Go…teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 28:19
Words: J. S. Thompson, in the African Methodist Episcopal Hymn and Tune Book (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: African Methodist Episcopal Book Concern, 1898), number 728.
Music: Dickerson I. N. Parker, 1898 (🔊 pdf nwc) (repeats last four lines of each stanza).
If you know Thompson or Parker’s full name, or where to get their photos,
Oh, may the days of childhood
Be ever free from care.
Like songsters in the wildwood,
Sing praises everywhere.
Let children sing the glory
Of God, the heav’nly King,
And tell the same old story
Of Christ’s own offering.
Let children feel they’re wanted
To labor, love and pray,
To fight the foe undaunted
In childhood’s early day.
Each child, whate’er his station,
Can take an active part
To save a heathen nation,
To purify their heart.
Then children send the story
Across the mighty sea,
’Twill gain a crown of glory
For all eternity.
Then let the days of childhood
Be ever free from care,
Like songsters in the wildwood,
Sing praises everywhere.