572. My God, permit me not to be

1 My God, permit me not to be
A stranger to myself and thee;
Amidst a thousand thoughts I rove,
Forgetful of my highest love.

2 Why should my passions mix with earth.
And thus debase my heavenly birth?
Why should I cleave to things below,
And let my God, my Saviour, go?

3 Call me away from flesh and sense;
One sovereign word can draw me thence:
I would obey the voice divine,
And all inferior joys resign.

4 Be earth, with all her scenes, withdrawn;
Let noise and vanity be gone;
In secret silence of the mind,
My heaven, and there my God, I find.

Text Information
First Line: My God, permit me not to be
Author: Isaac Watts
Publication Date: 1886
Topic: The Christian: Unfaithfulness Lamented
Tune Information
Name: BACA
Composer: William B. Bradbury
Meter: L. M.
Key: E♭ Major
Notes: Alternate tunes: #538, 101, or 136.



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