Mrs. Eddy Mentioned Them November 14, 1959 Issue

Isaac Watts, 1674–1748

[Mentioned in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 304]

Isaac Watts is known today as a great English hymn writer. In his own clay he was also known as a popular writer of certain standard works, a scholar, and a minister. When Watts was horn, his father was in prison for his nonconformist views. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 secured toleration for the Protestant Dissenters, among; whom Isaac chose to be numbered when, rather than be sent to a university, he entered a nonconformist academy at Stoke-Newington.

Watts' hymns are not denominational; they generally treat some great theme rather than a historical or passing event. The practice of reading and singing a hymn verse by verse, even line by line, meant that each line had, if possible, to be self-contained. His hymn "O God, our help in ages past" is a free paraphrase of Psalm 90. The simplicity of Watts' language may be explained in his words: "When we sing, especially unto God, our chief design is or should be to speak our own hearts and our words to God." Watts wrote the first hymnbook for children.

He was always actively interested in education. The leisure which he enjoyed in his first position as tutor in a wealthy family was devoted to the study of Hebrew and divinity. He was a trained logician and a classics scholar, having begun the study of Latin when he was four. In 1702, he was made pastor of the nonconformist church at Mark Lane, in the City of London. When illness forced him to withdraw three years later, he gave his time to writing.

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