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THE GOLDEN RULE IN THE HOME

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Dec 14, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 49.

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THE GOLDEN RULE IN THE HOME.

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

BY MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.
“ALL things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them.”
WHAT a blessed revolution would transform this poor sin-sick world into an Eden of happiness, if every nation and kindred and tongue and people and family would obey this simple command from the lips of the Divine Nazarene, who “spake as never man spake.”
Suppose every one should agree to do this, even for one little year. It would settle every dispute under the sun; it would close every saloon that ever cursed this earth; it would give peace and plenty and prosperity, where now poverty and lust and greed hold sway. It would close every poorhouse and fill the mouths and the pockets of every inmate. It would bury every grievance between man and man. The ships of war would be turned into vessels of mercy and peace. The roar of the cannon would not be heard. The groans of a thousand men torn to pieces on the field of battle would be hushed.
Down with the red badge of war! Up with the white banner of peace!
No more crime, with its awful record of blood. O, what a year of jubilee it would be! what a time of rejoicing for the sons of men!
One of the ways in which we are most apt to break this golden commandment is by saying things about others which we would very much dislike them to say about us. How many of us stand condemned in presence of that wonderful verse about not taking up a reproach against our neighbor? Then what shall we say of those Christians who so far forget the Spirit of the Master as to take up a reproach against their own flesh and blood?
“I don’t suppose Jack will stick to his principles very long,” said a young wife to me in presence of her husband. “I believe he would give up his religion to-day, if it were not for me to sort of hold him stationary.”
“O, my friend,” thought I, “you are forgetting the golden rule. Such words as these from your husband’s lips regarding you, would almost break your heart. Such expressions are, to say the least, in very bad taste.”
I turned to see what effect the cruel speech would have upon poor Jack. He was quite distressed and altogether embarrassed; and no wonder. I took him by the hand, and said:
“I have no expectation of your giving up. I am sure I shall never be disappointed in you.”
O woman, woman! If you would receive much, expect much. If you would have your husband discouraged, despondent, disagreeable—aye, back-slidden—let him see by word and action that you have no confidence in him.
Now, if we live up to the Golden Rule at home, it will be easy to do the same away from home and in the every-day business of life. The other day, going down town, I glanced in at the window of a certain office, and saw a very strange motto printed in large letters on a chart, and hanging up on the wall. I looked twice to be sure that my eyes did not deceive me. Certainly it was a very appropriate motto for a business office—but a very unusual one:
“What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Since the gentleman was an acquaintance of mine, I took the liberty to speak to him about the motto; his answer was: “When I can’t live up to that verse in my affairs, I would better quit business.”
“O, here is an example well worth following,” I thought. No danger but this man is trying to do unto others as he would have them do to him.
“But,” says some one whose pocket-book has not yet been converted, “If I really lived up to the Golden Rule, I could not get a living for my family; and you know the Bible says that ‘if any provide not for his own,’ he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Yes; I know it does; and I have known people who could not—or did not—repeat any other verse in the whole Bible but this one. They forget the verse which says: “Blessed is he that considereth the poor,” and “He that watereth shall be watered also himself,” and that we are commanded to have a care for the stranger, the widow, and the orphan.
Almost from my window I can see a plain, large, roomy house. I believe, if our eyes could be opened, we should see many angels from the glory land watching over that home,—and that it is under the special guardianship of the Most High. Why?—Because it is the home of a man high up in the church? Because the family wardrobe is costly and beautiful? Because they spend much money in converting the heathen?—O, no; in that home are scores of precious little ones gathered from the east and the west,—little ones like those to whom Christ said: “Suffer little children to come unto Me.” Many of these poor little ones have no sweet memory of a tender mother or loving father. Ah, how would we feel, if our own dearly-loved children were thrown on the mercy of a cold and selfish world, with none to care for them. Well, somebody’s children are just in that condition. And so, with a heart filled with the love which is the mainspring of the Golden Rule, the large, roomy home has been prepared.
O, I say, God bless the loving hands of those who minister there! and God bless—and He will bless—the basket and the store of those who help to supply the needs of the helpless. Shall we be so selfish as to forget our duty to these lambs of Christ?—God forbid!
“But,” some one still protests, “I must see to the clothing and the proper education of my own children. I am helping to support the church school. There ought to be a church school in every church,—don’t you think so?”
Yes, yes; I agree with you,—and more. In a church of fifty families there ought to be just fifty church schools and fifty church-school teachers,—tho one hundred is better,—for surely the father should assist the mother in the religious training of the child. And would it not be beautiful for you to teach your own that they must sacrifice for those little ones more unfortunate than they,—and that even Christ pleased not Himself? Then shall the blessing of Him who has said, “Inasmuch as ye would have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto Me,” be yours. It may be a little deed, even a cup of cold water, but it will be remembered and rewarded.
The other morning I wandered to the top of a high hill from which the whole city can be seen. But it was early, and a hazy mist covered the lower lands. Only now and then the white spire of some church pointed through the mist like a finger toward the sky. But the winding river and the beautiful foliage and the vine-covered cottages could not be seen. They were covered with the mist. And so, I thought; this is a picture of the lives of some. They have done many good works, but nobody seems to know about it, because they are done quietly. No blaring trumpet has announced the generous act or the kind word spoken, and no lengthy column in the newspaper has advertised it. But the Most High has seen it all, and the record of the angels will be read some day; and the mist-covered lives of those who have lived in unselfishness, and who have reflected the Golden Rule of love at home and abroad, will shine in all their beauty.
O, some day, sometime, this sin-cursed earth, over which the thief and the murderer and the selfish money-getter stalk unbound; this old earth, where the Golden Rule is held at a discount, and over which the briar and the thistle,—those marks of the curse,—abound, will emerge from the mists of sin and darkness and evil, and will bloom like the rose,—the fair capital of God’s great universe. O, our God has great things in store for His one lost sheep.
Some day the Rule of Love will be the only rule. Selfishness will be banished forevermore. Sin, sorrow, suffering, forgotten; and those who have followed their Master’s blessed example of utter unselfishness will spend a glorious eternity in His presence. Shall we be there?