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Isaac Watts
Hymn-writer
d. 25 November 1748
In the years
immediately after the Reformation, non-Roman Churches in the West were divided on the
question of hymns. The Lutherans and Moravians immediately began to develop a rich
tradition of hymns in the vernacular. Most of those in the Calvinist tradition,
on the other hand, maintained that God had provided His people with a set of inspired
hymns in Holy Scripture, chiefly in the Psalms, and that it was not for us to
pronounce His work incomplete or inadequate and set about to write our own.
Accordingly, they wrote verse translations of the Psalms and sang these instead of
hymns.
In the English Church, the theory was with the Lutherans, but the practice was with the Calvinists. The early Anglican reformers wanted very much to have English hymns in their worship, but none of them had much talent when it came to writing hymns in English verse, and they had the taste and the humility to recognize that their efforts were unacceptably bad. So they refrained from writing hymns, and the Calvinists produced Psalms in verse, and these became by default the hymns used by all parties for worship in English.
The Whole Book of Psalms, published in 1562, went through 78 editions before 1600, and is called the Old Version. Only one psalm from it is still in common use. It is a paraphrase of Psalm 100, sung to the tune known as "Old Hundredth" or "The Doxology" ("Praise God from Whom all blessings flow"). It begins:
All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the LORD with cheerful voice.
Him serve with mirth; His praise forth tell.
Come ye before Him and rejoice.
And so matters stood when, in 1674, Isaac Watts was born in Southampton. Because his family were Dissenters or Non-Conformists (i.e. Protestants who did not think that the Church of England had departed sufficiently from the beliefs and practices of Rome, and who accordingly refused to conform to it), he did not attend Oxford or Cambridge, but instead was educated at the Dissenting Academy in Stoke Newington, London, until 1694. He then began a two-year period of writing.
In 1696 he became tutor and chaplain to the family of Sir John Hartopp of Leicestershire. In 1699 he became assistant minister at Mark Lane Independent (i.e. Congregational) Chapel in London, and full pastor in 1702. Then his health failed. In 1712 he was invited to spend a week at the home of the wealthy Dissenter Sir Thomas Abney in Hertfordshire. He ended up staying there for the rest of his life, devoting himself to writing. His works included, Logic, or The Right Use of Reason in The Enquiry After Truth, a standard text at Oxford and elsewhere for several generations. His poems and songs for children were extremely popular, and became the object of parody in Alice in Wonderland (where "How doth the little busy bee improve each shining hour," became, "How doth the little crocodile improve his shining tail"). He died 25 November 1748.
Even as a small boy, Watts had a great interest in versifying. Once, during family prayers, he began to laugh. His father asked him why. He replied that he had heard a sound and opened his eyes to see a mouse climbing a rope in a corner, and had immediately thought,
A little mouse for want of stairs
ran up a rope to say its prayers.
His father thought this irreverent, and proceeded to administer corporal punishment, in the midst of which Isaac called out,
Father, father, mercy take,
and I will no more verses make.
When he was older, he complained of the bad quality of writing in the metrical Psalters of his day. His father promptly challenged him to do better, and he undertook the effort. During his lifetime he wrote about 600 hymns altogether, but most of his best efforts were turned out between his graduation from school when he was 20 and his taking a job teaching when he was 22. During these two Golden Years, hymns poured from his pen with the impetus of true genius.
Glancing at several hymnals (Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian), one can find at least the following 43 hymns of his in common use today.
Alas, and did my Saviour bleed
Am I a soldier of the cross
Before th'Eternal's awesome throne
Begin, my tongue, some heavenly theme
Blest be the everlasting God
Blest morning, whose first dawning rays
Come, dearest Lord, descend and dwell
Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove
Come, let us join our cheerful songs
Come we that love the Lord
From all that dwell below the skies
Give to our God immortal praise
Give us the wings of faith to rise
High in the heavens, eternal God
How bright these glorious spirits shine
How wondrous great, how glorious bright
Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber
I sing th'almighty power of God
I'll praise my maker while I've breath
I'm not ashamed to own my Lord
It happened on that fateful night
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Join all the glorious names
Joy to the world! the Lord is come
Let children hear the mighty deeds
Lord, in the morning Thou shalt hear
Lord of the worlds above
My God, how endless is thy love
My shepherd will supply my need
Nature with open volume stands
Now to the King of Heaven
O God, our help in ages past
Oh, bless the Lord, my soul
Oh that the Lord would guide my ways
Sweet is the work, my God, my King
The heavens declare Thy glory, Lord
There is a land of pure delight
This is the day the Lord hath made
To Him Who sits upon the throne
What offering shall we give
When I can read my title clear
When I survey the wondrous cross
With songs and honours sounding loud
One of his best known hymns is based on Psalm 90.
O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast
and our eternal home
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure.
Sufficient is Thine are alone,
and our defense is sure.
Before the hills in order stood,
or earth received her frame,
from everlasting Thou art God,
to endless years the same.
A thousand ages in Thy sight
are like an evening gone,
short as the watch that ends the night
before the rising sun.
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
bears all her sons away.
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
dies at the opening day.
O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
be Thou our guide while life shall last,
and our eternal home.
Acknowledgements:
Text adapted from James Kiefer's Christian Biographies
Image from The Cyber Hymnal