Editorial September 15, 1923 Issue

"Blessed are the peacemakers"

Duncan Sinclair

No one who studies the life of Christ Jesus, as it is narrated in the gospels of the New Testament, can possibly fail to perceive that the effort of the great Nazarene was to reconcile man to God, good, and so to establish health, harmony, and peace among mankind. It is unquestionable that his doctrine stirred up the opponents of Truth and the scorners of divine Love, exposing their hatred of good to such an extent that sometimes it appeared to human sense as if he were not the harbinger of peace but of its opposite, discord. Yet, the Saviour's coming was heralded by "the heavenly host," who sang, "On earth peace, good will toward men;" and it was he himself who gave to his disciples the promise, meant for his followers in all time to come, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." The understanding of the peace of God inspired the teachings of Christ Jesus from first to last, so that he could proclaim, in the seventh beatitude, the assurance that those who strove after peace would be identified as the children of God: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."

Now, the cause of all unrest, unhappiness, and dispeace is the belief that evil is real. And the false belief that evil is real is in turn dependent on the supposition that there is a power in existence other than God. That is what would wreck the happiness and destroy the peace of mankind. Every trouble that afflicts the human race is of mental origin; and that origin is the lie that God is not infinite good, that God does not exist without an opposite. God is Mind. Christian Science maintains that there is only one Mind; and that this divine Mind is reflected by every one of God's children. Thus, as Mrs. Eddy states in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 470), "the children of God have but one Mind."

Whenever one begins to understand the spiritual fact that there is only one Mind, he begins to see how it is possible to become a peacemaker. First of all, then, he must become acquainted with divine Mind, giving up his false beliefs about the existence of another real intelligence. Divine Mind is omnipresent, the one all-inclusive reality. Hence perfect intelligence is everywhere expressed; and this expression is absolutely harmonious, since Mind is perfect. These truths of spiritual being show how utterly fallacious are all the beliefs of mortal mind in inharmony and lack of peace. And these illusions can be got rid of only by realizing the facts of divine Being as Christian Science reveals them.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

"O magnify the Lord"