Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-02-09
THE GOLDEN RULE.
A Conception OF what the World
would BE IL All Lived
Up TO It.

There is q curious bit Of satire in call
ing this the Golden Rule As we con-
slider gold the most important of all
earthly possessions we christen this
rule of action by the name Of what we
most desire. But, oddly enough, while
we spend our energies and lay the most
careful plans for the acquisition of gold
we are equally shrewd and painstaking
TO find ways IN which TO avoid following
the rule. The two things are equally
necessary to human happiness, so we
think and so we declare, and yet we
take delight in gathering harvest of
gold, but. as for the rule. its practice Is
a great hardship.
| do not say that the Golden Rule is
obsolete, for the word implies that
what was once common has fallen into
disuse. In very truth. there is hardly
passage of Scripture which has ever
been put to as little practical use as
this. There has been time when its
Injunction was a controlling motive
and the best we can do is o hope that in
some far away future time il viii be-
come so. The world knows almost moth
ing of the Golden Rule as an experience.
1t is one of our ideals, theory which
presents many aspects of attractive
beauty, but so far as its realization is
concerned neither you nor ] have any
personal knowledge of its spiritual
value and results. That part of Chris
tianity is very vague, and we even have
doubts as to the possibility of making it
a component part of our lives. 1t is
Int h T1cr an
we often wonder whether society could
be safely administered on that prin-
ciple. Such is the distance between US
and the Christ.
Nevertheless it is doubtless true that
in unselfishness and self-sacrifce is to
be found the secret of spiritual develop
ment and happiness. The philosophy
of getting has been carefully studied,
and we have made ourselves masters of
it, but the philosophy of giving is quite
unknown to US. We cannot see the adj
vantage to be gained by it. TO win the
greatest good by giving all we have
seems so nearly impossible and involves
so much apparent discomfort that we
hesitate to try the experiment. There
is something like contradiction Of
terms in the statement that we can get
everything by giving everything away.
It looks like a specious kind of occult
ism which we dare not trust. and we re-
gard the results which are promised as
a miracle that is not likely to be per-
formed.
And yet the deeper phil osophy of life
lies just there. Some of the rarest souls
that have ever lived have caught a
glimpse of it. but the majority of us
know no more of that sort of religion
than we do of the fourth dimension of
space. We are positively timid about
embarking on that sea of motives and
moral principles lest we drift about and
never reach port. The Christ was ia
miliar with it. His short life was the
best, perhaps the only perfect, illustra-
tion of it, and who will say that His
years were misspent or that He did not
find in it a satisfaction to which we are
utter strangers? He was a treasury
from which all men drew but did He
ever lack that satisfaction of the soul
which we all long for but do not attain?
We look at Him and wonder. We look
again with a sort of hungry desire 10
x
our heads and pronouncing His theory
of life impracticable In reality, how
ever, it is far more practical than any
theory by which our poor lives are gov
erned. more practical than our selfish
ness, which is so earnest in getting and
so chary in giving.
Can you conceive what this world
would be if we were to do unto others
what we would like them TO do unto us?
l confess that my imagination staggers
at the effort. 1t would seem as though
a thousand magicians had been set at
work. No selfshness? Brotherly love
everywhere? Nothing of this wild am
bition which aches out its strong
hand to grasp everything. but a uni
versal desire TO extend help wherever it
was needed? The only rivalry to do
more good than our neighbors? M
wars, no international conflicts, no
swords, but only plowshares? What
world that would be, a very Christ
world, One trembles at the Divine con-
dition of affairs that would be realized.
| have a conviction that in such world
all men would be physically as well as
morally healthy. that we should not die
of disease but of old age, like a clock
which keeps perfect time until the last
tick when ii runs down.
But we can make personal applica-
ton of this rule and be thereby trans
formed | know Of nothing that is
more beneficial to body and soul than
doing a kind act at some sacrifice to
yourself Living for your own comfort
only is a mean and narrow existence.
To have plenty and TO ignore the fact
that Others are starving IS a subtle
cruelty to your better nature. To love
your neighbor with such a love as VIII
compel you to contribute in some way
to his welfare is to have kind Of soul
gladnesS which be alone appreciates
who possesses It. 1t may be a strong
statement. ana very extreme one. but