472.
Tenth Commandment.
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house,” &c.
1
The Lord, in his unerring counsels,
Denies his blessings, or bestows:
His plans, ordain'd for countless ages,
In darkness veil'd! what seraph knows?
Yet all is right;
From him alone perfection flows.
2
He owns, who deals our earthly portion,
The cattle on a thousand hills;
The elements to him are subject!
The whirlwind his design fulfils!
Ocean he curbs,
He rules the blast, the storm he stills!
3
Sinners can nothing claim from heaven;
All is his gift, desert is none:
We have our highest Friend forsaken,
And, by our deeds, ourselves undone;
Yet light appears,
We have a hope through Christ his Son!
4
Clothed with unutterable meanness
The covetous comes creeping forth!
His envious eye he casts around him,
And thinks for him the teeming earth
Gives forth its sweets,
Offering to his superior worth.
5
Whate'er he sees, no rights regarding,
He would possess, “in mountain mass;”
And now his neighbour's house he covets,
And now his wife, his ox, his ass!
Remembering not,
The bound which God forbids to pass.
6
This is the mandate of Jehovah,
(Oh whom with awe arch-angels gaze!)
Nothing, whate'er, that is thy neighbour's,
Thy covetous regard shall raise:
All gifts are mine,
And dark, though righteous, are my ways.
7
Father! may each desire unruly,
Our souls with holy ardour shun!
May we restrain our wants, and covet,
Alone — resemblance to thy Son!
Learning to say
Give, or withhold, — Thy Will be done!
