Come Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,/ To whom we for our children cry

Come Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,/ To whom we for our children cry. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).  This was headed ‘At the Opening of a School at Kingswood’, referring to the school founded by John Wesley*. It was opened in 1739 for the children of the local colliers near Bath, and reopened as an enlarged school for the children of Wesley’s preachers and others in 1748 (Hildebrandt and Beckerlegge, 1983, p. 643). It is not known which of these events is signified in the title: probably the 1748 one. The hymn was published in Hymns for Children (Bristol, 1763), as follows:  Come Father, Son, and Holy-Ghost, To whom we for our children cry,The good desir’d and wanted most Out of thy richest...

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