Editorial January 26, 1924 Issue

Promoting True Brotherhood

Albert F. Gilmore

The exegesis of Genesis which Mrs. Eddy presents in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 541) contains the following: "Genesis iv. 8. Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him;" upon which she comments, "The erroneous belief that life, substance, and intelligence can be material ruptures the life and brotherhood of man at the very outset." Here our Leader sets before us the reason why the brotherhood of man has not been realized throughout the ages of human history. The belief that life rests upon a material foundation, is encompassed by matter, and is supported by it, has prevented the demonstration of true brotherhood,—that unity which, of a necessity, has a spiritual basis, because, in Truth, there is but one Father, in whom all men live and move and have their being.

No Christian would deny that an important obligation of his religion upon its adherents is the recognition of that spiritual unity termed the brotherhood of men. Christ Jesus' frequent reiteration of the great fact of the fatherhood of God has its necessary corollary in his doctrine of spiritual brotherhood. The same thought is inextricably woven into the fabric of Christian Science. The Father-Mother God is the sole creator of a perfect universe, infinite and eternal, in which all men are brethren, since all are ideas of the one Mind. The understanding that infinite Mind is All-in-all leaves no opportunity for the recognition, propagation, or promotion of any power other than the divine All, which could by any possibility operate as creator or founder of a competing kingdom.

Christ, the ideal Truth, which promotes good-will among men, also makes for the peace of nations, for international amity, and the progress of spiritual unfoldment among all mankind. Through invoking the Christ alone is advanced the general welfare, a purpose to which Christians the world over should be whole-heartedly devoted. Institutions, almost countless in number, which promote good-will among men, are praiseworthy in so far as they bring to mortals a better sense of unity, interdependence, selflessness, and the joy of serving one another. But, strange almost to the point of inexplicability is the situation between nations. In place of the brotherly love which is the cement of society, in the relations between nations extreme selfishness, jealousy, resentment, and, all too often, bitterness and hatred seem to exist, making them potential, if not active enemies. Notwithstanding that men of different races live peacefully together under the same flag, as citizens of one country, between the parent nations of the same races hatred and antagonism often exist.

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