The speaker talks about how the days of the warrior society and its great rulers has come to an end. In doing so, he notes the transition from a warrior society to a Christian culture. The speaker is bittersweet about this, and he uses this transition to make his own transition in the poem. After lamenting his hardships at sea and making this struggle an allegory for struggles in life, the speaker begins talking more spiritually. He notes that any fame and riches a ruler or warrior might obtain in life will mean nothing to God. He therefore warns people that if they have lived a sinful life, fame and fortune will not help them get into heaven:

Opens his palms, and pours down gold
On his kinsman's grave, strewing his coffin
With treasures intended for Heaven, but nothing
Golden shakes the wrath of God 
For a soul overflowing with sin, and nothing 
Hidden on earth rises to Heaven.

The speaker goes on to list virtues that will help one get into heaven. "He who lives humbly has angels from Heaven / To carry him courage and strength and belief." In other words, humility will manifest in courage and belief (faith).

The speaker then offers a seemingly less generous version of the Golden Rule with "Treat all the world as the world deserves." This might be a combination of the warrior society's "eye for an eye" philosophy and the Golden Rule characterized in Christian teachings. However, the speaker follows this by encouraging people to practice peace, calling on them to treat others with love or with hate but "never with harm." He concludes that people should direct their thoughts to "where our home is." Here, home means Heaven, God, and/or the afterlife. In other words, people should live their lives according to God's purpose and spiritual teachings.

The speaker catalogues the qualities that might earn a person a place in heaven at the end of the poem, in lines 108-116.  He highlights the virtues of humility, courage, faith, chastity and love, saying,

"He who lives humbly has angels from Heaven
To carry him courage and strength and belief".

He emphasizes the importance of self-moderation and control, especially as it pertains to the element of pride, admonishing,

"A man must conquer pride, not kill it,
Be firm with his fellows, chaste for himself".

Finally, he offers a treatise on the "Golden Rule", outlining how one who wishes to attain heaven must treat others, and stressing that one must never do harm, no matter what the circumstances.  He says,

"Treat all the world as the world deserves,
With love or with hate but never with harm,
Thought an enemy seek to scorch him in hell,
Or set the flames of a funeral pyre
Under his lord".