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We do acknowledge and proclaim
The soverignty supreme
Of principles whose heavenly reign
Was Christ's exalted theme.
In his religion these are made
The grand essential primes
Which, duly reverenced and obeyed,
Shall end all human crimes.
In this religion pure and bright
Sincerely we believe,
As from himself its cloudless light
We joyously receive.
We own ourselves in duty bound
Its precepts to fulfill,
And, standing on God's holy ground,
To execute God's will.
Especially thus bound are we
To love all human kind,
Nor harm our vilest enemy
In body or in mind.
So all unchastity to shun,
Intemperance, slavery, war,
All oaths, and every evil done
Through government and law.
To curb self-will and all the train
Of selfish lusts that blight
Mankind with fraud, revenge, and pain,
By might against the right.
Thus ne'er to aid, but disapprove
The sinful deeds of man,
And blessings shed, and ills remove,
Where'er on earth we can.
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