THE GOLDEN RULE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22712, 26 October 1935, Page 27

THE GOLDEN RULE

Written for.the Otago Daily Times, By the Rev. D. Gardner Miller.

I don't suppose there is a man or woman of your acquaintance who does not know the Golden Rule. Everybody seems able to quote the golden words, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them.” It is one of the passages of Scripture that has become part of our common speech. Even those who make no pretence at being Christian know the rule. Perhaps one should call it a principle rather than a rule, for a rule can become stiff and unyielding, while a principle adapts itself to all circumstances without, in any way, being false to itself. I have known many people who, although they never enter church and would repudiate the name “ Christian,” make this principle a rule of their life. There is something inborn in us,'even in the worst of us, that makes us, in our best moments, act decently to others. It would be wrong to say that the Golden Rule was unknown until Christ came. It has been a lovely part of human nature ever since man appeared upon the earth. But Jesus gave it a new meaning, a new content, lifted it up far above mere kindness, and revealed it as the shiing star of human affairs. That’s the wonderful thing about Jesus, He gives common affairs a new meaning. He invests the trivial with a new significance. The widow’s mite, the boy’s gift of bread and fish, the repentant woman’s hot tears, the games of children, all become beautiful because He noticed them. They will never be forgotten because He showed the lovely meaning that lay at the heart of each. So with all human silent worships. Jesus has made them significant, because He never despaired of anyone, but always looked for the_ best in everyone. Jesus loved persons, individuals like you and me. He knew how quick-tem-pered and suspicious we are all apt to be with one another. He knew how prone we are to give tit for tat. That’s the wrong way to live, He said. Put yourself in the other’s place and do to him, or her, just what you would have him, or her, do to you, if you were in the same pickle. It is sometimes easier to love your enemies who live in another country than it is to be tolerant and generous to the one who lives with you under the same roof. But if we have caught His spirit' we shall soon realise that ordinary human relationships can become gracious and full of mutual understanding. When the Golden Rule becomes the natural, unstrained response of our hearts, instead of the occasional emotional outburst, then we have become truly Christian.

It isn’t always easy to put yourself in the other person’s place. Especially is this so when you know the other person cannot possibly pay you back in any way. I hate saying it, but I am afraid it is only too true that many good deeds are done with a lively hope of favours returned. That kills the golden rule. But when you do something for somebody, something that costs you something, and your only reward is the knowledge that you are doing what Christ would do, if Christ were in your place, then the golden rule becomes a golden stairway, and you keep company with the angels. For the golden rule surely means, to Christians, that we are acting in Christ's stead. That is what lifts the Golden Rule high above mere philanthropy. I was led this morning to read again that beautiful incident in the life of that great surgeon, the late Sir Frederick Treves, where he befriended a poor hit of human wreckage. The incident is a perfect example of the Golden Rule—that is, letting Christ do something through you for another. This poor bit of human wreckage had an enormous facial growth, which made him resemble in some ways an elephant, and he was known as “ the elephant man.'’ This poor fellow was exploited in a cruel way by being shown ns a freak until the police put a stop to the horrible exhibition. The “ elephant man ” was thrown on the streets and became a vagabond, hiding all day and stealing out at night to snatch a few scraps of food where he could find them. He was lurking in a waiting room of Liverpool station, when Sir Frederick’s attention was drawn to him. The great surgeon brought him to London, and furnished two rooms for him in the London Hospital, Whitechapel road, where he received every attention and kindness. Every Sunday Sir Frederick visited his strange guest, whose mind, through long neglect, was like that of a child. One day the “Elephant man” was asked if there were any special things he most desired. The poor fellow expressed three wishes: He would like to visit a theatre, to see the country, and to speak to a real lady. The surgeon gratified each wish. He* took a box at the theatre, from which this social outcast had a view—himself unseen —of the shining stage. By motorcar he was taken to a woodland scene where spring flowers were blowing. And lastly, Queen Alexandra, the first lady of the land, came down to Whitechapel and visited the poor fellow in his rooms. Her gracious words were his most precious memory until the day came when he went through the “ White Gate,” no longer a freak hut a restored and redeemed personality to meet the understanding Christ. Truly what the eminent, yet humble. Christian surgeon did was what Christ Himself would have done- # « * What a wonderful world this would be if the Golden Rule were really and truly observed! Suppose nations treated coloured people in the way they would like to he treated if they were coloured! If an employer paid the girls who work for him the same wage as he would like his girl to have if she were an employee. If our homes were based on the Golden Rule, there would be no separations and no divorces. The best way and the only way to make the Golden Rule universal is to make it particular—that is, to practise it yourself just where you are.