The Stony Heart

Representative Text

1 Oh for a glance of heavenly day,
To take this stubborn heart away,
And thaw with beams of love divine
This heart, this frozen heart of mine!

2 The rocks can rend; the earth can quake;
The seas can roar; the mountains shake;
Of feeling all things show some sign:
But this unfeeling heart of mine.

3 To hear the sorrows thou hast felt,
O Lord, an adamant might melt;
But I can read each moving line,
And nothing moves this heart of mine.

4 Thy judgments too, which devils fear,
(Amazing thought!) unmoved I hear;
Goodness and wrath in vain combine,
To stir this stupid heart of mine.

5 Eternal Spirit! mighty God!
Apply to me the Saviour's blood;
'Tis His rich blood, and His alone,
Can move and melt this heart of stone.

Source: The Book of Worship #355

Author: J. Hart

Hart, Joseph, was born in London in 1712. His early life is involved in obscurity. His education was fairly good; and from the testimony of his brother-in-law, and successor in the ministry in Jewin Street, the Rev. John Hughes, "his civil calling was" for some time "that of a teacher of the learned languages." His early life, according to his own Experience which he prefaced to his Hymns, was a curious mixture of loose conduct, serious conviction of sin, and endeavours after amendment of life, and not until Whitsuntide, 1757, did he realize a permanent change, which was brought about mainly through his attending divine service at the Moravian Chapel, in Fetter Lane, London, and hearing a sermon on Rev. iii. 10. During the next two years ma… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: O, for a glance of heavenly day
Title: The Stony Heart
Author: J. Hart
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

WARE (Kingsley)


HURSLEY

HURSLEY is a Protestant French Huguenot melody by an anonymous composer.

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Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #4802
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Instances

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The Baptist Hymnal #284

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The Cyber Hymnal #4802

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