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Home  »  Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse  »  The Shepherd Boy’s Song in the Valley of Humiliation

Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.

By John Bunyan (1628–1688)

The Shepherd Boy’s Song in the Valley of Humiliation

 
HE 1 that is down needs fear no fall,
  He that is low no pride;
He that is humble ever shall
  Have God to be his guide.
 
I am content with what I have,        5
  Little be it or much;
And, Lord, contentment still I crave
  Because thou savest such.
 
Fulness to such a burden is
  That go on to pilgrimage;        10
Here little and hereafter bliss
  Is best from age to age.
 
Note 1. From “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” Part II. This sweet little song has no less sweet a setting. “Now as they were going along and talking, they espied a Boy feeding his Father’s Sheep. The Boy was in very mean Cloaths, but of a very fresh and well-favoured Countenance, and as he sate by himself he sung. Hark, said Mr Greatheart, to what the Shepherd’s boy saith. So they hearkened, and he said—
    “He that is down needs fear no fall,” etc.
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