What then is the ideal as between man and man that we must aim at? St. Paul expresses it in the words, “If it be possible as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men.” (Rom_12:18).
1. “If it be possible,” he says. And again, “as much as in you lieth” (Rom_12:18). For no man knew better than he the difficulty of living peaceably in a world like this, and he knew also that the occasions are not rare when such peace is actually impossible. We could not maintain our self-respect without asserting certain rights, and society itself could not exist without the assertion of these rights; yet some of our fellows are so unreasonable that we cannot enjoy their goodwill unless we are prepared to ignore our personal, civic, and ecclesiastical claims and privileges.
The truth is that we who enjoy any measure of spiritual life are left in this present evil world in order that we may fight against the animal nature in ourselves and in others, and the animal nature has teeth and claws, which it does not hesitate to use. All the strange legends of ancient time show that no dragon is slain without fighting. If you enter on a crusade against some popular vice, and dare to inveigh against its prevalence, and seek by legislation or otherwise to lessen its opportunities, you will be hated and hounded by those whose interests or passions run that way; and your gentleness, or fairness, or courtesy, will not avail to turn aside savage attacks on your reputation or on your motives. You cannot snatch the prey from the jaws of a lion without hurting the lion or getting hurt yourself. The Son of God Himself could not redeem the world without a fight with the adversary, even up to the point of death. And as to His disciples, who, in His name, went everywhere preaching the Word, they were persecuted in every city they entered, and were reviled as disturbers of the peace, as men who turned the world upside down! No man knew better than the Apostle who wrote these words that it would be folly to give as an unconditional command to the followers of Jesus these words—“Live peaceably with all men.”
(1) Live peaceably at home.—Very delicate and precarious is the unity of the home. Sometimes a marriage disturbs its peace; what is a union in one sense being a serious division in another. Sometimes a death is fatal to brotherly love; the property of the dead and the friendship of the living being divided at the same time. A thousand occasions naturally arise to put in peril the peace of kindred.
Be on your guard against sarcastic words, which sting and wound, provoking retaliation, and even revenge. Keep yourselves free from small selfishnesses, by which you interfere ruthlessly with the comfort of everybody else in the home, in order that your wishes may be carried out. Drive out, with God’s help, the spirit of suspicion, which makes you imagine a bad motive where there is none, and leads you to treat with distrust those who love you well. Beware of irritability, which is ready to take offence for a word, being easily provoked, and always thinking evil. And if you have been hurt, or offended, or wronged, then, for Christ’s dear sake, forgive, as you would be forgiven. [Note: A. Rowland, The Burdens of Life, 117.]
There is a place where He hath split the hills ;
No water fills
The gap :
A bow-shot wide
Side stands to side,
Indenture perfectly opposed,
The outlet closed
By seeming overlap—
So severed are our hearts, so rent our wills ;
And yet the old correlatives remain-
Ah! brother, may we not be joined again? [Note: T. E. Brown, Old John and Other Poems, 178.]
(2) Live peaceably in the world.—Some Christians regard it almost as a duty to live in perennial controversy with the world, and consider it a merit on their part to provoke such conflicts; but the Apostle gives different counsel. He teaches that all needless irritation must be avoided, and that we must not make ourselves voluntary martyrs. Dr. Moule, in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, remarks on this passage: “Living at peace with all men; yes, even in pagan and hostile Rome. A peculiarly Christian principle speaks here. The men who had given over their bodies a living sacrifice might think, imaginably, that their duty was to court the world’s enmity, to tilt as it were against its spears, as if the one supreme call was to collide, to fall, and to be glorified. But this would be fanaticism; and the Gospel is never fanatical, for it is the law of love. The surrendered Christian is not, as such, an aspirant for even a martyr’s fame, but the servant of God and man. If martyrdom crosses his path, it is met as duty; but he does not court it as éclat. And what is true of martyrdom is, of course, true of every lower and milder form of the conflict of the Church, and of the Christian, in the world.” We must not assume a hostile attitude towards the great outside world, but treat all men in a pacific and conciliatory spirit.
The day is ended. ’Ere I sink to sleep,
My weary spirit seeks repose in Thine;
Father, forgive my trespasses, and keep
This little life of mine.
With loving-kindness curtain Thou my bed,
And cool in rest my burning pilgrim feet;
Thy pardon be the pillow for my head ;
So shall my rest be sweet.
At peace with all the world, dear Lord, and Thee,
No fears my soul’s unwavering faith can shake;
All’s well, whichever side the grave for me
The morning light may break. [Note: Harriet McEwen Kimball.]
2. How is this to be done?
(1) By studying to be quiet.—“And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you” (1Th_4:11). And if we would “lead a quiet and peaceable life,” this is what we must resolve to do; to attend diligently to our own affairs, and to interfere as little as possible in those of others. Those who have little business of their own, or who neglect their own business, are the very persons who are most apt to intermeddle with the concerns of their neighbours, with whom they might otherwise live on peaceable terms. This class of persons is repeatedly held up to reprobation in Scripture, under the odious name of busybodies. “We hear,” says St. Paul to the Thessalonians (2Th_3:11), “that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.” And see in what bad company they are found in these words of St. Peter: “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters” (1Pe_4:15). We have an example of judicious precaution against the commencement of strife, in the conduct of Abraham towards his nephew Lot. “There was a strife between the herdmen of Abraham’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle” (Gen_13:7); which would, probably, have caused a bad feeling between uncle and nephew, had not Abraham, as the elder of the two, determined to put a stop to the matter at once. “And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, betweenme and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left” (Gen_13:8-9). This was, literally, according to Solomon’s expression, “leaving off contention before it was meddled with” (Pro_17:14). Abraham stopped this quarrel at some personal sacrifice, contenting himself with that portion of the land which his nephew chose to leave him.
(2) By being watchful at the beginning.—“The beginning of strife,” says the wise man, “is as when one letteth out water; therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with” (Pro_17:14). So it is with those disputes and enmities which hinder men from living together in peace and love. In their beginnings they are commonly so trifling as to excite no apprehension in either party of what they may grow to in the end. But unless they are checked at once, “left off before they be meddled with,” we shall probably have to say of them at last, “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth” (Jam_3:5).
(3) But these rules will be of little avail, unless we have a friendly and sympathetic feeling towards those with whom we desire to live in peace; that is, according to the apostolic precept, towards all men. Let us avoid the spirit in which strife originates. Bigotry, pride, unkindness, selfishness, ambition, and kindred qualities occasion alienations and conflict. There is, indeed, no cure for these vicious tendencies and the confusion they create except in real, living, daily union with Christ. We can hardly deal effectually with any vice by treating it directly; we must fetch a compass, make a wide circuit to get at it: and we cannot tame human nature by an immediate technical discipline, but only by fellowship with Christ and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
What is diviner than the peace of foes
He conquers not who does not conquer hate,
Or thinks the shining wheels of heaven wait
On his forgiving. Dimmer the laurel shows
On brows that darken; and war-won repose
Is but a truce when heroes abdicate
To Huns—unfabling those of elder date
Whose every corse a fiercer warrior rose.
O ye that saved the land! Ah yes, and ye
That bless its saving! Neither need forget
The price our destiny did of both demand—
Toil, want, wounds, prison, and the lonely sea
Of tears at home. Oh, look on these. And yet—
Before the human fail you—quick I your hand! [Note: R. M. Johnson, Library of American Literature, xi. 116.]
