The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1910-02-17
THE GOLDEN RULE
OF THE KINGDOM
international Bible Lesson for Feb.
20, '1o.--(Matt. 7:1-12).

what shall be the attitude of the chill.
dren of the kingdom toward the evil
which they cannot but see in the peo.
ple of the world among whom they
live.
In the wonderful Sermon on the
Mount which we are still considerlny.
the Christ meets the question and an.
swers 1t fully, frankly. satisfactorily.
He utters two warnings, each against
dangers lying in opposite directions.
the one, the danger of making too
much of the evil we see. or think we
see, in others; the other that of max.
ing too little of It,
Consciousness Rehuked.
The first danger to guard against
is Consciousness. His golden rule Is
Judge not. that ye be not Judged"
As if He had said, AS you Judge you
shall be judged, on the general prlnci.
pie that as you give to others they
will give to you. charity for charity.
severity for severity, generosity for
generosity. uncharltableness for un.
charitableness.
Men are socially interdepepdent.
and must have dealings with each
other; must meet, know, counsel, help.
and bargain with their fellows. II IS
well then to keep in mind the laws OF
social intercourse. and always Put
yourself in his place" The law Is not.
do to others what we would have
them do to us. (this might become
mere barter) but do to them what we
think they would wish to have done to
them. DO to them what we would
wish to have done to us II we were in
their situation. This is the highcst
and most revolutionary rule in the
world.
Now one of the most important roa.
sons for being careful in our judgment
of others He points out is that there
is so much evil in ourselves. The
difficulty with most men is. they pose
as occulists and optometrists, discoy.
ering notes in the eyes OF others. OBJ
livious grafters in their own. Christ
says, in effect II you would be skill
full occulist in spiritual affairs put
yourself in the hands of divine prac-
toner and allow him to extract the
beam from your own eye. then you
will see clearly. The trouble with
most OF us Is we are afflicted with
such personal strabismus that we
think the beam is in the eyes of the
other fellow. The consciousness of
our own imperfections should moder-
ate our personal judgments.
Here is the fault of many reform
er-so-called. He Is Jealous to re-
form his neighbor. but Indifferent re.
specting himself So that men who
are strong on one particular line OF
Improvement of others may be as far
or from personal righteousness them.
selves, in some other direction. The
golden rule of the kingdom will save
us from using a spy-glass on other
people and refusing to gaze into the
looking glass ourselves. We shall
not carry the sins of our neighbors In
front OF us and those of ourselves be-
hind us. There are very few people
who are as merciless in judgment OF
their own sins as of those of their
fellow men. What we call errors OF
judgment in ourselves are criminal
actions when committed by others.
Hence We have soft words for our own
sins. and blistering condemnation for
the sins of others. 1t Is against this
spirit of harsh, and unrelenting criti.
cism of other people that this lesson
utters its loudest warning.
Discrimination Urged.
But there is another side to the sub
. i- n a cnhiapfC /
is this: In our attitude toward the
evil in the world we should not make
too little of it, Though We may not
Judge, we should discriminate. We
must not go so far to the other eX.
treme as to insist that there are no
such things as notes and beams, in
other words that sin is all in your
eye. There are holy things and there
are dogs and swine. and Christ says.
You are TO be careful not to cast yonr
pearls before swine, nor give that
which is holy into the dogs. Swine
are swine and no amount of washing
and attention will convert them into
sheep. We are under no obligation
to insist that black Is white and that
there Is no difference between the
molly and the unholy.
Not Judgment but Caution.
Some things there are which are
too holy and sacred to be thrown out
carelessly among those who would
surely reject them with contempt and
savage hatred. If you do not want
your pearls to be trodden under foot
OF men keep them under lock and
Key. When sinners turn swine, and
we are in danger of being rent by
tnem. Christ gives us permission
10 cease our attentions, We may not
Judge, but we must be cautious. We
may not condemn arbitrarily, but we
must distinguish between the false
and the true. and in our desire to be
gentle and kind we must not go to the
other extreme and treat all men alike,
Adaptation requires judgment. Cen