The History of the Holy Jesus was told by Rev. Mr. Instructwell to Master Learnwell. The book contained also the Child's Body of Divinity, and some of Dr. Watts' hymns. These Divine Songs for Children appear in many forms. The Cradle Hymn is the one most frequently seen, and I recently have heard it extolled as "a perfect lullaby for a child." A curious study it is, showing how absolutely traditional religious conception could usurp the mind and obscure the impulses of the heart. Its sweet and tender lines, which begin—
"Hush my dear, lie still and slumber.
Holy angels guard thy bed,"
are soon contrasted with the vehement words which tell of the lot of the infant Jesus; and at the mother's passionate expressions of "brutal creatures," "cursed sinners," that "affront their Lord," the child apparently cries, for the mother sings:—
"Soft, my child, I did not chide thee,
Though my song may sound too hard."
In the next stanza, however, theological venom again finds vent to the poor wondering baby:—
"Yet to read the shameful story
How the Jews abused their King—
How they served the Lord of Glory,
Makes me angry while I sing."
This certainly seems an ill-phrased and exciting lullaby, but is perhaps what might be expected as the notion of a soothing cradle hymn from a bigoted old bachelor.