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Paxton Hood</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Isaac Watts; his life and writings, his homes and friends</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: E. Paxton Hood</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 5, 2023 [eBook #69963]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Brian Wilson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISAAC WATTS; HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS, HIS HOMES AND FRIENDS ***</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_i"></a>[i]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp58" id="illus1" style="max-width: 34.375em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""> - <p class="caption">PORTRAIT OF DR. WATTS.</p> - <p class="caption">PRESENTED BY MISS ABNEY TO DR. WILLIAMS’ LIBRARY.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ii"></a>[ii]</span></p> - -<div class="tp"> - -<h1><span class="smcap">Isaac Watts</span>;</h1> - -<p class="center larger">His Life and Writings,</p> - -<p class="center larger"><i>HIS HOMES AND FRIENDS</i>.</p> - -<p style="margin-top: 3em;">“Few men have left behind such purity of character, or such monuments of -laborious piety. He has provided instruction for all ages, from those who are -lisping their first lessons to the enlightened readers of Malebranche and Locke; -he has left neither corporeal nor spiritual nature unexamined; he has taught the -art of reasoning and the science of the stars.”—<i>Dr. Johnson.</i></p> - -<p>“The Independents, as represented by Dr. Watts, have a just claim to be -considered the real founders of modern English hymnody.”—<i>Lord Selborne.</i></p> - -<p class="titlepage">LONDON:<br> -THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,<br> -<span class="smcap">56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Paul’s Churchyard;</span><br> -<span class="smcap">and 164, Piccadilly</span>.<br> -MANCHESTER: CORPORATION STREET. BRIGHTON: WESTERN ROAD.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iv"></a>[iv]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iii"></a>[iii]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header-preface.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Preface"><span class="smcap">Preface.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>Most men who have left behind them a name so -universally honoured and beloved as that of Isaac -Watts have shone in many biographies; he reverses the -rule, and really has more monuments in stone erected to -his memory than there have been readable biographies to -record the transactions of his life.</p> - -<p>From time to time it seems necessary and natural -to attempt some fresh record of the memory of honoured -men; even the best biographies wear out, and succeeding -ages demand a tribute in harmony with varying -impressions or increased information. The life of Watts -was one of the most quiet and equable of lives; it -flowed on in almost unbroken tranquillity and peace; -it was passed in much seclusion, neither his taste nor -his health permitting him to come much personally into -the presence of the world. The authentic incidents of -his career, of which we have any record, are, indeed, very -few, yet, such as they are, they should surely be gathered -up, and put into some fitting memorial. Besides this, -it is a life always good to contemplate. Acquaintance -seems to lift the reader almost into that region -whose air the good man breathed so freely.</p> - -<p>The object of the following pages will be to attempt to -do some justice to the various attributes of his mental<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v"></a>[v]</span> -character. His fame as a writer of hymns has, by its -very brightness, obscured departments of work which -cost him far more labour. Watts was modest; in every -estimate of himself he disclaimed any title to the rank -of a poet; but in truth his powers, as manifested in his -writings, whether we regard him as a preacher, theologian, -or metaphysician, are all equally luminous and instructive. -Beyond all these, a character exalted by seraphic -piety and all-embracing charity makes the narrative -of such a life well worthy of the study of all to whom -it is pleasant to contemplate human nature in the finer -proportions of genius, sanctified and illustrated by Divine -grace. It is curious, and almost amusing, to notice that -Samuel Johnson quite tamed down his rugged temper -and speech when he wrote the life of Watts. He -speaks of him as one who maintained orthodoxy and -charity not only in his works but in his innermost -nature: not a discourteous or disrespectful word flaws -the sketch he has written.</p> - -<p>Watts was the Melancthon of his times,—not only in -the ranks of Nonconformity, but within the pale of the -Establishment there was no other mind so resembling the -mild and uniform spirit, and graced by the many-coloured -scholarship of the great Reformer. It cannot indeed -be expected that those should know or care for Watts, -who are not in affinity with his mild and temperate, -and yet majestic nature. Equally removed from the -servility which would have enslaved, or the fanaticism -which would have inflamed, the portrait of Watts is -one which will be studied to advantage at all times. -When Johnson characterized the philosophical and literary -writings of Dr. Watts as “productions which, when -a man sits down to read, he suddenly feels himself constrained -to pray,” he also describes the influence which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi"></a>[vi]</span> -the reading or the study of his whole life is calculated -to have upon the mind. It is not fertile in personal -incidents, but it has been well remarked that the Christian -biography has other objects—it may be hoped that many -other biographies have higher objects—than that of -merely exciting the imagination, or agitating the mind -by the recital of romantic adventures, brilliant actions, -or daring exploits. Watts reminds us of that saying of -Richard Sibbes, that “a Christian must be neither a -dead sea nor a raging sea.” His frequent illnesses, as -in the case of Richard Baxter, “set him upon learning -to die, and thus he learned how to live.” For the -greater portion of his life he lived painfully within sight -of the world to come; he hovered on the border-land of -life; he is a fine illustration of power in weakness, and -he adds another to the list of those men who surprise us -by the results of amazing industry, plied beneath all the -interferences of sickness, and a weak and fragile frame.</p> - -<p>Thanks are due, and are hereby heartily rendered, to -the Rev. Herman Carlyle, <span class="allsmcap">LL.B.</span>, of Southampton, for -permission to engrave the portrait from the vestry of -Above Bar Chapel—it has never been engraved before, -and is believed to be the portrait presented by his pupil, -early in life, to the Rev. John Pinhorne, master of the -Southampton Grammar School; and also to J. Hunter, -Esq., of Dr. Williams’ Library, for his invariable courtesy, -and for permission, obtained through him, to use the -portrait formerly the property of Miss Abney, and the -bust, of which also engravings are given in the work.</p> - -<p class="right">E. PAXTON HOOD.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii"></a>[vii]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header-contents.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Contents"><span class="smcap">Contents.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<table> - <tr> - <td class="tdr smaller">CHAP.</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdpg smaller">PAGE</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">I.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">Birth and Childhood of Isaac Watts</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">II.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">In the Academy at Stoke Newington</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">15</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">III.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">In the Hartopp Family</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">32</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">IV.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">Pastor of a London Church</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">40</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">V.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">First Publication as a Sacred Poet</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">57</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">VI.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">Residence in the Abney Family</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">75</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">VII.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">Hymns</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">84</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">VIII.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">A Circle of Friends</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">136</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">IX.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">The Countess of Hertford and Mrs. Rowe</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">172</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">X.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">Shimei Bradbury</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">189</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">XI.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">His Times</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">205</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">XII.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">Return to Stoke Newington</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">218</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">XIII.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">The World to Come</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">226</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">XIV.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">The Man</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">246</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">XV.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">Death and Burial</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">258</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">XVI.</span>—</td> - <td><span class="smcap">Summary and Estimate of Prose Writings</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">274</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus2" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""> - <p class="caption">ST. MICHAEL’S GAOL, IN WHICH WATTS’ FATHER WAS CONFINED.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header1.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.<br> -<span class="smaller">Birth and Childhood of Isaac Watts.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>Isaac Watts was born at Southampton, July 17th, -1674, the same year in which John Milton died. He -was the eldest of nine children, and was named after his -father, Isaac. His father was a truly worthy and respectable -man. In the course of the future years of his very -long life, he became the master of a school of considerable -reputation in the town. Dr. Johnson says it was reported -that Watts’ father was a shoemaker. In the year 1700 -Isaac Watts, of 21, French Street, Southampton, was a -clothier or cloth factor; so he is described in legal -documents which still exist in that town; so he is -described in another deed of 1719; while in 1736 he is -described as “Isaac Watts, of the town and county of -Southampton, gentleman:”<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> this was the year in which -he died. At the time, however, of Isaac’s birth, deep<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span> -grief was round, and heavy distress over the household. -The father was a Nonconformist, and a deacon of that -which is now the Above Bar Congregational Church in -Southampton. It was a cruel time; the laws were very -bitter against Nonconformists, and the traveller through -Southampton in many months of the year 1674-75 might -have seen a respectable young woman, with a child at her -breast, sitting on the steps of the gaol seeking and waiting -for admission to her husband. It was the mother of -Watts, and the daughter of Alderman Taunton. Tradition -says, she was French in her lineage, of an exiled -Huguenot family, driven over to England by intolerance -and the massacre of St. Bartholomew, in the reign of -Queen Elizabeth. Thus Watts was the child of persecution, -and through all the earliest years of his life his mind -must have been habituated to such impressions and -associations as were well calculated to draw out and give -sharpness and distinctness to his convictions. The old -prison remains very nearly the same as when the young -mother sat with her child looking up to the barred room -in which her husband was confined. It stands upon the -beach of the sweet Southampton waters, which then -rolled much further in, and almost washed the prison -doors. Legend asserts that it was only a few steps from -this spot that Canute fixed his chair when, in order that -he might rebuke the adulation of his courtiers, he commanded -the waves to retire. Perhaps the imprisoned man -turned to the incident, and thought of One who is able -to still the noise of the waves and the tumult of the -people, and to say to all billows, “Hitherto shalt -thou come, and no further.” If able to climb to the -tower of his prison, a lovely scene opened to his view: -the charming hills of Bittern on the left; the “sweet<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span> -fields beyond the swelling floods” opposite, on the right -of the Southampton waters; at his foot the old houses -of the quaint little town, and his own persecuted -abode.</p> - -<p>The author of “The Christian Life in Song” has not -unnaturally conceived that probably to his mother he was -indebted for the lyrical tendencies in which at a very -early period his faith sought to express itself. The French -Huguenots led the way in the utterance of feeling in -sweet sacred hymns; and the grieving young mother might -perhaps refresh her faith by some of the strains of her -old people, while little knowing that she held in her arms -one who was to eclipse the fame of Clement Marot in -this particular. As to the imprisonment of the father, a -licence had been issued in 1662 by Charles <span class="allsmcap">II.</span>, under the -signature of Arlington, allowing “a room or rooms” in -the house of Giles Say to be used for congregational -worship, and Mr. Say, himself an exile and refugee from -the persecutions of France, to be “the teacher.” In a -short time this licence of indulgence was withdrawn, and -Mr. Say and his chief supporters were thrown into prison; -one of the principal of these, as we have seen, was Isaac -Watts the elder. It was an unpromising commencement -to an illustrious life; and this trouble was no sooner -escaped from than it was renewed. Liberated from prison, -Isaac was still a very young child when his father was -imprisoned again on the same charge for six months. In -1683 he was obliged to flee from home into exile from -his family. Where he passed his time we have no exact -information, but for two years he was living principally in -London; and thus the family continued to pass through a -course of domestic suffering until those happier days -came which brought the abdication of the Stuart family<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span> -and in honour of which, on the succession of William, -we cannot wonder that Isaac Watts was glad to pour out -some of his earliest verses.</p> - -<p>Watts sprang from a fairly good family. Alderman -Taunton, his grandfather on his mother’s side, is still -remembered in Southampton by his public benefactions. -The grandfather Watts had been engaged in the naval -service, and was commander of a man-of-war in the year -1656 under Admiral Blake. He appears to have been a -man of great courage and many accomplishments. He -had some skill in the lighter recreations of music, painting, -and poetry. A story is told how in the East Indies -he had a personal conflict with a tiger, which followed -him into a river; he grappled with the monster, and got -the better in the conflict. In the Dutch war the vessel -he commanded exploded, and thus in the prime of life he -met his end. It has been tenderly remarked that “the -grandmother Lois” is often as influential on the opening -mind as “the mother Eunice.” The widow of the gallant -sailor, and grandmother of the poet, had not only many -stories to tell of her husband’s adventures, but seems to -have been remarkably amiable, if she may be judged by -the glowing verses in which her grandson sought to do -honour to her memory. She sought to instil into his -mind the lessons of early piety, and exercised an influence -over his early education during the time when trial and -grief were strong in the household of her children. The -old people appear to have possessed considerable property, -but it was probably much diminished during those persecuting -times. Such was the stock whence the poet -was descended. We may speak of it as a good strong -root, both upon the father’s and upon the mother’s side. -A sap of nobleness and gentleness seems to have given<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span> -vitality to both families, and to have left its best influences -in their child.</p> - -<p>Isaac Watts the elder was a man of great social worth. -In after years his boarding-school became a most flourishing -establishment, and children were sent to it to receive their -training both from America and the West Indies. There -is a document written to his family when he was living -in exile from them, which places his high principles of -character, his prudence and his piety, his strong Protestantism, -and his intelligence in a very remarkable light. -He also had a taste for sacred verse, and many of his pieces -have been preserved breathing a saintly meditative spirit.</p> - -<p>Mr. Parker, the amanuensis of Dr. Watts, mentions a -singular anecdote to illustrate how his advice was sought -by persons of the town on account of his reputation for -wisdom. A person, a stonemason, in Southampton, had a -dream. He had purchased an old building for its materials; -previous to his pulling it down he dreamed that a large -stone in the centre of an arch fell upon him and killed -him. Upon asking Mr. Watts his opinion, he said, “I am -not for paying any great regard to dreams, nor yet for -utterly slighting them. If there is such a stone in the -building as you saw in your dream” (which he told him -there really was), “my advice to you is, that you take -great care, in taking down the building, to keep far enough -off from it.” The mason resolved to act upon his opinion, -but in an unfortunate moment he forgot his dream, went -under the arch, and the stone fell upon him and crushed -him to death.</p> - -<p>This good father lived to the advanced age of eighty-five; -his son Isaac was then in his sixty-third year, and -only two or three days before his father’s death addressed -to him the following tender and satisfying letter:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Newington</span>: <i>February 8th, 1736-37</i>.</p> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Honoured and dear Sir</span>,</p> - -<p>“It is now ten days since I heard from you, -and learned by my nephew that you had been recovered -from a very threatening illness. When you are -in danger of life, I believe my sister is afraid to let me -know the worst, for fear of affecting me too much. But -as I feel old age daily advancing on myself, I am -endeavouring to be ready for my removal hence; and -though it gives a shock to nature when what has been -long dear to one is taken away, yet reason and religion -should teach us to expect it in these scenes of mortality -and a dying world. Blessed be God for our immortal -hopes, through the blood of Jesus, who has taken away -the sting of death! What could such dying creatures do -without the comforts of the Gospel? I hope you feel -those satisfactions of soul on the borders of life which -nothing can give but this Gospel, which you taught us all -in our younger years. May these Divine consolations -support your spirits under all your growing infirmities; -and may our blessed Saviour form your soul to such a -holy heavenly frame, that you may wait with patience -amidst the languors of life for a joyful passage into the -land of immortality! May no cares nor pains ruffle nor -afflict your spirit! May you maintain a constant serenity -at heart, and sacred calmness of mind, as one who has long -passed midnight, and is in view of the dawning day! ‘The -night is far spent, the day is at hand!’ Let the garments -of light be found upon us, and let us lift up our heads, -for our redemption draws nigh. Amen.</p> - -<p class="center">“I am, dear Sir,</p> - -<p class="center">“Your most affectionate obedient Son,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Isaac Watts</span>.”</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span></p> - -<p>Troubled as were the early years of his life, the subject -of our biography furnishes one of those rare instances in -which the precocity of infancy was not purchased at the -expense of power in maturity; it is said that before he -could speak plainly, when any money was given to him, -he would cry, “A book! a book! buy a book!” He -began to learn Latin at the age of four years, and in the -knowledge of this language and in Greek he made swift -progress; it is probable that of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew -he had considerable knowledge while yet a child. He is -one of those who have been said to “lisp in numbers.” -His utterances of infant rhyme are not astonishing, but -every biography of him has repeated the story how, when -he was seven years of age, his mother after school-hours -one afternoon offered him a farthing if he would give her -some verses, when he presented her with the well-known -couplet:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I write not for a farthing, but to try</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How I your farthing writers can outvie.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">It was about the same time that, some verses of his -falling into the hands of his mother, she expressed her -doubts whether he could have written them, whereupon he -immediately wrote the following acrostic; and if some of -the lines seem to falter, the last two are certainly remarkable -as the expression of a mere child, and have even a -kind of prophecy in them of his future years:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I am a vile polluted lump of earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">S o I’ve continued ever since my birth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A lthough Jehovah grace does daily give me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A s sure this monster Satan will deceive me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">C ome, therefore, Lord, from Satan’s claws relieve me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">W ash me in Thy blood, O Christ,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A nd grace Divine impart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">T hen search and try the corners of my heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">T hat I in all things may be fit to do</div> - <div class="verse indent0">S ervice to Thee, and sing Thy praises too.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span></p> - -<p>It was perhaps from the uncertainty of tuition at home, -or from the youthful student outstripping the attainments -of his father, that he was early sent to the grammar-school -at Southampton, of which the Rev. John Pinhorne -was the principal. He was a man of good character and -attainments, rector of All Saints Church in Southampton, -prebendary of Leckford, and vicar of Eling, in the New -Forest. The Nonconformist relations of his young pupil -appear to have produced no uncharitable effect upon the -master’s mind. From the first he prophesied the future -eminence and celebrity of the young scholar. He died in -1714, when these were in their dawn. Watts held him in -most reverent and grateful memory, and illustrated these -feelings in a Pindaric Latin ode, which, in its recapitulation -of the classical authors, to whose pages the master had -guided his knowledge, certainly shows at once the abundant -scholarship of the worthy pair.</p> - -<p>There, in the grammar-school of the town, in the dark -reigns of the Second Charles and James, the little Puritan -was the most diligent and advanced scholar, the beloved -of his master. He very early exhibited a great proficiency -in Latin, Greek, and French. A spare, pale child, there -was perhaps nothing peculiarly prepossessing in his features, -if we except the bright, intense sparkling eye, and -the quivering, nervous expression. There was certainly -nothing robust about him, but all the indications of the -future scholar. May we not also say the indications of the -future saint—a little meditative Samuel—of a time in our -history of which we may say “the Word of the Lord was -precious in those days, there was no open vision?”</p> - -<p>These first years, when the mind was gathering to -itself the many tools of knowledge, were passed in his -father’s house at Southampton—an utterly different<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> -Southampton from that which we see now—a charming -little sequestered town; the gentle river rolled its pleasant -and pellucid waves before it, undisturbed by the iron -floating bridge, as the nobler Southampton Water rolled -along between it and the Isle of Wight. Unsullied by -steamboats, it was no depôt for the great navies of the -West, but it must have been a charming country town, -its streets almost overshadowed by the noble trees of the -New Forest. The historian and antiquarian will find no -lack of material for observation and suggestion in Southampton; -it is rich in old nooks and reminiscences, and -as full of material for the artist as for the archæologist. -Legend and story of St. Benedict or King Canute, of the -knightly Bevis and Ascapart were, we may be sure, not -less fragrant then than they are there to-day. Many of -the old houses are standing; the old town walls, the -monuments of the great Roman road, and the noble bars -of the town looked, we may be sure, more perfect then -than now; the neighbourhood in which Watts lived still -bears traces of being the oldest part of the town; other -spots, which bear the marks of nineteenth century improvements -in handsome parks and squares and streets, -were then only wide, open fields; and many of the objects -interesting to those who visit English shrines have -altogether passed away. The gaol in which Watts’ -father was confined, St. Michael’s Prison, the old Bull -Hall, and the buildings round the old Walnut tree—the -town retains the names of these places, and still conveys -some impression of what they were. The Blue Anchor -Postern still exhibits its massive old masonry, the relics -of a building inhabited by King John, and a royal residence -of Henry <span class="allsmcap">III.</span> Yet more interesting memories -gather in another part of the town, round the Widows’<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> -Almshouses,<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> founded by Mr. Thorner, the friend and -co-religionist of Watts’ father. The little town, from -being one of the most inconsiderable, has become one of -the most thriving and famous in the empire.</p> - -<p>Still, changed as Southampton is during the last two -hundred years, it is not difficult to realize something of its -ancient character. Its counterpart or resemblance may -still be found in some of those small seaport towns of -France which have been left to their primitive isolation by -the retreating tides of population. Yet a good many -things in the old town of Southampton remain unchanged. -It is full of quaint nooks and corners, gateways and archways -bearing the evident marks of high antiquity. For a -long period Southampton sank into a state of sequestration -and repose; but her early history was something like -her later, and there was a day when in the most palmy and -splendid time of Venice her connection with that great -commercial republic was as intimate as it is now with the -Eastern and Western Indies. Its glory dates from the -time of the Conquest; and a circumstance ominous to -England in the landing there of Philip <span class="allsmcap">II.</span>, of Spain, the -husband and ill-adviser of Mary, is the last instance -recorded of its prominence and splendour in the ancient -day. The old parish of All Saints, in which Watts was -born, and the neighbourhood in which his childhood was -passed, remain so little changed as to enable the visitor to -carry in his mind a fair picture of the old lanes and streets, -rambling round the old church, in the middle of the now -rudely paved square.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span></p> - -<p>The house in which Watts was born, in French Street, is -still standing, and seems to give the assurance of being -much the same, although it has so far yielded to the -indignities of time that one side of it is a public-house -and the other a marine store. It must have been a -plain but roomy, substantial building, standing back with -its garden behind it, full of lofty rooms and rambling nooks -and passages. There he first saw the light, there he passed -his play days of childhood; there the dreamy, studious boy -accumulated the first spoils of knowledge; returning -thither after his academical course was closed, there he -wrote his first, and even a considerable number of his -hymns; and thither, a celebrated man, he often came to -visit his parents, even when he was an old man. A -fragrant memory of early piety and matured holiness still -lingers over the old place, and consecrates it as one of our -English shrines.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> - -<p>In his childhood circumstances happened likely to produce -some effect upon his mind. The memory of the -terrible plague of 1665, in which between one and two -thousand persons were swept away, was still fresh in -Southampton for one hundred and fifty years after. The -annalists of the town tell us it did not recover from the -state of decay into which it fell from that dreadful visitation. -The shops were all closed, all who could fled from the -town, and the streets were overgrown with grass. When -Watts was six years old the great comet flamed over -England, with which were associated in many minds such<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> -dreadful portents, and it no doubt lent a colour to many -of his after most imaginative conceptions. It was an object -of singularly marvellous splendour. Several years after he -seems to have put the memory of the impressions it produced -upon him into the couplets in which he alters Young’s description, -and the words sufficiently show how the surprising -spectacle had excited his youthful fancy:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Who stretched the comet to prodigious size,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And poured his flaming train o’er half the skies?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is’t at Thy wrath the heavenly monster glares</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er the pale nations, to announce Thy wars?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The life of Watts had very little in it at any time which -related to the history of the period in which he lived, yet -it is impossible not to notice that these first years of his -life at Southampton were among the most exciting and -memorable of the country’s history. What England was -Lord Macaulay has well described in perhaps one of the -most charming chapters of his history—<i>the State of England -at the death of Charles II.</i> It was the time of England’s -Reign of Terror, and circumstances were happening, the -conversations upon which must have produced a vivid -impression upon the mind of a youth of lively sensibility. -The execution of Algernon Sidney and Lord William -Russell, the trial of Richard Baxter, the rising of Monmouth, -the tremendous descent of Jefferies in the Bloody -Assize of the West, the trial of the bishops, the flight of -James, the landing of William at Torbay, and his progress -to London; these were circumstances such as England had -never seen before, such as England can never see again, -and they all crowded fast upon each other in the years of -Watts’ boyhood and early youth.</p> - -<p>The period of the youth of Watts calls up to the mind -a singularly contradictory range of associations; it was a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> -wild, wicked, and frivolous time, and yet there were men -living then whose names have adorned, and will ever adorn -the literature of our land. Watts was fourteen years of -age when John Bunyan finished his eventful course. -Samuel Wesley, the father of John and Charles, was just -leaving his academy at Stoke Newington and the Dissenters, -by whom he had been educated; Henry More, the singular -mystic, preceded Bunyan by one year to the grave; Ralph -Cudworth was accumulating his immense mass of nebulous -scholarship; South was preaching his celebrated sermons, -in which coarseness so frequently “kibes the heels” of -wisdom; Robert Boyle was, with intense ardour, prosecuting -his observations and studies in natural history and science, -and blending with equal ardour with them his devotions -to revealed religion and Divine truth; Barrow was pursuing -his ponderous lucubrations; Newton was expounding the -system of the universe, and Locke the system of the -mind; Howe was indulging in his seraphic ardours; -Dryden was drawing to the close of an inglorious life, and -writing some of the pieces which have best served his -fame; John Evelyn, the model of an English gentleman, -was studying his trees at Wootton, or penning his entertaining -diary at Sayn Court; Samuel Pepys, garrulous -and silly, was writing a history without knowing it, as -the Boswell or the Paul Pry of the court and the town; -Lely was flattering a meretricious taste by his paintings, -and Christopher Wren preparing his plans for rebuilding -London.</p> - -<p>The persecutions to which the Nonconformists through -this period were exposed of course affected society in -Southampton; the avenues to prosperity and peace seemed -to lie only in conformity to the Church of England. It -was then that, in consequence of his great and promising<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> -attainments, his diligence and high character, an offer -was made to Watts by Dr. John Speed, a physician of the -town, on the behalf of several others, to send him to one -of the universities, and very handsomely defray all his -expenses there. He did not hesitate for a second, but -respectfully and firmly replied that he was determined to -take up his lot amongst the Dissenters. Two of his early -friends, in every way incomparably his inferiors, conformed, -and attained to archiepiscopal dignities. Yet, in spite -of all that he afterwards wrote on the relation of the civil -magistrate to religion, there would seem to have been -little in his faith, feeling, or practice which might not -easily have found a home in the Establishment but for the -persecuting spirit of the time. It was the same year that -in his slight, curious autobiographical memoranda,<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> he -mentions concisely how he “fell under considerable convictions -of sin;” in the year following, his entry runs on, -“and was led to trust in Christ, I hope.” In the same -year, 1689, he mentions that he had a great and dangerous -sickness; and all these events of his life, which look so -brief and cold to us as we put them down on paper, were -great and crucial events to him, settling the foundations -of his character, probably leading him away from the pursuits -of scholarship as a mere charm and recreation of -cultivated taste, to regard it as the important means by -which an entrance might be obtained to everlasting truths. -These events would add to those motives which had determined -him to renounce the idea of university training, -and to seek an entrance into the ministry through the -humbler portal of a Dissenting academy.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header2.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.<br> -<span class="smaller">In the Academy at Stoke Newington.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>The neighbourhood of London, to which Isaac Watts -removed from Southampton for the purpose of completing -his studies, and preparing for the work of the ministry, -was Stoke Newington, and in that neighbourhood he was -destined to pass the greater part of his life. It was probably -even then pervaded, as for a long time before and -ever since, by an atmosphere of mild but consistent Nonconformity; -the academy in which he studied was -beneath the superintendence of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, -the pastor of the Independent Church assembling in -Girdlers’ Hall, in the City. It was probably one of the -most considerable of the time, and appears to have -succeeded to one also well known upon the same spot, -of which the principal was the Rev. Charles Morton. -Here studied the celebrated Daniel Defoe, also originally -intended for the Nonconformist pulpit, as he says in one -of his reviews: “It is not often I trouble you with any -of my divinity; the pulpit is none of my office. It was -my disaster first to be set apart for, and then to be set -apart from, the honour of that sacred employ.” The -academy had a good reputation, and the effort which old -Samuel Wesley had made to sully its fair fame only -reflected his own dishonour, and left it untarnished.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span></p> - -<p>Charles Morton was one of those obscure but remarkable -men in which our country at that time was so rich. -He was descended from a singularly distinguished family—that -of Cardinal Morton, Thomas Morton, Bishop of -Durham, and many other distinguished men. He took -his degree of <span class="allsmcap">M.A.</span> at Wadham College, Oxford, and -became, and continued until the Act of Uniformity, rector -of Blisland, in Cornwall; after preaching for a short time -at St. Ives he removed to London, and shortly after opened -an academy on Newington Green. Defoe pronounces the -highest encomiums upon him and his method as a tutor; -and Samuel Wesley, in the midst of his bitterness and -ungracious flippancy—for he had been maintained on the -foundation under the idea of entering the Nonconformist -ministry—ceases from his abuse to honour the memory of -his master; he, however, after having trained several men -who became eminent in their day, teased by continued persecution, -passed over to America; there his fame had -preceded him; there he became pastor of a church in -Charlestown, and Vice-president of Harvard University.<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> - -<p>Shortly after the departure of Mr. Morton for America, -the academy to which Watts was consigned was founded -by the eminently learned Theophilus Gale, <span class="allsmcap">M.A.</span>, the -author of that large medley of scholarship “The Court of -the Gentiles.” He also had been deprived of considerable -Church preferments. To his charge the eccentric Philip -Lord Wharton committed the tutorship of his sons; with -them he travelled on the Continent, adding to the stores of -his mental wealth, and contracting a friendship with the -learned Bochart. He arrived in the metropolis on his -return to see the city in the flames of the terrible conflagration, -but to learn that the manuscripts he had left in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> -the care of a friend were all saved, while the house in -which they had been preserved was destroyed. His mind -was so largely stored with every kind of learning that his -friends entreated him to settle as a professor of theology, -which he did at Stoke Newington, and there he continued -till he died in 1678, at the early age of forty-nine. He -left his personal estate for the education of young men for -the ministry; his library, with the exception of his philosophical -books, to Harvard College. Beneath a tutor so -distinguished the interests of the two academies had probably -merged into one. The successor of Mr. Gale was -one of his own students, Thomas Rowe, whom we have -already mentioned. He was the son of the Rev. John -Rowe, <span class="allsmcap">M.A.</span>, ejected from Westminster Abbey, and who was -called to preach the thanksgiving sermon before the Parliament -on the occasion of the destruction of the Spanish -fleet, October 8th, 1656. Thomas Rowe very early entered -upon the work of the ministry. At the age of twenty-one -he succeeded his father as pastor of Girdlers’ Hall in -Basinghall Street.</p> - -<p>Isaac Watts came to the academy of Stoke Newington -in the year 1690; he was then in his sixteenth year. -“Such he was,” says Dr. Johnson, “as every Christian -Church would rejoice to have adopted.”</p> - -<p>There was no doubt a rare congeniality of spirit between -the tutor and his illustrious pupil; the native gentleness of -the latter found nothing perhaps in the former to give to it -either sharpness or force; indeed, the name of Thomas -Rowe would be lost but for the fame of Watts. The pupil -was nearer to manhood than was implied in his years; he -was a well-informed and richly cultivated scholar when he -left his father’s house, and his modest bearing was such as -even a tutor might entrust with the responsibilities of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> -friendship. Friendship soon matured between them; the -tutor testified that he never on any occasion had to give -his pupil a reproof. His academical exercises show with -what diligence he was applying himself to the work of preparation -for the work of his future life. A sweet and -cheerful gravity pervaded his manners and his studies, and -it may be boldly said that in the great universities of that -time there were very few who wrought with so much vigour -or to so much purpose. His Latin essays written at this -period “show,” says Dr. Johnson, “a degree of knowledge -both philosophical and theological, such as very few attain -by a much longer course of study.” This verdict of Johnson -is only just. One method adopted by Watts in his -studies he has commended to others in his “Improvement -of the Mind,” and it has probably been often successfully -adopted. It was the plan of abridging the works of the -more eminent writers in the various departments of study. -Thus he printed the material more indelibly on his -memory; at the same time, by recasting the thoughts or the -information in his own mind, he was so compelled to analyze -and digest that he made the whole matter more entirely -his own mental property. To this practice he alludes when -he says: “Other things also of the like nature may be usefully -practised with regard to the authors which you read—viz., -If the method of a book be irregular, reduce it into -form by a little analysis of your own, or by hints in the -margin; if those things are heaped together which should -be separated, you may wisely distinguish and divide them; -if several things relating to the same subject are scattered -up and down separately through the treatise, you may -bring them all to one view by references; or if the matter -of a book be really valuable and deserving, you may throw -it into a better method, reduce it to a more logical scheme,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span> -or abridge it into a lesser form. All these practices will -have a tendency both to advance your skill in logic and -method, to improve your judgment in general, and to give -you a fuller survey of that subject in particular. When -you have finished the treatise with all your observations -upon it, recollect and determine what real improvements -you have made by reading that author.”<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> - -<p>There was another plan which reveals the careful -student, and to which Dr. Gibbons refers in his life: -“There was another method also which the doctor adopted, -it may be in the time of his preparatory studies, though of -this we are not able to furnish positive evidence, but of -which there is the fullest proof in his further progress -of life, namely, that of interleaving the works of authors, -and inserting in the blank pages additions from other -writers on the same subject. I have now by me, the gift -of his brother Mr. Enoch Watts, the ‘Westminster Greek -Grammar’ thus interleaved by the doctor, with all he -thought proper to collect from Dr. Busby’s and Mr. Teed’s -‘Greek Grammars,’ engrafted by him into the supplemental -leaves; and I have besides in my possession a -present from the doctor himself, a printed discourse by a -considerable writer, on a controverted point in divinity, -interleaved in the same manner, and much enlarged by -insertions in the doctor’s own hand.” Certainly from -hints such as these no writer could seem by his own -careful diligence to be more admirably prepared to write -to and counsel young men and others concerning the -improvement of the mind.</p> - -<p>Most of the biographers of Watts have referred to his -fellow-students. Several of them were interesting men.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span> -“The first genius in the academy,” to adopt Watts’ own -descriptive designation, was Mr. Josiah Hart; but very -speedily after his removal from Mr. Rowe he conformed, -and became chaplain to John Hampden, Esq., the member -for Buckinghamshire. Presently after he became chaplain -to his grace the Duke of Bolton, Lord Lieutenant of -Ireland. Such offices furnished very easy opportunities -for advancement in the Church. Before long he became -Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh; and in 1742 he was -translated to the archbishopric of Tuam, with which was -united the bishopric of Enaghdoen, with liberty to retain -his former see of Ardagh; yet he retained friendly relationships -with his old fellow-student, and in the “Lyrics” -occurs a free translation of an epigram of Martial to -Cirinus, which seems to intimate that he was not wanting -himself in poetic inspiration:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So smooth your numbers, friend, your verse so sweet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So sharp the jest, and yet the turn so neat,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That with her Martial, Rome would place Cirine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rome would prefer your sense and thought to mine.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet modest you decline the public stage,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To fix your friend alone amidst th’ applauding age.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Fifty years after the period of their life as fellow-students -we find the Archbishop writing to Watts, “God -grant we may be useful while we live, and may run clear -and with unclouded minds till we come to the very -dregs! I send you my visitation charge to my clergy of -Tuam. I submit it to your judgment. Your old friend -and affectionate servant, <span class="smcap">Josiah Tuam</span>.” If in some part -singularly expressed, it gives a not unpleasing idea of the -writer’s character.</p> - -<p>Another fellow-student was Mr. John Hughes; but he -also, though dedicated to, and educated for, the Dissenting -ministry, upon leaving the academy soon conformed to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span> -the Establishment; he cultivated the lighter studies -of music, poetry, and painting. The Lord Chancellor -Cowper, in 1717, appointed him secretary to the commissions -of the peace; and after the resignation of the -Chancellor he was still continued in the same office. He -became a contributor to the “Tatler,” “Spectator,” and -“Guardian,” and he attained to the friendship of some of -the most distinguished men of the age. Addison admired -him as a poet, Pope held him in veneration for his goodness, -and Bishop Hoadley honoured him as a friend.</p> - -<p>Others of the fellow-students continued stedfast to the -principles of their Dissenting Alma Mater, and became in -their way also useful and remarkable men; among these -was Mr. Samuel Say, the fellow-townsman of Watts, and -one year his junior. After a useful course of ministrations -he succeeded Dr. Calamy at Westminster, and continued -there until his death. Through life he was on -intimate friendly terms with his fellow-townsman. Little -as we know of him, sufficient is known to give to us the -picture of a thoroughly accomplished man, even with -considerable claims to be regarded as a man of genius; -indeed it strikes us, in reviewing the intercourse of these -young men with each other, and their recommendations -of each other, that there was a thoroughness about -their attainments; and that while they were faithful to -severer studies they were not indisposed to those graceful -exercises of the mind and fancy which have generally, -but we believe unjustly, been regarded as incompatible -with the severity of the Puritan character. To this -indulgence, no doubt, the taste of the tutor, Mr. Rowe, -was favourable. We know that Watts was accomplished -in several departments of taste, although all the exercises -which have come down to us from his college-days are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span> -quite of the severer character—critical, metaphysical, and -theological—but his conscience was probably of that -tender order which would esteem it an unfaithfulness to -the object for which he was placed in the academy to turn -aside to pursuits of a lighter and less sacred description. -Another fellow-student of Isaac Watts was Daniel Neal, -celebrated as the author of “The History of the Puritans;” -he proved in an eminent degree his call to the work of -the ministry, and after some time spent in travel settled -as a pastor in the metropolis.</p> - -<p>It is usual in our day, with the Dissenting academies, -to receive no one as student for the ministry who has -not previously qualified himself by membership with the -church which commends him. The practice appears to -have been more liberal in Watts’ day. He was never a -member of the church at Southampton, but in the third -year of his residence with Mr. Rowe he united himself -with the church of his tutor, as he enters it in his -memoranda, “I was admitted to Mr. T. Rowe’s church -December, 1693.” This church also, like so many of the -Independent churches in the city, had a very honourable -ancestry—as we have previously said, it then held its -meetings in Girdlers’ Hall, Basinghall Street; after the -death of Mr. Rowe it removed to Haberdashers’ Hall, but -the church itself appears to have originated with the -eminent William Strong, <span class="allsmcap">M.A.</span>, still held in honour by -the lovers of old Puritan literature for his folio on the -Covenants. He was a fellow of Katherine Hall, Cambridge, -and rector of More Crichel, in Dorsetshire. This -living during the Civil Wars he was compelled by the -Cavaliers to relinquish, and, coming to London, he became -minister of the church assembling in Westminster Abbey, -and subsequently in the House of Lords. It is singular<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> -that thus both the ministers of the congregation in -Girdlers’ Hall were originally pastors of the church in -Westminster Abbey. Mr. Strong died in 1654, and was -buried in the Abbey church, but upon the restoration his -remains had, with those of Cromwell, Blake, and Pym, -the honour of exhumation. Still, in the church when -Watts became a member of it, lingered some of the old -elements which first composed it; perhaps the most conspicuous -of these was Major-General Goffe, the well-known -name of one of the judges of Charles <span class="allsmcap">I.</span></p> - -<p>Such was the church with which Watts held his first -communion, and from which he was only transferred to -become the pastor of that over which he presided for the -remainder of his life. It need hardly be said that whatever -interest attached to its memory in connection with -the circumstances which we have recited, his name confers -upon it the most permanent human interest. The union -must have strengthened that intimacy we have already -pointed out between himself and his tutor, pastor, and -friend. It is not probable that even at this period Mr. -Rowe had the large scholarship and keen insight into the -beauties of the most famous classics possessed by his -pupil, if we may form a judgment from the Pindaric ode -to Mr. Pinhorne, but a quiet mind will often marshal ideas -into order, and give a military usefulness in commanding -materials it could not recruit. Watts was probably never, -at any period of his life, wanting in the accoutrements of -discipline; but this was the service chiefly rendered at -the academy, this and the more earnest entrance upon -philosophical and theological studies. We are sure also -that he and his tutor well harmonized in their sense of -the duty and the dignity of moral independence; Watts -had already shown himself to be possessed of this by his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> -entrance into the academy. In his lines “To the much -honoured Mr. Thomas Rowe, the director of my youthful -studies,” he says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I hate these shackles of the mind</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Forged by the haughty wise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Souls were not born to be confined,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And led, like Samson, blind and bound;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But when his native strength he found</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He well avenged his eyes.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I love thy gentle influence, Rowe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy gentle influence like the sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Only dissolves the frozen snow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then bids our thoughts like rivers flow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And choose the channels where they run.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And here we may say farewell to the tutor; he lived just -long enough to see his scholar settled in the ministry; but -for his companion pupils he occupied a solitary home; he -was never married, and in 1705, riding through the city on -horseback, he was seized with a fit, fell from his horse, and -instantly died. He was one of those men of whom the -world makes little mention, and finds little recorded; he -was a comparatively young man. We have dwelt upon -the furniture of his mind, the attractiveness of his -manners, the docility and beauty of his disposition; to -these it may be added that he was also probably possessed -of an engaging manner in the pulpit, as he retained what -was then considered a large congregation to the time of -his death.</p> - -<p>While referring to the Dissenting academies of those -days, it may be interesting to notice that from one of -them in Gloucester, beneath the tutorship of the Rev. -Samuel Jones, two eminent men received their first training -for the ministry of the Church of England, although -intended for the Nonconformist communion—Samuel -Butler, the distinguished author of the “Analogy,” and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> -Bishop of Durham; and Thomas Secker, Bishop of Oxford, -and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop -probably found one of his earliest patrons in Dr. -Watts, by whom, as the following letter testifies, he was -introduced to the academy. The biographers of the Archbishop, -Dr. Porteus and Dr. Stinton, pass over the Archbishop’s -first studies, as conducted by “one Mr. Jones, -who kept an academy at Gloucester;” but the following -letter from Secker, written when about the age of -eighteen to Dr. Watts, gives a very admirable idea of the -manner in which he directed the work of study in the -academy:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Gloucester</span>: <i>Nov. 18th, 1711</i>.</p> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Rev. Sir</span>,</p> - -<p>“Before I give you an account of the state of our -academy, and those other things you desired me, please to -accept of my hearty thanks for that service you have done -me, both in advising me to prosecute my studies in such -an extraordinary place of education, and in procuring me -admittance into it. I wish my improvements may be -answerable to the advantages I enjoy; but, however that -may happen, your kindness has fixed me in a place where -I may be very happy, and spend my time to good purpose, -and where, if I do not, the fault will be all my own. I -am sensible how difficult it is to give a character of any -person or thing, because the most probable guesses we -make very often prove false ones. But, since you are -pleased to desire it, I think myself obliged to give you the -best and most impartial account of matters I can.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Jones, then, I take to be a man of real piety, -great learning, and an agreeable temper; one who is -very diligent in instructing all under his care, very well<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> -qualified to give instructions, and whose well-managed -familiarity will always make him respected. He is very -strict in keeping good order, and will effectually preserve -his pupils from negligence and immorality. And accordingly, -I believe, there are not many academies freer in -general from those vices than we are. In particular my -bedfellow, Mr. Scott,<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> is one of unfeigned religion, and a -diligent searcher after truth. His genteel carriage and -agreeable disposition gain him the esteem of every one. -Mr. Griffith is more than ordinary serious and grave, and -improves more in everything than one could expect from -a man who seems to be not much under forty; particularly -in Greek and Hebrew he has made a great progress. Mr. -Francis and Mr. Watkins are diligent in study and truly -religious. The elder Mr. Jones, having had a better education -than they, will in all probability make a greater -scholar; and his brother is one of quick parts. Our logic, -which we had read once over, is so contrived as to comprehend -all Hereboord, and far the greater part of Mr. -Locke’s Essay, and the Art of Thinking. What Mr. Jones -dictated to us was but short, containing a clear and brief -account of the matter, references to the places where it -was more fully treated of, and remarks on, or explications -of the authors cited, when need required. At our next -lecture we gave an account both of what the author -quoted and our tutor said, who commonly then gave us a -larger explication of it, and so proceeded to the next<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> -thing in order. He took care, as far as possible, that we -understood the sense as well as remembered the words -of what we had read, and that we should not suffer ourselves -to be cheated with obscure terms which had no -meaning. Though he be no great admirer of the old logic, -yet he has taken a great deal of pains both in explaining -and correcting Hereboord, and has for the most part made -him intelligible, or shown that he is not so. The two -Mr. Joneses, Mr. Francis, Mr. Watkins, Mr. Sheldon, and -two more gentlemen, are to begin Jewish Antiquities in -a short time. I was designed for one of their number, but -rather chose to read logic once more; both because I was -utterly unacquainted with it when I came to this place, -and because the others having all, except Mr. Francis, -been at other academies, will be obliged to make more -haste than those in a lower class, and consequently cannot -have so good or large accounts of anything, nor so much -time to study every head. We shall have gone through -our course in about four years’ time, which I believe -that nobody that once knows Mr. Jones will think too -long.</p> - -<p>“I began to learn Hebrew as soon as I came hither, and -find myself able now to construe and give some grammatical -account of about twenty verses in the easier parts of -the Bible, after less than an hour’s preparation. We read -every day two verses apiece in the Hebrew Bible, which -we turn into Greek (no one knowing which his verses -shall be, though at first it was otherwise). And this, with -logic, is our morning’s work. Mr. Jones also began about -three months ago some critical lectures, in order to the -exposition you advised him to. The principal things contained -in them are about the antiquity of the Hebrew language, -letters, vowels, the incorruption of the Scriptures,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> -ancient divisions of the Bible, an account of the Talmud, -Masora, and Cabala. We are at present upon the Septuagint, -and shall proceed after that to the Targumim, and other -versions, etc. Every part is managed with abundance of -perspicuity, and seldom any material thing is omitted that -other authors have said upon the point, though very frequently -we have useful additions of things which are not -to be found in them. We have scarce been upon anything -yet but Mr. Jones has had those writers which are most -valued on that head, to which he always refers us. This is -what we first set about in the afternoon, which being -finished we read a chapter in the Greek Testament, and -after that mathematics. We have gone through all that is -commonly taught of algebra and proportion, with the first -six books of Euclid, which is all Mr. Jones designs for the -gentlemen I mentioned above, but he intends to read something -more to the class that comes after them.</p> - -<p>“This is our daily employment, which in the morning -takes up about two hours, and something more in the afternoon. -Only on Wednesdays, in the morning, we read -Dionysius’s Periegesis, on which we have notes, mostly -geographical, but with some criticisms intermixed; and in -the afternoon we have no lecture at all. So on Saturday, -in the afternoon, we have only a Thesis, which none but -they who have done with logic have any concern in. We -are also just beginning to read Isocrates and Terence, each -twice a week. On the latter our tutor will give us some -notes which he received in a college from Perizonius.</p> - -<p>“We are obliged to rise at five of the clock every morning, -and to speak Latin always, except when below stairs -amongst the family. The people where we live are very -civil, and the greatest inconvenience we suffer is, that we -fill the house rather too much, being sixteen in number,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> -besides Mr. Jones. But I suppose the increase of his -academy will oblige him to move next spring. We pass -our time very agreeably betwixt study and conversation -with our tutor, who is always ready to discourse freely of -anything that is useful, and allows us either then or at -lecture all imaginable liberty of making objections against -his opinion, and prosecuting them as far as we can. In -this and everything else he shows himself so much a gentleman, -and manifests so great an affection and tenderness -for his pupils as cannot but command respect and love. -I almost forgot to mention our tutor’s library, which is -composed for the most part of foreign books, which seem -to be very well chosen, and are every day of great advantage -to us.</p> - -<p>“Thus I have endeavoured, sir, to give you an account -of all that I thought material or observable amongst us. -As for my own part, I apply myself with what diligence I -can to everything which is the subject of our lectures, -without preferring one subject before another; because I -see nothing we are engaged in but what is either necessary -or extremely useful for one who would thoroughly understand -those things which most concern him, or be able to -explain them well to others. I hope I have not spent my -time, since I came to this place, without some small improvement, -both in human knowledge and that which is -far better, and I earnestly desire the benefit of your prayers -that God would be pleased to fit me better for His service, -both in this world and the next. This, if you please to -afford me, and your advice with relation to study, or whatever -else you think convenient, must needs be extremely -useful, as well as agreeable, and shall be thankfully received -by your most obliged humble servant,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Thomas Secker</span>.”</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span></p> - -<p>Secker’s first communion was with a Dissenting church—the -Rev. Timothy Jollie’s—and he preached his first sermon -in a Dissenting meeting-house at Bolsover, in Derbyshire. -He retained his feelings of affectionate indebtedness -to his early friend to the close of Watts’ life.</p> - -<p>His term of study closed at Stoke Newington, Watts, -still little more than a youth, returned for some time to -his father’s house at Southampton. Worshipping with -the congregation there, under the ministry of the Rev. -Nathaniel Robinson, he felt that the psalmody was far -beneath the beauty and dignity of a Christian service. He -was requested to produce something better, and the following -Sabbath the service was concluded with what is now -the first hymn of the first book; and a stirring hymn it is—as -an ascription of praise or worship, and as a confession of -faith it is remarkably comprehensive and complete.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Behold the glories of the Lamb</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Amidst His Father’s throne;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prepare new honours for His name,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And songs before unknown.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Let elders worship at His feet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The church adore around,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With vials full of odours sweet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And harps of sweeter sound.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Those are the prayers of the saints,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And these the hymns they raise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Jesus is kind to our complaints,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He loves to hear our praise.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Eternal Father, who shall look</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Into Thy secret will?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who but the Son shall take the book,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And open every seal?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He shall fulfil Thy great decrees,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Son deserves it well;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! in His hand the sovereign keys</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of heaven, and death, and hell.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Now to the Lamb that once was slain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Be endless blessings paid;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Salvation, glory, joy, remain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For ever on Thy head.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou hast redeemed our souls with blood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hast set the prisoners free;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hast made us kings and priests to God,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And we shall reign with Thee.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The worlds of nature and of grace</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are put beneath Thy power;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then shorten these delaying days,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bring the promised hour.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This is the tradition of the origin of the first hymn. It -was received with great alacrity and joy. It was indeed -“a new song.” The young poet was entreated to produce -another, and another. The series extended from Sabbath to -Sabbath, until almost a volume was formed, although their -publication was long delayed. This was the interesting -result of his return to Southampton.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer1.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header3.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.<br> -<span class="smaller">In the Hartopp Family.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>Returning from Southampton, Isaac Watts entered -the family of Sir John Hartopp, the first of those -two influential friends whose names will always be associated -with his own; it was October 15th, 1696, he being -then twenty-two years of age, when he went to reside -with him. Within the memory of some of the old inhabitants -of Stoke Newington there stood on the north -side of Church Street the remains of a red brick house, -with large casement windows; once they were all -handsomely painted, and bore the arms of Fleetwood, -Hartopp, and Cook. But no one of these later generations -saw that old mansion in all its original greatness. -In later years it came to be divided into houses, and parts -of it drifted down from the abode of statesmen to the -boarding-school for young ladies. Still it retained even to -its close, traditionary relics and reminiscences of the old -days of its pride and importance. On the ceilings of its -principal rooms were the remains of the arms of the Lord -General Fleetwood; and in the upper part there was a -little door concealed by hangings, through which the persecuted -Nonconformist passed into a place of safety and -concealment, in the days of Charles <span class="allsmcap">II.</span> The old house<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> -was built towards the close of the reign of Elizabeth, so -that even at the period when it comes before our readers -it was ancient. It was purchased by Charles Fleetwood, -Lord General of the army of the Commonwealth, and under -Cromwell one of the Council of State. It is quite unnecessary -here to dwell upon his transient importance and -power; he was one of the last of those remarkable men in -that singular interregnum of our history, and the very last -after the resignation of Richard Cromwell who held some -of the shadows of the departed substance of greatness. -He spent the remainder of his days in the mansion of -Stoke Newington before his final departure for Bunhill -Fields. To this place, in time succeeded Sir John Hartopp, -by his wife Elizabeth Fleetwood, a grand-daughter of the -General; and to this old red brick building, with its secret -chambers and armorial casements and ceilings, Isaac Watts -came as a tutor in the family.</p> - -<p>Sir John Hartopp was not a mere city knight, and indeed -city knighthoods meant much more in those days -than now. He was of an old Leicestershire family of -Dalby Parva, in the register books of which place the name -is written Hartrupte. The family was able to trace a very -interesting history back to the time of Richard <span class="allsmcap">II.</span>; the -baronetcy dated from the time of James <span class="allsmcap">I.</span>, and the family -received considerable honours from Charles <span class="allsmcap">I.</span>, and, what -is more to the purpose of the present memoir, it was in his -house that Richard Baxter planned, if he did not partly -write, “The Saint’s Everlasting Rest.” Sir John Hartopp, -the friend of Watts, was born at the commencement of the -Civil Wars. In his early youth the whole of his neighbourhood -was alive with marchings and counter-marchings. -Buckminster was the place of the family residence, and the -steeple of the parish church was used as a watch-tower for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> -reconnoitring. The house was alive and perpetually on -the guard against the incursions of the Cavaliers. Sir -Edward Hartopp, the first baronet, died at the commencement -of the Protectorate of Cromwell, and was buried at -Buckminster; his son, the father of Sir John, died a short -time previous to the Restoration, and about this time we -find the family removed to London and settled at Stoke -Newington. Sir John became an eminent Nonconformist; -as he cast in his lot among the Independents, he was a -member of the Church of Dr. Owen, with whom he maintained -a very close and intimate friendship; and there is -in the library of the New College, in St. John’s Wood, a -volume of the sermons of Owen, very carefully written -down after hearing them, copied, probably for use in the -family, in Sir John’s handwriting. Many of Dr. Owen’s -manuscripts came into his possession upon his decease, and -were contributed by him to the complete collection of the -Doctor’s sermons.</p> - -<p>Sir John Hartopp was an ardent and active patriot. He -was three times chosen representative for his native county -of Leicestershire. In 1671 he was high sheriff, and he -afterwards distinguished himself by his earnest advocacy -of the Bill of Exclusion to bar the Duke of York’s succession -to the throne. He became the subject of much persecution, -and paid in fines apparently the larger portion of -£7,000. He died in 1722, when the affairs of the nation -had long, through the active exertions of such men as he -was, settled themselves into comparative tranquillity and -prosperity. Watts preached in his memory his sermon “On -the Happiness of Separate Spirits made Perfect,” and he -dwells at some length upon certain personal characteristics, -from which we gather that Sir John was an accomplished -man, with a taste for universal learning, and the pursuit<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span> -of knowledge in various forms—mathematics in his -younger days, and astronomy in his old age; keeping alive -his early knowledge of Greek for an intelligent acquaintance -with the New Testament, and so late in life as at -the age of fifty entering upon the study of Hebrew. His -house became the refuge of the oppressed, while by some -happy disposition of Providence he himself was saved -from those more severe and painful persecutions to which -so many were not only exposed but subjected. His ardent -attachment to Dr. Owen assures us of the temper and -character of his religious convictions, and altogether he -shines out before us as one of those beautiful and luminous -examples and illustrations of the men to whom our country -owes so much. So far as we can gather from what is left -on record of him, he appears to have been a true Christian -gentleman, a fine harmonious combination of characteristics -blending in him the severity of high principle with a -gentle and tenderly affectionate nature.</p> - -<p>Sir John Hartopp, as we have seen, became by marriage -connected with the family of Cromwell; he married Elizabeth, -one of the daughters of the Lord General Fleetwood, -and his sister married a son of the old general—thus there -was a double connection. When Fleetwood’s house was -first built in the village of Stoke Newington it must have -been a stately mansion. In his day it was probably -divided, and had all the characteristics of the old mansions -of the earlier part of the seventeenth century. Hither the -General retired after the Restoration, and here, singularly -enough, he was permitted to pass his days in tranquil -obscurity. He died while Watts was studying at the -adjoining academy. Watts no doubt knew the old Ironside, -for he was on terms of close intimacy with his son, Smith -Fleetwood. Such were some of the collateral connections<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> -of the Hartopp family. And there was another. Sir -Nathaniel Gould, to whom Watts inscribes a poem, who -married Frances, the daughter of Sir John and Lady -Hartopp. Such was the circle in which it appears he -moved to and fro with a pleasant and indulged affability. -All of these people were members of the church over -which Dr. Owen had presided, and of which Watts was -hereafter, and shortly, to be minister. It was no doubt -owing to the intimacy he sustained with all these eminent -persons, that he by-and-bye received the invitation to -become their pastor, in which relation he preached a -funeral sermon, as we have seen, for Sir John, so also for -Lady Hartopp, and Lady Gould, of whom he remarks, “I -would copy a line from that most beautiful elegy of David, -and apply it here with more justice than the Psalmist could -to Saul and Jonathan, ‘Lovely and pleasant were they in -their lives, and in their death they were not divided,’ -silent were they and retired from the world, and unknown -except to their intimate friends; humble they were -and averse to public show and noise, nor will I disturb -their graves by making them the subject of public praise.”</p> - -<p>It was a house full of daughters and two sons. Two -had already gone to the family vault, and one—born the -year of Watts’ entrance into the family—was soon to -follow. But there were nine daughters in the household; -of these two had died before the days of Watts’ residence, -seven survived; these were Helen, and Mary, and Martha, -and Elizabeth, and a second Anne, and Bridget, and -Dorothy, and Frances. Was Watts their tutor? It was a -dangerous neighbourhood for a young man, amidst all those -bright glances and radiant young faces in the Puritan household; -perhaps the danger had been greater had there been -fewer of them. Fancy indulges herself in picturing the life<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> -of the young student there. As we have seen, Frances married -Sir Nathaniel Gould, and died in 1711, six days after -her mother, Lady Hartopp. The other six daughters all -lived and died unmarried in the family home. How solitary, -one thinks, the last of that bright circle must have felt, -dying there in 1764, sixty-two years after Watts first took -up his abode among them.</p> - -<p>Isaac Watts entered the family as the tutor of the future -baronet, and many of those pieces which he afterwards -gave to the world were the productions of this time, many -of his “Miscellaneous Thoughts,” the chief portions of his -“Logic,” and probably much of his “Improvement of the -Mind.” We have said already he furnishes, like John Calvin -and some others, an instance of a singular prematurity of -intelligence, not however interfering, as is so frequently -the case, with future eminence, usefulness, and advancement.</p> - -<p>Here, then, was for some time Watts’ home. He -studied hard and diligently, drawing forth and putting into -shape the results of previous years of scholarship. Behind -the house there were extensive gardens and remarkably fine -trees, and especially a noble cedar, said to have been -planted by General Fleetwood, concerning which Robinson -tells a singular story: That long years ago a scythe had been -hung up in the fork of the tree, and was left there unnoticed -and untouched until years after it was discovered, -the body of the tree having completely overgrown it and -enclosed the blade so fast that it could not be removed. -“And,” says Robinson, “it is at this day to be seen, the -point of the blade on the one side, and the end on the -other.”<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span></p> - -<p>The young man to whom Watts was tutor died at the -age of thirty-five. He had succeeded his father in the -baronetcy. Watts had given to him a noble training. -Upon the publication of his “Logic” it was dedicated to -him, and the writer reminds him that it had been prepared -for him to assist his early studies. Some of the most -animating verses in the “Lyrics” are addressed to him, -and many other scholastic pieces also were prepared for -his pupil while residing at Stoke Newington. Amidst the -shades of its trees were written many of those essays so -pleasing to read now, his “Miscellaneous Thoughts” and -“Juvenile Relics.” Here the young man was indeed -training himself as well as teaching his pupil, when we -remember that many, if not most, of his hymns had already -been written at Southampton, and that his “Institutes of -Logic” and his whole method of thought were matured and -written here; truly he appears to have been an industrious -athlete. Neither egotism nor egoism seems to shadow his -studies by any morbid self-consciousness, or any wondering -dreams as to what his future destiny might be. He appears -to have been one to whom faith and duty were sufficient. -He had found his Saviour, and he believed; he had his -work to do, and he wrought at it like a living conscience. -By-and-by he left the old house which had yet a singular -history. His pupil was very wealthy, and he appears to -have given during his life, and to have left upon his death -a maintenance, with the family mansion, to his six maiden -sisters. There they lived, and there they died; and it is -remarkable, as has been already said, that one of them died -in 1764, aged eighty-one, ninety years, as the church -register shows, after the death of a young sister in 1674, -the year in which Watts was born; this, we may be sure, -was throughout his life one of the houses he would frequently<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> -revisit, and renew his impressions of youthful days -amidst its elm and cedar shades. Gradually all the members -of the family dropped away, each in turn gathered -one by one, till one and all were re-united in the vaults -of Stoke Newington Church. But we are stepping on too -fast for our life of Watts, whose more obvious and active -career was all before him yet.