Article June 12, 1915 ISSUE

"Not as the world giveth"

IRVING C. TOMLINSON, M.A.

One of the Master's most precious promises was expressed in the familiar words, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you." It is to be observed that Jesus intimates there is a kind of peace which the world gives, but that the peace which he bestows is of a very different type. A year ago there was so-called peace in Europe, but it was the peace of the world, and not the peace of Christ. It is described by the prophet's words, "Peace, peace; when there is no peace." The apparent calm in men's lives is frequently the outcome of fear, and war measures are restrained only because of superior opposing forces. There is a seeming bodily peace of like nature which is brought about by the use of drugs or human will-power. This is indeed "no peace," because it is neither permanent nor true, and it must be supplanted by the harmony which Christ alone bestows. Materialistic peace (the phrase itself a misnomer) is confusion, latent or otherwise. The true remedy for all war is that given on page 329 of Science and Health: "If men understood their real spiritual source to be all blessedness, they would struggle for recourse to the spiritual and be at peace."

How deplorably evident it is that much of the peace which has been proclaimed in the past was no peace at all. Efforts have been made to accomplish freedom from war through measures of suppression. In an address on "Universal Peace," Talcott Williams of Columbia University says: "The only necessary thing in the world is righteousness, and the reason why deep down in the consciousness of men there rests, unshaken and unchallenged, the conviction that international peace is not for our day, is because international righteousness does not exist in our day. World peace can only come through world righteousness. The world will never become righteous through peace—peace can only come through righteousness. Peace is only the visible sign of righteousness."

It has been said that all evil tendencies must be subdued and chastened, lest punishment should follow (a wrong motive); and instead of freedom there has often been slavery and bondage to fear or to a superior human will-power. The Christ-way is a better way, for the freedom and harmony which he bestows is the outcome of expression and not suppression. The Master would have all mankind enjoy a rightful peace through manifestation of the best and noblest qualities, and he would have them dwell in thought, not upon the so-called "balance of power," but upon the beneficent power of infinite good. He would have each one know himself as the child of God, the Christ-man seeking to express the divine ideal which is incarnate in every man. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden," is his loving invitation, "and I will give you rest." This promised rest comes from knowing the truth, from understanding spiritual realities, so that one may be ever ready to respond to these inspiring words of the Master, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

There is a false sense of peace which is the outcome of the toleration of that which is neither just nor right, or the bearing of indignity and wrong without any effort to better conditions. It is of this callous indifference to the spurious and unreal that the Master said, "I came not to send peace, but a sword," for the abiding calm that Christ gives is not satisfied with wrong-doing of any kind, but strives for peace "not as the world giveth," in which there is no possibility of wrong or weakness. Confidence in God is the only thing that can establish that perfect rest in which the clamorous discords of mortal sense have no place. Mortals have sought peace vainly, because they strove to find it where it is not—in matter and material experiences. It can come only through a transformed mentality.

The peace which comes from the precept and practice of the truth, as taught and demonstrated by Christ Jesus, is based upon right thinking and right doing. Herein is Mrs. Eddy's priceless contribution in behalf of world-wide peace. The scientific understanding of God and man, as made clear in the teaching of Christian Science, helps to establish peace within one's consciousness, and this being accomplished, freedom from strife within and without is experienced. The world undertakes to maintain peace through the "balance of power," but the peace of Christ comes from knowing God as the only power, and man as having dominion over all that is unlike good. It is of this peace that the poet sang (Hymnal, p. 274):—

O thou God of peace, be near us,
Fix within our hearts Thy home;
With Thy bright appearing cheer us,
In Thy blessed freedom come.

Come with all Thy revelations,
Truth which we so long have sought;
Come with Thy deep consolations,
Peace of God which passeth thought!

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