THE GOLDEN RULE by Josephine Mott

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 18, 1877

THE GOLDEN RULE.

By Josephine Mott

“As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”

SUPPOSE, my friend, my brother, my sister, that you had wronged some one in some way (for we are all liable to err), and you should ask the forgiveness of that person for the wrong you had done him, honestly seeking to be forgiven, feeling sorrow of heart that you had wronged and grieved him, yet should be refused pardon on the ground that he had no faith in your sorrow and repentance, would you not feel that it was unjust? that he had no right to judge your motives? Would you not feel that he was not following the rule the Saviour gave to forgive, not only seven times, but seventy times seven, and so falling under the condemnation, “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Yet how often have you done the same thing when others have sinned against you! You say they must prove by their fruits that they are sorry, and mean to do better. How can they, if you don’t give them a chance to do so, by giving them your forgiveness and with it your confidence in such a degree as to treat them as a brother or a sister. If you turn a cold shoulder to them, and drive them away from you as if you thought they were vipers, will you not by this course, if they are sincere, drive them into the opposite course again, and perhaps cause them to lose their souls? They may be vipers, for God alone knows the heart, but you have no right to say they are until they prove themselves such. You ought to treat them lovingly, gently, and kindly, and help them along in the good way.

Of course you have no reason to trust them with secrets, thus giving them a chance to harm you should they prove traitors; but treat them as erring fellow-beings for whom you have (or should have) a tender, loving care to help them on in the pathway of life, and aid them to find a home in the new earth. Your own hearts will be happier, you will be better men and women, than if you continued to nurse that bitter feeling against your neighbor that is now festering in your heart. Pray that God may help you to put away this evil from your heart. Think on these things. Remember the words of Christ: “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” JOSEPHINE MOTT. Princeville, Peoria Co., Ill.