If another steals from me,

I complain and think it wrong;
Yet I take all heedlessly,
What to me does not belong!

Not the worth of what I steal,
But the taking makes the sin :
Thefts which none may ever feel,
Fasten guilt on me within!

Every theft my soul will sting,
After death, if not before;

"Tis

wound to Christ our King:

If I've stolen-I'll steal no more!

258. Evil shall hunt the Wicked.

THIS the curse

That goeth over the face of the whole earth: For every one that stealeth shall be cut off As on this side according to it;

And every one that sweareth shall be cut off As on that side according to it.

It shall enter into the house of the thief, And into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name :

And it shall remain in the midst of his house,

And shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

Let him that stole steal no more;

But rather let him labour,

Working with his hands the thing that is

good,

That he may have to give to him that needeth.-Zech. v. 3; Ephes. iv. 28.

THE NINTH COMMANDMENT.

259. Lie not one to another.

How dreadful is a lie,

Or anything untrue!

(S.M.)

Can you forget God's searching eye,
That looks you through and through?

God hates the lying tongue,
And the deceitful look;

The falsehoods of the old and young
Are written in his book.

But Satan loveth lies,

All liars are his own :

If children keep to truth, he flies
And leaveth them alone.

To God's blest home in heaven

The liar cannot go :

But after death he shall be driven
To fiery endless woe!

260. Lying Lips are Abomination to the Lord.

SPEAK ye every man truth to his neighbour; Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:

And let none of you

Imagine evil in your hearts against your neighbour;

And love no false oath :

For all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.

Put on the new man,

Which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Wherefore putting away lying,

Speak every man truth with his neighbour, For we are members one of another.

The unbelieving and abominable and all liars,

Shall have their part in the lake

Which burns with brimstone and fire,
Which is the second death.

Zech. viii. 16; Ephes. iv. 24; Rev. xxi. 8.

261.

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT.

Covetousness is Idolatry.

How often do I long

For that which is not mine;

Forgetting that it is a sin

To covet or repine ?

It is not wrong to wish,

And strive, and humbly pray,

For gains of honest industry

In God's appointed way.

(S. M.)

But restless discontent

Is charging God with blame,
And envy of another's good
Should smite my heart with shame.

O, if I gain the world,

But yet should lose my soul!
What will it profit in that day

When my death's knell shall toll?

262. The Covetous, whom God abhorreth.

COVETOUSNESS! Let it not be once named among you.

For this ye know, that no covetous man,
Who is an idolater,

Hath any inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and of God.—Eph. v. 3.

Godliness with contentment is great gain.
We brought nothing into this world,
And it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and raiment

Let us be therewith content.

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,

And into many foolish and hurtful lusts, Which drown men in destruction and perdition.

For the love of money is the root of all evil. But thou, O man of God, flee these things. 1 Tim. vi. 6.

OUR DUTY TO GOD AND TO OUR NEIGH

BOUR.

263. Setting out in Life with Godly Prayer. JABEZ was more honourable than his

brethren:

And his mother called his name Jabez, Saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, Saying, Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed,

And enlarge my coast,

And that thine hand might be with me, And that thou wouldst keep me from evil, That it may not grieve me!

And God granted him that which he requested.-1 Chron. iv. 9.

264. All the Laws of God hang together.

YE shall be holy :

For I the Lord your God am holy.

Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father,

And keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

Turn ye not unto your idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods:

I am the Lord your God.-Levit, xix. 2. 265.Seekest thou great things? Seek them not.

Two things have I required of thee
Deny me them not before I die :

;