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer2.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header4.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.<br> -<span class="smaller">Pastor of a London Church.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>Watts preached his first sermon on his birthday, July -17th, 1698; he was then twenty-four years of age. He -probably mingled with his duties as tutor those of chaplain -to the excellent family in which he resided. The ice once -broken, he began to preach constantly. Sir John Hartopp -and his family were members of the church of Dr. -Chauncy, in Mark Lane; and it was, no doubt, greatly -in consequence of this friendship that Watts was invited -to become the assistant of the doctor.</p> - -<p>It is curious to compare the dearth of chapels and -preachers in the City in the present day with the many -remarkable for their importance at the time when Watts -became a pastor. Still a few places stand out, dating from -that time; but, for the most part, all have gone, leaving -only the memories of certain men of remarkable attainments, -wit, and eloquence behind them. To the distinguished -circle of ministers, and to the church which had -known, before him, men so eminent, Watts, all but unknown, -brought a name which was to give to them a -crowning reputation. His qualities as a preacher all -accounts represent as rather solid than shining. His sermons -were beautiful in their clear harmonious symmetry of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span> -powers, rather than startling. Surely never a man who -poured into his verse so much rich brilliancy of expression—sometimes, -it must be admitted, with questionable rhetorical -afflatus and pomp of utterance—preserved through -all that we know of his public teaching so quiet and -equable a flow of language and ideas, so instructive, while -so entirely removed from all that can unduly agitate the -spirit. In Jeremy Taylor we wonder that the poet seems -to abandon every ambitious attempt when he writes verse, -while his sermons possess a gorgeous and overwhelming -splendour of diction and imagery. In Watts, on the other -hand, it is equally surprising that so sprightly and splendid -a fancy, so rich a command over sacred verses and images, -should express itself with such calmness and modesty in -words intended for the pulpit; but this was probably of a -piece with his whole character. His hymns are often -raptures and ecstasies, but he reserved these for his most -private life, for his own heart, for his closet and study. -There was nothing in his character bustling, prominent, or -obtrusive. In an evening conversation he would shrink as -far as possible from taking any prominent part, and would -never in ordinary company lead it. In the home circle, -among close and well-known friends, he shed around himself -a genial atmosphere; but he was too essentially a -student and a book-man to be in any high sense a popular -preacher. Eminent and eminently honoured, his greatness -was not of that order which easily finds itself at home in -multitudes. His person was not striking, although we can -conceive it to have been very impressive; and his mode of -setting forth all things upon which he wrote or spoke was -so purely thoughtful, demanded so intimate a sympathy -with pensive and meditative moods, and required so close -an acquaintance with high and abstract thoughts, that it is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> -not to be wondered at that his fame as a preacher and -scholar was rather reserved for the intimate circle than for -more extended, not to say vulgar, spheres.</p> - -<p>The City of London at present conveys no idea of what -it was then; and what it was very materially affects our -estimate of the position of Watts as one of its Nonconformist -ministers. The City of London was the chief bulwark -of English freedom. Happily all the needs and occasions -for what it was in those days have long since passed, -and England itself has greatly become what London was -then. The City of that date calls up the idea of some such -spots as the great mediæval cities, the burgher strongholds -of the middle ages. Not many years before it had been -the refuge of the five members whom Charles <span class="allsmcap">I.</span> sought -to attach for high treason. It had been committed to the -cause of Puritanism, Protestantism, and William; some of -its chief men had become martyrs to the cause of civil and -religious liberty. The governments of Charles <span class="allsmcap">II.</span> and -James <span class="allsmcap">II.</span> scarcely permitted to active minds and public -men a middle way. Nonconformity was imposed by the -exactions of tyranny upon spiritually minded men. Hence, -leaving the fanes and structures then very pleasantly standing -in many a retired close, surrounded by pleasant trees, -sequestered places in the midst of the graves of many generations, -such persons were compelled to assemble for worship -where they best could, in some old guild hall or place of -trade, some loft over offices and warehouses.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Most of the -congregations we now should consider small. No company -composed of faithful souls meeting for Divine service<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span> -beneath the blessing of Him who said, “Where two or -three are gathered together in My name, there am I in -the midst of them,”<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> can be held contemptible; but their -congregations were largely composed of persons who -had figured prominently in the great actions of the immediately -preceding years, officers and soldiers of that great -army which had overawed the world by their fame, persons -to whom Nonconformity was no mere negation, but the -profession of all that was dearest to human freedom or to -human hopes, men of substance and position, the most -eminent merchants, to whose sense religious and civil -liberty were so closely related that it was impossible to do -injustice to the one without aiming at the heart of the -other, and who knew that to injure either was to hurt the -lesser, but still eminent interests of trade and commerce, -and industry, and national prosperity. Nonconformity in -the City of London has grown in representative wealth and -importance; but it may be safely affirmed that it could not -show such congregations of noble men as those which -thronged its contemptible meeting-houses in Watts’ day.</p> - -<p>Referring back to those times, entering one of the -chapels during the time of service, we should, perhaps, be -astonished and chilled by the want of animation and -ardour, if these are to be tested by the apparent excitement. -Indeed, to our taste, the service must have appeared very -formal and frigid; not merely in the fact that no instrumental -music of any kind would have been tolerated, no -response or chant, but, in many congregations, there was no -singing at all. To the stricter Puritan sensibility this would -have been merely intolerable. We have instances of -ministers who were made uncomfortable in their churches, -and compelled to relinquish them, because they desired to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> -introduce some religious melody; in other instances it -was the minister who disapproved such extravagant piety -in his people. The Society of Friends was not alone in its -renunciation of all the adornments and flights of religious -song. Even where singing was indulged, it was Patrick’s -or the Scotch version, or some such literal translation of -the words of Scripture. Paraphrases and more expanded -religious sentiments had never been heard of, and were -regarded, when first introduced, as seditious and dangerous -innovations, disturbing the purity of so reasonable a service, -which derived all its life and interest from its most -perfect conformity to a spiritual order; the simple voice of -the minister in prayer, and in preaching, meandering in -many instances through roads of uncommon length. We -have instances on record of a prayer itself taking the -entire length of that time we now ordinarily allot to a -public service. This state of things in the congregation -must have greatly influenced the religious life of the times -where it existed at all. It became cold, remote, and -abstract; not that there were wanting instances, both of -ministers and congregations, who maintained, in the midst -of so much lifelessness, a high spiritual state and intercourse.</p> - -<p>The Nonconformists throughout the country were, in the -latter part of the seventeenth century, for the most part -men disposed to social quiet. They had now recovered in -some measure a state of religious tranquillity, and they were -rather interested quietly to preserve what they possessed, -than to attempt any occupation of new ground, either in -principle or in practice. They made few efforts to correct -the vices of men, or to convert them from their life of sin. -The round of Nonconformist duty and piety was a quiet, -staid, and respectable service; nothing, we suppose, could -be more unlike the satires so often pronounced upon it.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> -Most of its ministers were men of considerable scholarly -attainments, their minds fed by the rich and strengthening -food to be found in some of the oldest fathers and the -earliest reformers; at the same time they were accustomed -to abstractions and questions, which at once enlarged and -strengthened the understanding. They had no acquaintance -with our large varieties of nature and language; but -they were keen observers of <i>human</i> nature, and they submitted -their knowledge to the test and use of daily life. -As to their people, in many instances, no doubt, they were -humble, perhaps even of obscure rank, but this was not -always the case. Nonconformity in those times included -others than those we should even call the respectable -middle classes; it represented an order of political opinion -quite as much as religious doctrine and practice, not only -as we have seen in London, but in many districts of the -country. Some of the highest and oldest families formed -the staff and stay of congregations. It was a respectable -but cold piety, in many instances with assured tendencies -towards Socinianism and Unitarianism. The Nonconformity -into which Watts came, and with which during -the whole of his life he mingled, is quite removed from -that Nonconformity of Methodism and Revivalism which -became the great religious movement of the last century. -It was a Nonconformity educated, solid, rooted in certain -principles and assurances, inclining too exclusively to a -life of thought; the religion of intelligent multitudes who -could not conform, especially to what the Church of England -was, in that coarse and intolerant time, when her nets -gathered fish of every sort, among them some chiefly -remarkable for their rapacity and impurity.</p> - -<p>It was over one of these old City churches, probably the -most famous of them, that the youthful Isaac Watts was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span> -called to preside as the pastor. The congregation or -church contained a number of eminent persons; its pastors -had been eminent men; here a few years before ministered -Joseph Caryl. From the pulpit of this place probably -were poured forth those prelections on the Book of Job, -assuredly in more than one sense a monument to the -memory of Patience! Vast and mammoth-like, a megatherium -of books, the most huge commentary ever -written, but a structure of learning, with eloquence and -evangelical truth, if large in bulk almost equal in worth. -Over this church, more recently, had presided a greater -man in the person of the mighty John Owen, the friend of -Cromwell, and, during the Protectorate, Vice-Chancellor of -Oxford. The place of meeting was in Mark Lane, and in -the congregation there were present some whose character -and lives might a little daunt any preacher, much more a -very youthful one. There were many in that congregation -able to carry the memory back through the days of -England’s fiery trials, through the years of war and of -persecution, and the times when the City was alive in its -own defence. They had heard the cry, “To your tents, O -Israel!” when, in an ill-omened hour, Charles <span class="allsmcap">I.</span> came to -the City; they had seen the Thames alive with barge and -boat as the members were escorted back to Westminster; -some had served in the camp with the Ironsides, and some -had seen Sir Harry Vane hailed to the scaffold; there -were officers of the old Commonwealth army, members of -the old Long Parliament, strong merchants and magistrates -who had stood up for the liberties of the City and of -England; there, in that congregation, scattered over the -place were clustering remnants of the immediate members -and descendants of Cromwell’s family, none more remarkable -than that most singular woman, Mrs. Bendish,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> -Bridget Ireton, the grand-daughter of Cromwell, of whom -all contemporaries spoke as hearing just the same relation -to her grandfather in character that Elizabeth bore to -Henry <span class="allsmcap">VIII.</span>—a woman with a most remarkable life; there -was Charles Fleetwood, her mother’s second husband; -there was Charles Desborough, the brother-in-law to -Oliver Cromwell; there was that fine old English gentleman -Sir John Hartopp, and Lady Hartopp, who was a -daughter of Charles Fleetwood, and thus allied to Mrs. -Bendish; there was Lady Vere Wilkinson, and Lady -Haversham, a daughter of the Earl of Anglesey, and the -wife of John Thompson Earl of Haversham; and there, -last as we mention them, but far from least in importance -in the life of Watts, Sir Thomas and Lady Abney.</p> - -<p>As we have said already, the Independent churches of -the City were in that day greatly composed of such -characters as these. Look into any one, and you will see -such persons of rank and influence, although probably a -kind of Cromwell clannishness gave distinctness and -importance to the little church in Mark Lane; there was a -respectability and dignity about those churches in general -which we should in these days but little appreciate. -They were snug little spiritual corporations, held together -by several bonds which have ceased to be distinctive now; -a strong faith in certain great first principles in religion; a -strong faith also in certain political principles, quite essential -to the freedom of their faith and their religious life -and its usages. Nor can we conceal from ourselves that -there was also a conservative spirit of an aristocratic -flavour; there was nothing in the communion which -savoured of our modern more heterogeneous assemblies: -the members were usually persons of strong character, -considerable culture, and thought. Their idea of liberty<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span> -was no more cut out after the modern type than was -their theology; indeed both were ideal. If the Harringtons -and Sidneys dreamed their republics, not upon the wild -democratic inclusiveness of complete suffrage, the proclamation -of the sanctity of ignorance, and the wisdom of -vice, but upon the models of classical times,—these for -the most part idealized the republic of the saints, and -formed their conceptions of church life and political freedom -upon the unattainable standard of the college of the -apostles, and the traditions of the community of the -saints. Yet it is very easy to perceive how, ensconcing -themselves in religious life as in a comfortable arm-chair, -while perfectly faithful themselves, they became the -parents of that large declension of such churches to -Arianism and the cognate Socinian ideas which in the -later periods of his life vexed the spirit of Watts, and -led his thoughtful philosophic nature into an arena of -mild, but not the less earnest conflict.</p> - -<p>Watts, accepting the charge of the church, was ordained -over it March 8th, 1702, the day on which King William -died. The young minister’s immediate predecessor was -Dr. Isaac Chauncy, who, like most of his coadjutors in the -ministry of that period, was a gentleman of good and -ancient family; originally coming over with the Conqueror, -settled at Yardley, Berkshire, in the time of -Elizabeth, and by the drift of circumstances conducted to -considerable eminence among the Puritans and Nonconformists. -The father of Isaac Chauncy had been professor -of Greek in the University of Cambridge, and vicar of -Ware, in Hertfordshire. He took up his testimony for -Nonconformity when the “Book of Sports” was published, -commanding him to desist from preaching on the Sabbath -afternoon, that the people of his parish might indulge<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span> -themselves in profane amusements; he fell beneath the -vengeance of Archbishop Laud, and was twice cited before -the Court of High Commission; he made a recantation, -which he afterwards so regretted and bewailed that he -threw up everything and withdrew to New England. His -son Isaac held the living of Woodborough, in Wiltshire, -from whence he was ejected, and after ministering a short -time in Andover came to London, intending to practise as -a physician, when the church in Mark Lane called him to -become its minister; but he was not popular as a preacher, -however eminent in other qualifications.</p> - -<p>The congregation had exhibited signs of decline when -Watts was called in, probably as one on whom the eyes -of leading Nonconformists were fixed, especially as the -friend of Sir John Hartopp. Although so young, his -knowledge of mathematics, of the classics, of Church history, -of theological science, especially his piety, must have -made him already well known in Nonconformist circles. -This knowledge extended back to the early part of 1698, -so that for nearly two years he must have been the -preacher, and it may be presumed very considerably the -pastor of the church before, upon the resignation of Dr. -Chauncy, he succeeded him in his office: the members of -this distinguished church must have invited him with -their eyes completely open to all that he was as a preacher -and as a man. But he gave no indications of ability to -enforce by his bodily powers the manifestations of his -genius—his health appeared to be constantly failing. For -some months before his ordination he had been laid aside -from preaching, and in search of health had, by the advice -of physicians, visited Bath. And then again we find -him for some time resting at home at his father’s house, -now, no doubt, a comfortable residence, a flourishing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span> -school, and released from all the terrors which had -shadowed it in his infancy. And from thence again by -physicians we find him sent to Tunbridge Wells, so that -he says, “I was detained from study and preaching five -months by my weakness, except one very short discourse -at Southampton in extreme necessity.” He was of a -slight and most fragile frame throughout his life. His -works constitute an amazing monument of industry. But -during the years he had been tutor in Sir John Hartopp’s -family he must have performed these duties in a -spirit of remarkable conscientiousness, for he prepared -some of the works which afterwards delighted and instructed -the world, as the necessary means of the course -he was pursuing in the education of the young man, his -pupil. Very remarkably this is the case with his “System -of Logic,” which when it was published many years after -was adopted and continued to be until recently the text-book -for the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; this appears -also to have been the case with his “Scheme of Ontology.” -He refers to many of his writings published at a much -later period of his life, as for the most part the productions -of these his earlier years. We shall have occasion to speak -of these again; at present it is sufficient to refer to this -persistency of mental labour and assiduous industry as not -only the sufficient cause for the illness which suspended -him from labour, but the foundation of future years of -painful infirmity which accompanied him through life.</p> - -<p>There must have been much about him not only to -command respect but to enchain affection. Long hesitating -as to whether he should accept the proffered pastorate, he -had not long entered upon the real responsibilities of his -office before he was again seized with a painful and -alarming illness; almost immediately he was compelled<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span> -again, in July, 1702, to renew his rest in Southampton, -and then returning to London he mentions, in the memoranda -we have already quoted, that he was “seized with -violent gaundise and colic three weeks after my return to -London, and had a very slow recovery, eight or nine weeks’ -illness. From September 8th, or thereabouts, to November -27th or 28th. This year, viz., 1702, by slow degrees -removed from Newington to Thomas Hollis’s, in the -Minories.”</p> - -<p>During a period of about six years Watts appears to -have resided in the family of Sir John Hartopp; in the -paragraph above quoted he refers to his removal to the -house of Mr. Hollis, in the Minories. The names of the -places associated with the ministrations or the residence -of Watts and his fellow ministers in the City, sound to -our ears now strange and singularly unromantic and uninteresting; -but what they are now we must not for a -moment suppose they resembled then. Even the Minories—now -the last place in which one could wish to reside—lay, -at that time, open and fresh towards the pleasant -fields of the east end of London, a rather distinguished -neighbourhood beneath the shadows of the Tower, and -pleasantly refreshed by the breath from the waters of the -then really silvery Thames, whose banks were alive with -the songs of watermen. The Minories or Minoresses—so -called from the nuns of the Order of St. Clair—had once -been the region of noble residences; here had been the -residence of Sir Philip Sidney, here his body lay in state. -The spot was, and is, full of interesting memories. The -family of the Hollis’s was from Sheffield, in Yorkshire, -and having founded churches in Doncaster and Rotherham, -removing to London, the father of Watts’ friend became -one of the most helpful representatives of Nonconformity<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span> -in the City, immediately connected with the church -assembling in Pinners’ Hall, beneath the pastorate of Dr. -Jeremiah Hunt. To this place, in consequence of the -narrow and dilapidated state of the building in Mark Lane, -Watts and his people were compelled to remove in the -year 1704. Pinners’ Hall had for years been used by -Nonconformists, and in their turns Baxter, Owen, Bates, -Manton, and Howe had all preached in it to crowded -congregations, hence the reason, most likely, of the friendship -of the minister and Mr. Hollis.</p> - -<p>We have few particulars of Watts in his pastoral work. -From the first days of his pastorate his health was a -frequent source of interruption to his activity. The hymns -and poems frequently expressing the experience of pain, -weakness, and weariness are no fancies; they express a -very devout spirit of resignation, with regret, as he expresses -it, that “many other souls are favoured with a more -easy habitation, and he hoped with a better partner, accommodated -with engines which have more health and vigour;” -but he instantly recovers his spirits to exclaim, “Shall I -repine then, while I survey whole nations and millions and -millions of mankind that have not a thousand’s part of -my blessings?” He was laid aside by sickness for five -months soon after he became assistant to Dr. Chauncy, -1698; he was the subject of another illness soon after -his settlement in the pastoral charge in 1701; a violent -fever seized him in 1712, his constitution was shattered by -it, his nerves weakened and unstrung, and he prevented -from returning to his public work until October, 1716; we -find from his own record that he was confined by illness in -1729; and many other occasions might be discovered of -these sharp bodily afflictions. Life around him was usually -beautiful and serene; he seems to have possessed a very<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span> -large revenue of love, but he unquestionably possessed this -“thorn in the flesh,” nor can we doubt that such experiences -to such a faith as his, gave personal meaning to -his hymns. He sung very often as one stretched on a -rack, and not the least of his pains must have been that -his incessantly active nature, his constant design and desire -to carry out some purpose or to pursue some task found -itself checked and arrested. Dr. Gibbons quotes a paragraph -from a very beautiful letter to a friend, a minister, -in affliction, through which there runs a vein of true -spiritual friendship, and a pathos which his own experience -of trials would very naturally inspire: “It is my hearty -desire for you that your faith may ride out the storms of -temptation, and the anchor of your hope may hold, being -fixed within the veil. There sits Jesus our Forerunner, -who sailed over this rough sea before us, and has given us -a chart, even His Word, where the shelves and rocks, the -fierce currents and dangers are well described, and He is -our Pilot, and will conduct us to the shores of happiness. -I am persuaded that in the future state we shall take a -sweet review of those scenes of Providence which have -been involved in the thickest darkness, and trace those -footsteps of God when He walked with us through the -deepest waters. This will be a surprising delight, to survey -the manifold harmony of clashing dispensations, and to -have those perplexing riddles laid open to the eyes of our -souls, and read the full meaning of them in set characters -of wisdom and grace.”</p> - -<p>It is not extraordinary, therefore, that even so early as -1703 the church relieved Watts by choosing a co-pastor, -Mr. Samuel Price, a native of Wales, but a student from -Attercliff, in Yorkshire. As it was necessary to have a -co-pastor, he was chosen upon the express desire and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span> -earnest recommendation of Watts; but many years appear -to have passed between the choice of the church and his -ordination as joint pastor, for Watts’ autobiographic -memoranda says: “June, 1703, Mr. Samuel Price was -chosen by the church to assist me;” but he was not -ordained to the office of co-pastor until 1713. This -relationship continued until it was dissolved by death. -They were colleagues considerably upwards of forty years, -and Price succeeded his beloved and amiable friend, whom -he survived about seven years; he died in 1756, having -been connected with the church fifty-three years. Watts -mentions him in his will as his faithful friend and companion -in the ministry, and leaves some little legacy, “as -only a small testimony of his great affection for him, on -account of his services of love during the many harmonious -years of their fellowship in the work of the Gospel.” -Watts several times, in the course of the prefaces and -dedications to his published works, refers affectionately to -his colleague; and his colleague when he died expressed a -wish that he might be buried as near as possible to his -honoured friend. It may be incidentally mentioned that -he was uncle to the celebrated Dr. Richard Price.</p> - -<p>Although his companion in the ministry neither as a -preacher nor man of letters approached the eminence of -Watts, it would seem that he was in every way acceptable -as a preacher and a pastor, “judicious, and useful, and -eminent in his gift of prayer,” says Gibbons. Certainly, -the old place in Mark Lane became too small, for, after -a temporary sojourn in Pinners’ Hall, in 1708 the congregation -removed from Mark Lane<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> to Duke Street, -St. Mary Axe.</p> - -<p>It had been the site of one of the most celebrated metropolitan<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span> -ecclesiastical establishments previous to the Reformation, -the Priory of the Holy Trinity, the founder of -which was Matilda, Queen of Henry <span class="allsmcap">I.</span>; it became a huge -establishment and enormously wealthy, the richest convent -in England, some have said; rich in lands and ornaments, -and incomparably surpassing all the other priories in the -same county. The prior was always an alderman of -London, although, if he happened to be exceedingly pious, -he appointed a substitute to enact temporal matters; and -on solemn days this clerical alderman rode through the -city with the other aldermen, but arrayed in his monastic -habit. On the dissolution of the monasteries this became -one of the earliest spoils, and it was given by Henry <span class="allsmcap">VIII.</span> -to Sir Thomas Audley, the Speaker of the House of Commons, -and afterwards Lord Chancellor. On the site of the -old priory he erected a splendid mansion, in which he resided -until his death in 1544. His daughter and sole heiress, -Margaret, married Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, so the estate -descended to the Howard family, and became the Duke’s -place; he lost his head; passing to his eldest son, he sold -it in 1592 to the mayor, corporation, and citizens of London. -This is a singular piece of history, which Wilson, in his -“History of Dissenting Churches,” has gathered from -Strype, Maitland, and Pennant.</p> - -<p>In the time of Watts the neighbourhood had scarcely -fallen from its high estate. Time had been since the period -of the Reformation when Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir -Thomas Wyatt, and the Earl of Northumberland had their -houses here; and Bury Street derived its name from the -abbots of Bury, who also had a residence on this spot. -Since the time of Cromwell, however, the region had -become a kind of <i>Juden Strasse</i>. The Jews, who now form -its principal inhabitants, then first settled there. The spot<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span> -on which the chapel was built was part of a garden, -although removed from public observation, a necessity laid -upon the Nonconformists of that time, who were compelled -to retreat into obscure recesses to escape the vigilance of -prowling informers. The building has now entirely passed -away, but we very well remember it, one of the old square -substantial buildings with its galleries, exactly an ideal -conventicle of those times, one of those in which the Nonconformists -seemed to teach that there was no beauty in -architecture which they particularly desired. The rich -furniture and attainments of the ministers’ minds contrasting -singularly with the plain and altogether unornamented -and even barn-like simplicity of the scene of their ministrations: -almost the only buildings which now retain the -entirely unornamented architecture of the Puritan times -are those of the members of the Society of Friends. Such -was the building opened in Bury Street, October 3rd, 1708; -it is also interesting to notice that it was erected at the -costly sum of £650! In the present year of the publication -of this volume a building has been erected in the City -of London for the same order of communicants as those in -Bury Street, at a cost of £55,000. The two sums are very -suggestive of a comparison and contrast between the Nonconformists -of the time of Watts and of to-day.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer3.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header5.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.<br> -<span class="smaller">First Publication as a Sacred Poet.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>The fact that the first work published by Watts was -the “Sacred Lyrics” may justify this early estimate -of his character as a sacred poet. It is probable, nay it is -certain, that the time bestowed by Watts upon poetry was -very slight and insignificant compared with that which he -devoted to the graver pursuits of life, and the various -studies connected with philosophy, theology, preaching, and -education. He first, however, appeared in print as the -author of the “Horæ Lyricæ,” the Lyrical Poems: and Dr. -Johnson judges that they entitled him to an honourable -place amongst our English poets. Watts himself thought -very modestly of his claims in this way, and speaks concerning -his own compositions in the humblest language. -“I make no pretences,” he says, “to the name of a poet, or -a polite writer in an age wherein so many superior souls -shine in their works through the nation.” In many of his -hymns he unquestionably deserves the highest honour: but -for the most part it is not in the lyrics we are to seek, -as we certainly shall not find, the noblest illustrations of -his poetical genius; nor, perhaps, is it probable that we -should turn to them with much interest or expectation but -that they are the production of Dr. Watts, and that he was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> -the author of those hymns so dear to the Church of Christ, -and the “Divine and Moral Songs for Children.” In all -our judgments and criticisms upon Watts as a poet, two -things must be borne in mind: first, as we have seen above, -that he not only disclaimed the character himself, but -proved his sincerity by regarding it only as the recreation -of grave and serious studies, and the very natural occupation -of a man of fine taste and largely cultivated sensibility; -and next, we must remember, that the poetry of the -age in which he lived was artificial, formed for the most -part upon classical models, whose rules were very greatly -inapplicable to English verse. The sweetest and most -perfect poet in any near approach to those times was Oliver -Goldsmith, and he was the writer least imbued with -classical lore, and the one who left all classical rules and -allusions furthest behind him, content to express himself -in simple and pleasing English. Johnson was a poet, and -Joseph Addison, but although so much more ambitious and -devoted to the pursuit, they neither of them have produced -sentiments or expressions which charm us more than those -we find in the productions of Watts. Thomas Gray was a -poet, but only in two or three instances did the simplicity -and purity of the English language, and the simple metre, -succeed in winning him from the trammels of classical -formularies. Indeed there was something ludicrous in the -poetry of the time; and the great genius of Pope, which -really was equal to anything in verse, seemed almost to -struggle in vain against the pedantic rules he imposed -upon himself. It was the age of fantastic ornament and of -formal symmetry, of artificial gardening, of trimmed yews, -when even Nature herself in her trees, hedgerows, and -flower-beds was made to look ridiculous. A sort of tulip-mania, -a false admiration in colour and in form, took<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> -possession not merely of the speculators in the market, but -of the devotees of the fine arts. Years passed on before -English poetry liberated itself from these false trammels, -and the first great English writer who subsequently gave -freedom and freshness, a combination of sublimity and -simplicity to English verse, was William Cowper.</p> - -<p>We must separate and distinguish between Watts as -a poet, the author of the “Lyrics,” and Watts as a -hymnologist, and the author of those pieces which, as they -have been, so we trust they will continue to be, a precious -legacy of the Church, and the expression of its deepest, -highest, and tenderest emotions. In a letter to the “Gentleman’s -Magazine,” when his judgment was appealed to for a -poetical decision, he said, “Though I have sported with -rhyme as an amusement in younger life, and published -some religious composures to assist the worship of God, -yet I never set myself up among the numerous competitors -for a poet of the age, much less have I presumed to -become their judge.” There is a writer of one or two -immortal hymns in our language who sometimes suggests -a comparison with Dr. Watts. Watts was capable of -poetry. He was not only a poet in his hymns, but a poetic -nature often broke through the turgid pindarics he adopted -as the vehicle of his expressions. But Ken was no -poet at all, and yet, unlike Watts, who disclaimed the -character, this was Ken’s one vanity. A writer in the -“Quarterly Review,” which may be accepted here as an -unexceptionable umpire, says, “If there was any vanity -in the good man’s heart, it would seem to have been on -the subject of his poetical skill. He expresses, indeed, a -belief that his verses are open to the assaults of criticism, -but he must have thought something of them, for he left -them for publication, and they fill four thick volumes.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span> -The contrast is strange between the clear, free, harmonious -flow of his prose, and the barbarous, cramped, pedantic -language, the harsh dissonance, the extravagant conceits, -which disfigure the great mass of his verses. Mr. Anderson -has tried the ingenious experiment of reducing some -passages from metre to prose, and no doubt they gain -considerably! But there is no getting over the fact that -these four volumes are altogether a mistake.”<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Such a -criticism as this can never be pronounced on Watts, but it -is yet true that some of the vices of Ken disfigure the -pages of the “Horæ Lyricæ,” and they are traceable to the -same cause—the forsaking simplicity and nature, and -following artificial models and straining after affected -diction.</p> - -<p>He was essentially a hymn writer, and among the lyrics -the most beautiful and effective pieces are those which -either are hymns or approach nearest to that order of -composition. The modern reader will be impatient of the -frequent apostrophe, and, although “personification, that -is, the transformation of the qualities of the mind, and -abstract ideas, and general notions into living embodiments,” -has ever been regarded as one of the noblest -exercises and proofs of the poetic faculty, we suppose -few will be disposed to regard Watts’ excursions in this -way with favour. He possessed this power in an eminent -degree: instantaneously, apparently, a sentiment became -an image, and the image pointed to a tender and pathetic -treatment. His elegy on the death of William <span class="allsmcap">III.</span> has -often been cited as a fine piece of elegiac personification; -should it seem extravagant to the reader, it would scarcely -seem so to Lord Macaulay; and it must be remembered -that Dr. Watts was one who regarded himself and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span> -nation as profoundly indebted, surely not unnaturally, -for freedom and prosperity to the arms and government -of the deceased king. He was young when he wrote -these verses. William, as we have said, died the day on -which Watts was ordained to the work of the ministry, -1702. The verses present a picture of the illustrious -hero lying in state, surrounded by the weeping arts and -graces of society. Dr. Gibbons, not inappropriately, speaks -of the piece as “the largest constellation of personifications -occurring amongst the Doctor’s Odes:”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Preserve, O venerable pile,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inviolate thy sacred trust;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To thy cold arms the British isle,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Weeping, commits her richest dust.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Rest his dear sword beneath his head;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Round him his faithful arms shall stand:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fix his bright ensigns on his bed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The guards and honours of our land.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">High o’er the grave <i>Religion</i> set</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In solemn guise; pronounce the ground</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sacred, to bar unhallowed feet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And plant her guardian virtues round.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Fair <i>Liberty</i>, in sables drest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Write his loved name upon his urn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">William, the scourge of tyrants past,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And awe of princes yet unborn.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Sweet <i>Peace</i>, his sacred relics keep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With olives blooming round her head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And stretch her wings across the deep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To bless the nations with the shade.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Stand on the pile, immortal <i>Fame</i>,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Broad stars adorn thy brightest robe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy thousand voices sound his name</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In silver accents round the globe.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Flattery</i> shall faint beneath the sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While hoary <i>Truth</i> inspires the song;</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Envy</i> grow pale, and bite the ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And <i>Slander</i> gnaw her forky tongue.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Night and the grave, remove your gloom;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Darkness becomes the vulgar dead;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But glory bids the royal tomb</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Disdain the horrors of a shade.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Glory</i> with all her lamps shall burn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And watch the warrior’s sleeping clay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till the last trumpet rouse his urn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To aid the triumphs of the day.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">But he had a simpler manner, and even in his stronger -expressions rose to the majesty of simple strength, as in -the following:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Launching into Eternity.</span></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">It was a brave attempt! advent’rous he,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who in the first ship broke the unknown sea:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And leaving his dear native shores behind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Trusted his life to the licentious wind.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I see the surging brine: the tempest raves:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He on the pine-plank rides across the waves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Exulting on the edge of thousand gaping graves:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He steers the winged boat, and shifts the sails,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Conquers the flood, and manages the gales.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such is the soul that leaves this mortal land,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fearless when the great Master gives command.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Death is the storm: she smiles to hear it roar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bids the tempest waft her from the shore:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then with a skilful helm she sweeps the seas,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And manages the raging storm with ease:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(Her faith can govern death) she spreads her wings</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wide to the wind, and as she sails she sings,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And loses by degrees the sight of mortal things.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As the shores lessen, so her joys arise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The waves roll gentler, and the tempest dies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now vast eternity fills all her sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She floats on the broad deep with infinite delight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The seas for ever calm, the skies for ever bright.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span></p> - -<p class="noindent">The weight and grandeur of his thoughts, the radiance -of his perception, the far-reaching, remote grandeur of the -objects of his verse, must always be taken into account, -pondered, and allowed an adequate influence over the -reader’s mind, whenever attempts are made to estimate -what he was as a sacred poet. Not the less was his mind -in ready accord with objects of Nature. He had seen, -probably, little of Nature in her more grand and exciting -moods. Men like him, horn to London life, and only -occasionally escaping thence to some near and quiet -watering-place, saw little of those ample pages which, -in our own or other lands, are now unrolled to almost -every designing eye. But his verses abundantly show -with what perfect sympathy every object touched him, -how all the smaller or greater things of Nature impressed -the subtle sense within him, and awoke the mystery and -the awe. The following lines, not composed as a hymn, -but included in his “Miscellaneous Thoughts,” have always -seemed to us very cogently to illustrate this:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My God, I love, and I adore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But souls that love would know Thee more.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wilt Thou for ever hide, and stand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behind the labours of Thy hand?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy hand unseen sustains the poles</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On which this huge creation rolls:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The starry arch proclaims Thy power,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy pencil glows in every flower;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In thousand shapes and colours rise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy painted wonders to our eyes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While beasts and birds, with labouring throats,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Teach us a God in thousand notes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The meanest pin in Nature’s frame</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Marks out some letter of Thy name.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where sense can reach, or fancy rove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From hill to hill, from field to grove,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Across the waves, around the sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There’s not a spot, or deep or high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where the Creator has not trod,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And left the footstep of a God.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And in the same strain, with what strength and majesty -he sweeps every chord of Nature in his sublime version of -the 148th Psalm:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Loud hallelujahs to the Lord.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">The strong nervousness of his expression, the passionate -personification (always the mark of a great poet) with -which his verses abound, sometimes, but more especially -in his lyrics, give the appearance of inflation to his expressions. -But when attempting to describe adequate -themes, they only fitly represent the subject, as in the -following fine description of the glory of God in the -clouds:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy hand, how wide it spreads the sky!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How glorious to behold!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tinged with a blue of heavenly dye,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And starred with sparkling gold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There Thou canst bid the globes of light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their endless circles run;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where the pale planet rules the night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And day obeys the sun.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The noisy winds stand ready there</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy orders to obey;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With sounding wings they sweep the air,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make Thy chariot way.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There like a trumpet loud and strong,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy thunder shakes our coast;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While the red lightnings wave along,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The banners of Thy host.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">On the thin air, without a prop,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hang fruitful showers around;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At Thy command they sink, and drop</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their fatness to the ground.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span></p> - -<p>Strong exception has been taken to Watts’ verse, on the -score of its frequent, almost passionate, expression of -Divine love; in this he frequently writes like Madame -Guyon, or like some of those old monastic spirits who -passed their days in cloisters; and Watts’ life was almost -as cloisteral as that of a monk. Unlike his amiable friend, -Philip Doddridge, he was never diverted from any of -the solemn pursuits of his life by the claims of human -passion or affection, although there are not wanting verses -which, perhaps, show that he had not been altogether -insensible to female charms:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Virgins, who roll your artful eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shoot delicious danger thence;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swiftly the lovely lightning flies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And melts our reason down to sense.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But perhaps his poem “Few Happy Matches,” reveals -some reason why his timid spirit refused to seek its -happiness in matrimonial chains, and so he turned to the -higher affections, singing—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Life is a pain without Thy love;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who can ever bear to be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cursed with immortality,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Among the stars, but far from Thee?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">But the author of many of these hymns must often have -been wafted away with a true mystic ecstasy. The -warmth of this rapture has been objected to; the objection -lies, also, against the works of most of the great -mystics.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My God, the spring of all my joys,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">is one of countless illustrations—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My God, my life, my love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Thee, to Thee, I call.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">or—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Dearest of all the names above.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span></p> - -<p class="noindent">In such as these, if the reader feels unable to rise to -them amidst the delights of family joys—wife, and -children, and society—let him remember how Watts lived, -his solitary nights, in a family where, no doubt, his presence -was a charm and blessing, but in which he must -have been to himself, comparatively, lonely as a monk, -feeding his mind with thoughts until they became passions -and ecstasies to him, and even found their vent in such -words as the following:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His charm shall make my numbers flow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And hold the falling floods;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While silence sits on every bough,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bends the listening woods.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I’ll carve our passion on the bark;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And every wounded tree</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall drop and hear some mystic mark</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Jesus died for me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The swains shall wonder when they read,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Inscribed on all the grove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That Heaven itself came down and bled</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To win a mortal’s love.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>To this same order of sacred personification also belong -those verses, which are certainly remarkable, and when -properly apprehended among the most tenderly antithetical -in our language, on the Death of Moses:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Sweet was the journey to the sky</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The wondrous prophet tried;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Climb up the mount,” said God, “and die;”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The prophet climbed and died.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Softly his fainting head he lay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon his Maker’s breast;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His Maker kissed his soul away,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And laid his flesh to rest.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In God’s own arms he left the breath</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That God’s own Spirit gave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His was the noblest road to death,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And his the sweetest grave.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And while remarking upon the poet, we may notice that -many of his pieces reflect that quiet scholarly spirit of -the age, in which not only Watts, but so many other -writers delighted to indulge; that Seneca-like musing and -moralizing, that contented dreaming beneath umbrageous -woods and by the side of purling streams. It has been -said that Samuel Rogers, in his “Human Life,” portrays the -Twickenham side of existence. The Stoke Newington side -was very much like it, certainly wholly unlike the stir and -heat of the vivid passions, the painful introspections, and -diseased musings, which have forced their way into -modern poetry. If Watts described or dealt with these it -was not in his verse, although many of his prose writings -seem to reveal that he was not ignorant of them; such -is his often quoted piece:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="center"><span class="smcap">True Riches.</span></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I am not concerned to know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What, to-morrow, fate will do:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis enough that I can say,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I’ve possessed myself to-day:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, if haply midnight death</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seize my flesh, and stop my breath,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet to-morrow I shall be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heir to the best part of me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Glittering stones, and golden things,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wealth and honours that have wings,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ever fluttering to be gone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I could never call my own:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Riches that the world bestows,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She can take, and I can lose;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But the treasures that are mine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lie afar beyond her line.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When I view my spacious soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And survey myself a whole,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And enjoy myself alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I’m a kingdom of my own.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I’ve a mighty part within</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That the world hath never seen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rich as Eden’s happy ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with choicer plenty crowned.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here on all the shining boughs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Knowledge fair and useful grows;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On the same young flow’ry tree</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All the seasons you may see;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Notions in the bloom of light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just disclosing to the sight;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here are thoughts of larger growth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rip’ning into solid truth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fruits refined, of noble taste;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seraphs feed on such repast.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here, in a green and shady grove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Streams of pleasure mix with love:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There, beneath the smiling skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hills of contemplation rise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now, upon some shining top,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Angels light, and call me up;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I rejoice to raise my feet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Both rejoice when there we meet.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There are endless beauties more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth hath no resemblance for;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nothing like them round the pole,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nothing can describe the soul.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis a region half unknown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That has treasures of its own,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More remote from public view</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than the bowels of Peru;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Broader ’tis, and brighter far,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than the golden Indies are;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ships that trace the watery stage</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cannot coast it in an age;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Harts, or horses, strong and fleet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had they wings to help their feet,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Could not run it half-way o’er</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In ten thousand days or more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet the silly wand’ring mind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Loath to be too much confined,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Roves and takes her daily tours,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Coasting round the narrow shores—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Narrow shores of flesh and sense,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Picking shells and pebbles thence:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or she sits at Fancy’s door,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Calling shapes and shadows to her;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Foreign visits still receiving,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And to herself a stranger living.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Never, never would she buy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Indian dust, or Tyrian dye;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Never trade abroad for more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If she saw her native store:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If her inward worth were known,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She might ever live alone.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Nor, much in the same vein, was he indisposed occasionally -for a gentle kind of satire, as in the following vigorous -paraphrase, which some readers may perhaps be surprised -to find falling from the pen of Watts. “When I meet -with persons,” he says, “of a worldly character, they -bring to my mind some scraps of Horace:”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nos numerus sumus, et fruges consumere nati,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Alcinoique juventus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cui pulchrum fuit in medios dormire dies,” etc.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Paraphrase.</span></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There are a number of us creep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Into this world, to eat and sleep;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And know no reason why they’re born,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But merely to consume the corn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Devour the cattle, fowl, and fish,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And leave behind an empty dish.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The crows and ravens do the same,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unlucky birds of hateful name;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ravens or crows might fill their places,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And swallow corn and carcases.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Then if their tombstone, when they die,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ben’t taught to flatter and to lie,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There’s nothing better will be said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than that “They’ve eat up all their bread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drank up their drink, and gone to bed.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And the following verses are surely very pleasing to the -discontented and unquiet:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis a dull circle that we tread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just from the window to the bed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To rise to see, and to be seen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Graze on the world awhile, and then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We yawn, and stretch to sleep again.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But Fancy, that uneasy guest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still holds a longing in our breast:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She finds or frames vexations still,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Herself the greatest plague we feel.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We take great pleasure in our pain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And make a mountain of a grain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Assume the load, and pant and sweat</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath th’ imaginary weight.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With our dear selves we live at strife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While the most constant scenes of life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From peevish humours are not free;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still we affect variety:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rather than pass an easy day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We fret and chide the hours away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Grow weary of this circling sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And vex that he should ever run</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The same old track; and still, and still</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rise red behind yon eastern hill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And chide the moon that darts her light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through the same casement every night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We shift our chambers and our homes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To dwell where trouble never comes:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sylvia has left the city crowd,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Against the court exclaims aloud,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flies to the woods; a hermit saint!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She loathes her patches, pins and paint,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dear diamonds from her neck are torn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But humour, that eternal thorn,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Sticks in her heart: she’s hurried still,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twixt her wild passions and her will:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Haunted and hagged where’er she roves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By purling streams, and silent groves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or with her furies, or her loves.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then our native land we hate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Too cold, too windy, or too wet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Change the thick climate, and repair</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To France or Italy for air.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Happy the soul that virtue shows</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To fix the place of her repose,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Needless to move; for she can dwell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In her old grandsire’s hall as well.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Virtue that never loves to roam,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But sweetly hides herself at home.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And easy on a native throne</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of humble turf sits gently down.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Without claiming then for Watts a pre-eminent place -among those who are called poets, these citations will be -sufficient to show that however he might disclaim the -dignity, he deserved the designation. And there are poets -whose eminence is in general more unquestioned, who -deserve it less. He was unjust to himself in this particular; -verse and rhyme fell from him easily, happily, -naturally. Perhaps he succeeded least when he most ambitiously -attempted; but he had a remarkable and pleasant -power of instantly translating some sentiment which -crossed his mind from the classics into English verse, as -in those well-known lines,—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Seize upon truth where’er ’tis found,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On Christian, or on heathen ground.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amongst your friends, amongst your foes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The flower’s divine where’er it grows,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Neglect the prickle and assume the rose.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">In which he elevates the sentiment of Virgil,—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Fas est ab hoste doceri.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span></p> - -<p>Referring to his translations, it has been very justly said -that he seldom translates or imitates a heathen poet but -he either makes him a Christian in the end, or shows his -deficiency in not being one. He consistently maintained -throughout his writings, as a poet, the determination -expressed in the lines—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy name, Almighty Sire, and Thine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Jesus, where His full glories shine,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Shall consecrate my lays.<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>His familiar method of remembering the signs of the -Zodiac is an illustration of the rapid and neat way in -which he could bind up knowledge in a verse:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The ram, the bull, the heavenly twins,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And next the crab the lion shines,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The virgin and the scales;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The archer, scorpion, and the goat,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The man that holds the water-pot,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fish with glittering tails.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And his receipt for the orderly conduct of Divine worship, -for sustaining a mental effort in prayer, is useful, beautiful, -and perfect:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Call upon God, adore, confess,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Petition, plead, and then declare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You are the Lord’s, give thanks and bless,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And let Amen confirm the prayer.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The devout purpose which ruled and governed the whole -life of Watts is of course manifest in his poems. Such as -he is, he is always a sacred poet; he never forgets that his -life has been consecrated and set apart to religious teaching -and to the promulgation of useful knowledge; his -moralities are recreation, never mere dreams; and if he -never attempts the great flights of poetry in epic or -dramatic writing, we may remember that in this, as in his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> -yet more sacred pieces, he was a lyrist, and reserved all -his greater efforts for his work in the ministry, seeking -thus to make more sweet and serviceable the whole service -of the House of God.</p> - -<p>Throughout these remarks we have left it to be inferred -that the verse-making, great as was the fame it procured -the author, was regarded by him merely as the <i>accident</i> of -his work; at the same time his nature seems to have been -truly in sympathy with all those impulses derived from -external scenery, calculated to stir a poetic sensibility. -We fancy his modest nature would almost have assented, -without a rejoinder, even to some of the very severe -criticisms which modern fastidiousness has pronounced -upon him; but Dr. Gibbons assures us how swiftly and -instantly his spirit caught every impression of natural -scenery and life; how he delighted in the rural verdure, -or the waving harvest-field, or the resounding grove; how -his nature was awed almost equally by the wonderful and -subtle labours of the industrious bee, or the sun walking -through the heavens in the greatness of his strength. In -his lyrics, classical forms, perhaps, rather hampered than -aided him; he was fascinated by the majestic roll of the -Pindaric Greek; but from this fault the best of his hymns -are entirely free.</p> - -<p>We have dwelt thus at length upon some of the -characteristics of Watts’ verse, feeling that criticism upon -it is far from exhausted; and that, amidst its various -representatives in our language, in spite of that modern -contempt which is creeping even into the circles of those -who profess to hold his faith and follow in his footsteps, -he still deserves to retain a place in the history of English -poetry. We have referred rather to those more striking -and obvious marks of his genius; but we must still<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span> -prefer him in his more quiet and subdued strains of -devotion, those peaceful, pensive lines with which his -works abound. It is equally certain that he wrote a -number of verses and lines perfectly indefensible on the -score of good taste: this is the more remarkable, because -his taste does seem to have been cultivated to the highest -pitch of excellence; and his mind was remarkable, not -merely for the plenitude of its ideas, but for the easy -elegance with which he ordinarily gave expression to them. -However this may be, their bad taste and strange conceits -have not greatly repressed the reverence with which we -regard the works of George Herbert or of Henry Vaughan; -nor does the frequent turgidity of Milton much interfere -with the admiration and awe with which we read most of -his poems.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer4.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="figcenter illowp56" id="illus3" style="max-width: 32.8125em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""> - <p class="caption">ABNEY HOUSE, STOKE NEWINGTON.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header6.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.<br> -<span class="smaller">Residence in the Abney family.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>It was at that period of Watts’ life, when he felt in a very -especial manner his loneliness, and fever and infirmity -were reducing him to a painful sense of abiding weakness, -that Sir Thomas and Lady Abney invited him to spend a -week with them at their magnificent house of Theobalds, in -Hertfordshire. He accepted the invitation, and the hosts -and their guest seemed to have been so mutually pleased -with each other that Watts continued in the family until -his death, a period of thirty-six years. Watts must have -then been about thirty-eight years of age. Johnson remarks -upon this friendship that “it was a state in which -the notions of patronage and dependence were overpowered -by the perception of reciprocal benefits; it deserves a particular -memorial;” and he refers to Dr. Gibbons’ interesting -account, which is, indeed, one of the most pleasant pieces -of his biography, and compels the wish that he had more -frequently broken the monotony of the book by pages so -pleasing. The event was one of those kind providences -which those who watch the lives of eminent men, who have -served their generation and the cause of God, will not fail -to perceive. Think of the solitary student, the shrinking, -sensitive man, the modest and fearful spirit who could not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span> -command service, and recoiled from giving trouble, how -fearfully life might have dragged along through a few years -of languor and pain, unequal to much service, unable to -gather round him any, or but few, of the comforts of life, -suddenly transferred to all the affluent comforts of this -magnificent abode, to its rooms, capacious and luxurious, -the abode of order, and harmony, and holiness, not only a -pious household, but entirely after the type favoured by -the thoughtful guest. There were the rich rural scenes, -the delightful garden, the spreading lawn, and the fragrant -and embowered recess, all wooing the body back to health -and the heart to peace; and although a few years after his -entrance into the household Sir Thomas Abney dies, yet -the guest cannot be permitted to depart. The same affection -and respect are continued by Lady Abney and her -daughter. Lady Abney was the sister of the chief friend -of Watts’ younger days, Thomas Gunston; her wealth was -very great, and, says Gibbons, “her generosity and munificence -in full proportion.” There must have been a -pleasant fellowship and community of tastes, certainly a -fitting harmony of character; reminding us of Robert Boyle -with his sister Lady Ranelagh, or William Cowper with -Mary Unwin; such relationships are very beautiful in -their serene, unselfish character. Beneath the roof of Lady -Abney Watts died. Within two months of his departure -to Bunhill Fields, she was taken to her resting-place in -the vaults of Stoke Newington Church. But the family -in which Dr. Watts was for more than half his life an -honoured guest merits some more particular mention.</p> - -<p>Sir Thomas Abney was descended from an ancient and -respectable family in Derbyshire. His father was James -Abney, Esq., of Wilsley, whose ancestors had enjoyed that -estate upwards of five hundred years. The son came to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span> -the City of London, and appears to have passed through -the honours of Alderman, Sheriff, and Lord Mayor. For -the services he rendered to King William he received the -honour of knighthood, and was chosen chief magistrate -some years before his turn. He appears to have had in -those troublesome times great influence in the City, though -holding at that time a strong opinion adverse to the Stuarts. -He was chosen in 1701 to represent it in Parliament; -he was a director of the Bank, and president of St. Thomas’ -Hospital; and when, upon the death of the exiled James, -the King of France, Louis <span class="allsmcap">XIV.</span>, caused the Pretender to -be proclaimed at St. Germains King of Great Britain, and -by the recall of the Earl of Macclesfield war seemed to -be unavoidable, Sir Thomas Abney, in the Court of Common -Council, proposed, in opposition to the majority of his -brethren on the bench, an address to William <span class="allsmcap">III.</span>, declaring -that they would support him against France and the -Pretender: it was carried and transmitted to the King, -who was then on the Continent. It is impossible now to -estimate the vigour this imparted to the King’s affairs—it -was the note which roused the nation. It was said that -this act of Sir Thomas Abney served the cause of the King -more than if he had raised for him a million of money.</p> - -<p>It is a singular circumstance that although Watts received -such marks of favour from the Abney family, Sir -Thomas and Lady Abney do not appear to have, in the first -days of their acquaintance, belonged to the church of which -Watts was pastor. Sir Thomas was a member of that -church during the pastorate of Mr. Caryl, whose daughter -was his first wife. After Mr. Caryl’s death he united -himself with the church of which John Howe was the -minister. Nonconformists were at that time, as they -have been frequently since, Lord Mayors of the City,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span> -usually complying by occasional conformity so far as -to attend one part of the Sunday at church, the other -at their own place of worship. When Sir Humphrey -Edwin, who was a member of Pinners’ Hall congregation, -was Mayor, he very unwisely caused the regalia of the City -to be carried to his meeting-house, and it created a vehement -storm.