PEACE ON EARTH by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA · Nov 14, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 44.

PEACE ON EARTH.

By G.

THERE never can be a state of peace in the world—that is, genuine, permanent peace—as long as the common notion prevails that one person's prosperity must necessarily mean another's adversity; that one man's gain must needs be through some other man's loss. In the world where such conditions exist, either in theory or in fact, the dove of peace will be kept constantly on the wing. As long as I entertain the thought that there is no place for me unless I can get some other man's place, I will probably strive to get that place. As long as one nation feels that it is not safe for another nation to occupy certain territory; as long as combinations and treaties and alliances of a diplomatic character are deemed necessary between nations in order to avoid conflicts, there can not be more than mere outward peace.

When one race fears to allow another race equal advantage lest the one deemed inferior shall predominate, there can not be peace. As long as there is one people who deem it essential to their prosperity that another people shall be kept down, there can not be permanent peace. In short, a peace that has to be enforced by any power but that of unfeigned recognition of human rights—unselfish recognition of equal rights—is not peace; at best it can be only expediency.

"The peace of God, which passeth all understanding," is based on love, on a love that loves one's neighbor as himself. The peace that is not based on the Golden Rule is not Christian peace. As long as peace must be maintained by standing armies, or great navies, or by any kind of diplomatic compromise, or uncertainty as to relative strength, or a recognized supremacy of man over man, or race over race, or class over class, any cry of peace will be a false cry; any claim of peace will be a false claim.

No true, reliable peace can obtain between man and man, in any capacity or station, that is not the result of a primary peace of individuals with God. And this must come through the mediatorial work of Jesus Christ. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." This is the peace that will obtain when the Lord sets up His kingdom in the earth, on the ashes of all other kingdoms. Then "the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." G.