WORK FOR HEAVEN | AdventAI

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 22, 1857

WORK FOR HEAVEN.

If thou hast thrown a glorious thought Upon life's common ways, Should other men the gain have caught, Fret not to lose the praise.

Great thinker, often shalt thou find, While folly plunders fame, To thy rich store the crowd is blind, Nor knows thy very name.

What matter that, if thou uncoil The soul that God has given; Not in the world's mean eye to toil, But in the sight of heaven.

If thou art true, yet in thee lurks For fame a human sigh, To nature go and see how works That handmaid of the sky.

Her own deep bounty she forgets, Is full of germs and seeds; Nor glorifies herself, nor sets Her flowers above her weeds.

She hides the modest leaves between, She loves untrodden roads; Her richest treasures are not seen By any eye but God's.

Accept the lesson. Look not for Reward; from out thee chase All selfish ends, and ask no more Than to fulfill thy place.—Sel.