No prophet, nor dreamer of dreams

Representative Text

1 No prophet, or dreamer of dreams,
No master of plausible speech,
To live like an angel who seems,
Or like an apostle to preach;
No tempter, without or within,
No spirit, though ever so bright,
That comes crying out against sin,
And looks like an angel of light;

2 Though reason, though fitness he urge,
Or plead with the words of a friend,
Or wonders of argument forge,
Or deep revelations pretend;
Should meet with a moment’s regard,
But rather be boldly withstood,
If anything, easy or hard,
He teach, save the Lamb and his blood.

3 [Remember, O Christian, with heed,
When sunk under sentence of death,
How first thou from bondage wast freed –
Say, was it by works, or by faith?
On Christ thy affections then fixed,
What conjugal truth didst thou vow?
With him was there anything mixed?
Then what would’st thou mix with him now?

4 If close to thy Lord thou would’st cleave,
Depend on his promise alone;
His righteousness would’st thou receive?
Then learn to renounce all thy own.
The faith of a Christian, indeed,
Is more than mere notion or whim;
United to Jesus, his Head,
He draws life and virtue from him.]

5 [Deceived by the father of lies,
Blind guides cry, Lo, here! and, Lo, there!
By these our Redeemer us tries,
And warns us of such to beware.
Poor comfort to mourners they give
Who set us to labour in vain;
And strive, with a “Do this and live,”
To drive us to Egypt again.]

6 But what says our Shepherd divine?
(For his blessed word we should keep)
“This flock has my Father made mine;
I lay down my life for my sheep;
’Tis life everlasting I give;
My blood was the price my sheep cost;
Not one that on me shall believe
Shall ever be finally lost.”

7 This God is the God we adore
Our faithful, unchangeable Friend;
Whose love is as large as his power,
And neither knows measure nor end.
’Tis Jesus, the First and the Last,
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home:
We’ll praise him for all that is past,
And trust him for all that’s to come.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #220

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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 >

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First Line:	No prophet, nor dreamer of dreams
Author:	J. Hart
Meter:	8.8.8.8 D
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

Deuteronomy 13:1-11
(hymns)

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Notes

No prophet, nor dreamer of dreams. J. Hart. [Adoration.] First published in his Hymns composed on Various Subjects, &c, 1759, in 7 stanzas of 8 lines, and based upon the words "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth the sign or wonder," &c, Deut. xiii. 1, &c. In its original form it is not in common use; but the following centos have been compiled therefrom:—
1. This God is the God we adore. This is the last stanza of the hymn, and was given in M. Madan's Supplement to Psalms and Hymns, 1763, No. 182, broken into 2 stanzas of 4 lines. The same arrangement was repeated by A. M. Toplady in his Psalms & Hymns, 1776, No. 127. From these collections it descended as an individual hymn to the modern hymnals. The same stanza, but altered to:—
2. This, this is the God we adore, was given in the Supplement of the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1830, is continued in the revised edition, 1875, and also found in other collections. In the Baptist Selection of Psalms and Hymns, 1838, No. 380, a cento is given, the first stanza of which we have not traced; but stanzas ii,, iii., are composed of Hart's "This God is the God we adore." It begins:—
3. The God Who created the skies, and is repeated in the Baptist Psalms & Hymns, 1858, No. 280.
4. How good is the God we adore. In The Enlarged London Hymn Book, 1873.