John Hart Stockton

John Hart Stockton (1813–1877) was an American Methodist Episcopal minister, evangelist, hymn writer, and tune composer whose work belongs to the formative period of nineteenth-century gospel song. Born on April 19, 1813, in New Hope, Pennsylvania, he grew up in a Presbyterian household but became associated with Methodism after conversion at a camp meeting in New Jersey. He later served in the New Jersey Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, combining pastoral ministry with a sustained interest in evangelism and congregational music.

Ill health repeatedly interrupted Stockton's active pastoral work. Hymnological biographical summaries record that he twice entered supernumerary status and withdrew from regular pastoral service in 1874. He then gave increased attention to gospel-song publishing, issuing Salvation Melodies in 1874 and Precious Songs in 1875. He wrote both words and music for a number of pieces and supplied tunes used with other writers' texts; among the tunes widely associated with him is the setting for William Hunter's "The Great Physician Now Is Near." His own "Come, Every Soul by Sin Oppressed," later generally known by the revised refrain title "Only Trust Him," became one of his best-known contributions.

Stockton also assisted the evangelistic work of Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey in Philadelphia. His career therefore stands at the meeting point of Methodist revival practice, Sunday-school song, and the emerging gospel-hymn repertory that spread through late nineteenth-century evangelical publishing. He died on March 25, 1877, in Philadelphia after attending a Sunday service at Arch Street Methodist Episcopal Church. His legacy rests less on a large literary corpus than on a small group of texts, tunes, and songbooks that became embedded in revival and congregational hymnody.