Article March 10, 1917 Issue

[Translated from the German]

The Spiritual Idea of Brotherhood

SOPHIE ARGELANDER

Christian Science renders humanity an inestimable service by furnishing the glorious proof that the spiritual idea of brotherhood is an inviolable fact, however hard mortal mind may seek to reverse it. The Master came to liberate men from their mental fetters, and to lift them out of the bondage of low ideals into spiritual unity with God. He said, "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven."

Since God is the only Mind, as Mrs. Eddy teaches us on the strength of the Bible, the idea of spiritual brotherhood must be included in this one Mind; hence it must be as unchangeable as God Himself, the source of all reality. Recognizing this idea as one of the greatest facts and as a fundamental truth of being, Jesus was able to pray for his enemies even while passing through the agonies of the cross: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." He knew that it was only the ignorance of his time which hid the pure idea of spiritual brotherhood and unifying love from his persecutors, and this knowledge enabled him to rise above the belief of hatred and injustice into the realm of harmony, where, as our Leader says, "one mind is not at war with another, but all have one Spirit, God, one intelligent source" (Science and Health, p. 276).

When through the teaching of Christian Science the idea of spiritual brotherhood dawns upon our consciousness, we have begun to solve the problem of universal salvation. We can realize the great importance of this idea when we bear in mind that our experiences on this plane of existence rest for the most part upon our relations with our fellow men. Harmonious relations constitute our happiness, while animosity causes suffering. What a wealth of good is given us in Christian Science, and what a mass of error it is able to destroy! It gives us a true idea of our heavenly Father as Love, a true idea of our brother as the reflection of this all inclusive Love, and it also takes away from us the false belief of an existence in the flesh separate from God.

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