Norwich bulletin., 1915-06-26
Sunday Morning Talk
GOLDEN FLEECE OR GOLDEN
 RULE.

A great and famous order of knight hood dates from the year 143O, when Philip Duke of Burgundy, established, on the occasion of his marriage with the Infanta Isabella of Portugal, the order of the Golden Fleece, an insti- tuition still existing in several coun- tries or Europe. None by the richest and purest born-and they only in l1n- ited numbers-were admitted to It's honors and privileges. The badge Of the order is golden ram. % wnicn hangs from a jewel of elaborate design bearing the proud device in Latin, Wealth, not servile labor"
 The Order of the Golden Fleece ex- ists unnamed, in our own America, too Its members form a useless and, let us gratefully add, strictly limited class. For the truth is that the over whelming mass of our countrymen hold no prejudice against labor. Most of our millionaires even work harder than their clerks and consider idleness not an honor, but disgrace
 Jesus of Nazareth gave the world an order more noble and enduring than this old relic of feudal times-the Or der of the Golden Rule. The poorest and the humblest in the world may enter it, and on no conditions what ever save possession of the Christian spirit of unselfish service. The knights
 
 They deliberately try to be useful art CT the manner of their Founder, who girded himself with a towel and per formed a slaves office for his disci- pies. Membership in such a company may not appeal to modern brothers of the aristocratic and forgotten Duke of Burgundy, but it is a prize to be grasped at by all who really catch a vision of what life means. We are not here to get as much as we can and to give as little. Men must make some contribution to human welfare if they are to be worthy, even of their board and clothes. They only have a right to collect a living who give the world a life. Let the words of the Master of Men be remembered: He that would be great among you shall be servant of all.'
 Two ragged street urchins stood one day before the window of a picture store in London, and one cried out: Look, Jim, iook!" What is it ?' Jim asked; and the little fellow answered: 'Why, there he is. That's our earli' It was the photograph of the Earl of truth, the earl of the poor and po- pressed. Nobly did he live up to the ancient motto of his family-"Love; Serve" At his funeral a laboring man was heard to say with a sob in his voice. Our Earls gone. God Almighty h1AOWS 1S 4ONSo us. we SAIoIl see HIS likes again."
 All the world once thought that the idle man was the gentleman. Jesus reversed that estimate and gave the crown only to him who serves. Re- igion today is interpreted as being not so much 8 passive experience as an ac- tive endeavor. The church is not so much a rest cure as a moral power house. Religion is at work as never before in the building of new social order.
 Put beside the motto of the Order of the Golden Fleece the motto of John Wesley. whose mighty and beneficent spirit is still at work in every land. Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can. as long as ever you can." There is a. big difference between the two attitudes Which represents more nearly the ideal of your life and the goal of all yosz= striving?
 THE RARS0N