Chapter 142—The Golden Rule
In your association with others, put yourself in their place. Enter
into their feelings, their difficulties, their disappointments, their joys,
and their sorrows. Identify yourself with them, and then do to them
as, were you to exchange places with them, you would wish them to
deal with you. This is the true rule of honesty. It is another expression
of the law, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” And it is the
substance of the teaching of the prophets. It is a principle of heaven,
and will be developed in all who are fitted for its holy companionship.
The golden rule is the principle of true courtesy, and its truest
illustration is seen in the life and character of Jesus. Oh, what rays
of softness and beauty shone forth in the daily life of our Saviour!
What sweetness flowed from His very presence! The same spirit will
be revealed in His children. Those with whom Christ dwells will be
surrounded with a divine atmosphere. Their white robes of purity will
be fragrant with perfume from the garden of the Lord. Their faces will
reflect light from His, brightening the path for stumbling and weary
feet.
No man who has the true ideal of what constitutes a perfect char-
acter will fail to manifest the sympathy and tenderness of Christ. The
influence of grace is to soften the heart, to refine and purify the feel-
ings, giving a heaven-born delicacy and sense of propriety.—
Thoughts
from the Mount of Blessing, 134, 135
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