After playing many parts, such as being a medium of decorative art, a standard of value, and a means of good and evil in society, along with higher uses in the coinage of empires and the representation of the Godhead, gold renders its last symbolic service in providing a pavement for the feet of the saints (Rev 2V^).
G. M. Mackie.
GOLDEN RULE, — This name is given to a saying of Jesus recorded in the Sermon on the Mount. In Mt 7" its form is fuller and probably more original than in Lk 6^'. The omission of the sentence, ' for this is the law and the prophets,' by the Gentile Evangelist, is in accord with the pur- pose of his Gospel ; other variations may be due either to changes made in the course of oral trans- mission, or to divergences in two translations into Greek from the Aramaic. The two versions of the saying are as follows :
Mt 712 ' AH things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them : for this is the law and the prophets. '
Lk 631 ■ And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.'
The saying is rightly called a rule, for it lays down a general principle for moral guidance, and furnishes a ready test of the social value of words and deeds. But it presupposes an ideal of social well-being which determines the end of conduct ; its function is to prescribe means for the attain- ment of that end. To the disciples of Christ the coming of the Kingdom of God is the supreme end ; for them this saying is, therefore, the golden rule, furnishing a standard of excellence whose practical value consists in its universal applica- bility. Interpreted in the spirit of Christ, the rule, ' Do as you would be done by,' implies the em- bodiment in action of the prayer, ' Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth ' ; they who walk by this rule are doing all that in them lies to bring in the Golden Age. Disparagement of the saying is tlie result either of failure to fathom the depths of its meaning, or of the rejection of Christ's teach- ing in regard to the blessedness in which all men's good consists.
The interpretation of the Golden Rule is little, it at all, affected by the connexion of thought. In the two Gospels the context varies. Wendt follows Luke's order, though this necessitates the reference of ' therefore ' in Mt 712 to Mt &*i— which corresponds to Lk 630. On this supposition
the word 'therefore'
appear superflu
Zahn
rejects it ou slight MS authority, because it seems to introduce a summary, which he regards as out of place here (N^ L minn. SyrPfii om. oSV). Yet Bengel's pithy comment, ' Imitate the Divine goodness,' suggests a natural link with the previous verse; as the Father gives 'good things' to His children in response to the jirayer which expresses desire to receive thera, so the motive of His children's actions should be a wish that others may share in the enjoyment of those good things from above. Another interpretation which preserves the unity of the Sermon on the Mount is that our Lord followed His en- couragement to prayer by the reminder that if prayer is to be heard there must be a good life (Chrysostom). It is e(|\ially true, however, that the good life is impossible without prayer'; the Father hears us when w-e ask His help, ' there/ore the most difficult duties of unselfish brotherly love to 'men become possible to us ' (Dykes, Manifesto of the Kiiitj, p. 572). The two views are complementary and not mutually exclusive. If we are doing unto others as Christ would have us do. He assures us that His Father will hear our prayers ; on the other hand, if we wUl pray. He assures us that His Father will bestow the gifts of grace which will enable us to walk in love. In our Lord's farewell discourse there is a similar interdependence of thought. Communion with the Father in Christ's name is a means to an end, even the bearing of much fruit (Jn 167f.) ; on the other hand, it is to disciples whose lives are fruitful that the promise of receiving what they ask is given (v.lti).
The Golden Rule is not, as some philosophers have held, a mere law of nature. Nevertheless, at the basis of this contention there lies a truth, well expressed by Wesley : ' It commends itself, as soon as heard, to every man's conscience and understanding ; insomuch that no man can know- ingly offend against it, without carrying his con- demnation in his own breast ' {Sermon xxx. § 22). Hobbes declares that moral regulations, which he calls ' immutable and eternal laws of nature,' may all be summarized in the simi>le formula, ' Do not that to another which thou wouldest not; have done to thyself.' ' It is clear,' as Sidgwick points out {ITist. of Ethics'', p. 167 n.), ' that Hobbes does not distinguish this formula from tlie well-known "golden rule" of the Gospel, — cf. Leviathan, ch. XV. p. 79, and ch. xvii. p. 85, — whereas the formula above quoted is, of course, the golden rule taken only in its negative application, as prescribing abstinences, not positive services.'