</p> - -<p>But it is remarkable that Mr. Milner, usually very -accurate, in his life of Dr. Watts quotes a paragraph -from “The Shortest Way with the Dissenters,” speaking -of it as a piece of High Church vituperation, apparently -unaware that this was the very production of Defoe, the -satire for which he was put in the pillory; Mr. Milner, -misled by the heartiness of the composition, like many of -Defoe’s day, came to the conclusion that it was the work -of an enemy to those whose interests the pamphlet was -intended to serve. The paragraph points immediately to -Sir Thomas and his friend Watts, as the reader will -perceive by the designations italicized: “But a lady, -Queen Anne, now sits on the throne, who though sprung -from that blood which ye and your forefathers spilt before -the palace-gates, puts on a temper of forgiveness, and, in -compassion to your consciences, is not willing that you -should lose the hopes of heaven by purchasing here on -earth. She would have no more Sir Humphreys tempt -the justice of God, by falling from his true worship and -giving ear to the cat-calls and back-pipes at St. Paul’s; -would have your <i>Sir Thomas’s</i> keep to their primitive -text, and not venture damnation to play at long spoon and -custard for a transitory twelvemonth; and would have -your <i>Sir Tom</i> sing psalms at Highgate Hill, and split -texts of Scripture <i>with his diminutive figure of a chaplain</i>, -without running the hazard of qualifying himself to be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span> -called a handsome man for riding on horseback before the -City trainbands.”</p> - -<p>It may be noticed now how much the interest of King -William and the Hanover succession to the throne of -England were served by the Protestant dissenters of the -City of London, and by no one more than by Sir Thomas -Abney. He lived to a good old age, dying at his house -at Theobalds in the year 1722. Nor can we wonder that -his friend should pay a high tribute to his memory in a -funeral sermon, and seek to give it a more durable place -in a sketch in his “Miscellaneous Thoughts.”</p> - -<p>Theobalds was a fine old palace, and has been celebrated -in the verses of poets and the pages of novelists, and the -memoirs of historians; but no biography of Watts gives any -specific account of the magnificent old building in which he -spent the greater number of the years of his life. It was -as much Watts’ home as if it had been his own property; -and he was in the habit of saying his poetical contributions -would have been much more numerous had he, in his -early life, been privileged with the means of retirement -among such shades and gardens, and ample grounds. -Theobalds was, and had been, everything that could excite -the memory, or stir or soothe and lull the imagination. -Situated a little more than a mile from Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, -and within an easy ride from the metropolis, on -the borders of Enfield Chase, it possessed a very remarkable -history; it had been the favourite residence of the -mighty Cecil, Lord Burleigh; to this place he fled with -eagerness to enjoy his short intervals of leisure; amidst its -shades he planned and plotted schemes in which the whole -future of England’s history was interested; he laid out -immense sums of money upon the grand pile, and kept up -great state with extraordinary magnificence, while he might<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span> -be seen ambling along upon a mule through the groves of -his magnificent domains, overlooking his workmen or the -parties of pleasure he had gathered around him. Here, at -this old house, Queen Elizabeth had repeatedly rested in -the course of her great progresses. Here, when Burleigh -and his mistress had both passed away, came James <span class="allsmcap">I.</span>, and -held his masques, written by Ben Jonson, and enjoyed his -pleasures. It was in his reign that it was given up by the -Earl of Salisbury to Queen Anne of Denmark, amidst such -strange pageantries of most intemperate folly that Sir John -Harington writes, contrasting the days of James <span class="allsmcap">I.</span> with -what he remembered of the same place in the days of -Queen Elizabeth, “I never did see such lack of good order, -discretion, and sobriety, as I have now done.”</p> - -<p>In Watts’ day there was living in the neighbouring -village of Cheshunt that remarkable man, also a member of -Watts’ church. Richard Cromwell, although, somewhat to -shroud himself in obscurity, he usually went by the name -of Mr. Clarke. An eminent novelist<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> has woven into his -fiction very naturally one of the most striking incidents of -his story from the casual meeting of his hero and the son -of the Protector on this very spot, when Cromwell became -his host and entertainer. Richard Cromwell died probably -before Watts became a constant resident at Theobalds; and -indeed Cromwell removed from Cheshunt some time before -his death.</p> - -<p>Cheshunt churchyard once contained a number of inscriptions -upon the tombs from the pen of the poet; most -of them have probably long been obliterated, but two or -three have been snatched from oblivion; an inscription for -the tomb of Thomas Pickard, Esq., citizen of London, who -died suddenly, probably a member of Watts’ church:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A soul prepared needs no delays,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The summons comes, the saint obeys;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swift was his flight and short the road,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He closed his eyes and saw his God.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His flesh rests here till Jesus come</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And claims the treasure from the tomb.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Another epitaph:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath this stone Death’s prisoner lies.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That stone shall move, the prisoner rise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When Jesus with Almighty word</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Calls His dead saints to meet their Lord.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The following lines were not long since in existence, -written upon a ceiling dial at a western window of -Theobalds:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Little sun upon the ceiling</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ever moving, ever stealing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Moments, minutes, hours away;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May no shade forbid thy shining</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While the heavenly sun declining</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Calls us to improve the day.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>There was another, indeed there appear to have been -several; it was the taste of the times to line the avenues -with these moralities in verse:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus steal the silent hours away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sun thus hastes to reach the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And men to mingle with their clay.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus light and shade divide the year,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus till the last great day appear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shut the starry theatre.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>If we are able to discriminate Watts in his various -abodes here and at Stoke Newington, certainly it is not his -biographers we have to thank for it. They have jumbled -up his residences in a very heterogeneous fashion, and -leave us very much in doubt whether their descriptions -of his rooms apply to his earlier or later abode.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> -Assuredly he lived in a mansion large enough for him. -One of the smallest of mortals, he had one of the largest -homes. We can readily believe that good Sir Thomas -was very well pleased from such a pile to deliver up a suite -of apartments to such a guest. His own rooms were a kind -of true literary hermitage, adorned with paintings from his -own pencil, and his collection of portraits of eminent persons -he had known, or great contemporaries he admired; -at the entrance of his study on the outside were the fine -lines from the first book of Horace’s satires, in which he -denounces the faithless friend: “He who reviles his absent -friend, who does not defend him while another defames -him, who aims at the groundless jeers of people, and the -reputation of a wit, who can feign things not seen, who -cannot keep secrets, he is the rancorous man.” The -spaces within, where there were no shelves, were filled up -with prints of distinguished friends, or eminent persons. -Of course, there was a spacious old Elizabethan fireplace, -panelled on either side, and in each panel an inscription -from the beloved Horace. On the one side:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Locus est pluribus umbris.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And on the other:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Quis me dolorum propria dignabitor umbra.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>There we are permitted to fancy him. Such were his -haunts among those pleasant and sequestered shades, -and such was his home. His rooms well arranged and -tasteful, as one biographer has depicted them. The -lute and the telescope on the same table with the Bible, -a treatise on logic in one hand, and hymns and spiritual -songs in the other. Few writers in our language seem to -suggest a finer illustration of the mingled powers of -faith and reason.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span></p> - -<p>With so small a family what a silent household it -must have seemed, sustained in its grand and memorable -stateliness. There passed what we may believe to have -been the happiest years of Watts’ life, amidst scenes -inviting to rest, and with little to disturb the equanimity -of his quiet spirit, receiving and reflecting its own peace, -peace not to be disturbed even by much bodily restlessness -and pain. Those numerous allusions in his hymns to -the wakeful hours of night were not mere poetic fancies, -“the comforts of my nights” were not unneeded; for -many years he knew little of sleep, except such as could -be obtained by medicine; intense mental application, working -upon a weak and nervous constitution, brought about -the consequences of insomnia, or sleeplessness yet his -mind seems to have been too calm, too equally balanced, -and too completely under the control of highest principles, -ever to know such agitations as shake to their centre some -poetic natures. Even public agitations did hot disturb -him much. Almost the severest trial he knew was the -vehement and intolerant persecution he sustained from the -tongue and pen of Thomas Bradbury; but to him we may -refer in subsequent pages.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer2.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header7.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.<br> -<span class="smaller">Hymns.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>So early as the year 1700 Watts’ brother, Mr. Enoch -Watts, wrote a letter to him from Southampton, urging -upon him the publication of his hymns. It sets not only -the mind of the writer as a member of the Doctor’s family -in a favourable light, as well as it expresses the probable -general feeling of desire for some hymns suitable for -Divine service. We quote it here:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Southampton</span>: <i>March, 1700</i>.</p> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Dear Brother</span>,—</p> - -<p>“In your last you discovered an inclination to -oblige the world by showing it your hymns in print, and -I heartily wish, as well for the satisfaction of the public -as myself, that you were something more than inclinable -thereunto. I have frequently importuned you to it before -now, and your invention has often furnished you with -some modest reply to the contrary, as if what I urge was -only the effect of a rash and inconsiderate fondness to a -brother; but you will have other thoughts of the matter -when I first assure you that that affection, which is inseparable -from our near relationship, would have had in -me a very different operation, for instead of pressing you to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span> -publish, I should with my last efforts have endeavoured -the concealment of them, if my best judgment did not -direct me to believe it highly conducing to a general -benefit, without the least particular disadvantage to yourself. -This latter I need not have mentioned, for I am -very confident whoever has the happiness of reading your -hymns (unless he be either sot or atheist) will have a very -favourable opinion of their author; so that, at the same -time you contribute to the universal advantage, you will -procure the esteem of men the most judicious and sensible. -In the second place, you may please to consider how very -mean the performers in this kind of poetry appear in the -pieces already extant. Some ancient ones I have seen -in my time, who flourished in Hopkins and Sternhold’s -reign; but Mason now reduces this kind of writing to a -sort of yawning indifferency, and honest Barton chimes us -asleep. There is, therefore, a great need of a pen, vigorous -and lively as yours, to quicken and revive the dying -devotion of the age, to which nothing can afford such -assistance as poetry, contrived on purpose to elevate us -even above ourselves. To what may we impute the prevalency -of the songs, filled with the fabulous divinity of -the ancient fathers, on our passions? Is it, think you, -only owing to a natural propensity in us to be in love -with fable, and averse to truth in her native plainness? I -presume it may partly be ascribed to this, that as romance -has more need of artifice than truth to set it off, so it -generally has such an abundance more, that it seldom fails -of affecting us by making new and agreeable impressions. -Yours now is the old truth, stripped of its ragged ornaments, -and appears, if we may say so, younger by ages, -in a new and fashionable dress, which is commonly -tempting.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span></p> - -<p>“And as for those modern gentlemen who have lately -exhibited their version of the Psalms, all of them I have -not seen I confess, and, perhaps, it would not be worth -while to do it unless I had a mind to play the critic, which -you know is not my talent, but those I have read confess -to me a vast difference to yours, though they are done by -persons of no mean credit. Dr. Patrick most certainly -has the report of a very learned man, and, they say, understands -the Hebrew extremely well, which, indeed, capacitates -him for a translator, but he is thereby never the more -enabled to versify. Tate and Brady still keep near the -same pace. I know not what sober beast they ride (one -that will be content to carry double), but I am sure it is no -Pegasus: there is in them a mighty deficiency of that life -and soul which is necessary to raise our fancies and kindle -and fire our passions, and something or other they have to -allege against the rest of adventurers; but I have been -persuaded a great while since, that were David to speak -English, he would choose to make use of your style. If -what I have said seems to have no weight with you, yet -you cannot be ignorant what a load of scandal lies on the -Dissenters, only for their imagined aversion to poetry. -You remember what Dr. Speed says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So far hath schism prevailed they hate to see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our lines and words in couplings to agree,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It looks too like abhorred conformity:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A hymn so soft, so smooth, so neatly drest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Savours of human learning and the beast.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And, perhaps, it has been thought there were some grounds -for his aspersion from the admired poems of Ben. Keach, -John Bunyan, etc., all flat and dull as they are; nay, I am -much out if the latter has not formerly made much more -ravishing music with his hammer and brass kettle.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span></p> - -<p>“Now when you are exposed to the public view these -calumnies will immediately vanish, which, methinks, -should be a motive not the least considerable. And now -we are talking of music, I have a crotchet in my brain, -which makes me imagine, that as chords and discords -equally please heavy-eared people, so the best divine poems -will no more inspire the rude and illiterate than the -meanest rhymes, which may in some measure give you -satisfaction, in that fear you discover, <i>ne in rude vulgus -cadant</i>, and you must allow them to be tasteless to many -people, tolerable to some, but to those few who know -their beauties, to be very pleasant and desirable; and, -lastly, if I do not speak reason, I will at present take my -leave of you, and only desire you to hear what your -ingenious acquaintance in London say to the point, for I -doubt not you have many solicitors there, whose judgments -are much more solid than mine. I pray God Almighty -have you in His good keeping, and desire you to believe -me, my dear brother,</p> - -<p class="center">“Your most affectionate kinsman and friend,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Enoch Watts</span>.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>But notwithstanding this and other solicitations, the first -edition was not published until 1707. The copyright of -the hymns was sold to Mr. Lawrence, the publisher, for -£10; about half a century before the same sum was given -to Milton for his “Paradise Lost;” the volume instantly -obtained a very large acceptance, and he then directed his -attention to his version of the Psalms; this was only completed -by him during the painful and distressing illness -from which he suffered about 1712 and the following -years, but the Psalms were not published until the year -1719.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span></p> - -<p>“Dr. Watts,” says James Montgomery, in his introduction -to the “Christian Psalmist,” “may almost be called -the inventor of hymns in our language, for he so far -departed from all precedent that few of his compositions -resemble those of his forerunners, while he so far established -a precedent to all his successors that none have -departed from it otherwise than according to the peculiar -turn of mind in the writer, and the style of expressing -Christian truths employed by the denomination to which -he belonged.” And, again, he says, “We come to the -greatest name among hymn-writers, for we hesitate not to -give that praise to Dr. Isaac Watts, since it has pleased God -to confer upon him, though one of the least of the poets of -this country, more glory than upon the greatest either of -that or of any other, by making his ‘Divine Songs’ a more -abundant and universal blessing than the verses of any -uninspired penman that ever lived. In his ‘Psalms and -Hymns’ (for they must be classed together) he has -embraced a compass and variety of subjects which include -and illustrate every truth of revelation, throw light -upon every secret movement of the human heart, whether -of sin, nature, or grace, and describe every kind of trial, -temptation, conflict, doubt, fear, and grief, as well as the -faith, hope, charity, the love, joy, peace, labour, and -patience of the Christian in all stages of his course on -earth, together with the terrors of the Lord, the glories of -the Redeemer, and the comforts of the Holy Spirit, to -urge, allure, and strengthen him by the way. There is in -the pages of this evangelist a word in season for every one -who needs it, in whatever circumstances he may require -counsel, consolation, reproof, or instruction. We say this -without reserve of the materials of his hymns; had their -execution only been correspondent with the preciousness<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span> -of these, we should have had a Christian Psalmist in -England next (and that only in date, not in dignity) to -the ‘Sweet Singer of Israel.’ Nor is this so bold a word -as it may seem. Dr. Watts’ hymns are full of ‘the -glorious Gospel of the blessed God;’ his themes, therefore, -are much more illustrious than those of the son of -Jesse, who only knew ‘the power and glory’ of Jehovah -as he had ‘seen them in the sanctuary,’ which was but the -shadow of the New Testament Church, as the face of -Moses holding communion with God was brighter than -the veil he cast over it when conversing with his -countrymen.”</p> - -<p>His attention was very early awakened to the importance -and necessity for some improvement in this department -of Divine service. Our readers will remember that -after he had closed his academical studies at Stoke -Newington, before he entered on the ministry, he returned -home and lived during the years 1695 and 1696 in the -old house with his father; he devoted those years, the -twenty-first and twenty-second of his life, to systematic -reading, meditation, and prayer; and during those years he -appears to have composed the greater number of his hymns. -Thus, if they are among the first effusions of his poet’s -pen, they are among the best, and in this circumstance -they resemble the first and chief volume of one of his -successors in the art of sacred poetry in our own day, -John Keble, whose “Christian Year” was the production -of his earliest manhood, and all whose subsequent -efforts in verse seem to be a vain striving to overtake the -beauty and harmony of his first performances. Many of -Watts’ later hymns are very noble and beautiful, but the -greater number appear to have been composed in those -early Southampton days. Dr. Gibbons says, “Mr. John<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span> -Morgan, a minister of very respectable character now -living at Romsey, Hants, has sent me the following information: -‘The occasion of the Doctor’s hymns was -this, as I had the account from his worthy fellow-labourer -and colleague, the Rev. Mr. Price, in whose family I -dwelt above fifty years ago. The hymns which were sung -at the Dissenting meeting at Southampton were so little -to the gust of Mr. Watts, that he could not forbear complaining -of them to his father. The father bid him try -what he could do to mend the matter. He did, and had -such success in his first essay that a second hymn was -earnestly desired of him, and then a third, and fourth, etc., -till in process of time there was such a number of them as -to make up a volume.’”</p> - -<p>It is remarkable that in England the power of the -popular hymn was so late in discovering itself. It does -not appear to have been known here in the old Roman -Catholic days as assuredly it was in other countries, -while in Germany the Reformation was born and brought -forth amidst the chanting of noble and triumphant hymns. -It appears to be impossible to realise the services of the -Church without the hymn. Canon Liddon, curiously analyzing -the texts of several of the Pauline Epistles, seems to -demonstrate that those “faithful sayings” quoted by the -apostle as the embodiment of the belief of the Church, -were apostolic hymns sung in the Redeemer’s honour. -And certainly the early Church expressed its faith and -its best aspirations in hymns. Of this we have many and -very beautiful illustrations; as we descend from that time -along the line of the ages, the great Divine truths united -themselves to experiences and hopes in the hearts of -many, and as we read the great hymns of the Church we -behold her travelling along as beneath a series of triumphal<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span> -arches reared out of the service of sacred song, expressing -the emotion of multitudes of spirits. For the history of -holy hymns is really the history of the Church. Our -sacred hooks carry us back, indeed, to the airs of Palestine; -the voices of the soul strong, intuitional, and clear, -rising from the sands of Arabia; from the tabernacle in -Shiloh, from the forests of Lebanon, from Moses and David, -from Asaph to the sons of Korah, from the majestic -antiphones of the temple; the murmur of captives by -Babylonish streams; and then rich and strong the raptures -of the apostles, touched from the altar flame of heaven, -they were not less than sacred hymns; and from their -times what gushes and wails of sacred song come sounding -to us, clear and shrill, over the roar of persecuting multitudes, -or from desert caves or the lonely Churches of the -catacombs! The rich hymns of the early Fathers are still -amongst the most treasured legacies of the Church. Christian -hymnology is the treasure-house into which all the -best devotions of the men “of whom the world was not -worthy,” exiled kings, bishops, confessors, and seers, and -souls of lowlier state, have been poured, giving to us in -some instances the doxology of a life-time, and associating -through all ages the martyr’s or the musician’s name -with that one particular chord. We have no collection -yet, at all such as we desire to see, in which the varied -tones of human hearts through all times are collected; the -surges of old cathedral aisles; low, thrilling tones of old -monks; thunder-peals of the wild, old, rugged people; -chants of the ancient martyrs at the stake; the glorious -and wonderful hymns of the Greek Church; the treasuries -of Latin hymns, and even many of the more popular of the -great vernacular German chants. For the hymns of the -Church are the lamps of the Church; they are the myriad<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span> -lights which stream through the darkness of the dark -centuries, and they furnish the fresher beam of the new -illumination, lighting the shrines and altars and chapels -of modern times. What is a hymn? St. Augustine has, -in a well-known passage, defined a hymn to have necessarily -a threefold function. It must be praise; it must -be praise to God; it must be praise in the form of song. -These limitations, essential as they seem, would perhaps -curtail many of our selections. We should then have to -exclude much of that meditative devotion with which our -best books abound; much also of that too painful and -curious self-anatomy which many of our best hymn-writers -permit their strains to exhibit. Yet we are very -far from thinking that to be the test of sacred song which -Augustine has supplied, and with which a very able writer -in the “Quarterly Review,” in an article on hymnology, -has quoted with approbation.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> This test, applied to the -great hymnals and hymnologists of the Church of the -middle ages, would, we apprehend, be quite a failure. It -is true that praise, and praise to God, and praise to God -through Christ, in the form of song, should be the grand -criterion for the structure of sacred verses for the use of -congregations; but to what extent should these be mixed -with the strains of simple devotion, the dwelling of the -spirit upon the perfections of the Almighty; and with -confession, the laying bare of the heart—its wants and its -woes—in no morbid tone or strain, before the Divine and -searching eye? Our impression surely is that hymns -should represent all that the spirit desires to express in -its moods of praise and prayer. By a more earnest -appeal to the senses, the soul is opened; and it has been -well said that so closely and mystically knit together are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span> -our higher and lower natures, that to neglect the one is -to neglect the other. In prayer—the long, earnest, extemporaneous -prayer—the spirit becomes abstracted, and, -perhaps, even in the highest states, in the most subduing -states of ecstacy, there are few of the congregation who -rise as the preacher rises, or rest as he rests. The hymn, -in its throbbings and tremulous and pendulous vibrations, -breaks through the monotony and <i>ennui</i> the body imposes -on the soul, and, therefore, we are quite away from that -increasing number in our more immediate midst who are -indisposed to avail themselves of the bursts of sensuous -song. We remember that it is not long since grave -exception was taken by some among us to the singing—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There is a land of pure delight,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">on the ground that it contains no recognition of, or praise -to, the Redeemer. But, surely, as long as beautiful sights -and beautiful sounds, the solemn gloom and glory of the -everlasting hills, and the endlessness of the pure sky are -to be apprehended by men, so long it must be not only a -desirable, but an imperative thing, that they should all be -transferred to the keys of the Christian organ and of -Christian speech. We are not unaware of the danger -of the defence of æsthetic beauty, to spiritual Christianity, -but a wise and balanced nature will know how -far to advance and when to stop, and we quite believe -that our doxologies, and thanksgivings, and moments -of Christian fervour should lay under contribution -every faculty of the soul, and that each faculty may -be moved by a Divine affection, speak to the heart’s -inner chambers, and relate them to the most consecrated -heights.</p> - -<p>For song being a natural expression of inflamed emotion,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span> -man must become an unnatural creature if he disdain to -sing, and those who cannot themselves sing do not therefore -always the less delight in the happy jubilant expressions -attained by others; for man, happily, can enjoy that -to which he cannot attain, and in this consists one of the -great moving powers of his soul. Unconverted people -sing. They have airs and melodies wafted from the ground -of the nature in which they live and have their being; -and when they learn and feel their heritage of salvation -and immortality, the joy in God through Jesus Christ -demands its appropriate expression in suitable elevated -strains and tones. And Christians feel their unity, not so -much in reading or in preaching as in those great expressions -which rise above the colder forms of the understanding, -and touch each other at the centre of some great -affection of faith or hope. It is, we must think, to -Protestantism that the Church is indebted for the ample -and sweeping robes of spiritual melody. Papists indignantly -deny this. Cardinal Wiseman has told us in a -well-known article, that Protestantism is essentially -undevotional. Our devotional practices and services -might be improved and increased; but for the multitudes -of its hymnologists, and the multitude of their songs, -and for the fulness and the fervour of those same songs -Protestantism seems to leave Western and Eastern -Churches far behind. Although some of our spiritual airs -and aspirations need the hallowing touch of time before -they can receive the consecration of affection which crowns -the words of Basil, and the hymns of Ambrose, and the -chants of Gregory.</p> - -<p>Thus, the history of the hymn, and of hymns from the -earliest ages, their originals, their writers, their associations, -would form one of the most charming chapters of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span> -Church history. To read how the great hymns grew, what -study of Church history can be more delightfully entertaining? -Down the long line of the ages the hymns pass -on, and they, more than the creeds of councils and the -clangour of warriors, seem to shape the spandrels from -whence leap up the great arches of the Church. The great -Church hymns, by these greatly its unity of faith is -proclaimed. In what simple incidents many of the chords -arose. That is a very sweet, solemn, pathetic line in our -wonderful Burial Service, “In the midst of life we are in -death”—in fact, it seems to be the adaptation of the first -line of the rare old Latin hymn, the “Media Vita,” composed -by Notker Balbulus, born of a noble family of Zurich. -He attained to great eminence at St. Gall by his learning -and skill in music and poetry, and his knowledge of the -Holy Scriptures. No one ever saw him, say the old stories -of him, but he was reading, writing, or praying. The -faint sound of a mill-wheel near his abbey, moved him to -compose a beautiful air to some pious verses, and looking -down into a deep gulf, and the danger incurred by some -labourer in building a bridge over the abyss, suggested the -celebrated hymn, the “Media Vita.” What a singular and -interesting history there is in the hymn, “Jerusalem, my -happy home.” Through what generations of variations -it has passed!</p> - -<p>The history of hymns, from the earliest to the latest -times, furnishes one of the most interesting chapters in -the history of the Church. In the hymn the spirit seems -to bound into a higher life, and expressions which are -scarcely admitted in cold conversation, which almost -seem like exaggerations in an essay, or inflated even in -a sermon, are felt to be a sweet, fitting, and natural -utterance; in some happy moment a nature gifted by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span> -genius, subdued by sorrow, but lifted up to a region of -serene vision and glowing consolation, found itself caught -and compelled to utter an experience which to itself was -not always abiding, but which often became afterwards -an exceeding joy to it to remember, and which the Church -at large retained as the expression of what it believed, and -desired yet more fervently to believe through all subsequent -ages. Thus the great hymns grew, and the Church -has never been without them. Thus many of the portions -of the Common Prayer Book of the Church of England -and many of its collects are “the golden fruit in a network -of silver;” and we in the present day are singing hymns -of the holy men of old, who were moved by the Divine -Spirit to utter forth the words of prayer and praise. In -his Life of Dr. Watts, Dr. Johnson has many remarks -which have been the subjects of criticism and exception, -but in none are his remarks more open to exception than -when he says that “his religious poetry is unsatisfactory.” -“The paucity of its topics,” he continues, “forces perpetual -repetition, and the sanctity of the matter rejects the ornaments -of figurative diction; it is sufficient for Watts to -have done better than others what no man has done well.” -If this is kindly said, still it is not true; perhaps Johnson -was confining his observation, which he ought not to have -done, to sacred poetry as belonging to that order represented -by Milton or Phineas Fletcher; and yet this could -scarcely be the case; and if he referred to his productions -as a hymn-writer, then, through the long ages past, men -innumerable had done well, as many a noble Latin and -German hymn abundantly shows. In the first ages of the -Church, the whole city of Milan was alive with hymns, -and Augustine tells us how his soul was moved by the -power of sacred psalms; the passage is well worth remembering.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span> -“The hymns and songs of the Church,” he says, -“move my soul intensely; by the truth distilled by them -into my heart the flame of piety was kindled, and my tears -flowed for joy. The practice of singing had been of no long -standing in Milan, it began about the year when Justinian -persecuted Ambrose; the pious people, watched in the -church, prepared to die with their pastor; there my mother -sustained an eminent part in watching and praying; then -hymns and psalms, after the manner of the East, were -sung, with a view of preserving the people from weariness; -and thence the custom has spread through Christian -Churches.” Johnson was a pious man, the truth as it is -in Jesus was held by him very heartily, but we are compelled -to believe that, with all his amazing knowledge, he -had not seen the innumerable hymns which through the -successive ages had rained down their beautiful influences -on the Church.</p> - -<p>Luther, as is well known, ushered in his great Reformation -with a voice of joy and singing. There is -a pretty little anecdote telling how one day he stood at -his window and heard a blind beggar sing. It was something -about the grace of God, and it brought tears into his -eyes, and then the good thought rushed into his soul, and -it wrought its results there. “If <i>I</i> could only make -gospel songs which would spread of themselves among the -people.” And he did so. The songs were fashioned, and -flew abroad like singing birds—“like a lark singing -towards heaven’s gate,” says one writer; “the song shot -upward, and poured far and wide over the fields and -villages; and though the snare of the fowler sometimes -captured the preacher, and military mobs dispersed the -congregation—like the little minstrel among the clouds, -too happy to be silenced, too airy to be caught, and too<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span> -high to dread man’s artillery—the little song filled all the -air with New Testament music, with words such as -‘Jesus,’ ‘Believe and be saved,’ ‘Gospel,’ ‘Grace,’ ‘Come -unto Me,’ ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,’ and -thus they became the passwords and watchwords of the -Church.”<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> - -<p>Watts has been styled the Marot of England; he must -receive far higher praise than could be implied by this -designation; but there are resemblances between the two. -Clement Marot was the favourite poet of Francis <span class="allsmcap">I.</span> of -France; Bayle ascribes to him the invention of modern -metrical psalmody. He was a free and even profane -writer, but Vatable, the Hebrew professor, suggested to -him the translation of the Psalms into French verse. He -did so, or rather he translated fifty-two Psalms “from the -Hebrew into French rhyme.” They quite took the taste of -Paris; they found universal reception, and became favourites -with Francis <span class="allsmcap">I.</span>, who sent a copy to Charles <span class="allsmcap">V.</span> Most of -the pieces were set and sung to the tunes of the gay ballads -of that day. They were quite the favourites of the court -of Henry <span class="allsmcap">II.</span> and Catherine de Medicis, especially they -became the favourites of the Huguenot party; Marot, it -is said, had himself belonged to the party of the Reformation. -Ere long, however, the dangerous tendency of -the pieces was perceived by the Sorbonne, the book was -denounced; Marot fled to Turin, where he closed in poverty -a life which had passed in singular vicissitudes, but which -only just before had been sunned in the rays of the courtly -magnificence of Paris in that splendid time. Marot’s small -collection was completed by Theodore Beza, and the pieces -continued long in use among the Reformed Churches; -some, we believe, are, with many additions, still sung.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span></p> - -<p>Our chief concern at present is with our own country, -but the other reforming peoples of Europe appear to have -preceded us in this holy art, although some indications -are given of the existence of a very hearty and earnest -religious song; in the Zurich Letters, published by the -Parker Society, we find, even so early as 1560, the following -letter from Bishop Jewel to Peter Martyr; he says: -“Religion is now somewhat more established than it was; -the people are everywhere exceedingly inclined to the -better part; the practice of joining in church music has -very much conduced to this; for as soon as they had -commenced singing in public in one little church in -London, immediately, not only the churches in the neighbourhood, -but even the towns far distant, began to vie -with each other in practice. You may sometimes see at -St. Paul’s Cross, after the service, 6,000 persons, old and -young, of both sexes, all singing together and praising -God. This sadly annoys the mass priests and the devil, -for they perceive that by this means the sacred discourses -sink more deeply into the minds of men, and that -their kingdom is weakened and shaken at almost every -note.”</p> - -<p>As time went along in our country, there appeared a -race of poets of the highest order; we need scarcely -mention such names as Quarles, Vaughan, Herbert, -Jeremy Taylor, Richard Baxter, John Norris, Thomas -Ken, and with these names we certainly ought to include -John Milton, who attempted a version of several of the -Psalms, one of which is a great favourite with us to this -day. Poets not remarkable for sanctity, like John Dryden, -were compelled to the service of sacred song, as in the -instance of his fine hymn,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Creator, Spirit, by whose aid.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span></p> - -<p>Richard Baxter leaves a beautiful testimony as to the -power of sacred hymns over himself; he says, “For myself -I confess that harmony and melody are the pleasure and -elevation of my soul; I have made psalms of praise in the -holy assembly the chief delightful exercise of my religion -and my life, and have helped to bear down all the objections -which I have heard against church music and against -the 149th and 150th Psalms. It was not the least comfort -I had in the converse with my late dear wife, that our -first in the morning and last at night was a psalm of praise, -till the hearing of others interrupted it. Let those that -savour not melody leave others to their different appetites, -and be content to be so far strangers to their delights.”</p> - -<p>With all this it is singular that an amazing prejudice -existed until the time of Watts against the indulgence of -congregational psalmody. Josiah Conder simply expressed -the fact, when he says, “Watts was the first who succeeded -in overcoming the prejudice which opposed the introduction -of hymns into our public worship.” It is quite remarkable -that the prejudice against congregational singing -was quite as great with many of our English Churches as -amongst the Papists themselves; among the Presbyterians -especially, this prejudice obtained a considerable hold -and lingered long. “No English Luther,” says Conder, -“had risen to breathe the living spirit of evangelical -devotion into heart-stirring verse adapted to the minds and -feelings of the people. Are we to suppose the want was -not felt, or was there anything in the aristocratic genius -of the Presbyterian polity that forbade or repressed the free -expression of devotion in the songs of the sanctuary?”<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> - -<p>It was about the time that Isaac Watts came to London -that some of the assemblies of the saints were shaken<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span> -by the innovation, of singing. The Baptists appear to -have been most indisposed to the doubtful practice; and -in the church of the well-known Benjamin Keach, of -Southwark, the pastoral ancestor of Charles Spurgeon, -when the pastor, after long argument and effort, established -singing, a minority withdrew and “took refuge in a songless -sanctuary,” in which the melody within the heart -might be in no danger of disturbance from the perturbations -of song.<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> The Society of Friends was not -alone in regarding with distaste all the exercises of song -in the house of the Lord. Those who are interested in -the curious literature of that time may easily discover -pamphlets and lectures which show “great searchings of -heart” upon the question “whether Christ, as Mediator -of the New Covenant, hath commanded His churches under -the Gospel in all their assemblies to sing the Psalms of -David, as translated into metre and musical rhyme, with -tunable and conjoined voices of all the people together, as -a Church ordinance, or any other song or hymn that are -so composed to be sung in rhyme by a prelimited and set -form of words?” The dispute was mainly confined to the -Baptist churches. But in 1708 one of the Eastcheap lectures, -in a discourse by Thomas Reynolds, replied to the -“objections of singing.” A few years before the controversy -had run strong and high. Isaac Marlow very -angrily maintained the ordinary songless usage, in the year -1696, in his “Truth Soberly Defined” and in the “Controversies -of Singing Brought to an End.” Benjamin -Keach seems to have been the first to lead on in this suspicious -diversion by the publication of his “Breach Repaired -in God’s Worship; or, Singing of Psalms, Hymns,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span> -and Spiritual Songs, proved to be an Holy Ordinance of -Jesus Christ.” This appeared in 1691.<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The controversy -is forgotten now, except by those who explore the more -curious nooks and corners of Church history. Among the -followers of Christ the Quakers are the only people who -have consistently maintained their first profession, a profession, -however, in which they do not imitate their founder, -George Fox, of whom we especially read that he sometimes -led his services with singing.</p> - -<p>It was into this state of things that Isaac Watts was -introduced. “I almost think,” says Alexander Knox, -“that he was providentially appointed to furnish the -revived movement of associated piety, which Divine Wisdom -foresaw would take place in England in the 18th century, -with an unexampled stock of materials for that -department, which alone needed to be provided for, of their -joint worship. Examine his poetry, and you will find that, -though ability to converse with God in solitude is not absolutely -overlooked, the sheet-anchor is what he calls the -sanctuary. In particular in the Psalms you will find him -generally applying to Christian assemblies what David -said of the Temple services, as if public ordinances occupied -the same supreme place in the inward and spiritual as -in the outward and carnal dispensation.” This judgment -of Knox is curiously involved, and its latter portion seems -to contradict its former. Acquaintance with Watts’ -hymns will show that Knox was quite wrong, that Watts -by no means overlooked the inward and the spiritual; but -his object seems to have been to provide a congregational, -joint, and united service. And for this it does seem as if -he in an especial manner was raised up by the providence -of God; and this becomes more evident as we notice how<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span> -it is from his day, and apparently very greatly from the -method he created that the popular hymnology of our -country, which is now surely—may we not dare to say?—the -noblest, of any church or of any nation in the world, -dates its true original.</p> - -<p>We have claimed for Watts already a far higher rank -than is implied by the Marot of England, but it is certain -that exception will be taken to our judgment when we -say that no other writer of this order approaches near to -him in the elevation, not merely of expression, but of sentiment; -the very grandeur, the majesty of his epithets, the -inflamed utterances may be to some more quiet natures a -ground of exception. To them they seem sometimes to be -open to the charge of inflation. Yet every order and -variety of expression, from the loud swelling jubilant -rapture to the softest and sweetest strains of tenderness, -find fitting utterance in them.</p> - -<p>The efforts he made to create a sacred congregational -psalmody exposed him, as we know, in his own times to -obloquy, singular as it seems, even to contempt, and this -contempt has been renewed in our own day. In a paper, -understood to be from the pen of John Keble, in the -“Quarterly Review,” it is said, “Watts was an excellent man, -a strong reasoner, of undoubted piety, and -perhaps—a rarer virtue—of true Christian charity; but in -our opinion he laboured under irreparable deficiency for -the task he undertook—<i>he was not a poet!</i> He had a great -command of Scriptural language, and an extraordinary -facility of versification; but his piety may induce us to -make excuses for his poetry—<i>his poetry will do little to -excite dormant piety</i>.” The writer then goes on to remark -upon the rude, homely, and unequal strains of Watts, there -follows something like a history of psalmody in England,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> -but not another word about our author.<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> George Macdonald, -the novelist, has condescended to sneer at Watts -and to travesty his verses, while another writer in a fierce -attack upon evangelicalism—the predominance of which -in Watts’ verses we presume to be the spring of the hatred -they often inspire—informs us that “most of Dr. Watts’ -hymns are doggerel;” and after quoting some passages he -considers to deserve this appellation—and which some of -them do—he closes by saying, “These may possibly be -poetry, but if they are, it is extremely plain that ‘Paradise -Lost’ and ‘In Memoriam’ are not poetry.” Thus by -many it has come to be settled that Watts must take a -very low place in English literature, if, indeed, he can be -considered in any sense worthy of a place at all. Let us -see how the case stands. The man who has no sympathy -with Nature is not to be expected to find beauty or melody -in the poetry of Burns or Wordsworth. Men who have no -sympathy with evangelical truth can scarcely be expected -to have much admiration for Watts; yet the gifted -nobleman, who was the Mecænas of the past age, was -not an indifferent critic, and when called on to cite -the most perfect verse in the language he immediately -instanced</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There shall I bathe my weary soul</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In seas of heavenly rest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And not a wave of trouble roll</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Across my peaceful breast.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>A friend who, to his other attainments adds those of -scholar and a critic, suggests how interesting it would be -to analyze the verses of Watts, for the purpose of noting -how often he evidently thought in foreign languages, and -especially the Latin, with which he was so familiar; and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span> -hence we have lines which, while to some readers they -appear to be doggerel, are indeed illustrations that he was -using words in their real etymological sense, and thus -imparting to his verse a singular beauty; thus:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">How <i>decent</i> and how wise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How glorious to behold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the pomp that charms the eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And rites adorned with gold.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Thus, again, of God:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He sits on no <i>precarious</i> throne,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor borrows leave to be.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And thus again:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Let every creature rise and bring</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Peculiar</i> honours to our King.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Every poet is to be judged by what he is on the average. -Homer has been said to nod; Milton is frequently very turgid, -and innumerable passages sink quite below the usual sustained -magnificence of the poem; in Shakespeare there are -lines, conceits, and redundances which all good taste would -wish away. The reader who judged of Keble’s capacity for -poetry by his version of the Psalms, or many of his later -pieces, would not form a very lofty estimate of his powers. -And there are many more expressions and passages than -we shall care to count among the psalms and hymns of -Watts which are wholly indefensible by any standard of -good taste, good sense, or good theology. Upon these, -critics, like those to whom we have referred, have pounced, -these they have quoted, and to the crowds of passages -sublime or pathetic, strong or tender, they have most -adroitly closed their eyes or their ears.</p> - -<p>Watts has suffered in many ways. Accused by one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span> -class of critics of bad taste, and sneered at for the absence -of poetic gifts by another class, his theology has been -called in question as leaning towards heresy. How this -charge could ever have been made by any man who had read -for himself Watts’ hymns passes all our conception. But -the Unitarians, with a mendacity singularly their own, -have in many instances taken his hymns and garbled them -to suit their own theology. The Unitarians are clever at -taking possession of other people’s property, their churches, -their endowments, their books, their great names, and, in -Watts’ instance, their hymns. We have even seen the -<i>Te Deum</i> adapted to a Unitarian service. The Unitarians -are regarded as an exceedingly moral people, and it has -often been supposed that what they lack in doctrine they -make up in duty, but it is quite true that they are -singularly dishonest; and the most eminent Unitarian -minister in England in our day, the Rev. James Martineau, -does not hesitate to charge such dishonesty upon his community; -he shows how the term Unitarian has to be kept -out of sight in order that certain property may be obtained. -He says, “How could an organization with a doctrinal -name upon its face, the Unitarian Association, go into -court and plead our right to our chapels, on the ground of -their doctrinal neutrality? Accordingly, another association -had to be got up specially for the purpose, the Presbyterian -Association, in order to evade the inconsistency; -and I know it to have been the opinion of the two -founders of the Unitarian Association that they committed -a disastrous mistake in giving a doctrinal name to the -society.” And he says to Mr. Macdonald, to whom he is -writing, “Upon what ground can you claim a rightful -succession, as you have so nobly done, to Matthew Henry -and the founders of Crook Street, if you place the essence<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span> -of your Church in doctrines which he did not hold!”<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> -And thus Unitarians have constructed a science of equivocations, -and tread a plank of double meanings; it -expunges the term Unitarian as designative of their creed, -and it takes the words representative of the creed of the -great Church through all ages, and, reversing the miracle -of our Lord, they use them as vessels in which the wine is -turned into water. This is the principle which has -governed in Unitarian hymn-books. The selection of -many of the hymns from Watts, even his sacramental -hymns, have in several instances not been permitted to -pass unmutilated; and then, putting the top stone upon -the column of injustice, the further indignity, amounting -to insolence, of claiming him as a Unitarian.</p> - -<p>It is a curious thing to find a writer in the “Wesleyan -Magazine” for 1831 boasting that none of the Wesleyan -hymns have ever been used for the purpose of Unitarian -or Socinian worship, while Watts’ have been thus frequently -employed. The writer admits that in such -instances they have been altered, but says that “Charles -Wesley’s hymns are made of too unbending materials ever -to be adapted to Socinian worship.” He was quite mistaken -in the fact, they have often been “bent” for this purpose; -but it is the very peculiarity of Watts that he rises to -the pre-existent and uncreated realms of majesty, of which -our Lord speaks as “the glory I had with Thee before the -world was.” It would be interesting to know how any -Socinian or Unitarian could “bend” that magnificent hymn,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere the blue heavens were stretched abroad,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From everlasting was the Word:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With God He was; the Word was God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And must divinely be adored.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">By His own power were all things made;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By Him supported all things stand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He is the whole creation’s Head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And angels fly at His command.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere sin was born or Satan fell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He led the host of morning stars:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy generations who can tell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or count the number of Thy years?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But lo! He leaves those heav’nly forms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Word descends and dwells in clay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That He may hold converse with worms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dressed in such feeble flesh as they.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Mortals with joy beheld His face,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Eternal Father’s only Son;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How full of truth! how full of grace!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When through His eyes the Godhead shone.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Archangels leave their high abode</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To learn new myst’ries here, and tell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The loves of our descending God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The glories of Immanuel.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But, indeed, the sum of the matter is that the theology—the -evangelical theology of Watts’ hymns—is the chief -reason of the exception taken to the poetry. He is in a -very eminent sense the poet of the Atonement; he saw the -infinite meanings in that great expression “the blood of -Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” We have -heard some quote and speak of what they have called that -dreadful verse!—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Blood hath a voice to pierce the skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Revenge the blood of Abel cries;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But the dear stream, when Christ was slain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Speaks peace as loud from every vein!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>He saw infinite attributes in the Incarnation of Jesus -Christ, God manifested in the flesh, and he saw infinite<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span> -consequences involved in the sacrifice of Christ. It was -all to him “the wisdom of God in a mystery,” it was all -the great power of God. Thus we have called him the -evangelical poet, the poet of the Atonement. Hence -those who have a distaste for his doctrine will dislike his -verse.</p> - -<p>It was the nature of Watts’ theology that it entered -more into the heavenly places, the timeless, and the unconditioned -purposes of the Infinite and Eternal Mind. He -was a student, a real and a hard student, and the speculations -of his intellect whenever he betook himself to verse, -presented themselves to his mind suffused in the glowing -but ineffable lights of eternity; he seemed to be fond of -revolving eternal truths. We hope not to be misunderstood -if we speak of him as a mystic. Although in his -prose writings so little of the mystic appears, in his hymns -he is perpetually moving amidst the adumbrations of -uncreated mind. What an illustration of this is in that -extraordinary hymn,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Lord we are blind, we mortals blind.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Much of the mystic spirit which pervades his verse is -perceptible in the fine paradox in the following expressions -of the last verse:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Lord of Glory builds His seat</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of gems unsufferably bright;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lays beneath His sacred feet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Substantial beams of gloomy night!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It is quite vain work to argue with those who take exception -to these expressions. If they are not felt they will -not be seen. If we say Watts was a mystic, the expression -will astonish some of our readers. The hard abstract -lines of cold creeds, and bodies of theology, suddenly in his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span> -verse flashed out radiant and visible as planets in southern -heavens; and his words expressing truths which seem cold -in the creed of Calvin or the rigid framework of the confessions -and catechisms of Puritanism, became like wings -of ardent fire, tipped with seraphic light. There was even -an oriental splendour about his expressions. He was -mighty in the Scriptures, and we believe it will not be -possible to find a verse or phrase which is not justified by -Scriptural expression. His verse—the verse of the man -who has been claimed as a Unitarian—was incessantly -struggling up to express in glowing metre those sublime -flights of thought which have always been at once the prevailing -glory and gloom of what is called the Calvinistic -theology. We note this in such pieces as</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">What equal honours shall we bring</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Thee, O Lord, our God, the Lamb?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Since all the notes that angels sing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are far inferior to Thy name.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Or,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">When I survey the wondrous cross</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On which the Prince of Glory died,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My richest gain I count but loss,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pour contempt on all my pride.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Or,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Up to the fields where angels lie,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And living waters gently roll,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pain would my thoughts leap out and fly,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But sin hangs heavy on my soul.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy wondrous blood, dear dying Christ,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can make this load of guilt remove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Thou canst hear me where Thou flyest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On Thy kind wings, celestial Dove!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Or,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Descend from heaven, immortal Dove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stoop down and take us on Thy wings,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And mount and hear us far above</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The reach of these inferior things.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span></p> - -<p class="noindent">Or the hymn commencing</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh the delights! the heavenly joys!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Or that,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Now to the Lord a noble song!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Watts, we have said, has suffered in many ways. No -hymns, we will be bound to say, in our language have -suffered so much from garbling and mangling; many of -them have passed through a perfect martyrdom of -maltreatment. Dr. Kennedy, of Shrewsbury, in his -“Hymnologia Christiana,” will not admit “When I -can read my title clear” to be a hymn, because it is -gravely wrong in doctrine; and “There is a land of pure -delight” is not admitted, because it is seriously faulty in -style. But if an impartial reader should desire to sum up -the great merits of Watts, it will perhaps be found that -there is no doctrine of the great Christian creed and no -great Christian emotion which does not find happy and -frequently most faultless expression. His hymns of -<i>Praise to God</i>, are frequently among the most noble in our -language; for instance:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Sing to the Lord who built the skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Lord that reared this stately frame;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let all the nation sound His praise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lands unknown repeat His name.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He formed the seas, He formed the hills,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Made every drop, and every dust,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nature and time, with all her wheels,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pushed them into motion first.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Now from His high imperial throne</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He looks far down upon the spheres;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He bids the shining orbs roll on,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And round He turns the hasty years.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus shall this moving engine last</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till all His saints are gathered in,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then for the trumpet’s dreadful blast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To shake it all to dust again!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet, when the sound shall tear the skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lightning burn the globe below,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Saints, you may lift your joyful eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There’s a new heaven and earth for you.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">He was fond of singing <i>the uncreated glories of the Son -of God</i>, His official and mediatorial Majesty, as in that -complete and glowing hymn,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Join all the glorious names.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Or,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Go worship at Immanuel’s feet.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">He had to vindicate himself during his life for the use of -doxologies, or hymns of <i>praise to the Holy Spirit</i>, as in</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Eternal Spirit, we confess</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sing the wonders of Thy grace.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Or the invocation,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>There is an intense and immediate objectiveness about -Watts’ hymns; praise, like a clear and glowing firmament, -encompasses them all, and the objects of adoration revolve, -like the firmamental lights, clear and distinct to the -vision; they are often interior and meditative, but they -never indicate a merely morbid introspection; they seem -to glow in the light of the objects of their adoration: -again and again we are impressed by their reverent -effulgence. They are not the singular rapture over the -worshipper’s own state of feeling, they are not even -rapture so much on account of what is seen; they are -praise and honour to the objects themselves, and they -have indeed to be perverted before they can express any -other sentiments than those they originally utter.</p> - -<p>Few writers more affectingly set forth <i>the death of -Christ</i>:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He dies! the Friend of sinners dies!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! Salem’s daughters weep around;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A solemn darkness veils the skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sudden trembling shakes the ground.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Break off your tears, ye saints, and tell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How high our great Deliverer reigns;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sing how He spoiled the hosts of hell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And led the monster Death in chains.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Say, “Live for ever, wondrous King!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Born to redeem and strong to save;”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then ask the monster, “Where’s thy sting?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And “Where’s thy victory, boasting grave?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">The hymn, indeed, contains some weak lines, but the first -and the three last verses have even great dramatic vigour -and strength.</p> - -<p>But hymns are not always to shine with splendid -lights, <i>they are to soothe and comfort</i>; hence such words -as—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Come hither, all ye weary souls.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>We remember a venerable minister eighty-eight years -of age, who filled a conspicuous place in the Church of his -day; while he was dying his daughter said to him:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Jesus can make a dying bed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As soft as downy pillows are,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While on His breast I lean <i>my</i> head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And breathe my life out sweetly there.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">The old man listened as well as he could to the verse, -then turned his head on the pillow, repeated the words -“<i>my</i> head,” and so died. Perhaps some critic would -remark that the versification is slightly inaccordant or -defective, but its tenderness has propitiated many a dying -pang.</p> - -<p><i>Devotion</i> is the eminent attribute of these hymns,—ardent, -inflamed rapture of holiness. Well has it been<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span> -said “to elevate to poetic altitudes;” every truth in -Christian experience and revealed religion needs the -strength and sweep of an aquiline pinion; and this is -what Isaac Watts has done; he has taken almost every -topic which exercises the understanding and the heart of -the believer, and has not only given to it a devotional -aspect, but has wedded it to immortal numbers; and -whilst there is little to which he has not shown himself -equal, there is nothing he has done for mere effect. Rapt, -yet adoring, sometimes up among the thunder-clouds, yet -most reverential in his highest range, the “good matter” is -in a song, and the sweet singer is upborne as on the wings -of eagles; but even from that triumphal car, and when -nearest the home of the Seraphim, we are comforted to -find descending lowly lamentations and confessions of -sin—new music, no doubt, but the words with which we -have been long familiar in the house of our pilgrimage.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Religion never was designed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make our pleasures less.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou art the sea of love</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where all my pleasures roll,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The circle where my passions move,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And centre of my soul.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To Thee my spirits fly</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With infinite desire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet how far from Thee I lie!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dear Jesus, raise me higher.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I cannot bear Thy absence, Lord,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My life expires if Thou depart;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be thou, my heart, still near my God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Thou, my God, be near my heart.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Such are the streams of devotion on which we are borne -in the verses of Watts.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span></p> - -<p>Some of his hymns are like <i>collects</i>, the compact, comforting -little <i>watchwords and creeds of the Church</i>—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Firm as the earth Thy Gospel stands.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Or—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our God, how firm His promise stands.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Sometimes we have a fine <i>bold trumpet-like tone of Faith</i>:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Begin, my tongue, some heavenly theme,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And speak some boundless thing;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mighty works, or mightier name</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of our eternal King.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His very word of grace is strong</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As that which built the skies;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Voice that rolls the stars along</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Speaks all the promises.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He said, “Let the wide heaven be spread,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And heaven was stretched abroad:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Abra’m, I’ll be thy God,” He said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And He <i>was</i> Abra’m’s God.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">How well he has expressed the <i>depths of contrition</i> in his -version of the 51st Psalm, what plaintive compassion—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O Thou that hear’st when sinners cry!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And equally well he has depicted the <i>happiness</i> and -<i>serenity</i> of “a heart sprinkled from an evil conscience:”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O happy soul that lives on high!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Or—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Lord, how secure and blest are they</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who feel the joys of pardoned sin.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Then how vigorously his notes rouse and stir to the -activities of the <i>Christian life</i>:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Are we the soldiers of the cross,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The followers of the Lamb?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Or—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Stand up, my soul, shake off thy fears!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">The <i>patriotic lyrics</i> and hymns of Watts have sounded,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> -how in his day they throbbed, with that pulse of prayer -for our country:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Shine, mighty God! on Britain shine</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With beams of heavenly grace;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Reveal Thy power through all our coasts,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And show Thy smiling face.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Amidst our isle, exalted high,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Do Thou our glory stand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, like a wall of guardian fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Surround the favoured land.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>And when the Americans held their great “Thanksgiving -Day,” Watts’ hymn, always sung to the venerable old -tune of St. Martin’s, was, as Mrs. Stowe tells us, the -national hymn of the Puritans.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Let children hear the mighty deeds</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which God performed of old,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which in our younger years we saw,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And which our fathers told.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our lips shall tell them to our sons,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And they again to theirs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That generations yet unborn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">May teach them to their heirs.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The extent to which the verses of Watts entered into -all the incidents of the social life of the United States -is well illustrated in the “Pearl of Orr’s Island:” in a -very striking and pathetic manner the following stanzas -often interlace the conversations of that charming story:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our God, our help in ages past,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our hope for years to come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our shelter from the stormy blast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And our eternal home.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Under the shadow of Thy throne</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy saints have dwelt secure:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sufficient is Thine arm alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And our defence is sure.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Before the hills in order stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or earth received her frame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From everlasting Thou art God,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To endless years the same.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy word commands our flesh to dust—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Return, ye sons of men;”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All nations rose from earth at first,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And turn to earth again.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A thousand ages in Thy sight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are like an evening gone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Short as the watch that ends the night</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Before the rising sun.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The busy tribes of flesh and blood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With all their lives and cares,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are carried downwards by the flood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And lost in following years.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Time, like an ever-rolling stream,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bears all its sons away;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They fly, forgotten, as a dream</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dies at the opening day.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Like flowery fields the nations stand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pleased with the morning light;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The flowers beneath the mower’s hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lie withering ere ’tis night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our God, our help in ages past,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our hope for years to come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be Thou our guard while troubles last,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And our eternal home.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And we are reminded that this grand hymn, which we -have heard sung in barns and meeting-houses, in kirks -and cathedrals, also comes with tender pathos in one of -the affecting scenes of Charlotte Brontë.</p> - -<p>What grand expressions of <i>personal faith</i> abound among -these verses, what a radiant casting back of the blunted -arrows of doubt and unbelief!</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Questions and doubts are heard no more;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let Christ and joy be all our theme;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His Spirit seals His Gospel sure,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To every soul that trusts in Him.