Article November 6, 1909 Issue

UNITY

M. G. KAINS, M.S.

The dominant desire of every human being is the attainment of good. It prompts well-nigh every thought that the individual thinks and every act that he performs in his own behalf, and, until it is held in check by a higher motive, it arraigns every thought and act of other individuals who seek good in a different direction. Thus on the one hand it tends to separate mankind into groups led by differing desires, and on the other to bind these segregations together within themselves by the common bond of similarity of interests. The individuals in each group will be intent upon what they believe to be the best thing for them and those with whom they are associated, and they will be more or less pronounced in their views concerning the futility or at least the inadvisability of searching in other directions. Only as the individual comes to recognize that the search for good is equally the right of every other individual, even of each individual who differs radically from his views, is he willing to make allowance or concessions, and to manifest that spirit of tolerance which is peculiar to the generous mind, the Christian character.

He who naturally has gained such an altitude of thought can look down upon the seething of adverse motives with equanimity, because he knows that all are prompted by the one primary motive, the search for ultimate good; and no matter how wofully wrong any individual or group of individuals may be as to the direction in which to search, he can feel only compassion for those who are pursuing a wrong course. He will see that the infidels, the atheists, the agnostics, and the free-thinkers are just as earnest for ultimate good as are others; in fact that, no matter what the varying shades of belief or unbelief, the primary object of each is unity so far as aim is concerned, namely, good. The only wrong is in the direction in which the search is made.

Without going deeply into the subject, let us discuss that phase in which the professed followers of Jesus of Nazareth are concerned. All these agree as to the authenticity of the record in the New Testament, the fulfilment of prophecy concerning the Master's nativity and mission, and the historic incidents of his career. But not all, by any means, are agreed upon the direction and manner in which these teachings are to be applied; hence the many differing sects, all purporting to follow the true path but leading in radically different directions and by many routes. Surely the Master's own recorded teachings should be the sufficient guide. If we are to judge by the emphasis Jesus laid upon healing the sick as characteristic of correct preaching, the one purport of the Master's ministry was to teach mankind to worship the Father "in spirit and in truth," and thus to destroy the falsities, sin, sickness, and death, over which he triumphed step by step until he reached the climax, as Enoch and Elijah had done centuries before.

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