Hart, Joseph

Hart, Joseph an English Independent minister, was born about the year 1712, of godly parents. He had a classical education, and was for many years a teacher of languages. He was long in bondage on account of his sins, but found deliverance under a sermon preached in the Moravian Chapel, Fetter-lane, London. He began to preach at the Old Meeting, St. John's Court, Bermondsey, in 1760, and afterwards settled at the Independent Chapel, Jewin Street, where his ministry was abundantly crowned, and he gathered there a prosperous Church. He would not allow either Arian or Arminiani preacher in his pulpit. He died May 24, 1768, and was interred in Bunhill Fields, where twenty thousand persons are said to have been present. His hymns will live in the Church to the end of time, especially the one beginning "Come, ye sinners, poor and needy." See Wilson, Dissenting Churches, 3:343; Gadsby, Hymn Writers.