My God, Permit Me Not to Be

Verse 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.

Verse 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?

Verse 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.

Verse 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Be earth, with all her scenes, withdrawn;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.