The Life of Isaac Watts

If you're visiting us, you're more than welcome. We're doing something slightly different tonight.

Normally we would have a service, we'd sing some songs, we'd crack open a portion of scripture and look at it together.

But because this is our last evening service before the summer, we thought we'd do something a little different.

I thought it would be a treat. Well, I think it's a treat, but you'll have to tell me afterwards whether it was a treat.

We're going to look at the life of Isaac Watts.

Paul exhorts the Colossians and he says this.

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

That's what Paul writes and there's a really enlightening assertion in that exhortation.

Singing, according to Paul, and we know this from experience, has a peculiar ability to penetrate the heart and resonate in the soul.

Looking back over your life, I dare say you can remember the choruses you sung at Sunday school much better than the memory verses that you learnt.

I bet you can remember the top 40 songs growing up much better than you can the paragraphs of the books that you read.

Therefore, what we sing isn't just a filler of time.

It's not just an option for the enthusiastic.

It's not just an opportunity to showcase our musical abilities.

Singing is a God-ordained means to grow hearts that are overflowing with the message of Christ.

We sing to help us learn of, focus on and respond to God in corporate worship.

We sing to help us learn of, focus on and respond to God in corporate worship.

So if this is the case, then Isaac Watts is a man worthy of our study.

The man aptly described as the father of hymnody, the pastor hymnologist, the scribe of experiential doctrine.

And his whole point was this, that theology must lead to doxology.

As we learn truths about God, it must lead us into authentic worship of God.

If you just have theology with no doxology, you've just got cold, dry orthodoxy.

That you know all the right stuff, but it hasn't penetrated your heart.

If you just have doxology without theology, then you're just singing for the sake of singing and it's an idol.

Because it's not informed about knowledge of God.

This was the big thing in Isaac Watts' life.

He wanted to teach truth, apply truth, and show people the right response to that truth.

And so that's who we're going to look at tonight.

So let's pray, and then we'll have a look at the life of Isaac Watts together.

I want to pray one of Isaac's hymns.

Let's pray.

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, with all thy quickening powers,

kindle a flame of sacred love in these cold hearts of ours.

Look how we grovel here below, fond of these trifling toys.

Our souls can neither fly nor go to reach eternal joys.

In vain we tune our formal songs, in vain we strive to rise.

Hosannas languish on our tongues, and our devotion dies.

Dear Lord, and shall we ever live at this poor dying rate?

Our love so faint, so cold to thee, and thine to us so great.

So come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, with all thy quickening powers.

Come shed abroad the Saviour's love, and that shall kindle us.

Amen.

The year is 1674.

The year of Isaac Watts' birth, and Britain is deeply troubled.

Eleven years before Isaac Watts was born,

the bubonic plague had swept through the country,

killing more than 100,000 people in London alone,

which was about a quarter of the total population of the capital city.

The city of Southampton, where Isaac Watts was born,

had almost been completely depopulated.

The town records talk about streets being overgrown with weeds,

because there was no one going along the thoroughfares.

1666 saw the great fire of London,

that had largely levelled the nation's capital.

So these big events add to the trouble that Britain was in,

but it was also in a tumultuous state,

when it looked at the religious and the political.

These affected Isaac Watts' life more than anything else.

The first half of the 18th century,

the 17th century saw the Roman Catholic Stuart monarchs

tried to assert their divine right to rule as absolutists

over both the church and the state.

Parliament became increasingly tokenistic,

and the two were inevitably to come to blows.

In 1642, Charles I engaged in a civil war with Parliament,

and he lost.

And he didn't just lose the battle, but he also lost his head,

because they beheaded him.

Oliver Cromwell assumed the role of Lord Protector,

and commenced efforts to unite the country in what was called the Commonwealth.

But he quickly found, as so many people in the past have,

real trouble with Scotland,

and with the Presbyterian Church in particular,

and so another civil war ensued.

Finally, in 1660, Parliament

invited Charles I's son, Charles II,

to assume the throne again,

thus reinstating the monarchy.

Think of all the monarchs in history,

Charles II definitely has the best hair.

Charles II, again,

sought to assert his divine right to rule

over both church and state.

This meant that he passed a law

that the Anglican Church was the only legitimate church,

and that everyone in the realm must attend

only an Anglican service.

The state of the Anglican Church is depicted in this painting by William Hogarth.

Hogarth depicts the minister preaching,

and his head is deeply buried in the books.

He's been going on a long time,

because the hourglass is almost completely empty of sand.

Not only has he been going on a long time,

and you can see it from the hourglass,

but all the congregation have fallen asleep.

Some of them have their mouths open,

and they're obviously snoring quite profusely.

