It may truly be said that the supreme need in the world today, and for most of mankind the greatest desire, is for permanent peace on earth among all nations. This need and desire of the war-weary is in no sense new except that it has a new insistence because of the ever-increasing destructiveness of war. Under the stress of tumult and strife, stricken races have for centuries yearned for peace. Thus impelled, sincere and earnest efforts to establish permanent peace among races and nations extend far back into history. Indeed it would be difficult to put the finger on any proposal or measure in the numerous peace proposals of today that has not appeared in some form in earlier plans, dating all the way from the Delphic Amphictyony to the more recent codes constituting the League of Nations. Reviewing the peace plans of the present time against a background of history recalls the words of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes (1:9), "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."
The seemingly great tragedy of history is that none of the great peace plans have ever succeeded in achieving the results for which they were wrought. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that we diligently inquire into the reason for this failure, and seek means to correct it. On page 279 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mary Baker Eddy gives the key to the solution of the whole problem in one sentence thus: "The Principle of Christian Science demonstrates peace."
In substantiation of this striking statement Christian Science confirms history and makes it plain that plans, codes, systems, policies, and programs humanly conceived, are at best only vehicles for the expression of that which is far beyond and above them. Peace emanates from that Mind which is divine Principle, in which resides, and from which proceeds, good of every name and nature, and nothing else. This truth of the source and reality of peace enables both individuals and collective assemblies to find peace and to prove its continuance.
