Editorial June 2, 1923 Issue

Unity Among Brethren

Ella W. Hoag

When Carlyle said, "Men's hearts ought not to be set against one another, but set with one another, and all against evil only," he voiced a great truth. Christian Science reveals the fact that all men have one common enemy, the lying material sense which denies God's presence and power, and which claims to set up in His place the supposititious beliefs in an existence in matter apart from Spirit, God. As the world awakens to this, it will see that all men should unite in their resistance to this one evil and work together for the overcoming and annihilation of all that is opposed to God, good.

To be sure, thousands of years ago David sang, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" And then he went on to point out that such unity is as the place where "the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." But this unity has seemed rarely possible of attainment since mankind has been so steeped in selfishness, so consumed with multifarious material purposes, that its seeking has been almost universally from the standpoint of personal advantage.

To the Christian Scientist the demonstration of unity among brethren is one of the most important problems presented for solution. Understanding, as he does, that there is but one infinite God, good, he admits that there is—even in belief—but one enemy, and that the one evil. Then immediately he longs to work unitedly with all other Christian Scientists to overcome this evil with good. There is, perhaps, no one thing which simplifies the problems of the Christian Scientist more than for him to keep his gaze constantly fixed in the direction of this united effort. As he does this, he is less tempted to look on his own individual difficulties as overwhelmingly large, and he also loses, in some degree at least, the sense of being alone in his efforts after righteousness.

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