THE CHURCH
CONGREGATIONAL HYMNS

Father, our children keep

by HORATUS BONAR, 1808-89.

Father, our children keep
"Your father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be last" Matt. 18:14
Father, our children keep;
We know not what is coming on the earth;
Beneath the shadow of thy heavenly wing
O keep them, keep them, thou who gavest them birth
Father, draw nearer us;
Draw firmer round us thy protecting arm;
O clasp our children closer to thy side,
Uninjured in the day of earth's alarm
Them in thy chambers hide;
O hide them and preserve them calm and safe,
When sin abounds, and error flows abroad,
And Satan tempts, and human passions chafe.
O keep then undefiled,
Unspotted from a tempting world of sin,
That, clothed in white, through the bright City gates,
They may with us in triumph enter in.