Words: , 1882; Ma­thams wrote these words in Ed­in­burgh, Scot­land, at the re­quest of the Psalms and Hymns Com­mit­tee of the Scot­tish Bap­tist Un­ion, which pub­lished it in the 1882 Psalms and Hymns for School and Home.

Music: Cut­tle Mills, Will­iam Grif­fith, in The Eng­lish Hymn­al (Lon­don: Ox­ford Un­i­ver­si­ty Press, 1906), num­ber 366.

If you know when the mu­sic was writ­ten, or where to get a pic­ture of Will­iam Griff­ith

Jesus, Friend of little children,
Be a friend to me;
Take my hand, and ever keep me
Close to Thee.

Teach me how to grow in goodness,
Daily as I grow;
Thou hast been a child, and surely
Thou dost know.

Step by step O lead me onward,
Upward into youth;
Wiser, stronger, still becoming
In Thy truth.

Never leave me, nor forsake me;
Ever be my friend;
For I need Thee, from life’s dawning
To its end.