The Kingdom of God, not in word, but in power

Top Text Author Text Info Notes Timeline Page Scans Instances

A form of words, though e'er so sound

Author: Joseph Hart
Published in 17 hymnals

Representative Text

1 A form of words, though e’er so sound,
Can never save a soul;
The Holy Ghost must give the wound,
And make the wounded whole.

2 Though God’s election is a truth,
Small comfort there I see,
Till I am told by God’s own mouth,
That he has chosen me.

3 [Sinners, I read, are justified,
By faith in Jesus’ blood;
But when to me that blood’s applied,
’Tis then it does me good.]

4 [To perseverance I agree;
The thing to me is clear;
Because the Lord has promised me
That I shall persevere.]

5 [Imputed righteousness I own
A doctrine most divine;
For Jesus to my heart makes known
That all his merit’s mine.]

6 That Christ is God I can avouch,
And for his people cares,
Since I have prayed to him as such,
And he has heard my prayers.

7 That sinners black as hell, by Christ
Are saved, I know full well;
For I his mercy have not missed,
And I am black as hell.

8 Thus, Christians glorify the Lord,
His Spirit joins with ours
In bearing witness to his word,
With all its saving powers.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #31

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: Joseph 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 >

^ top

First Line:	A form of words, though e'er so sound
Title:	The Kingdom of God, not in word, but in power
Author:	Joseph Hart
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

Matthew 21:9
(hymns)

^ top

Notes

A form of words though e'er so sound. J. Hart. [Kingdom of God in Power .] First published in his Hymns composed on Various Subjects, 1759, No. 90, in 8 stanzas of 4 lines and based on i. Cor. iv. 20. "For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." In 1780, with slight alterations and the omission of stanzas vi. and vii. and the transposition of iv. and v. it was given in the Lady H. Collection No. 95, and from thence has passed into a limited number of ultra-Calvinistic hymnals.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

^ top