THE words of the master Christian (Matt. 22:38), "This is the first and great commandment," pronounced with emphatic reference to the primary obligation of each individual to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," have special significance for mankind today. Recognition of this First Commandment as first is, as Christ Jesus indicated, orderly procedure through which intelligent action necessarily unfolds.
Humanity is professedly advancing in its interest in the brotherhood of man and respect for the ideal it inculcates. But care is needed that humanity advance in the way which Christ Jesus demanded. The brotherhood of man is not a sweet sentimentality. Acceptance of it is demanded by the second commandment. Its recognition and acknowledgment are a necessary consequence of obedience to the First. In that First Commandment the second has a spiritual basis. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" becomes a demand of God to man, not of man to man. Its fulfillment cannot be realized except as its spiritual basis is first established.
Without clear understanding of the parenthood of God, the brotherhood of man has no Principle by which it can be intelligently practiced. Where there is no Principle, confusion creeps in. Material distinctions and evidences of absence of kinship between person and person claim to get credence, and the ideal of one human family becomes the source of friction rather than harmony.
