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Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts (July 17, 1674 – November 25, 1748) was an English preacher, hymn writer, and theologian whose calling from God within the Congregational Church transformed Christian worship and theology across the early 18th century. Born in Southampton, England, to Isaac Watts Sr., a clothier and deacon jailed twice for Nonconformist beliefs, and Sarah Taunton, he was the eldest of nine children in a devout dissenting family. Educated at King Edward VI School in Southampton until age 16, he declined an Oxford scholarship due to his Nonconformist stance, instead attending the Dissenting Academy at Stoke Newington (1690–1694) under Thomas Rowe, mastering Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Watts’s calling from God was affirmed with his ordination in 1702 as pastor of Mark Lane Independent Chapel in London, where he served until frail health forced his retirement in 1712, though he continued assistant duties under Samuel Price until 1748. His sermons, delivered with intellectual depth and evangelical warmth, called believers to a personal faith, often paired with his revolutionary hymns like “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “Joy to the World,” published in works such as Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707) and Psalms of David Imitated (1719). A prolific writer, he authored over 50 works, including The Improvement of the Mind (1741) and Logick (1725), shaping Dissenting education and worship. Never married, he lived with the Abney family at Theobalds after 1712 and passed away at age 74 in Stoke Newington, London, buried at Bunhill Fields.
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Isaac Watts preaches about the profound impact of the wondrous Cross where Jesus, the Prince of Glory, died, leading to a transformation in perspective where worldly gains are seen as loss and pride is humbled. He emphasizes the importance of boasting only in the death of Christ and sacrificing all worldly charms to His blood, reflecting on the love and sorrow that flowed from Jesus on the Cross, culminating in a call to die to the world and live fully for Christ, recognizing the incomparable love and divine sacrifice that demands our entire being.
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
(Galatians 6:14) When I survey the wondrous Cross Where the young Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast Save in the death of Christ, my God; All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood. See from his head, his hands, his feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down; Did e'er such love and sorrow meet? Or thorns compose so rich a crown? His dying crimson like a robe Spreads o'er his body on the Tree, Then am I dead to all the globe, And all the globe is dead to me. Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.
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Isaac Watts (July 17, 1674 – November 25, 1748) was an English preacher, hymn writer, and theologian whose calling from God within the Congregational Church transformed Christian worship and theology across the early 18th century. Born in Southampton, England, to Isaac Watts Sr., a clothier and deacon jailed twice for Nonconformist beliefs, and Sarah Taunton, he was the eldest of nine children in a devout dissenting family. Educated at King Edward VI School in Southampton until age 16, he declined an Oxford scholarship due to his Nonconformist stance, instead attending the Dissenting Academy at Stoke Newington (1690–1694) under Thomas Rowe, mastering Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Watts’s calling from God was affirmed with his ordination in 1702 as pastor of Mark Lane Independent Chapel in London, where he served until frail health forced his retirement in 1712, though he continued assistant duties under Samuel Price until 1748. His sermons, delivered with intellectual depth and evangelical warmth, called believers to a personal faith, often paired with his revolutionary hymns like “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “Joy to the World,” published in works such as Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707) and Psalms of David Imitated (1719). A prolific writer, he authored over 50 works, including The Improvement of the Mind (1741) and Logick (1725), shaping Dissenting education and worship. Never married, he lived with the Abney family at Theobalds after 1712 and passed away at age 74 in Stoke Newington, London, buried at Bunhill Fields.