1 The gospel brings tidings to each wounded soul,
That Jesus the Saviour can make it quite whole;
And what makes this gospel most precious to me,
It holds forth salvation so perfectly free!
2 The gospel declares that God, sending his Son
To die for poor sinners, gave all things in one;
This, too, makes the gospel most precious to me;
Because ’tis a gospel as full as ’tis free!
3 Since Jesus has saved me, and that freely too,
I fain would in all things my gratitude show;
But as to man’s merit, ’tis hateful to me!
The gospel – I love it; ’tis perfectly free!
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 >