I Think When I Read That Sweet Story

 I think when I read that sweet story of old,

When Jesus was here among men,

How He called little children as lambs to His fold,

I should like to have been with them then.

I wish His hands had been placed on my head,

That His arms had been thrown around me,

And that I might have seen His kind look when He said,

"Let the little ones come unto Me."


Yet still to His footstool in prayer I may go,

And ask for a share in His love:

And if I thus earnestly seek Him below,

I shall see Him and hear Him above.

But thousands and thousands who wander and fall,

Never heard of that heavenly home;

I wish they could know there is room for them all,

And that Jesus has bid them to come.

In that beautiful place He has gone to prepare

For all who are washed and forgiven;

And many dear children shall be with Him there,

For "of such is the kingdom of heaven."

I long for the joy of that glorious time,

The sweetest and brightest and best,

When the dear little children of every clime

Shall crowd to His arms and be blest.

"I Think When I Read That Sweet Story"
Jemima Thompson Luke
(1813-1906)
English hymn writer
and missionary

The Story Behind The Song

In Her Own Words

"Having been recalled home, I went one day on some missionary business
to the little town of Wellington, five miles from Taunton, in a stagecoach.
It was a beautiful spring morning; it was an hour's ride, and there was no
other inside passenger.  On the back of an old envelope I wrote in pencil
the first two of the verses now so well known, in order to teach the tune
to the village school supported by my step-mother, and which it was my
province to visit. The third verse was added afterward
 to make it a missionary hymn.

My father superintended the Sunday School in which we taught, and
used to let the children choose their first hymn. One Sunday the children
started their new hymn.  My father turned to his younger daughters
 and said, "Where did that come from? I never heard it before."

"Oh, Jemima made it," they replied.  Next day he asked for a copy, and
sent it, without my knowledge, to "The Sunday School Teachers' Magazine".
But for this it would probably never appeared in print."

In regards to her composition, Mrs. Luke added, "It was a little inspiration from
 above, and not "in me" for I have never written other verses worthy of preservation."

-Jemima Thompson Luke
Courtesy Hymntime.com