Unhappy is he who mistakes the branch for the tree, the shadow for the substance. Thy yesterday is thy past; thy to-day thy future; thy to-morrow is a secret. The best preacher is the heart; the best teacher is time; the best book is the world; the best friend is God. Life is but a loan to man; death is the creditor who will one day claim it.
Understand a man by his own deeds and words. The impressions of others lead to false judgment. He through whose agency another has been falsely punished stands outside of heaven's gates. The sins of the bad-tempered are greater than his merits.
The man who sins is foolish as well as wicked. The good actions which we perform in this world take form and meet us in the world to come. Better to bear a false accusation in silence, than by speaking to bring the guilty to public shame. He who can feel ashamed will not readily do wrong.
There is a great difference between one who can feel ashamed before his own soul and one who is only ashamed before his fellow-man. God's covenant with us included work; for the command, "Six days shalt thou work and the seventh shalt thou rest," made the " rest " conditional upon the "work.". God first told Adam to dress the Garden of Eden, and to keep it, and then permitted him to eat of the fruit of his labor.
God did not dwell in the midst of Israel till they had worked to deserve His presence, for he commanded, "They shall make me a sanctuary, and then I will dwell in the midst of them.".