Though strait be the way

Representative Text

1 Though strait be the way, with dangers beset,
And we on the way are no farther yet,
Our good Guide and Saviour has helped us thus far;
And ’tis by his favour we are what we are.

2 [A favour so great we highly should prize;
Not murmur, nor fret, nor small things despise.
But what call we small things – sin’s whole cancelled sum?
’Tis greater than all things, except those to come.]

3 My brethren, reflect on what we have been,
How God had respect to us under sin;
When lower and lower we every day fell,
He stretched forth his power, and snatched us from hell.

4 Then let us rejoice, and cheerfully sing,
With heart and with voice, to Jesus our King,
Who thus far has brought us from evil to good;
The ransom that bought us, no less than his blood.

5 For blessings like these, so bounteously given,
For prospects of peace and foretastes of heaven,
’Tis grateful, ’tis pleasant, to sing, and adore;
Be thankful for present, and then ask for more.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #778

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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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