The Christian — Unfaithfulness Lamented

My God, permit me not to be

No. 572
Words Isaac Watts.
Singing key B♭ major
4 stanzas

Sung to HEBRON (hymn 538)

Words

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

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?

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.

Be earth, with all her scenes, withdrawn;Let noise and vanity be gone;In secret silence of the mind,My heaven, and there my God, I find.

About this hymn

As printed Words only. As printed: hymn number «572» (large) in the right column of p. 186, below hymn 571; reference line «538, 101, 136.» in italic figures beside it (sing to the tune of hymn 538, 101 or 136); four stanzas numbered «1»–«4» without periods (written «1.»–«4.» here, as in the other deliveries of this book); «Isaac Watts.» in italics at the end. The first word «MY» is set as a capital M followed by «Y» in small capitals. All four lines of each stanza are set flush (no alternating indentation). The print sets a thin space before «;», «?» and «:» («thee ;», «birth ?», «go ?», «sense ;», «thence :», «withdrawn ;», «gone ;»); it is closed up here. Spelling («Saviour», «sovereign») and capitals are the print's. No meter is printed (the text is L. M., 8.8.8.8).