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Learning and wit may cease their strife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When miracles with glory shine;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Voice that calls the dead to life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Must be almighty and Divine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>What faith in the <i>Saviour’s glorious resurrection and -second advent</i>!—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With joy we tell this scoffing age,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He that was dead hath left His tomb;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He lives above their utmost rage,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And we are waiting till He come.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><i>Sabbath songs</i>, songs for the social service at the close -of the day, songs for every variety of Christian ordinance, -songs especially for the Lord’s Supper, songs of grief as the -soul realises the death of the Redeemer, songs of rapture -as the salvation becomes apprehensible—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Salvation! O the joyful sound!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Or—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Plunged in a gulf of dark despair.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The first <i>Elegies</i> in our language are among Watts’ -hymns. When early manhood has been smitten down -in its green prime, how finely swells aloft that grand elegy -with its triumphant close, the paraphrase of the text, “He -weakened my strength in the way. He shortened my days:”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">It is the Lord our Saviour’s hand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Weakens our strength amidst the race:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Disease and death at His command</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arrest us and cut short our days.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Spare us, O Lord, aloud we pray,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor let our sun go down at noon;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy years are one eternal day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And must Thy children die so soon?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet in the midst of death and grief,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This thought our sorrow shall assuage,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our Father and our Saviour live;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Christ is the same through every age.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Before Thy face Thy church shall live,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on Thy throne Thy children reign:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This dying world shall they survive,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the dead saints be raised again.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>And when some form more than ordinarily venerable -or beautiful, holy or beloved, has been lowered into its -resting-place, while they laid wreaths of camellias and -evergreens on the coffin, uprose that wonderful elegy:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hear what the Voice from heaven proclaims</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For all the pious dead!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sweet is the savour of their names,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And soft their sleeping bed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>And how often, in similar circumstances, that other -sweet requiem:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Why do we mourn departing friends?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Amidst trembling prayers, in the darkened room, in -the presence of some sweet shrouded and coffined form, -the memory of some soft sealed face and folded hands, and -spirit for ever at rest, has rose the hymn into pensive -rapture:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Are we not tending upward too,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As fast as time can move?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor would we wish the hours more slow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To keep us from our love.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Contrasting the evanescence of man, not merely with -the eternity of God, but with the eternity of Christ, and -the promised prevalence of His salvation everywhere, who -has not seen large meetings leap into hearty fervour at the -announcement of that noble prophecy:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Jesus shall reign where’er the sun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Does his successive journeys run.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Who has more triumphantly followed the spirit of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span> -believer into its glorious home and rest? Watts had a -singularly bold and majestic manner in striking in the -very first words of a hymn the key-note of the whole -piece; indeed there was usually a singular fitness and force -in the first line.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Give me the wings of faith to rise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within the veil, and see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The saints above; how great their joys,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How vast their glories be!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Some critics have objected to what seems to us the sweet -natural pathos of that verse:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How we should scorn the clothes of flesh,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">These fetters and this load,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And long for evening to undress,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That we may rest with God.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Or that fine piece:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Absent from flesh! O blissful thought!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>And the following verses, not so often quoted, or so well -known:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And is this heaven? and am I there?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How short the road! how swift the flight!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I am all life, all eye, all ear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Jesus is here my soul’s delight.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Is this, the heavenly Friend who hung</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In blood and anguish on the tree,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom Paul proclaimed and David sung,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who died for them, who died for me?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Creator-God, eternal light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fountain of good, tremendous power,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oceans of wonders, blissful sight!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beauty and love unknown before.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy grace, Thy nature, all unknown</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In yon dark region whence I came,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where languid glimpses from Thy throne</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And feeble whispers teach Thy name.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I’m in a world where all is new,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Myself, my God; O blest amaze!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not my best hopes or wishes knew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To form a shadow of His grace.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Fixed on my God, my heart, adore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My restless thoughts, forbear to rove;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ye meaner passions, stir no more;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But all my powers be joy and love.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>And one of the most touching of his funeral pieces is -that magnificent funeral march for some departed saint, -and worthy of the grand air to which it has often been -sung—Handel’s Dead March in “Saul:”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Take this new treasure to thy trust,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And give these sacred relics room</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Awhile to slumber in the dust.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Invade thy bounds: no mortal woes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can reach the forms which slumber here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And angels watch their soft repose.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So Jesus slept! God’s dying Son</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Passed through the grave and blessed the bed:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rest here, dear saint, till from His throne</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The morning break and pierce the shade!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Break from His throne, illustrious morn!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Attend, O earth, His sovereign word;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Restore thy trust—a glorious form</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Called to ascend and meet the Lord.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>A judicious and compendious arrangement in order of -the hymns of Watts, would thus show that every form -of expression apparently necessary for public service -finds some adequate representation: worship, confession, -prayer, expression of faith; and those churches which for -nearly a century had no other volume to assist them in -their public devotions, do not deserve so much pity as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span> -has very frequently been expressed for them. Soon -after their publication they came to be used outside of -the communion for which they were designed. Ralph -Erskine, of Dunfermline, drew a great number of the -verses into his most remarkable volumes of divine -drollery, sometimes in a most remarkable manner debasing -the metre. Should the reader care to see an instance -of this he may find it in “Scripture Songs,” Book III., -Song III.; but there are many other instances.</p> - -<p>Admirers of Wesley are fond of citing against Watts the -well-known saying attributed to him, that he would have -given all he had written for the credit of being the author -of Charles Wesley’s hymn, “Come, O thou Traveller unknown.” -It has been truly said, his excessive modesty often -gloomed his greatness; Gibbons makes some such remark; -it, at any rate, kept all power and disposition to self-assertion -in the shade; but it is no reason why his admirers -now should imitate, with reference to himself, that virtue, -and be indifferent to his great powers as a sacred poet.</p> - -<p>No hymn-writer has suffered so much from mutilation -as Watts. Sometimes the attempts at improvement have -been ludicrous. We remember a specimen of many:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The little ants, for one poor grain</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Exert themselves</i> and strive.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Instead of—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Labour and tug and strive.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But such emendations are innocent when compared with -those in which the entire doctrine of the hymn has been -expelled.<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Lord Selborne (Sir Roundell Palmer) has said,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span> -“Watts altered some of Charles Wesley’s hymns, much to -his brother John’s discontent, as he testifies in the preface -to his Hymn Book.” We have very little hesitation in -assuring his lordship that he is mistaken, and that he -will find no instance in which Watts altered, however -slightly, Wesley’s hymns. In two or three instances he -altered and appropriated from Tate and Brady and Patrick, -and acknowledged the extent of his alterations in notes, a -courtesy never extended to himself.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Before Jehovah’s awful throne,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">is Watts altered, and admirably altered, by two words in -the first line, but the entire hymn was appropriated; but -indeed it was impossible that Watts could alter Wesley. -Watts’ work was all done, and had long been done, before -Wesley appeared. Literary plagiarism we believe to be a -much less common sin than many suppose. Minds on the -same plane of thought and feeling are likely to discover -the same images, and to indulge in the same expressions. -Certainly Mr. Milner, in his “Life of Watts,” is -wrong when he says (page 276) that Watts’ well-known -lines:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The opening heavens around me shine</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With beams of sacred bliss,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">were probably suggested to Watts by Gray’s—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The meanest flow’ret of the vale,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The simplest note that swells the gale,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The common sun, the air, the skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To him are opening paradise.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Watts’ lines were published nine years before Gray -was born!</p> - -<p>Comparing the two great hymn-writers, Isaac Watts<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span> -and Charles Wesley, an adequate sense may be arrived at, -if the very important distinctions are noticed between the -work proposed in the verses of the two admirable men. It -is our conviction that while Watts has, in the stricter -term of the word poet, included in himself Charles Wesley, -the purpose of Wesley’s verse was especially to describe -frames, feelings, and experiences, to set these to a sweet -strain of popular melody, such as might rouse the thousands -for whom they were intended. Nothing is more -remarkable than the contrasted sense Watts and the -Wesleys entertained of their performances. The preface -published to the Wesleyan Hymn Book, in 1779, is one -of the most extravagant efforts of conceit in our language; -it is somewhat wonderful that the good taste of the -Wesleyan Conference does not omit it from the editions -now in the course of circulation. “Here,” it says, “is no -doggerel, no botches, nothing put in to patch up the -rhyme, no feeble expletives; here is nothing tinged or -bombast, or low and creeping; here are no cant expressions, -no words without meaning; those who impute this -to us know not what they say.” “Here are,” it continues, -“the purity, elegance, and strength of the English language, -and the utmost simplicity and plainness suited to -every capacity.” It goes on to assert that “in the following -hymns is to be found the true spirit of poetry, such as -cannot be acquired by art or labour, but must be the gift -of nature. By labour a man may become a tolerable -imitation of Spenser, Shakespeare, or Milton, and may -heap together pretty compound epithets, such as pale-eyed, -meek-eyed, and the like; but unless he be born a -poet he will never attain to the genuine spirit of poetry.” -How remarkably all this is in contrast to the spirit of -the writer whose hymns had been before the world nearly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span> -half a century before this first collected edition of the -Wesleys’ hymns was published. John Wesley included -many of Watts’ hymns in his own hymn book, but their -authorship was not acknowledged; and many others were -vigorous translations from the German of Zinzendorf, Paul -Gerhardt, etc.; Watts’ hymn book was entirely and wholly -his own.</p> - -<p>It is ungracious work to bring into the rivalry of comparison -or contrast two singers who have so sacredly served -the Church. Yet we will dare to say it here, in the hymns -of Watts there is that peculiar accent, that note of pain, -that majesty and melody of the deep minor chord—that -sounding of a deeper experience—that ineffable something -which testifies to a capacity of agony, as well as to -the assurance of ecstasy which is the true poet’s prerogative -and power. We would even say the very test of Watts’ -genius and experience is that many of his pieces, and some -of his very highest, are unfitted for more than the select -experience. Wesley’s are more easy, common-place, and -popular. The hymns of Watts, however, will stand a far -higher test than that of the suffrages of large congregations -or ecclesiastical communities—the sighs of the -sick-room, the death-bed, the bereaved chamber, the -private closet of heart devotion. With these verses on -their lips refreshing their hearts, how many pilgrims have -approached the</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent8">Land of pure delight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where saints immortal reign.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Most of what has gone before applies to the hymns; but -some especial reference should be made to the version of -the Psalms. Palmer, in his “Life of Watts,” says, “This is -generally allowed to be his capital production in poetry,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span> -with which, in point of utility, none of his other pieces -will bear comparison.” From this verdict there will be -many dissentients. It is certainly true that in some of -the pieces he rises to the highest rendering of the evangelical -sense of the Psalter. His object was to interpret -the Psalms of Christ; it is not therefore very remarkable -that when a young minister inquired of an elder which -was the best commentary on the Psalms, he replied, -“Watts’ version of them.” This judgment was not so -singular as it seems.</p> - -<p>Watts’ may be called the Messianic version of the -Psalms; he felt that without this construction they -must be very greatly inexplicable. The unfolding this -idea popularly was an immense boon to the churches. -We are to remember that the Book of Psalms was the -great Hebrew Psalter; it was the Book of Common Prayer -and Praise, and when the Christian Church arose, it still -continued the use of these divine airs for the expression of -its experiences and its faith. Jerome says: “The labourer, -while he holds the handle of the plough, sings Alleluia, -the tired reaper employs himself on the Psalms, and the -vine-dresser, while lopping the vines with his curved hook, -sings something out of David; these are our ballads in -this part of the world; these, to use the common expression, -are our love songs.” Chrysostom has a noble -panegyric upon the use of the Psalms in the service of -the Church. “If we keep vigil in the Church, David -comes first, last, and midst. If early in the morning, -David is first, last, and midst.” Again, he goes on to -declare how, “in the funeral solemnities for the dead, -or when the girl sits at home spinning, and not in cities -alone, and not alone in churches, but in the forum and -in the wilderness, and even in the uninhabitable desert,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span> -David excites to the praises of God.” And this has -continued true ever since.</p> - -<p>The case being so, why was it that, alike in Hebrew and -in Christian days, the Book of Psalms has had such a -sovereign power over holy souls? The personality of -David has even obscured the higher personality and the -Messianic symmetry; it is forgotten that in the Hebrew -language David signifies the beloved, the darling, the chosen -one, and that many of the Psalms, regarded as personal to -him, are rather to be apprehended in the <i>same manner</i> -in which his name occurs in Isaiah and Jeremiah and -Ezekiel, in which we have “the key of David,” “David, a -leader and commander to the people,” in “the sure mercies -of David,” terms the fulness of which is lost sight of by -their being associated with the Hebrew prince, rather -than with Him who is the infinitely beloved of God and -man. Thus in numerous Psalms to which the prefix is -given, “A Psalm of, or by, David,” a stricter reading -would be, “A Psalm to, or for, David;” in some instances -this sense comes out with great force, and thus they -illustrate that text in Ezekiel, penned hundreds of years -after David’s death, “I will set one shepherd over them, -and he shall feed them, even my servant David (<i>i.e.</i> the -Beloved). He shall feed them and be their shepherd.” -What a different fulness of meaning is given to such -innumerable passages as those in the 123rd Psalm, “For -thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine -anointed;” “The Lord hath sworn unto David, Of the -fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne:” if we substitute -the Beloved one for David in many such passages, -and what a rich meaning is unfolded! David was perhaps -the author of all these; but in that wonderful spirit of -the Hebrew playing upon words, just as he rose from his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[128]</span> -own occupation to exclaim, “The Lord is my shepherd,” -so he rose from his own name, transforming it into a -Divine synonym, searching for its origin and filling it out -with divine and elevated ideas.<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> This was the spirit in -which Watts in his version restored the Psalms to Christ, -and removed them from the lower and more contracted -circle of human personality to the suffering and reigning -Messiah. Most readers were thankful for the noble restoration -of the evangelical regalia to their rightful owner; -and only here and there one or two, like the indecent and -insolent Bradbury, took exception to the performance as -“robbing them of their book of Praise,” as that rash and -vehement man, referring to the version of Watts, said, -“David is no longer suffered to be our Psalmist.”</p> - -<p>This, then, is the spirit in which Watts translated the -Psalms, to the Christian sense preserving, as we have said, -the Messianic idea throughout, as in that stirring call to -Christian service:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Arise, O King of Grace, arise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And enter to Thy rest!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! Thy church waits with longing eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thus to be owned and blest.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Enter with all Thy glorious train,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy Spirit and Thy word;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All that the Ark did once contain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Could not such grace afford.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The aim of Watts in his Book of Psalms was to translate -the Old Testament phraseology into a New Testament -language and experience. James Hamilton has illustrated -this by an anecdote which it can scarcely be impertinent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>[129]</span> -to quote here; he says: “I cannot tell it accurately, but I -have heard of a godly couple whose child was sick and at -the point of death. It was unusual to pray together except -at the hours of ‘exercise;’ however, in her distress, -the mother prevailed on her husband to kneel down at -the bedside and offer a word of prayer. The good man’s -prayers were chiefly taken from the best of liturgies, the -book of Psalms; and after a long and reverential introduction -from the 90th and elsewhere, he proceeded, ‘Lord, turn -again the captivity of Zion; then shall our mouth be -filled with laughter and our tongue with singing.’ And as he -was proceeding, ‘turn again our captivity,’ the poor agonized -mother interrupted him: ‘Eh, man, you are aye drawn -out for thae Jews, but it’s our bairn that’s deein’,’ at the -same time clasping her hands and crying, ‘Lord, help us; -oh, give us back our darling, if it be Thy holy will; and if -he is to be taken, oh take him to Thyself!’ And fond as -I am,” continues James Hamilton, “of scriptural phrases -in prayer, I am fonder still of reality. It is a striking -fact that the prayers addressed to Christ in the Gospels -are hardly one of them in Old Testament language; just as -New Testament songs embed in a language of their own -Old Testament phrases;” and, as we may add, just as the -woman and her husband had the same purpose in their -prayers.</p> - -<p>And it is in this way Watts seems to apologize for his -attempts when he says, in his introduction to his version -of the Psalms:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">HEBREW MELODIES CHRISTIANIZED.</p> - -<p>“But since I believe that any Divine sentence, or -Christian verse, agreeable to Scripture, may be sung,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>[130]</span> -though it be composed by men uninspired, I have not -been so curious and exact in striving everywhere to express -the ancient sense and meaning of David, but have rather -expressed myself as I may suppose David would have -done, had he lived in the days of Christianity; and by -this means, perhaps, I have sometimes hit upon the true -intent of the Spirit of God in those verses farther and -clearer than David himself could ever discover, as St. -Peter encourages me to hope (1 Peter i. 11, 13) where he -acknowledges that the ancient prophets, who foretold of -the grace that should come to us, were, in some measure, -ignorant of this great salvation; for though they testified -of the sufferings of Christ and His glory, yet they were -forced to search and inquire after the meaning of what -they spake or wrote. In several other places I hope my -reader will find a natural exposition of many a dark and -doubtful text, and some new beauties and connections of -thought discovered in the Jewish poet, though not in the -language of a Jew. In all places I have kept my grand -design in view, and that is to teach my author to speak -like a Christian. For why should I now address God my -Saviour in a song, with burnt sacrifices of fatlings, and -with the fat of rams? Why should I pray to be sprinkled -with hyssop, or recur to the blood of bullocks and goats? -Why should I bind my sacrifice with cords to the horns of -an altar, or sing the praises of God to high-sounding -cymbals, when the Gospel has shown me a nobler atonement -for sin, and appointed a purer and more spiritual -worship? Why must I join with David in his legal or -prophetic language to curse my enemies, when my Saviour -in His sermons has taught me to love and bless them? -Why may not a Christian omit all those passages of the -Jewish psalmist that tend to fill the mind with overwhelming<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[131]</span> -sorrows, despairing thoughts, or bitter personal -resentments, none of which are well suited to the spirit of -Christianity, which is a dispensation of hope and joy -and love? What need is there that I should wrap up the -shining honours of my Redeemer in the dark and shadowy -language of a religion that is now for ever abolished, -especially when Christians are so vehemently warned in -the Epistles of St. Paul against a Judaizing spirit in their -worship as well as doctrine? And what fault can there be -in enlarging a little on the more useful subjects in the -style of the Gospel, where the psalm gives any occasion, -since the whole religion of the Jews is censured often in -the New Testament as a defective and imperfect thing?”</p> - -</div> - -<p>And, again, he says on the—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">SPIRIT OF THE HEBREW PSALMS.</p> - -<p>“Moses, Deborah, and the princes of Israel; David, -Asaph, Habakkuk, and all the saints under the Jewish -state, sung their own joys and victories, their own hopes, -and fears, and deliverances, as I hinted before; and why -must we, under the Gospel, sing nothing else but the joys, -hopes, and fears of Asaph and David? Why must -Christians be forbid all other melody but what arises from -the victories and deliverances of the Jews? David would -have thought it very hard to be confined to the words of -Moses, and sung nothing else on all his rejoicing days but -the drowning of Pharaoh of the fifteenth of Exodus. He -might have supposed it a little unreasonable, when he had -peculiar occasions of mournful music, if he had been forced -to keep close to Moses’ prayer in the ninetieth Psalm, -and always have sung over the shortness of human life, -especially if he were not permitted the liberty of a paraphrase; -and yet the special concerns of David and Moses<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[132]</span> -were much more akin to each other than ours are to either -of them, and yet they were both of the same religion; but -ours is very different. It is true that David has left us a -richer variety of holy songs than all that went before him; -but, rich as it is, it is still far short of the glorious things -that we Christians have to sing before the Lord; we and -our churches have our special affairs as well as they. Now, -if by a little turn of their words, or by the change of a -short sentence, we may express our own meditations, joys, -and desires in the verse of those ancient psalmists, why -should we be forbidden this sweet privilege? Why should -we, under the Christian dispensation, be tied up to forms -more than the Jews themselves were, and such as are -much more improper for our age and state too? Let us -remember that the very power of singing was given to -human nature chiefly for this purpose, that our own warmest -affections of soul might break out into natural or divine -melody, and that the tongue of the worshipper might -express his own heart.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The following well expresses his modest estimate of -his work: “I must confess I have never yet seen any -version or paraphrase of the Psalms, in their own Jewish -sense, so perfect as to discourage all further attempts. -But whoever undertakes the noble work, let him bring -with him a soul devoted to piety, an exalted genius, and -withal a studious application; for David’s harp abhors a -profane finger and disdains to answer to an unskilful or a -careless touch. A meaner pen may imitate at a distance; -but a complete translation or a just paraphrase demands -a rich treasury of diction, an exalted fancy, a quick taste -of devout passion, together with judgment, strict and -severe, to retrench every luxuriant line, and to maintain -a religious sovereignty over the whole work. Thus the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span> -psalmist of Israel might arise in Great Britain in all -his Hebrew glory, and entertain the more knowing and -polite Christians of our age. But still I am bold to maintain -the general principle on which my present work is -founded; and that is, that if the brightest genius on earth, -or an angel from heaven, should translate David and keep -close to the sense and style of the inspired author, we -should only obtain thereby a bright or heavenly copy of -the devotions of the Jewish king; but it could never make -the fittest psalm-book for a Christian people. It was not -my design to exalt myself to the rank and glory of poets, -but I was ambitions to be a servant to the Churches and a -helper to the joy of the meanest Christian. Though there -are many gone before me who have taught the Hebrew -psalmist to speak English, yet I think I may assume this -pleasure of being the first who hath brought down the -royal author into the common affairs of the Christian life, -and led the Psalmist of Israel into the Church of Christ, -without anything of a Jew about him. And whensoever -there shall appear any paraphrase of the Book of Psalms -that retains more of the savour of David’s piety, or discovers -more of the style and spirit of the Gospel, with a -superior dignity of verse, and yet the lines as easy and -flowing and the sense and language as level to the lowest -capacity, I shall congratulate the world, and consent to -say, Let this attempt of mine be buried in silence.”</p> - -<p>This chapter must not be closed without some slight -reference to the wonderful history and anecdote connected -with these hymns; verses from them have been -murmured from innumerable death-beds, have shone out -as memorial lines on innumerable tombstones, and have -proved, in how many instances, to be the converting word, -the power of God unto salvation. When the great orator<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[134]</span> -and statesman of the United States, Daniel Webster, lay -dying, almost the last words which fell from those eloquent -lips which had so often moved in the Senate with thrilling -and overwhelming power, were those words of Watts’ -51st Psalm; and he repeated them again and again:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Show pity, Lord: O Lord, forgive;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let a repenting rebel live;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are not Thy mercies large and free?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May not a sinner trust in Thee?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And the gravestone of the great shoemaker, scholar, linguist, -and missionary, William Carey, in Bengal, contains -beside the name and date only that final confession of -faith:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On Thy kind arms I fall.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">The late beautiful and beloved William Bunting used to -tell a story of a poor blind woman, in Liverpool, brought -to a sense of sin and salvation at a Wesleyan service held -in connection with the national fast upon the first visit of -cholera to this country. Her impressions had been stirred -by Watts’ hymn—the 224th of the Wesleyan Selection—“I’ll -praise my Maker while I’ve breath.” The next -morning she called on the Rev. R. McOwen, and asked -if he could procure for her the book in which was the -hymn with those lines, also Watts’,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Lord pours eyesight on the blind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Lord supports the sinking mind.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">It also was in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, which Mr. -McOwen placed in her hands. Her memory was soon -stored with the hymns which she delighted in repeating. -By her talent in shampooing she earned a respectable -livelihood. For this purpose she attended on the old<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[135]</span> -Earl of Derby, the grandfather to the present Earl. She -repeated one of her hymns to him. The old Earl liked -it, and encouraged her to repeat more. But one day, when -repeating the hymn of Charles Wesley, “All ye that pass -by,” she came to the words:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Lord in the day of His anger did lay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your sins on the Lamb, and He bore them away,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">he said, “Stop, Mrs. Brass, don’t you think it should be—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The Lord in the day of His <i>mercy</i> did lay?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">She did not think his criticism valid; but it showed she -was not repeating her verses to inattentive ears, and other -indications showed that the blind woman was made a -blessing to the dying nobleman. But such anecdotes -might be multiplied and extended to many pages.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer2.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="figcenter illowp56" id="illus4" style="max-width: 32.8125em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""> - <p class="caption">PORTRAIT OF ISAAC WATTS IN EARLY LIFE.</p> - <p class="caption">Believed to have been presented by him to his friend - and schoolmaster, the Rev. John Pinhorne, Master of the Grammar School, - Southampton, now in the Vestry of Above Bar Chapel, Southampton.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header8.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.<br> -<span class="smaller">A Circle of Friends.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>The friends of Watts, at almost any period of his life, -form an interesting and very memorable circle, a very -striking portrait gallery. Amongst them are some well-known -names, and some, comparatively unknown now, -famous then. We have said, about a mile from Theobalds, -within the parish of Cheshunt, lived <span class="smcap">Richard Cromwell</span>. -He was a member of Watts’ church, although he removed -from Cheshunt some short time after Watts’ settlement.</p> - -<p>But a more remarkable person than Richard Cromwell -was Cromwell’s niece, the granddaughter of the great -Protector, Mrs. <span class="smcap">Bendish</span>, in whom it was said the -very Protector himself lived again. Her husband was -Thomas Bendish, Esq., a descendant of Sir Thomas -Bendish, Baronet, ambassador from Charles <span class="allsmcap">I.</span> to the -Court of Turkey. He died in 1707, but she survived -him till 1728, removing, however, in the latter years of -her life, to Yarmouth. She was a piece of astonishing -eccentricity. She had a great admiration for Owen as -a theologian and Watts as a poet; and very early in -his life Watts addressed to her his poem against tears.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>[137]</span> -She was a member of his church. Her admiration for -her grandfather was extraordinary, and no one was -permitted in her presence to express a doubt concerning -his legitimate sovereignty or essential greatness. What -she might have been as a man is beyond all power to -speculate; as a woman she certainly inherited much of -her grandfather’s dreamy, musing, moody, and ruggedly -imperative character. Her character and her connections -both alike commanded for her great respect, but she was -an oddity. She was fond of night walks, even on lonely -roads. She would not suffer a servant to attend her, -saying God was a sufficient guard, and she would have no -other. Visiting at the houses of friends, she would -usually set off at about one in the morning in her chaise, -or on horseback, chanting as she went one of Watts’ -hymns in a key, it is said, more loud than sweet. There -are pictures of her, word paintings, which bring her before -our eyes in the oddest light. Capable of comporting herself -with dignity in the best society, she disdained no -menial employment, and very cheerfully turned her hand -to the pitch-fork or the spade among her labourers and -workmen, working herself with a right ready and forcible -good will, from the early morning to declining day, in an -attire as mean as the meanest of those with whom she was -toiling, giving no account, say some records, of either her -character or even her sex. It is a curious thing to find -the youthful Isaac Watts talking to this strong-minded -creature like a patriarch in his lines addressed to her in -1699, in which occurs the fine verse:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">If ’tis a rugged path you go,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thousand foes your steps surround,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tread the thorns down, charge through the foe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hardest fight is highest crowned.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>[138]</span></p> - -<p class="noindent">We could have liked a portrait of her from the pen of -Watts, or a record of some of his conversations with her -or with her uncle, but it does not appear to have been in -his way either to sketch the portraits of his friends or -to violate private confidences or conferences by putting -them on paper. Her son was another of Watts’ intimates, -and with him the family of Bendish became -extinct. He died at Yarmouth, unmarried, in the year -1753.</p> - -<p>Among the ministerial friends of Watts stands the -almost forgotten name of <span class="smcap">John Shower</span>, a very beautiful -and eminent man in his day, a man of large learning and -extensive travel. He had ministered for some time to an -English congregation at Rotterdam, and, returning to -England, he passed through the periods of trouble afflicting -the communion to which he belonged. Watts was on -terms of close intimacy with him, and they must have -been congenial in their lives of elevated and profoundly -cultured piety.</p> - -<p>And there were men around Watts in the ministry -with whom he had great congeniality of sentiment. -Eminent among these was <span class="smcap">Samuel Rosewell</span>, the son -of Thomas Rosewell, celebrated for his trial for high treason -and unjust condemnation before the impious Jefferies. -Watts gives an interesting account of his visit to him on -his death-bed in one of his sermons preached at Bury -Street. “Come, my friends,” says he, “come into the -chamber of a dying Christian; come, approach his pillow, -and hear his holy language: ‘I am going up to heaven, -and I long to be gone, to be where my Saviour is.—Why -are His chariot-wheels so long in coming?—I hope I am -a sincere Christian, but the meanest and the most unworthy:—I -know I am a great sinner, but did not Christ come to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span> -save the chief of sinners?—I have trusted in Him, and I -have strong consolation.—I love God, I love Christ.—I desire -to love Him more, to be more like Him, and to serve -Him in heaven without sin.—Dear brother, I shall see you -at the right hand of Christ.—There I shall see all our -friends that are gone a little before (alluding to Sir T. -Abney).—I go to my God and to your God, to my Saviour -and to your Saviour.’ These,” observes Watts, “are some -of the dying words of the Rev. Mr. S. Rosewell, when, -with some other friends, I went to visit him two days -before his death, and which I transcribed as soon as I came -home, with their assistance.” It was after this visit Watts -wrote to his friend the following note:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Dear Brother Rosewell</span>,</p> - -<p>“Your most agreeable and divine conversation, -two days ago, so sweetly overpowered my spirits, and the -most affectionate expressions which you so plentifully -bestowed on me awakened in me so many pleasing sensations, -that I seemed a borderer on the heavenly world when -I saw you on the confines of heaven and conversed with -you there. Yet I can hardly forbear to ask for your stay -on earth, and wish your service in the sanctuary, after you -have been so much within view of the glorious invisibilities -which the Gospel reveals to us. But if that hope -fail, yet our better expectations can never fail us. Our -anchor enters within the veil, where Jesus, our forerunner, -is gone to take our places (Heb. vi. ult.). May your -pains decrease, or your divine joys overpower them! May -you never lose sight of the blessed world, and of Jesus, the -Lord of it, till the storm is passed and you are safely -arrived. And may the same grace prepare me for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[140]</span> -same mansions, and give you the pleasure of welcoming to -those bright regions</p> - -<p>“Your affectionate and unworthy friend and brother,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Isaac Watts</span>.</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Lime Street</span>, <i>7th April, 1722</i>.</p> - -<p>“Just going to Theobalds.</p> - -<p>“P.S.—Our family salute you; they are much affected, -pleased, and edified with their late visit. Grace be with -you and all your dear relations. Amen.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>And among his friends, as we have already seen, he kept -up a considerable intimacy with his own fellow-townsman -and fellow-student, <span class="smcap">Samuel Say</span>, son of Giles Say, who -was ejected from the parish church of St. Michael’s in -Southampton, and one of the first ministers of the Nonconformist -church of that town, and with which Watts’ -family was connected. He was a kind of smaller Watts, -a man of large and varied knowledge in the classics, -mathematics, astronomy, and natural philosophy. For -forty-eight years he kept a journal of the alterations of -the weather and of his observations of remarkable occurrences -in nature. Possessed of an extraordinary genius, it -was veiled and shrouded by a modesty as extraordinary; -but about two years before his death some of his papers -were committed to the press, consisting of poems and -essays on the “Harmony, Variety and Power of Numbers, -whether in Prose or Verse.” He had a great admiration -for Milton, and translated apparently with great elegance -the introduction of “Paradise Lost” into Latin verse; and -in the “Gentleman’s Magazine,” vol. xxxv., is an interesting -paper by him, entitled, “The Resurrection Illustrated by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[141]</span> -the Changes of the Silkworm.” Watts thought highly of -his judgment, as the following, among other letters, indicates:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<i>April 11th, 1728.</i></p> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,</p> - -<p>“Your letter, dated from Feb. 10th to March 5th, -afforded me agreeable entertainment, and particularly your -notes on the 2nd Psalm, in which I think I concur in sentiment -with you in every line, and thank you. The epiphonema -to the 16th Psalm is also very acceptable, and, in -my opinion, the Psalms ought to be translated in such a -manner for Christian worship, in order to show the hidden -glories of that divine posey. I beg leave only to query -about the <i>Sheol</i> in Psalm 16, whether that phrase of ‘not -seeing corruption’ ought to be applied to David at all, -since Peter (Acts ii. 31) and Paul (Acts xiii. 36) seem to -exclude him. And though I will not say that your sense -of the <i>soul</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, the <i>life</i>, may answer the Hebrew manner -of the reduplication of the same thing in other words, yet, -as David sometimes speaks of the <i>soul</i> as a thing distinct -from the body, and may not the <i>soul</i> be taken in this -place and <i>Sheol</i> signify <i>Hades</i>, the state of the dead?</p> - -<p>“I am glad my little prayer-book is acceptable to you -and your daughter. I perceive you have been also (among -many others) uneasy to have no easier and plainer catechism -for children than that of the Assembly. I had a -letter from Leicestershire the very same day when I -received yours on the same subject; and long after this a -multitude of requests have I had to set my thoughts at -work for this purpose. I have designed it these many -years. I have laid out some schemes for this purpose, and -I would have three or four series of catechisms, as I have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[142]</span> -of prayers. I believe I shall do it ere long if God afford -health. But, dear friend, forgive me if I cannot come into -your scheme of ‘bringing in the creed;’ for it is, in my -opinion, a most imperfect and immethodical composition, -and deserves no great regard, unless it be put in at the end -of the catechism for form’s sake, together with the Lord’s -Prayer and Ten Commandments, as is done in the Assembly’s -Catechism. The history of the life and death of -Christ is excessively long in so short a system and the -design of the death of Christ (which is the glory of Christianity) -is utterly omitted. Besides, the operations, of the -Spirit are not named. The practical articles are all excluded. -In short, ’tis a very mean composure, and has -nothing valuable—<i>præter mille annos</i>. My ideas of these -matters run in another track, which, if ever I have the -happiness to see you, may be matter for communication -between us. I am sorry I forgot to put up the coronation -ode in my pocket. I will count myself in debt till I have an -occasion to send you something more valuable along with it. -Two days (ago) I published a little essay on charity schools, -my treatise of education growing so much longer in my -hands than I designed. If it were worth while to send -such a trifle you should have it. In the meantime I take -leave, and with due salutations to yourself and yours,</p> - -<p>“I am your affectionate brother and servant,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">I. Watts</span>.”</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">William Coward</span> is the name of one of Watts’ intimate -friends, an oddity in his way as great as Mrs. Bendish: -he had been a merchant in the city; he lived in retirement -at Waltonstow; his name is well known now in Nonconformist -circles as the founder of “The Coward Trust,” a -useful fountain of benevolence for the education of young,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[143]</span> -and the assistance of poor decayed ministers. He was a -type of man easily realised to the imagination, dogmatical -and opinionated, a bundle of eccentricities. Among others, -it was his whim to establish a rule that the doors of his -house should never be opened, however pressing the emergency, -after eight o’clock at night, to any person whatever, -visitor or friend. The name of Hugh Farmer is still held -in high and deserved respect for manifold attainments, one -of Doddridge’s most hopeful students, and who had probably -been recommended to Mr. Coward by Doddridge, to -whose academy Coward was a munificent helper. Farmer -was the chaplain of the eccentric man, but he arrived one -evening at the door too late; he found himself without -lodging for the night, and was compelled to betake himself -to the house of another, perhaps equally eminent, but -more courteous friend, Mr. Snell, who not only took him -in for that evening, but compelled him to stay with him -for thirty years. Nonconformist ministers appear to have -possessed some singularly appreciative friends in those -days. William Coward, however, was, if a man of singular -eccentricity, one possessed of sterling virtues, and especially -zealous in the maintenance of the more rigid articles -of faith, and was constantly devising some plans of usefulness -to assist both metropolitan and country ministers. -Watts appears to have had great influence over him, and -could comb his rugged asperities into smoothness. Watts -it was to whom we are greatly indebted for the shape -assumed by the “Coward Trust.” He devoted £20,000, -and by Watts’ wise and most judicious advice it was left -in such a manner that, unlike many other trusts, it has -been saved from the consequence of diversion or litigation; -and, largely and most respectably useful, it has furnished a -most helpful hand in giving a thorough and most respectable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>[144]</span> -education to many a young minister, and helping -many a poor one, even to the present day. The “will” -of William Coward is a curiosity, and may be studied, by -those who have patience, on the walls of the library of the -New College.</p> - -<p>Among the friends of Watts, whose names ought to -be mentioned, we must not omit that of <span class="smcap">John Shute, -Lord Barrington</span>, a person very interesting in his own -times. He moved in that immediate circle of which -Watts was a distinguished member; he was nearly of -Watts’ age, and his mother was a daughter of that Joseph -Caryl who was one of Watts’ early predecessors in the -ministry at Mark Lane. He was a thoughtful, scholarly -man, as the several works he published abundantly show.<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> -His sixth and youngest son became the well-known Shute -Barrington, Bishop of Durham. In the memoir prefixed -to the three volumes of his father’s works, the name of -Dr. Watts is never even mentioned, although the verses -from the lyrics, referring to the intimacy of Shute with -John Locke, addressed to him by Watts, are quoted. He -was a member of the Church meeting at Pinners’ Hall, -and had previously attended the ministry of Thomas -Bradbury; but when that person behaved so indecently to -Dr. Watts, and took so turbulent a part in the discussion -with reference to the Trinity, Lord Barrington -united himself with the Church at Pinners’ Hall, -then beneath the ministry of Dr. Jeremiah Hunt. It -seems probable that an intimacy commenced early in life -between Mr. Shute and Isaac Watts, perhaps before the -settlement of Watts in the ministry. It was in 1718 that -Swift writes of him, “One Mr. Shute is named for the -secretary to Lord Wharton; he is a young man, but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[145]</span> -reckoned the shrewdest head in England, and the person -in whom the Presbyterians chiefly confide; and if money -be necessary toward the good work (that is, the repeal -of the sacramental test) in Ireland, it is reckoned he can -command as far as £100,000 from the body of Dissenters -here. As to his principles, he is a truly moderate man, -frequenting the church and the meeting indifferently.” -He took the name of Barrington about the time this letter -was written, a connection of his family, Francis Barrington, -Esq., of Tofts, in Essex, leaving to him his estate -conditionally upon his taking his name and adopting his -arms. The high favour in which he stood with George <span class="allsmcap">I.</span> -exposed him to the jealousy and enmity of Sir Robert -Walpole. He had an interview with the king on the first -day after his arrival in London, apparently in order that -he might decline certain offices of preferment which were -made him, because the Schism and Conformity Bills were -as yet unrepealed. Upon this occasion he stated to the -king the grievances beneath which Dissenters suffered, -although they were amongst the most hearty and faithful -friends of the House of Hanover. In the fifth year of this -reign he was created a peer. He stood very high in the -friendship of the king, and it seems that it was this very -friendship which brought about the close of his political -life when, in 1723, he was expelled from the House of -Commons for his connection with the Harburgh lottery. -This was a company formed for carrying on trade between -England and the king’s electoral dominions, and it had -been proposed that it should be assisted by a lottery to -defray the expenses in deepening the River Elbe near the -port of Harburgh; the project had not met with the approbation -of Lord Barrington, but he received the king’s -personal commands to continue as sub-governor of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[146]</span> -company, Prince Frederick being the governor. It furnished, -however, the occasion which Sir Robert Walpole -knew how to use for the removal from his path of a man -dangerous to his own unscrupulous ambition. The project -itself was simply a means, favoured by the king, for promoting -trade between the two countries. But now, in his -retirement, he betook himself to pursuits of a very different -character, and the volumes of his theological works are -most interesting, and show abundantly how he brought to -bear upon the department of theology that clearness of -judgment which had characterized his political life, united -to a keen analytic power of criticism and discrimination -very interesting to follow through the subjects he discusses; -his essay “On the Dispensation of God to -Mankind as revealed in Scripture” is especially entertaining -and suggestive.</p> - -<p>He was nephew, by his mother, of Sir Thomas Abney, -and this would make his intimacy with the family in -which Watts resided very natural; but at his house at -Tofts he kept round about him much intellectual society, -and sometimes even of persons widely differing in opinion -from himself, such persons as Antony Collins,<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> the well-known -sceptical writer of that day. The Greek Testament -was frequently the subject of investigation and criticism, -and on one occasion it is said Collins remarked concerning -the apostle Paul, “I think so well of him as a man of -sense and a gentleman, that if he had asserted he had -worked miracles himself, I would have believed him.”</p> - -<p>Lord Barrington instantly produced a passage to that -effect, when the disconcerted sceptic seized his hat and -hastily retreated from the company. Upon another occasion -his lordship inquired how it was that although he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span> -professed to have no religion himself, he was so careful -that his servants should attend regularly at church, when -he replied he did this to prevent them robbing and murdering -him. This amiable nobleman, moderate, wise, and -well informed, if we may not rather speak of him as a man -of extensive and varied scholarship, was such a one as -could well appreciate and sympathize with Isaac Watts. -At the old house at Tofts, or Beckets, in Berkshire, where -Lord Barrington died, we may be sure that Watts was a -frequent visitor, and it was the frequency of the intercourse -probably which permits us so few letters between them, -and of those letters none before 1718. We have already -quoted the high estimate he formed of Watts’ “View of -Scripture History;” his estimate of the “Logic” he rates so -highly that he says, “I shall not only recommend it to -others, but use it as the best manual of its kind myself, -and I intend, as some have done Erasmus or a piece of -Cicero, to read it over once a year.” The following note -sets every point of his friendship with Watts in a very -pleasing light:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">London</span>, <i>Jan. 11, 1718</i>.</p> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Rev. Sir</span>,</p> - -<p>“I cannot dispense with myself from taking the -first opportunity I have of acknowledging your great -favour in assisting me so readily to offer up the praise due -to Almighty God for His signal mercies vouchsafed me -on three several occasions, and of assuring you that it -was with the utmost concern I understood that I must -not flatter myself with the hopes of your being with us in -this last. But how very obliging are you, who would give -yourself the trouble to let me know that, though you -could not give me the advantage of your company at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[148]</span> -Hatton Garden, yet I should not want your assistance at -a distance, where you would address such petitions to -heaven to meet ours as tend to render me one of the best -and happiest men alive. This they will influence to me -in some measure, both by their prevalency at the throne -of grace, and by instructing me in the most agreeable -manner what I should aspire to. Whilst I read your -letter, I found my blood fired with the greatest ambition -to be what you wish me. I will, therefore, carefully -preserve it, where it shall be least liable to accidents, and -where it will be always most in my view. There, as I -shall see what I ought to be, by keeping it always before -me, I shall not only have the pleasure of observing the -masterly strokes of the character you wish me, but, I hope, -come in time to bear some resemblance to it. Whilst you -were praying for us, we did not forget you; nor shall -I cease to beseech Almighty God to make you a bright -example of passive virtue, till He shall see fit to restore -you to that eminent degree of acceptableness and service -you have once enjoyed.</p> - -<p>“I am, sir, your most obliged humble servant,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Barrington</span>.</p> - -<p>“My wife is very much obliged by your civility. She has -desired a copy of your letter, which, she says, will be as -useful to her as it has been entertaining, if it be not her -own fault. Both our humble services attend the good -family where you are. I am sorry my lady’s cold is like -to deprive us of their company on Wednesday.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Yet another of the circle of friends, whose names occur -to the mind when we think of Watts, is the saintly <span class="smcap">James -Hervey</span>. One of Watts’ biographers speaks of “the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a>[149]</span> -bloated effusions of Hervey which are now justly discarded, -then not only tolerated, but admired.” It is an -unjust judgment; James Hamilton was much more fair -and faithful when he says of him that “he had a mind of -uncommon gorgeousness, his thoughts are marched to a -stately music, and were arrayed in the richest superlatives;” -and he speaks of Hervey’s “Theron and Aspasia” -as “one of our finest prose poems.” James Hervey deserves -that his name should be mentioned with great affection -and respect. His life was perpetually stretched upon a -rack of infirmity and weakness. There is even a kind of -pathetic drollery in watching him at Weston Favell living -his bachelor’s life, and, while stirring the saucepan which -held the gruel constituting his modest meal, turning aside -to derive some new fancy, fact, or image from the microscope -on his study table. As a writer, he indulged himself -too freely in colour, but many of his works are very -pleasing; he was not only passionately fond of natural -scenery, but in an equal degree delighted in the discoveries -of natural history; his copious description of -the human frame is one of the most seductive dissertations -on anatomy and physiology in our language; -and those subjects, not remarkable for being invested -with the charms of fancy, certainly do in his descriptions -appear to be invested by the fascinations of poetry. -He was a friend of both Doddridge and Watts. He lived -ever in the neighbourhood of the grave, but his little -church of Weston Favell was filled with a loving congregation. -It was a small flock, for it was a small -church: but the humble villagers felt a large amount of -affectionate regard for their feeble and yet famous friend. -Into his church he speedily introduced, after their publication, -Dr. Watts’ Hymns. So he tells Watts:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150"></a>[150]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“To tell you, worthy Doctor, that your works have -long been my delight and study, the favourite pattern -by which I would form my conduct and model my -style, would be only to echo back in the faintest accents -what sounds in the general voice of the nation. -Among other of your edifying compositions, I have -reason to thank you for your ‘Sacred Songs,’ which I -have introduced into the service of my church; so that -in the solemnities of the Sabbath, and in a lecture on -the week-day, your music lights up the incense of our -praise, and furnishes our devotions with harmony. Our -excellent friend, Dr. Doddridge, informs me of the infirm -condition of your health, for which reason I humbly -beseech the Father of spirits and the God of our life to -renew your strength as the eagle’s, and to recruit a lamp -that has shone with distinguished lustre in His sanctuary; -or, if this may not consist with the counsels of unerring -wisdom, to make all your bed in your languishing, softly -to untie the cords of animal existence, to enable your -dislodging soul to pass triumphantly through the valley of -death, leaning on your beloved Jesus, and rejoicing in the -greatness of His salvation. You have a multitude of -names to bear on your breast and mention with your lips, -when you approach the throne of grace in the beneficent -exercise of intercession; but none, I am sure, has more -need of such an interest in your supplications than, dear -sir, your obliged and humble and affectionate servant,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">James Hervey</span>.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>There could not be a very long intimacy between these -two, or much knowledge of each other; they were both -hermits, following, in the midst of much weakness, the calls -of duty and the pursuits of a cultivated taste. The letter<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span> -we have just quoted was written the year before Watts -died; Hervey lived ten years longer, but died at the age -of forty-seven. He forms one of a cluster of men singularly -interesting to contemplate. With Doddridge, -from their vicinity in the same county, he was on terms -of the closest intimacy. He was a large scholar, a poet by -natural temperament, and an intense lover of natural -description. His works, once so famous, are almost forgotten, -and have fallen into quite an undeserved neglect, -partly arising, it may be, from the unfavourable estimate -formed of them by those who have not read them, or who -may have fixed their impressions from the scanning his -“Contemplation of the Starry Heavens,” or his “Reflections -in a Flower Garden,” or his “Descant on Creation.” -His portrait should be suspended in the gallery of those -we are noticing as one, who, if not among Watts’ most -intimate friends, yet revered and loved him much.</p> - -<p>But there is one name with which that of Watts is -constantly united; it is the name of one whose nature in -a marked and special manner seemed fitted to produce a -perfect harmony and accord, it is the name of <span class="smcap">Philip -Doddridge</span>. At what period the friendship commenced -cannot be very exactly ascertained. Probably, had the -life of Doddridge been spared to pen the biography of his -venerable friend, the present biographer might have felt -his work a superfluity of naughtiness; but, considerable as -the distance was between the ages of the friends, Watts -preceded his younger brother by only a short time to the -grave. Like Watts, his name is especially associated with -the hymnology of England; nor is there a collection of -sacred songs which does not contain some strains from -the pair of sweet singers. Doddridge is indeed rather -known by a few pieces, very sweet and helpful, but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[152]</span> -limited in the range of their emotions, and never attempting -the lofty and dazzling flight of Watts’ nobler pieces.</p> - -<p>Doddridge’s life is full of interest; it has yet to be -written, for there was a variety of incidents in his story -which scarcely appears in the biography of Kippis, or the -admirable memoir of Job Orton. All things considered, it -was a wonderful life: its activity was amazing, the variety -of his literary acquirements and spoils was prodigious; -one would say he had much more of the poet’s temperament -than Watts; he was impulsive, passionate, affectionate, -yet we certainly miss in him that indefinable -something which constitutes the poet, and which something, -Watts assuredly possessed.</p> - -<p>In some particulars both in his ancestry and earlier -career Doddridge resembled Watts; Philip, like Isaac, -was the child (he was the twentieth) of a mother whom -persecution had drifted to our shores; at his birth his -mother seemed so near to death that no attention was -given to the almost lifeless little castaway, the infant, and -the world almost lost Philip the moment he was born.</p> - -<p>If Watts probably received his first lessons in biblical -knowledge from his grandmother by the fireside of the old -house in French Street, the Dutch tiles in the chimney -constituting an illuminated and illustrated Bible, from -which Doddridge’s mother first initiated her own son into -Bible lore, have become a famous tradition. Like Isaac, -Philip made so much progress in scholarship, that he had -the offer of a training in either University if he would -enter the Established Church; it was made generously by -the Duchess of Bedford. Philip, like Isaac, declined the -temptation, and so he found his <i>alma mater</i> beneath the -more modest and obscure roof of a Dissenting academy -at Kibworth, in Leicestershire.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[153]</span></p> - -<p>Doddridge was born in the year when Watts first -became the co-pastor of Dr. Chauncy, and he died in 1751, -scarcely two years after the venerable friend whom he so -much honoured and loved. Thus, when Watts died, -Doddridge was on his way to the tomb, dying by the slow -process of consumption. Great as was the difference in -point of age, it is affecting to read the following letter -from Watts to Doddridge—indeed, it simply expresses the -truth they were “both going out of the world.”</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Stoke Newington</span>, <i>Oct. 18, 1746</i>, Saturday.</p> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,</p> - -<p>“My much esteemed friend and brother,</p> - -<p>“It was some trouble to me that you even fancied I had -taken anything ill at your hands; it was only my own -great indisposition and weakness which prevented the -freedom and pleasure of <i>conversation</i>; and I am so low -yet that I can neither study nor preach, nor have I any -hope of better days in this world; but, blessed be God, we -are moving onwards, I hope, to a state infinitely better. -I should be glad of more Divine assistance from the -Spirit of Consolation, to make me go cheerfully through -the remaining days of my life. I am very sorry to find, -by reports from friends, that you have met with so many -vexations in these latter months of life; and yet I cannot -find that your sentiments are altered, nor should your -orthodoxy or charity be called in question. I shall take it -a pleasure to have another letter from you, informing me -that things are much easier, both with you and in the -west country. As we are both going out of the world, we -may commit each other to the care of our common Lord, -who is, we hope, ours in an unchangeable covenant. I am<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[154]</span> -glad to hear Mrs. Doddridge has her health better; and I -heartily pray for your prosperity, peace, and success in -your daily labours.</p> - -<p class="center">“I am yours affectionately, in our common Lord,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">I. Watts</span>.</p> - -<p>“P.S.—I rejoice to hear so well of Mr. Ashworth: I -hope my lady and I have set him up with commentators, -for which he has given us both thanks. I trust I shall -shortly see your third volume of the ‘Family Expositor.’”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Watts’ life was uniform; we can scarcely point to a -period and say the man woke into life and being then and -there; but Doddridge reached his period of interior life -and labour when he became pastor and tutor at Northampton, -and it would almost seem as if disappointment in -love made a man of him.</p> - -<p>The work accomplished by Doddridge in the academy of -which he was tutor was enormous, and it exhibits the -thoroughness of the training in the small unostentatious -academy where the Dissenting ministers of that day -gathered their stores of knowledge, and received their -education for the ministry.</p> - -<p>And he was great as a preacher—the peasants of the -neighbourhood thought so—his usefulness among them -was eminent; and Akenside, the poet, thought so. The -variety of his correspondence is an amazing characteristic -too; various, not only as to the personages with whom he -corresponded, but the subjects upon which he corresponded -with them. Like Watts, his sweet and gentle nature -charmed the most obdurate—he had not even a Bradbury -to ruffle the equanimity of his spirit—even the rough and -savage Warburton became kind to him; he reviewed the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span> -“Divine Legation,” in the “Works of the Learned,” a -review of that day; and it was to the English Bishop who -quarrelled with everybody, the gentle Nonconformist was -indebted for obtaining that easy passage in the sailing -vessel, in which the captain gave up his cabin to him, that -he might journey to the warm airs of Lisbon to lay aside -his labours and to die. Doddridge is known by many of -his works. His “Family Expositor” a long time held a -place in the family and in the study; but a far more -extensive fame has followed the authorship of “The Rise -and Progress of Religion in the Soul.” This work, as its -dedication to Dr. Watts shows, owes also its existence to -him; two letters exhibit, on either side, the sentiments -these admirable men entertain for each other; the first -is the dedication to which reference has been made:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Rev. and dear Sir</span>,</p> - -<p>“With the most affectionate gratitude and respect -I beg leave to present you a book, which owes its -existence to your request, its copiousness to your plan, -and much of its perspicuity to your review, and to the -use I made of your remarks on that part of it which -your health and leisure would permit you to examine. -I address it to you, not to beg your patronage to it, for -of that I am already well assured, and much less from -any ambition of attempting your character, for which, if -I were more equal to the subject, I should think this a -very improper place, but chiefly from a secret delight -which I find in the thought of being known to those -whom this may reach as one whom you have honoured, -not only with your friendship, but with so much of your -esteem and approbation too, as must substantially appear<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[156]</span> -in your committing a work to me, which you had yourself -projected, as one of the most considerable services -of your life.</p> - -<p>“I have long thought the love of popular applause a -meanness which a philosophy far inferior to that of our -Divine Master, might have us to conquer. But to be -esteemed by eminently great and good men, to whom we -are intimately known, appears to me not only one of -the most solid attestations of some real worth, but, next -to the approbation of God and our own consciences, one -of its most valuable rewards. It will, I doubt not, be -found so in that world to which spirits like yours are -tending, and for which, through Divine grace, you have -obtained so uncommon a degree of ripeness. And permit -me, sir, while I write this, to refresh myself with the -hope that when that union of hearts which has so long -subsisted between us shall arrive to its full maturity and -endearment there, it will be matter of mutual delight to -recollect that you have assigned me, and that I have, in -some degree, executed a task which may, perhaps, under -the blessing of God, awaken and improve religious sentiments -in the minds of those we leave behind us, and of -others that may arise after us in this vain, transitory, and -ensnaring world.</p> - -<p>“Such is the improvement you have made of capacities -for service that I am fully persuaded heaven has received -very few in these latter ages who have done so much -to serve its interests here below; few who have laboured -in this best of causes with equal zeal and success; and -therefore I cannot but join with all who wish well to the -Christian interest among us, in acknowledging the goodness -of Providence to you, and to the Church of Christ, -in prolonging a life, at once so valuable and so tender, to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[157]</span> -such an advanced period. With them, sir, I rejoice that -God has given you to possess in so extraordinary a degree, -not only the consciousness of intending great benefit to the -world, but the satisfaction of having effected it, and seeing -such an harvest already springing up, I hope, as an earnest -of a more copious increase from thence. With multitudes -more I bless God that you are not in the evening of so -afflicted and so laborious a day rendered entirely incapable -of serving the public from the press and from the pulpit, -and that, amidst the pain your active spirit feels when -these pleasing services suffer long interruption from bodily -weakness, it may be so singularly refreshed by reflecting -on that sphere of extensive usefulness in which by your -writings you continually move.</p> - -<p>“I congratulate you, dear sir, while you are in a multitude -of families and schools of the lower class, condescending -to the humble yet important work of forming -infant minds to the first rudiments of religious knowledge -and devout impressions, by your various catechisms and -divine songs, you are also daily reading lectures of logic -and other useful branches of philosophy to studious youth; -and this not only in private academies but in the most -public and celebrated seats of learning, not merely in -Scotland, and in our American colonies, where for some -peculiar considerations it might be most naturally expected, -but, through the amiable candour of some excellent -men and accomplished tutors, in our English universities -too. I congratulate you that you are teaching no doubt -hundreds of ministers and private Christians by your -sermons, and other theological tracts, so happily calculated -to diffuse through their minds that light of knowledge, -and through their hearts that fervour of piety, which -God has been pleased to enkindle in your own. But<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[158]</span> -above all I congratulate you that by your sacred poetry, -especially by your psalms and your hymns, you are leading -the worship, and, I trust also, animating the devotions -of myriads in our public assemblies every Sabbath, and -in their families and closets every day. This, sir, at -least so far as it relates to the service of the sanctuary, is -an unparalleled favour by which God hath been pleased -to distinguish you, I may boldly say it, beyond any of -His servants now upon earth. Well may it be esteemed -a glorious equivalent, and, indeed, much more than an -equivalent, for all those views of ecclesiastical preferment -to which such talents, learning, virtues, and -interests might have entitled you in an establishment; and -I doubt not but you joyfully accept it as such.</p> - -<p>“Nor is it easy to conceive in what circumstances you -could, on any supposition, have been easier and happier -than in that pious and truly honourable family in which, -as I verily believe in special indulgence both to you and -to it, Providence has been pleased to appoint that you -should spend so considerable a part of your life. It is -my earnest prayer that all the remainder of it may be -serene, useful, and pleasant. And as, to my certain knowledge, -your compositions have been the singular comfort -of many excellent Christians—some of them numbered -among my dearest friends—on their dying beds, for I have -heard stanzas of them repeated from the lips of several -who were doubtless in a few hours to begin the ‘Song -of Moses and the Lamb,’ so I hope and trust that, when -God shall call you to that salvation, for which your faith -and patience have so long been waiting, He will shed -around you the choicest beams of His favour, and gladden -your heart with consolations, like those which you have -been the happy instrument of administering to others.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[159]</span> -In the meantime, sir, be assured that I am not a little -animated in the various labours to which Providence has -called me, by reflecting that I have such a contemporary, -and especially such a friend, whose single presence would -be to me as that of a cloud of witnesses here below to -awaken my alacrity in the race which is set before me. -And I am persuaded that, while I say this, I speak the -sentiment of many of my brethren, even of various denominations, -a consideration which I hope will do something -towards reconciling a heart so generous as yours, to -a delay of that exceeding and eternal weight of glory -which is now so nearly approaching. Yes, my honoured -friend, you will, I hope, cheerfully endure a little longer -continuance in life amidst all its infirmities from an -assurance that, while God is pleased to maintain the -exercise of your reason, it is hardly possible you should -live in vain to the world or yourself. Every day and -every trial is brightening your crown, and rendering you -still more and more meet for an inheritance among the -saints in light. Every word which you drop from the -pulpit has now surely its peculiar weight. The eyes of -many are on their ascending prophet, eagerly intent that -they may catch, if not his mantle, at least some divine -sentence from his lips, which may long guide their ways, -and warm their hearts. This solicitude your friends bring -in those happy moments when they are favoured with -your converse in private, and, when you are retired from -them, your prayers, I doubt not, largely contribute towards -guarding your country, watering the Church, and blessing -the world. Long may they continue to answer these great -ends. And permit me, sir, to conclude with expressing -my cheerful confidence that in these best moments you -are often particularly mindful of one, who so highly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[160]</span> -esteems, so greatly needs, and so warmly returns that -remembrance as,</p> - -<p class="center">“Reverend Sir, your most affectionate brother,</p> - -<p class="center">“And obliged humble servant,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Philip Doddridge</span>.