Isaac Watts: A poet in awe of his Creator

Creation Ministries International ^ | 7-4-19 | Nicos Kaloyirou and Russell Grigg

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Isaac Watts: A poet in awe of his Creator

by Nicos Kaloyirou and Russell Grigg

Published: 4 July 2019 (GMT+10)

Isaac Watts (1674–1748) was a Christian preacher who composed some 750 hymns. In doing so, virtually single-handedly, he inaugurated congregational hymn singing as we know it today. He also wrote nine volumes on logic, astronomy, and philosophy, in which he explored the limits of reason, and discussed God’s creation as an expression of His power. He engaged with many of the scientific ideas of his time, including those of his contemporary, Isaac Newton.

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From the article:

"Growing up, young Isaac enjoyed reading and especially liked rhyming verse. On one occasion, during family devotions, he saw a mouse climbing up the bell-pull and was heard to giggle. Questioned by his father, he replied that he had seen a mouse run up the rope and the thought had come into his mind:

“There was a mouse for want of stairs

Ran up a rope to say his prayers.”3

At first intrigued, and then annoyed at Isaac’s continued rhyming, his father ordered him to stop. Isaac didn’t. Punishment loomed, and Isaac burst out:

“O father, do some mercy take,

And I will no more verses make.”4

Fortunately for the world, he did not follow through on this youthful repudiation."

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The cover of Watts’s book, Logic, as published in the USA in 1805.

"Watts wrote a textbook on logic, the full title of which was: Logic, or the Right Use of Reason, in the Inquiry After Truth: with a Variety of Rules to Guard Against Error in the Affairs of Religion and Human Life, as Well as in the Sciences. First published in 1724 to teach children he tutored, it became the standard text on logic at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and Yale, and was so used well into the 19th century.14"

From the article.

[Biggirl]

One of my favorites.

[CondorFlight]

IIRC correctly, he was nearly a dwarf, and marked with pocks on his face from smallpox.

His father detested the sight of him.

(Surely he would never become anything...)

[njslim]

During the Battle of Springfield (NJ) 1780 the New Jwesey militia was fighting an incursion by British forces from New York

During the battle militia men began crying ot for wadding , paper to tamp done the loads in their muskets

Rev John Caldwell, known as “Rebel High Priest” for fiery anti British sermons, spurred his horse from battlefield to vicarage in Springfield, Running up to choir loft grabbed handful of choir books and then returned to battlefield.

Taring out pages he handed them to militiamen exhorting them
to “Give ‘Em the Watts Boys!!:

[fishtank]

“New Jwesey”

Being a native born Texan,

now I finally know how to pronounce “NJ”.

:-)

:-)

[njslim]

“New Jwesey”

New Jersey

Sorry for typo

[Bob434]

that’s alright, i just thought your typin fingers had a bad speech impediment- I wasn’t gonna say nothin- (My typin finger has dyslexia)

[lee martell]

Singing, speaking, even thinking in rhyme,
Can become habit forming,
Happens all of the time!

[chajin]

Must not be the Springfield in Camden County (spent my first 13 years in next door Stratford).

[chajin]

Watts was a Presbyterian revolutionary, arguing that Christians should be allowed to sing hymns that were not solely versifications of the Psalms. Whether he was predestined for this mission is a separate issue.

[njslim]

Springfield in Morris County along route NJ24/124

[njslim]

Springfield in Morris County along route NJ24/124

[sauropod]

I’m a big fan of his hymns. They are majestic!

[EliRoom8]

It’s my understanding that he and his father were known as “Non-conformist” and definitely not a Presbyterian and was so brilliant that he was offered a scholarship to Oxford/Cambridge(?) if he would relent.