"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." Matt. 7: 12.
E VERY word of this sublime statement will bear emphasis. "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."
This is, indeed, the "law and the prophets." It is the "substance of all relative duty." It is "the Scripture in a nutshell." This is the rule by which our just and merciful Father in heaven would have us treat one another in this desolate world. And if this grand yet simple precept were obeyed by all, much of the sorrow and pain and cruelty now inflicted upon the human family would not be known.
But this was a religion with which the masses to whom Christ was speaking were unacquainted. This was a kind of treatment they had never witnessed. True, the principle had been set forth in the law and by the prophets; but it was not understood, and of course not lived out.
EVEN THE TEACHERS KNEW IT NOT
The great teachers themselves had failed to comprehend the principle, and were trampling it beneath their feet. Christ pointed this out, and told the people that their righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Said He, "Do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not." They bound heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, and laid them on men's shoulders; but they themselves would not move them with one of their fingers. They devoured widows' houses. They sought the uppermost rooms at the feasts, the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.
All this was the exaltation of self and a flagrant violation of the law and the prophets, which they daily expounded to the people.
The law inculcates love; and "love worketh no ill to his neighbor." To live the law in reference to our duty to our fellow men, is to treat others, under all circumstances, just as we would have them treat us were we in their place. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," is the sum of the last six commandments of the Decalogue.
AS FOUND IN OLD TESTAMENT PRECEPT
This was taught most positively by Moses and the prophets. Said Moses, "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have." Lev. 19: 35, 36. "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him. . . . Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child." Ex. 22: 21, 22. The rich were not to exact usury from the poor. The raiment taken for a pledge was to be restored before the "sun goeth down." The last sheaf was not to be taken from the field, nor the last grape from the vine. "It shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow." Deut. 24: 19-21. "Show mercy and compassions every man to his brother: . . . and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart." Zech. 7: 9, 10.
This and much more is the teaching of the law and the prophets respecting man's duty to his fellow men. Every one is to consider the trying, unfortunate position of his neighbor, and then treat him with the justice, mercy, and compassion that he himself would crave. Accordingly, the apostle says: "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil-speaking,
be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another."
"Love is the fulfilling of the law," and "love seeketh not her own." "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."
A. G. D.
