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Christ blessing the Children.
"And he took them in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them." Mark x. 16.
When the Redeemer dwelt in clay,
The proud, the powerful shunn'd his sway,
The scribe and pharisee with frown
On him of Nazareth look'd down,
And Judah, long with dream elate
Of her Messiah's regal state,
Beheld the homeless one with hate,
And Rome, with haughty mockery ey'd
The Man of grief, the crucified.—
—But they, the innocent, the blest,
In childhood's meekness, sought his breast,
Their little feet without a guide
Came thronging to his peaceful side,
And tho' the cold and stern command
Bade them at greater distance stand,
