Let heathenish boys

Verse 1
Let heathenish boys
In their pastimes rejoice,
And be foolishly happy at play;
Overstock’d if they are,
We have nothing to spare,
Not a moment to trifle away.

Verse 2
Our minds to unbend,
We need not offend,
Or our Saviour by idleness grieve:
Whatsoever we do,
Our end is in view,
And to Jesus his glory we live.

Verse 3
Recreation of mind
We in exercise find,
And our bodily strength is renew’d:
New employment is ease,
And our pleasure, to please
By our labour a merciful God.

Verse 4
Our hearts and our hands
He justly demands,
And both to our Lord we resign,
Overpaid, if he smile
On our innocent toil,
And accept as a service divine.

Verse 5
In our useful employ
We his blessing injoy,
Whither[2] clearing, or digging the ground,
With songs we proclaim
Our Immanuel’s name,
And our angels attend to the sound.

Verse 6
The meadow and field
True pleasure doth yield,
When to either with Jesus we go,
Or a paradise find,
Like the head of mankind,
And our pains on a garden bestow.

Verse 7
Howsoever employ’d
In the presence of God,
We our forfeited Eden regain,
And delightfully rise
To our Lord in the skies,
In his fulness of glory to reign.

[1] Wesley changed “worlds” to “world” in 1768.
[2] Wesley changed “whither” to “whether” in 1778.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “Before, or In Their Work.” Introduced in Charles Wesley, Hymns for Children (Bristol: E. Farley, 1763). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 6 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 434.
Publishing: Public Domain