Joseph Hart

Joseph Hart was born in London in 1711 or 1712 and received enough classical education to work as a teacher of languages and to translate ancient authors. His early religious course was unsettled. In the autobiographical preface to his 1759 hymn collection, he described years of trying to earn divine favor through strict conduct, followed by a destructive swing toward antinomianism. He even published The Unreasonableness of Religion in 1741 against a sermon by John Wesley, a work he later repudiated. Hart dated a decisive spiritual change to Whit Sunday 1757, after hearing a sermon on Revelation 3:10 at the Moravian chapel in Fetter Lane.

That firsthand history helps explain the unusual pastoral precision of this hymn. Hart knew both anxious self-preparation and a false confidence that detached grace from repentance. His Hymns, &c., Composed on Various Subjects appeared in London in 1759 with a substantial account of his experience; supplements followed in 1762 and 1765. The success of the book led friends to encourage him into preaching. From late 1760 until his death on May 24, 1768, he served the Independent congregation at Jewin Street, London.

Hart also wrote communion, Passion, Pentecost, and Trinitarian hymns, including the enduring doxological text commonly known as This God Is the God We Adore. His hymns became especially important among Calvinistic Nonconformists, yet this invitation hymn traveled far beyond that setting. The precise day on which he composed it is not documented; its earliest secure date is its publication in 1759.