neither toil nor spin
A reference to Jesus's parables in Matthew 6:25-31: "Therefore I
say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat,
or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put
on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking
thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye
thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto
you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one
of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,
which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he
not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no
thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed?" (See also Luke 12:27.)
