God’s Dream – Victor Hugo

(Victor) Hugo stated that peace, a universal religious ideal, emanated from divine law. For Hugo, God’s dream was peace, not war; justice, not oppression; universal prosperity, not the gap between rich and poor that characterized the economic imbalance between the rich and poor in Hugo’s time, and still does. Deploring the immense sums nations squandered on armaments, Hugo urged all countries to direct these funds to the arts, research, agriculture, or science. He pleaded that nations cease to traffic in arms. He advocated creation of international bodies to settle disputes and mediate conflicting interests.

As the audience applauded, Hugo said, The divine law is not one of war, but peace. Lay down your arms. And in that day you will all have one common thought, common interests, a common destiny; you will embrace each other and recognize each other as children of the same blood and of the same race; that day you will be a people, costs directed not to arms but the common good.

Source: Thomas Merton: God’s Messenger on the Road towards a New World, p. 43