<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<h4><SPAN href="#95">"CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD."</SPAN></h4>
<p>Flowers preach to us if we will hear:--<br/>
The rose saith in the dewy morn,<br/>
I am most fair;<br/>
Yet all my loveliness is born<br/>
Upon a thorn.<br/>
The poppy saith amid the corn:<br/>
Let but my scarlet head appear<br/>
And I am held in scorn;<br/>
Yet juice of subtle virtue lies<br/>
Within my cup of curious dyes.<br/>
The lilies say: Behold how we<br/>
Preach without words of purity.<br/>
The violets whisper from the shade<br/>
Which their own leaves have made:<br/>
Men scent our fragrance on the air,<br/>
Yet take no heed<br/>
Of humble lessons we would read.<br/>
<br/>
But not alone the fairest flowers:<br/>
The merest grass<br/>
Along the roadside where we pass,<br/>
Lichen and moss and sturdy weed,<br/>
Tell of His love who sends the dew,<br/>
The rain and sunshine too,<br/>
To nourish one small seed.</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />