HOW IS IT THAT THE WORLD gives us peace, or tries to give us peace; and why is that effort unsatisfying? Partly, of course, because peace in the true sense, in the Christian sense, is a threefold gift, and the world only offers us one third of it. True peace means peace with God, peace within ourselves, and peace with one another. I think it is probably true that the world at this moment is more genuinely anxious for the maintenance of peace between nations than it has ever been in all its history; nor should we do well to belittle or to deride the efforts made, even by those who differ deeply from us in fundamental opinions, to secure an object so dear to the heart of Christ. But, if the last irrevocable treaty were signed, and the last cruiser scrapped, and the last gun melted down, would that be peace? Peace in a world that for the most part either forgets God, or openly defies him? Peace in a world where human hearts, emancipating themselves from every moral tie, are carried to and fro by their passions, and win from the gratification of them only discontent? For the war within our own intellects, for the war within our own wills, the world has no solution to offer; hold congresses at every town in Switzerland, and our hearts will still be a battleground, for God made them for himself, and they can find no rest until they find rest in him.
- Ronald A. Knox
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