WOVEN into the sacred Scriptures like a golden thread is the central fact of the oneness of God. Moses, the great leader of the ancient Hebrews, their lawgiver and spokesman, proclaimed this truth about God: "Hear, 0 Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." In no small measure did this stanch and courageous exponent of monotheism stress the fact of mankind's duty to the one God. Moses was a true pioneer in the cause of a diviner brotherhood among men; and this patriarch set forth a code of laws and regulations intended to govern human conduct and show the duty of each toward his neighbor.
Throughout the Old Testament we note an ever unfolding consciousness of this duty toward one's fellows, a natural resultant of worshiping one God. This shows why Samuel, for instance, prayed constantly for the welfare of the Israelites, and thought it a sin against God if he ceased to do so. The motive to hold steadfastly to the one God so permeated the lives of the men and women of those remote periods as to differentiate them from the worshipers of idols, and enabled them to found a higher civilization for mankind. The ability to recognize the brotherhood of man, to love one's neighbor as one's self, is proportionate to the understanding of what God is.
Jesus ushered in an era that eclipsed all others because of his great and transcendent understanding. He not only reiterated Moses' declaration of the oneness of God, designating love to God as the first great commandment, but stressed another, which is inseparable from it: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Jesus' reflection of such qualities as gentleness and love, forbearance and forgiveness, strength and courage, constituted him the great Exemplar for all. More than merely a stern duty was this exemplification of the great brotherhood of man. His love for humanity was to him more of a privilege than a duty: it was a loving spontaneity, as unlabored in its activity as the sunlight which pours through the windowpane. The brotherhood of man was the very essence of his life-work and teachings. To follow the Master is to pattern him—to love as he loved.
