True Religion
Mark this, my dear Brothers:—Let every one be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry; for the anger of man does not forward the righteous purpose of God. Therefore, have done with all filthiness and whatever wickedness still remains, and in a humble spirit receive that Message which has been planted in your hearts and is able to save your souls. Put that Message into practice, and do not merely listen to it—deceiving yourselves. For, when any one listens to it and does not practise it, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. He looks at himself, then goes on his way, and immediately forgets what he is like. But he who looks carefully into the perfect Law, the Law of Freedom, and continues to do so, not listening to it and then forgetting it, but putting it into practice—that man will be blessed in what he does. When a man appears to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue, but imposes upon his own conscience, that man’s religious observances are valueless. That religious observance which is pure and spotless in the eyes of God our Father is this—to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the world.
—James, a Brother of Jesus.
A Monument of Good Deeds
Do good, and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storms of time can never destroy. Write your name in kindness, love, and mercy on the hearts of the thousands you come in contact with year by year; you will never be forgotten. No, your name, your deeds, will be as legible on the hearts you leave behind as the stars on the brow of the evening.
—Thomas Chalmers.