THE GOLDEN RULE.
The moral teachings of the Bible are not original. Back of the pyramids in pre-historic times mothers taught their children to be kind to each other. Not from heaven but out of the human heart came the golden rule. A mother’s love was sufficient to reveal this best rule of life. Human inspiration is the only inspiration needed to call forth the expression—“Do unto others as ye would have them do unto you.”
Sixty years before the Christian era, Hellel, a Jewish rabbi wrote: “Do not do to others, what you would not like others to do to you.”
Two hundred and eighty years before Christ, Epicurus said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Three hundred and fifty years before Christ, Socrates said: “Act toward others as you desire them to act toward you.”
Three hundred and seventy years before Christ, Aristippus said: “Cherish reciprocal benevolence, which will make you as anxious for another’s welfare as your own.”
Three hundred and eighty-five years before Christ, Aristotle wrote: “We should conduct ourselves toward others, as we would have them act toward us.”
Four hundred years before Christ, Sextus said: “What you wish your neighbors to be to you, such be also to them.”
Four hundred and twenty years before Christ, Plato wrote: “May I do to others as I would have them do to me.”
Five hundred years before Christ, Confucius taught: “Do unto another what you would have him do to you, and do not to another what you would not have him do unto you: it is the foundation principle of all the rest.” (24th Maxim Confucius.) Jesus concludes by saying, “For this is the law and the prophets,” and Confucius closes his rule by observing, “Thou only needst this law alone; it is the foundation and principle of all the rest.”
And it should not be overlooked that Jesus, in thus attributing the golden rule to “the law and the prophets,” disclaims its authorship. Confucius does the same.
Six hundred years before Christ, Thales said: “Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing.”
Six hundred and fifty years before Christ, Pittacus taught: “Do not do to your neighbor what you would take ill from him.”
“That the system of morals propounded in the New Testament contains no maxim which had not been previously enunciated, and that some of the most beautiful passages in the apostolic writings are quotations from Pagan authors, are well known to every scholar; and so far from supplying, as some suppose, an objection against Christianity, it is a strong recommendation of it, as indicating the intimate relation between the doctrines of Christ and the moral sympathies of mankind in different ages. But to assert that Christianity communicated to man moral truths previously unknown, argues on the part of the assertor, either gross ignorance or else wilful fraud.” (Buckle, “History of Civilization,” vol. 1, p. 129.)
“Did space admit, I could cite numerous passages from Enoch in close correspondence with the New Testament scripture, in many cases almost word for word. In that book, as in the Talmud, and as was held by the Jews in general (saving the Sadducees), may be found the exact doctrines taught by Jesus relative to the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, the resurrection of the dead, the day of judgment, the punishment of the wicked in everlasting fire, and the reward of the righteous in heaven. The eschatology of Jesus is borrowed in toto from that prevalent in Judea during his lifetime. Not one single new idea respecting the ‘four final things,’ death, judgment, heaven, and hell, can be found in Jesus’ teachings as embodied in the gospels.”—Wm. Emmette Coleman.