialist imagines that peace is to be obtained in freedom to enjoy life in matter; the worldling thinks that only the world's approval and approbation can give him peace; the hermit seeks it in seclusion; while others hope to gain peace in a future state. What is the result? Does anyone ever find that these beliefs satisfy? Material things pass away; the world changes as the years go on; seclusion cannot keep out tormenting thoughts; and fear of death snatches away the joys of the heaven believed to exist beyond the grave.
A blessed example came into the world at the advent of Christ Jesus, for by the truth he taught he brought to light "on earth peace, good will toward men." But the Master did not point the way of peace as the world would have had him do it. Though some sought to make him an earthly king, he would acknowledge no glory but that of his heavenly Father. He said, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." He did not shun his fellow men, nor did he despise the sick and the sinning, because his mission was to show them that heaven can be gained here and now in the knowledge and understanding of God.
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you," are Jesus' words. This Christly peace is exemplified in the practice of Christian Science, which Mrs. Eddy gave to a world torn with conflicting opinions, a world which had ceased to use the precious legacy of spiritual healing bequeathed by Jesus. For many hundreds of years men had failed to understand the healing import of the Master's message, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world"!
In her discovery of the truth of the Christ-healing, our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, recognized the peace which the world cannot give. In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," she shows the divinely appointed means of deliverance from the world's toils and tribulation, for her teachings bring back the assurance of God's ever presence and power which Christ Jesus gave to humanity by his precious precepts and example. What do these teachings tell us of true peace? Where are we to find it in the midst of the world's turmoil and differing conditions of thought and action? The answer is direct and simple: in the true understanding of God; for genuine peace is of God. God's oneness—His all-power and all-presence —allows of no conflict, no opposition. The seeming strife which claims to occupy so much of human thought is caused by the belief in a material intelligence, power, and presence apart from God, a belief of many minds and differing laws and operations. So educated is mankind in rendering obedience and agreement to these false beliefs that it fails to see where true freedom lies.
The healing works of Christian Science are, as Mrs. Eddy says on page xi of the Preface to Science and Health, "the sign of Immanuel, or 'God with us,'—a divine influence ever present in human consciousness." This Science comes, as the prophet foretold, "to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." In giving all honor and glory to God, Christian Science emphasizes the childlike thought through which our Master said entrance into the kingdom of heaven alone may be gained. Strength of human character, intellectual attainments, powers of persuasion and attraction, cannot accomplish the miracles which simple trust in the spiritual infinitude of divine Love can do to lift the mists of mortal belief. Considered in the light of God as the only cause and creator, the miracle is seen not as unnatural, but as a normal result of applying spiritual law. God's perfect spiritual creation admits of no evil, since, as we are told in the first chapter of Genesis, God saw that "it was very good;" and man made in His image and likeness cannot be touched by mortal belief or become material.
Sometimes it seems as if the warfare between Truth and error were very real and the difficulties almost insurmountable. It is then we may turn for encouragement to the words of Moses to the children of Israel when the Egyptians seemed to be overtaking them and they were filled with dread. He said, "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord;" and he added, "The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." Standing still may seem well-nigh impossible when mortal beliefs seem to be closing in on us, and it appears to be our responsibility to do something tangible physically by some method which fear suggests is the only way of escape. Then is the time to see that "the battle is the Lord's," and that we do not need to make agonizing efforts to gain divine protection, since our loving Father-mother God is ever available, "a very present help in trouble," and His perfection and infinite love alone are real. Fear, sickness, grief, overwhelming sin, all are accusations against God's allness; and when we see them as such, His omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence show forth their imperishable glory. Here is our sanctuary, our shelter from the enemy. Thus, in the words of Moses, "the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever."
True waiting on God is more active than any outward manifestation of human activity: standing still to "see the salvation of the Lord" is never stagnation. The earnest student of Christian Science knows that nothing is more detrimental to his progress than mental laziness. True waiting teaches him more of God's allness and increases his faith in the spiritual facts of being. He knows better than to give way to apathy or dependence on personal sense, for these would merely be an invitation to error to take possession of his thinking. Error would counterfeit Truth at every turn, and we must not sit with folded hands. One who is waiting on God constantly fills his thoughts with the fresh inspiration of divine beauty and goodness.
Christ Jesus' words of cheer mean far more than hope for good in some future time. He finished his work, and his admonition to his followers was to do greater works than he had done. Then, can we not know that we too can overcome the world and gain the peace "which passeth all understanding"? The Master said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation." But our beloved Leader has shown us that in the recognition of the truth of our great Master's teachings, and in carrying out his instructions, we inherit the peace of God, as he did.
Reading in the Gospels of those wondrous three years of ministry, we find that Jesus was tried as we are, and yet was without sin. He was in the world, yet not of it. When a storm arose he could say to the winds and the waves, "Peace, be still," and as a result "there was a great calm." It is not in uneventful, unprogressive experience that harmony can be obtained. Often in this outward calm error is more subtle in its hidden activities. The love of self may be a more disturbing element than a fiery trial; for while self-love often engenders pride, covetousness, lust, wrath, envy, sloth—evils which are the result of believing in the absence of God—the fiery trial may purify, unfolding Godlike qualities which shine forth as one turns to divine Love for guidance and protection and seeks to do all to the glory of God.
A lover of spiritual peace is a lover of his fellow men; for the completeness which characterizes all the attributes of God cannot be marred by false sense testimony, nor can anything which opposes the beauty and perfection of holiness be seen in man as God's image and likeness. Should we not pause when we are condemning dishonesty, cruelty, foolishness, sensuality, and see that, if we are holding these to be realities, we are dishonoring the truth of God's perfect creation? Jesus overcame the world by his understanding of real being. So we too should be ever ready to see the real man apart from all that falsely claims to be; and we should acknowledge that what God has made is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." The overcoming of personal feelings by the true sense of Spirit insures spiritual poise and self-control unattained by human will or mere intellectual force; and it awakens tender compassion and an ever ready desire to see constructive reality instead of destructive falsity.
The material world presents divisions and strife. Are we, as loyal Christian Scientists, striving to heal these conditions by our undivided allegiance to God as the only cause and Giver of all? Mrs. Eddy was divinely led to give us the Christian Science organization, which is needed to combat the world, the flesh—all evil; and she gave us also the Manual of The Mother Church, which stands for the true government for mankind. The enemy would fain enter by subtle means; but if we are loyal and obedient the progress of this great Christian Science movement cannot be marred. If false prophets arise we need not be disturbed, since we know that God is on the side of good. Our part is to stand shoulder to shoulder, and thus let no self-deception, division, or strife enter our ranks.
On page 96 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy has written prophetically: "This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be Science and peace." Let us ask ourselves which side we are taking. The assurance of the words of Christ Jesus, "My peace I give unto you," has come to this age in the Science of Christianity, and all may avail themselves of its demonstrable truth.
Our Leader writes in her poem "Satisfied" (Poems, p. 79):
"The centuries break, the earth-bound wake,
God's glorified!
Who doth His will—His likeness still—
Is satisfied."
