Consider
The sparrows of the air, of small account:
Our God doth view
Whether they fall or mount—
He guards us too.
Consider
The lilies, that do neither spin nor toil,
Yet are most fair—
What profits all this care,
And all this coil?
Consider
The birds, that have no barn nor harvest-weeks;
God gives them food—
Much more our Father seeks
To do us good.
The Elixir
Teach me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in anything,
To do it as for Thee.
* * * *
All may of Thee partake:
Nothing can be so mean
Which with this tincture (for Thy sake)
Will not grow bright and clean.
A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine:
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws,
Makes that and th' action fine.
This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold;
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told.