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Northampton</span>, <i>Dec. 13, 1744</i>.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>This dedication, of which Dr. Watts said, “It is the -only thing in that book I can hardly permit myself to -approve,” may be appropriately followed by a letter to -Mr. David Longueville, minister to the English church -at Amsterdam, who had written to Dr. Watts asking his -advice with reference to the translation of the works of -Doddridge into the Dutch tongue; to this Watts replies:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Rev. Sir</span>,</p> - -<p>“It is a very agreeable employment to which you -call me, and a very sensible honour you put upon me, -when you desire me to give you my sentiments of that -reverend and learned writer, Dr. Doddridge, to be prefixed -to a translation of any of his works into the Dutch tongue. -I have well known him for many years; I have enjoyed a -constant intimacy and friendship with him ever since the -providence of God called him to be a professor of human -science, and a teacher of sacred theology to young men -among us, who are trained up for the ministry of the -Gospel. I have no need to give you a large account of -his knowledge in the sciences, in which I confess him to -be greatly my superior; and as to the doctrines of divinity -and the Gospel of Christ, I know not of any man of greater -skill than himself, and hardly sufficient to be his second. -As he hath a most exact acquaintance with the things of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161"></a>[161]</span> -God and our holy religion, so far as we are let into the -knowledge of them by the light of nature and the revelations -of Scripture, so he hath a most happy manner of -teaching those who are younger. He hath a most skilful -and condescending way of instruction, nor is there any -person of my acquaintance with whom I am more entirely -agreed in all the sentiments of the doctrine of Christ. He -is a most hearty believer of the great articles and important -principles of the Reformed Church, a most affectionate -preacher and pathetic writer on the practical points -of religion, and, in one word, since I am now advanced in -age beyond my seventieth year, if there were any man to -whom Providence would permit me to commit a second -part of my life and usefulness in the Church of Christ, -Dr. Doddridge should be the man. If you have read that -excellent performance of his, ‘The Rise and Progress of -Religion in the Soul,’ etc., you will be of my mind; his -dedication to me is the only thing in that book I could -hardly permit myself to approve. Besides all this, he -possesses a spirit of so much charity, love, and goodness -towards his fellow Christians, who may fall into some -lesser differences of opinion, as becomes a follower of the -blessed Jesus, his Master and mine. In the practical part -of his labours and ministry, he hath sufficiently shown -himself most happily furnished with all proper gifts and -talents to lead persons of all ranks and ages into serious -piety and strict religion. I esteem it a considerable -honour which the Providence of God hath done me, when -it makes use of me as an instrument in His hands to promote -the usefulness of this great man in any part of the -world; and it is my hearty prayer that our Lord Jesus, the -Head of the Church, may bless all his labours with most -glorious success, either read or heard, in my native language<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162"></a>[162]</span> -or in any other tongue. I am, reverend sir, with -much sincerity your faithful humble servant, and affectionate -brother in the Gospel of our common Lord,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Isaac Watts</span>.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>“The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul” is still -the best book of its kind; but, without doing any dishonour -to its great merits, it may be said that it is built up -too much upon a frame-work like that of Scupoli and -A’Kempis, and we have known readers to whom it has -rather been a message of despair than of mercy. Salvation -and spiritual happiness seem to be rather in the attainment -of some subjective condition, than in the finished work of -Christ; the soul seems to be invited rather to brood over, -or look in upon itself, than to look outward and upward to -Christ. Still it has been rendered into all the leading languages -in Europe. But it is in his hymns that the influence -of Doddridge most resembles that of his friend. His hymns -have been spoken of as a kind of spiritual amber: but that -term, appropriate as it is, is rather descriptive of hymns in -general; are they not all pieces of secreted spiritual electricity, -rare and rich in spiritual emotion? And many of -Doddridge’s have an ineffable beauty. Logan, the Scotch -poet, has the doubtful reputation of the authorship of -several very sweet hymns; we say doubtful, because the -authorship turns rather ominously towards the more likely -genius of Michael Bruce; but, in any case, the famous -hymn, so sanctified in almost every Scotch household, as it -rises to the old tune of Martyrdom—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O God of Bethel, by whose hand,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">ought not to be regarded as his. It may not be uninteresting -to notice together the variations in the two -hymns:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163"></a>[163]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Logan.</span></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O God of Bethel! by Whose hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy people still are fed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who through this weary pilgrimage</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hast all our fathers led;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our vows, our prayers, we now present</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Before Thy throne of grace.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God of our fathers! be the God</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of their succeeding race.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Through each perplexing path of life,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our wandering footsteps guide:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Give us each day our daily bread,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And raiment fit provide.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O spread Thy covering wings around,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till all our wanderings cease,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And at our Father’s loved abode</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our souls arrive in peace.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Such blessings from Thy gracious hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our humble prayers implore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Thou shalt be our chosen God</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And portion ever more.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Doddridge.</span></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O God of Jacob, by Whose hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thine Israel still is fed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who through this weary pilgrimage</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hast all our fathers led;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To Thee our humble vows we raise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To Thee address our prayer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in Thy kind and faithful breast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Deposit all our care.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">If Thou through each perplexing path,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wilt be our constant guide:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If Thou wilt daily bread supply,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And raiment will provide;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">If Thou wilt spread Thy shield around,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till these our wanderings cease,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And at our Father’s loved abode</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our souls arrive in peace;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To Thee, as to our covenant-God,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We’ll our whole selves resign;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And count that not our tenth alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But all we have is Thine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It is not generally known that Doddridge pursued for -many years the practice of Watts—perhaps he derived it -from him—of writing a hymn after each or many of his -sermons, so that the volume of his hymns is a tolerably -large one, numbering three hundred and forty-seven. -Many of them have great evangelical tenderness and -beauty; we do not remember that they ever depart from -a good and correct taste; they never soar up to Watts’ -daring heights, but they are often very sweet and exquisite; -they are like the notes of a nightingale in the depths of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164"></a>[164]</span> -evening shades, or sometimes like dove-like wings flashing -near to the earth, but in the bright sunshine, “wings tipped -with silver, or feathers of yellow gold.” And, perhaps, we -appreciate rather more the frequent ecstasy of his hymns -in the memory of the fact that the story of his own life -shows him not to have been incapable of human passion.</p> - -<p>To Doddridge we are indebted for a pleasing illustration -of the early reception of Watts’ sacred verses; Southey has -quoted it in his life of Watts; the incident shows that the -hymns, in spite of the sneers of Bradbury, were hailed -with much delight, as supplying a very great want, not -only in public but domestic service. The letter from -Doddridge is dated 1731.</p> - -<p>“Till heaven is enriched by your removal thither, I -hope, sir, to find in you a counsellor and a friend, if God -should continue my life, and I cannot but admire the goodness -of Providence in honouring me with the friendship of -such a person. I can truly say your name was in the -number of those which were dearest to me long before I -ever saw you. Yet, since I have known you, I cannot but -find something of a more tender pleasure in the thought -of your successful various services in the advancement of -the best causes, that of real, vital, practical Christianity. -What happened under my observation a few days ago gave -me joy with regard to you, which is yet so warm in my -mind, that I hope, sir, you will pardon my relating the -occasion of it. On Wednesday last I was preaching in a -barn to a pretty large assembly of plain country people at -a village a few miles off. After a sermon from Hebrews -vi. 12, we sang one of your hymns (which, if I remember -right, was the 140th of the second book). And in that -part of the worship I had the satisfaction to observe tears -in the eyes of several of the auditory, and after the service<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165"></a>[165]</span> -was over, some of them told me that they were not able to -sing, so deeply were their minds affected with it, and the -clerk in particular told me he could hardly utter the words -of it.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> These were most of them poor people who work for -their living. On the mention of your name, I found they -had read several of your books with great delight, and that -your hymns and psalms were almost their daily entertainments. -And when one of the company said, ‘What if -Dr. Watts should come down to Northampton?’ another -replied, with a remarkable warmth, ‘The very sight of -him would be like an ordinance to me!’ I mention the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a>[166]</span> -thing just as it was, and am persuaded it is but a familiar, -natural specimen of what often occurs amongst a multitude -of Christians who never saw your face. Nor do I -by any means intend it as a compliment to a genius -capable of entertaining by the same compositions the -greatest and the meanest of mankind, but to remind you, -dear sir (with all the deference and humility due to a -superior character), how much you owe to Him who has -honoured you as the instrument of such extensive service. -Had Providence cast my lot near you, I should joyfully -have embraced the most frequent opportunities of improving -my understanding and warming my heart by -conversing with you, which would surely have been greatly -for my advantage as a tutor, a minister, and a Christian. -As it is, I will omit none which may fall in my way; and -when I regret that I can enjoy no more of you here, will -comfort myself with the thoughts of that blessed state -where I hope for ever to dwell with you, and to join with -you in sweeter and sublimer songs than you have taught -the Church below.”</p> - -<p>One of the most notable persons who crossed the life of -Dr. Doddridge was Colonel James Gardiner: the stern -soldier loved the gentle Doctor, and not less did the gentle -spirit of the Doctor attach itself firmly to the stern soldier. -Another instance of the singular hinges on which friendships -are suspended. Doddridge wrote his life, and it -created no little sensation, especially in those circles to -which Colonel Gardiner belonged. One of the last letters -of the Countess of Hertford to Dr. Watts refers so distinctly -to this book and to the character of Doddridge, that it may -appropriately find a place here:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167"></a>[167]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Percy Lodge</span>, <i>Nov. 15, 1747</i>.</p> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Reverend Sir</span>,</p> - -<p>“The last time I troubled you with a letter was to -return you thanks for your work on the “Glory of Christ,” a -subject which can never be exhausted, or ever thought of -without calling for all the praise which our hearts are -capable of in our present imperfect state. My gratitude -to you is again awakened by the obligation I am under -(and, indeed, the whole Christian Church) to you for giving -Dr. Doddridge the plan, and engaging him to write his -excellent book of “The Rise and Progress of Religion in -the Soul.” I have read it with the utmost attention and -pleasure, and, I would hope, with some advantage to myself, -unless I should be so unhappy as to find the impression -it has made on my heart wear off like the morning dew -which passeth away, which God in His mercy avert. If -you have a correspondence with him, I could wish you -would convey my thanks to him, and the assurance that I -shall frequently remember him in my humble (though weak) -address to the throne of Almighty Grace (and which I know -myself unworthy to look up to any otherwise than through -the merits and sufferings of our blessed Saviour), that he -may go on to spread the knowledge and practice of his -doctrine, and that he may add numbers to the Church, and -finally hear those blessed words, ‘Well done, thou good and -faithful servant, enter thou into thy Master’s joy.’</p> - -<p>“I cannot help mentioning to you the manner of this -book falling into my hands, as I think there was something -providential in it. About four months ago my poor lord -had so totally lost his appetite that his physician thought -it necessary for him to go to Bath. I was not a moment in -doubt whether I should attend him there, because I knew<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168"></a>[168]</span> -it was my duty, and, besides, I could not have been easy to -be absent when I hoped my care might be of some use. -Yet I undertook the journey with a weight upon my spirits, -and a reluctance which is not to be described, though I -concealed it from him. Since the great affliction with -which it pleased Almighty God to visit me by the death -of a most valuable and only son, I found myself happiest -in almost an entire retreat from the world, and being of a -sudden called into a place where I remembered to have -seen the utmost of its hurry and vanity exerted, terrified -my imagination to the last degree, and I shed tears every -time I was alone at the thought of what I expected to -encounter; yet this dreaded change has, by the goodness -of God, proved one of the happiest periods in my life, and -I can look back upon no part of it with greater thankfulness -and satisfaction. I had the comfort to see my Lord -Hertford recovering his health by the use of those waters -as fast as I could hope for. I found it was no longer -necessary, as formerly, to avoid giving offence, to be always -or frequently in company; I enjoyed the conversation of -two worthy old friends, whom I did not expect to meet -there, and had an opportunity of renewing my acquaintance -with Lady Huntingdon, and admiring that truly Christian -spirit which seems to animate the whole course of her life; -and, as I seldom went out, I read a great deal, and Frederick, -the bookseller, used to send the new books which he received -on the waggon nights, of which I kept what I chose, and -sent back the rest. One night he sent me an account of -some remarkable passages relating to the life of Colonel -Gardiner; as I had known this gentleman in his unconverted -state, and often heard with admiration the sudden -and thorough change of his conduct for many years, it gave -me curiosity to read a book which seemed to promise me<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[169]</span> -some information upon that subject. I was so touched with -the account given of it that I could not help speaking of it -to almost everybody I saw; among others, the Dowager -Lady Hyndford came to make me a visit in the morning, -and as I knew she was of his country, and had lived much -in it, I began to talk to her of the book, and happened to -name the author. Upon which she said she would believe -whatever he wrote, for he was a truly good man, and had -wrote upon the ‘Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul’ -in a manner which she was sure would please me. She -gave me the title in writing, and I bought the book the day -before I left Bath. I have now been at home three weeks, -and have already had the pleasure to engage several others -to read it, who, I hope, will think of it as I do. I would -not wish to trouble you to write to me yourself, but a letter -from your amanuensis to let me know how you enjoy your -health, and whether you are still carrying on some work of -your pen to the glory of our great Master, would be a very -sincere pleasure to me. Let me beg to be remembered in -your prayers, for I am every day more sensible of the imperfection -of my own, and yet, I hope, my heart is sincere -in its desires, that it may be brought to a perfect conformity -and submission to the will of my heavenly Father. My -Lord Hertford always mentions you with regard, and will -be glad of your acceptance of the assurance of his friendship.</p> - -<p class="center">“I am, with an affectionate esteem, Sir,</p> - -<p class="center">“Your most faithful and obliged humble servant,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">F. Hertford</span>.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>It is impossible not to feel that, viewed from many -aspects, Philip Doddridge must have been Watts’ most<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170"></a>[170]</span> -congenial friend. The largest portion of Watts’ work was -done before they knew each other, but friendships founded -in sympathy ripen very rapidly, and the difference of years -is very slightly felt where there is a great and happy congeniality -of hearts. Watts was not a glowing correspondent, -but none of his letters are so tender as those to -Doddridge, to whom he writes as his “dear and valuable -friend,” and always his “affectionate brother and fellow -servant,” and the letters warm greatly as the correspondence -increases, Doddridge always looked up to, and spoke -of, Watts in terms of extraordinary reverence and affection; -in their work they were very similar; Doddridge’s nature -was smaller than his friend’s, but in its measure it was -very harmonious and perfect. Watts had a fine metaphysical -sagacity, and the keenness with which he analyzed -never interfered for a moment with the clearness of visions -by which he stepped from the discrete to the concrete, and -from parts to the whole; hence, notwithstanding his fair -and catholic nature, he appears to have been much more -absolutely dogmatic than Doddridge, and it was perhaps -the defect of this great man’s teaching that from the fatal -facility which brought him into contact with every class and -shade of opinion, the lines of his more absolute creed were -not fixed with sufficient distinctness: but from his tutorship -there passed forth a variety of men who all delighted to -confess their obligations to Doddridge,—Hugh Farmer, -Andrew Kippis, Job Orton, Benjamin Fawcett, and, if not -the most scholarly, that beautiful and well-known teacher, -who realized perhaps beyond any his tutor’s spirit and his -tutor’s peculiar power, Risdon Darracott. Such was Doddridge, -without some notice and knowledge of whom a -review of the life and times, the friends and labours of -Watts would be incomplete.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171"></a>[171]</span></p> - -<p>One hundred and twenty years have passed away since -Philip Doddridge died, but his name and many of his -works are still as sweet and fragrant as ever. His “Life -of Colonel Gardiner” is still one of the most interesting -of religious biographies; his “Family Expositor” still -holds its place in the family; his theological lectures are -still an invaluable curriculum; his correspondence is full -of entertainment and interest; his hymns are still sung -in all our churches, and that to which we have referred, -which ought assuredly to be spoken of as his, “O God -of Bethel,” sounded the other day down the aisles of -Westminster, as the body of Livingstone was lowered -into the grave. Doddridge’s body, of course, was denied a -resting-place at Lisbon by the civil and ecclesiastical -authorities, but it was permitted to repose in the burying-ground -of the English Factory. The great earthquake, -which occurred shortly after, left his grave undisturbed, -and it is a spot of holy ground unto this day.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer1.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172"></a>[172]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header1.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.<br> -<span class="smaller">The Countess of Hertford and Mrs. Rowe.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>One of the most considerable of Watts’ correspondents -and apparently intimate friends, was Frances, Countess -of Hertford, afterwards Duchess of Somerset. This lady was -the daughter of the Honourable Mr. Thynne, brother to -Lord Weymouth; she married Algernon, Earl of Hertford, -son of Charles Seymour, Duke of Somerset, who succeeded -to the honours and estates of his father on December -2nd, 1748, <i>i.e.</i> about a week after the death of Dr. Watts. -The Countess appears to have been a woman of great -piety, amiability, and accomplishments. Thomson, in his -“Seasons,” addresses her:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“O Hertford, fitted or to shine in courts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With unaffected grace, or walk the plain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With innocence and meditation joined</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In soft assemblage, listen to my song,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which thy own season paints; when Nature all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is blooming, and benevolent like thee.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">A collection of select letters, published by Mr. Hull, in -two volumes, includes eleven written by the Duchess, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173"></a>[173]</span> -they have been well characterized as exhibiting rectitude of -heart, delicacy of sentiment, and a truly classic ease and -elegance of style; tinged with an air of melancholy, occasioned -by the loss of her only son, Lord Beauchamp, to -whom she so frequently refers in her letters to Dr. Watts. -His death at Bologna, in 1744, cast a settled gloom over -her mind, for he was a youth who seemed to give evidences -of superiority and worth of character calculated to confer -honour on the exalted station to which he was destined, -had his life been spared. Her letters all breathe the spirit -of unaffected simple piety and resignation; and from the -time of her husband’s elevation to the dukedom, her life -was subjected to the experience of intense troubles, first, in -the death of her own son, and very shortly after, in 1750, -the death of the Duke, her husband; and it is with reference -to these occasions of grief that she writes to Lady -Luxbrough, September 9th, 1750: “You are very obliging -in the concern you express for the scenes of sorrow I have -passed through. I have indeed suffered deeply, but, when -I consider it is the will of God, who never chastises His -poor creatures but for their good, and reflect at the same -time how unworthy I was of these blessings, which I now -lament the loss of, I lay my hand upon my mouth, and dare -not repine, but hope I can with truth appeal to Him in -the following words: ‘Such sorrow is sent that none may -oppose His holy will. Let me sigh and offer up all my -sighs to Him! Let me mourn, and in the meantime bless -His name in the midst of my sorrow.’”</p> - -<p>She did not herself long survive, only till July 7th, -1754, leaving an only daughter, who subsequently became -Duchess of Northumberland. The Countess herself was -the great and intimate friend likewise of Mrs. Rowe; and -when this lady died, to the Countess and to Dr. Watts she<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174"></a>[174]</span> -left those confidential letters to which reference may be -made in subsequent pages of the present volume. How far -she drew the Doctor from his retreat, how often he visited -the lady at her various houses, we have no means of knowing; -the friendship continued certainly from 1729 to the -close of Watts’ life, and it was probably commenced some -time before this date, for the terms of the first letters are -those of warm friendship. In 1731 she refers to her children, -especially to the son, who was to be in after years a -source of such grief to the mother’s heart, and she says, -“My young people send their services to you; I assure you -my little boy has grown a great proficient in your ‘Songs -for Children,’ and sings them with great pleasure.” The -lady herself secretly cultivated the recreation of verse, and -sometimes forwarded her fancies in this way to the Doctor, -but she says, “I beg the favour of you not to give any -copy of the enclosed verses, for I would wish my excursions -of this kind to be a secret from everybody but you, -and a friend or two more, who know that I do not aim at -the character of a genius by any attempt of this nature, -but am led to them merely to amuse a leisure hour, and -speak the sentiments of my heart.” She wrote, however, -an elegy on Mrs. Rowe, which called forth an epigram from -the Doctor, which was published in his posthumous volume -of Miscellanies, “Remnants of Time, employed in Prose -and Verse”:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Struck with a sight of Philomela’s urn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Eusebia weeps and calls the Muse to mourn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While from her lips the tuneful sorrows fell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The groves confess a rising Philomel.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Writing from the Hermitage on St. Leonard’s Hill, she -says: “I return you thanks for the epigram you were so -good as to send me, and should think myself very happy if<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175"></a>[175]</span> -anything of mine could deserve to show the joy I should -feel in being able to imitate Mrs. Rowe in the smallest -instance. I have only two meditations of hers, which she -gave me with the strongest injunctions not to let anybody -see them, lest they should be thought too rapturous; but as -I conclude she would not have included <i>you</i> among those -from whom she meant they should be concealed, I will -have them copied if you desire it.” There are in her letters -very pleasing indications of an amiable mind and heart; -she writes to him of the books which have met her in the -course of her reading, and her remarks are characterized by -a quiet wisdom and judgment: “My Lord and Betty (the -future Duchess of Northumberland) are in London, so that -my son and his governor are my only companions at present; -but we pass our time agreeably enough between reading, -walking, and such other amusements as this place in which -we are and the season of the year afford us; we have been -lately reading ‘Leonidas,’<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> in which I think there are many -fine thoughts; but I hear the town are much divided in -their sentiments about it, since one part are for preferring -it to Milton, and others for levelling it to the lowest rank -of poetry. I confess neither of these appear to me a just -representation of it. If you have read it, I shall be glad to -know your thoughts of it.” In another letter she remarks -upon the poet Pope: “I think everybody must wish a muse -like Mr. Pope’s were more inclined to exert itself on Divine -and good-natured subjects; but I am afraid satire is his -highest talent, for I think his ‘Universal Prayer’ is by no -means equal to some other of his works, and I think his -tenth stanza:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176"></a>[176]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Teach me to feel another’s woe,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To hide the faults I see;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That mercy I to others show,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That mercy show to me:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">an instance how blind the wisest men may be to the errors -of their own hearts, for he certainly did not mean to imprecate -such a proportion of vengeance on himself as he is too -apt to load those with whom he dislikes; nor would he wish -to have his own failings exposed to the eye of the world -with all the invective and ridicule with which he publishes -those of his fellow creatures.” The following is one of the -most interesting and favourable letters from the many which -Dr. Gibbons has preserved of the correspondence extending -over so many years:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<i>Jan. 17, 1739.</i></p> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,</p> - -<p>“I am truly sorry to find you complain of any decay, -but I am sure if you have any it must he bodily, and has -no other effect than that which both Mr. Waller<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> and yourself -have so happily described as letting in light upon the -soul. I never read anything in life that pleased me better -than your meditations on Revelation x., and I hope I shall -not only delight in reading the words, but lay the substance<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177"></a>[177]</span> -of it to my heart, to which end allow me to beg your -prayers as an assistance.</p> - -<p>“My lord’s state of suffering—for he is again confined to -his bed by the gout—gives me little opportunity and less -inclination to lose much time in the gay amusements which -are apt to divert other people from the thoughts of their -dissolution; but I am not sure that a life of care and -anxiety has not as bad an effect by fixing the mind too -attentively on the present gloom, which obscures every -cheerful ray which would otherwise enliven one’s spirits. -I wish I had anything to send more worth your reading -than the following verses, but I have so little leisure that -I can scarce get time to write letters to the few friends I -correspond with. These lines were written one morning in -October as I was sitting in a bow-window in my chamber -at St. Leonard’s Hill, which looks on a little grove in the -garden, and beyond was an extensive view of the forest:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How lately was yon russet grove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The seat of harmony and love!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How beauteous all the sylvan scene!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The flowers how gay, the trees how green!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But now it no such charms can boast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its music gone, its verdure lost;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The changing leaves fall fast away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all its pride is in decay;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where blossoms deckt the pointed thorn</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now hangs the wintry drop forlorn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No longer from the fragrant bush</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Odours exhale, nor roses blush.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Along the late enamelled mead</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No golden cowslip lifts its head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scarce can the grass its spires sustain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Chilled by the frost, or drenched with rain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas! just thus with life it fares.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our youth like smiling spring appears,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Allied to joy, unbroke with cares;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But swiftly fly those cheerful hours,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like falling leaves, or fading flowers;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178"></a>[178]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">We quickly hasten to decline,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ev’ry sprightly joy resign:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then be our heart prepared to leave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those joys, nor at their absence grieve;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sublimer pleasures let us prove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And fix our thoughts on those above,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By the bright eye of sacred truth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Review the dangers of our youth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Think how by turns wild passions raged,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By calm reflection now assuaged,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bless the gentle ev’ning hour,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When reason best exerts its power,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And drives those tyrants from our breast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose empire they too long possest:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Devotion comes with grace divine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Around them heavenly glories shine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While ev’ry gloom their rays dispel,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And banish the deceits of hell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ambition now no more aspires,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Contentment mod’rates our desires,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From envy free we can behold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Another’s honours, or his gold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor jealousy our rest alarms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No longer slaves to mortal charms.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With prudence, patience comes along,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who smiles beneath oppressive wrong:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If then such peaceful heav’nly guests</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Age introduces to our breasts,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can we his soft approaches fear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or heave a sigh, or drop a tear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Because our outward forms decay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And time our vigour steals away?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should we regret our short-lived bloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which, could it last us to the tomb,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Must quickly there to dust consume?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If thus life’s progress we survey,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">View what it gives, what takes away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We shall with thankful hearts declare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It leaves us all that’s worth our care.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“I am importuned by a very valuable old woman, who is -declining apace, to beg your prayers. She took me from -my nurse, and if I have any good in me I owe it to her.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179"></a>[179]</span> -She was trusted by my mother with the care both of my -sister and myself, and has lived with me ever since. But -now, though past seventy, she cannot meet death without -terror, and yet I believe I may venture to answer that she -has always lived under the strictest sense of religion; but -lowness of spirit, joined to many bodily infirmities, will shed -darkness on the most cheerful minds, and hers never was of -that cast. I fear she has very few months, if weeks, to -come on earth, and a notice that you will grant her request -would make her, I believe, pass them with some comfort. -I am forced to take another page to assure you of my lord’s -compliments, and those of my young people; the two latter -are very well. I have no other view in sending the above -verses but to prove that my confidence in your friendship -has received no alteration from the length of time which -has passed since I had an opportunity of assuring you in -person with how true a regard</p> - -<p class="center">“I am, Sir,</p> - -<p class="center">“Your most faithful humble servant,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">F. Hertford</span>.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>It is pleasant in these letters to notice the indications of -a quiet and retreating spirit. Upon her return, after a considerable -absence, to the family seat near Marlborough, she -says: “I have the pleasure of finding my garden extremely -improved in the two years I have been absent from it, -some little alterations I had ordered are completed; the -trees which I left small ones are grown to form an agreeable -shade, and I have reason to bless God for the pleasantness of -the place which is allotted me to pass many of my -retired hours in; may I make use of them to fit me for my -last, and that I may do so, allow me to beg the continuation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180"></a>[180]</span> -of your prayers.” She several times refers to her “dear old -nurse,” the “very valuable old woman” mentioned in the -lengthy letter quoted above: “Your good prayers for poor -Rothery have met with unexpected success, she is so much -recovered that I begin to think she will get entirely well, -and if she does I think nothing of that kind has since I -can remember looked more like a miraculous operation of -the healing power of the Almighty. I hope the same Divine -mercy will long preserve you a blessing to the age, and that -you will find your strength return with the warm weather.” -This was written from Windsor Forest; the next month she -writes from Marlborough: “My poor old woman has got -hither, contrary to her own and all our expectations; she -has the deepest gratitude for your goodness to her, and begs -you will accept her thanks; she is still very weak, and I -fancy will hardly get over the autumn.”</p> - -<p>This lady’s letters exhibit a vein of intelligence and -interesting reading in pleasant contrast to the frivolity of -most of the courtly ladies of that age. “I have just had -the oddest pamphlet sent me I ever saw in my life, called -‘Amusemens Philosophiques sur le Language des Bêtes.’ -It was burnt by the hands of the common executioner at -Paris, and the priest who wrote it banished till he made a -formal retraction of it, and yet I think it very plain by the -style that the man was either in jest or crazed. It is by no -means wanting of wit, but extremely far from a system of -probability.” Again, in another letter: “I have forgotten -whether in any of my later letters I ever named to you a -little book newly translated from the Italian, by the same -Mrs. Carter who has a copy of verses printed in the beginning -of Mrs. Rowe’s works, occasioned by her death. -The book she has now translated is Sir Isaac Newton’s -‘Doctrine of Light and Colours made easy for the Ladies.’<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181"></a>[181]</span> -My daughter and I have both read it with great pleasure, -and flatter ourselves that we at least understand some parts -of it.” It would be interesting to know who was the lady -referred to in the following letter—it was probably Mrs. -Elizabeth Carter; the work of the Doctor’s to which so -marked a reference is made was undoubtedly his discourses -“On the World to Come,” which had only just been published, -a copy of which he had forwarded to her, and which -had been acknowledged two or three weeks before in a letter -from his “faithfully affectionate servant, F. Hertford.”</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Marlborough</span>, <i>July 30, 1739</i>.</p> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,</p> - -<p>“I would much sooner have written to you to thank -you for the favour of your last letter, had I enjoyed more -leisure; but I have had a friend with me this last month -who has engrossed a good many of those hours which I -used to employ in writing to my correspondents. She -is a very pious and religious, as well as agreeable woman, -and has seen enough of the world in her younger years to -teach her to value its enjoyments and fear its vexations -no more than they deserve, by which happy knowledge -she has brought her mind and spirits to the most perfect -state of calmness I ever saw; and her conversation seems -to impart the blessing to all who partake of her discourse. -By this you will judge that I have passed my time very -much to my satisfaction while she was with me; and, -though I have not written to you, you have shared my -time with her, for almost all the hours I passed alone I -have employed in reading your works, which for ever -represent to my imagination the idea of a ladder or -flight of steps, since every volume seems to rise a step -nearer the language of heaven, and there is a visible progression<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182"></a>[182]</span> -toward that better country through every page; -so that, though all breathe piety and just reason, the last -seems to crown the whole, till you shall again publish -something to enlighten a dark and obstinate age, for I must -believe that the manner in which you treat Divine subjects -is more likely to reform and work upon the affections of -your readers than that of any other writer now living. I -hope God will in mercy to many thousands, myself in particular, -prolong your life many years. I own this does not -seem a kind wish to you, but I think you will be content -to bear the infirmities of flesh some years longer to be an -instrument in the hands of God toward the salvation of -your weak and distressed brethren. The joys of heaven -cannot fade, but will be as glorious millions of ages to -come as they are now, and what a moment will the longest -life appear when it comes to be compared with eternity!”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Upon the death of Mrs. Rowe, as she had left her meditations -for the hands of Dr. Watts, when he proposed to -publish the volume with his preface, he also very naturally -proposed to dedicate it to their friend the Countess. With -extraordinary modesty, however, she shrunk from this. -She writes: “The sincere esteem I have for you makes it -very difficult for me to oppose anything you desire, and it -is doubly so in an instance where I might have an opportunity -of indulging so justifiable a pride as I should feel in -letting the public see this fresh mark of your partiality to -me, but as I am apprehensive that the envy such a distinction -would raise against me might draw some vexation -with it, I hope you will have the goodness to change the -dedication into a letter to a friend, without giving me any -such appellation.” In another letter, with characteristic -modesty, she says: “I can, with the strictest truth, affirm -that I do not know any distinction upon earth that I could<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183"></a>[183]</span> -feel a truer pleasure in receiving were I deserving of it, but -as I am forced to see how much I fall below the idea -which the benevolence of your nature has formed of me, -it teaches me to humble myself by that very incident -which might administer a laudable pride to a more worthy -person. If I am constrained to acknowledge this mortifying -truth, you may believe there are many people in the -world who look upon me with more impartial eyes than -self-love will allow me to do; and others, who perhaps think -I enjoy more of this world’s goods than I either merit or -than falls to the common lot, look at me with envious and -malignant views, and are glad of every opportunity to -debase me or those who they believe entertain a favourable -opinion of me. I would hope that I have never done anything, -wilfully I am sure I have not, to raise any such -sentiments in the breast of the meanest person upon earth, -but yet experience has convinced me that I have not been -happy enough to escape them. For these reasons, sir, I -must deny myself the pleasure and the pride I should have -in so public a mark of your friendship and candour, and -beg that if you will design me the honour of joining any -address to me with those valuable remains of Mrs. Rowe, -that you will either retrench the favourable expressions -you intended to insert, or else give me no other title at -the top of it than that of a friend of yours and hers, an -appellation which, in the sincerity of my soul, I am -prouder of than I could be of the most pompous name -that human grandeur can lay claim to.”</p> - -<p>She shrunk from all observation, and in another letter -says, “I will trespass so far on your good nature as to beg -you will leave out whatever will imply my attempting to -write poetry; but if there be any among the things you -have of mine which you think worth placing among yours<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184"></a>[184]</span> -I shall have just cause to be pleased at seeing them come -abroad in such company, if you will have the goodness to -conceal my name, either under that of Eusebia or A Friend, -a title which I shall think myself happy to deserve.” -This letter enables us to identify four poetical pieces, entitled -“A Rural Meditation,” “A Penitential Thought,” -“A Midnight Hymn,” and the “Dying Christian’s Hope,” -inserted in Watts’ Miscellanies, and attributed to Eusebia, -as the compositions of the Countess. It may not be unpleasant -to the reader to have brought before him some of -these verses, which will show that the modesty of the -Countess need not have been dictated by the poverty of -her expression:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="center">A RURAL MEDITATION.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Here in the tuneful groves and flow’ry fields,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nature a thousand various beauties yields:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The daisy and tall cowslip we behold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arrayed in snowy white, or freckled gold.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The verdant prospect cherishes our sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Affording joy unmixed, and calm delight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The forest-walk, and venerable shade,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wide-spreading lawns, bright rills, and silent glade,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With a religious awe our souls inspire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And to the heav’ns our raptured thoughts aspire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Him who sits in majesty on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who turned the starry arches of the sky;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose word ordained the silver Thames to flow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Raised all the hills, and laid the valleys low;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who taught the nightingale in shades to sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bade the skylark warble on the wing;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Makes the young steer obedient till the land,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lowing heifers own the milker’s hand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Calms the rough sea, and stills the raging wind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And rules the passions of the human mind.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This correspondence sets in a very beautiful light the -character of this amiable and excellent lady, no doubt one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185"></a>[185]</span> -of Watts’ attached friends, and intercourse with whom, -through the long period of twenty years, must have been -to him a frequent source of rest and enjoyment. When -their intimacy commenced she was in immediate attendance -on the Queen Caroline, wife of George <span class="allsmcap">I.</span> In those -days the attempts which subsequently were made by the -Countess of Huntingdon to create a feeling of piety and -purity in the neighbourhood of the court had not been -commenced, the manners of the great were not favourable -to goodness and virtue, and the general spirit of the time -brings out into strong relief the character of this gentle -and noble lady; seldom apparently free from illness, her -thoughts usually move round those loftiest sources of consolation -in which the highest or the humblest equally find -the surest and most abiding alleviation and repose.</p> - -<p>In 1737 Watts sustained a loss in the innermost and -most intimate circle of his acquaintance by the death of -Mrs. Rowe. His early relations with this lady have -round them some traditions of a tender mystery; it is -generally supposed that upon his side at one time his -feelings for Miss Singer, her maiden name, were something -more than those of mere friendship. The charms of the -lady appear to have been considerable, and procured her -previous to marriage many admirers, among others Prior, -the poet, who sought the lady’s hand in vain, and in his -poem on “Love and Friendship” expresses himself after -the most approved fashion of the disconsolate Werthers of -that day, informing her that—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He dies in woe, that thou mayst live in peace.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">It would seem that Watts’ attachment was some time -talked about extensively, for Young refers to it in one of -his satires:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186"></a>[186]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">What angels would those be, who thus excel</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In theologies, could they sew as well!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet why should not the fair her text pursue?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can she more decently the Doctor woo?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Isaac, a brother of the canting strain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When he has knocked at his own skull in vain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To beauteous Marcia often will repair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With a dark text to light it at the fair.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh how his pious soul exults to find</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such love for holy men in womankind!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Charmed with her learning, with what rapture he</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hangs on her bloom, like an industrious bee;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hums round about her, and with all his power,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Extracts sweet wisdom from so fair a flower.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">More respectfully, Mrs. Barbauld appears to allude to the -circumstance when addressing Mrs. Rowe, she says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thynne, Carteret, Blackmore, Orrery approved,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Prior praised, and noble Hertford loved,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seraphic Ken, and tuneful Watts were thine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And virtue’s noblest champions filled the line.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But there is no reason, beyond the idle chatter of the -town, to suppose that there was more than ardent friendship -between the two; Watts was not a man ever likely to -have been refused in marriage, and the talk appears only to -have originated from the fact that people in general suppose -that there can be no community of taste, and intellectual -intercourse, and high and even ardent friendship between -opposite sexes without its pointing to marriage. That it -was not so in this instance appears certain, not only from -the very high regard Mrs. Rowe always entertained for -Watts, but from the terms of the letter addressed to him -to be delivered after her death; we would rather suppose it -possible, although we do not assert it, that Elizabeth Singer -might have been not indisposed to a relationship the idea -of which was not encouraged by the Doctor, and which he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187"></a>[187]</span> -deferred to the calmer communion of intimate friendship -and high esteem. The proofs that this was the case are -not very clear if the circumstance is probable. However it -might be, it never interfered with their friendship which -continued not only unbroken to death, but beyond death.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Rowe was a lady quite famous in her own time; to -an elevated piety she united in her style of composition -many of the faults of the age in which she lived; her -works were tinctured by an ardent mode of expression -little in harmony with the more frigid expressions of our -own day. For Dr. Watts she entertained the highest -esteem. She died suddenly, but in her cabinet were found -letters for two or three of the friends who held the highest -place in her affections, especially for the Countess of Hertford -and Dr. Watts; the letter to the Doctor was accompanied -by the manuscript of her “Devout Exercises,” which -she requested him to publish after a complete and thorough -revision. A portion of his correspondence with the Countess -upon this we have already quoted; the volume is dedicated -to the Countess as Mrs. Rowe’s intimate friend, and Watts, -whose mind and heart were now in a state of quiet and -holy calm, dispassionately reviews the merits of her various -works; he does not altogether vindicate her ardent style, -on the other hand, he is far from severely reprehending it; -he remarks how in former years even grave divines had -expressed the fervours of devout love to the Saviour much -in the style of the Song of Solomon, and says, “I must -confess that several of my compositions in verse written in -younger life were led by those examples unwarily into this -track.” Indeed, many of his hymns, especially those which -are paraphrases of the Song of Solomon, are quite as ardent -as anything we meet with in the writings of Mrs. Rowe. -The love of Christ is a principle, but we should be sorry to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188"></a>[188]</span> -think that in the heart of the believer it may not glow with -all the fervour and force of a great passion; the language -of the Apostle Paul shows us that it may, but his language -is not coloured by the singular ecstasy of the Oriental -mind; it is fervid, but the line is very distinctly marked -between the expressions of a merely human passion, which, -however pure upon the heart which utters them, may by -hearts less holy and elevated seem to be almost the utterance -of license, and even to colder though not less holy -natures may seem to border on profanity. There are -Christians still who delight in this doubtful method of -expressing and setting forth the holiest affections. Watts -in all his religious works had at all times the ardent and -fervent words of a poetic and imaginative nature, but he -considerably pruned both thought and speech as the years -passed in study and seclusion brought a riper wisdom; he -did not repress the ardours of the heart, but he gave to -their expression a chastened and colder form; he was not -satisfied indeed by light without love, but he clothed that -love with a more sacred reticence. Mrs. Rowe’s writings -have all an exceedingly unreticent character, but she lived -apparently a holy life, realizing very greatly the ardours -which gushed so glowingly from her pen, and it says much -for all that she was in herself, that through so many long -years she retained a close and intimate friendship with a -judgment so wisely balanced, and a nature so simple and -domestic, as that which evidently shines in the character -of the Countess of Hertford.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer5.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189"></a>[189]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header5.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.<br> -<span class="smaller">Shimei Bradbury.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>There was living in London contemporary with Watts -one of those ungentle, unbeautiful spirits, from whose -malignant jealousy few men of eminence entirely escape; -he appears to have been to Watts what Alexander the -coppersmith was to Paul, he did him much evil and sought -to do more. Bradbury was one of the most vehement and -virulent spirits of the times, he was infected with the -prevalent spirit of railing long before he began to cast -about his Shimei and Rabshakeh pleasantries upon Watts; -he was well known for his capabilities in this way, and in -1715 Daniel Defoe reproved him in a pamphlet entitled, -“A Friendly Epistle by way of Reproof, from one of the -people called Quakers to Thomas Bradbury, a dealer in -many words.” The following paragraph illustrates the -character of the man the pamphlet is intended to represent: -“Men, especially, Thomas, preaching men, as thou -art, ought much rather to move their people and their -brethren to forbear and forgive one another, than to move -and excite them to severities, and to executing revenge -upon one another, lest the day come when that which they -call justice may be deemed injustice. I counsel thee, therefore, -that thou forbear to excite thy sons of Belial to do<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190"></a>[190]</span> -wickedly, but rather that thou preach to them that they -repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; which I -meekly advertise thee is the proper duty of thy employment, -whereas the other is the work of darkness and tendeth to -blood.”</p> - -<p>Again, he says: “I must lead thee by the hand, not -by the nose, Thomas—others have done thee that office -already—that thou mayst be convinced, yea, even confounded, -for those whom thou hast, with so great confidence, -taken on thee to recommend as good men, and men -fearing God. I do thee justice, Thomas, and therefore -observe in thy behalf that thy modesty would not permit -thee to say, ‘They were men hating covetousness.’”<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> - -<p>Bradbury was one of those men who, pursuing politics -in the pulpit with vehement and intolerant pertinacity, -degrade the standard of the minister of the Gospel; he -was even charged with desiring the blood of the ministers -of Queen Anne in the pamphlets of the day, especially in -“Burnet and Bradbury; or, the Confederacy of the Press -and the Pulpit for the Blood of the last Ministry.”<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> - -<p>A life of Watts would be quite incomplete which did -not give some account of his very eminent but now almost -forgotten assailant and enemy, Thomas Bradbury. Born -at Wakefield, in Yorkshire, he had all the characteristics -of a typical Yorkshireman; he was a bold and hearty, and -possibly, whatever that may be worth, well-meaning man; -he possessed a considerable amount of natural genius, -especially for doubtful drollery and expletive. It is a -wonder that his name has not found a record in such<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191"></a>[191]</span> -histories as Macaulay’s and Stanhope’s, for it has a semi-historical -interest. He was probably the most representative -political Nonconformist among the ministers in the -City of London of his day, and a well-known anecdote -tells that he was the first to proclaim, as he did from his -pulpit, the accession of George <span class="allsmcap">I.</span> to the throne. It is said -that he was walking through Smithfield in a very pensive -and thoughtful mood on Sunday, August 1st, 1714, -when the great “Schism Bill” was about to take effect, -when Bishop Burnet happened to pass in his carriage; the -Bishop called to his friend, and inquired into the cause of -his great thoughtfulness. “I am thinking,” replied Bradbury, -“whether I shall have the constancy and courage of -the noble army of martyrs whose ashes are deposited in -this place, for I most assuredly expect to see similar times -of violence and persecution, and that I shall be caused to -suffer in a like cause.”</p> - -<p>The Bishop was himself equally zealous with Bradbury -for the cause of Protestantism; he told him that the Queen -was very ill, that she was given over by her physicians, -who expected every hour to be her last; and he further -said, that he was even then on his way to the Palace to -inquire the particulars, and that he would despatch a -messenger to Mr. Bradbury with the earliest intelligence -of the Queen’s death, and that if he should be in the pulpit -when the messenger arrived, he should drop a handkerchief -from the gallery as a token of that event. The messenger -employed was Mr. John Bradbury, a brother of the -preacher, and one in the medical profession. The Queen -died while Bradbury was preaching, and the intelligence -was conveyed to him by the signal agreed upon; perhaps -the preacher may be forgiven if his heart was filled with -joy; he indeed suppressed his feelings during the sermon,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192"></a>[192]</span> -but in his prayer gave thanks to God who had again -delivered the nation from the power of evil counsels, and -implored a Divine blessing upon his majesty King George -and the House of Hanover. He always gloried in being -the first who proclaimed King George the First.</p> - -<p>This anecdote gives a fair idea of the character of the man; -one more utterly unlike Isaac Watts it is impossible to -conceive; he was a man whose learning was limited, he had -neither taste nor capacity for those refined subtleties either -of argument or imagination into which Watts was forced -by the necessities of controversy in his times; also, Bradbury -was a rugged, rough-and-ready speaker and thinker, -possessed of a dangerous prompt wit, not always free from -a coarse disregard of the feelings of others; nor can we fail -to see that there mingled, perhaps unconsciously to himself, -a considerable amount of jealousy of his more eminent -and illustrious brother. Before Watts had received his -invitation to become the co-pastor or successor of Dr. -Chauncy, the congregation had heard Mr. Bradbury; it is -easily understood that the courtly, polished, and perhaps -fastidious people would scarcely appreciate an eloquence -like that of “bold Bradbury”—a term by which Queen -Anne designated him. Then, at the first signal of his -hostility to Watts, one of his own most distinguished -people, Watts’ friend, Lord Barrington, forsook him; it -was perhaps not likely to improve his temper, and Watts, -although exceedingly firm in his own convictions, as he -had not the strength so neither had he the disposition for -any vehement political action, and if he stepped aside -slightly to use his influence in political partisanship, it was -unfortunately not to aid the particular persons espoused by -Bradbury. And so it was that in the sermons of this free-spoken -man there are handed down to us perhaps the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193"></a>[193]</span> -most harsh and unjust words which ever assailed the ministry -of Isaac Watts. It was at a later period of life, when -Watts was very infirm, that, at a meeting of the ministers -in the Redcross Street Library, he rose to propose some -resolution, and, with his weakly constitution and feeble -voice, he found considerable difficulty in making himself -heard, when Bradbury called out to him in the meeting, -“Brother Watts, shall I speak for you?” The quiet little -Doctor turned to him and said, “Why, Brother Bradbury, -you have often spoken <i>against</i> me.” At first he had encouraged -the idea of Watts’ publication of his Paraphrase -of the Psalms and of his Hymns, but when they came -forth, although they proved so acceptable to congregations -in general, he continued to use the dull version of Dr. -Patrick until his dying day in his own place, New-court -Chapel, and prevented their introduction into the service at -Pinners’ Hall. There, however, on one occasion the clerk -happened unluckily to give out one of Watts’ pieces; up -rose Bradbury immediately, exclaiming, “Let us have none -of Watts’ <i>(w)hims</i>.”</p> - -<p>In all this, and in other such instances, a faithful -biographer must see the traces of a good deal of mere -jealousy. It is quite an exceptional instance in the life of -Watts, and it must seem singular that so sweet and gentle -a nature should have suffered from the misrepresentations -of any, and Bradbury has perhaps, even in his grave, been -the most abiding enemy to Watts’ reputation. It seems -scarcely probable that the Unitarians could have so audaciously -claimed our writer as their own, had not Bradbury -set them a wicked example in his sermons. One of the -most affecting and earnest passages in the correspondence -of Watts is his remonstrance with his unjust brother -against unseemly attacks upon him, and misrepresentations<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194"></a>[194]</span> -of his opinions. Watts, so far as we can see, was -never either discourteous or unjust; but he bitterly felt it -that while, by his hymns and his treatises, he was attempting -to shake the ground of the Arian heresy, his name was, -from the pulpit and the pen, covered with obloquy as -injuring and shaking the foundations of the most exalted -faith in Christ. Bradbury was not concerned to reply -to arguments, but in a right-down vehement manner -to denounce those from whom he differed. He was no -metaphysician. Turning over the many volumes of his -sermons, we find them all characterized by strong evangelical -statement, a very happy arrangement of thoughts, -and great lucidity and apt readiness of expression. He -never passed beyond the sense or culture of an ordinary -audience; it must also be said that he never put the bridle -on his wit. He was a man who could never find himself -in the wrong, and who must always have the last word, -and that word a disagreeable one. In a most extraordinary -manner he could write and say the most abusive and bitter -things, and seem quite surprised that the person to whom -they were addressed did not take them as expressions of -kindness. He tells Watts that he is “profane, conceited, -impudent, and pragmatical;” he says: “You are mistaken -if you think I ever knew, and much less admired, your -mangling, garbling, transforming, etc., so many of your -Songs of Zion; your notions about psalmody, and your -satirical flourishes in which you express them, are fitter for -one who pays no regard to inspiration, than for a Gospel -minister, as I may hereafter show in a more public way.” -And when Watts mildly demurred to this as a personal -reflection, he says, in reply: “Should any one take the liberty -of burlesquing your poetry, as you have done that of the -Most High God, you might call it personal reflection indeed;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195"></a>[195]</span> -when I consider that most of those expressions are adopted -either by the New Testament or the evangelical prophets, -I tremble at your mowing them together, as you were -resolved to make the Songs of Zion ridiculous.” Again he -says: “Do you think that the ministers of London are to -stand still while you tear in pieces eight great Articles -of their faith? And must every one who answers your -arguments be accused of personal reflections?” Such is -the vein in which this noisy man writes. Watts replies in -a spirit of singular meekness; Bradbury, while indulging -in the coarsest invective, professes a large amount of -respect and honour, and Watts says: “I am always ready -to acknowledge whatsoever personal respect Mr. Bradbury -has conceived for one of so little merit as I can pretend to; -but I know not how to reconcile the profession of so much -respect with so many and so severe censures, and with -such angry modes of expression, as you have been pleased -to use both in print and in writing.” Vindicating himself -for attempting to set the Psalms of David to the service of -song, he says:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“You tell me that I rival it with David, whether -he or I be the sweet psalmist of Israel. I abhor the -thought; while yet, at the same time, I am fully persuaded -that the Jewish psalm-book was never designed to -be the only psalter for the Christian Church; and though -we may borrow many parts of the prayers of Ezra, Job, and -Daniel, as well as of David, yet if we take them entire as -they stand, and join nothing of the Gospel with them, I -think there are few of them will be found proper prayers -for a Christian Church; and yet, I think, it would be very -unjust to say ‘we rival it with Ezra, Job, etc.’ Surely -their prayers are not best for us, since we are commanded -to ask everything in the name of Christ. Now, I know no<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196"></a>[196]</span> -reason why the glorious discoveries of the New Testament -should not be mingled with our songs and praises, as well -as with our prayers. I give solemn thanks to my Saviour, -with all my soul, that He hath honoured me so far as to -bring His name and Gospel in a more evident and express -manner into Christian psalmody.</p> - -<p>“And since I find you have been pleased to make my -hymns and imitations of the Psalms, together with their -prefaces, the object of your frequent and harsh censures, -give me leave to ask you whether I did not consult with -you while I was translating the Psalms in this manner, -fourteen or fifteen years ago? Whether I was not encouraged -by you in this work, even when you fully knew -my design, by what I had printed, as well as by conversation? -Did you not send me a note, under your own -hand, by my brother, with a request that I would form the -fiftieth and the hundred and twenty-second Psalms into -their proper old metre? And in that note you told me -too that one was six lines of heroic verse, or ten syllables, -and the other six lines of shorter metre; by following those -directions precisely, I confess I committed a mistake in -both of them, or at least in the last; nor had I ever -thought of putting in those metres, nor considered the -number of the lines, nor the measure of them, but by your -direction, and at your request. I allow, sir, with great -freedom, that you may have changed your opinion since, -and you have a right to do it without the least blame from -me; but I do declare it, that at that time you were one of -my encouragers, and therefore your present censures should -be lighter and softer.</p> - -<p>“You desire me at the end ‘to remember former friendships,’ -but you will give me leave to ask which of us has -forgot them most; and I am well assured that I have more<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197"></a>[197]</span> -effectually proved myself all that which you are pleased to -subscribe, viz., your steady, hearty, and real friend, your -obedient and devoted servant,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">I. Watts</span>.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>And the following letter is a very fair illustration of the -temper and spirit of Watts’ replies to his censorious and -abusive brother:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Lime Street</span>, <i>Nov. 1, 1725</i>.</p> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Reverend Sir</span>,</p> - -<p>“On Friday night last my worthy friend and -neighbour, Mr. Caleb Wroe, called on me at Theobalds, -and desired me to convey the enclosed paper to you, with -his humble thanks for the share you have given him in the -late legacy intrusted with you, and he intreats that you -would please to pay the money into the hands of this -messenger, that I may return it to him; and I cannot but -join my unfeigned thanks with his, that you are pleased to -remember so valuable and pious a man in your distributions, -whose circumstances are by no means above the -receipt of such charitable bequests, though his modesty -is so great as to prevent him from sueing for an interest -in them.</p> - -<p>“But while I am acknowledging your unexpected goodness -to my friend, permit me, sir, to inquire into the -reason of your unexpected conduct towards myself in so -different a manner. It is true I live much in the country, -but I am not unacquainted with what passes in town. I -would now look no further backward than your letter to -the Board at Lime Street, about six months ago, where I -was present. I cannot imagine, sir, what occasion I had -given to such sort of censures as you pass upon me there -among others, which you are pleased to cast upon our<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198"></a>[198]</span> -worthy brethren; nor can I think how a more pious and -Christian return could have been made by that Board at -that time than to vote a silence and burial of all past -contests, and even of this last letter of yours, and to desire -your company amongst us as in times past. I had designed, -sir, to have never taken any further notice of this letter, if -I had not been abundantly informed that your conduct since -is of the same kind, and that you have persisted in your -public reflections on many of my writings in such a manner -as makes it sufficiently appear that you design reproach to -the man, as much as to show your zeal against his supposed -errors. The particular instances of this kind I need not -rehearse to you; yourself are best acquainted with them. -And yet, after all this, I had been silent still; but as I -acknowledge God and seek Him in all my ways, so I am -convinced it is my duty to give you a private admonition, -and, as a brother, I intreat you to consider whether all this -wrath of man can work the righteousness of God? Let me -intreat you, sir, to ask yourself what degrees of passion and -personal resentment may join and mingle themselves with -your supposed zeal for the Gospel? Jesus, the searcher of -hearts, He knows with what daily labour and study, and -with what constant addresses to the throne of grace, I seek -to support the doctrine of His Deity as well as you, and to -defend it in the best manner I am capable of. And shall -I tell you also, sir, that it was your urgent request, among -many others, that engaged me so much further in this study -than I at first intended. If I am fallen into mistakes, your -private and friendly notice had done much more toward -the correction of them than public reproaches. I am not -conscious to myself that either my former or latter conduct -towards you has merited such indignities as these; nor can -I think that our blessed Lord, who has given you so rich a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199"></a>[199]</span> -furniture of imagination, and such sprightly talents for -public service, will approve such employment of them in -the personal disgrace of your brethren that own the same -faith, that preach the same Saviour, and attempt to spread -abroad the same doctrines of salvation.</p> - -<p>“I wish, sir, it were but possible for you to look upon -your own conduct, abstracted from that fondness which -we all naturally bear to self, and see whether there be no -occasion for some humbling and penitent thoughts in the -sight of God. It is not the design of this writing to carry -on a quarrel with you. It has been my frequent prayer, -and it will be my joy, to see your temper suited to your -work, and to hear that you employ your studies and your -style for the support of truth and godliness in the spirit of -the Gospel, that is, in the spirit of meekness and love. -And I conclude with a hearty request to Heaven that your -wit may be all sanctified, that you may minister holy things -with honour and purity and great success, and you may -become as eminent and public an example of piety, meekness, -heavenly-mindedness, and love to all the saints, as -your own soul wishes and desires. Farewell, sir, and -forgive this freedom of your humble servant and fellow -labourer in the Gospel of Christ,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">I. Watts</span>.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>It is very satisfactory, however, throughout the correspondence -to feel that Watts, the only one of the two -names in which we now feel much interest, preserves a -spirit of quietness and candour; the correspondence was -forced upon him by the noisy Bradbury, and as he commenced -it so he was determined to have the last of it. -Watts had quietly implored him to silence, saying: “Let -us examine what is past, and take care for the time to come<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200"></a>[200]</span> -what we write or print with regard to our brethren be -expressed in such language as may dare appear and be -read by the light of the last conflagration, and the splendour -of the tribunal of our returning Lord.” This produced a -tempest of a letter, in which Bradbury says: “I learn no -such passive obedience to an unreasonable adversary, but -rather the contrary; you should have left off contention -before it was meddled with, for I doubt not to open to the -world your shame.”