24. Isaac Watts

24. Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was born at Southampton, July 17th, 1674. He was the eldest son, there being four sons and five daughters, of Mr. Isaac Watts, the master of a very flourishing boarding-school in that town, which was in such reputation that gentlemen’s sons were sent to it from America and the West Indies. His parents, being conscientious nonconformists, had suffered much from the persecuting measures of Charles II, his father having been imprisoned more than once because he would not attend the church. During his imprisonment, his wife sometimes sat near the prison-door, suckling her son. Isaac. When about 7 years old, Isaac was desired by his mother to write some lines, as was the custom with the other boys after the school hours were over, for which she used to reward them with a farth­ing. Isaac obeyed and wrote the following:

``I write not for a farthing, but to try How I your farthing writers can outvie.’

Dr. Jennings says, "Through the power of divine grace, he was not only preserved from criminal follies, but had a deep sense of religion on his heart betimes." Some gentlemen at Southampton offered to defray the expenses of his education at one of the Universities, but he declined it, saying he was determined to take his lot amongst the Dissenters. Accordingly, in the year 1690, he was sent to London, for academical edu­cation under Mr. Thomas Rowe, and in 1693, in his 19th year, he joined in communion with the church under the pastoral care of his tutor. While at this academy he wrote two English dissertations, one of which was on the subject of justification through the imputed righteousness of Christ; in which he says, "The devil has used many artifices to subvert us, among which this is a principal one, namely, filling men’s minds with wrong opinions concerning it, by represent­ing it as an unholy doctrine; and this is the common prejudice against the justification by the imputed right­eousness of Christ received by faith alone, that it gives liberty to men to live loosely and sinfully, as though there was no room for good works in our religion, if they be not brought into our justification. But constant experience shows that this is a mistake; for they who embrace this doctrine are for good works as much as any, and dare not oppose the authority of that Spirit who, by the apostle James, pronounces that faith which is without good works is dead. What we contend for is the right place, use, and end of good works in the mat­ters of religion, that they may not be substituted in the stead of Christ, and the glory of our salvation be attributed to ourselves, against which the Scriptures so often caution us." In 1712 a violent fever laid him low and he never fully recovered from its effects. Sir T. Abney took him to his home where, although he expected to accept hospitality for a week he remained some 40 years, Lady Abney continuing to extend the same hospitality after her husband’s death. Here he was visited by Lady Hunt­ingdon. He was once in the coffee room of an hotel when he overheard someone say scornfully, ``Is that the great Dr. Watts?’ The Doctor hearing this turned and repeated the following lines from his pen:

``Were I so tall to reach the pole, Or mete the ocean with my span, I must be measured by my soul; The mind’s the standard of the man.’

He was unable to sleep for long periods at night and no drug seemed to be effective. About half-an-hour be­fore he died Whitefield called upon him and, asking him how he was, he replied, ``Here am I one of Christ’s waiting servants.’ His comfort at last came especially from the words ``I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.’ He was taken home on Nov. 25th, 1748 and was buried in Bunhill Fields where a monument was erected over the grave and another in Westminster Abbey.

Scripture tells us that ``Great men are not always wise, neither do the aged understand judgment,’ and in the inscrutable providence of God outstanding saints who would perhaps have been in danger of worship rather than esteem have taken some unwise step com­pelling caution respecting some of their statements. The God-endowed gift which raised Isaac Watts to high eminence as a leader of Christian praise to old and young alike, outshines all criticism but his excur­sions into polemical discussion upon the deep mystery of the Trinity tempted his brilliantly acute mind to venture to explain things which God has wisely hidden and Isaac Watts in very beautiful language confesses to much, if not all, wherein he was led astray. In these days when many sincere Christians tend to be over wise and to be dogmatic respecting prophecy and other mys­teries as yet unsolved, it may be well to ponder the confessions of this great divine as recorded by Robert Southey in his memoir of the poet. He quotes from Watts ``Solemn Address to the Great and ever blessed God’. Here is an extract:

"Am I not truly sensible of my own darkness and weakness, my dangerous prejudices on every side, and my utter insufficiency for my own conduct? Wilt thou leave such a poor creature, bewildered among a thousand perplexities, which are raised by the various opinions and contrivances of men, to explain thy divine truth?"

"Help me, heavenly Father, for I am quite tired and weary of these human explainings, so various and un­certain. When wilt thou explain it to me thyself, O my God, by the secret and certain dictates of thy Spirit, according to the intimation of Thy Word? Nor let any pride of reason, nor any affectation of novelty, nor any criminal bias whatsoever, turn my heart aside from hearkening to these divine dictates of Thy Word and Thy Spirit. Suffer not any of my native corruptions, nor the vanity of my imagination, to cast a mist over my eyes while I am searching after the knowledge of Thy mind and will, for my eternal salvation."

"I intreat, O most merciful Father, that thou wilt not suffer the remnant of my short life to be wasted in such endless wanderings in quest of Thee and Thy Son Jesus, as a great part of my past days have been; but let my sincere endeavours to know Thee, in all the ways whereby Thou hast discovered Thyself in Thy Word, be crowned with such success that my soul being estab­lished in every needful truth by Thy Holy Spirit, I may spend my remaining life according to the rules of Thy Gospel, and may, with all the holy and happy creation, ascribe glory and honour, wisdom and power, to Thee Who sittest upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever!" At the end he said, "It is a great mercy to me that I have no manner of fear or dread of death," and on being asked if he experienced the comfort of the Words "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" the dying man replied faintly "I do."