470.
Eighth Commandment.
“Thou shalt not steal.”
1
Are there some shapes, resembling human,
(Compounded of inferior dust!)
So heedless of their Maker's anger,
As to perform the deed unjust?
To wrong! to steal!
Whom foes despise, and friends distrust!
2
A sight so abject claims our pity;
Immortal Beings, sunk so low!
They dare not view the stars above them!
They, in their fields, tares only sow!
Headlong they sink,
Self-sacrificed, to endless woe.
3
The Lord hath said, whom angels worship,
Thou shalt not steal! thou shalt not slay!
Yet men, with hearts beguiled by Satan,
Venture that God to disobey:
Who steals, would kill;
Crimes thicken in the downward way!
4
Lord! fill us with the upright spirit,
That can each sordid thought despise!
May none desire to wrong another,
Nor steal, for aught below the skies!
To give account,
We, at the Judgment day, must rise!
5
Let us not sell our soul! that jewel!
Which worlds in vain might strive to buy!
The good for which that pearl we offer,
Will soon, as dust, before us lie!
The soul once lost,
Is lost to all eternity!