</p> - -<p>The correspondence is very lengthy; it is not probable -that it will ever be reprinted; it is not worth the patience -of perusal, unless to add to the esteem of the subject of -these memoirs. Bradbury’s turbulent nature in the course -of it seems to be utterly ungoverned, and raves along in a -manner quite fatal to any respect with which a desire to -think well of the man might possess the reader’s mind. It -had perhaps been better if the wave of this correspondence -had, like most of Watts’ letters, been lost to the eye, but, -by some fatality, it is the only complete piece of correspondence -in our author’s life published. Walter Wilson -remarks upon it that “the letters are of that personal -nature as do but little credit to the writers.” This is very -unjust; if Mr. Wilson had read, he must have known that -there is not one word in the letters of Watts which does -not reflect the quiet holiness of a spirit at perfect peace -with itself, only desirous of healing the heart of his antagonist. -Bradbury even censures him because, after his -attacks on Watts in print, he did not reply in print, but -referred to them in private letters to him! Watts had -expressed his desire in seeking the truth, and says:</p> - -<p>“I acknowledge with respect and thankfulness the kind -opinions you have entertained of me, and I really ‘value all -the care you have shown not to grieve my spirit,’ whensoever<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201"></a>[201]</span> -I see it practised. I easily believe, indeed, that your natural -talent of wit is richly sufficient to have taken occasions -from an hundred passages in my writings to have filled -your pages with much severer censures. In the vivacity of -wit, in the copiousness of style, in readiness of Scripture -phrases, and other useful talents, I freely own you for my -superior, and will never pretend to become your rival. But -it is only calm and sedate argument that weighs with me -in matters of controversy, nor will I be displeased with any -man for showing me my mistakes by force of argument, -and in a spirit of meekness; it is only in this manner truth -must be searched out, and not by wit and raillery.”</p> - -<p>To this came back the following:</p> - -<p>“Your profession of ‘seeking the truth’ is very popular, -and I do not wonder to find it so often in all your writings; -but then there is such a thing as ‘ever learning, and not -being able to come to the knowledge of the truth.’ And -it is pity, after you have been more than thirty years a -teacher of others, you are yet to learn the first principles -of the oracles of God. What will our hearers think of us -when we succeed the greatest men of our last age in -nothing else but their pulpits? Is there no certainty in the -words of truth? Was Dr. Owen’s church to be taught -another Jesus, that the Son and Holy Spirit were only two -powers in the Divine nature? Shall the men who planted -and watered so happy a part of the vineyard have all their -labours rendered in vain? Shall a fountain in the same -place send forth sweet water and bitter? What need is -there of a charge?”<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> - -<p>On the whole, it is well to refer to this controversy. It -is a painful, important item in Watts’ life, and brings out<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202"></a>[202]</span> -very clearly how singularly he was removed from irritable -passions, and it sadly reveals how impossible it seems even -for the most gentle natures to escape the venom and the -vileness of the “perils of false brethren.”</p> - -<p>Bradbury unquestionably was firmly attached to evangelical -truth, so far as he knew it, and his discourses in the -two volumes called “The Mystery of Godliness, Considered -in Sixty-one Sermons,” are certainly interesting, suggestive, -and even admirable specimens of preaching; but, we have -said, he was chiefly known as a political preacher. His -printed discourses contain few intimations of that wit which -was a favourite weapon with him in the pulpit, and of which -we have some indications in the sermon entitled “The Ass -and the Serpent,” a comparison between the tribes of Issachar -and Dan in their regard for civil liberty—a sermon, like all -those in the volume which contains it, devoted to rousing -the spirit of the times in which he lived. Regularly as the -fifth of November came round, he commemorated the day -in a sermon, and afterwards adjourned with his friends to -dine at a tavern, where, it is said, he always sung the -national song, “The Roast Beef of Old England;” there, -no doubt, jest and joke passed round pretty freely, for, as -we have intimated, he had a sprightly wit and a copious -flow of eloquence. Watts gently remonstrated with him -for these displays, to which he replied in his vehement and -peppery style. George Whitefield, at a later period, more -strongly remonstrated with him on his conduct in this -particular, but not apparently with much effect. It is said -that upon the death of Queen Anne, an incident to which -we have already referred, he took for his text on the occasion -of her funeral sermon, “Go, see now this cursed woman -and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.” The story is -exceedingly likely, for he belonged to a race of men not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203"></a>[203]</span> -indisposed to misuse Scripture after that unbecoming -fashion; and we may surely say, notwithstanding the -ominous shadows which brooded over the closing years -of a reign commenced with so much promise, the anecdote, -even the possibility that it may be true, testifies -to the cruel coarseness, the low profane jocularity, and -ungrateful injustice of the man. He was a hearty politician, -to whom all refinements of speech or sentiment -were unknown, and, right or wrong, he plunged on in -a reckless kind of fashion. He adopted as his motto, -<i>Pro Christo et patriâ</i>, For Christ and my country. -Charity may be permitted to hope that he, at any rate, -thought the motto did not unworthily represent the -man, if sometimes in his conduct he seems somewhat unworthily -to represent the motto. And while Watts was -pursuing his studies in scholarly seclusion, never knowing -the happiness of robust health, and, although a firm Nonconformist, -on good terms with bishops and ministers of -the Church of England, and ministers and members of -many communions of Christians, Bradbury mixed with -freedom with the moving parties in the City, and was ever -ready to lift up his voice loudly about all the political -circumstances of the passing hours. Thus the two men, -although ministers of the same order, within a very short -distance of each other, were in their sympathies wide apart; -they desired, indeed, the same great ends, but the roads they -took to their attainment were widely different. It is still -singular and unaccountable, but for the personal motives -we have assigned above, that Bradbury should have expressed -himself with so much bitterness and hostility concerning -his old friend, whose principles, neither in religion -nor politics, could ever have been at any very great remove -from his own; but so it is, that amidst the multitude of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204"></a>[204]</span> -friends that honoured and esteemed Watts highly for his -work’s sake, we find Bradbury standing aside like a very -Shimei pouring upon him his perpetually reiterated torrent -of contempt, obloquy, and scorn, and no motive appears but -the dangerous one which influences three-fourths of all the -evil and hatred in the world; jealousy of a rank for which -he was unfit, and genius to which he could not attain. On -the whole, it may be said of Bradbury, in the language of -an old English poet, he was “like a pair of snuffers, he -snips the filth in other men, and retains it in himself;” it -could not be said of him “the snuffers were of pure gold.” -As Archbishop Abbott says of Jonah, in his sermons on -the prophet: “Some drams and grains of gold appear in -him and his action, but dross is there by pounds; little -wine, but store of water; some wheat, but chaff enough.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer4.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205"></a>[205]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header3.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.<br> -<span class="smaller">His Times.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>Take the life of almost any man who has stood in any -relation to the thought and intelligence of his times, -in any period of English history, and it is interesting to -regard him by the light of the events flowing on around -him. Watts was almost a literary solitary; he cannot be -referred to as greatly influencing the times in which he -lived, but an outline of his life is incomplete if we give no -reference to the events of his time. From the last years -of the reign of Charles <span class="allsmcap">II.</span> to the closing years of George <span class="allsmcap">II.</span> -constitutes the era of Watts. Every age seems eminently -important to its actors—sometimes even to spectators—and -yet that age stands out with singular distinctness. How -different the times of Watts’ birth and those of his death: -the infant in the arms of a weeping mother, beneath the bars -of the dungeon of the imprisoned Nonconformist, and the -old man, that same infant, passing away, with the great -Methodist movement rising into activity over the whole -nation. A little room, scarcely tolerated in Southampton, -where a few persecuted Nonconformists assembled together, -and large chapels, capable of holding thousands, rising<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206"></a>[206]</span> -amidst the far-off wastes of Northern Yorkshire and -Western Cornwall, and a sudden burst of religious vitality -finding vent in hymns and meetings over the whole -country.</p> - -<p>If the change in the aspect of religious life was remarkable, -not less remarkable was the change, or rather perhaps -we ought to say the changes, which had been brought -about in the political. The period of Watts’ childhood -was the most ominous, unhappy, and unsettled in English -story; men knew not what to expect, they knew not -whither they were drifting. Those were the days of the -great Monmouth Rebellion and Jeffreys’ “Bloody Assize;” -the days of the execution of Algernon Sidney and Lord -William Russell, the days of Titus Oates. The mind of -England was full of plots, and the fear and the shadow of -plots, succeeded by internal discords, and a disunited front -to possible external foes. Well has it been said, “It was -high time that James should go; it was time that William -should come.”</p> - -<p>The closing years of Watts’ life Mr. Hallam ventures -to speak of, and Earl Stanhope confirms the verdict, as -nationally the happiest period of all England’s history, a -brief period during which plenty and comfort seemed -everywhere to abound. We do not refer to the moral state -of the people; that appears to have been low enough, but -the nation had reached, and the people were experiencing, -the blessedness of a lull of peace after that great storm -which had shaken every timber of the national vessel. -The period of George II. appears to be that ideal time -upon which many look back under the designations of -“Happy England” and “Merry England.” Between these -two periods how many intervening chapters occur! and it -is not a little distressing to a biographer that it seems<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207"></a>[207]</span> -impossible to lay the hand upon scarcely a letter of the -many multitudes of letters which Watts must have -written, and many, one cannot but think, illustrating some -of the circumstances and the characters of the times, and -his interest in them.<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> - -<p>Thus, for instance, he was an intimate friend of that -David Polhill who was one of the foremost men in the -affair of the great “Kentish Petition,” a circumstance -which shines brightly among the gallant actions of those -who, with daring intrepidity, supported William III. It -was at a time when pusillanimity and fear of France would -have been fatal. The House of Commons, rent by faction, -was very slow in vindicating the king; five Kentish gentlemen, -magistrates, interpreting the opinion of their county, -signed as deputies a petition calling upon the House to lay -aside their own personal differences, to attend better to -public affairs, and especially to vote sufficient supplies to -sustain the king and his allies. It was a daring step; the -five gentlemen who bore the petition to the House all presented -themselves as responsible for it; the House instantly -voted that it was scandalous, infamous, and seditious, calculated -to destroy the constitution of Parliament, and to -subvert the established government of the realm. The five -gentlemen, of whom David Polhill was one, were, amidst -the acclamations of the nation, committed to prison, and -there for some time they continued. The pen of Defoe -sprang into eloquence on their behalf, and when they -were liberated, as they were shortly, one of those demonstrations—not -of the mob—but of the strong middle -classes of England, greeted them on Blackheath on their -way home, bells clanging, bonfires burning, and Kent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208"></a>[208]</span> -altogether in such a state as it had not been in since the -Restoration of Charles <span class="allsmcap">II.</span></p> - -<p>1703—one wonders if Watts went down into the City on -the 31st of July that year, to see one whom he must very -well have known, who, as we have seen, studied some years -before Watts was there, at the Dissenting Academy in -Stoke Newington—Daniel Defoe, standing in the pillory; -for Defoe’s great and even intimate friend, William <span class="allsmcap">III</span>, was -dead, and the men who had long winced beneath his wit, -and had longed for the time of their reprisals, fancied the -time had come at last; but, indeed, the sentence which -was intended for punishment turned into a painful kind of -triumph. It cannot be a pleasant position for the head -and the hands to be fixtures in that fashion for an hour; -but if the sentence has to be borne, then it is pleasant to -find the rude machine adorned with flowers and garlands, -and the odium of the punishment transferred from the -sufferer to his judges. However, they ruined Defoe.</p> - -<p>This was the year in which, as Watts mentions in his -slight autobiographic memoranda, occurred the great storm, -one of the most fearful England has ever known. Whole -buildings were hurled down, two hundred and fifty thousand -timber trees torn up by the roots, spires beaten from -the churches, and the lead from the roofs of more than one -hundred churches rolled up like scrolls. Eight thousand -persons perished by drowning; the Severn overflowed its -banks, and fifteen thousand sheep besides other cattle -perished; eight hundred dwelling-houses, four hundred -windmills, and barns without number, were thrown down. -Some people were killed in their beds, among others -Dr. Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and his wife. The -damage done in London amounted to about a million of -pounds sterling, in Bristol to £150,000. The damage on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209"></a>[209]</span> -the sea was still more considerable, many ships of the royal -navy were cast away, and innumerable merchant vessels. -Imagination quite fails to realize the horrors of that -tremendous night; it was as one has said of it, “As if the -destroying angel hurried by shrouded in his very gloomiest -apparel.”</p> - -<p>And side by side with such great national calamities -went our great national rejoicings. This was the moment -in our history when the genius of Marlborough was rising, -and the victories of Blenheim and Ramillies were taking -place, holding in check, beyond any question, the audacity -of Louis <span class="allsmcap">XIV.</span>, and exhibiting the power and influence of -England in the foreign affairs of Europe in a manner -never so remarkably exhibited before.</p> - -<p>Such were “the times that went over him.” Watts lived -through all those curious transactions round the Court of -Queen Anne; lived also through the great Sacheverell riots—and -a curious time that was for Dissenters, as he bears -testimony again in his little outline of coincidences with -his autobiographical memoranda. “March 1st, 1710. The -mob rose and pulled down the pews and galleries of six -meeting-houses, that is, Mr. Burgess, Mr. Bradbury, Mr. -Earle, Mr. Wright, Mr. Hamilton, and Mr. Charles Taylor, -but were dispersed by the guards under Captain Horsey, -at one or two in the morning.” He passed through all -that excitement of public feeling arising from the introduction -of the “Schism Bill,” which, beyond anything, covered -with gloom the last days of the reign of Queen Anne. -When she ascended the throne, Watts wrote a lyric in -honour of her happy accession; there was no inconsistency -in his expressing almost a burst of gladness and joy at her -decease. The “Schism Bill” was worthy of the very -worst days of the Stuarts; it was intended to crush all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210"></a>[210]</span> -Nonconformist schools, and all Dissenting academies; any -Nonconformist teacher was to be imprisoned three months, -every schoolmaster was to receive the sacrament and take -the oaths, and if afterwards guilty of being present at a -conventicle, to be incapacitated and imprisoned. Earl Stanhope, -in his quiet, very interesting, and, on the whole, -impartial history, speaks of “this tyrannical act,” and well -remarks: “It is singular that some of the most plain and -simple notions, such as that of religious toleration, should -be the slowest and most difficult to be impressed upon the -human mind.”<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> It is interesting to notice that this measure -was greatly the creation of Lord Bolingbroke, a man -who, while “he thought it,” as Earl Stanhope says, “necessary -to crush Dissenters,” was himself altogether independent -and incapable of any religious faith or conviction. -Infidelity has never found its interests on the side of true -freedom, but only of lawlessness and licentiousness, to -which it is ever fond of applying the glorious term. In -the midst of the panic created by this measure the Queen -died, died on the very day the Schism Act was to have -taken effect, and George <span class="allsmcap">I.</span> succeeded to the English throne. -He commenced his reign with a noble declaration of liberty -of conscience. At his first appearing in council he said, “I -take this occasion to express to you my firm purpose to do -all that is in my power for the supporting and maintaining -the Churches of England and Scotland as they are by law -established, which I am of opinion may be effectually done -without the least impairing the toleration allowed by law -to her Protestant Dissenters, so agreeable to Christian -charity.”</p> - -<p>Watts lived through that great agitation which consigned<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211"></a>[211]</span> -Francis Atterbury, the Bishop of Rochester, first to the -Tower, and then to exile, for his complicity with the Pretender, -and attempts to bring back the Stuarts. Atterbury -was sworn by many oaths to maintain the Protestant succession, -but his guilt was soon manifest beyond any doubt, -even to the most lenient and doubtful mind. It was -greatly to men of Watts’ order of religious conviction that -the reigning family owed the stability of its power; and -when the fury of the clergy, especially the High Church -clergy, was excited by the arrest of the Bishop, one of their -own order, and attempts even made to set him forth in the -light of a martyr, it is interesting to notice that it was -Bishop Gibson, the friend and correspondent of Watts, who -allayed the storm.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> - -<p>The intense antipathy to Rome and the Papacy, so manifest -in the writings of Watts, and in the wild passions of -the times, was not without a cause, and a cause which -would make itself especially felt in the City of London. -When Watts was ordained over the church in Mark Lane, -only fifteen years had elapsed since the Revocation of -the Edict of Nantes; that dreadful act of persecution had -poured over many parts of England and of America the -noble refugees of freedom and Protestantism; multitudes -found their way to the neighbourhood of London; not far -from the neighbourhood of Watts’ church, there sprung up -a Protestant French colony. They did no harm to this -nation by their exile hither,—they brought character, and -piety, and invention, and wit; where they rested they -reared the unadorned and humble temples of their simple<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212"></a>[212]</span> -Protestant service. Possessed themselves of the hymns of -Clement Marot, they probably suggested a psalmody, -sweeter and more elevated than our churches at that time -possessed—but in many instances their sufferings in the -course of their expatriation had been dreadful. From year -to year they still escaped to our shores, and found their -way to London; the people and their pastors were aided by -the government of William and Mary, and by the succeeding -governments. It was not possible but that the dread -of honest and quiet thinkers, and the more turbulent -passions of the people, should be awakened against that -fearful system which seemed so recklessly to strike at all -national happiness and prosperity; and in England the -Papacy had its agents almost ubiquitous, crafty, cunning, -powerful, cruel, and remorseless; it was no time for the -indulgence of a mere philosophical calm and dreams of -generous toleration. There were frequent wild outbreaks -of madness and wrath in heated and excited mobs, and the -language indulged by writers, usually so clear and wise, -became intense in hatred to Rome; but let the reader -transfer his feelings to that time, and interpret his feelings -by natural fear, and he will scarcely be able to visit either -manifestation with very severe reprehension.</p> - -<p>The times through which Watts lived were indeed very -remarkable, regarded from many points of view. Well -might the nation shudder at the idea of any approach to -Popery on the part of our own government; for if the villages -and towns of our coast opposite to France, and the neighbourhoods -of the little suburban villages of Shoreditch and -Spitalfields, were thronged with the refugees of persecution -from France, refugees of a similar persecution from Austria -also, at a later period, poured into Prussia, into New England, -and into some parts of our own country, and especially<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213"></a>[213]</span> -into London. The Church of Rome did not, in those days, -permit many years to pass without refreshing the memory -of Protestants as to her power and disposition to persecute. -Watts interested himself on behalf of the poor Saltzburgers -(£33,000 was raised in London for their relief). Multitudes -settled at Ebenezer, in Georgia. The Rev. F. M. Ziegenhagen -writes to Watts that “any old rag thrown away in -Europe is of service to them, old shoes, stockings, shirts, -or anything of wearing apparel from men and women, -grown people or children. Wherefore, dear sir, if Baron -Oxie’s supposition be true, perhaps you might, by the blessing -of God, be the happy instrument to get here and there -something of old clothes for them to cover their nakedness.” -To this application Watts appears to have responded, as -Mr. Ziegenhagen again replies: “The readiness you show -in assisting the poor Saltzburgers, nay, your well receiving -the mentioning them and their circumstances in my last -letter, gave me great satisfaction.” Those of these persecuted -ones who passed over to the American plantations -appear to have settled surprisingly, aided by England; -George Whitefield bears testimony to the great blessings -which rested upon them. England made a parliamentary -grant of £10,000 to relieve their sufferings. Our readers -know the amazing story, the mighty exodus, the march of -the exiles, amounting to 20,678, in the depth of winter. -The pathos of that story is immortalized in one of the -sweetest poems of Goethe, and for us in the prose of Thomas -Carlyle. Prussia threw her arms open to receive them; -but many perished on the march for want of food, having -been obliged to leave their goods behind them. The Count -of Warnigrode gave a substantial dinner to 900 of them; -the Duke of Brunswick liberally entertained others; the -clergy of Leipsic met a number of the wanderers on their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214"></a>[214]</span> -way, and led them into the city through the gates, singing -Luther’s hymn as they passed in. The Revocation of the -Edict of Nantes, to which we have referred, happened a -short time before Watts commenced his ministry; this rousing -event happened when it was drawing towards its close.</p> - -<p>As we turn over some of the hymns of Watts, and some -pages of his and other writings of the day, it seems as if -the denunciations of Rome were wanting in good taste, and -tender charitableness of feeling. The sentiments Watts -expressed and indulged in never appear to go beyond the -bounds of propriety; his sentiments towards Rome are -shared by John Milton, who wrote while the valleys -of Piedmont were flaming with burning villages, and -covered with the bodies of the slaughtered saints of God. -In those years Rome had the power to get up every now -and then some such startling <i>spectacle</i> to astonish Europe -and mankind. Papists are still surprised that such entertainments -were not taken in good part, and that, on the -contrary, fervid expressions of indignation were uttered, -and loud prayers put up that God would save England from -the dominancy of Rome again in the politics of our nation. -Men like Watts judged such expressions to be neither -unnatural, unholy, nor unwise: they had not reached that -stoical calm which contemplates either the insolent outrage -and persecution of a hierarchy trampling under foot -the holiest rights of men, or the groans of protracted -suffering, with indifference; they lived in the neighbourhood -of danger, and did not affect a calmness of feeling -as they beheld, even in their own neighbourhood, infidelity -and priestism working together, as they so often -work, forging fetters for a nation.</p> - -<p>In several pages of this volume glances have been given -at the aspects of the age and its manners, so far as they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215"></a>[215]</span> -affected, or were affected by, the subject of this memoir. -A large portion of that time may be spoken of as the most -dissolute age of England, and even in the later period it -was a rude, rough time. In those regions in which vice did -not abound, a thick, dark night of ignorance “covered the -people.” However we may boast of a few splendid names -in literature, and however some character or incident gives -effect and pomp to the scenery, still it is only worthy of -the apt description of John Foster<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> that “we are only -gazing with delight at a fine public bonfire, while in all -the cottages round the people are shivering for want of -fuel.” It was a time along whose way romance loves to -loiter; when the lanthorn lighted the sedan on the neighbourly -visit in town as well as country; when, also, no -home was exempted from the housebreaker, and every -suburb was haunted by highwaymen.</p> - -<p>We need not dwell at greater length on the literary -characteristics of the age; incidentally we may remind -our readers that to Watts, in the later years of his life, -we owe the introduction to the world of a poem which -has not long ceased to be a very popular one, “The -Grave,” by Robert Blair, the minister of the parish of -Athelstanford, in Scotland. Blair sent his poem to Watts, -and Watts thought so well of it that he sent it to -Doddridge, and both advised its author to publish it, -and appear to have been able to render him some valuable -assistance in making it known. Almost forgotten -now, it immediately took the popular taste. It is not -wonderful that it did so, for it has all the gloomy magnificence -of a body lying in state; but it is gloomy without -vulgarity, and has the gorgeousness of the silver shieldings -and splendid heraldry on the black velvet. It is short;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216"></a>[216]</span> -it perhaps seems to us now almost a sentimental piece -of commonplace; but it instantly took possession of the -public mind, and is still included in most respectable -collections of English poets. It belonged to a class of -pieces which appear to have been great favourites with -people in those days, and which have furnished abundant -materials for sermons ever since—Hervey’s “Meditations -among the Tombs,” and Young’s “Night Thoughts,”—although -the last is a very far superior piece of work, and -may deserve to be spoken of as one of the finest of purely -didactic poems. Blair, in his far-off home among the East -Lothians, had everything which to such a nature as his -would be likely to press home with a pensive force upon -the mind; and the deep reality of James Hervey’s nature, -every one at all acquainted with his biography well knows. -Edward Young, it may without much indignity to charity -be believed, was a man of a very different order, in whom -unrealized sentiment considerably dominated the character. -He was a man of unquestionable genius, and he so far laid -his genius on the altar of religion that he produced not -only the poem to which we are referring, but many others, -which, if not of equal eminence, had a decided religious -influence. But he was a constant haunter of the abodes of -fashion, a hanger-on of Courts, and not at all indisposed to -avail himself of every kind of help in seeking to further his -purposes in life. He was not below the average of men, but -the “other-worldliness” of his poem contrasts strangely -enough with the worldliness of the author; if, when he -wrote of the other world, he wrote like a saint, we cannot -forget that, when he wrote of this, he wrote as a keen -satirist. In fact, all this belongs to the character of the -poetry of the period; it was not real, it was stiff and -stilted; it was poetry in brocade; nothing about it looks<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217"></a>[217]</span> -very real. Of course there are beautiful lines and beautiful -passages to be quoted, but its men and women are not -real. The poetry of our own times, as compared with -those, has gained immeasurably in this, in reality, and -a large proportion of the things which were said and -admired then would be regarded as simply ridiculous now.</p> - -<p>No reference has been made to the States of America. -The United States had no existence in Watts’ day—America -was regarded then much as we regard Australia -now. Watts had many friends there, and much interesting -correspondence exists between them; especially interesting -it is to find in the history of Harvard University that -Watts’ name occurs as one of its early benefactors.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer2.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218"></a>[218]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header6.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.<br> -<span class="smaller">Return to Stoke Newington.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>It would be a very difficult thing to realize now in the -suburb of Stoke Newington, the Stoke Newington of -Isaac Watts’ day. The mighty city has absorbed it; the -lanes, the fields, the woods, the old bridge, the old church, -and the very river have vanished. It must have been a -very pretty little rural village, comprised in a small cluster -of houses; it may even be spoken of as a kind of sequestered -hermitage, amidst whose shades those who desired it might -find, if the stillness of nature could give it, perfect peace. -Even more than forty years after Watts’ death there were -only one hundred and ninety-five houses; within the -memory of old inhabitants it was still but a village. In -Watts’ day it was probably surrounded by trees; a short -time before he took up his residence there, there were -seventy-seven acres of woodland in demesne, part of the -ancient forest of Middlesex, so justifying its name from -Stoke, a wood (<i>Stoke Newington</i>, the new little town in the -wood). A very pleasant retreat, the like of which we -should have to look a long way from any London suburb -to discover now. The ancient houses have disappeared<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219"></a>[219]</span> -from the present vicinity, and two of the last, and those in -which Watts passed his early and his later age, the houses -of Hartopp and Abney, have only just been pulled down. -We have noticed the history of Fleetwood’s house, built in -the reign of Queen Elizabeth; but tradition assigns to some -old houses in the village, called the “Bishop’s Place,” the -frequent visits of Henry <span class="allsmcap">VIII.</span>, and here, on a part of these -premises, was born Samuel Rogers, the poet; and it is a -singular and noticeable thing, that as the father of the poet -died in 1793, and had lived the greater part of his life at -Stoke Newington, those who knew the poet talked with a -man who was the child of one who had probably not only -seen but talked with Isaac Watts. There is a spot in Stoke -Newington still called “King Henry’s Walk,” and when -the premises supposed to be his retreat were taken down, -parts of the old wainscot were found to be richly gilt and -ornamented with paintings, although, indeed, almost -obliterated.</p> - -<p>Stoke Newington, about the period when Watts resided -there, was the residence and retreat of many celebrities. -Here, as we have seen, Defoe was educated, and for some -time resided; and here, a little later, resided another whose -name has been a charm over childhood, Thomas Day, the -author of “Sandford and Merton.” Watts had only been -dead two years when John Howard came to reside in the -village. The place seems especially to have been the -retreat of retired statesmen or merchants, but all ranks -seem to mingle memories in the little village. Queen -Elizabeth’s Walk is founded on the tradition that in the -Manor House the Princess Elizabeth was concealed during -a part of the reign of Queen Mary. London suburbs were -wont to retain the flavour of a peculiar kind of society, and -not less really than Twickenham retained its literary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220"></a>[220]</span> -eminence; not less renowned than Clapham for its “Sect,” -was Stoke Newington eminent as the home and haunt of -Nonconformist celebrities.<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> The interest of the place, -however, gathers greatly round the memories of the houses -of the Hartopp and the Abney families, for Watts is the -greatest name connected with Stoke Newington, and in -both these houses he found his home.</p> - -<p>Watts’ biographers have hitherto not nicely discriminated -the periods of his residence; reading Southey, it might be -supposed he had passed all his life at Stoke Newington; -reading Milner, it might be supposed he not only passed -the greater part of his life, but closed his days at -Theobalds. The truth is, that Thomas Gunston, the -brother of Lady Abney, purchased a house and twenty-five -acres of land with the Manor of Stoke Newington. -He pulled the house down, and commenced the erection -of a very large and elegant house on the site of the -old one, but he died in 1700, just before the completion -of the building. He was a young man, and Watts -was young, and between the two there appears to have -been a bond of exceedingly close and tender friendship. -When Thomas Gunston died he left the house to his sister, -then residing at Theobalds with her husband, Sir Thomas -Abney, and there Watts resided with them; but many -years after, probably when time had softened the stroke -which seems to have been felt very keenly, Lady Abney -left Theobalds and came to her house in Stoke Newington. -Watts came with the family, and in this house were passed -the last thirteen years of his life, and there, shortly after -the death of her revered friend, Lady Abney died. The -house then became the property of the eldest daughter,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221"></a>[221]</span> -Miss Elizabeth Abney, who never married, and whose name -occurs as a considerable benefactor to the neighbourhood. -Upon her death, she directed by her will the lease and -estate to be sold, and after the payment of certain legacies, -the residue to be distributed to poor Dissenting ministers, -to their widows, and other objects of charity; the sale -realized £13,000.</p> - -<p>This, then, was the spot associated with some of Watts’ -earliest, happiest days, and was the scene of their quiet -close. His friendship with Thomas Gunston was evidently -founded on moral and intellectual relationship, and when -he died, he poured out his grief in a long elegy, published -in the Lyrics. It is noticeable in the poetry of Watts, and -of that day, that so many of the subjects are devoted to -the memory of friends. If a friend died, or if any other -circumstance happened in life, it seemed necessary to -embody the impressions in verse, and we need not, perhaps, -regard this as altogether artificial and unnatural; in Watts’ -instance, we may be sure it was not so, although many of -the expressions sound extravagant; those to which most -exception is taken have scarcely more of this characteristic -than some of the similar poems of Milton; we may, for -instance, remember Lycidas:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Mourn, ye young gardens, ye unfinished gates,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ye green enclosures and ye growing sweets</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lament; for ye our midnight hours have known,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And watched us walking by the silent moon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In conference divine, while heavenly fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Kindling our breasts, did all our thoughts inspire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With joys almost immortal.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And again—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft have I laid the awful Calvin by,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the sweet Cowley, with impatient eye</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To see these walls, pay the sad visit here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And drop the tribute of an hourly tear.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222"></a>[222]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Still I behold some melancholy scene,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With many a pensive thought and many a sigh between.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Two days ago we took the evening air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I and my grief.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Amidst the exaggerations, however, which a prosaic age -may fancy it detects, there is no reason for including expressions -which it would certainly be impossible to appropriately -use now; the poet calls upon the dusky woods and echoing -hills, the flowery vales overgrown with thorns, the brook -that runs warbling by, the lowing herd, and the moaning -turtle, the curling vine with its amorous folds, and the -stately elms, the reverent growth of ancient years, standing -tall and naked to the blustering rage of the mad winds. -These are images which must have been simply natural and -appropriate when the piece was written; all is changed, -entirely changed now, unless some exception be made for -the elms which are, or were, recently standing. The death -of this amiable, excellent, and promising young man stands -out as probably the most intense grief of Watts’ life. As -there was a community of taste, leisure for the indulgence -of the pursuits of the intellect and the heart, and the -strong wish to gratify the instincts of a noble nature, it is -not wonderful that Watts poured out his feelings in so -lengthy a poem.</p> - -<p>The young man appears to have come of a high-spirited -family; his father, John Gunston, befriended many of the -ministers when they fell beneath the arm of persecution; -and when the eminent Dr. Manton was imprisoned in the -Gate House for refusing the Oxford Oath, the Lady -Broughton, his keeper, placing the keys at his disposal, -allowed him an opportunity of visiting his friend, Mr. -Gunston, at Newington. Thus we have the early and -tender connection of Watts with this village. And not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223"></a>[223]</span> -long since the old house was standing. An amiable and accomplished -man of our time writes, in a letter dated May, -1840: “On my return to town I stopped at Stoke Newington, -and paid a promised visit to an old friend and colleague -at Abney House, where he has charge of the literary -education of some twenty candidates for the ministry. The -house—that in which Dr. Watts lived for more than a -generation, composed his precious hymns, and at last died—afforded -me, in its noble antique apartments, in its still -rich embellishments, its surrounding grounds (said to -contain the bones of Oliver Cromwell), and, above all, its -sacred associations, more delight than I can express.”<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> - -<p>On the spot where the house stood, with its beautiful -grounds, gardens, and trees extending round, is now laid -out the Abney Park Cemetery, amongst whose forests of -tombs may be detected innumerable names very dear to -the memories of modern Nonconformists: since the closing -of Bunhill Fields, Abney Park Cemetery has become what -it was, a sort of <i>santa croce</i>, or <i>campo santo</i> of revered and -hallowed dust.</p> - -<p>Though now within a short walk of the great city, it -seemed a sequestered village when Watts resided there. -The roads were probably not of the best, and there were -no lights upon them. The woods intervening and in the -neighbourhood, would furnish shelter for many social -annoyances, and even dangers. But it was nearer to -London than the more stately and palace-like abode of -Theobalds, and, noble as it was, it was altogether a plainer -habitation. Watts was probably, after the death of Sir -Thomas Abney, very much the modest master of both -abodes. Until within a short period of its dissolution the -house contained such memories of Watts as adorned the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224"></a>[224]</span> -walls of Theobalds. We have seen that he was a painter, -and the fashion at that time was to adorn the wainscoting -and walls and panels. There were noble rooms in the -mansion, and thus were they relieved, mostly by subjects -of a classical, mythical, and allegorical character. He -painted four characters of Youth and Age, Mirth and Grief, -for two of the parlours, “where,” says Dr. Robinson, “they -are at this present day.” To the time of its fall the mansion -testified to the taste and elegance with which it was -fitted up, the painted room displaying costly ornaments, -and altogether a fine specimen of the age in which it was -arranged; the mouldings gilt, and the whole of the panels -and sides painted with subjects from “Ovid,” and on the -window-shutters pictorial decorations, supposed to have -been the production of the pencil of Watts, emblematical -of Death and Grief, and evidently alluding to the decease -of Mr. Gunston. The elms, to which reference has been -already made, continued to excite attention to the last. -Planted long before the building was commenced, they continued -to wave their widowed branches after it had passed -away. Dr. Robinson mentions a portrait of Watts which -long continued in the house, an indifferent portrait of him -when a young man, in a blue night-gown, wig and band, -and three or four duplicate mezzotinto prints of him when -older by G. White, 1727, clerically habited, with a Bible in -his right hand, and under him in capitals:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">ISAAC WATTS</p> - -<p>“In Christo mea vita latet, mea gloria Christus, hunc -lingua, hunc calamus celebrat nec magis, tacebit. In uno -Jesu omnia.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>And on the upper corner “To live is Christ, to die is -gain.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225"></a>[225]</span></p> - -<p>Here his last days were passed; Dr. Gibbons does not -mention in what year the family left Theobalds to return -to Stoke Newington, but it must have been about thirteen -years before his death; and during this time, although -his life was clouded by many pains and infirmities, he still -continued the active operations of his pen, and, as we shall -have occasion to see, the active operations of his mind, -employing himself especially in attempting to solve what -seems to many the insolvable question of the Trinity of -Persons in the Godhead. But as he descended towards -the closing years it seems that he suffered greatly from -some members of his own family. In a letter from the -Rev. John Barker to Dr. Doddridge, written nearly two -years before Watts’ death, we read: “The behaviour of -Dr. Watts and the wretch Buckston towards Dr. Isaac is -a most marvellous, infamous, enormous wickedness; Lady -Abney, with inimitable steadiness and prudence, keeps -our friend in peaceful ignorance, and his enemies at a -becoming distance, so that in the midst of the persecution -of that righteous man he lives comfortably; and when a -friend asks him how he does, answers, ‘Waiting God’s -leave to die.’”<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer3.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226"></a>[226]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header7.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.<br> -<span class="smaller">The World to Come.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>“The World to Come” was for a long time one of those -favourite pieces which occupied a place upon our -forefathers’ book-shelves, and especially charmed the -dwellers at home in those times and places when and where -there were no Sabbath evening services; it belongs to that -era when Christian people found their spiritual pleasure -and refreshment in Baxter’s “Saint’s Everlasting Rest,” -to which work it bears no inconsiderable resemblance. -Southey, in his “Life of Watts,” in which, like Johnson, -he lays aside all his acerbity against Watts and Dissenters, -appears to dwell with much pleasure on this book. Probably -most of our readers are now unacquainted with it; -and, if so, they have to learn how much there is in these -two volumes of suggestion and instruction. Watts was -fond of dwelling in imagination upon, and dilating with -his pen over, the conditions of the world to come. The -work first appeared in two volumes, although the second -was not published until the year 1745, when Watts was -drawing near to the period of his own entrance into that -kingdom, upon whose conditions he had speculated so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227"></a>[227]</span> -largely and interestingly. Some portions of this work -soon found their way into other languages; his piece -on “The End of Time” was translated, as a tract, into -most of the tongues of Europe; an edition is now circulating, -or was a short time since, in modern Greek, on -the shores of the Levant; and none of the prose works of -Watts have perhaps obtained so large an acceptance, or -produced, on the one hand, more serious impressions, and, -on the other, more quieting and comfortable consolation.</p> - -<p>The work has the characteristic of the times in which -it was written—diffuseness; but here, if sometimes there -is an indulgence in those fancies and colourings of speech -of which we become impatient now, we find some of the -best illustrations of that happy power of illumination and -imagination which we should expect to abound in the -works and sermons of such a poet as Watts. The poet and -the metaphysician meet, and mutually aid each other in -the attempt to enter upon the mysteries of the unseen -world; his ideas, perhaps, do not differ greatly from those -which are ordinarily entertained amongst us. Franke, the -well-known German pietist, was the means of the translation -of a portion of the work in Geneva, and the translator -said, in introducing the work, that “the preacher -had taken occasion of flying with his thoughts into the -blessed mansions of the just, and had given not only a -very probable and beautiful idea of the glory of a future -life in general, but also an enumeration of the many sorts -of enjoyments and pleasures that are to be met with there.”</p> - -<p>But Watts’ “World to Come” is not limited to the -work that bears that title. His thoughts perpetually -hovered round that fascinating theme. He was constantly, -as we find in many of his pieces, engaged in attempts -to understand the nature of metaphysical substance.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228"></a>[228]</span> -Though from Revelation we can only gather that “we -know not what we shall be,” yet there are precious hints -from which we may obtain all that is sufficient for comfort -and for light, especially in the Great Teacher’s promise -that “where I am there shall also My servant be,” -and the assurance of His apostle that “we shall see Him -as He is.”</p> - -<p>It would not be uninteresting to group together all -Watts’ words from his various works illustrating his conception -of “The World to Come,” his conjectures concerning -the mode of our immortality; thus he presents to us—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">THE BRAIN BOOK.</p> - -<p>“We may try to illustrate this matter by the similitude -of the union of a human soul to a body. Suppose a -learned philosopher be also a skilful divine and a great -linguist, we may reasonably conclude that there are some -millions of words and phrases, if taken together with all -the various senses of them, which are deposited in his -brain as in a repository, by means of some correspondent -traces or signatures; we may suppose also millions of -ideas of things, human and divine, treasured up in various -traces or signatures in the same brain. Nay, each organ -of sense may impress on the brain millions of traces -belonging to the particular objects of that sense; especially -the two senses of discipline, the eye and the ear; the -pictures, the images, the colours, and the sounds, that are -reserved in this repository of the brain, by some correspondent -impressions or traces, are little less than infinite; -now, the human soul of the philosopher, by being united -to this brain, this well-furnished repository, knows all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229"></a>[229]</span> -these names, words, sounds, images, lines, figures, colours, -notions, and sensations. It receives all these ideas; and -is, as it were, mistress of them all. The very opening of -the eye impresses thousands of ideas at once upon such a -soul united to a human brain; and what unknown millions -of ideas may be impressed on it, or conveyed to it in -successive seasons, whensoever she stands in need of -them, and that by the means of this union to the brain, -is beyond our capacity to think or number. Let us now conceive -the Divine Mind or Wisdom as a repository stored -with infinite ideas of things present, past, and future: -suppose a created spirit, of most extensive capacity, -intimately united to this Divine Mind or Wisdom: may it -not by this means, by Divine appointment, become capable -of receiving so many of those ideas, and so much knowledge, -as are necessary for the government and the -judgment of all nations? And this may be done two -ways, viz., either by the immediate application of itself, -as it were by inquiry, to the Divine Mind, to which it is -thus united, or by the immediate actual influences and -impressions which the Divine Mind may make of these -ideas on the human soul, as fast as ever it can stand in need -of them for these glorious purposes. Since a human brain, -which is mere matter, and which contains only some -strokes and traces, and corporeal signatures of ideas, can -convey to a human soul united to it many millions of -ideas, as fast as it needs them for any purposes of human -life; how much more may the infinite God, or Divine -Mind or Wisdom, which hath actually all real and possible -ideas in it in the most perfect manner, communicate to a -human soul united to this Divine Wisdom, a far greater -number of ideas than a human brain can receive; even as -many as the affairs of governing and judging this world<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230"></a>[230]</span> -may require. This may be represented and illustrated by -another similitude, thus: suppose there were a spherical -looking-glass or mirror vast as this earth is; on which -millions of corporeal objects appeared in miniature on all -sides of it impressed or represented there, by a thousand -planetary and starry worlds surrounding this vast mirror; -suppose a capacious human spirit united to this mirror, as -the soul is to the body: what an unknown multitude of -ideas would this mirror convey to that human spirit in -successive seasons! Or, perhaps, this spirit might receive -all these ideas at once, and be conscious of the millions of -things represented all round the mirror. This mirror may -represent the Deity; the human spirit taken in these ideas -successively, or conscious of them all at once, may represent -to us the soul of Christ receiving, either in a simultaneous -view, or in a successive way, unknown myriads of -ideas, by its union to Godhead; though, it must be owned, -it can never receive all these ideas which are in the Divine -Mind.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>And thus he endeavours to image to his mind the worlds:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">EARTH, HEAVEN, AND HELL.</p> - -<p>“I have often tried to strip death of its frightful colours, -and make all the terrible airs of it vanish into softness -and delight; to this end, among other rovings of thought, -I have sometimes illustrated to myself the whole creation -as one immense building, with different apartments, all -under the immediate possession and government of the -great Creator. One sort of these mansions are little, -narrow, dark, damp rooms, where there is much confinement, -very little good company, and such a clog upon -one’s natural spirits, that a man cannot think or talk with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231"></a>[231]</span> -freedom, nor exert his understanding, or any of his intellectual -powers with glory or pleasure. This is the Earth -in which we dwell. A second sort are spacious, lightsome, -airy, and serene courts open to the summer sky, or at -least admitting all the valuable qualities of sun and air, -without the inconveniences; where there are thousands -of most delightful companions, and everything that can -give one pleasure, and make one capable and fit to give -pleasure to others. This is the Heaven we hope for. -A third sort of apartments are open and spacious too, -but under a wintry sky, with perpetual storms of hail, -rain, and wind, thunder, lightning, and everything that is -painful and offensive; and all this among millions of -wretched companions cursing the place, tormenting one -another, and each endeavouring to increase the public and -the universal misery. This is Hell.</p> - -<p>“Now what a dreadful thing it is to be driven out of one -of the first narrow dusky cells into the third sort of apartment, -where the change of the room is infinitely the worst! -No wonder that sinners are afraid to die. But why should -a soul that has good hope, through grace, of entering into -the serene apartment, be unwilling to leave the narrow -smoky prison he has dwelt in so long, and under such -loads of inconvenience? Death to a good man is but -passing through a death entry, out of one little dusky room -of his Father’s house into another that is fair and large, -lightsome and glorious, and divinely entertaining. Oh may -the rays and splendours of my heavenly apartment shoot -far downward, and gild the dark entry with such a cheerful -beam as to banish every fear, when I shall be called to -pass through.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>He teaches and very much elaborates, as Southey says, -the doctrine of Milton:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232"></a>[232]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20">—What, if earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be but the shadow of Heaven, and things therein</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Southey somewhat naturally finds an occasion for humour -in that Milton beheld in heaven a place for armies, the -review of bright brigades, and illustrious cohorts with keen -swords and long bright spears, and so he remarks, “The -Heaven of Watts’ imagination was coloured by his earthly -pursuits, and whether there were to be reviews of armies -or not there were to be sermons.” “For,” says Watts, -“not only is there the service of thanksgiving here and of -prayer, but such entertainment as lectures and sermons -also, and there all the worship that is paid is the established -worship of the whole country.” But the conceptions -formed by Watts of the heavenly state are majestic in the -main. “For the Church,” he says, “on earth is but a -training school for the church on high, and is, as it were, -a tiring-room in which we are dressed in proper habit for -our appearance and our places in that bright assembly.” -Thus he beholds “Boyle and Ray pursuing the philosophy -in which they delighted on earth, contemplating the wisdom -of God in His works; and Henry More and Howe continuing -their metaphysical researches with brightened and refined -powers of mind.” It is singular that Watts, who speculated -so keenly and clearly into the nature of metaphysical -substance, should have thus somewhat embarrassed his -views of the heavenly state by discriminating so much the -pursuits of a pure and perfect soul, by characteristics which -partake of the faulty views of an earthly understanding; -but we are to remember that he wrote for useful purposes, -and we may believe that some of those excursions of the -fancy, while scarcely consistent even with his own metaphysics, -added not a little to the pleasant horizon spread<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233"></a>[233]</span> -out before the view of those readers unable or indisposed to -follow him into more abstract and pure regions of thought. -Interestingly and curiously he seeks to trace the progress -of the soul from the visible to the invisible world; we -know this world by Space and Substance, the solution -of these in connection with our existence in that future -world to come is not less a trouble to Watts than it has -been to the rest of us. Space he endeavoured to annihilate, -Substance also, and he argues, as Isaac Taylor has argued -since in his “Physical Theory of Another Life,” that as disembodied -spirits cannot exist <i>everywhere</i>, and do not probably -exist <i>anywhere</i>, philosophically they may be said to -exist <i>nowhere</i>.<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> The question then is whither does the -soul depart when it is separated from the body? Perhaps -it may be furnished with some new vehicle of a more -refined matter, which will remind readers of Abraham -Tucker’s singular chapters in his “Light of Nature,” on the -“Vehicular State;” and it is very suggestive to find him -intimating that it may abide where death finds it, not -changing its place, but only its manner of thinking and -acting, and its mode of existence, and without removal -finding itself in heaven or in hell according to its own -consciousness, and that is, according to its own previous -training or education, and then he says, “I may illustrate -this by two similitudes, and especially apply them to the -case of holy souls departing.” They may remind the reader -of Henry Vaughan’s beautiful verse:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">If a star were confined in a tomb,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its captive light would e’en shine there;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But when it bursts it dissipates the gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And shines through all the sphere.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234"></a>[234]</span></p> - -<p class="noindent">“Suppose a torch enclosed in a cell of earth, in the midst -of ten thousand thousand torches that shine at large in a -spacious amphitheatre. While it is enclosed, its beams -strike only on the walls of its own cell, and it has no communion -with those without. But let this cell fall down at -once, and the torch that moment has full communion with -all those ten thousands; it shines as freely as they do, and -receives and gives assistance to all of them, and joins to -add glory to that illustrious place.</p> - -<p>“Or suppose a man born or brought up in a dark prison, -in the midst of a fair and populous city. He lives there -in a close confinement; perhaps he enjoys only the twinkling -light of a lamp, with thick air and much ignorance; -though he has some distant hints and reports of the -surrounding city and its affairs, yet he sees and knows -nothing immediately but what is done in his own prison, -till in some happy minute the walls fall down; then he -finds himself at once in a large and populous town, encompassed -with a thousand blessings. With surprise he -beholds the king in all his glory, and holds converse with -the sprightly inhabitants. He can speak their language, -and finds his nature suited to such communion. He -breathes free air, stands in the open light; he shakes himself, -and exults in his own liberty.”</p> - -<p>The gentle spirit of Watts trembled before hell; he expressed -his belief in eternal punishment in the strongest -and most unequivocal terms, not because he found it -plainly in his understanding, but because he found it -plainly declared in the New Testament, while yet, like -other fathers in the Church, he expresses within himself a -latent hope that God has some secret and mitigating<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235"></a>[235]</span> -decree, and that although we neither dare preach nor -speculate upon it, bowing to the word, we yet may hope -that Infinite Love will find out a way.<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> - -<p>Some readers will be surprised to find that among his -proofs of a separate state, Watts does not hesitate, although -very modestly, to avow some belief in Apparitions. It -was the age of superstition and supernatural visitations. -Joseph Addison indeed was aiming at a sweeping reform, -and attempting to lay all the ghosts in the country. -Watts says—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">CONCERNING THE POSSIBILITY OF APPARITIONS.</p> - -<p>“At the conclusion of this chapter I cannot help taking -notice, though I shall but just mention it, that the multitude -of narratives, which we have heard of in all ages, of -the apparition of the spirits or ghosts of persons departed -from this life, can hardly be all delusion and falsehood. -Some of them have been affirmed to appear upon such great -and important occasions as may be equal to such an unusual -event; and several of these accounts have been attested -by such witnesses of wisdom, and prudence, and sagacity, -under no distempers of imagination, that they may justly -demand a belief; and the effects of these apparitions, in the -discovery of murders and things unknown, have been so -considerable and useful, that a fair disputant should hardly -venture to run directly counter to such a cloud of witnesses -without some good assurance on the contrary side. -He must be a shrewd philosopher indeed who, upon any -other hypothesis, can give a tolerable account of all the -narratives in Glanvil’s ‘Sadducisimus Triumphatus,’ or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236"></a>[236]</span> -Baxter’s ‘World of Spirits and Apparitions,’ etc. Though -I will grant some of these stories have but insufficient -proof, yet if there be but one real apparition of a departed -spirit, then the point is gained that there is a separate -state.</p> - -<p>“And, indeed, the Scripture itself seems to mention -such sort of ghosts or appearances of souls departed (Matt. -xiv. 26). When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the -water they ‘thought it had been a spirit.’ And (Luke -xxiv. 37) after His resurrection they saw Him at once -appearing in the midst of them, ‘and they supposed they -had seen a spirit;’ and our Saviour doth not contradict -their notion, but argues with them upon the supposition of -the truth of it, ‘a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see -Me to have.’ And, Acts xxiii. 8, 9, the word ‘spirit’ -seems to signify ‘the apparition of a departed soul,’ where -it is said, ‘The Sadducees say there is no resurrection, -neither angel nor spirit;’ and, verse 9, ‘If a spirit or -an angel hath spoken to this man,’ etc. A spirit here is -plainly distinct from an angel; and what can it mean -but an apparition of a human soul which has left the -body?”</p> - -</div> - -<p>An acquaintance with the “World to Come” will take -away even now from the reader any surprise at the popularity -it once enjoyed during years when printed sermons -were not very abundant, and when readers received without -questioning the doctrines and statements of such books as -bore the imprint of the names of eminent men. Many -passages are fraught with a most pleasing eloquence, and, -read by a serious mind, are well calculated to convey not -only passing, but permanent impressions. Shall we take -two or three?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237"></a>[237]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">ALL THINGS PREACH THE END OF TIME.</p> - -<p>“Time, hastening to its period, will furnish us with perpetual -new occasions of holy meditation. Do I observe -the declining day, and the setting sun sinking into darkness? -So declines the day of life, the hours of labour, and -the seasons of grace; oh may I finish my appointed work -with honour ere the light is fled! May I improve the -shining hours of grace ere the shadows of the evening -overtake me, and my time of working is no more! Do I -see the moon gliding along through midnight, and fulfilling -her stages in the dusky sky? This planet also is -measuring out my life, and bringing the number of my -months to their end. May I be prepared to take leave of -the sun and moon, and bid adieu to these visible heavens, -and all the twinkling glories of them! These are all but -the measures of my time, and hasten me on towards -eternity. Am I walking in a garden, and stand still to -observe the slow motion of the shadow upon a dial there? -It passes over the hour lines with an imperceptible progress, -yet it will touch the last line of daylight shortly: so -my hours and my moments move onward with a silent -pace; but they will arrive with certainty at the last limit, -how heedless soever I am of their motion, and how thoughtless -soever I may be of the improvement of time, or the end -of it. Does a new year commence, and the first morning -of it dawn upon me? Let me remember that the last year -was finished, and gone over my head, in order to make way -for the entrance of the present: I have one year the less to -travel through the world, and to fulfil the various services -of a travelling state: may my diligence in duty be doubled, -since the number of my appointed years is diminished!<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238"></a>[238]</span> -Do I find a new birth-day in my survey of the calendar, -the day wherein I entered upon the stage of mortality, and -was born into this world of sins, frailties, and sorrows, in -order to my probation for a better state? Blessed Lord, -how much have I spent already of this mortal life, this -season of my probation, and how little am I prepared for -that happier world! How unready for my dying moment! -I am hastening hourly to the end of the life of man, which -began at my nativity: am I yet born of God? Have I -begun the life of a saint? Am I prepared for that awful -day which shall determine the number of my months on -earth? Am I fit to be born into the world of spirits -through the strait gate of death? Am I renewed in all -the powers of my nature, and made meet to enter into that -unseen world, where there shall be no more of these revolutions -of days and years, but one eternal day fills up all -the space with Divine pleasure, or one eternal night with -long and deplorable distress and darkness? When I see -a friend expiring, or the corpse of my neighbour conveyed -to the grave: alas! their months and minutes are all determined, -and the seasons of their trial are finished for ever; -they are gone to their eternal home, and the estate of their -souls is fixed unchangeably: the angel that has sworn their -‘time shall be no longer’ has concluded their hopes, or has -finished their fears, and, according to the rules of righteous -judgment, has decided their misery or happiness for a long -immortality. Take this warning, oh my soul, and think of -thine own removal! Are we standing in the churchyard, -paying the last honours to the relics of our friends? What -a number of hillocks of death appear all round us! What -are the tombstones but memorials of the inhabitants of -that town, to inform us of the period of all their lives, and -to point out the day when it was said to each of them, your<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239"></a>[239]</span> -‘time shall be no longer.’ Oh may I readily learn this -important lesson, that my turn is hastening too! Such a -little hillock shall shortly arise for me on some unknown -spot of ground; it shall cover this flesh and these bones of -mine in darkness, and shall hide them from the light of -the sun, and from the sight of man, ‘till the heavens be no -more.’ Perhaps some kind surviving friend may engrave -my name, with the number of my days, upon a plain -funeral stone, without ornament and below envy; there -shall my tomb stand, among the rest, as a fresh monument -of the frailty of nature and the end of time. It is possible -some friendly foot may, now and then, visit the place of -my repose, and some tender eye may bedew the cold -memorial with a tear: one or another of my old acquaintance -may possibly attend there to learn the silent lecture of -mortality from my grave-stone, which my lips are now -preaching aloud to the world: and if love and sorrow -should reach so far, perhaps, while his soul is melting in -his eye-lids, and his voice scarce find an utterance, he will -point with his finger and show his companion the month -and day of my decease. Oh that solemn, that awful day, -which shall finish my appointed time on earth, and put a -full period to all the designs of my heart and all the labours -of my tongue and pen. Think, oh my soul! that while -friends or strangers are engaged on that spot, and reading -the date of my departure hence, thou wilt be fixed under a -decisive and unchangeable sentence, rejoicing in the rewards -of time well improved, or suffering the long sorrows which -shall attend the abuse of it in an unknown world of happiness -or misery.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>And we should think that many a believer has read the -following with sentiments of delight:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240"></a>[240]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">CHRIST ADMIRED AND GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS.</p> - -<p>“Astonishing spectacle! When the dark and savage -inhabitants of Africa, and our forefathers, the rugged and -warlike Britons, from the ends of the earth, shall appear -in that assembly, with some of the polite nations of Greece -and Rome, and each of them shall glory in having been -taught to renounce the gods of their ancestors, and the -demons which they once worshipped, and shall rejoice in -Jesus the King of Israel, and in Jehovah the everlasting -God. The conversion of the Gentile world to Christianity is -a matter of glorious wonder, and shall appear to be so in -that great day: that those who had been educated to believe -in many gods, or no god at all, should renounce -atheism and idolatry, and adore the true God only; and -those who were taught to sacrifice to idols, and to atone -for their own sins with the blood of beasts, should trust in -one sacrifice, and the atoning blood of the Son of God. -Here shall stand a believing atheist, and there a converted -idolater, as monuments of the almighty power of grace. -There shall shine also in that assembly here and there a -prince and a philosopher, though ‘not many wise, not -many noble, not many mighty are called.’<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> And they -shall be matter of wonder and glory: that princes, who -loved no control, should bow their sceptres and their -souls to the royalty and Godhead of the poor Man of Nazareth: -that the heathen philosophers, who had been used to -yield only to reason, should submit their understandings to -Divine revelation, even when it has something above the -powers and discoveries of reason in it.</p> - -<p>“Come, all ye saints of these latter ages, ‘upon whom the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241"></a>[241]</span> -end of the world is come,’ raise your heads with me, and -look far backwards, even to the beginning of time, and the -days of Adam; for the believers of all ages, as well as of -all nations, shall appear together in that day, and acknowledge -Jesus the Saviour: according to the brighter or -darker discoveries of the age in which they lived, He has -been the common object of their faith. Ever since He -was called ‘the Seed of the woman,’ till the time of His -appearance in the flesh, all the chosen of God have lived -upon His grace, though multitudes of them never knew -His name. It is true, the greater part of that illustrious -company on the right hand of Christ lived since the time -of His incarnation, for the ‘great multitude which no man -could number’ is derived from the Gentile nations. Yet -the ancient patriarchs, with the Jewish prophets and saints, -shall make a splendid appearance there: ‘one hundred -and forty-four thousand are sealed among the tribes of -Israel;’ these of old embraced the Gospel in types and -shadows; but now their eyes behold Jesus Christ, the -substance and the truth. In the days of their flesh they -read His name in dark lines, and looked through the long -glasses of prophecy to distant ages, and a Saviour to come; -and now, behold, they find complete and certain salvation -and glory in Him. ‘These all died in faith, not having -received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and -were persuaded of them, and embraced them.’ They died -in the hope of this salvation, and they shall rise in the -blessed possession of it.</p> - -<p>“Behold Abraham appearing there, the father of the faithful, -‘who saw the day of Christ, and rejoiced to see it;’ -who trusted in his Son Jesus, two thousand years before -He was born; his elder family, the pious Jews, surround -him there, and we, his younger children, among the Gentiles,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242"></a>[242]</span> -shall stand with him as the followers of his faith, who trust in -the same Jesus almost two thousand years after He is dead. -How shall we both rejoice to see this brightest day of the -Son of Man, and congratulate each other’s faith, while our -eyes meet and centre in Him, and our souls triumph in -the sight, love, and enjoyment of Him in whom we have -believed! How admirable and divinely glorious shall our -Lord Himself appear, on whom every life is fixed with -unutterable delight, in whom the faith of distant countries -and ages is centered and reconciled, and in whom ‘all the -nations of the earth appear to be blessed,’ according to -the ancient word of promise.</p> - -<p>“Then one shall say: ‘I was a sensual sinner, drenched in -liquor and unclean lusts, and wicked in all the forms of -lewdness and intemperance; the grace of God my Saviour -appeared to me, and taught me to deny worldly lusts, -which I once thought I could never have parted with. I -loved my sins as my life, but He has persuaded and constrained -me to cut off a right hand, and to pluck out a -right eye, and to part with my darling vices; and behold -me here a monument of His saving mercy.’</p> - -<p>“‘I was envious against my neighbour,’ shall another -say, ‘and my temper was malice and wrath; revenge was -mingled with my constitution, and I thought it no iniquity; -but I bless the name of Christ my Redeemer, who, in the -day of His grace, turned my wrath into meekness; He -inclined me to love even my enemies, and to pray for them -that cursed me; He taught me all this by His own example, -and He made me learn it by the sovereign influences -of His Spirit. I am a wonder to myself, when I think -what once I was. Amazing change, and Almighty grace!’</p> - -<p>“Then a third shall confess: ‘I was a profane wretch, a -swearer, a blasphemer; I hoped for no heaven, and I feared<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243"></a>[243]</span> -no hell; but the Lord seized me in the midst of my rebellions, -and sent His arrows into my soul; He made me feel -the stings of an awakened conscience, and constrained me -to believe there was a God and a hell, till I cried out -astonished, “What shall I do to be saved?” Then He led -me to partake of His own salvation, and, from a proud, -rebellious infidel, He has made me a penitent and a humble -believer, and here I stand to show forth the wonders of His -grace, and a boundless extent of His forgiveness.’</p> - -<p>“A fourth shall stand up and acknowledge in that day: -And I was a poor carnal, covetous creature, who made -this world my god, and abundance of money was my -heaven; but He cured me of this vile idolatry of gold, -taught me how to obtain treasures in the heavenly world, -and to forsake all on earth, that I might have an inheritance -there; and, behold, He has not disappointed my hopes: -I am now made rich indeed, and I must for ever sing His -praises.’</p> - -<p>“There shall be no doubt or dispute in that day whether -it was the power of our own will, or the superior power of -Divine grace, that wrought the blessed change, that turned -the lion into a lamb, a grovelling earthworm into a bird of -paradise, and of a covetous or malicious sinner made a meek -and a heavenly saint. The grace of Christ shall be so conspicuous -in every glorified believer in that assembly, that, -with one voice, they shall all shout to the praise and glory -of His grace, ‘Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy -name be all the honour!’</p> - -<p>“Behold that noble army with palms in their hands; -once they were weak warriors, yet they overcame mighty -enemies, and have gained the victory and the prize; enemies -rising from earth and from hell to tempt and to -accuse them, but they overcame ‘by the blood of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244"></a>[244]</span> -Lamb.’ What a Divine honour it shall be to our Lord -Jesus Christ, ‘the Captain of our salvation,’ that weak -Christians should subdue their strong corruptions, and get -safe to heaven through a thousand oppositions within and -without! It is all owing to the grace of Christ, that grace -which is all-sufficient for every saint. They are made -‘more than conquerors through Him that has loved them.’ -Then shall the faith and courage and patience of the -saints have a blessed review; and it shall be told before -the whole creation what strife and wrestlings a poor believer -has passed through in a dark cottage, a chamber of lone -sickness, or perhaps in a dungeon; how he has there combated -with ‘powers of darkness,’ how he has struggled -with huge sorrows, and has borne, and has not fainted, -though he has been often ‘in heaviness through manifold -temptations.’ Then shall appear the bright scene which -St. Peter represents as the event of sore trials (1 Peter i. -6, 7). ‘When our faith has been tried in the fire of tribulation, -and is found more precious than gold,’ it shall shine -to the praise, honour, and glory of the suffering saints, and -of Christ Himself at His appearance.</p> - -<p>“Behold that illustrious troop of martyrs, and some among -them of the feebler sex and of tender age. Now, that -women should grow bold in faith, even in the sight of -torments, and children, with a manly courage, should profess -the name of Christ in the face of angry and threatening -rulers; that some of these should become undaunted -confessors of the truth, and others triumph in fires and -torture, these things shall be matter of glory to Christ in -that day; it was His power that gave them courage and -victory in martyrdom and death. Every Christian there, -every soldier in that triumphing army, shall ascribe his -conquest to the grace of his Lord, his Leader, and lay down<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245"></a>[245]</span> -all their trophies at the feet of his Saviour, with humble -acknowledgments, and shouts of honour.</p> - -<p>“Almost all the saved number were, at some part of their -lives, weak in faith, and yet, by the grace of Christ, they -held out to the end, and are crowned; ‘I was a poor -trembling creature,’ shall one say, ‘but I was confirmed -in my faith and holiness by the Gospel of Christ; or, I -rested on a naked promise, and found support, because -Christ was there, and He shall have the glory of it.’ ‘In -Him are all the promises yea, and in Him amen, to the -glory of the Father;’ and the Son shall share in this -glory; for He died to ratify these promises, and He lives -to fulfil them.</p> - -<p>“‘Oh, what an almighty arm is this,’ shall the believer -say, ‘that has borne up so many thousands of poor sinking -creatures, and lifted their heads above the waves!’ -The spark of grace that lived many years in a flood of -temptations, and was not quenched, shall then shine bright -to the glory of Christ, who kindled and maintained it. -When we have been brought through all the storms and -the threatening seas, and yet the raging waves have been -forbid, to swallow us up, we shall cry out in raptures of -joy and wonder: ‘What manner of Man is this, that the -winds and the seas have obeyed him?’ Then shall it be -gloriously evident that He has conquered Satan, and kept -the hosts of hell in chains; when it shall appear that He -has made poor, mean, trembling believers victorious over -all the powers of darkness, for the Prince of Peace has -bruised him under their feet.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246"></a>[246]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header2.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.<br> -<span class="smaller">The Man.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>Watts, as we have seen, lived so much in retirement -and retreat, and was so constant a sufferer from the -infirmities of health, that little is known in the way of -incident and anecdote of his life. In a sense, indeed, he -lived constantly before the eyes of men, for his industry, -when he was capable of industry, must have been immense; -he must have read extensively, he thought deeply, and he -possessed not only an active but a facile pen, which -appears to have served him very readily when he desired -to translate his thoughts into language. His life belongs -to that order we represent by such names as Richard -Hooker, Jeremy Taylor, and John Howe: we do not here -compare or contrast the finer details of their character, but, -like them, he appears to have been essentially a man of -contemplation; his activity was only the reflection of a -contemplative life. In height he was quite beneath the -common standard; Dr. Gibbons says not above five feet, -or, at most, five feet two inches; we are not accustomed -to associate so small a stature with any commanding -presence in the pulpit; yet his preaching was greatly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247"></a>[247]</span> -admired, and Dr. Jennings says that it was not only -weighty and powerful, “but there was a certain dignity -and respect in his very aspect which commanded attention -and awe, and when he spoke, such strains of truly Christian -eloquence flowed from his lips as one thinks could not be -easily slighted, if resisted.” He was altogether a very -slight figure—thin, an oval face, an aquiline nose, his complexion -fair and pale, and, Gibbons says, his forehead low; -but this does not appear in his portrait, nor does that -which it usually indicates, a want of generosity, mark his -character. When unable to preach, it was with difficulty -he could be persuaded to accept the stipend of the church -of which he was the pastor, saying that, as he could not -preach, he had no title to any salary. His refusal was not -accepted, but the delicate sense of honour marks the -character of the man; while, from the time he lived in -the Abney family, he devoted a third part of his income -to charitable purposes. His eyes appear to have lighted -up his face; they are described as singularly small and -grey, and are said to have been amazingly piercing and -expressive. His voice was very fine and, slender, but -regular, audible, and pleasant. The anecdote is well -known of him that when he was in one of those coffee-houses—then -the haunts of men who knew what company -they might expect to find, for every particular coterie had -its own place of rendezvous—he overheard his name given -by one person to another, who said in surprise, “What! is -that the great Dr. Watts?” Whereupon he wrote down a -verse and handed it to him:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Were I so tall to reach the pole,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And grasp the ocean in a span,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I must be measured by my soul,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The mind’s the standard of the man.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248"></a>[248]</span></p> - -<p class="noindent">We have never thought the anecdote a very likely one; -Watts was altogether too quiet, and we may use the word, -majestic in his manner to make it possible he would do -this. The verse is indeed his, but it occurs in a lengthy -poem, and it is possible that it was fitted into a fabulous -incident which some inventor of scenic situations thought -might be, or ought to be, true. There is another anecdote -which has been related of him, although we have seen -it attributed to others, how, when once in a coffee-house, -and somewhat in the way of a tall giant of a man, he said -to Watts, “Let me pass, O giant!” and Watts replied, -“Pass on, O pigmy!” “I only referred to your mind,” -said the giant; “I also to yours,” replied Watts.</p> - -<p>Whatever impression such anecdotes may convey, one -of his chief characteristics was a very modest appreciation -of himself. “His humility,” said Dr. Jennings, “like -a deep shade, set off his other graces and virtues, and made -them shine with greater lustre.” And of those attributes -of his character of which others thought most highly, he -thought very inconsiderably. And to such a character is -often allied that which is very noticeable in him, a very -grateful sense of all favours conferred upon him. There -was nothing narrow in his mind, he had a great width of -thought and a great width of love: although, as we have -seen, a Nonconformist by strong conviction, judging the -communion to which he belonged as favourable to civil and -religious freedom, and regarding the service as most in -harmony with what he considered the simplicity of the -Gospel, he was on terms of friendship with many other -communions, and especially with several of the prelates, -ministers, and members of the Established Church. It -would be expected, although this is not invariably the case, -that a mind so richly stored, united to so ready an<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249"></a>[249]</span> -eloquence, would shine in conversation, and this was the -case. It is said that in conversation his wit sparkled; -his biographer says, “It was like an ethereal flame, ever -vivid and penetrating;” but he had an aversion to satire. -Referring to the pictures he sometimes introduces, illustrating -the vices and follies of his age, he utterly disclaims -the idea that in them he has attempted to portray any personal -character. “I would not,” he says, “willingly create -needless pain or uneasiness to the most despicable figure -among mankind; there are vexations enough among the -beings of my species without my adding to the heap. When -a reflecting glass shows the deformity of a face so plain as -to point to the person, he will sooner be tempted to break -the glass than reform his blemishes; but if I can find any -error of my own happily described in some general -character, I am then awakened to reform it in silence, -without the public notice of the world, and the moral -writer attains his noblest end.” He was not happy in the -friendship of listeners, who took down with any accuracy -the sayings which fell from him; and it is probable that -in conversation, although rich and full, wide and wise, it -was rather remarkable for these characteristics than for -either its gaiety or its force.</p> - -<p>There were few waste moments for which he had to give -an account; he acted like a miser by his time, and permitted -few moments to pass without their being garnered -and compelled to pay interest. We read of his writing -on horseback, and whithersoever he travelled the objects -which entered either the eye or the ear seem to have left -abiding impressions. It seems even the injustice of his -opponents in disputation did not make him angry. Such -injustice we know he had to experience; and when, in his -later years, he offended on both sides, one writer complaining<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250"></a>[250]</span> -of him that he had gone too far, and another that he -had not gone far enough, he contented himself by saying, -“Moderation must expect a box on both ears.” A character -like that of Watts inspires confidence in almost all that -proceeds from his pen: the men, indeed, who carry what -Chalmers called “weight in life,” are usually the tall, -the self-assertive, and the strong; none of these attributes -mark him, and yet he appears to have carried great -weight. It was not by vehemence, but by wisdom; he did -not win by the forcible striking of the ball, but by prescience -and a judicious calculation.</p> - -<p>Watts, like so many of the great wits, poets, and authors -of his time, was what we should now consider very slightly -versed in the accomplishments of travel: a few places in -the neighbourhood of London and Southampton and Tunbridge -Wells seem almost to exhaust his excursions. -Indeed, England was for the most part an unknown -country, and as to the continent of Europe, men of wealth -and fashion were expected to perfect their education by -the grand tour, but to persons even in Watts’ circle of -society, France, Switzerland, and Italy, with their cities, -memories, forests, and mountains, were unknown. Gray -had not yet discovered Cumberland and Westmoreland, -and when discovered, there were no facilities to make -travel thither very easy; Yorkshire and Lancashire were -almost equally unknown. The place to which we frequently -find Watts retreating for the benefit of his health was Tunbridge -Wells, and a singular place it must have been for -a retreat, judging from the description Macaulay has -given us of it in his history; but it furnishes us with a -singular sense of the simple things which excited the -imagination, to read how Watts regarded it. Many a -modern reader is struck with surprise at Shakespeare’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251"></a>[251]</span> -description of the cliffs of Dover—a description of terror and -fear arising from precipitous heights, which we could scarcely -now persuade ourselves to be just of Helvellyn and Pendle. -The rocks of Tunbridge seemed to Watts so wild and fearful -that they furnish him with a subject for a sermon, “On -the vain Refuge of Sinners,” from the text reciting the condition -of those who said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall -on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon -the throne.” The sermon is expressly called “A Meditation -upon the Rocks near Tunbridge Wells,” and he says:</p> - -<p>“When I see such awful appearances in nature, huge -and lofty rocks hanging over my head, and at every step of -my approach they seem to nod upon me with overwhelming -ruin; when my curiosity searches far into hollow clefts, -their dark and deep caverns of solitude and desolation, -methinks, whilst I stand amongst them, I can hardly think -myself in safety, and, at best, they give a sort of solemn -and dreadful delight. Let me improve the scene to religious -purposes, and raise a Divine meditation. Am I one of -those wretches who shall call to these huge impending -rocks to fall upon me?”</p> - -<p>When Watts first visited Tunbridge Wells in search -of health and refreshment, it must have been to our -modern sense an uncomfortable place; even at the close of -his life and in his later visits, it was only just rising into -importance as the retreat of the coteries of fashion and -letters; it is almost the only spot left now which we may -be sure, from some points of view, looks much as it did in -the day when Watts, Richardson, or Johnson walked along -the Pantiles, and inhaled the breezes from the neighbouring -rocks and grounds. Such as it was at the close of the -seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, we find described -in the pages of Macaulay and some of the novelists and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252"></a>[252]</span> -poets. The waters possessed some real, and acquired an artificial, -fame; there was no town, only a few neat and rustic -cottages, some of these moveable; moveable cabins and -huts were drawn on sledges from one part of the common -to another. Fashionable London tradespeople went down -and spread out their bazaars under the trees, and near the -spring; a fair was daily held, in which were booths where -the man of letters and the politician might find his cup of -coffee, his newspaper, and his friend; and others, in which -the gambler might find his vice and his victim. On the -whole, it was a merry place for sated and wearied fashionable -loungers, where they might believe that they were -becoming rural, and charm themselves into the persuasion -that they were the spectators of a poetry of nature, which -they would have been indisposed to experience too long -or too deeply; but a place where we cannot suppose -that Watts found himself for any length of time at -home. He was, however, frequently there, and upon -one occasion he was guilty of one of the few of what -may be called the vanities of verse which fell from his -pen. The atmosphere of watering-places is favourable to -every kind of literary as well as other lounging. Watts -was not altogether insensible, we should suppose, to the -charms of female beauty, and certainly a man may well be -moved to express himself in verse concerning it, when -feeble verses have been erroneously attributed to him. -It was in the summer of 1712, when at Tunbridge Wells, -that he wrote the following lines in honour of Lady -Sunderland, one of the daughters of the Duke of Marlborough; -her husband had just been dismissed from the -councils of the queen, and she had just withdrawn from -the court. We may suppose the little clusters of various -loungers and talkers would be surprised to see them in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253"></a>[253]</span> -some one of the little local flying “Mercury’s” of the day -where these verses appeared and were attributed to Watts; -he appears to have felt it was an occasion for some apology -for stepping into such a by-way; he does so in the following -note, upon which fancy may a little divert itself as to -the life he and others led at Tunbridge Wells:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">TO AMYNTAS.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you were not a little surprised, my friend, when -you saw some stanzas on the Lady Sunderland at Tunbridge -Wells, and were told that I wrote them; but when -I give you a full account of the occasion your wonder will -cease. The Duke of Marlborough’s three daughters, namely, -the Lady Godolphin, the Lady Sunderland, and the Lady -Bridgewater, had been at the Wells some time when I -came there; nor had I the honour of any more acquaintance -with any of them than what was common to all the -company in the Wells, that is, to be told who they were -when they passed by. A few days afterwards they left -that place, and the next morning there was found a copy -of verses in the coffee-house, called the ‘Three Shining -Sisters;’ but, the author being unknown, some persons -were ready to attribute them to me, knowing that I had -heretofore dealt in rhyme. I confess I was ashamed of -several lines in that copy. Some were very dull, and -others, as I remember, bordered upon profaneness.</p> - -<p>“That afternoon I rode abroad as usual for my health, -and it came into my head to let my friends see that, if I -would choose such a theme, I would write in another -manner than that nameless author had done. Accordingly, -as I was on horseback, I began a stanza on the ‘Three<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254"></a>[254]</span> -Shining Sisters,’ but my ideas, my rhyme, and the metre -would not hit well while the words ran in the plural -number; and this slight occurrence was the real occasion -of turning my thoughts to the singular; and then, because -the Lady Sunderland was counted much the finest woman -of the three, I addressed the verses to her name. Afterwards -when I came to the coffee-house, I entertained some -of my friends with these lines, and they, imagining it -would be no disagreeable thing to the company, persuaded -me to permit them to pass through the press.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>But here are the verses—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Ode To Lady Sunderland, 1712.</span></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Fair nymph, ascend to Beauty’s throne,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And rule that radiant world alone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let favourites take thy lower sphere,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No monarchs are thy rivals here.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The court of Beauty built sublime,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Defies all pow’rs but heaven and time;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Envy, that clouds the hero’s sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aims but in vain her shafts so high.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Not Blenheim’s field, nor Ister’s flood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor standards dyed in Gallic blood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Torn from the foe, add nobler grace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Churchill’s house than Spenser’s face.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The warlike thunder of his arms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is less commanding than her charms;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His lightning strikes with less surprise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than sudden glances from her eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His captives feel their limbs confined</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In iron; she enslaves the mind:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We follow with a pleasing pain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bless the conqueror and the chain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Muse that dares in numbers do</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What paint and pencil never knew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Faints at her presence in despair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And owns th’ inimitable fair.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255"></a>[255]</span></p> - -<p>Presently appeared the following epigram or <i>impromptu</i> -composed by some divine, of which it has been truly -remarked that it is difficult to say whether the author or -the lady has the greater compliment!—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">While numerous bards have sounded Spenser’s name,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And made her beauties heirs to lasting fame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her memory still to their united lays</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stands less indebted than to Watts’s praise.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What wondrous charms must to that fair be given,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who moved a mind that dwelt so near to heaven!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Tunbridge Wells is still the pleasant resort of those who -seek the mild and quiet attractions of charming scenery, -refreshing breezes, and crags and downs; but the romantic -season of Tunbridge Wells is to be sought for about the -period when Watts and his contemporaries were visitors -there, scenes open to the fancy which it would be difficult -to realize now amidst its splendid palatial residences; even -Nature must look less like Nature than it did then, while -the superior auxiliaries of comfort and accommodation -have, as in almost all such instances, been purchased at the -expense of dissipating the charms and rural beauties of a -place which still retains so many of them as to make one -of the most attractive and satisfying haunts for a sick -heart among the sanatories of England.</p> - -<p>The life of Dr. Watts must be illustrated rather from his -works than from its incidents. It is remarkable that so -little is recorded of him; his powers of conversation seem -to have been considerable, and his reputation for wit was -what we might naturally suppose from the liveliness of -many of his prose writings. But he was certainly unfortunate -in his first biographer. Dr. Gibbons was an accomplished -man, a correct and fine scholar, but surely the last -thing for which he was ever intended, either by nature or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256"></a>[256]</span> -by grace, was to write a biography. <i>His</i> contains many -noticeable and acute remarks, and some passages which -almost dilate into beauty; but it is strange that, constant -as was his intercourse with his friend, he has preserved -scarcely anything either of anecdote, conversation, or description -illustrating their intercourse; and it seems certain -that Watts’ life would have well repaid the assiduity of a -Boswell. His mind was remarkably full, and Gibbons -testifies how, on any and every occasion, he was able to -express himself at once with great force, propriety, and -elegance. But his biographer only tells us how his life, -from the time of his earliest studies, afforded little variety, -and consequently has few subjects for narration—it “flowed -along in an even, uniform tenor; one year, one month, one -week, one day being, in a manner, a repetition of the -former.” Like some other eminent men, it somewhat -appears as if he finished the furnishing of his mind when -in his youngest years, and devoted all the after period of his -life to the unfolding, amplifying, expounding, and popularizing -the stores he had amassed and acquired. Dr. Gibbons -refers to the fact that his “Treatise on Astronomy and -Geography” was most probably prepared for the tuition of -Mr.—afterwards Sir John—Hartopp; when published in -1725, in the dedication to Mr. Eames, he says that: “The -papers had lain by him in silence above twenty years;” and -as to his “Logic,” we have already referred to it; and the -dedication in which he tells his former pupil that “it was -fit that the public should receive, through his hands, what -was originally written for the assistance of his younger -studies, and was thus presented to him.” And thus we are -assured that the work which met with so large a reception -and distinguished applause was prepared in days when he -was himself little more than a youth, to serve his own<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257"></a>[257]</span> -purposes of tuition. Such was the life of this interesting -man—it was a fountain of life and power. In the spacious -chapel-walk in Southampton there is a pavement-stone -marked with the letter W—it stands for Watts; but, as -Mr. Carlyle says in his interesting paper on Watts, it -might stand for Watts’ Well; it was once the property of -Isaac Watts, and the well has a long story, well authenticated -in the church records of the Above Bar congregation. -That well of clear, beautiful water was purchased by old -Isaac Watts from his friend, Robert Thorner, the founder -of the Southampton Charity. It was on, and constituted -a part of, the tenement known by the name of the Meeting-house; -then it was leased to the church, then it was purchased -by the church. It was known in Southampton -two hundred years ago. It is now a fountain sealed, but -still it is known, and proudly the pastor says, “Our father -Isaac gave us this well, and drank thereof, himself and his -children.”<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Watts’ Well is no inapt symbol or emblem -of Watts’ life and labours. Even lost to sight, sealed over, -its springs still pour along their refreshing, cooling, and -transparent streams; nor have the crowds who hurry -thoughtlessly by power to interfere with the useful freshness -of its pure blessings.</p> - -<p>“The last days are the best witnesses for a man.” -“Blessed,” says old Robert Harris, “shall he be that so -lived that he was desired, and so died that he was missed.” -Isaac Watts illustrated in a remarkable manner power in -weakness.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258"></a>[258]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header2.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.<br> -<span class="smaller">Death and Burial.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>He died in 1748, at the age of seventy-four, in ripe -years, and hoary with the honours of holiness. We -are dependent upon his friend and biographer, Dr. Gibbons, -for almost all that we know of his last days and hours, but -it is very pleasant to find that the author of “The World -to Come” himself went down to the grave with all the -calmness and confidence which the words he has uttered -have so often imparted to others in the outlook towards -the better country. He says, “It is a glory to the Gospel -when we can lie down with courage in hope of its promised -blessings; dying with faith and fortitude is a noble conclusion -of a life of zeal and service.” “Death in the course -of nature,” he says, “as well as by the hands of violence, -hath always something awful and formidable in it; flesh -and blood shrink and tremble at the appearance of a dissolution; -but death is the last enemy of all the saints, and -when a Christian meets it with sacred courage he gives -that honour to the Captain of his salvation which the -saints in glory can never give, and which we can never -repeat; it is an honour to our common faith when it overcomes -the terrors of death, and raises the Christian to a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259"></a>[259]</span> -song of triumph in the view of the last enemy; it is a new -crown put upon the head of our Redeemer, and a living -cordial put into the hands of mourning friends in our dying -hour when we can take leave of them with holy fortitude, -rejoicing in the salvation of Christ.”</p> - -<p>Such were his words; such honour have not all the -saints; some who have looked forward through life with -triumph to that hour have fainted when it came, and some -who feared it most have felt it least: peculiar temperaments -and special forms of pain and disease sometimes -make death dreadful; and an old writer says, “We are not -glad to feel the snake, even when we know its sting is -drawn.” Thomas Walsh, one of the holiest and most eminent -of the early Methodists, was very angry against John -Fletcher, the seraphic vicar of Madeley, because he heard -him say that some comparatively weak believers might -die most cheerfully, and that some strong ones, for the -further purification of their faith, or for inscrutable reasons, -might have severe conflicts. “Be it done unto you according -to your faith,” said Walsh, “and be it done unto me -according to mine.” But when the hour came to Walsh it -was clouded, and those eyes which had “looked out of the -windows were darkened;” only at the last moment he exclaimed, -“He is come! He is come! My beloved is mine, -and I am His for ever!” And so he passed. But Fletcher -died in a rapture. “I know thy soul,” said his wife, “but -if Jesus is very present with thee, lift up thy right hand.” -Immediately it was raised. “If the prospects of glory -sweetly open before thee, repeat the sign.” The hand was -raised a second time, and so his soul breathed itself away. -Faith survives the presence of sensible comforts. An aged -believer in Southampton, on her death-bed, complained of -the absence of sensible comforts to her pastor, the Rev. W.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260"></a>[260]</span> -Kingsbury, but so strong was her faith that she said, “It -is against the whole scope of Divine revelation that my soul -should be lost.” Old Thomas Fuller, having surveyed the -various modes of death, arrived at the short, decisive conclusion, -“None please me.” “But away,” he adds, “with -these thoughts; the mark must not choose what arrow shall -be shot against it.” The happiness of a clear, calm departure -was given to Watts, his closing days were serene and -happy; with all the imaginative glow of his mind, he had -naturally a calm character. He had well grounded his -convictions; he had long lived like a sunbeam amidst -sunbeams in the light. Dr. Gibbons, speaking from his -own knowledge, says, “Although his weakness was very -great, he knew no decay of intelligence, and was the subject -of no wild fancies.” His biographer adds, “He saw -his approaching dissolution with a mind perfectly calm and -composed, without the least alarm or dismay, and I never -could discover, though I was frequently with him, the -least shadow of a doubt as to his future everlasting happiness, -or anything that looked like an unwillingness to die; -how I have known him recite with self-application those -words in Hebrews, ‘Ye have need of patience, that, after ye -have done the will of God, ye may receive the promise;’ and -how often have I heard him, upon leaving the family after -supper and withdrawing to rest, declare with the sweetest -composure, that if his Master was to say to him that he had -no more work for him to do, he should be glad to be dismissed -that night. And I once heard him say, with a -kind of impatience, perhaps such as might in some degree -trespass upon that submission we ought always to pay -to the Divine will, ‘I wonder why the great God should -continue me in life, when I am incapable of performing -Him any further service?’”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261"></a>[261]</span></p> - -<p>The death-beds of great and eminent men are often -hung round with curious fables and inventions; one is -mentioned even to our own day, although Dr. Gibbons -denies the whole story in the very first edition of his biography. -Somebody conveyed it to Mr. Toplady, who says, -“That little more than half-an-hour before Dr. Watts expired -he was visited by his dear friend, Mr. Whitefield; -he, asking him how he found himself, the dying doctor -answered, ‘Here am I, one of Christ’s waiting servants.’ -Soon after a medicine was brought in, and Mr. Whitefield -assisted in raising him upon the bed that he might with -more convenience take the draught; on the doctor’s apologizing -for the trouble he gave Mr. Whitefield, the latter -replied, with his usual amiable politeness, ‘Surely, my dear -brother, I am not too good to wait upon a waiting servant -of Christ!’ Soon after, Mr. Whitefield took his leave, and -often regretted since that he had not prolonged his visit, -which he would certainly have done could he have foreseen -that his friend was but within a half-an-hour’s distance -from the kingdom of glory.” There is not a word of -truth in the whole story; Dr. Gibbons says it is entirely -fictitious. “Mr. Whitefield never visited the doctor in his -last illness or confinement, nor had any conversation or -interview with him for some months before his decease. -It were to be wished that greater care was practised by the -writers of other persons’ lives, that illusions might not take -place and obtain the regards of truth, and lay historians -who come after them under the unpleasing necessity of -dissolving their figments, and thereby, in consequence, -evincing to the world how little credit is due to these -relations.”</p> - -<p>His dying sayings are recorded, and they were all of -them of a quiet and peaceful nature. Dr. Jennings, who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262"></a>[262]</span> -preached his funeral sermon, and saw him on his death-bed, -mentions, that while for two or three years previous to his -death his active and more sprightly powers of nature had -failed, his trust in God, through Jesus the Mediator, remained -unshaken to the last. To Lady Abney he said: “I -bless God I can lie down with comfort at night, not being -solicitous whether I awake in this world or another.” -And again he said: “I should be glad to read more, yet not -in order to be confirmed more in the truth of the Christian -religion, or in the truth of its promises, for I believe them -enough to venture into eternity on them.” When he was -almost worn out and broken down by his infirmities he -said, in conversation with a friend, that he remembered an -aged minister used to say, that the most learned and knowing -Christians, when they come to die, have only the same plain -promises of the Gospel for their support as the common -and the unlearned. “And so,” said he, “I find it; they are -the plain promises of the Gospel that are my support, and -I bless God they are plain promises, which do not require -much labour or pains to understand them, for I can do -nothing now but look into my Bible for some promise to -support me, and live upon that.” Dr. Gibbons naturally -regrets that he did not commit to writing the words of his -dying friend; it is wonderful that he did not; but Watts -had an amanuensis who had been with him upwards of -twenty years, and who, as Gibbons says, was “in a manner -ever with him;” to him and to Miss Abney, or, as she is -generally called, Mistress Elizabeth Abney, the eldest -daughter and successor to the Abney property, we are -principally indebted for the record of his dying words. -When he found his spirit tending to impatience, he would -check himself, saying: “The business of a Christian is to -bear the will of God as well as do it. If I were in health I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263"></a>[263]</span> -could only be doing that, and that I may do now; the -best thing in obedience is a regard to the will of God, and -the way to that is to get our inclinations and aversions -as much modified as we can.” Some of his expressions -were such as the following: “I would be waiting to see -what God will do with me; it is good to say as Mr. Baxter, -what, when, and where God pleases. If God should raise -me up again I may finish some more of my papers, or -God can make use of me to save a soul, and that will be -worth living for. If God has no more service for me to do, -through grace I am ready; it is a great mercy to me that I -have no manner of fear or dread of death. I could if God -please lay my head back and die without terror this afternoon -or night; my chief supports are from my view of -eternal things, and the interest I have in them. I trust all -my sins are pardoned through the blood of Christ; I have -no fear of dying; it would be my greatest comfort to lie -down and sleep, and wake no more.” Dr. Gibbons a short -time before his death came into his room, and finding him -alone sat down for conversation with him; he said not a -word of what he had been or done in life, but his soul -seemed swallowed up with gratitude and joy for the redemption -of sinners by Jesus Christ. His visitor thought he -realized the description of the apostle, “Whom having not -seen ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet -believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of -glory.”</p> - -<p>So he continued to the close, rising into no ecstasies, nor -sinking into any great depressions, in the full possession of -his understanding, free from pain of body, comfortable in -spirit. This was during the autumn of 1748. It was -during the month of November that he was confined to -his room, never to leave it any more. For three weeks he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264"></a>[264]</span> -continued in the state just described, tenderly attended -for the most part by Lady Abney or Mr. Parker. The following -extracts are from Mr. Parker’s letters to the brother -of Dr. Watts, residing at Southampton, the first dated -November 24th, 1748: “I wrote to you by the last post -that we apprehended my master very near his end, and -that we thought it not possible he should be alive when -the letter reached your hands; and it will no doubt greatly -surprise you to hear that he still lives. We ourselves are -amazed at it. He passed through the last night in the main -quiet and easy, but for five hours would receive nothing -within his lips. I was down in his chamber early in the -morning, and found him quite sensible. I begged he would -be pleased to take a little liquid to moisten his mouth, and -he received at my hand three teaspoonsful, and has done -the like several times this day. Upon inquiry he told me -he lay easy, and his mind was peaceful and serene. I said -to him this morning that he had taught us how to live, and -was now teaching us how to die by his patience and composure, -for he has been remarkably in this frame for several -days past. He replied, ‘Yes.’ I told him I hoped he experienced -the comfort of these words, ‘I will never leave -thee, nor forsake thee.’ He answered, ‘I do.’ The ease -of body and calmness of mind which he enjoys is a great -mercy to him, and to us. His sick chamber has nothing -terrifying in it. He is an upright man, and I doubt not -that his end will be peace. We are ready to use the -words of Job, and say, ‘We shall seek him in the morning, -but he shall not be.’ But God only knows by whose -power he is upheld in life, and for wise purposes, no doubt. -He told me he liked that I should be with him. All other -business is put off, and I am in the house night and day. -I would administer all the relief that is in my power. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265"></a>[265]</span> -is worthy of all that can be done for him. I am your very -faithful and truly afflicted servant.”</p> - -<p>On the next day, November 25th, in the afternoon, aged -seventy-four years, four months, and eight days, the gentle -spirit of the Doctor passed away, and Mr. Parker wrote -again to the same person: “At length the fatal news is -come. The spirit of the good man, my dear master, took -its flight from the body to worlds unseen and joys unknown -yesterday in the afternoon, without a struggle or a -groan. My Lady Abney and Mrs. Abney are supported -as well as we can reasonably expect. It is a house of -mourning and tears, for I have told you before now that -we all attended upon him and served him from a principle -of love and esteem. May God forgive us all, that we have -improved no more by him, while we enjoyed him!” “May -I be excused,” says his biographer, “if I take the liberty of -adding that I saw the corpse of this excellent man in his -coffin, and observed nothing more than death in its aspect. -The countenance appeared quite placid, like a person fallen -into a gentle sleep, or such as the spirit might be supposed -to leave behind it upon its willing departure to the celestial -happiness. How justly might I have said at the moment -I beheld his dead earth, as he does in an epitaph upon a -pious young man, who was removed from our world after -a lingering and painful illness:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“So sleep the saints, and cease to groan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When sin and death have done their worst:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Christ has a glory like His own</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which waits to clothe their waking dust!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And this was the manner in which “this silver cord was -loosed, and this golden bowl broken.”</p> - -<p>They buried him, of course, in Bunhill Fields; thither -already had been borne the bodies of many of those who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266"></a>[266]</span> -had been his fellow-students, and his most familiar friends; -and thither were to follow him at last many of those -friends who were for a few brief years to survive him. It -was the <i>Campo Santo</i> of Nonconformity, the spot consecrated -by the memories of the martyrs and confessors of -civil and religious liberty, and their tombs then were fresh. -Their graves and their memories were green and verdant. -Amidst the wilderness of indiscriminate tombs it is now -scarcely possible to decipher localities, dust has mingled -with dust, yet it would be scarcely possible to visit anywhere -a spot where almost every mound recalled venerable -remains or in the course of years became haunted by such -tender and animating memories. Bunhill Fields does not -possess the attractive and splendid tombs of <i>Père la Chaise</i> -or Munich, of Greenwood or Kensall Green, but it may be -with perfect certainty affirmed that none of these places -possess such a congregation of sainted sleepers, and such -consecrated dust.</p> - -<p>The history of this pensive enclosure goes back to the -reign of Henry <span class="allsmcap">III.</span> It had been from a period even -anterior to this set apart as the exercising and training -ground for the archers and train-bands of the City; indeed -it is probable, whether he knew it or not, that this is the -very spot to which Lord Lytton refers in some of the -earlier scenes of the “Last of the Barons,” the archery-ground -of Finsbury; a romantic and lovely spot, a very -easy walk from the quaint gabled houses of the old City -four hundred years since. It was a spot surrounded by -gardens and orchards in the Manor of Finsbury or <i>Fens</i>bury, -and on the borders of that extensive suburban tract, -the Moor Fields; but when the Great Plague decimated -London, the Corporation set apart this field as a burial-place -for the poor. It was a gentle acclivity, a rising spot<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267"></a>[267]</span> -of ground, which, affection had called the <i>Bon</i>hill, at a -time when the language of the country was very largely -held in possession by Norman influences and French -terms, as in innumerable instances mingled with Saxon. -Thus:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In death divided from their dearest kin,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This was a field to bury strangers in;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fragments from families untimely reft,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like spoils in flight, or limbs in battle left,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lay there<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a>⸺</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The subsequent history of the place justifies another -characterization from the same poet:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For they were there to this Siberia sent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doomed in the grave itself to banishment.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>As a humble cemetery for the purposes we have mentioned, -it had been enclosed at the charge of the Corporation, -but for this purpose it was not long needed; and -when the ravages of persecution succeeded to those of -disease, one Tyndall purchased it, principally for the interment -of Dissenters, and it became known as Tyndall’s -Burying Ground. The first interment in this second -epoch of its funereal history dates from the first distinctly -legible stone in the year 1668. Twenty years after this, -it received the beloved and revered remains of John -Bunyan; in the interim, many of those who had been -among the foremost religious actors, preachers, and writers -of the time came hither—Thomas Goodwin, Thomas -Manton, Joseph Caryl, Theophilus Gale, John Owen, -William Jenkyn, Henry Jessey, William Kiffin, Hanserd -Knollys, and many others. In this spot almost every -order of religious outlawed opinion finds some representative:<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268"></a>[268]</span> -here reposes the active body of Daniel Defoe, and in -Bunhill Fields, but in a spot set apart to those of his -opinion, rests the founder of the Society of Friends, George -Fox; and here that revered and holy woman, from whose -household in the Rectory of Epworth went forth the inspiration, -as from her own life went forth the lives of the -prophet and poet of Methodism, Mrs. Susannah Wesley; -here rest two well-beloved sweet singers, whose names are -found in all our hymn-books, Joseph Swain and Joseph -Hart. As the years passed along every one brought some -additional revenue to the wealth of the spot. Hither -came Dr. Gibbons, Watts’ biographer, and, by-and-by, -John Gill, the author of the huge commentary, if wild in -fancy, still learned in all Rabbinical and Hebrew lore, -and John Macgowan, the author of the “Dialogues of -Devils;” here rests Dr. Williams, the founder of the well-known -library, and donor of the scholarships connected -with it, and by this name we are reminded of the great -Arians who sleep very quietly here. Here lie Theophilus -Lindsay, Abraham Bees, Richard Price, Nathaniel Gardner, -and Thomas Belsham, all men of huge scholarship, whatever -our estimate of their doctrines; here lies, of another -order, the learned John Eames, the friend and fellow-student -of Dr. Watts, the friend and correspondent of Sir -Isaac Newton, and of whom Watts said that he was the most -learned man he ever knew; Thomas Bradbury, Watts’ -abusive and disingenuous traducer and adversary, found -the quiet he never permitted himself to find when living, -either in tranquil or troublesome times; and hither, within -the memory of those living, came Matthew Wilks, quaint -and witty old preacher of the London Tabernacles, and his -fiery-hearted and earnest co-pastor, John Hyatt, and James -Upton, John Rippon, and the beloved and beautiful<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269"></a>[269]</span> -Alexander Waugh and George Burder. The names we -have mentioned are great, but a very small instalment from -the list of those famous in holiness and scholarship and -sanctified genius, to whom Bunhill Fields was the Machpelah -of their lives. Indeed, until the opening of the -Abney Park Cemetery, a place which derived its name -and interest from its association with, and memories of, -Dr. Watts, Bunhill Fields was the receptacle of every Nonconformist -notability in the neighbourhood of London. It -was as natural that those who had attained an eminence -in its confession should receive sepulture there, as that the -great statesman or poet should repose within the hallowed -naves of Westminster. The significance of the spot, and -the fact that it received amongst its other treasures all -that was mortal of the subject of this memoir, seem to -justify this lengthy loitering amongst its tombs.</p> - -<p>Watts, by his will, directed that his remains should find -their last resting-home in this place, amongst the fathers -and brethren, many of whom he had so well known; he -also desired that it should be conducted as quietly as -possible, but wished that his body should be attended to -the grave by two Independent, two Presbyterian, and two -Baptist ministers; but an immense concourse of persons -gathered, as was to be expected. Dr. Chandler gave the -address at the grave, and Dr. David Jennings preached to his -people the funeral sermon. Returning from the funeral, Dr. -Benjamin Grosvenor was met by a friend, who said, “Well, -Doctor, you have seen the end of Dr. Watts, and must soon -follow him; what think you of death?” “Think of it!” -replied he, “why, when death comes I shall smile on him -if God smile on me.” Other funeral sermons were -preached, and they are in our possession, especially one by -Dr. John Milner, of which Doddridge thought very highly,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270"></a>[270]</span> -and in whose house Oliver Goldsmith, a poor, simple young -man, his mind and heart full of worlds of shrewdness and -tenderness, for a long time lived as an usher. To prevent -any laboured and too flattering an epitaph, which in those -days, indeed, there was plenty of cause to dread, from the -hands of partial friends, who certainly had none of the -graces of concision, Watts wrote his own modest memorial, -and it was placed over his grave. It reads as follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Isaac Watts, D.D., pastor of a church of Christ in -London, successor to the Rev. Mr. Joseph Caryl, Dr. John -Owen, Mr. David Clarkson, and Dr. Isaac Chauncey, after -fifty years of feeble labours in the Gospel, interrupted by -four years of tiresome sickness, was at last dismissed to his -rest—</p> - -<p class="center">In uno Jesu omnia.</p> - -<p class="noindent">2 Cor. v. 8: ‘Absent from the body, and present with the -Lord.’ Col. iii. 4: ‘When Christ, who is my life, shall -appear, then shall I also appear with Him in glory.’”</p> - -<p>“This monument, on which the above modest inscription -is placed, by order of the deceased, was erected, as a small -testimony of regard to his memory, by Sir John Hartopp, -Bart., and Dame Mary Abney.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>But, shortly after his death, a monument was erected to -his memory in Westminster Abbey. Another monument -erected in his chapel met with a singular fate: some years -since the chapel was pulled down, and all its properties -sold off. John Astley Marsden, Esq., of Liscard Castle, in -Cheshire, passing through one of the London streets, saw -a marble tablet inscribed with the name of Dr. Watts; -inquiring about its meaning, he found it was the very -tablet which had been set up behind his pulpit; he purchased -it as an interesting relic of a man for whom he had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271"></a>[271]</span> -a great reverence, he took it home to his residence in -Cheshire, and upon his own ground he reared a church at -his own expense, and there placed the old cast-aside -monument, handing the church over in trust to the Congregational -body. The inscription is that humble memorial -which Watts himself had prepared, and to which we have -referred. In addition, however, to these, a monument has -been raised to his memory in Abney Park Cemetery, a -cemetery which has succeeded to the reputation of Bunhill -Fields as the resting-place of metropolitan Nonconformists, -and is spread out upon the grounds where stood the house -and park, the history of which, and its relation to the -memory of Watts, we have given in an earlier part of this -volume.</p> - -<p>In 1861, principally through the active exertions of -Mr. William Lankester, a monument was erected to his -memory in his native town of Southampton. The statue, -about eight feet high, which is three feet larger than life, -is of white marble, and stands upon a pedestal of polished -grey Aberdeen granite; and the site selected has received -since then the designation “Watts’ Park.” The movement -for the erection of the monument received the co-operation -of Churchmen as well as Nonconformists, and -the president of the committee was Dr. Wigram, the Bishop -of Rochester. The statue was uncovered by the Earl of -Shaftesbury, July 17th, 1861, and the day was kept with -great festivity in the town;<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> it took the shape of a great -local celebration in honour of a man who had conferred<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272"></a>[272]</span> -honour on the town by his life and writings. It is not -uninteresting to think of the change of public sentiment -since the day when the infant Isaac, in the arms of his -mother, was held up to the eyes of his father in the gaol -of the very town where, to the honoured memory of that -infant, there was offered up so large an ovation of respect, -in which not only the Mayor and Corporation, but -members, ministers, and prelates of that very Church -which had persecuted the father for his opinions, united. -It is a testimony to the change which has passed over -ecclesiastical opinion since that day.</p> - -<p>Thus, some portion of the prophecy of Dr. Jennings in -his funeral sermon, from the text, “He being dead yet -speaketh,” was fulfilled. “If I am not greatly deceived, -the same thing will be said of him in far distant ages that -is said of Abel in our text; while he is now celebrating -the honours of God and of the Lamb in the new songs of -heaven, how many thousands of pious worshippers are this -day lifting up their hearts to God in the sacred songs that -he taught them upon earth! Though his voice is not any -longer heard by us, yet his words, like those of the day and -night, are gone out to the end of the world. America and -Europe still hear him speak, and it is highly probable they -may continue to do so till Europe and America shall be -no more.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/footer2.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="illus5" style="max-width: 29.6875em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/illus5.jpg" alt=""> - <p class="caption">Isaac Watts, D.D.</p> - <p class="caption"><i>From the Bust in Dr. Williams’ Library.</i></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273"></a>[273]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header8.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.<br> -<span class="smaller">Summary and Estimate of Prose Writings.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>In attempting any estimate of the prose writings of -Watts we give the first place to his educational works. -And without descending to adulation it may be fairly -questioned whether any one individual in English literature -has effected so much and such various work for the cause -of education as Isaac Watts. As we have seen, he gave a -system of logic to the universities, a very simple system, -but it broke up the old trammels and chains of mere verbal -logic, and taught students to look after, and how to look at -things. Johnson says: “Of his philosophical pieces his -‘Logic’ has been received into the universities, and therefore -wants no private recommendation. If he owes part of it to -Le Clerc, it must be considered that no man who undertakes -merely to methodize or illustrate a system pretends -to be its author. Few books,” continues Johnson, “have -been perused by me with greater pleasure than his ‘Improvement -of the Mind,’ of which the radical principles may -indeed be found in Locke’s ‘Conduct of the Understanding,’ -but they are so expanded and magnified by Watts as to -confer upon him the merit of a work in the highest degree -useful and pleasing. Whoever has the care of instructing -others may be charged with deficiency in his duty if this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274"></a>[274]</span> -book is not recommended.” And in another paragraph of -his memoir Johnson says: “For children he condescended -to lay aside the scholar, the philosopher, and the wit, to -write little poems of devotion and systems of instruction -adapted to their wants and capacities from the dawn of -reason through its gradations of advance in the morning of -life. Every man acquainted with the common principles of -human action will look with veneration on the writer who -is at one time combating Locke, and in another making a -catechism for children in their fourth year; a voluntary -descent from the dignity of science is perhaps the hardest -lesson that humility can teach.”</p> - -<p>There is, indeed, scarcely a department of knowledge, -however simple, to which he did not descend; there is -scarcely a region of thought, however subtle, through which -he did not familiarly move. We have a volume on the -“Art of Reading, Writing, and Pronouncing English,” this -is for the very youngest students; and for the same age -we have his First and Second Catechisms, and his “Divine -and Moral Songs;” we have his work on “Astronomy, -Geography, and the Use of the Globes,” and the “Compendium -of the Assembly’s Catechism, with Proofs,” and his -most charming and rememberable “Catechism of Scripture -History,” a large and yet most compendious volume: and -thus we reach the period of life when he prepares the mind -for its graver studies and more serious exploits.</p> - -<p>The “Logic” is easy and delightful reading, and yet sets -in order, disciplines, marshals, and reviews mental materials -so admirably that it may be read with great profit as well -as pleasure. When Lord Barrington told Watts that he had a -purpose to read it through once every year, he said no extravagant -thing. It brings the mind back to its simplicity; -it is not, and does not profess to be, a science of mind or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275"></a>[275]</span> -analysis of method, or the laws of thought, but it is a -treatise on logic, understanding by that term not so much -the pushing inquiry into unexplored domains and fields, -as the setting forth the grammar of thought, the principles -of numeration, by which a knowledge of the contents -of the mind may be obtained, which is surely the true idea -of logic. The affluence of illustrations and references is -very great, these occur easily and rapidly, they are gathered -up as a reaper gathers up a sheaf. In its method it -reminds us somewhat of Bacon’s “Novum Organum,” for in -every chapter, and every discrimination, illustration, and -distinction, occur instances unfolding the intention of the -author, and we venture to think that no logic has appeared -since so well calculated to make a clear and honest mind. -The characteristics of the “Logic” of Watts are very admirably -summed up by Tissot, of Dijon, in his preface to a -translation published in Paris, 1848: “II y a aussi plus -de méthode et de clarté peut-être dans la logique de Watts -que dans celle d’Arnaud. Le bon sens Anglais, le sens des -affaires, celui de la vie pratique, s’y révèle à un très haut -degré, tandis que le sens spéculatif d’un théologien passablement -scolastique encore est plus sensible dans <i>l’Art de -Penser</i>. Dr. Watts a su être complet; sans être excessif, il a -touché très convenablement tout ce qui devait l’être, et -s’est toujours arrêté au point précis où plus de profondeur -nuit a la clarté.”<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> - -<p>As the “Logic” is a methodical and orderly arrangement<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276"></a>[276]</span> -of those principles which give conduct to the understanding, -as we have called it a grammar rather than an etymology -of the laws of thought, a setting forth of their necessary -conditions of thinking, rather than an inquiry into their -first principles, so his “Improvement of the Mind” is an -advance in the education of the character. The “Logic” is -a code of principles, the “Improvement of the Mind” the -illustration of those principles in their practice and action. -No book can be better fitted to strengthen and direct the -mind in the first years of mind-life. Is it ever read now? -Is there an edition of it in circulation now? Are there many -youths who would have patience to read it now? And -yet no work has taken its place. It also, like the “Logic,” -is fertile in illustrations of all that the author desires to -convey; every means by which the mind can be enlarged -or strengthened is dwelt upon; here there seems to be no -unnecessary diffuseness, but a compact presentation. The -style is apothegmatical, and rather colloquial than rhetorical, -and it leaves upon the mind of the reader the impression -of a large world of wealth in the mind of the author of -which its pages are the mere fragments and indications. -There is a wisdom which rules men’s lives and acts in their -minds unconsciously, and ages and times vary in the -method pursued for the attainment of knowledge. Perhaps, -in the times in which we live the method is very -much out of sight, and men become wise in spite of themselves, -the faculties of character are sharpened and made -intense by friction. It may also be said that character -is not so much the result of certain rules laid down for -practice, as the inevitable pressure of certain conditions -from which it cannot well escape; life educates men more -than books, and the sharp collision of society and its rough -usages more than rules derived from writers. All this is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277"></a>[277]</span> -true; but still some men continue to preach, and others -continue to hear, it is to be supposed under the impression -that the preaching and the hearing are not altogether in -vain; and it is a very desirable thing frequently to draw -out into the light certain principles, to give to minds, so -to speak, a pictorial resemblance of the idea.</p> - -<p>It is so in the “Improvement of the Mind,” the very -subjects are suggestive: general rules to obtain knowledge,—the -five methods of improvement compared—rules -relating to observation—books and reading—judgment of -books—living instruction by teachers—learning a language—of -knowing the sense of writers and speakers—conversation—of -disputes in general—the Socratical way of -disputation—forensic disputes—academic or scholastic -disputes—study or meditation—of fixing the attention—of -enlarging the capacity of the mind—of improving the -memory—of determining questions—of inquiring into -causes and effects—of the sciences and their use. Then -follows the second part, which was posthumous; hitherto -the mind has been supposed to be attaining, now it is itself -communicating, and here are discussions on methods of -teaching and reading lectures—of an instructive style—of -convincing of truth or delivering from error—of the use -and abuse of authority—of managing the prejudices of -men—of instruction by preaching—of writing books for -the public, etc. etc. And beneath all these subjects is -spread out a mass of wise and useful observations, the -result, the reader thinks, of a life of earnest and careful -study. A wise and candid judgment pervades every page. -A confidence in the writer as in one who is not writing -merely, but who is giving to the reader a portion of himself, -grows in the mind. Watts was himself an exceedingly -careful student. We have seen how his practice was to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278"></a>[278]</span> -condense or to amplify the volumes or the pages he himself -read. He recommended this plan to be followed -with the nobler pieces of composition, and such as it seemed -desirable to make the heirlooms of the mind.</p> - -<p>We have now lying before us the “Ecclesiastics” of John -Wilkins, the Bishop of Chester. The volume bears every -internal evidence of being the property of Dr. Watts: it is -interleaved, and in addition to the varied and singular -learning of the book itself, in the handwriting of the -Doctor there is a perfect storehouse of references, exhibiting -the amazing world of knowledge over which his mind -travelled; and not merely references, but frequently some -condensed expression of sentiment and opinion. We ought -to refer to this very valuable little manuscript volume -again. It often seems surprising that volumes such as -these have fallen into such neglect; but they only share the -fate of multitudes of others in various departments equally -worthy. The number of those who gaze upon the true -regalia of literature is very small; our times delight in -startling contrasts, antitheses and paradoxes, and illustrations -frequently rather remarkable for their brilliancy than -for their solid and abiding persuasiveness. The literature -of every time has its vices and its virtues; writers even -exercising a far stronger fascination and spell over their -day than Watts are very seldom referred to now, they are -names and little more. They are like extinct creations of -other times, a kind of dodo, a being very near to our own -day, but yet only known by a specimen preserved in a -museum. Thus probably the two works to which we have -referred will have few more readers. Yet safer and wiser -charts for travelling the seas of knowledge were never prepared, -and while they breathe a fine mental independence, -a freshness wafted from undiscovered realms, they are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279"></a>[279]</span> -eminently free from all that rashness and audacity of speculation -which some have chosen to regard as a pursuit of -knowledge, or as adding to the spoils of the understanding. -He kept his students within the bounds of the knowable -and provable, and if he trampled upon the ridiculous logic -which had for years held the mind of Europe in chains, by -the fetters of words which had no kind of sense either in -the heavens or the earth, and resolutely determining that -words could only be valuable when they were the real -signs of things, and things of which something could be -known; on the other hand, he gave no encouragement to -licentiousness of thought, which is as dangerous to the -well-being of the intelligence as the servility of opinion. So -that, on the whole, whatever advances and attainments we -have made since, we may believe that for the discipline -and tutelage of the young, a better finger-post could scarcely -be set up upon the highways of knowledge than Watts’ -“Logic;” a better and more living guide a young man can -scarcely have through the cities of instruction than his -“Improvement of the Mind.”</p> - -<p>Among the pieces of our author which are least known -are the essays variously published under the title of “Reliquiæ -Juveniles; Miscellaneous Thoughts in Prose and -Verse, on Natural, Moral, and Divine Subjects, written -chiefly in younger years.” These were published in 1734, -and dedicated to the Countess of Hertford. A similar -volume is the “Remnants of Time Employed in Prose and -Verse; or, Short Essays and Composures on Various Subjects.” -All of these are very pleasing essays, in which the -writer gives a more than ordinary rein to his fancy: the -pieces are in prose and verse, and they display a considerable -amount of humour; the subjects are very various, -and display the purely literary excursions of the author’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_280"></a>[280]</span> -mind. The reader will be so far interested as to enjoy -some few selections. To dwell at length upon the characteristics -of the essays, or to indulge in any lengthy -citation, would be like writing a dissertation upon Johnson’s -“Rambler,” or Addison’s “Spectator;” indeed, there -is very much of the Christian Rambler and the Christian -Spectator in these papers: brief essays on manners, on -certain vices or defects of character, conveyed after the -usage of the time beneath names sheltered under a Greek -or Latin etymology; sometimes a graceful meditation -upon a text of Scripture, and sometimes a poem. We -have ourselves found these essays always fresh and interesting, -possessing much of the spirit and vivacity and -philosophical meditativeness of Cowley, with a perpetual -suffusion of Christian sentiment and doctrine, and the -whole exhibiting the vigilance of the author’s eye, and the -active usefulness of his mind.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">THE SKELETON.</p> - -<p>“Young Tramarinus was just returned from his travels -abroad, when he invited his uncle to his lodgings on a -Saturday noon. His uncle was a substantial trader in the -City, a man of sincere goodness, and of no contemptible -understanding; Crato was his name. The nephew first -entertained him with learned talk of his travels. The -conversation happening to fall upon anatomy, and speaking -of the hand, he mentioned the carpus and the metacarpus, -the joining of the bones by many hard names, and -the periosteum which covered them, together with other -Greek words, which Crato had never heard of. Then he -showed him a few curiosities he had collected; but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281"></a>[281]</span> -anatomy being the subject of their chief discourse, he -dwelt much upon the skeletons of a hare and a partridge. -‘Observe, sir,’ said he, ‘how firm the joints! how nicely -the parts are fitted to each other! how proper this limb for -flight, and that for running; and how wonderful the whole -composition!’ Crato took due notice of the most considerable -parts of those animals, and observed the chief -remarks his nephew made; but being detained there two -hours without a dinner, assuming a pleasant air, he said, -‘I wish these rarities had flesh upon them, for I begin to -be hungry, nephew, and you entertain me with nothing -but bones.’ Then he carried home his nephew to dinner -with him, and dismissed the jest.</p> - -<p>“The next morning his kinsman Tramarinus desired him -to hear a sermon at such a church, ‘For I am informed,’ -said he, ‘the preacher will be my old schoolmaster.’ It -was Agrotes, a country minister, who was to fulfil the service -of the day; an honest, a pious, and a useful man, who -fed his own people weekly with Divine food, composed his -sermons with a mixture of the instructive and the pathetic, -and delivered them with no improper elocution. Where -any difficulty appeared in the text or the subject, he -usually explained it in a very natural and easy manner, -to the understanding of all his parishioners. He paraphrased -on the most affecting parts largely, that he might -strike the conscience of every hearer, and had been the -happy means of the salvation of many; but he thought -thus with himself, ‘When I preach at London I have -hearers of a wiser rank, I must feed them with learning -and substantial sense, and must have my discourse set -thick with distinct sentences and new matter.’ He contrived, -therefore, to abridge his composures, and to throw -four of his country sermons together to make up one for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282"></a>[282]</span> -the City, and yet he could not forbear to add a little Greek -in the beginning. He told the auditors how the text was -to be explained; he set forth the analysis of the words in -order, showed the <i>hoti</i> and the <i>dioti</i>—that is, that it was -so, and why it was so—with much learned criticism—all -of which he wisely left out in the country; then he pronounced -the doctrine distinctly, and filled up the rest of -the hour with the mere rehearsal of the general and special -heads; but he omitted all the amplification which made -his performances in the country so clear and so intelligible, -so warm and affecting. In short, it was the mere joints -and carcase of a long composure, and contained above -forty branches in it. The hearers had no time to consider -or reflect on the good things which were spoken, or apply -them to their own consciences; the preacher hurried their -attention so fast onward to new matters that they could -make no use of anything he said while he spoke it, nor -had they a moment for reflection, in order to fix it in their -memories and improve by it at home.</p> - -<p>“The young gentleman was somewhat out of countenance -when the sermon was done, for he missed all that -life and spirit, that pathetic amplification, which impressed -his conscience when he was but a school-boy. However, -he put the best face upon it, and began to commend the -performance. ‘Was it not,’ said he, ‘sir, a substantial -discourse? How well connected all the reasons! How -strong all the inferences, and what a variety and number -of them!’ ‘It is true,’ said the uncle, ‘but yet methinks -I want food here, and I find nothing but bones again. I -could not have thought, nephew, you would have treated -me two days together just alike; yesterday at home, and -to-day at church, the first course was Greek, and all the -rest mere skeleton.’”</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_283"></a>[283]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">GOD IN VEGETATION.</p> - -<p>“Let us first consider this as it relates to the vegetable -part of the creation. What a profusion of beauty and fragrancy, -of shapes and colours, of smells and tastes, is scattered -among the herbs and flowers of the ground, among -the shrubs, the trees, and the fruits of the field! Colouring -in its original glory and perfection triumphs here; red, -yellow, green, blue, purple, with vastly more diversities -than the rainbow ever knew, or the prism can represent, -are distributed among the flowers and the blossoms. And -what variety of tastes, both original and compounded, of -sweet, bitter, sharp, with a thousand nameless flavours, are -found among the herbs of the garden! What an amazing -difference of shapes and sizes appears among the trees of -the field and forest in their branches and their leaves! and -what a luxurious and elegant distinction in their several -fruits! How very numerous are their distinct properties -in their uses in human life! And yet these two common -elements, earth and water, are the only materials out of -which they are all composed, from the beginning to the end -of nature and time. Let the gardener dress for himself one -field of fresh earth, and make it as uniform as he can; -then let him plant therein all the varieties of the vegetable -world, in their roots or in their seeds, as he shall think -most proper; yet out of this common earth, under the -droppings of common water from heaven, every one of -these plants shall be nourished, and grow up in their proper -forms; all the infinity, diversity of shapes and sizes, -colours, tastes, and smells, which constitute and adorn the -vegetable world, would the climate permit, might be produced -out of the same clods. What rich and surprising<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_284"></a>[284]</span> -wisdom appears in that Almighty Operator, who out of the -same matter shall perfume the bosom of the rose, and give -the garlic its offensive and nauseous powers; who from the -same spot of ground shall raise the liquorice and the wormwood, -and dress the cheek of the tulip in all its glowing -beauties! What a surprise, to see the same field furnish -the pomegranate and the orange tree, with their juicy fruit, -and the stacks of corn with their dry and husky grains; -to observe the oak raised from a little acorn into its stately -growth and solid timber; and that pillars for the support of -future temples and palaces should spring out of the same -bed of earth that sent up the vine with such soft and -feeble limbs as are unable to support themselves! What -a natural kind of prodigy it is, that chilling and burning -vegetables should arise out of the same spot; that the fever -and frenzy should start up from the same bed where the -palsy and the lethargy lie dormant in their seeds! Is it -not exceeding strange that healthful and poisonous juices -should rise up, in their proper plants, out of the same common -glebe, and that life and death should grow and thrive -within an inch of each other? What wondrous and inimitable -skill must be attributed to that Supreme Power, that -First Cause, who can so infinitely diversify effects, where -the servile second cause is so uniform and always the same! -It is not for me in this place to enter into a long detail of -philosophy, and show how the minute fibres and tubes of -the different seeds and roots of vegetables take hold of, -attract, and receive the little particles of earth and water -proper for their own growth; how they form them at first -into their own shapes, sending them up aspiring above -ground by degrees, and mould them so as frame the stalks, -the branches, the leaves, and the buds of every flower, herb, -and tree. But I presume the world is too weary of substantial<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_285"></a>[285]</span> -forms, and plastic powers, and names without ideas, -to be persuaded that these mere creatures of fancy should -ever be the operators in this wondrous work. It is much -more honourable to attribute all to the design and long -forethought of God the Creator, who formed the first vegetables -in such a manner, and appointed their little parts to -ferment under the warm sunbeams, according to such established -laws of motion as to mould the atoms of earth and -water which were near them in their own figure, to make -them grow up into trunk and branches, which every night -should harden into firmness and stability; and, again, to -mould new atoms of the same element into leaves and -bloom, fruit and seed, which last, being dropped into the -earth, should produce new plants of the same likeness to -the end of the world.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">FOOD.</p> - -<p>“If the food of which one single animal partakes be -never so various and different, yet the same laws of motion -which God has ordained in the animal world, convert them -all to the same purposes of nourishment for that creature. -Behold the little bee gathering its honey from a thousand -flowers, and laying up the precious store for its winter food. -Mark how the crow preys upon a carcase, anon it crops a -cherry from the tree; and both are changed into the flesh and -feathers of a crow. Observe the kine in the meadows feeding -on a hundred varieties of herbs and flowers, yet all -the different parts of their bodies are nourished thereby in -a proper manner: every flower in the field is made use of -to increase the flesh of the heifer, and to make beef for -men; and out of all these varieties there is a noble milky -juice flowing to the udder, which provides nourishment for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_286"></a>[286]</span> -young children. So near akin is man, the lord of the creation, -in respect of his body, to the brutes that are his slaves, -that the very same food will compose the flesh of both of -them, and make them grow up to their appointed stature. -This is evident beyond doubt in daily and everlasting -experiments. The same bread-corn which we eat at our -tables will give rich support to sparrows and pigeons, to -the turkey and the duck, and all the fowls of the yard: -the mouse steals it and feeds on it in its dark retirement; -while the hog in the sty, and the horse in the manger, -would be glad to partake. When the poor cottager has -nursed up a couple of geese, the fox seizes one of them for -the support of her cubs, and perhaps the table of the landlord -is furnished with the other to regale his friends. Nor -is it an uncommon thing to see the favourite lap-dog fed -out of the same bowl of milk which is prepared for the -heir of a wealthy family, but which nature had originally -designed to nourish a calf. The same milky material will -make calves, lap-dogs, and human bodies.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">CHRIST AS A SUN.</p> - -<p>“I cannot deny myself, in this place, the pleasure of publishing -to the world a very beautiful resemblance, the first -hints and notices whereof I received formerly in conversation -from my reverend and worthy friend Mr. Robert -Bragge, whereby the person of Christ as God-man in His -exalted state may be happily represented. The sun in the -heavens is the most glorious of all visible beings: his -sovereign influence has a most astonishing extent through -all the planetary globes, and bestows light and heat upon -all of them. It is the sun that gives life and motion to all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_287"></a>[287]</span> -the infinite varieties of the animal world in the earth, air, -and water. It draws out the vegetable juices from the -earth, and covers the surface of it with trees, herbs, and -flowers. It is the sun that gives beauty and colour to all -the millions of bodies round the globe; by its pervading -power perhaps it forms minerals and metals under the -earth. Its happy effects are innumerable; they reach -certainly to everything that has life and motion, or that -gives life, support, or pleasure to mankind. Now suppose -God should create a most illustrious spirit, and unite it to -the body of the sun, as a human soul is united to a human -body: suppose this spirit had a perceptive power capacious -enough to become conscious of every sunbeam, and all the -influences and effects of this vast shining globe, both in its -light, heat, and motion, even to the remotest region; and -suppose at the same time it was able, by an act of its will, -to send out or withhold every sunbeam as it pleased, and -thereby to give light and darkness, life and death, in a -sovereign manner, to all the animal inhabitants of this our -earth, or even of all the planetary worlds. Such may be -the ‘glorified human soul of our blessed Redeemer united -to His glorified body;’ and perhaps His knowledge and -His power may be as extensive as this similitude represents, -especially when we consider this soul and body as -personally united to the Divine nature, and as one with -God. Now this noble thought may be supported by such -considerations as these. As our souls are conscious of the -light, shape, motions, etc., of such distant bodies as the -planet Saturn or the fixed stars, because our eyes receive -rays from thence; so may not a human soul united to a -body as easily be supposed to have a consciousness of anything, -wheresoever it can send out rays or emit either fluids -or atoms from its own body? May not the sun, for instance,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_288"></a>[288]</span> -if a soul were united to it, become thereby so glorious a -complex being, as to send out every ray with knowledge, -and have a consciousness of everything wheresoever it sends -its direct or reflected rays? And may not the human soul -of our Lord Jesus Christ have a consciousness of everything -wheresoever it can send direct or reflected rays from -His own shining and glorified body? To add yet to the -wonder, we may suppose that these rays may be subtle as -magnetic beams, which penetrate brass and stone as easily -as light doth glass; and at the same time they may be as -swift as light, which reaches the most amazing distance of -several millions of miles in a minute. By this means, -since the light of the sun pervades all secret chambers in -our hemisphere at once, and fills all places with direct and -reflected beams, if consciousness belonged to all those -beams, what a sort of omniscient being would the sun be! -I mean omniscient in its own sphere. And why may not -the human soul and body of our glorified Saviour be thus -furnished with such an amazing extent of knowledge and -power, and yet not be truly infinite? Let us dwell a little -longer upon these delightful contemplations. If a soul had -but a full knowledge and command of all the atoms of one -solid foot of matter, which according to modern philosophy -is infinitely divisible, what strange and astonishing influences -would it have over this world of ours? What confusions -might it raise in distant nations, sending pestilential -streams into a thousand bodies, and destroying armies at -once? And it might scatter benign or healing and vital -influences to as large a circumference. If our blessed Lord, -in the days of His humiliation, could send virtue out of -Him to heal a poor diseased woman, who touched the hem -of His garment with a finger, who knows what healing -atoms, or what killing influences, He may send from His<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_289"></a>[289]</span> -dwelling in glory to the remotest distances of our world, to -execute His Father’s counsels of judgment or mercy? It is -not impossible, so far as I can judge, that the soul of Christ -in its glorified state may have as much command over our -heavens and our earth, and all things contained in them, -as our souls in the present state have over our own limbs -and muscles to move them at pleasure. Let us remember -that it is now found out, and agreed in the new philosophy -of Sir Isaac Newton, that the distances are prodigious to -which the powerful influence of the sun reaches in the -centre of our planetary system. It is the sun who holds -and restrains all the planets in their several orbits, and -keeps in those vast bodies of Jupiter and Saturn in their -constant revolutions—one at the distance of 424 millions, -and the other at the distance of 777 millions of miles—besides -all the other influences it has upon everything that -may live and grow in those planetary worlds. It is the sun -who reduces the long wanderings of the comets back again -near to himself from distances more immensely great than -those of Saturn and Jupiter. And why may not the human -nature of our Lord Jesus Christ, both in soul and body, -have a dominion given Him by the Father larger than the -sun in the firmament? Why may not the Son of God -be endued with an immediate consciousness and agency -to a far greater distance? Thus if we conceive of the -human soul of Christ, either in the amazing extent of -its own native powers or in the additional acquirements -of a glorified state, we see reason to believe that its -capacities are far above our old usual conceptions, and -may be raised and exalted to a degree of knowledge, -power, and glory suitable and equal to His operations -and offices, so far as they are attributed to His human -nature in the word of God.”