Editorial July 21, 1923 Issue

The Two Great Commandments

Albert F. Gilmore

The precepts of Christ Jesus are of universal application. In answer to the lawyer striving to confound him, he emphatically declared that the two great commandments are these: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Thus he supplied posterity with a remedy for every discordant condition, whether individual, national, or international; for Love is the perfect solvent. That the remedy has not been properly applied, and in consequence that strife and hatred are apparently rife, in no wise disproves its validity or impugns the wisdom of him who propounded it. Nothing is more clearly manifest to-day in the affairs of world-wide concern than the general disregard of the necessity for full, unrestricted love of God,—that is, of good; and the failure to apply Jesus' definite command to "love thy neighbour as thyself." Beyond the shadow of a doubt the present chaotic condition among nations is directly due to the failure of mankind to obey these words.

A well-known British publicist recently told an American audience that fear and suspicion are the greatest foes of international amity. Few will question the accuracy of his statement, except that he did not make it sufficiently comprehensive. And many will wish to be told precisely how these enemies of world tranquillity can best be destroyed; for, after all, the unity of nations, desirable as that may be, will scarcely solve the problem of true brotherhood, unless the individuals constituting the units of such a league be healed of these baneful qualities. If one were to examine the situation metaphysically, it would be found that the basic errors are fear and jealousy, plus greed and hate. All these malevolents could in turn be traced to the one fundamental error, the belief in life apart from God. Here, then, is the root of the whole problem, the effort to make something out of nothing. Surely, no good thing could result from such false reasoning. Christian Scientists know that God is the only Life; that God and His creation comprise all of reality.

Is it not apparent that no progress can be made toward international amity that is not the outcome of the reflection of divine Mind in individual consciousness? The problem, first of all, then, is one of individual healing, that spiritual Truth may appear. All too frequently it becomes apparent that neither consideration for the welfare of others nor thoughtfulness of the common welfare in terms of the world's needs actuates the motives of men when dealing with national and international interests. The Christianly consideration, generosity, and true spirit of brotherliness sometimes manifested among individuals seem entirely to disappear in the relations between states and nations; and the larger the group concerned, the more remote seem Christ's Christianity and its expression, altruism.

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