If I could shut the gate against my thoughts And keep out sorrow from this room within, Or memory could cancel all the notes Of my misdeeds, and I unthink my sin: How free, how clear, how clean my soul should lie, Discharged of such a loathsome company! Or were there other rooms without my heart That did not to my conscience join so near, Where I might lodge the thoughts of sin apart That I might not their clamorous crying hear, What peace, what joy, what ease should I possess, Freed from their horrors that my soul oppress! But, O my Saviour, Who my refuge art, Let Thy dear mercies stand 'twixt them and me, And be the wall to separate my heart So that I may at length repose me free; That peace, and joy, and rest may be within, And I remain divided from my sin. |