There's been an explosion of great song-writing in the Church of the last few decades. Names like Stuart Townend, Keith Getty, Matt Redman and Darlene Zschech are household names for Christians – but none of them would have been heard of if it hadn't been for Isaac Watts.
He was one of the greatest hymn-writers in the English language and he died today nearly 270 years ago. He was also one of the first of modern times.
Isaac Watts was born in 1674 and died on November 25, 1748. He wrote around 750 hymns, many of which are still sung today. Among them are I'll praise my maker while I've breath, Joy to the world, O God our help in ages past and When I survey the wondrous cross.
Born in 1674 in Southampton to a family of Dissenters who had left the Church of England, Watts learned Greek, Latin and Hebrew under the local rector. In 1690 he entered a Nonconformist academy – in those days, so soon after the Civil War which had split the country on religious lines, Nonconformists were effectively barred from Oxford and Cambridge and still faced discrimination and persecution.
He was obviously destined for great things from early childhood, showing a natural ability in verse. Once, during family prayers, he began to laugh. When his father asked why, he replied that he had heard a sound and opened his eyes to see a mouse climbing a rope in a corner, and had thought:
A little mouse for want of stairs
Ran up a rope to say its prayers.
His father thought this irreverent, and proceeded to beat him. Isaac called out:
"Father, father, mercy take,
And I will no more verses make."
He became a Congregational minister but in 1702 he suffered a breakdown in his health. In 1712 he was invited to spend a week at the home of the wealthy Dissenter Sir Thomas Abney in Hertfordshire and ended up staying there for the rest of his life, writing hymns, children's books and theology and philosophy.
Watts was called the "father of English hymnody" because when he was young, Christians in England only sang the Psalms, often in bad verse translations. When he complained to his father about this, his father challenged him to do better. Watts was the first person in modern times to write English hymns, and he started a movement that spread throughout the whole Christian Church. Every hymn and song-writer today is following in his footsteps.
