If I could shut the gate

 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 clam'rous crying hear,
   What peace, what joy, what ease should I possess,
   Freed from their horrors that my soul oppress.

 But oh, 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.

by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by John Danyel (1564-1626) , "If I could shut the gate"

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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