The only person awake is the church clerk,

who's using the opportunity of a slumbering woman

to admire her ample bosom,

and to top it all.

You probably can't read it,

but the minister's text,

come to me, all who are weary,

and I will give you rest.

Thus, the act of uniformity,

saying you can only go to the Anglican Church,

was passed in 1662.

On the passing of the law,

2,000 Anglican ministers left the Church of England,

and became what are known as dissenters,

or non-conformists.

These Anglican ministers thought that the liturgy

of the Church of England

was still far too Roman Catholic,

and organised more by the traditions of men

than the content of the Bible.

These non-conformists were considered

a threat to the government,

and a potential cause of civil unrest.

There were a series of laws

inflicting heavy penalties

on those not conforming.

These included huge fines

that could be up to five years' wages

for a normal person.

They could be hefty prison sentences,

and people were even hanged

for not conforming.

If you didn't go to an Anglican service,

you were putting yourself in real danger.

It's at this time that we get the character

John Bunyan,

who was put in prison in Bedford for 12 years,

during which time he penned Pilgrim's Progress.

There was another non-conforming minister

called Nathaniel Robertson in Southampton.

He was the minister of All Saints Church,

but at the passing of the Act of Uniformity,

he left and started a new church

called Above Bar Church,

which continues to this day.

In fact, Roger Carswell was preaching there

this morning, and he will be preaching.

Well, probably not yet,

in about eight minutes tonight.

My parents went to Above Bar Church

when they lived in Southampton.

One of the church leaders of Above Bar Church

was a deacon,

whose name really helpfully

was also called Isaac Senior Watts.

He was a cloth maker.

He ran a boarding school.

And so on the 17th of July, 1674,

the day of Isaac Watts Jr.'s birth,

his father, Isaac Watts Sr.,

was serving a second prison sentence

for being a non-conformist.

His mother, Sarah Taunton Watts,

was a descendant from a French Protestant family

who had fled France in 1572

after the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.

She would nurse Isaac on the steps

outside the prison,

conversing and encouraging her husband,

who was paying the highest price

for his convictions

about the way church was supposed to happen.

Isaac Watts Sr. would be in and out of prison

for all young Isaac's childhood,

and when not locked up,

he'd be in forced exile in London.

However, even in absence,

Isaac Watts Sr. took great responsibility

for bringing his children up

in the things of God.

In total, Isaac Sr. and Sarah

would have eight children,

of which Isaac Watts Jr. was the oldest,

but their two youngest daughters

wouldn't live beyond a year of life.

We have a lovely letter

preserved from Isaac Watts Sr.

to the family

during one of these exiles in London.

And I think it gives us an insight

into what a spiritual man he was

and what an influence he was

in the life of this man

that we're here to study, Isaac.

He starts the letter like this.

My dear children,

though it has pleased God

to suffer the malice of ungodly men,

the enemies of Jesus Christ

and my enemies for his sake,

to break out so far against me

is to remove me from you

in my personal habitation,

thereby at once bereaving me

of that comfort

which I might have hoped for

in the enjoyment of my family in peace,

and you of that education

which my love as a father

and duty as a parent requires me to give.

Yet such are the longings of my soul

for your good and prosperity,

especially in spiritual concernments,

that I remember you always with myself

in my daily prayers

addressed to the throne of grace.

Then he writes some further instructions.

He writes this about their Bible study.

I charge you frequently

to read the Holy Scriptures

and not as a task or burden laid on you,

but get your hearts

to delight in them daily.

He then writes about their sinful nature

and God's salvation.

He says to his six remaining children,

consider seriously

and often the sinful

and miserable estate

you are in by nature

and that you are liable

to eternal wrath thereupon.

Also think upon the way

of fallen man's recovery by grace

according to the foundational principles

of the Christian religion

which you have learnt in your catechism

and beg of God by prayer

to give you understanding in them

and faith to believe in Jesus Christ

and a heart willing to yield obedience

to his gospel commands in all things.

He says,

learn to know God

according to the discoveries

he has made of himself

in and by his word,

in all his glorious attributes

and infinite perfections.

Especially learn to know him

in and through the Lord Jesus Christ

and to be acquainted

with this blessed redeemer

of God's people.

He finishes the letter

with these words,

do not entertain any hard thoughts

of God or of his ways

because his people

are persecuted for them.

For Jesus Christ himself

was persecuted to death

by wicked men

for preaching the gospel

and doing good

and the holy apostles

and prophets

were cruelly treated

for serving God

in his own way.

Then he writes this,

consider your mother.

She is left alone

to bear all the burdens

of bringing you up

and is, as it were,

a widow.

