In reading books from Adam's time,
And studying lives we call sublime,
I see so many stained with sin—
Virtue alone can make great men.

I find so many brilliant lights
To-day have vanished from our sight,
The cause, I find, came out of sin—
Virtue alone can make great men.

I knew a man whom no one feared,
A radiant sun his light appeared;
I find the place by him once owned
Is darker now for having shone.

Then when I see the vice he did,
And finding it could not be hid,
The word I find is fixed and sealed,
The covered sins shall be revealed.

My son, I charge thee from this day
The path of virtue is the way;
Pray keep her path, shun that of sin—
Virtue alone can make great men.