The oldest of nine children, ISAAC WATTS was born July 27, 1674, in Southampton, England. From babyhood, he loved books. He read early and spoke in rhymes in his languages: Latin, Greek, Hebrew, English, and French. When his father, who abhorred his son’s rhymes, threatened to whip him if he spoke another rhyme, young Isaac is quoted to have said: “O father, do some pity take; And I will no more verses make.”
When Isaac was seven, he wrote an acrostic poem of his first name that expressed his spiritual training:
I am a vile polluted lump of earth
So I’ve continued ever since my birth;
Although Jehovah grace does give me,
As sure this monster Satan will deceive me.
Come therefore, Lord, from Satan’s claws, relieve me.
Isaac’s father was a Dissenter from the Anglican Church, the national Church of England, so Isaac could not attend Cambridge or Oxford Universities. Rather, he completed his formal education at an academy sponsored by Independent Christians.
His first position was that of a tutor in the Sir John Hartopp home. During that time he read and studied the Bible regularly. Out of that Isaac wrote Hymns and Spiritual Songs, published in 1707. His first published book was Horae Lyricae in 1706. Among his many published works, Divine Songs for Children (1715) was a pioneer hymnal for children.
His next position was assistant pastor of the Independent congregation in Mark Lane, London. He became the head pastor in 1702. However, a continual, high fever forced him to leave.
In 1712, Isaac moved to live in the Sir Thomas Abney family home in Stoke Newington, London, where he remained until his death on November 25, 1748. A monument to him stands in Westminster Abbey.
While ill and full of resentment and anger, Isaac gradually surrendered his emotions to Jesus Christ who transformed him into a gentle, modest, and charitable person. He more than tithed; he gave 1/3 of his small allowance to the poor.
Isaac Watts wrote more than 600 of what we refer to as modern hymns, many of which we still sing. The medieval office hymn was nothing like Watts’ poetic paraphrases of the psalms. He wrote many hymns for young people in their early twenties. His books, Logick (1725), Knowledge of the Heavens and Earth (1726), Philosophical Essays (1733), and The Improvement of the Mind (1741), were used as basic textbooks at Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and Yale. He had published 52 works in all on such subjects as pedagogy, ethics, psychology, astronomy, geography, with 29 treatises on theology, and three volumes of sermons. Edinburgh University honored him with a doctor of divinity degree in 1728.
"When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" by Isaac Watts