Peacemakers

Duncan Sinclair

It was Christ Jesus who, in his Sermon on the Mount, spoke these words: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." Thus, all who made peace were to be blessed. All who made peace were to be entitled to the sacred name of "the children of God." Jesus did not reckon peace on earth as of little account; to him it was of greatest moment, because it was the product of a Godlike state of consciousness. He taught his followers that love for God and man should be the ruling motive of their lives, well knowing that with this love in their hearts they could not fail to "follow peace with all men."

It is true that Jesus' teaching stirs up the unregenerate human mind in order to purify it. Did not he say, as Matthew records in the tenth chapter of his Gospel, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword"? But surely he was referring to the stirring up which takes place in human consciousness as spiritual truth destroys error therein. There is therefore no justification for thinking that he approved of war, as the word is commonly used. Indeed, it is absurd to think that such an ardent upholder of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man as he, could have countenanced that which, apart from the destruction of human life it entails, never fails to lower the moral and spiritual standards of mankind generally. Jesus must be regarded as altogether a peacemaker, not partially so.

Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, while not shutting her eyes to the fact that the necessity might arise of supporting a righteous nation should it be forced into war through the folly of another nation, is strong in her denunciation of that nefarious method of settling national differences. On page 278 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" she writes: "War is in itself an evil, barbarous, devilish. Victory in error is defeat in Truth. War is not in the domain of good; war weakens power and must finally fall, pierced by its own sword." Then, in the next paragraph, she gives the metaphysical and Christian reason for what she has said in the words: "The Principle of all power is God, and God is Love. Whatever brings into human thought or action an element opposed to Love, is never requisite, never a necessity, and is not sanctioned by the law of God, the law of Love."

The tendency to war is in human consciousness, where evil seems to exist along with good. There evil appears to be at work trying to undermine human happiness and peace. Envy, jealousy, hatred, malice, revenge, pride, and fear would hold sway there, seeking to gain control, and urging the individual to use the weapons of the devil against his fellow men. And if not controlled sufficiently they may throw nations into direst conflict with each other. The Christian Scientist sees the necessity for controlling these evils, yes, for destroying them; and this he can do through his understanding and demonstration of the divine Principle, Love, thereby effectually establishing in their place the consciousness of good.

Unquestionably, since the elements of evil that make for war are apparently to be found in individual human consciousness, it is in individual human consciousness that they must be destroyed. Is it possible to think of war as breaking out between nations whose men and women have overcome evil in their own thoughts? No! It is there, then, that the battle should be waged; and the weapons of this warfare must be spiritual, not carnal. An understanding must be gained of God and His ideas through divine Science; and these spiritual ideas must replace the false material beliefs which seem to crystallize into the vicious elements to which reference has just been made, and which lead to disputes between individuals and to war between nations. As we contemplate this most desirable consummation of the destruction of evil through spiritual understanding, Mrs. Eddy's words come to us (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 56), "War is waged between the evidences of Spirit and the evidences of the five physical senses; and this contest must go on until peace be declared by the final triumph of Spirit in immutable harmony."

While the Christian Scientist maintains that Christian Science has provided the certain way of attaining ultimate harmony, he is in sympathy with every sincere effort to foster the spirit of peace among men, and to ensure its reign on earth. Because absolute Science is at present understood only by a minority of the people of the world, he is aware that progress in this direction will come about gradually, and through agreements made by those whose understanding of good is clearest. He therefore welcomes every effort towards the setting of outstanding disputes by arbitration at the hands of bodies previously authorized by agreement. But at the same time he does not allow himself to forget that his work as a Christian Scientist is, primarily, to overcome every warring tendency in himself by knowing more of good, and to bring Christian Science to others that they too may gain the mastery over the evil tendencies within by the same divine method, as the surest way of bringing about the reign of universal peace.

Duncan Sinclair

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