POETRY.

THE NEW COMMANDMENTS.

I.

SERVEST thou any Lord, but God alone ?

The senseless blocks shall turn thy heart to stone.

Would'st fain be rich, though many starve thereby ? Thou champest husks in Mammon's golden sty.

Swear not at all : revere thy simple word ; The Lord will prosper, and the Lord bath heard.

Rest on the Sabbath : let the tired ones play. God for man's rest ordained the Sabbath day.

Honour all men; but chiefly him whose face Is bright with commune in the Holy Place.

Do hot and vengeful thoughts thy soul imbrue? The blood of Abel welleth up anew.

Is thine eye lured by beauty's baneful star ? Thou daffiest with the wife of Potiphar.

Dost covet enviously thy neighbour's state ? In Achor's vale thou meetest Achan's fate.

Hear'st thou complacent slanders lightly flung? No welcome drop shall cool thy burning tongue.

Covet naught else, but the great power to bless God and His name by deeds of righteousness.

E. D. S.