Editorial November 26, 1904 Issue

Brotherhood

All through the ages humanity has sought for something to satisfy its craving for affection, and in the face of temptations to gratify self-interest men have found happiness in sharing their spoils with others. Indeed there are few who can long be content with the solitary possession of any good thing, and family feeling has therefore been in all time a powerful influence in the state, and at this day we hear an ever-widening appeal for an extension of the ideal of brotherhood until it shall include all men. The sincerity of those who advocate universal brotherhood is undenied; the question is whether their apprehension of a subject so vast and comprehensive is sufficiently clear to be of practical value to humanity at large.

With all that is being said on this subject we may well ask whether even the average civilized family presents conditions which would serve as a model for universal brotherhood. Do not the vices of indolence, selfishness, hatred, and lust spring up even in childhood or youth, and are they not fostered in many cases, by parental incapacity, indifference, or sheer wickedness? We cannot forget that, according to the Bible, the history of the first human family was darkened by fratricide, and with conditions confessedly imperfect in the average family to-day, what hope could we have of good results from merely merging the material interests of many individualities, and expecting thereby to advance mankind? Nevertheless, let no one think that the realization of the larger sense of brotherhood is deemed impossible, for "with God, all things are possible." Ah! that is the secret, "with God," all good is possible, without Him, no good is.

The Christ prayer begins with "Our Father," not my Father, and Paul in his great spiritual appeal to God, names "the whole family in heaven and earth." Surely no one is fitted to be a member of this family until he understands his own mental and spiritual capabilities as a child of God, neither can he hold another in the bonds of true brotherhood until he has proved his divine sonship in the overcoming of evil, as did our Elder Brother, Christ Jesus. Any attempt to express a helpful ideal of brotherhood apart from this spiritual basis must result in disappointment. When, however, the sacred joy of the sense of Divine relationship comes with our healing, there comes also an ardent desire to have all others share it, and at any cost.

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