When mothers of Salem
Their children brought to Jesus,
The stern disciples drove them back
And bade them depart:But Jesus saw
them ere they fled,
And sweetly smiled, and kindly said,
"Suffer little children to come unto Me."
"For I will receive them,
And fold them in My bosom;
I'll be a Shepherd to those lambs,
O drive them not away!
For if their hearts to Me they give,
They shall with Me in glory live:
Suffer little children to come unto me."
How kind our Saviour
To bid those children welcome!
But there are many thousands who
Have never heard His name;
The Bible they have never read;
They know not that the Saviour said:
"Suffer little children to come unto me."
O soon may the heathen
Of every tribe and nation
Fulfil Thy blessed word, and cast
Their idols all away;
O shine upon them from above,
And show Thyself the God of love;
Teach the little children
To come unto Thee.