Scripture Verse

Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these. Matthew 19:14

Introduction

Words: Ben­ja­min Will­iams (1725–1795). Ap­peared in Psalms and Hymns for Pub­lic Wor­ship, ed­it­ed by Will­iam All­en ( Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Lea­vitt & Lord and D. Bur­gess, 1835), num­ber 538, from the Sal­is­bu­ry Col­lect­ion (1778?). Promise to Be­liev­ers and Their Child­ren.

Music: Ayles­bu­ry Har­vey C. Camp, in Bi­ble Songs (Pitts­burgh, Penn­syl­van­ia: Unit­ed Pres­by­ter­ian Board of Pub­li­ca­tion, 1879), num­ber 43 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Will­iams or Camp (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Our child­ren Thou dost claim,
And mark them out for Thine:
Ten thou­sand bless­ings to Thy name
For good­ness so di­vine.

Thee let the fa­thers know,
And Thee the sons adore,
Joined to the Lord in so­lemn vow,
To be for­got no more.

How great Thy mer­cies, Lord!
How plen­teous is Thy grace,
Which in Thy love and pro­mised word
Includes our ris­ing race.

Our off­spring, still Thy care,
Shall own their fa­thers’ God,
To lat­est times Thy bless­ings share,
And sound Thy praise abroad.