Her time is filled up

with many cares

and therefore do not grieve her

by any rebellious

or disobedient ways

but be willing to learn

from her

and be ruled by her

that she may have

some comfort

in seeing your obedient courage

and that it will rejoice me

to hear these things.

These things I charge

and command you

with the authority

and love of a father.

Now commending you to God

and what I have written

to his blessing

upon your hearts

through Jesus Christ

with my dear love

to your mother.

It's quite a letter,

isn't it,

to send to small children

but it shows the gravity

with which he took

the responsibility

as a parent

and particularly

his earnestness

that they knew God.

Isaac was a precocious child.

He was literally a genius

and that word is so overused.

He started to learn Latin

from his father

at the age of four.

He started learning Greek

at nine,

French at ten

and Hebrew

at thirteen.

When he was six,

he started the free school

in Southampton,

now called

King Edward VI Grammar School

that has as its alumni

none other than

Dr. Robert Gemmell.

When once was seven,

his mother found

some handwritten poems

in his room

and asked whether Isaac

had written them.

Isaac said he had,

but his mother doubted

that a child so young

could write such verse.

So she got Isaac

to sit at the kitchen table

with a quill and paper

and said,

write something.

Instantly,

he wrote this,

I am a vile polluted lump

of earth,

so I've continued

since my birth.

Although Jehovah

grace does daily give me,

as sure as this monster

will deceive me,

come therefore,

Lord,

from Satan's claws

relieve me.

Wash me in thy blood,

O Christ,

and grace divine impart,

and search and try

the corners of my heart,

that I in all things

may be fit to do

service to thee

and sing thy praises too.

What if he did that

at six,

at seven?

Which is amazing

in itself,

but when you look

at the first letters

of each line,

it spells Isaac Watts.

It's pretty handy.

It was also while

at the free school

in Southampton

that he writes this

in his journal.

1698,

fell under considerable

conviction of sin.

1689,

was taught to trust

in Christ.

On leaving the free school

in 1690,

Watts had a massive

decision to make.

He was a real celebrity

by now,

this child genius

in Southampton,

and a really wealthy local

called Dr. Speed

took a keen interest

in Isaac.

And he said to the parents,

I want to pay for you

to go to university.

There were only

two university options.

One was Oxford.

The other was Cambridge.

It obviously wasn't

that special

to go to Oxford

or Cambridge back then

because you couldn't

go anywhere else.

There was only

one problem though.

You couldn't go to,

you could only go

to Oxford or Cambridge

if you were

an Anglican.

And so if you were

a non-conformist,

it wasn't open.

So he had a real choice

to make education

or conviction.

He declined the offer

from Dr. Speed

and set out

as a committed

non-conformist.

He enrolled

in a dissenting academy

which is where

non-conformists went

in Stoke Ewington

just outside London

under the tutelage

of Mr. Rowe.

He writes in his journal,

1690,

left grammar school

and came to London

to Mr. Rowe's

to study philosophy,

et cetera.

That word et cetera

is shorthand

for Latin, Greek,

Hebrew, maths,

history, geography,

natural sciences,

logic, rhetoric,

ethics, metaphysics,

anatomy, law,

and theology,

philosophy, et cetera.

This was in the midst

of the Enlightenment

where a revolution

of thought

was taking place.

Traditional education

of maxims

and givens

was being undercut

by investigation

evidence

and reason.

And so this is

a real interesting time

to be educated.

And we'll see

Watts has a lot

to say about this

in a little while.

One Sunday

in 1690,

Watts was home

during a holiday

from the

dissenting academy.

The family

were on a walk

after the church service.

When Isaac shouted,

the singing

of God's praise

is the part

of worship

closest to heaven,

but its performance

among us

is the worst

on earth.

Church singing

at the time

was almost

exclusively

psalm singing

with the occasional

singing

of the Lord's Prayer

or the Ten Commandments.

I mean,

the Ten Commandments

has got to be

a tough worship song.

Watts described

them as

ugly hymns

and that

he was offended

by the gawkiness,

dullness

and crudity

of expression.

He's not there

saying that he

didn't like the psalms

that they were ugly,

but he really hated

the way they'd been

translated

and tried to put

into some kind

of hymn form.

Isaac Watts

Sr. replied

to young Isaac's

outburst.

If you do not like

the hymns,

young man,

then give us

something better.

That afternoon,

Watts

inked his quill

and wrote a hymn

of eight stanzas

based on Revelation

Revelation 5:6–12

chapter 5

verses 6 to 12.

This is the hymn.

Behold the glories

of the Lamb

amidst his

Father's throne.

Prepare new

honours for his

name and sing

songs before

unknown.

Let elders

worship at his

feet,

the church

adore around,

with vials

full of odour

sweet and harps

of sweeter sound.

