Today we are revisiting a simple hymn from the early days of Word & Song
Most of my old hymnals have a small section devoted to songs especially for children, and that’s fitting, since the Lord not only loved children, but said to us that unless we become as they are, we shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Everywhere else in the world, people are encouraged to look on the child as a miniature adult, or as a burden to be borne, a trouble to endure. Only in the faith are we encouraged to do the reverse: to see the adult as a child in the making, a Christian child, supple to the will of God, trusting not in our wisdom or power, but in Him. I imagine that the children who scrambled upon the knee of Jesus were not reckoning up advantages to themselves, but were thinking merely, “I want to be with Him!”
Those children were simple — as we are urged to be. If you dicker with God, saying that you will worship Him only if He agrees to the following conditions, to wit, that you be given a prestigious job or a rich house, you are pretending to be sophisticated and complex, but really, you’re the fool. “Blessed are the pure in heart,” says Jesus, “for they shall see God.” But if your heart is a tangle of criss-crossing motives, some of them good and some of them evil, and if you insist on them to the end, priding yourself on how complicated you are, how challenging to understand, you won’t be simple, and you won’t be sophisticated, either. You’ll be a simpleton, maybe, like the fool in the psalms who says that God is too far away to see or to bother.
So let’s go back to Jesus and the little children. That’s the scene for our Hymn of the Week, It Fell Upon a Summer Day, meant to be sung by children, to the sweet and lilting melody written purposely for it, CHILDHOOD. If you’ve never heard it or sung it before, you really should do so now — I guarantee it will become a favorite. It stirs the heart without being merely sentimental, and it tells the truth, that we are not like children, or not yet; and that is why we pray to Jesus, that He would make us the children we must be, to enter into His kingdom. I’ll give the complete poem below. Most hymnals that include the hymn will give the first three stanzas and the final stanza, but the stanzas in the middle go a long way toward describing what it means to be that child. That includes praying for “a meek and lowly heart,” and a life “of quiet work, and simple word.” Why, if we all prayed for those, and put the virtues in action as far as we could, we might well recall what Jesus also says, that “the kingdom of God is among you.”
It fell upon a summer day, When Jesus walked in Galilee, The mothers from a village brought Their children to His knee. He took them in His arms, and laid His hands on each remembered head; "Suffer these little ones to come To Me," He gently said." Forbid them not. Unless ye bear The childlike heart your hearts within, Unto My kingdom ye may come, But may not enter in." Master, I fain would enter there; O let me follow Thee and share Thy meek and lowly heart, and be Freed from all worldly care. Of innocence, and love, and trust, Of quiet work, and simple word, Of joy, and thoughtlessness of self, Build up my life, good Lord. All happy thoughts, and gentle ways, And lovingkindness daily given, And freedom through obedience gained, Make in my heart Thy heaven. O happy thus to live and move! And sweet this world, where I shall find God's beauty everywhere, His love, His good in all mankind. O Father, grant this childlike heart, That I may come to Christ, and feel His hands on me in blessing laid, Love-giving, strong to heal.
Word & Song is an online magazine devoted to reclaiming the good, the beautiful, and the true. We publish six essays each week, on words, classic hymn, poems, films, and popular songs, as well a weekly podcast, alternately Poetry Aloud or Anthony Esolen Speaks. To support this project, please join us as a free or paid subscriber.
Beautiful and moving. I’ve never heard this song and it warmed my heart. Thank you.