Pax and Jesus

Peace, by George Herbert, a famous Christian poet whose life overlapped with William Shakespeare's, is a poem that I find significant in that it illustrates a point on which, though I respect Christianity very much, I must part ways with it. 

I would very much request that anyone who reads this understand that in this post, I am not criticizing Christianity--I am only telling how my own point of view differs.

The poem is about searching for peace. The speaker describes his quest in the form of a second-person address to a personified version of peace. This embodiment of peace in language--he uses a capital "P"--seems very similar to Roman religion, in that the personification serves as a vehicle for articulating a special aspect of the universe that isn't captured merely by the rote attaching of labels to features of reality, as we might do so in the contemporary era. The speaker of the poem doesn't specifically identify Pax the goddess, but the personification does so in its stead. 

The first three stanzas describe raised hopes in the search for peace in particular settings. Each time, the hopes are elevated only to be dashed. The "Peace" thought to be there turns out to be illusory. The remaining four stanzas are metaphorical descriptions of Jesus Christ, the twelve apostles, and the rise and spread of Christianity. The word peace again appears in the final stanza, but this time with a lowercase "p". Thus, upon the arrival of Christianity, peace is no longer personified, no longer deified, can no longer be spoken to or communicated with, has become an inanimate thing, a common noun.  Real peace, the author says, is only available through Jesus Christ.

I'm afraid this is a point on which I must part company with Christianity. 

I admire Christianity, but my opinions and feelings are different. That peace is only through Jesus--that has never been my intuition, and it also has never been my experience. Peace exists in a variety of life contexts: Peace sometimes prevails where specific human desires for peace are wholly absent. Peace sometimes appears in the complete absence of human beings. Peace is sometimes brought about by the planning, desire, or conscious intention of peace-seeking people. Peace often appears in non-Christian religious contexts. Peace is wherever it appears, however it appears, whenever it appears, and, if it appears due to the conscious actions of people, by whoever helps bring it about. 

I find the Roman conception of peace to be closer to my experience of reality. That being said, Jesus is a peace deity; I want him to receive respect, and I want his followers to be loved and to feel loved. 

Here's the poem: 

 

Peace

George Herbert

Sweet Peace, where dost thou dwell? I humbly crave,
Let me once know.
I sought thee in a secret cave,
And ask’d, if Peace were there.
A hollow winde did seem to answer, No:
Go seek elsewhere.

I did; and going did a rainbow note:
Surely, thought I,
This is the lace of Peaces coat:
I will search out the matter.
But while I lookt, the clouds immediately
Did break and scatter.

I went I to a garden, and did spy
A gallant flower,
The crown Imperiall: Sure, said I,
Peace at the root must dwell.
But when I digg’d, I saw a worm devoure
What show’d so well.

At length I met a rev’rend good old man:
Whom when of Peace
I did demand, he thus began;
There was a Prince of old
At Salem dwelt, who liv’d with good increase
Of flock and fold.

He sweetly liv’d; yet sweetnesse did not save
His life from foes.
But after death out of his grave
There sprang twelve stalks of wheat:
Which many wondring at, got some of those
To plant and set.

It prosper’d strangely, and did soon disperse
Through all the earth:
For they that taste it do rehearse,
That vertue lies therein;
A secret vertue bringing peace and mirth
By flight of sinne.

Take of this grain, which in my garden grows,
And grows for you;
Make bread of it: and that repose
And peace, which ev’ry where
With so much earnestnesse you do pursue
Is onely there.