Those are the

prayers of the

saints,

and these the

hymns they raise.

Jesus is kind

to our complaints,

he loves to hear

our praise.

Eternal Father,

who shall look

into thy secret

will,

who but the Son

should take the

book and open

every seal.

He shall fulfill

thy great decrees,

the Son deserves

it well.

Low in his hand

the sovereign keys

of heaven and

death and hell.

Now to the Lamb

that once was slain

be endless blessings

paid, salvation,

glory, joy remain

forever on thy head.

Thou hast redeemed

our souls with blood,

has set the

prisoner free,

has made us kings

and priests to God,

and we shall reign

with thee.

The worlds of nature

and of grace are put

beneath thy power,

then shorten these

delaying days,

and bring the

promised hour.

It's not bad for your

first go at a hymn,

I don't think.

I think you might have

a real future when it

comes to hymn writing.

And the most amazing

thing is it's not just

a new hymn,

but it's a new hymn

about new hymns.

So he's really a clever,

clever boy.

That night it was sung

for the first time

at Above Bar Church.

It was met with great

enthusiasm and joy

and they proceeded to

sing it nine times.

So if you have a problem

with repeating choruses,

it's really nothing near.

What's left the

dissenting academy in

1694 and returned home?

He simply writes in his diary,

dwelt at my father's house

two years and a quarter.

No one really knows

what he was doing

for two and a quarter years.

And then in 1696,

Isaac Watts was asked

by Sir John Hartop,

a wealthy, influential,

and devoted nonconformist,

to become the tutor

of his children.

He had six daughters

and one son.

Watts accepted a move

into the family's estate,

which was back

in Stoke Newington,

where he'd studied.

He performed this role

for three years.

During this time,

he wrote lots and lots

of textbooks for children

on all sorts of things,

on biology and astronomy,

on anatomy,

for use primarily

by the children,

but they were so good

that they were replicated

and everyone was using them

across the country.

Watts also took the responsibility

of teaching the Hartop children

about the Christian faith

and became very skilled

at communicating the gospel

to John Hart,

something that he's going

to become famous for

in a little while.

While he was there,

he also wrote this book,

which if you can't quite read,

it says,

Logic,

the right use of reason

in the inquiry

after the truth,

with a variety of rules

to guard against error

in the affairs of religion

and human life,

as well as in the sciences.

It was a book

that kicked back

against the Enlightenment,

that said,

actually,

everything we know,

we can find out ourselves.

And yet,

Isaac Watts wanted to say,

no,

there are some things

that need to be revealed

to us.

It was such a good book

that it became

the core textbook

on logic

at Oxford,

Cambridge,

and Yale,

the very institutions

institutions

that said,

we don't want you

as a non-conformist.

One of the great threads

of Isaac Watts' theology

is to try and say

that the Christian faith

is reasonable.

He was,

if you like,

an 18th century apologist.

He writes a lot

of theological textbooks.

He writes about 28 in all.

Some of them

are absolutely brilliant,

and some of them

are awful.

especially his stuff

on the Trinity,

where he tries to make

the Trinity

sound reasonable,

which is really impossible.

And in his attempt

to make it sound reasonable

using all sorts of systems

and illustrations,

he actually makes it

far more complicated

and much further advanced

than we could ever imagine

to the point of being

utterly irrational

and unbelievable.

In 1698,

on his 24th birthday,

he writes in his diary,

preached my first,

oh,

let the game away

a little early.

He preached his first sermon

at Mark Lane Church

in London.

Mark Lane Church

is a very famous

non-conformist church.

One of the two pastors ago,

the pastor was John Owen,

who's a very big theologian,

particularly of non-conformism

and the state of the church.

The current pastor

was a guy called Dr. Chauncey.

This was the church

that the Hartop family attended.

And in his sermon,

Isaac preached

a very straightforward message,

full of exhortation

and illustration.

And it was met

with great warmth

by the congregation.

In 1699,

he writes in his diary,

preached first sermon

as Dr. Chauncey's assistant

at Mark Lane Church.

And suffered after

with fever and weakness.

This will be another thread

that runs right through

Isaac Watts' life.

He is always ill.

He's always plagued

with fever and illness.

Dr. Chauncey,

the guy he was the assistant to,

was a learned and able pastor,

but the Mark Lane Church

was not doing well

under his leadership.

It had shrunk to about 60 members.

And from the church records,

it seems to have been

in large part

due to Dr. Chauncey.

He's described as one

who was stubborn in controversy,

tedious in preaching,

and rigid in matters

of church discipline.

So it seems that his congregation

were voting with their feet.

