4. I take it kindly at thy hand
Thou didst unto me write,
My feet upon Mount Zion stand,
In that take thou delight.
5. I am, indeed, in prison now
In body, but my mind
Is free to study Christ, and how
Unto me he is kind.
6. For though men keep my outward man
Within their locks and bars,
Yet by the faith of Christ I can
Mount higher than the stars.
7. Their fetters cannot spirits tame,
Nor tie up God from me;
My faith and hope they cannot lame,
Above them I shall be.
8. I here am very much refreshed
To think when I was out,
I preached life, and peace, and rest
To sinners round about.
9. My business then was souls to save,
By preaching grace and faith;
Of which the comfort now I have,
And have it shall till death.
10. They were no fables that I taught,
Devised by cunning men,
But God’s own Word, by which were caught
Some sinners now and then.
11. Whose souls by it were made to see
The evil of their sin;
And need of Christ to make them free
From death which they were in.
12. And now those very hearts that then
Were foes unto the Lord,
Embrace his Christ and truth, like men
Conquered by his word.
13. I hear them sigh and groan, and cry
For grace, to God above;
They loathe their sin, and to it die,
’Tis holiness they love.