Bring in the Children (Smith)

Bring in the child­ren

oh

bring them in—

Teach them to turn from the high­ways of sin;

Lead their young feet in the paths of God—

Point them the way which the Sav­ior trod;

Christ may be wait­ing to wel­come them there

Waiting to crown them with jew­els so rare;

Waiting to bless them and guard them from sin—

Heed then the mes­sage

and bring them in.

Turn not away from a gar­ment torn—

Under the tat­ters God’s im­age is worn;

Into the house of the un­de­filed

We may not en­ter un­less as a child;

Bring in the child­ren for Je­sus to hold—

He will em­brace them as oft­en of old;

He will en­rich them with bless­ings so rare—

Bring them to Je­sus

His love to share.

Hark! bless­èd words: oh

For­bid them not

Come they from ho­vel

or pal­ace or cot;

But if a bless­ing from Je­sus you’d win

Go through the by­ways

and bring them in.

Sympathy soon­est will en­ter the heart

Causing the tear­drops of kind­ness to start;

Gather them in to the tem­ple of pray­er

So in His king­dom bright crowns they’ll wear.