Two years after Watts

became assistant,

Dr. Chauncey resigned.

The congregation decided

to look for a replacement

whilst keeping Watts on

as the assistant.

However, Watts was not well.

In June 1701,

just after Dr. Chauncey's resignation,

his notebook says,

went to Bath

by advice of physicians.

Bath that place

with good water by the sea

that you went to get well

if you were wealthy.

A few months later,

the church was still vacant

and the church record says,

assistant pastor Watts

under continued indispositions

of body and weakness

in the country,

he has given us

little encouragement

to expect his return

amongst us.

After that,

the church held a day

of prayer and fasting

specifically for the restoration

of Mr. Watts' health

and for the provision

of a pastor for this church.

The two ended up

to be intrinsically linked.

After five months away,

Watts returned to London

and the church called him

to be the senior pastor

of Mark Lane Church.

Watts hesitated

in accepting the call,

claiming that his illness

would prevent him

from preaching twice

on a Sunday.

The congregation persisted

and Watts wrote to them

this letter.

Your perseverance

in your choice and love,

your constant profession

of edification

by my ministry,

the great probability

you show in building up

this famous

and decayed church of Christ

if I accept the call,

and your prevailing fears

of its dissolution

if I refuse,

have given me ground

to believe that your corporate voice

is the voice of Christ.

I accept your call,

promising the presence

of God and his saints

my utmost diligence

in all the duties

of a pastor,

so far as God

shall enlighten

and strengthen me.

And I leave this promise

in the hands of Christ,

our mediator,

to see it performed

by me unto you

through the assistance

of his grace

and spirit.

He was ordained

as the pastor

of Mark Lane Church

on 18th of March,

1702,

and Thomas Rowe,

his tutor

from the Dissenting Academy,

preached the sermon.

He preached on Jeremiah 3,

Jeremiah 3:15

verse 15,

and I will give you pastors

according to mine own heart,

which shall feed you

with knowledge

and understanding.

Under Watts' ministry,

the church started to grow.

Within two years,

they had to move out

of Mark Lane Church

and go to Pinner's Hall.

Two years after that,

they went to a purpose-built hall,

and the membership

was up to 428

from the 60 that he'd inherited.

However,

once his health

continued to plague him,

he regularly writes

in his notebook things like,

seized with violent jaundice

and colic,

had very slow recovery

from most recent bout

of fever,

eight or nine weeks ill,

at this time,

Watts employed

a personal assistant

to write for him

and read for him,

and he says

the reason he did that

was because

of my great indispositions

of body

and weakness of head.

However,

after the church

moved to the new premises,

Watts enjoyed

a sustained period

of reasonably good health

over the next decade

and was able to minister

without significant interruptions.

Watts also started

to become known

as an author.

He'd not only written

all these textbooks

and this book of logic,

but now he started

to author things

for general use

that were becoming

really famous.

In 1706,

he had a book of poems

called

Horai Lyrike,

published.

It spread like wildfire

and was a bestseller.

In 1707,

he received great acclaim

for an essay entitled

Against Uncharitableness.

And later that year,

in 1707,

he published his first book

of hymns called

Hymns and Spiritual Songs.

This first book of hymns

was revolutionary.

By the time he died,

41 years later,

it was in its 16th edition.

It was used by Whitfield

in his outdoor preaching

and it was translated

for an American audience

by Benjamin Franklin.

Watts writes this

in the preface

about why he wrote

the hymns.

These songs are suited

for the expression

of the general state

of the gospel

and the most common

affairs of Christians.

I have aimed

at making these songs

recitable by large numbers

with smoothness of sound

and endeavoured

to make the sense

plain and obvious

to all.

Watts was not the first person

to write hymns

for the church.

Some had endeavoured

to do so before.

Watts, therefore,

is not called

the father of hymnody

because he was the first,

but because he wrote

better and more

than all those before him.

Before him was a trickle

of new hymns.

He broke the dam.

In this first volume,

he writes this hymn,

which I think

is my favourite.

Alas, and did my saviour bleed,

and did my sovereign die,

would he devote

that sacred head

for such a worm as I.

The body slain,

sweet Jesus thine,

and bathed in its own blood,

while all exposed

to wrath divine,

the glorious sufferer stood.

Was it for crimes

that I had done,

he groaned upon the tree.

Amazing pity,

grace unknown,

and loved beyond degree.

What might the sun

in darkness hide

and shut his glories in

when God the mighty

maker died

for man,

the creature's sin?

Thus might I hide

my blushing face

while his dear cross appears,

dissolve my heart

in thankfulness

and melt

my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief

can ne'er repay

the debt of love I owe.

Here, Lord,

I give myself away.

Tis all that I can do.

