Adventist Pioneer Library

The Christian — Unfaithfulness Lamented

My God, permit me not to be

  • No. 572
  • Words Isaac Watts.
  • 4 stanzas
  • Words only in the original

Words

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1

My God, permit me not to beA 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Be earth, with all her scenes, withdrawn;Let noise and vanity be gone;In secret silence of the mind,My heaven, and there my God, I find.

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 The print sets a thin space before «;», «?» and «:» («thee ;», «birth ?», «go ?», «sense ;», «thence :», «withdrawn ;», «gone ;»); it is closed up here.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).

Source
The Seventh-day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book (Battle Creek: Review & Herald, 1886/1888)
Where
The Christian — Unfaithfulness Lamented · No. 572 · printed page 186
Checked
lyrics verified (fork reading; parent check pending) · 2026-10-01