Blessed be ye poor

Representative Text

1 Lord, when I hear thy children talk,
(And I believe ’tis often true),
How with delight thy ways they walk,
And gladly thy commandments do;

2 In my own breast I look and read
Accounts so very different there,
That, had I not thy blood to plead,
Each sight would sink me to despair.

3 Needy, and naked, and unclean,
Empty of good, and full of ill,
A lifeless lump of loathsome sin,
Without the power to act or will.

4 I feel my fainting spirits droop;
My wretched leanness I deplore;
Till gladdened with a gleam of hope
From this, The Lord has blessed the poor.

5 Then, while I make my secret moan,
Upwards I cast my eyes, and see,
Though I have nothing of my own,
My treasure is immense in thee.

6 My treasure is thy precious blood;
Fix there my heart, and for the rest,
Under thy forming hands, my God,
Give me that frame which thou lik’st best.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #740

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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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