A little flock! So calls He thee

"A little flock! So calls He thee" is a mid-nineteenth-century Christian poem composed by the celebrated Scottish minister and hymn writer Dr. Horatius Bonar. Centered on the theological concept of the Church of Christ as a small but divinely protected community, the piece explores the biblical metaphor of the faithful as the "little flock."

The poem was first published in the first series of Bonar's highly popular collection, Hymns of Faith and Hope, in 1857, and it remained a fixture in subsequent editions. In its original form, the work is structured as an expansive poem consisting of thirteen stanzas of four lines.

Because of its length, editors of congregational hymnals frequently divided or rearranged the poem to make it more suitable for public worship. In Benjamin Hall Kennedy's 1863 collection, Hymnologia Christiana, the piece appeared as entry number 1404 and was restructured into three distinct parts:

1. "Church of the everlasting God"

2. "A little flock! So calls He thee"

3. "A little flock! 'Tis well, 'tis well"

The poem also traveled across the Atlantic to find a place in American worship. In the American Manual of Praise, published in 1880, editors compiled a shorter cento that began with the original first stanza.

Additionally, several American collegiate and denominational collections adopted a second cento version, which was printed with the slightly modified opening line, "Church of the Everliving God." This variation allowed Bonar's comforting message of perseverance and community to reach a broad network of congregations throughout the late nineteenth century.