Isaac Watts, Father of the English Hymn

(and ancestor of Rev. Ned Watts, our beloved former pastor)

    Isaac Watts, born July 17, 1674, died November 25, 1748, in England, was one of nine children of dissenter parents. After a grammar school education that included Greek, Latin, and Hebrew studies, he decided against pursuing an opportunity to study for the Anglican priesthood. He decided instead to work as a tutor while studying theology and philosophy at the academy in Stoke Newington.1 Upon completing his studies he was ordained in 1702 to serve the wealthy Mark Lane Church in London, which placed him in the Puritan line of independent Congregational ministers. 2 It has been said of Watts that his sermons were written with care and the hymns were adjusted to the meanings of the sermon. Evidently this proved a successful formula for church growth. The congregation grew from just sixty members in 1702 to four hundred members by 1708. Sadly, in 1712, Watts’ health forced him to resign his duties at the church, though the church never allowed him to officially resign. Sir Thomas Abney, a former Lord Mayor of London, took Watts in for the remaining years of his life. He served as tutor and chaplain to the Abney family until his death in 1748.3

    Besides serving as a minister, Watts had studied several languages, wrote some sixty books, and his text, Logic, was used at Harvard. Watts is best known however as “the father of the English hymn.” The story goes that when Watts was sixteen years old he complained to his father about what was sung at church. His father said, “Then write something better,” which is what he did. Watts’ Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707, included “A Short Essay Toward the Improvement of Psalmody.” In this essay Watts listed the texts in the New Testament where singing is mentioned, explaining the meaning of the terms “psalm,” “hymn,” and “song.” He stated that like the Bible-- generally, the Psalms are God’s word to us, but congregational song is our word to God. Therefore, translations for singing the Psalms should speak in contemporary ways, including that Judah and Israel could be translated as England and Scotland, with the land of Canaan as Great Britain. Watts said that furthermore, if David were alive today he would write in the language of the New Testament that sings of Christ - and so should we.4

    Just translating the Psalms was not enough for Watts. He wanted newly composed hymns to use and supported this vision by five arguments. First, content, not form was important, so Watts asked that hymns be “suited to the present case and experience of Christians.” Second, the “ends and design of singing at worship are to express to God what sense and apprehensions we have of His essential glories.” Watts said that goal can “never be sufficiently attained by confining ourselves to David’s psalms” or paraphrases of Scripture. Third, Ephesians 5:19-20 and Colossians 3:16-17, command us to sing and give thanks in Christ’s name. Watts wrote, since praying, preaching, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper are expressed in language suited to the gospel, why not congregational song as well? Fourth, the Psalms do not cover the “almost infinite number of occasions for praise and thanksgiving” in the lives of Christians, so more and varied congregational song was needed. Fifth and finally, since worship includes preaching, prayer, and song, and as ministers are required to develop their gifts of preaching and praying, why should not Christians develop the gift of composing spiritual songs as well?5 Watts took his own advice and wrote seven hundred hymns during his lifetime. His work with the English hymn prepared the way for the hymns of Charles Wesley.6

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

    As Easter is this month there is no better time to study Watts’ enduring hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” 298 in the United Methodist Hymnal, (1989). In this hymn Watts expressed his feelings concerning the death of Christ:7

1. “When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died,
   My richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.
2. 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.
3. 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?
4. 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.”

    Although the text, written in 1707, is by Watts, the tune, “Hamburg,” 1824, is by Lowell Mason. This setting of the text and hymn tune first appeared in The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music, 1825, where Mason indicated his source as being from Gregorian Chant.8     

On being open to “contemporary” Christian song

    As can be seen in the writings of Isaac Watts, what is considered “contemporary” Christian song depends on “when” and “where” you are. Between the United Methodist Hymnal, The Faith We Sing, and the wide variety of Christian song used at our praise services, we have access to the very thing Watts argued for in his five point essay. Without the pioneering hymnist Watts, Charles Wesley’s hymns might have been used to wrap fish at the market instead of cherished by all denominations. We owe Watts a debt of gratitude. We owe it to ourselves and the future of Christian song to try to be open minded when singing the “new” Christian songs as well. This month especially let us cherish our rich heritage of Christian song, from the Psalms, through the hymns of Watts, Wesley, and to the composers of the present.

Questions

1. The arrival of God’s kingdom on earth as seen in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has been described as “rocking the status quo.” In verses one and two of Watts’ hymn, he refers to this: “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.” In a society and world that measures “progress” in dollars and cents, how can Christians of the present spread the “counter-cultural message” of the gospel and help implement God’s kingdom come on earth?

2. “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” Our salvation through Christ frees us to minister to others. Many times this is done through mission projects. New England Annual Conference is celebrating Mission this year. Our Outreach committee is doing a wonderful job with many projects, but as a church what are we doing to make sure our mission shares are paid? Even seminary scholarships for the education of future ministers are funded by these mission shares.

Rev. Elizabeth Kubota
Director of Music Ministry

Rev. Elizabeth Kubota coordinates the music ministry at First UMC, in addition to playing piano and organ and directing several of First UMC's vocal choirs.