The Sum Of True Righteousness
This is the sum of true righteousness—
Treat others as thou wouldst thyself be treated.
Do nothing to thy neighbor which hereafter
Thou wouldst not have thy neighbor do to thee.
In causing pleasure or in giving pain,
In doing good or injury to others,
In granting or refusing a request,
A man obtains a proper rule of action
By looking on his neighbor as himself.
—The Maha-Bharata
God The Builder Of The World
When we see a stately house, although we see not the man who built it, yet will we conclude shus: Surely some wise artificer has been working here. Can we, when we behold the stately theatre of Heaven and Earth, conclude other than that the finger, arms, and wisdom of God have been here, although we see not Him that is invisible, and although we know not the time when He began to build? Every creature in Heaven and Earth is a loud preacher of this truth. Who set those candles, those torches of Heaven? Could any frame a man but one wiser and greater than man? What power of men or angels can make the least blade of grass, or put life into the least fly, if once dead? There is, therefore, a Power over all created power, which is God.
—Thomas Shepard.
Duty
When duty comes a-knocking at your gate,
Welcome him in, for if you bid him wait,
He will depart only to come once more
And bring seven other duties to your door.
—Edwin Markham.
Alternate Reading: I Peter 2: 13-22.