Men use the word golden as descriptive of that which is precious, auspicious, or excellent, and have agreed that the rule for conduct given by Christ Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, that whatever men would like others to do to them, just the same should they do to those others, was indeed the golden rule. Now, it has been said that this rule is not special to Christianity but was formulated in human philosophy long prior to the days of Jesus. We find, however, that when formulated as for instance by Confucius, it has not the heart of Christian feeling, being just the negative expression of worldly wisdom, that one should avoid doing to another what he would detest having that other do to him. But in the positive expression of Jesus there is warmth and good will, for his counsel means just this: As you would like men to do to you, so do to them. From such a course of conduct love cannot be absent, nor, indeed, is there lacking that fine imagination whereby you put yourself in the place of another and determine the kindest way for dealing with him.
"Do as you would be done by" is the popular phrasing of the rule, and "Be done by as you did," the expression of judgment on those who disregard it. Now if a man has lived according to the lex talionis, or law of tooth and claw, if his fortune and power have been acquired by the method of the wolf and the wildcat, the judgment might seem severe if it meant that the aggregate of his woundings of others must come back upon himself. But there are plenty of warnings to human beings that they should not give animalism play in their lives. The warning, "He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy," parallels the beatitude, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Evidently it is the merciful life which will triumph in the day of judgment and receive according to its actions, so every man is day by day providing the verdict upon his own life. Indeed Mrs. Eddy shows that we need expect no spectacular day of judgment when the special few shall have special favor, for she tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 291): "No final judgment awaits mortals, for the judgment-day of wisdom comes hourly and continually, even the judgment by which mortal man is divested of all material error."
Exhorters have tried to instill into listeners some sense of the need for careful consideration of their actions by such advice as, "Live to-day as if to-morrow might be the judgment day," but somehow the consideration of to-morrow has little influence with those who say, "Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die." To gain the wherewithal for eating and drinking to-day, they will engage in strange trades wherein thriftless corrupters of youth, heartless slave dealers, vice promoters, and the purveyors of morality-quenching drugs are regular employees. A life ruined is not a pretty thing. For the libertine to taste the woe of but one life poisoned by his brutality would seem severe punishment. What if he must trace out every ugly pattern and make restitution for every wrong done? If this be the case, he cannot start upon the work of reformation too soon. Indeed, every one of us should seek reformation. We are wise if we unwind the snarls quickly while it is now. The teaching of the Christian Science textbook is quite clear (Science and Health, p. 240): "In trying to undo the errors of sense one must pay fully and fairly the utmost farthing, until all error is finally brought into subjection to Truth. The divine method of paying sin's wages involves unwinding one's snarls, and learning from experience how to divide between sense and Soul."
