Editorial May 29, 1926 Issue

"Put up again thy sword"

Albert F. Gilmore

Close students of the New Testament know how utterly Jesus deprecated the use of violence as a means of enforcing what one conceived to be his individual rights. The Nazarene invariably utilized his understanding of divine power, his knowledge of the omnipotence of God, in place of material means, to destroy the false conditions which, then as now, so generally beset human experience. Even in the garden of Gethsemane, when arrested by the soldiers sent to apprehend him, he rebuked an impetuous disciple who, in a moment of quick resentment at the gross injustice perpetrated upon his beloved Master, had injured a servant of the high priest. "Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword," were Jesus' significant words. All who resort to violence subject themselves to the possibility of destruction by violent means at the hands of their seeming enemies.

How far from the spirit of the Master's words and example is such a course! His precious pleading, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest," bespeaks a gentleness born of his profound sense of unity with God. How much of the distress from which mankind has so terribly suffered might have been avoided through obedience to Jesus' words, none can tell; but sure it is that in our own time, as in that ancient day, those who follow in his footsteps and abide in the spirit of his teachings find the only righteous means of establishing and maintaining their rights.

Ofttimes men fall into fallacious conclusion that because their rights seem to be infringed, they are entitled to use the means at hand, of whatever type or character and regardless of the general welfare, to enforce their own desires, thus, as they believe, protecting their rights. It is being learned and demonstrated, however, that the divine All-power is available now, no less than twenty centuries ago, to settle the disputes of mankind, contentious between groups no less than between individuals. With what assurance does Mrs. Eddy speak on this subject! On page 37 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she writes, "Mortals try in vain to slay Truth with the steel or the stake, but error falls only before the sword of Spirit."

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