The God We Adore

1. How good is the God we adore!
Our faithful, unchangeable friend:
Whose love is as great as his pow’r
And neither knows measure nor end.

2. For Christ is the first and the last;
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;
We’ll praise him for all that is past
And trust him for all that’s to come.

“How Good Is the God We Adore” is a doxology derived from the last stanza of a 7-stanza hymn by Joseph Hart. In the original, the it is one stanza of 8 lines, but for use as a doxology it is broken into two stanzas of 4 lines. The lines of 8 are dactylic and therefore need a tune that fits to the two short-one long accented rhythm of the poetry (i.e., an L. M. tune will not work well). Most often it seems to be set with the tune Celeste. It seems to me that it might work with our Sacred Harp tune Greenfields.

The tune Celeste first appeared in Sacred Hymns and Harmonies: being the Musical Companion to ‘Lancashire Sunday-School Songs’, edited by J. Compston. In the Leeds Mercury, June 19, 1858 (p. 9), Compston is identified as “the pastor of the Baptist congregation at Bramley.” In an 1881 report of the Taunton District Psalmody Union (Western Gazette, Friday, April 22, 1881, p. 7), Compston served as precentor, was elected an “hon. secretary,” and was identified then as a “Baptist minister, at Fivehead (a village on the way from Taunton to Langport).” It appears that he is the same person as John Milton Compston (1828-1889) who is buried in an unmarked grave at the West Norwood Cemetery in London, England.[i]

Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, Thursday, April 25, 1889, p. 6

The original and complete hymn by Hart is Hymn Number 73 on page 105 of Hymns Composed on Various Subjects (London: W. Day, 1811), which Hart first put forth in 1759. Underneath the hymn number, Hart refers to Deuteronomy 13:1 – “If there arise among you a Prophet, or Dreamer of Dreams, &c. Deut. xiii. 1. &c.” In footnotes at the bottom of the page, he also notes John 10:29 (stanza 6, line 3), John 10:15 (stanza 6, line 4), John 10:28 (stanza 6, line 5) John 10:11 (stanza 6, line 6), and John 3:15-16 (stanza 6, line 7). In the hymn we also hear echoes of other Bible verses, such as Galatians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 11:14, 1 Corinthians 2:2, Galatians 3:2, John 8:44, Mark 13:21, Acts 7:39, Hebrews 7:24, and probably others. It is full of biblical truths and biblical references. The whole is a warning against false prophets, an exhortation to faithfulness, ending with a doxology of praise “the God we adore.” He is constant and unchanging; we can trust in him.

It is unfortunate that some of Hart’s great hymns are among the best that are used least.

1. No prophet, nor dreamer of dreams,
No master of plausible speech,
To live like an angel who seems,
Or like an apostle to preach;
No tempter, without or within,
No spirit, tho’ ever so bright,
That comes crying out against sin,
And looks like an angel of light;

2. Tho’ reason, tho’ Scripture he urge,
Or plead with the words of a friend,
Or wonders of argument forge,
Or deep revelations pretend;
Should meet with a moment’s regard,
But rather be boldly withstood,
If anything, easy or hard,
He teach, save the Lamb and his blood.

3. Remember, O Christian, with heed,
When sunk under sentence of death,
How first thou from bondage wast freed—
Say, was it by works, or by faith?
On Christ thy affections then fixt,
What conjugal truth didst thou vow?
With him was there anything mixt?
Then what would’st thou mix with him now?

4. If close to thy Lord thou would’st cleave,
Depend on his promise alone;
His righteousness would’st thou receive?
Then learn to renounce all thy own.
The faith of a Christian, indeed
Is more than mere notion or whim;
United to Jesus, his head,
He draws life and virtue from him.

5. Deceived by the father of lies,
Blind guides cry, Lo, here! and, Lo, there!
By these our Redeemer us tries,
And warns us of such to beware.
Poor comfort to mourners they give
Who set us to labour in vain;
And strive, with a do this and live,
To drive us to Egypt again.

6. But what says our Shepherd divine?
(For his blessed word we should keep)
“This flock has my Father made mine;
I lay down my life for my sheep;
’Tis life everlasting I give;
My blood was the price that it cost;
Not one, that on me shall believe
Shall ever be finally lost.”

7. This God is the God we adore
Our faithful unchangeable Friend;
Whose love is as large as his power,
And neither knows measure nor end.
’Tis Jesus, the first and the last,
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home:
We’ll praise him for all that is past,
And trust him for all that’s to come.

Joseph Hart died in 1768, and is buried in the Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, where the famous author and preacher John Bunyan was buried 80 years earlier.

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[i] “Rev. J. Compston” and John Milton Compston are both identified with musical compilations, the temperance society, and the Sunday School Band of Hope. Additionally, John Milton Compston’s wife is buried at Fivehead, where Rev. J. Compston served as a minister. The book Temperance as Taught in the Revised Bible, written by Rev. J. Compston, identifies the author as also the Editor of Lancashire Sunday School Songs.