Manliness And Freedom Upreme And Universal Light

 

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Supreme and universal Light!

Fountain of reason! Judge of right!

Parent of good! whose blessings flow
On all above, and all below:
Assist us, Lord, to act, to be,
What nature and Thy laws decree;
Worthy that intellectual flame,
Which from Thy breathing spirit came.

Our moral freedom to maintain,
Bid passion serve, and reason reign,
Self-poised and independent still
On this world’s varying good or ill.

No slave to profit, shame, or fear,
O, may our steadfast bosoms bear
The stamp of heaven,-an upright heart,
Above the mean disguise of art!

May our expanded souls disclaim
The narrow view, the selfish aim;
But with a Christian zeal embrace
Whate’er is friendly to our race.

O Father! grace and virtue grant;
No more we wish, no more we want:
To know, to serve Thee, and to love,
Is peace below,-is bliss above.