quote · Legacy record
My faith begins where your religion ends,— In service to mankind. This single thread Is given to guide us through the maze of life. You start at one end, I the other; you, With eyes fixed only upon God, begin With lofty faith, and, seeking but to know And do His will who guides the universe, You find the slender and mysterious thread Leads down to earth, with God's divine command To help your fellowmen; but this to me Is something strangely vague. I see alone The fellowmen, the suffering fellowmen. Yet, with a cup of water in my hand For all who thirst, who knows but I one day, Following faithfully the slender thread, May reach its other end, and kneel at last With you in heaven at the feet of God?
My faith begins where your religion ends,— In service to mankind. This single thread Is given to guide us through the maze of life. You start at one end, I the other; you, With eyes fixed only upon God, begin With lofty faith, and, seeking but to know And do His will who guides the universe, You find the slender and mysterious thread Leads down to earth, with God's divine command To help your fellowmen; but this to me Is something strangely vague. I see alone The fellowmen, the suffering fellowmen. Yet, with a cup of water in my hand For all who thirst, who knows but I one day, Following faithfully the slender thread, May reach its other end, and kneel at last With you in heaven at the feet of God?
In print by 1911 AD · modern
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Alice W. Rollins
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1911 AD · modern
In print by 1911: recorded in The Optimist’s Good Morning (1911). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- The Optimist’s Good Morning (1911) (1911 AD)
Complete signed selection 25; printed byline: Alice Wellington Rollins; Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911; printed copyright 1907
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.