Scripture Verse

He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them. Mark 10:16

Introduction

portrait
Philip Doddridge (1702–1751)

Words: Phi­lip Dodd­ridge (1702–1751). Pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in Hymns Found­ed on Va­ri­ous Texts in the Ho­ly Scrip­tures, by Job Or­ton (Shrop­shire, Eng­land: Jo­shua Ed­dowes & John Cot­ton, 1755), num­ber 198: Christ’s con­des­cend­ing re­gard to lit­tle childr­en.

Music: So­ho Jo­seph Barn­by, 1881 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Joseph Barnby (1838–1896)

Lyrics

See Is­ra­el’s gen­tle shep­herd stand
With all-en­gag­ing charms;
Hark how He calls the ten­der lambs,
And folds them in His arms!

Permit them to ap­proach, He cries,
Nor scorn their hum­ble name;
For ’twas to bless such souls as these
The Lord of an­gels came.

We bring them, Lord, in thank­ful hands,
And yield them up to Thee;
Joyful that we our­selves are Thine,
Thine let our off­spring be.

Ye lit­tle flock, with plea­sure hear;
Ye child­ren, seek His face,
And fly with trans­port to re­ceive
The bless­ings of His grace.

If or­phans they are left be­hind,
Thy guard­ian care we trust,
That care shall heal our bleed­ing hearts,
While weep­ing o’er their dust.