God, Soul, And World.
By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Who trusts in God,
Fears not His rod.
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This truth may be by all believed:
Whom God deceives, is well deceived.
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How? when? and where? No answer comes from high;
Thou wait'st for the Because, and yet thou ask'st not Why?
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If the whole is ever to gladden thee,
That whole in the smallest thing thou must see.
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Water its living strength first shows,
When obstacles its course oppose.
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Transparent appears the radiant air,
Though steel and stone in its breast it may bear;
At length they'll meet with fiery power,
And metal and stones on the earth will shower.
Whate'er a living flame may surround,
No longer is shapeless, or earthly bound.
'Tis now invisible, flies from earth,
And hastens on high to the place of its birth.