Do no sinful action

Do no sinful action. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895).  From Alexander’s Hymns for Little Children (1848). It was Hymn V, on the first promise in the catechism, to ‘renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the lusts of the flesh’ (following the promise made by the godparents at Baptism). It had seven stanzas:  Do no sinful action,  Speak no angry word; Ye belong to Jesus,  Children of the Lord.  Christ is kind and gentle,  Christ is pure and true; And his little children  Must be holy too.  There’s a wicked spirit  Watching round you still, And he tries to tempt you  To all harm and ill.  But ye must not hear him,  Though ’tis hard for you...

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