The Bible has given to mankind a sure recipe for peace. It is found in the book of Job (22:21): "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." It follows logically that peace is acquaintance with or understanding of God, in which all good must be experienced. As one turns his thought toward becoming acquainted with God, he progressively comprehends these words of Mary Baker Eddy's in "No and Yes" (p. 30): "God's law is in three words, 'I am All;' and this perfect law is ever present to rebuke any claim of another law." As the understanding of God's allness unfolds to one, this fact becomes apparent: that everything included in God's allness must necessarily be at peace. Thereby good comes to human consciousness.
One day as the writer was walking through the business area of a neighboring community, her attention was called to a placard in the window of one of the retail shops. In boldface type the top line of the placard read: "Peace Takes Practice." The placard was bringing out the United Nations' contribution toward world progress in the fields of international co-operation, economic and social advancement, and human rights.
Here in a few brief phrases was summarized what mankind has ever longed for and is entitled to experience. It was arresting to note that the idea of peace was inescapably linked with the thought of progress. Christian Science teaches that progress is the law of God. Peace, therefore, is a certainty, as certain as the law of God. All that is required to bring it into manifestation is practice. Indeed, "peace takes practice'"!
War can be outlawed because it has no basis in the light of God's law, "I am All." War is induced by the carnal mind's suggestions of greed, fear, lust, hatred, suspicious distrust, and like elements of thought. These are outlawed on the basis of the allness of God. The great ambassador of the kingdom of heaven, Christ Jesus, knew that man is the pure reflection of God; consequently he knew there was no fear, no ignorance, greed, or lust in man. Jesus constantly identified man as a spiritual idea, the perfect child of God, having no quality of carnality, no warring elements. The Psalmist put it this way (Ps. 119: 165): "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them." The careful study of the entire one hundred and nineteenth Psalm brings great illumination, for almost every verse contains a reference to God's law.
The practice of peace also outlaws physical ailments. What is it that would cause men's hearts to fail them? Is it not the "looking after those things which are coming on the earth" (Luke 21:26)? An antidote for heart failure can be found in these tender words given by Mrs. Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (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." One does not gain this "rightful nutriment" by looking after what seems to be going on in a material world, but by acquainting oneself with God, whereby one experiences peace, patience, and a priceless sense of God's loving care.
As one thinks of peace in terms of practicing God's law, "I am All," he gains step by step a growing confidence in God as omnipresence, omnipotence, omniaction, and omniscience. Patience is learned as each one individually endeavors to outlaw from his own thinking whatever is unlike God, thus proving that patience does have her perfect work. The "priceless sense of the dear Father's loving-kindness" unfolds with each advancing step. Men's hearts will then not fail them, for they will behold that all is in reality under the perfect control of God's omnipotent law and therefore must respond to the power of infinite good, God.
One who had persecuted the early Christians but who through the operation of God's law had changed his course and proved himself to be a loyal follower of the teachings of the Master lovingly wrote to his fellow workers at Corinth (I1 Cor. 10:3-5), "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
In this brief message to those early Christian warriors, Paul located for them the scene of battle—human consciousness. He gave them full instructions: to cast down everything which in any way would interfere with the enthronement of the Christ in consciousness. His commissions were impartially awarded; each one was required to purify his own thinking, to still the warring elements, and to make his own peace with God.
One who in our own time has seen the futility of worshiping at the shrine of scientific, material advancement has written to his contemporaries, "To me in youth, science was more important than either man or God. The one I took for granted; the other was too intangible for me to understand." And he adds, "I now realize that while God cannot be seen as tangibly as I had demanded as a child, His presence can be sensed in every sight and act and incident. . . . When we worship God and live by His spiritual values, the knowledge and infinite complexity of science are channeled by a wisdom beyond human capability."
We lift the burden of false responsibility when we place the administration of government where it belongs—with God. Our part is in the unwavering recognition that we can respond to God's wisdom in the channeling of developments of modern science into their rightful means for usefulness and progress. Isaiah prophesied with great clarity (9:6), "The government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
Peace cannot be a static state of thought, nor even a satisfaction in the status quo. Peace is activity. It is good in action, health in evidence, love in expression, abundance in manifestation. Let us not be satisfied to attain the world's kind of peace, which may be nothing more than the absence of war. Let us press on until there is manifested the peace of God, which brings to humanity not only a cessation of war, but of all that is unlike God; a peace which witnesses to man's eternal sonship with God, which outlaws war, sin, sickness, and death, and which brings to light universal salvation.
