Advice To The Young
My son, be this thy simple plan:
Serve God, and love thy brother man;
Forget not, in temptation’s hour,
That sin lends sorrow double power;
Count life a stage upon thy way,
And follow conscience, come what may;
Alike with earth and Heaven sincere,
With hand and brow and bosom clear,
“Fear God, and know no other fear.”
—Anon.
The Higher Good
Father, I will not ask for wealth or fame,
Though once they would have joyed my carnal sense;
I shudder not to bear a hated name,
Wanting all wealth—myself my sole defence.
But give me, Lord, eyes to behold the truth,
A seeing sense that knows eternal right,
A heart with pity filled, and gentle ruth,
A manly faith that makes all darkness light;
Give me the power to labor for mankind;
Make me the mouth of those that cannot speak;
Eyes let me be to groping men and blind;
A conscience to the base; and to the weak
Let me be hands and feet; and to the foolish, mind;
And lead still farther on such as Thy Kingdom seek.
—Theodore Parker.
Troubles That Never Come
Some of your hurts you have cured,
And the sharpest you still have survived.
But what torments of grief you endured
From evils that never arrived!
—Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Alternate Reading: Acts 17:16-31.