World Righteousness and Peace

Archibald McLellan

The individuality and universality of righteousness which is to usher in a world peace, the time when "every knee shall bow . . . and every tongue shall confess to God," had its beginning in what has been styled "the great commandment." He who taught mankind to pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done,"—the reign of peace,—declared this commandment to be the summing up of law and prophecy, namely, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." Obeyed, it would be peace.

This, too, is the basic law of Christian Science. As Mrs. Eddy points out on page 26 of our text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "Jesus spares us not one individual experience, if we follow his commands faithfully; and all have the cup of sorrowful effort to drink in proportion to their demonstration of his love, till all are redeemed through divine Love." Throughout Mrs. Eddy's writings, indeed, there is to be found, as of greatest importance, an insistent and persistent demand for individual righteousness. Nowhere does she intimate that the kingdom of God is to come through force of numbers or by vicarious effort. Neither does she hold out any hope that improvement or reform of social or governmental conditions is to be brought about merely by coercion or the enactment of some form of law. She knew that men who are honest simply because "honesty is the best policy," as the saying goes, are keeping the letter of the law, but ignoring the spirit. Such men are no nearer righteousness than are many who are not so outwardly circumspect in their relations with their fellows.

Mrs. Eddy writes on page 322 of Science and Health: "A man who likes to do wrong—finding pleasure in it and refraining from it only through fear of consequences—is neither a temperance man nor a reliable religionist." To carry this saying to its application to international peace, would be to say that the nation which refrains from war simply because of its direful consequences, is neither a safe neighbor nor an elevating object-lesson to the rest of the world. There must be a higher and better motive than mere self-preservation; rather, a desire for that brotherly love which is the natural outcome of obedience to the golden rule, and the ushering in of that universal harmony which is the establishment of God's will "in earth, as it is in heaven." This was recognized by Talcott Williams, dean of the school of journalism at Columbia University, when in a recent address on "Universal Peace" he said:—

We comfort ourselves with the phrase that war is a necessary evil. There are no necessary evils. 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. Those who urge peace as a remedy and a cause forget that peace is only the visible sign of righteousness, and only when righteousness and peace have kissed each other will war disappear. While evil remains, conflict will remain. While evil exists, force must be ready. Alike, the providence of God and the law of man bring not peace but a sword for those who work iniquity. In the economy of man and the universe of God there is no peace for the wicked.

War will not disappear through peace, but peace will appear through righteousness. All that brings justice and righteousness will bring peace, and all that hinders justice and peace continues war.

World righteousness and peace is far from being an impossibility, but its accomplishment must begin with the individual. In other words, there can be no enduring structure of national or international righteousness, unless the foundation therefor be laid deep and wide in individual righteousness. Christian Scientists often refer to our Master's saying, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you," because they have found this fulfilled in their own experience. In seeking to know God and to be obedient to His will they have found health, happiness, and ever-present and omnipotent Life and Love. "The whole is equal to the sum of all its parts," and when the search for righteousness becomes as great a passion with all mankind as the search for riches and pleasure has become with so many, then indeed will the reign of universal peace be ushered in. It is to this end that all Christendom should bend its energies, for when, as Mrs. Eddy points out on page 22 of "Pulpit and Press," "the bonds of peace are cemented by spiritual understanding and Love, there will be unity of spirit, and the healing power of Christ will prevail. Then shall Zion have put on her most beautiful garments, and her waste places budded and blossomed as the rose."

Archibald McLellan.

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