It's also in this volume

that we get

what's his most famous hymn,

When I Survey

the Wondrous Cross.

Charles Wesley,

who wrote 6,000 hymns,

said I would give

all 6,000 up

if I could have written

this one.

He also wrote

in this volume

Joy to the World,

but it's about

six months too early

to crack that one out.

It was during this period

when he started

to become known

as an author

that Isaac Watts

had his only romantic

encounter.

A lady called

Elizabeth Singer

had read Watts' poetry

and loved it.

She loved it so much

that she wanted

to meet the author.

However,

Isaac,

though brilliant,

was not an attractive man.

He's described

as short,

sallow face,

deathly pale,

and had a crooked,

hooked nose.

Miss Singer,

by contrast,

was very beautiful.

They,

after lengthy

letter correspondence,

did eventually meet,

and Watts was smitten

and proposed

to her.

And Miss Singer's

response has to be

the best put down

ever.

Ever.

She said this,

Mr Watts,

I only wish

I could say

that I admire

the casket

as much as

I admire the jewel.

I only wish

that the beauty

that flowed

from your pen

seeped into

your person.

In other words,

I love your poetry,

but you're far too ugly

for me to spend

the rest of my life

with.

In 1712,

the old tiresome

sickness returned

and what's effectively

left pastoral ministry

for the next four years.

One biographer

speaks of his ailment

being a violent fever

which introduced

a state of nervous

agitation of the most

painful and distressing

kind.

His assistant

at the church,

Samuel Price,

was appointed

as co-pastor

during this time,

something Isaac

was greatly

in favor of

because of his

incapacitation.

The state of illness

became known

by Sir Thomas Abney.

Sir Thomas Abney

was the Lord Mayor

of London.

He was the first

director of the Bank

of England,

one of the first

directors of the Bank

of England

and also for a period

became like a royal

advisor.

Sir Thomas was a

genuine,

generous benefactor

and zealous

Christian.

The Abneys

invited Isaac

to stay with them

in their

Hertfordshire estate,

Herefordshire estate,

Abney Park,

to regain his health.

Watts intended

to stay for two

weeks so as not

to be a burden.

He ended up

staying for 36

years.

It was at Abney

Park where Watts

died,

aged 75.

This time at the

Abney estate was

very productive

in the life of

Isaac.

In 1715,

he wrote a book

called Divine

Songs Attempted

in Easy Language

for the Use of

Children.

Much of his

skill in teaching

children had been

honed during his

time with the

Hartop children

as their tutor

and in fact

this book was

dedicated to

Sir John Hartop

himself.

The words in the

preface again are

worthy of note.

He writes,

To all that are

concerned with the

education of

children,

you have been

given an immense

and important

charge.

The seeds of

misery or happiness

in this world

and that to

come are

often times

sown very

early and

therefore whatever

may conduce to

give the minds

of children a

relish for virtue

and religion must

be your primary

concern.

He also defends

verses and

effectual means of

teaching children

saying that the

truths they sing

will resonate with

them far longer

than any other

lessons they learn.

Just to give you

an example,

he writes this

chorus about the

excellence of the

Bible.

Great God with

wonders and with

praise on all

thy works I

lurk, but still

thy wisdom,

power and grace

shine brighter in

your book.

The stars that in

their courses roll

have much instruction

given, but thy

word informs my

soul how I may

climb to heaven.

The fields provide

me food and show

the goodness of the

Lord, but fruits of

life and glory grow

in thy most holy

word.

Here are my choices,

treasures hid,

here my best comfort

lies, here my

desires are satisfied

and hence my joys

arise.

Lord, make me

understand thy law,

show what my

faults have been,

and from thy gospel

let me draw pardon

for all my sin.

Here would I learn

how Christ has died

to save my soul

from hell, not all

the books on earth

besides such heavenly

wonders tell.

Then let me love my

Bible more and take

a fresh delight by day

to read these wonders

over and meditate

by night.

He also writes a book

called Prayers for

Use and Imitation

of Children.

No one had paid much

attention to children

and he writes them a

song book and a book

about prayer.

And the third thing he

does is he writes

them a catechism,

a way that they can

learn the foundations

of the Christian faith.

These catechisms were

so useful and so

successful in teaching

children the gospel

that Charles Haddon

Spurgeon, a century

after Watts' death,

would make the

following comment about

their use in his

upbringing.

Dr. Watts' catechism,

which I learned

myself, is so simple,

so interesting, so

suggestive, that a

better conversation of

scriptural knowledge

will never be written.

And the marvel is

that such a tool of

instruction should have

been laid aside by so

many Sunday school

teachers.

