Scripture Verse

Let not sin…reign in your mortal body. Romans 6:12

Introduction

Words: Ce­cil F. Al­ex­an­der, Hymns for Lit­tle Child­ren 1848.

Music: New­land (Arm­strong) James Arm­strong (1840–1928) (🔊 pdf nwc). Arm­strong wrote this tune at the re­quest of Ce­cil Al­ex­an­der, who was stay­ing at New­land at the time. It ap­peared in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern in 1889.

Alternate Tune:

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Arm­strong (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Cecil Alexander
(1818–1895)

Lyrics

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
To re­sist the ev­il,
And the good to do.

For ye pro­mised tru­ly,
In your in­fant days,
To re­nounce him whol­ly,
And for­sake his ways.

Ye are newborn Chris­tians,
Ye must learn to fight
With the bad with­in you,
And to do the right.

Christ is your own mas­ter,
He is good and true,
And His lit­tle child­ren
Must be ho­ly, too.