Joseph Hart
Born to Godly, Calvinistic-minded parents, Joseph Hart
was born in London in 1712. His parents
were well-to-do, and ensured he was educated in the classics. He loved literature, and was often seen in
his early life browsing bookstores, looking for volumes he had not yet
read. He went on to teach the Classics
of literature.
At the age of 21, he began to have doubts about the state
of his soul. He tried fasting, self-deprivation,
and strict observance of religious duties in order to gain favor with God. This proved, ultimately, fruitless. He then tried the opposite tack, frequenting
taverns and theaters and associating with friends of low repute. After several years he, in his own words, began
to “sink deeper and deeper into conviction of my nature’s evil, the wickedness
of my life, the shallowness of Christianity and the blindness of my devotion.”
At this time, the Methodist preachers John Wesley and
George Whitfield were upending the nation with their evangelistic
preaching. Hart still called himself a
Calvinist, and was doubly incensed with not only the Christian teaching, but
that of the Methodists – decidedly not Calvinistic. In 1741, after a very popular sermon of
Wesley’s was published which declared his belief in the universal opportunity for
redemption, Hart published his own book entitled ‘The Unreasonableness of
Religion.” In it, he argued that human
reason expects that God would accept us on the basis of our own good works, while
Christianity as taught by Wesley and Whitfield teaches that our acceptance
before God is on the basis of work done by Another, freely given to a person
without any basis of their own merit or worthiness.
He even began to mock Christians, declaring that he was
more faithful than they were since he sinned more, giving God even more
opportunity to forgive him. He later confessed,
“I committed all [types of] uncleanness with greediness.” While still a lover of and teacher of the classics
of literature, the Bible remained off his reading list.
In 1751, he made the decision for sobriety. Again, he saw his own action as being ‘good
enough’ in the eyes of God. In 1752, he
married the daughter of a Baptist preacher.
Hart finally resumed his reading of the Scriptures, but still remained
is his state of unbelief. Two years
later, a friend of his who had become converted under Whitfield’s preaching was
asked to fill a pulpit at the London Tabernacle. Hart attended, and later went back to hear
Whitfield preach. Whitfield’s preaching
was searching and convicting and caused him distress. Desperately, he cried out to God for some
sort of conviction in his heart. For
five years, he struggled before eventually coming to faith at church on a
Sunday in 1857.
Remembering his conversion he wrote, “I was hardly home when
I felt myself melting away into a strange softness of affection, which made me
fling myself on my knees before God. My horrors
were immediately dispelled, and such light and comfort flowed into my heart as
no words can paint.” He continued, “Tears
ran streaming from my eyes. I threw my
soul willingly into my Savior’s hands; lay weeping at His feet, wholly resigned
to His will, and only begging that I might, if He was graciously pleased to
permit it, be of some service to His church and people.” He was later asked to take a pulpit, a task
he was eager to accept.
Joseph experienced trials in his life. His oldest son suffered from sporadic fits of
seizures. Another son died at age 3.
Later in life, his wife became ill and an invalid, requiring constant
care. God used these trials to mold and
shape him.
He began writing hymns and verse. His attitude toward suffering is captured thus:
Gold in the furnace tried
Ne’er loses aught but dross;
So is the Christian purified
And better’d by the Cross.
And when undergoing suffering…
If pain afflict, or wrongs oppress;
If cares distract, or fears dismay;
If guilt deject; if sin distress;
The remedy’s before thee, Pray!
Joseph Hart wrote many hymns which were often sung in his
day. One we will recall:
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, Weak and wounded, sick
and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you, Full of pity love and pow’r
Chorus:
I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in His
arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior, O, there are ten thousand
charms.
Come, ye thirsty, come and welcome, God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance, Every grace that brings
you nigh.
Let not conscience make you linger, Nor of fitness fondly
dream;
All the fitness He requireth Is to feel your need of Him.
Come, ye weary, heave laden, Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better, You will never come at
all.
https://www.evangelical-times.org/joseph-hart-1712-1768/
