469.
Seventh Commandment.
“Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
1
In gifts of mercy without number,
The treasury of heaven abounds:
The proof of watchful care paternal,
Wheree'er we fix our gaze, surrounds:
One blessing chief
With gladness man's condition crowns.
2
The God who guides and governs all things,
Views marriage with th' approving eye;
The beings who would burst asunder
Its hallow'd and endearing tie,
Must never look
For portion with the saints on high.
3
Th' Almighty, for such dark delinquents,
In anger, hath prepared a state:
His curse, more terrible than lightning,
Will follow, with o'erwhelming fate,
Adulterers vile,
And, on them, close hell's flaming gate!
4
For that eternal world before us,
We must our wayward hearts prepare,
Remembering, as a solemn warning,
None but the pure shall enter there;
Repentant souls
Who all the wedding garment wear.
5
Save us, O Lord, from each temptation!
Give us desires that tend to thee!
And wash us in that blessed fountain,
Prepared for sin on Calvary!
Which, through heaven's grace,
From every taint the soul can free.