It was also at

Abney Park staying

with Lord Abney that

Watts produced his

greatest work, a

re-rendering of

psalms, the psalms

Christologically.

As Watts described

them, the previous

translation is offensive

and gawky.

Watts asked himself,

why may we not sing

of Christ as God?

When God makes all

things new, why must

our praises remain in

the old covenant?

It was from this

question that Watts

hit upon a new way

of interpreting the

psalms, the so-called

redemptive historical

hermeneutic employed by

all the best preachers.

This is described by

J.I.

Packer as, Christ is

the subject matter of

scripture, always

written to bear witness

to him.

He is the sum of the

whole Bible, prophesied,

typified, prefigured,

exhibited, demonstrated.

He is to be found in

every leaf, almost in

every line, the

scriptures being, but

as it were, the

swaddling bands of the

child Jesus.

So Watts said about

rewriting the psalms,

but making them about

Jesus.

He writes this in the

preface.

Where the psalmist speaks

of the pardon of sin

through the mercies of

God, I have added the

merits of a saviour.

Where he talks of

sacrificing goats or

bullocks, I rather

choose to mention the

sacrifice of Christ, the

Lamb of God.

Where he promises

abundance of wealth,

honour and long life,

I have changed some of

these typical blessings

for grace, glory and

life eternal, which are

brought to light by the

gospel and promised in the

New Testament.

And I am fully

satisfied that more

honour is done to our

blessed saviour by

speaking his name, his

graces, his actions

explicitly in our own

language, according to

the brighter discoveries he

hath now made, than by

going back again to the

Old Testament forms of

worship and the language

of types and figures.

So for example, he takes

Psalm 72.

The English version

begins, give the king

your justice, O God.

And clearly in context, it

is a psalm about King

Solomon and his reign

extending throughout all

the world.

But through the redemptive

historical theology

employed by Watts and his

poetic skill, it becomes a

Jesus-centred declaration of

the gospel foreshadowed in

the psalm and fulfilled in

Christ.

So we get, Jesus shall reign

where'er the sun, doth his

successive journey run, his

kingdom stretch from shore

to shore, till moon shall

wax and wane no more.

There was a lot of

opposition from some camps to

this re-rendering of the

psalms.

They accused him of tampering

with scripture.

However, there were a vast

majority who were incredibly

appreciative of what Isaac

Watts had done.

Isaac's younger brother

called Enoch, a notable

poet himself, wrote this to

celebrate his brother's

work.

Yours is the old truth,

stripped of its rags,

ragged ornaments and

upper else.

If we may say so, as

younger by ages in a new

fashionable dress, these

psalms have been clothed.

There is in the old psalms

we used to sing a mighty

deficiency of that life and

soul which are necessary to

raise our fancies and kindle

our passions.

Not so with yours.

They are incendiary to the

soul, magnifying of Christ

and glorious to recite.

I have been persuaded for

some time now that with

King David to speak English,

he would choose to make use

of your style.

We'll sing another great

Watts psalm in a few moments

to close our time.

That one, O God, our help

in ages past.

Watts continued writing and

reforming for the next 20

years.

He became not just a renowned

preacher of the gospel,

but also became very active

in social reform.

The outworking of the gospel.

He wrote about uncharitableness.

He challenged giving.

He spoke on social ills like

drunkenness, particularly gin.

He was a keen advocate for

free and accessible education

for the poor.

He was also someone who was

very caring and loving to his

congregation.

You've got countless letters

tenderly penned that express

not just a sincere love for

them, but a desire that they

would go through the various

struggles of their life in a

Christ-like, God-glorifying

way.

In 1746, just two years before

he died, Watts wrote a hymn to

introduce a new book called

The World to Come.

It's a book about death and

it's really worth a read.

It's very, very brilliant in

dealing with the topic.

This hymn that he writes to

introduce and is in the front

cover says this.

There is a land of pure delight

where saints immortal reign.

Infinite day excludes the

night and pleasures banish pain.

Their everlasting spring abides

and never withering flowers.

Death like a narrow sea divides

this heavenly land from us.

Sweet fields beyond the

swelling flood stand dressed in

living green.

So too the Jews old Canaan stood

while Jordan rolled between.

But timorous mortals start and

shrink to cross the narrow sea

and linger shivering on the brink

and fear to launch away.

Oh could we make our doubts

remove those gloomy doubts

that rise and see the Canaan

that we love with unbeclouded

eyes.

It's amazing isn't it just how

real he is when he says

timorous mortals start and

shrink to cross the narrow sea.

But even the most fervent

Christian can still be scared of

death.

It's a very pastoral book

the world to come.

There's a lot of great

exhortation in it about how to

use life well.

Watts at the end of his life met

some slightly later contemporaries.

