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223
“HAVING FOOD AND RAIMENT, LET US THEREWITH BE CONTENT.”
Art thou blest with food and raiment,
Give God thanks for favors given;
Gratitude is all the payment
Thou can'st make indulgent Heaven.
Give God thanks for favors given;
Gratitude is all the payment
Thou can'st make indulgent Heaven.
Clothing coarse, and scant subsistence,
Recompense which labor brings,
With contentment make existence
Happier than the life of kings.
Recompense which labor brings,
With contentment make existence
Happier than the life of kings.
Why in heaping useless treasure,
Shorten life, and health destroy?
Where 's the profit or the pleasure,
Hoarding what you ne'er enjoy?
Shorten life, and health destroy?
Where 's the profit or the pleasure,
Hoarding what you ne'er enjoy?
Why, for Mammon's paltry proffers,
Sell thyself to sin a slave,
Can the wealth which swells thy coffers,
Buy exemption from the grave?
Sell thyself to sin a slave,
Can the wealth which swells thy coffers,
Buy exemption from the grave?
224
Since the thread of life is brittle
Heed the poet's moral song,
“Man in this world needs but little,
And that little needs not long.”
Heed the poet's moral song,
“Man in this world needs but little,
And that little needs not long.”
Wants by luxury created—
All of artificial kind,
By indulgence never sated,
Weaken and debase the mind.
All of artificial kind,
By indulgence never sated,
Weaken and debase the mind.
To the hardy child of nature,
Decent clothes and frugal fare,
Furnish pure enjoyments greater
Than the pamper'd monarch's share.
Decent clothes and frugal fare,
Furnish pure enjoyments greater
Than the pamper'd monarch's share.
Gold by avarice that 's hoarded,
Might as well be in the mine,
Wealth that's generously afforded,
Can alone be counted thine.
Might as well be in the mine,
Wealth that's generously afforded,
Can alone be counted thine.
Then, if blest with food and raiment,
Let thy gratitude be shown,
No man's merits, as a claimant,
Give a right to these alone.
Let thy gratitude be shown,
No man's merits, as a claimant,
Give a right to these alone.
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