Happy are we that Ancient and Accepted Freemasonry should hold aloft to us the great lights to show the way to the highest goals of moral and ethical achievement.

Happy also should we be that the name of our lodge, Golden Rule, throws so much more additional illumination on Freemasonry's goals.

In the King James version, Matthew (7: 12) states it this way: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye should that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets. " Luke (6:31) compacts it more: "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."

It is reminiscent of the command to "love thy neighbor as thyself" as found in Leviticus ( 19: 18). In its negative form it is given in Tobias ( 4: 15) as "Do not do to others what you would not like done to yourselves. " Such approach was widespread in the early church. It occurs in the Second Century documents, "Oidache" and " Apology of Aristides," and well may have formed part of an early catechism.

But remember this. The Golden Rule is not exclusively a precept of Christianity. Practically every major religion had its own golden rule in one form or another .

Socrates enunciated the maxim, "Do not do to others that which you would be angry if you suffered it from others. "

Plato in his "New Republic" laid down the rule of similar purport.

Aristotle, questioned as to how he should behave to friendship, said, "Exaclty' as we would they should behave to us. "

Confucius, centuries before Christ, gave this as a guide to man's whole life: "What you do not like if done to yourself, do not do to others. " He labeled it the ultimate rule.

Buddha, without precise wording, gave expression to the aphorism. It more nearly approaches the maxim of St. Paul, "Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep. "

As a principle of justice, the precept obtained a wide acceptance among the best and most enlightened intellects of the ancient world. It was a restraining power, a guide of what they ought NOT to do, rather than of what they ought to do.

Our Golden Rule is the summary of the Christian's duty to his neighbor and states a fundamental ethical principle, the sum and method of Christian morality. Modern moralists and Christian writers in particular emphasize it as a first principle, a general exhortation, not a scientific definition. It is no mere dictate of prudence, not just a counsel of humanity but a check to individual selfishness.

Christianity on its practical side has the Golden Rule as its lodestar, and Masons should also. So mote it be.