Scripture Verse

Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them: for of such is the kingdom of God. Luke 18:16

Introduction

Words: Ed­win P. Hood, writ­ten for Sun­day School An­ni­ver­sa­ries at Nibley, Glou­ces­ter­shire, Eng­land, 1852–57.

Music: Bal­ham com­pos­er un­known, in Augs­burg Songs No. 2 (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Lu­ther­an Pub­li­ca­tion So­ci­ety, 1893), num­ber 7 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know the com­pos­er, or where to get a good pho­to of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Edwin P. Hood (1820–1885)

Lyrics

God, who hath made the dai­sies,
And eve­ry love­ly thing,
He will ac­cept our prais­es,
And heark­en while we sing;
Will say, though we are simple,
Though ig­no­rant we be,
Suffer the lit­tle child­ren,
And let them come to Me.

Though we are young and sim­ple,
In praise we may be bold;
The child­ren in the temple
He heard in days of old;
And if our hearts are hum­ble,
He says to you and me,
Suffer the lit­tle child­ren,
And let them come to Me.

He sees the bird that wing­eth
Its way o’er earth and sky;
He hears the lark that sing­eth
Up in the heav’n so high;
He sees the heart’s low breath­ings,
And says (well pleased to see)
Suffer the lit­tle child­ren,
And let them come to Me.