Article December 1, 1951 Issue

WHAT CONSTITUTES TRUE BROTHERHOOD

FLOYD C. SHANK

It may be agreed that true brotherhood is not so much the outcome of singleness of purpose as it is the result of unity, or oneness, of origin. Think reflectively for a moment on this proposition, which is made the basis of the reasoning which follows.

Oneness of origin means one source or creative cause. The basic truth of God's fatherhood is fundamental in all Scriptural teaching. "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all," is Paul's terminology when writing to the Ephesians (4: 6). And in Malachi (2:10) the same truth is to be found in the obvious answer to the posed question, "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?"

Christian Science is based on the teaching of Jesus that there is one God, who is the sole creator of man. This Science reveals that all men, all individuals, in their true spiritual being, are the offspring of this one divine source. No real characteristics, therefore, can be derived from any other source or be at variance with the nature of the one creative Spirit, or Mind. The qualities which one individual possesses cannot be in conflict with the qualities which another embodies. In music all notes derive from their principle. These notes, although individual and of an infinite variety, express one origin. Tones of music are concordant, not because they all have the same office in the creation of harmony, but because they all have the same origin and obey the same rules of this original principle. So it is with man. "Harmony in man is as real and immortal as in music. Discord is unreal and mortal," is a pertinent citation from page 276 of our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy.

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