He met Whitfield who asked if he

could use his hymns in the open air

campaigns.

The Wesley brothers spoke really

nicely of him.

He lives to see the great

awakening through the preaching

of Jonathan Edwards.

Which when you consider

the church world that he

grew up in

to then see this incredible

revival break out towards the

end of his life must have been a

real thrill.

The church had seen a seismic and

glorious shift in the course of his

life from a dry emotionless

formal gathering in the 1670s

to a revival of enthusiasm and

life by his death in 1748.

All of these gatherings would have

been belted out many of the hymns

that he penned as we are today.

On the 25th of November 1748 at the

Abney Estate Watts commented to his

personal secretary Joseph Parker

It is a great mercy to me that I have

no matter of fear or dread in death.

I could if God please lay back my

head and die without terror this

afternoon or night.

My chief supports are from my view of

eternal things and the interest through

Christ I have in them.

I trust all my sins are pardoned through

the blood of Christ.

I have no fear of dying.

It would be the greatest comfort to

lie down and sleep and wake no more.

Watts in one of his meditations on

death wrote in heaven new and

unknown powers and glories brighter

flames of imagination richer scenes of

wit and fancy and diviner talents.

He talks about the new creation having

even diviner talents.

So if these what's him sound good down

here just imagine what a glorious heaven

what's him would sound like.

The last thing he wrote before his death

was these four lines.

There we shall see his face and never

never sin.

They're from the fountain of his grace.

Drink endless pleasures in.

And so that is Isaac Watts.

But what can we learn about him today?

I think just a few things.

Light and then heat.

Light and then heat.

In all his hymn writing Isaac Watts was

very careful in stating the truth and

then responding to it.

It was always theology becoming doxology.

It wasn't emotionalism.

He wasn't hyping up the crowd.

But he said these truths are true.

And then he told people how to feel about

them.

Secondly, in an age of enlightened thinking

and rationalism, Isaac Watts is

reasonable but remarkable about emotion.

When everyone was going to empirical

evidence, when everyone was saying that

we can actually find out everything,

it became very sterile.

And Isaac Watts said, no, you can feel

feel about these things.

These are things that you can be

overjoyed about.

There are situations in life where you

can cry.

And isn't that interesting for us in the

21st century?

That we don't need to just have a dry,

cold orthodoxy on a level.

But actually it's good to be overjoyed

at the gospel.

We can be fearful of what's to come.

There is the ability to feel built into

the Christian experience.

I think thirdly, gospel faithfulness

in weakness.

That Isaac Watts, as we've seen,

was ill all the time.

He was never well and sometimes he was

close to death.

And yet Watts was dependent on the

Lord amidst his weakness.

He knew he couldn't do it by himself.

His prayer journal is remarkable.

Just endlessly says, I can't do it,

so God you'll have to.

He didn't use it as an excuse for

anything.

If he literally could stand, he would

preach and then suffer the consequences

afterwards.

Fourthly, a massive investment in

children.

Despite often being ridiculed for the

time he took writing and seek to

educate children, he persisted.

He knew that God loved children and

bringing them up and teaching them the

things of God was by far the best

investment and use of his time.

We see that that was built on the

upbringing that he had.

Fifthly, Christ-centered praise.

In an age of moralism in the church and

academia and skepticism, Watts absolutely

kept the main thing the main thing.

And all of his hymns focus and center and

find their crescendo in the gospel in the

person of the Lord Jesus.

Wesley said of him, he opened his Bible

and made a beeline for Jesus as quickly

as possible.

Sixthly, he used his gifts and talents for

the highest purposes.

As you can see, he was an absolute genius.

The age of seven to pen that is pretty

good.

He could have been an actor.

He could have written books.

He could have been a playwright.

And yet he knew that the one thing that

would last forever is what he did for the

Lord Jesus.

And seventhly, something that we didn't

really cover is that he hated division in

the church.

He always sought harmony.

And he was in a time of great tumult.

And he very much stood on the truth.

He engaged with philosophers and academics.

He has a brilliant discourse with John

Locke, a leading philosopher at the time.

And this is what John Locke said.

After our conversation, I have to say,

I disagree with Mr. Watts profoundly.

But I find myself loving him more dearly as a

result of our conversation.

That he always acted graciously with integrity

towards people.

And this just endeared him to his fellows and

colleagues even more.

At his funeral service, David Jennings

prophetically said these words.

While Isaac Watts is now celebrating the new

songs of heaven, how many thousands of pious

worshippers are this day lifting up their hearts

to God in the sacred songs he taught them on earth?

Though his voice is not any longer heard by us,

yet his words, like those of the day and night,

are gone to the ends of the world.