</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_290"></a>[290]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">APPARENT FOLLY REAL WISDOM.</p> - -<p>“This very man, this Gelotes, a few days ago, was carried -by his neighbour Typiger, to see a gentleman of his -acquaintance; they found him standing at the window of -his chamber, moving and turning round a glass prism, near -a round hole which he had made in the window-shutter, -and casting all the colours of the rainbow upon the wall of -the room. They were unwilling to disturb him, though he -amused himself at this rate for half an hour together, -merely to please and entertain his eyesight, as Gelotes -imagined, with the brightness and the strength of the reds -and the blues, the greens and the purples, in many shifting -forms of situation, while several little implements lay about -him, of white paper and shreds of coloured silk, pieces of tin -with holes in them, spectacles and burning-glasses. When -the gentleman at last spied his company, he came down and -entertained them agreeably enough upon other subjects, and -dismissed them. At another time, Gelotes beheld the same -gentleman blowing up large bubbles with a tobacco-pipe -out of a bowl of water well impregnated with soap, which -is a common diversion of boys. As the bubbles rose, he -marked the little changeable colours on the surface of -them with great attention, till they broke and vanished -into air and water. He seemed to be very grave and -solemn in this sort of recreation, and now and then smiled -to see the little appearances and disappearances of colours, -as the bubbles grew thinner towards the top, while the -watery particles of it ran down along the side to the -bottom, and the surface grew too thin and feeble to include -the air, then it burst to pieces and was lost. ‘Well,’ says -Gelotes to his friend, ‘I did not think you would have -carried me into the acquaintance of a madman; surely he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_291"></a>[291]</span> -can never be right in his senses who wastes his hours in -such fooleries as these. Whatsoever good opinion I had -conceived of a gentleman of your intimacy, I am amazed -now that you should keep up any degree of acquaintance -with him, when his reason is gone and he is become a -mere child. What are all these little scenes of sport -and amusement, but proofs of the absence of his understanding? -Poor gentleman! I pity him in his unhappy -circumstances; but I hope he has friends to take care of -him under this degree of distraction.’ Typiger was not a -little pleased to see that his project, with regard to his -neighbour Gelotes, had succeeded so well; and when -he had suffered him to run on at this rate for some -minutes, he interrupted him with a surprising word: ‘This -very gentleman,’ says he, ‘is the great Sir Isaac Newton, -the first of philosophers, the glory of Great Britain, and -renowned among the nations. You have beheld him now -making these experiments over again by which he first -found out the nature of light and colours, and penetrated -deeper into the mysteries of them than all mankind ever -knew before him. This is the man, and these his contrivances, -upon which you so freely cast your contempt, and -pronounce him distracted. You know not the depth of -his designs, and therefore you censured them all as -fooleries, whereas the learned world has esteemed them the -utmost reach of human sagacity.’</p> - -<p>“Gelotes was all confusion and silence; whereupon -Typiger proceeded thus: ‘Go now and ridicule the law-giver -of Israel, and the ceremonies of the Jewish Church, -which Moses taught them; go, repeat your folly and your -slanders, and laugh at these Divine ceremonies, merely -because you know not the meaning of them, go, and -affront the God of Israel, and reproach Him for sending<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_292"></a>[292]</span> -Moses to teach such forms of worship to the Jews. There -is not the least of them but was appointed by the Greatest -of Beings, and has some special design and purpose in the -eye of Divine Wisdom. Many of them were explained by -the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, as types -and emblems of the glories and blessings of the New Testament; -and the rest of them, whose reason has not been -discovered to us, remain, perhaps, to be made known at the -conversion of the Jews, when Divine light shall be spread -over all the ancient dispensations, and a brighter glory -diffused over all the rites and forms of religion which God -ever instituted among the race of Adam.’”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">A PLEA FOR CHRISTIANIZING HORACE.</p> - -<p>“It is a piece of ancient and sacred history which -Moses informs us of, that when the tribes of Israel departed -from the land of Egypt, they borrowed of their -neighbours gold and jewels by the appointment of God, -for the decoration of their sacrifices and solemn worship -when they should arrive at the appointed place in the -wilderness. God Himself taught His people how the -richest of metals which had ever been abused to the worship -of idols might be purified by the fire, and being -melted up into a new form, might be consecrated to the -service of the living God, and add to the magnificence and -grandeur of His tabernacle and temple. Such are some of -the poetical writings of the ancient heathens; they have a -great deal of native beauty and lustre in them, and through -some happy turn given them by the pen of a Christian -poet may be transformed into Divine meditations, and may -assist the devout and pious soul in several parts of the -Christian life and worship. Amongst all the rest of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_293"></a>[293]</span> -Pagan writers, I know none so fit for this service as the -odes of Horace, as vile a sinner as he was. Their manner -of composure comes nearer the spirit and force of the -Psalms of David than any other; and as we take the -devotions of the Jewish king, and bring them into our -Christian churches, by changing the scene and the chronology, -and superadding some of the glories of the Gospel -so may the representation of some of the heathen virtues, -by a little more labour, be changed into Christian graces, -or, at least, into the image of them, so far as human power -can reach. One day, musing on this subject, I made an -experiment on the two last stanzas of Ode xxix, Book iii.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Non est meum, si mugiat Africis</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Malus procellis, ad miseras preces</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Decurrere, et votis pacisci,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ne Cypriæ Syriæque merces</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Addant avaro divitias mari;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dum me, biremis præsidio scaphæ,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nudum per Ægeos tumultus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aura ferat, geminusque Pollux.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="center"><span class="smcap">The British Fisherman.</span></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Let Spain’s proud traders, when the mast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bends groaning to the stormy blast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Run to their beads with wretched plaints,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And vow and bargain with their saints,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest Turkish silks or Tyrian wares</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sink in the drowning ship,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or the rich dust Peru prepares,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Defraud their long projecting cares,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And add new treasures to the greedy deep.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My little skiff that skims the shores,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With half a sail and two short oars,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Provides me food in gentler waves;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But if they gape in watery graves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I trust the Eternal Power, whose hand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has swelled the storm on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To waft my boat and me to land,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or give some angel swift command</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To bear the drowning sailor to the sky.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_294"></a>[294]</span></p> - -<p>A work like this would be incomplete if it did not -attempt some general estimate, however feeble, of our -author’s works, which are, however, so various that it is difficult -to bring their relation to their author’s mind beneath -one classification. The remark Dr. Jennings made in his -funeral sermon is simply just, when he says he “questions -whether any author before Dr. Watts ever appeared with -a reputation on such a variety of subjects as he has, both -as a prose writer and a poet. However,” he adds, “this -I may venture to say, there is no man now living of -whose works so many have been diffused at home and -abroad, which are in such constant use, and translated into -such a variety of languages, many of which I doubt not -will remain more durable monuments of his great talents -than any representation I can make of them, though it -were to be graven on pillars of brass. Thus did he shine -as an ingenious man and a scholar.”</p> - -<p>This circumstance of <i>the variety of his writings</i> constitutes -them an element of his character: he was more -various than intense, acute rather than profound. There -are some of his works upon which we need not permit -ourselves to be detained, they illustrate his readiness in -turning to every kind of labour which seemed to give the -promise of usefulness, for usefulness was evidently in everything -the object he set before himself. Regarded by the -immense apparatus now at hand for every kind of mental -exercise Watts’ labours do some of them seem needless; -but regarded from his own age, it appears as if he created, -originated, and gave effect to almost every department of -religious or improving knowledge. If the reader looks -round the literary horizon of that day, he will learn rightly -to estimate the benefits conferred by this writer; and these -works, the smallest, the most inferior of his mental<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_295"></a>[295]</span> -exercises, were not one of them a mere compilation, they -were all the emanations of that perpetually active mind, -which, whether the body were well or ill, must be employed -for some useful object and end. None of his books -were made out of other books, excepting, indeed, so far -as almost every volume must imply the knowledge of a -subject and the mind of an author; and at the same time -it must be said that some of his books for the young have -been dropped but not surpassed; they might still furnish -the best hints and the best arrangements for obtaining and -imparting knowledge.</p> - -<p>Being a literary man, Watts falls beneath a class of -observations which are not either necessary or applicable in -forming an estimate of almost any of his brethren, such as -Howe, or Jacomb, or Bradbury, or, indeed, any of the writers -of his order or day. The <i>wisdom</i> of his mind was remarkable; -it was “a city, built four square.” In this useful -purpose, which he ever kept before him, whatever charges -may be preferred against him on the score of the indulgence -of fancy (and many of his writings reveal how capable -he was of such excursions), he kept his mind singularly -free from the literary vanities of his times, and his times -as singularly illustrate at once the vanity and the glory of -literature. If anybody would know what vanities there -were, let him take down the volumes of the Athenian -Oracle,<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> and he will find few other volumes which will<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_296"></a>[296]</span> -give so lively an impression of the literary folly of those -times. Old Samuel Wesley, John Wesley’s father, did not -disdain to contribute largely to those pages; they are -affluent in absurdities, while they have a show of learned -ignorance. Select a few; most of the essays are in the -way of question and answer. “Balaam being a Moabite, -how could he understand the ass speaking to him in -Hebrew? How came the two disciples to know Moses -and Elias on the mount? I am resolved to go round the -earth on foot; I desire to know whether my head or my -feet will travel the most, and how much the one more than -the other? Whether or no there is a vacuum? Whether -it is more proper to say the soul contains the body, or the -body the soul? Whether the quadrature of the circle be -possible? Pray, why does <i>a n d</i> not spell <i>t u m</i>? <i>t h e</i>, -<i>m e d</i>? etc. etc. Whether Adam was a giant? How a -silkworm lives when it has left off eating and is enclosed -in its web? Whether it is prudent to live in a room -haunted by spirits? Whether, since mermen and mermaids -have more of the human shape than other fishes, they may -be thought to have more reason? Where extinguished fire -goes to? Where was the land of Nod? How is it the -spaniel knows its master’s horse? Whether a finite -creature is capable of enduring infinite loss?” etc. etc.</p> - -<p>These volumes, perhaps, constitute the most amazing -collection of nonsense in our own or any other language; -nor are they without a certain value as illustrating, not -only the time, then in possession of men, but the ridiculous -way in which they used it. Of course there are questions, -and many of them, of a more grave and serious character, -but for the most part they are the very soap-bubbles of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_297"></a>[297]</span> -most foppish and foolish imaginations, the most undisciplined -and frequently prurient and indecent fancies. The -indulgence in these was quite a phase of the intellectual -life of the time. A singular chapter in the curiosities -of literature and science a reader may find in such volumes -as the “Philosophical Conferences of France;”<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> and the -vanities of theology were quite equal to the vanities of -literature, as may be seen in the innumerable productions -of the time.</p> - -<p>With a mind so disposed to imaginative excursions, -it is quite worthy of notice that Watts preserved a -wise balance of all his powers and faculties; he lived -on the confines of the age of the wildest mysticism our -literature has known. From some words in his works -he appears to have been well acquainted with the writings -of Henry More, and also to have entertained for them that -reverence and respect which assuredly many of them command; -but from their singular and erratic fancies he kept -himself quite free. Very strange are the matters with -which we find these old men entertained themselves, -affirming “that God of Himself is a dale of darkness, -were it not for the light of the Son;” “that the star-powers -are Nature, and the star-circle the mother of all -things, from which all is, subsists, and moves;” “that the -waters of the world are mad, which makes them rave and -run up and down, so as they do in the channels of the -earth;” “that they, at last, shall be calcined into crystal;” -“that the pure blood in man answers to the element of -fire in the great world, his heart to the earth, his mouth to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_298"></a>[298]</span> -the Arctic pole; and”—but we will not finish this sublime -stretch of metaphysical imagination—“that there be two -kinds of fires, the one a cold fire and the other hot, and -that death is a cold fire;” “that everything has sense, -imagination, and a fiducial knowledge of God in it—metals, -meteors, and plants not excepted.” Also the like -pleasant excursions of fancy are found in “Paracelsus,” as -“that the stars are, as it were, the phials, or cucurbits, in -which meteorical sal, sulphur, and mercury are contained, -and that the winds are made out of these by the ethereal -vulcans, are blown forth out of these emunctories, as when -a man blows or breathes out of his mouth;” “that the stars -are, as it were, the pots in which the archeus, or heavenly -vulcan, prepares pluvious matter, which, exhaled from -thence, first appears in the form of clouds, and after condenses -to rain;” “that hail and snow are the fruits of the -stars, proceeding from them as flowers and blossoms from -trees;” “that the lightning and thunder are, as it were, -the deciduous fruits of the ethereal stars;” “that the stars -eat and are nourished,” etc. etc.</p> - -<p>All this, and a good deal more to the like purpose. Since -the beginning of the world, men have asked of themselves -and others strange questions, like those Southey discovered -in Luys de Escobar: “When God made dresses for Adam -and Eve, how did He get the skins of which those dresses -were made, seeing that beasts were not yet killed?” “Perhaps,” -says the respondent, “He made skins on purpose.” -“Why are there three persons in the Trinity rather than -four or five?” “St. Cosmas and St. Damian cut off a black -man’s leg and fastened it on a white man; which will have -the leg at the resurrection?” “How did Adam learn -Hebrew?” Queer curiosities these, all of which will remind -the reader of the madness of Elinora Melorina, a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_299"></a>[299]</span> -lady of Mantua, who, being fully persuaded she was married -to a king, would kneel down and talk with him, as -if he had then been present with his retinue. Nay, if she -by any chance found a piece of glass upon a dunghill, or if -she came upon a piece of oyster-shell or tin, or any such -thing that would glisten in the sunshine, she would say it -was a jewel sent from her lord and husband, and upon this -account she would fill her cabinet full of this kind of rubbish. -The cabinets of the mystics, amidst some worthier -matter, are full of the kind of rubbish we have quoted -above, which, when instanced as solutions of things psychical -or physical, seem to be as satisfactory as the old story of -the foolish person who, riding an ass to the pond to drink -by the light of the moon, and some clouds intervening, and -hiding the moon while the ass was drinking, arrived at the -grave conclusion that the ass had swallowed up the moon, -and took it clean out of being. When such grave problems -and questions are the result of so much of fasting and -devotion, they only remind us of the question preferred -by a monk on one occasion to a higher Church dignitary: -“How many keys did Christ give to Peter?” which brought -the satisfactory reply, that “he ought to prepare himself -by a course of physic for such grave, sweet, and savoury -questions!” Illustrative as they are of the literary vanities -and follies of the time, follies to which even scholarly -clergymen and eminent writers lent themselves, and as -illustrating also not only the freedom of Watts from such -epidemical foolishness, but the work he did in calling the -mind to healthful methods of thought, the writer trusts -their quotation here may be forgiven.</p> - -<p>He appears to have preserved his mind in great stillness. -It is the quiet and still mind which is wise and prudent; -and, like Henry More, to whom we have referred, his life<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_300"></a>[300]</span> -would repeat what that great man was wont to say, “In -the more peaceful spirit, when it is also a quick and perceptive -one, will always reside those faculties which are to the -soul vision and power. In the deep and calm mind alone, -in a temper clear and serene, such as is purged from the -dregs, and devoid of the more disorderly tumults of the -body, doth true wisdom or genuine philosophy, as in its -own proper tower, securely reside.” Hence the first great -attribute of Watts’ mind is <i>clearness</i>.</p> - -<p>He ever kept before him a purpose of <i>usefulness</i>, alike in -teaching men what to think about, and how to think about -it; indeed, it is simply true, as Gibbons has remarked, that -<i>perspicuity</i> was eminently a feature of his intellect; and it -must be admitted that upon whatever he speaks or writes, -he is always clearly to be understood—as we have seen, it -was by no means a great virtue of his age, or of his contemporaries; -and if he discoursed upon the more lofty and -difficult subjects of thought or philosophy, they seem to -acquire clearness in their passage through his mind. He -did not crowd words upon each other, and images of every -order were used by him, not to add to the splendour of a -paragraph, or to set off a division, but for the purpose of -reflecting light on the reader’s mind. He has dwelt himself -upon the prime importance of perspicuity. In his “Improvement -of the Mind,” he says: “He that would gain a -happy talent for the instruction of others must know how to -disentangle and divide his thoughts, if too many are ready -to crowd into one paragraph; and let him rather speak three -sentences distinctly and clearly, which the hearer receives -at once with his ears and his soul, than crowd all the -thoughts into one sentence, which the hearer has forgotten -before he can understand it.” It is a prime virtue in -Watts’ style that it is clear; it ought to be a chief virtue<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_301"></a>[301]</span> -in every writer. In him it illustrated the character of his -mind. He seemed even to be impatient of the dark and -obscure, and he never would permit himself to repose -near the absolutely incomprehensible without attempting -in some way to understand it; so, also, as he attempts to -express his mind upon any subject, his sentences instantly -appear to be the very windows of the intellect. And this -accounts for that other noticeable characteristic of his style—<i>its -perfect ease</i>. There was smoothness and grace, the -entire absence of the turgid and the bombastic; his sentences -flowed along in happy harmony. Very frequently -such a style conveys the impression that a man has nothing -to say, when, perhaps, it is by immense labour, and by the -study of the finest writers, and by conversation, that he has -attained to that grace and natural ease of manner in which -all who listen or who read are instantly able to apprehend -the meaning. Thus he himself translates his favourite -Horace:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Smooth be your style, and plain and natural,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To strike the sins of Wapping or Whitehall;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While others think this easy to attain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let them but try, and with their utmost pain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They’ll sweat and strive to imitate in vain.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Another attribute, to which Gibbons alludes, in Watts’ -style is his <i>dignity</i>, especially in the use of his metaphors -and in the restraint he puts upon himself in his most -ardent and animated passages. A wise use of the passions -is a marked characteristic of his writings, as he says, “Did -the Great God ever appoint statues for His ambassadors to -invite sinners to His mercy; words of grace written upon -brass or marble would do the work almost as well; where -the preachers are stone no wonder if the hearers are motionless.” -And in a fine passage in which he reprobates the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_302"></a>[302]</span> -philosophy of the Earl of Shaftesbury, under the name of -Rhapsodus, who affirms that neither the fear of future -punishment, nor the hope of future reward, can possibly -be called good affections, Watts exclaims:</p> - -<p>“Go, dress up all the virtues of human nature in all the -beauties of your oratory, and declaim aloud on the praise -of social virtue and the amiable qualities of goodness, till -your hearts or lungs ache, among the looser herds of -mankind, and you will ever find, as your <i>heathen fathers</i> -have done before you, that the wild appetites and passions -of men are too violent to be restrained by such mild and -silken language. You may as well build up a fence of -straw and feathers to resist a cannon-ball, or try to -quench a flaming granado with a shell of fair water, as -hope to succeed in these attempts. But an eternal heaven -and an eternal hell carry a Divine force and power with -them. This doctrine, from the mouth of Christian -preachers, has begun the reformation of multitudes. This -Gospel has recovered thousands among the nations from -iniquity and death. They have been awakened by these -awful scenes to begin religion, and afterwards their virtue -has improved itself into superior and more refined principles -and habits by Divine grace, and risen to high and -eminent degrees, though not to consummate state. The -blessed God knows human nature better than <i>Rhapsodus</i> -doth, and has throughout His Word appointed a more -proper and more effectual method of address to it by the -passions of hope and fear, by punishments and rewards.”</p> - -<p>His <i>ideas</i> are large and ample; thoughts thronged through -his pages. Admirable as his prose is, he writes still like a -poet, and he speaks of the value of poetry as not a mere -amusement or the embroidery of the mind, he says how it -“brightens the fancy with a thousand beautiful images,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_303"></a>[303]</span> -how it enriches the soul with great and sublime sentiments -and refined ideas, and fills the memory with a noble variety -of language, it teaches the art of describing well, of -painting everything to the life, and presenting the pleasing -and frightful scenes of nature and providence, vice and -virtue, in their proper charms and horrors; it assists the -art of persuasion, leads to a pathetic mode of speech and -writing, and adds life and beauty to conversation.”</p> - -<p>And hence his style is so <i>attractive</i>; it has often been -an enjoyment to us to turn over the pages of his prose -writings. What a variety of topics is presented to us in his -interesting inquiry “Concerning Space,” and how interesting -his treatment makes the discussion, however abstract -the topic. It is the same with his philosophic essays on -“Innate Ideas,” and on the “Nature of Substance,” and in -that on the “Strength and Weakness of Human Reason.” -His sermons, we have before said, have not the pomp -and glow of Jeremy Taylor, but they resemble, and certainly -do not fall inferior to, those of John Donne, in a -quiet metaphysical subtlety and a happy use of images -supplied by fancy; but let us select a few:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">THE SOUL AND GOD.</p> - -<p>“My soul is touched with such a Divine influence that it -cannot rest, while God withdraws, <i>as the needle trembles, -and hunts after the living loadstone</i>.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">A SENSITIVE HEART.</p> - -<p>“Nothing could displease Phronissa (so this good mother -is called) more than to hear a jest thrown upon natural -infirmities. She thought there was something sacred in -misery, and it was not to be touched with a rude hand.”</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_304"></a>[304]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">IMPULSIVE CHRISTIANS.</p> - -<p>“Such Christians as these (such who are weak and too -much under the influence of their passions) live very much -by sudden fits and starts of devotion, without that uniform -and steady spring of faith and holiness which would render -their religion more even and uniform, more honourable to -God and more comfortable to themselves. They are always -high on the wing, or else lying moveless on the ground. -They are ever in the heights or in the depths, travelling on -the bright mountains with the songs of heaven on their -lips, or groaning and labouring through the dark valleys, -and never walking onward as on an even plain towards -heaven.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">THE FULFILMENT OF DIVINE PREDICTIONS.</p> - -<p>“How easy it will be for our blessed Lord to make a -full accomplishment of all His predictions concerning His -kingdom; salvation shall spread through all the tribes and -ranks of mankind, as the lightning from heaven in a few -moments would communicate a living flame through ten -thousand lamps or torches placed in a proper situation and -neighbourhood.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>He had an eminent <i>power in description</i>; the following -meditation is a rich illustration of this. The whole meditation -is far too long to quote—his descriptions of the -awakening life of leaves, and birds, and insects—but he -closes:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">THE FIRST OF MAY.</p> - -<p>“’Tis a sublime and constant triumph over all the intellectual -powers of man, which the great God maintains -every moment in these inimitable works of nature, in these -impenetrable recesses and all mysteries of Divine art; and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_305"></a>[305]</span> -the month of May is the most shining season of this -triumph. The flags and banners of Almighty wisdom are -now displayed round half the globe, and the other half -waits the return of the sun to spread the same triumph -over the southern world. The very sun in the firmament -is God’s prime minister in this wondrous world of beings, -and he works with sovereign vigour on the surface of the -earth, and spreads his influence deep under the clods to -the very root and fibre, moulding them in their proper -forms by Divine direction. There is not a plant, nor a -leaf, nor one little branching thread above or beneath the -ground, which escapes the eye or influence of this beneficent -star. An illustrious emblem of the omnipresence and -universal activity of the Creator.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The following strikes us as very pleasing:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">ON DISTANT THUNDER.</p> - -<p>“When we hear the thunder rumbling in some distant -quarter of the heavens, we sit calm and serene amidst our -business or diversions; we feel no terrors about us, and -apprehend no danger. When we see the slender streaks -of lightning play afar off in the horizon of an evening sky, -we look on and amuse ourselves as with an agreeable -spectacle, without the least fear or concern. But lo! the -dark cloud rises by degrees; it grows black as night, and -big with tempests; it spreads as it rises to the mid-heaven, -and now hangs directly over us; the flashes of lightning -grow broad and strong, and, like sheets of ruddy fire, they -blaze terribly all round the hemisphere. We bar the doors -and windows, and every avenue of light, but we bar them -all in vain. The flames break in at every cranny, and -threaten swift destruction; the thunder follows, bursting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_306"></a>[306]</span> -from the cloud with sudden and tremendous crashes; the -voice of the Lord is redoubled with violence, and overwhelms -us with terror; it rattles over our heads as though -the whole house was broken down at once with a stroke -from heaven, and was tumbling on us amain to bury us in -the ruins. Happy the man whose hope in his God composes -all his passions amid these storms of nature, and -renders his whole deportment peaceful and serene amidst -the frights and hurries of weak spirits and unfortified -minds.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Many pages might be filled with such passages in which -the compactness of the proverb, or the pleasantry of the -fancy, or the richness of the description, is remarkable. It -comes out of such characteristics as we have noticed, that -he reformed the preaching of his day, especially as to the -structure of sermons; it was the age of, what he calls very -felicitously, “branching sermons;” and even John Howe, as -both Robert Hall and Henry Rogers<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> have remarked, “far -outwent many of his most extravagant contemporaries in -minute and frivolous subdivision; we have sometimes heads -arranged rank and file, half a score deep.” Henry Rogers -continues, “If any would wish to see the full extent to -which Howe carried this fault, they may look into the -‘scheme’ (a very accurate one), which his publishers prefixed -to the first edition of the ‘Delighting in God,’ and by -the time the student has thoroughly digested and mastered -that, he will find little difficulty I apprehend in any of the -first books of Euclid.” It was the characteristic of nearly -all the great Puritan preachers before Watts. He speaks -of some who would draw out a long rank of particulars in -the same sermon under one general, and run up the number -to eighteenthly! or seven and twentiethly! until they cut all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_307"></a>[307]</span> -their sense into shreds, so that everything they say of -anything is a new particular; and he says, he has sat under -this preaching until he has thought of Ezekiel’s vision in -the valley full of bones, “behold they were very many and -very dry.” He adds, “A single rose bush, or a dwarf pear, -with all their leaves, flowers, and fruit about them, have -more beauty and spirit in themselves, and yield more food -and pleasure to mankind, than the innumerable branches, -boughs, and twigs of a long hedge of thorns.” In the -same manner he satirizes another kind of preaching, in -which there are no breaks and pauses. “Is there no -medium,” he says, “between a sermon made up of sixty -dry particulars, and a long loose declamation without -any distinction of the parts of it? Must a preacher -divide his works by the breaks of a minute watch, or let it -run on incessantly like the flowing stream of sand in the -hour-glass?” And thus he inquires, “Can a long purling -sound awaken a sleepy conscience? Can you make the -arrow wound where it will not stick? Where all the discourse -vanishes from the remembrance, can you imagine -the soul to be profited or enriched? When you brush over -the closed eyelid with a feather, did you ever find it give -light to the blind? have any of your soft harangues, your -continued threads of silken eloquence, ever raised the -dead?” Very happily he says, “Preachers talk reason and -religion to their auditories in vain, if they do not make -the argument so short as to come within their grasps, and -give a frequent rest to their thoughts; they must break -the Bread of Life into pieces to feed children with it, and -part their discourse into distinct propositions, to give the -ignorant a plain scheme of any one doctrine, and enable -them to comprehend or retain it. The auditors of the first -kind of preacher have some confusion in their knowledge, -the hearers of the last have scarce any knowledge at all.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_308"></a>[308]</span></p> - -<p>The reader will not fail to notice, in this nervous -passage, the happy imagery by which the writer gives -point to his ideas.</p> - -<p>But that which we have said hitherto refers rather to -the style, the vehicular frame-work in which Watts set -forth his thoughts; it is more important to enter into the -mind and spirit of the man; and, first, no attribute seems -more remarkable than the seraphic <i>reverence</i> of his nature. -It is not easy to mention a writer who more distinctly -realises to the mind one of those six-winged seraphs Isaiah -saw, who with twain covered his face, with twain his feet, -and with twain stood ready to fly; Watts appeared ready for -any flight; but reverence, an awful sense of the mysterious -and inscrutable, governed every movement of his soul. The -Unitarians have, with singular audacity, sought to drag -him through the Serbonian bog of creedless Christianity.<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> -It is a fine remark, quoted by Southey, that “such doubts -as troubled him he subdued, not in a martial posture, but -upon his knees.” It is very certain that he had a large -speculative disposition; he approached very near to the -veil which hides from man the incommunicable light; -there is not a line in his writings which displays a tendency -towards Arianism. Towards the doctrine of Socinianism -he does not condescend to give a single glance. His -complaint was, and we apprehend it to be a more common -one than even those who are troubled with it are aware, -not that he could not believe all that is revealed, but that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_309"></a>[309]</span> -revelation had not conferred more light upon the subjects -of even incomprehensible knowledge. But his prayer, his -“solemn address to the great and ever-blessed God, upon -what he had written concerning the great and ever-blessed -Trinity,” is certainly an extraordinary, a passionate and -most humble utterance of an ardently devout mind. It -is too lengthy for entire quotation, but some of the closing -paragraphs will convey the spirit of the entire piece, and -the whole may be read, if read in the spirit in which it was -written, with profit to every one: “Blessed and faithful -God, hast Thou not promised that ‘the meek Thou wilt -guide in judgment, the meek Thou wilt teach Thy way?’ -Hast Thou not taught us by Isaiah, Thy prophet, that Thou -wilt ‘bring the blind by a way they know not, and wilt lead -them in paths which they have not known?’ Hast Thou -not informed us by the prophet Hosea, that ‘if we follow -on to know the Lord, then we shall know Him?’ Hath not -Thy Son, our Saviour, assured us, that our Heavenly -Father will give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? -And is He not appointed ‘to guide us into all truth?’ Have -I not sought the gracious guidance of thy Good Spirit continually? -Am I not truly sensible of my own darkness -and weakness, my dangerous prejudices on every side, and -my utter insufficiency for my own conduct? Wilt Thou -leave such a poor creature bewildered among a thousand -perplexities, which are raised by the various opinions -and contrivances of men, to explain Thy Divine Truth? -Help me, Heavenly Father, for I am quite tired and -weary of these human explainings, so various and uncertain. -When wilt Thou explain it to me Thyself, O my -God, by the secret and certain dictates of Thy Spirit, -according to the intimation of Thy Word? Nor let any -pride of reason, nor any affectation of novelty, nor any<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_310"></a>[310]</span> -criminal bias whatever, turn my heart aside from hearkening -to these Divine dictates of Thy Word and Thy Spirit. -Suffer not any of my native corruptions, nor the vanity of -my imagination, to cast a mist over my eyes while I am -searching after the knowledge of Thy mind and will, for -my eternal salvation.</p> - -<p>“I entreat, O most merciful Father, that Thou wilt not -suffer the remnant of my short life to be wasted in such -endless wanderings in quest of Thee and Thy Son Jesus, as a -great part of my past days have been; but let my sincere -endeavours to know Thee, in all the ways whereby Thou -hast discovered Thyself in Thy Word, be crowned with -such success that my soul, being established in every -needful truth by Thy Holy Spirit, I may spend my remaining -life according to the rules of Thy Gospel, and may, with -all the holy and happy creation, ascribe glory and honour, -wisdom and power, to Thee who sittest upon the throne, -and to the Lamb for ever and ever.”</p> - -<p>We have stated the matter fairly as in relation to Watts’ -entireness of faith, but justice has not been done to Watts -in relation to that dilemma and agitation of public opinion -and sentiment which forced him into controversy. It was -not that he himself doubted, neither was it that he for -himself approached the confines of a discussion of which -it might be said—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Dark with excessive light its skirts appear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Arianism was vexing the church in general in England -in that age.<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> Many of the churches, especially those to -which Watts stood related, indicated a close proclivity to -Arian sentiment. The peculiar spirit of the times had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_311"></a>[311]</span> -created this degeneracy of sentiment; there was little of -what we are now accustomed to denominate practical -Christianity—the activities created by Methodism were -quite unknown. All over the country were Nonconformist -churches (nooks of retreat), where some learned, scholarly, -and philosophical minister was at the head of a class of -thoughtful minds. Numbers of them seemed to have -little to do but to think; the heart did not minister much -to the head in many instances. The Unitarianism of our -day was unknown. It thus represented very much the -high Arian sentiment of reverence to Christ without the -acknowledgment of His Godhead. The hymns of Watts -abound in expressions of praise to Christ and to the -Holy Spirit. He was called upon to vindicate that which -he himself had done; he was called upon to defend that -whole scheme of doctrine which accepted the Three Persons -in the Divine Godhead. Perhaps the defect in all such -efforts is, that the very attempt to embody some doctrines -within the forms of the understanding naturally and -essentially depraves them. If we say, as we often do, a -God understood is no God at all—and this remark applies -to mere natural religion—the same holds true of those -higher doctrines of revelation which are the adumbrations -of “the light which no man hath seen or can see.” There are -doctrines in Theology, even as there are doctrines in Science, -the demonstration of which is rather negative than positive. -Chemists tell us of an element essential to our life—we -breathe it every moment; it contributes to the balance of -all the powers of the atmosphere; it tames the subtle, -fiery-tempered oxygen, the wild and vehement hydrogen; -it represses, allays, and composes, but itself has no colour -no odour; it has no active properties, no chemical affections; -it is one of the greatest mysteries in nature. It<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_312"></a>[312]</span> -is invisible, and yet it proclaims its presence; the chemist -cannot touch it, but he is sure of its existence. It may -well fill our minds with awe that we are ever in the -presence of such an agent, that before it the lamp of science -is darkened, like a man with a dim light in a room in -which he sees phantoms he cannot touch, and hears voices -the causes of which he cannot detect, and as he holds up -his lamp he is aware of a presence that disturbs him, that -will not enter into his knowledge, and for which he cannot -account. Only he knows that it is. Such is nitrogen. It -is thus we apprehend the doctrine of the Trinity.</p> - -<p>All efforts must fail to apprehend the doctrines involved -in the idea of the Trinity, which insist upon either the -idea of personality or numeration, as they are understood -by us. Watts, with the Bible in his hand, stood on the -defensive against the aggressions of Arianism, and having -attempted to unfold the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, -he published his further dissertation, “The Arian Invited to -the Orthodox Faith; a plain and easy method to lead such -as deny the Proper Deity of Christ into the belief of that -Article.” Those who charge Arianism upon Watts can -only do so, because throughout the argument he has conducted -it in a strain of eminent courtesy and charity. He -approached the matter in no spirit of disputation, but with -a cordial desire to promote, if possible, healing and unity; -nor do we think that there are any indications, in the -course of any of his discussions, that his own mind or faith -was unhinged; but the discussions around him compelled -him to direct his attention to questions certainly not uncongenial -to his speculative and analytic order of mind. -Probably the reader feels that there is a sufficient correspondence -between the sense of our own spiritual wants -and the revelation given to us in the Divine Word to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_313"></a>[313]</span> -make us feel that the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead -is a necessity of our moral nature, and that it is a doctrine, -as we have already intimated, best held, as most -satisfactory to the mind and conscience, when held <i>im</i>plicitly -rather than <i>ex</i>plicitly.</p> - -<p>The claim which the Unitarians put forth to find in -Watts one of themselves is not less than audacious and -dishonest. It is, however, founded—very ridiculously, we -venture to think—upon some expressions reported after -his death, which implied that he would have been willing, -had he been able, to have altered some expressions in his -hymns. Truly it is amazing that the author could survive -the publication of his first volume forty years, and -not alter many barbarisms of metre and expression. It -may, perhaps, be partly accounted for from the fact that -the copyright of the hymns had passed at once from his -hands. We can very well believe there were certain -expressions in his hymns he would have been not indisposed -to alter, without touching at all upon matters of -doctrine. It will be time enough for Unitarians to claim -Watts when they are able to set aside his last published -words, and to reconcile them with that faith which they -call theirs, or to account, upon such principles as they -would make him hold, for the sentiments which fell from -his lips when dying.</p> - -<p>But as a study of Watts’ mind, these pieces of his are -like all that emanated from his pen, characterized by -exceeding reverence for the subject he attempted to elucidate, -and by charity, respect, and courtesy towards his -opponents. Johnson says: “I am only enough acquainted -with his theological works to admire his meekness -of opposition, and his mildness of censure. It was -not only in his books, but in his mind, that orthodoxy was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_314"></a>[314]</span> -united with charity.” Some will, perhaps, almost think -that this width of charity in Watts degenerated into a -vice; we hope this book has made it evident that he both -had strong convictions and knew how to act upon them -steadily. But his heart was very inclusive in its love. It -was not merely that he lived within the shadows of persecution, -and belonged to an order whose opinions were only -tolerated; he represented the mildest type of Nonconformity. -Perhaps we shall surprise some readers not very -well acquainted with his writings, by informing them that -one of the latest efforts of his mind and pen was upon -the inquiry, “Whether an Establishment is altogether an -Impossibility.” This was in his Essay, published in the -year 1739, on “Civil Power in Things Sacred.” It is a -singular scheme, and the question is discussed with great -moderation and candour; but it is rather a plea for a -system of national education than the establishment -of a national religion. He inquires, indeed, whether there -might not be established a religion consistent with the just -liberties of mankind, and practicable with every form of -civil government. He thinks that officers should be appointed -by the State to explain and enforce the great -duties and sanctions of morality, and that the citizens -should be compelled to receive such lessons as are unquestionably -at the foundation of a national well-being, -the welfare, strength, and support of the State, and that -such teachers, as public benefactors, should be sustained -at the charge of the State.</p> - -<p>Watts’ philosophical works exhibit him in the same -light as his theological. They are marked by a vivid disposition -to analysis and speculation, and by that elevated -reverence of thought which appertains to all his writings. -Instance his “Inquiry Concerning Space; whether it be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_315"></a>[315]</span> -Something or Nothing, God or a Creature.” Most minds are -quite unequal to such discussions, and many regard them as -unwise, irreverent, and dangerous. They are a kind of intellectual -Matterhorn which certain daring spirits assault from -age to age—the origin of evil, liberty, and necessity—the -nature of substance, and time, and space. It would surely -be a dangerous and a doubtful doctrine to teach that such -questions are only the territories or hunting-grounds of the -bold masters of sceptical negations. It does not derogate -from the greatness of Isaac Watts to admit that he was -neither a Joseph Butler, a William de Leibnitz, nor a Jonathan -Edwards; but in his mind such studies became means of -usefulness. He fashioned Alpenstocks for climbers among -those higher mountain ranges, through which he had himself -travelled. In such studies a reverent mind may at -once enlarge the understanding while learning the limitation -of its powers. A wise guide will here, too, guard -against the dangerous <i>crevasse</i>, while he hath himself</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24">The secret learned</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To mix his blood with sunshine, and to take</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wind into his pulses.<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Johnson quotes a passage from Mr. Dyer, charging -Watts with confounding the idea of space with empty -space, and that he did not consider that though space -might be without matter, yet matter, being extended, -could not be without space. But in reply to this, it -may be remarked that this is the whole question, -and extended matter falls rather beneath the denomination -of substance. It appears certainly the case that -Watts, in his discussion, deals with infinite space, or -say, certainly, indefinite space—that is, extension abstracted -from phenomena. Such space Sir Isaac Newton<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_316"></a>[316]</span> -reverently regarded as the sensorium of God. Newton -was so essentially reverent even in thought that it was not -possible for him to indulge an idea which was capable of -depraving religious conceptions; but all minds, even religious -minds, have not been equally reverent. Hence some -have gone on to regard space as the immensity of God, as -a property of God. But it would follow from this that as -space is extended, so God, too, must be extended; and -whatever tends to conform God with nature, or to place -Him in contact with it, in any other way than as in relation -to His wisdom and His will, is essentially unscriptural, -and it is a dangerous proclivity below which yawn -the fearful gulfs of Pantheism and Atheism. In these -discussions our writer anticipated many of those shadows -which in the course of a few years were to project themselves -over the whole domain of philosophy and theology; -and, indeed, only a few years before, in the great work of -Spinosa, ominous indications had been given; and the -second part of the “Living Temple” of John Howe bore -immediately upon the coming questions. Watts’ essay -penetrates into the stronghold of Pantheism. Newton and -Pascal, both looking up into the infinite spaces, felt their -nature called on to reply to the questions suggested. The -silence terrified Pascal; Newton’s calmer nature gathered -up even infinite space into the great idea, that it was but a -mode, or attribute, of God. Some such doctrines govern -the Essays of Watts: Space, he argues, cannot be God; -we cannot indeed conceive that infinite space ever -began to be, we have an idea of it as eternal and unchangeable; -according to Watts it seems to contain what -existence it has in the very idea, nature, or essence of it, -which is one attribute of God, and whereby we prove His -existence. It appears to be a necessary being and has a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_317"></a>[317]</span> -sort of self-existence, for we cannot tell how to conceive -it not to he. It seems to be an impassible, indivisible, -immutable essence, and therefore according to the ghastly -pantheistic philosophy it is argued that space is God. -This idea Watts concisely set aside, because it involves -the absurdity of making the blessed God a Being of -infinite length, breadth, and depth, and ascribing to Him -parts of this nature measurable by inches, yards, and -miles. Perhaps this is not so clear to all readers as it was -to the writer himself; but the close seems more satisfactory -when he says, “Strongest arguments seem to -evince this, that it must be God, or it must be nothing.” -Watts, then, was an Idealist, and the remark of Johnson -arises from a misapprehension of the drift of the essay. -He argues that space is only the shadow cast by substance—we -are sure that shadow or darkness is a mere nothing, -and space is nothing but the absence of body, as shade -is the absence of light, and both are explicable without -supposing either to be real beings: it is therefore merely -an abstract idea, or, as we should say, a “thought-form;” -it will follow from this that such an idea of space dissolves -one of the charming illusions of Pantheism, and that -there rises from the midst of this universe of unidentical -being the personality of man.</p> - -<p>Some critics have entertained a grim joke at the -expense of Watts, that having annihilated space, he -proceeded in the next place to annihilate substance, -anticipating at once Berkeley and Hume. Let it then be -remembered that he engaged in none of these excursions -in a vain or Pyrrhonistic spirit: his essays were written -not to unhinge, but to rest and settle and give repose to -the mind; indeed he says, “There are mysteries wherein -we bewilder and lose ourselves by attempting to make<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_318"></a>[318]</span> -something out of nothing;” substance is one of these. -He goes for some distance on the way with Locke, -especially in refuting the idea that substance is something -real in nature; with Locke he argues that “all the -ideas we have of particular, distinct sort of substances, -are nothing but several combinations of simple ideas coexistent -in such, the cause of their union, which makes -the whole subsist of itself.” Only then comes in the important -question, “what is it that supports the accidents and -qualities of being?” At this point Watts parts company -with Locke. His ideas of substance seem to be antagonistic -to Locke, and dangerously sustaining Spinosa, who -taught, as our readers know, that the whole universe, God -and this world, may be the same individual substance—“How -can I be sure that God and the material world have -not one common substance?” But, very singularly, Watts -himself in tracing the mistakes upon this matter to their -origin, seems to fall into the very error he seeks to explode, -the idea of a real, invisible abstract or concrete, -seems to stand behind all things; he says, the mistakes -which men make arise from the occult quality in the -termination of names, <i>ity</i> in solidity, <i>sion</i> in extension, -which imply a quality without including the substance; -as white<i>ness</i>, without including the substance or the thing -that is white; the word white is concrete, and denotes the -thing or substance together with the quality, and he says, -“We ought to remember that <i>things</i> are made by God, or -Nature, <i>words</i> are made by man, and sometimes applied in -a way not exactly agreeable to what things and ideas -require.” The object of Watts in his discussion of the -idea of substance, was the same as that in his discussion -in the idea of space, to disarm Spinozism of its gross and -crude ideas of God. But we do not feel that the same<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_319"></a>[319]</span> -success closes the discussion. Perhaps it will be sufficient -to admit at once that space and substance are both modes -of Divine operation. Push the inquiry to any extent, and -the most absolute Spinozist is compelled to halt in some -such conclusion. That God is extended, that He is a mere -infinite extension, is an absurdity; but it seems that no -injustice is done to the most reverent and infinite thought -of God by regarding Him as the essential <i>sub-stans</i>, the -substance as of all souls, so of all being.</p> - -<p>That about the philosophic essays which interests us -is their freshness, and the clear, easily lucid, and -charmingly illustrated style in which the doctrines are -conveyed. They assuredly are a very happy commentary -upon Locke, from whom he often separates, as in the essay -on “Innate Ideas;” he agrees with Locke in the main, and -then proceeds to discourse upon many simple ideas which -are innate in some sense. His essay to prove that the -“Soul never Sleeps,” and “On the Place and Motion -of Spirits, and the Power of a Spirit to move Matter,” are -interesting; that on the “Departing and Separate Soul” is -a sublime piece of writing, and on the “Resurrection of -the same Body,” and on the “Production and Nourishment -of Plants and Animals.” Few persons now, it may be -supposed, even know of the existence of these essays; -they seem to us pieces of truly delightful reading, most -instructive, suggestive, and entertaining, singularly free -from hard and unpleasant lines of dogmatism, full of -delightful and suggestive pictures; take the following:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">SUNBEAMS AND STARBEAMS.</p> - -<p>“What a surprising work of God is vision, that notwithstanding -all these infinite meetings and crossings of starbeams<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_320"></a>[320]</span> -and sunbeams night and day, through all our solar -world, there should be such a regular conveyance of light -to every eye as to discern each star so distinctly by night, -as well as all other objects on earth by day! And this -difficulty and wonder will be greatly increased by considering -the innumerable double, triple, and tenfold reflections -and refractions of sunbeams, or daylight, near our -earth, and among the various bodies on the surface of it. -Let ten thousand men stand round a large elevated -amphitheatre; in the middle of it, on a black plain, -let ten thousand white round plates be placed, of two -inches diameter, and at two inches distance; every eye -must receive many rays of light reflected from every -plate, in order to perceive its shape and colour; now, if -there were but one ray of light came from each plate, -here would be ten thousand rays falling on every single -eye, which would make twenty thousand times ten -thousand, that is, two hundred millions of rays crossing -each other in direct lines in order to make every plate -visible to every man. But if we suppose that each plate -reflected one hundred rays, which is no unreasonable -supposition, this would rise to twenty thousand millions. -What an amazing thing is the distinct vision of the shape -and colour of each plate by every eye, notwithstanding -these confused crossings and rays! What an astonishing -composition is the eye in all the coats and all the humours -of it, to convey those ten thousand white images, or those -millions of rays so distinct to the retina, and to impress -and paint them all there! And what further amazement -attends us if we follow the image on the retina, conveying -itself by the optic nerves into the common sensory without -confusion? Can a rational being survey this scene -and say there is no God? Can a mind think on this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_321"></a>[321]</span> -stupendous bodily organ, the eye, and not adore the -Wisdom that contrived it?”</p> - -</div> - -<p>And the following is not only most interesting, but -anticipates, with much strength, a line of argument -important to the sceptical philosophy of our own day. -The German Buchner binds up his atheistic philosophy -between the two covers of Force and Matter; and many -in our own country follow in the same train of singularly -forgetful thought: forgetful because force and matter are -really not sufficient to constitute a universe; the regulative -and directive power which controls force and -manipulates matter to its will is assuredly as essential a -factor as either force or matter.<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> Thus Dr. Watts argues -in his remarks:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">THE DIRECTION OF MOTION A PROOF OF DEITY.</p> - -<p>“Yet, after all, I know it may be replied again, that -gravitation is a power which is not limited in its agency -by any conceivable distances whatsoever; and therefore, -when these starbeams are run out never so far into the -infinite void by the force of their emission from the star, -yet their gravitation towards the star, or some of the -planetary worlds, which sometimes, perhaps, may be nearer -to it, has perpetual influence to retard their motion by -degrees, even as the motion of a comet is retarded by its -gravitation towards the sun, though it flies to such a prodigious -distance from the sun, and in time it is stopped -and drawn back again and made to return towards its -centre. And just so, may we suppose, all the sunbeams -and starbeams that ever were emitted, even to the borders<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_322"></a>[322]</span> -of the creation, to have been restrained by degrees by this -principle of gravitation till, moving slower and slower, at -last they are stopped in their progress and made to return -toward their own or some other planetary system. And if -so, then there is a perpetual return of the beams of light -towards some or other of their bright originals, an everlasting -circulation of these lucid atoms, which will hinder -this eternal dilation of the bounds of the universe, and at -the same time will equally prevent the wasting of the -substance of the lucid bodies, the sun or stars. Well, but -if this power of restraining and reducing the flight of starbeams -be ascribed to this principle of gravitation, let us -inquire what is this gravitation, which prevents the -universe from such a perpetual waste of light? It cannot -be supposed to be any real property or natural power -inhering in matter or body, which exerts its influence at so -prodigious a distance. I think, therefore, it is generally -agreed, and with great reason, that it is properly the -influence of a Divine power upon every atom of matter -which, in a most exact proportion to its bulk and distance, -causes it to gravitate towards all other material beings, and -which makes all the bulky beings in the universe, viz., the -sun, planets, and stars, attract the bodies that are near -them towards themselves. Now this law of nature being -settled at first by God the Creator, and being constantly -maintained in the course of His providence, it is esteemed -as an effect of nature, and has a property of matter, though -in truth it is owing to the almighty and all-pervading power -of God exerting its incessant dominion and influence -through the whole material creation, producing an infinite -variety of changes which Ave observe among bodies, confining -the universe to its appointed limits, restraining the -swift motion of the beams of light, and preserving this vast<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_323"></a>[323]</span> -system of beings from waste and ruin, from desolation and -darkness. If there be a world, there is a God; if there be -a sun and stars, every ray points to their Creator; not a -beam of light from all the lucid globes, but acknowledges -its mission from the wisdom and will of God, and feels the -restraint of His laws, that it may not be an eternal -wanderer. But I call my thoughts to retire from these -extravagant rovings beyond the limits of creation. What -do these amusements teach us but the inconceivable -grandeur, extent, and magnificence of the works and the -power of God, the astonishing contrivances of His wisdom, -and the poverty, the weakness, and narrowness of our own -understandings, all which are lessons well becoming a -creature?”</p> - -</div> - -<p>In the same manner, also, he replies to the modern doctrine -of <i>traducianism</i> in his remarks on</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">CREATION OR CONSERVATION.</p> - -<p>“It has been a very famous question in the schools, -whether conservation be a continual creation, i.e., whether -that action, whereby God preserves all creatures in their -several ranks and orders of being, is not one continued act -of His creating power or influence, as it were, giving being -to them every moment? Whether creatures, being formed -out of nothing, would relapse again into their first estate of -nonentity if they were not, as it were, perpetually reproduced -by a creating act of God? How there is one plain -and easy argument whereby, perhaps, this controversy may -be determined, and it may be proposed in this manner. In -whatsoever moment God creates a substance, He must -create with it all the properties, modes, and accidents which -belong to it in that moment; for in the very moment<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_324"></a>[324]</span> -of creation the creature is all passive, and cannot give -itself those modes. Now if God every moment create -wicked men and devils, and cause them to exist such as -they are, by a continued act of creation, must He not, at -the same time, create or give being to all their sinful -thoughts and inclinations, and even their most criminal and -abominable actions? Must He not create devils, together -with the rage and pride, the malice, envy, and blasphemy of -their thoughts? Must He not create sinful men in the -very acts of lying, perjury, stealing, and adultery, rapine, -cruelty, and murder? Must He not form one man with -malice in his heart? Another with a false oath on the -tongue? A third with a sword in his hand, plunging it -into his neighbour’s bosom? Would not these formidable -consequences follow from the supposition of God’s conserving -providence being a continual act of creation? But -surely these ideas seem to be shocking absurdities, whereas, -if conservation be really a continued creation, the modes -must be created together with their substances every -moment, since it is not possible that creatures, who every -moment are supposed to be nothing but the immediate -products of the Divine will, should be capable in every one -of those very moments in which they are produced or -created to form their own modes in simultaneous co-existence -with their subjects. I own there are difficulties on the -other side of the question; but the fear of making God the -author of sin has bent my opinion this way. We must -always inviolably maintain it for the honour of the blessed -God, that all spirits, as they come out of His hand, are -created pure and innocent; every sinful act proceeds from -themselves, by an abuse of their own freedom of will, or -by a voluntary compliance with the corrupt appetites and -inclinations of flesh and blood. We must find some better<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_325"></a>[325]</span> -way, therefore, to explain God’s providential conservation -of things than by representing it as an act of proper and -continual creation, lest we impute all the iniquities of all -men and devils, in all ages, to the pure and holy God, who -is blessed for evermore.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>There are two other pieces well worth a study—his -remarks on Mr. Locke’s “Essay on the Human Understanding,” -and a “Brief Scheme of Ontology.” The essay -on ontology, like that on logic, is a most interesting handbook -and guide to thought. Watts thought so clearly -that it often seems as if he were only putting things -neatly. Sometimes, as in his “Philosophic Essays,” and in -his pieces on the Trinity, he is eminently translucent; -you see that there is light behind. This is the impression -conveyed by his dissertation on “Space,” “Substance,” and -“Concerning Spirits, their Place and Motion;” but in his -Ontology and Logic he is transparent, the objects are -brought distinctly into view. When he presents before you -his greater thoughts his style is indeed clear, but you feel -that it is as when “morning is spread upon the mountains” -before sunrise, or as when evening lingers in the soft and -rosy light after sunset, there is something somewhere -behind, some orb of light which spreads out all that roseate -glow; in his Ontology and Logic he is concise and distinct, -as we have said; you may almost call him a neat -writer. He has a wonderful power of accumulating particulars, -a singular felicity in discriminating ideas. This -gives to him a very nice sense of words, as he says, “We -must search the sense of words. It is for want of this that -men quarrel in the dark, and that there are so many contentions -in the several sciences, and especially in divinity.” -His power of discrimination is so nice that it often becomes -as amusing as it is instructive; regarded thus, his Logic<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_326"></a>[326]</span> -is a most interesting book, we suppose quite the most -delightful to read of any treatise on logic in our language. -Of this amusing cumulative power let the reader take the -following:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">NAMES AND NAMING THINGS.</p> - -<p>“Do not suppose that the natures or essences of things -always differ from one another as much as their names -do. There are various purposes in human life for which -we put very different names on the same thing, or on -things whose natures are near akin; and thereby oftentimes, -by making a new nominal species, we are ready to -deceive ourselves with the idea of another real species of -beings, and those whose understandings are led away by -the mere sound of words fancy the nature of those things -to be very different whose names are so, and judge of them -accordingly. I may borrow a remarkable instance for my -purpose out of every garden which contains a variety of -plants in it. Most of all plants agree in this, that they -have a root, a stalk, leaves, buds, blossoms, and seeds: but -the gardener ranges them under very different names, as -though they were really different kinds of beings, merely -because of the different use and service to which they are -applied by men, as for instance those plants whose roots -are eaten shall appropriate the name of roots to themselves, -such as carrots, turnips, radishes, etc. If the leaves -are of chief use to us then we call them herbs, as sage, -mint, thyme; if the leaves are eaten raw they are termed -salad, as lettuce, purslane; if boiled they become pot-herbs, -as spinage, coleworts; and some of those same -plants which are pot-herbs in one family are salads in -another. If the buds are made our food they are called<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_327"></a>[327]</span> -heads or tops; so cabbage heads, heads of asparagus, and -artichokes. If the blossom be of most importance we call -it a flower, such as daisies, tulips, and carnations, which -are the mere blossoms of those plants. If the husks or -seeds are eaten they are called the fruits of the ground, as -peas, beans, strawberries, etc. If any part of the plant be -of known or common use to us in medicine we call it a -physical herb, as cardamus, scurvy-grass; but if we count -no part useful we call it a weed, and throw it out of the -garden; and yet perhaps our next neighbour knows some -valuable property and use of it, he plants it in his garden -and gives it a title of an herb or a flower. You see here how -small is the real distinction of these several plants considered -in their general nature as the lesser vegetables, yet -what very different ideas we vulgarly form concerning -them, and make different species of them, chiefly because -of the different names given to them.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Exactly the same characteristics meet us in his Ontology, -but here there is yet more of this kind of amusement; -its pages are crowded with illustrations. It was -perhaps in the nature of the subject that he scarcely -mentions a particular for which he does not furnish one -or twenty illustrative examples: take his curious discrimination -of causes into the deficient, the permissive, -and the conditional:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">CLASSIFICATION OF CAUSES.</p> - -<p>“<i>A deficient cause</i> is when the effect owes its existence -in a great measure to the absence of something which -would have prevented it, so that this may be reckoned a -negative rather than a positive cause: the negligence of a -gardener, or the want of rain, are the deficient causes of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_328"></a>[328]</span> -the withering of plants; and the carelessness of the pilot, -or the sinking of the tide, is the cause of a ship’s splitting -on a rock; the forgetfulness of a message is the cause of -a quarrel among friends, or of the punishment of servants; -the not bringing a reprieve in time is the cause of -a criminal’s being executed; and the want of education is -the cause why many a child runs headlong into vice and -mischief; the blindness of a man, or the darkness of the -night, are the causes of stumbling; a leak in a boat is a -deficient cause why the water runs in and the boat sinks; -and a hole in a vessel is called a deficient cause why the -liquor runs out and is lost. Man is the deficient cause of -all his sins of omission, and many of these carry great -guilt in them.</p> - -<p>“<i>A permissive cause</i> is that which actually removes -impediments, and thus it lets the proper causes operate. -Now this sort of cause is either natural or moral. A -natural permissive cause removes natural impediments -or obstructions, and this may be called a deobstruent -cause. So opening the window shutters is the cause of -the light entering the room; cleaning the ear may be the -cause of a man’s hearing music who was deaf before; -breaking down a dam is the cause of the overflowing of -water and drowning a town; letting loose a rope is the -cause of a ship’s running adrift; leaving off a garment is -the cause of a cold and a cough; and cutting the bridle of -the tongue may be the cause of speech to the dumb.</p> - -<p>“<i>Note.</i>—The cause which removes natural impediments -may be a proper efficient cause with regard to that removal, -yet it is not properly efficient, but merely permissive -with regard to the consequences of that removal.</p> - -<p>“<i>A moral permissive cause</i> removes moral impediments, -or takes away prohibitions, and gives leave to act: so a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_329"></a>[329]</span> -master is a permissive cause of his scholars going to play; -a general is the same cause of his soldiers plundering a -city; and a repeal of a law against foreign silks is the -permissive cause why they are worn.</p> - -<p>“<i>Query.</i>—Was not God’s permission of Satan to afflict -Job rather natural than moral, since his mischievous -actions did not become lawful thereby, and since it is now -become his nature to do mischief where he has no natural -restraint?</p> - -<p>“<i>A condition</i> has been usually caused <i>causa sine quâ -non</i>, or a cause without which the effect is not produced. -It is generally applied to something which is requisite in -order to the effect, though it hath not a proper actual -influence in producing that effect. Daylight is a condition -of ploughing, sowing, and reaping; darkness is a condition -of our seeing stars and glowworms; clearness of the -stream is the condition of our spying sand and pebbles -at the bottom of it; being well dressed with a head uncovered -is a condition of a man’s coming into the presence -of a king; and paying a peppercorn yearly is the condition -of enjoying an estate. How far the perfect idea of -the word condition, in the civil law, may differ from this -representation is not my present work to determine.</p> - -<p>“<i>Note.</i>—These three last causes may possibly be all -ranked under the general name of conditions, but I think -it more proper to distinguish them into their different -kinds of causality.”</p> - -<p>We perhaps repeat ourselves in these last remarks, for -all is an illustration of that perspicuity which we mentioned -as Watts’ first characteristic; but in him perspicuity -was not the attribute of a small mind, or a limited range -of vision; perspicuous speech is the natural instrument of -perspicuous thought: how can that man express himself<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_330"></a>[330]</span> -clearly who does not see clearly? Hence dark language must -be the companion of dark vision; but the perspicuity of a -child amongst its playthings, in its playground or its -garden is one thing, and the perspicuity of the pilot of a -vessel, or a gifted astronomer, is quite another. However -wide or vast the subjects upon which Watts wrote, it -seemed he had cleared thought in his own mind, by the -clearness with which speech served him in making the -things in his own mind the property of others; and upon -whatsoever he wrote there was always the same suffusing -light of the devoutness of the spiritual mind. Here is no -flippancy; here are no impertinent epigrams, no hard words -even for opponents; we have to search a long way through -his works before we find an expression of severity, we will -not say of contempt—perhaps there are such—but we are -sure they will only be used of those who, by some abandonment -of sentiment, had separated themselves from the -common feeling of mankind. Yet there was considerable -nervousness in his speech, he was a great preacher, he commanded -attention; judging from the testimony of Johnson, -he must have been, to cultivated minds, one of the most distinguished -preachers of his day: his enunciation was clear, -forcible, and distinct, and what was wanting to an imposing -presence was made up from the earnestness of the manner, -the calm luminousness, elevation, and we would even say, -the sustained but subdued vehemence of his diction. His -sermon on the “Reformation of Manners,” to which Southey -has referred, not in his life of Watts but in one of the -volumes of his “Common-place Book,” as “an extraordinary -piece,” is an illustration of this. It was preached -at the time when we were in conflict with Louis <span class="allsmcap">XIV.</span> He -gives the following side-glance to the wars in Flanders, and -on the borders of the Rhine, and he refers to the importance,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_331"></a>[331]</span> -not only of fighting the enemy abroad, but resisting -vice at home. He exclaims, in a remarkable passage:</p> - -<p>“But was there ever any war without danger, or victory -without courage? Besides, the perils you run here are -almost infinitely less than those which attend the wars of -nations, where the cause is not half so Divine. The fields -of battle in Flanders, and almost all over Europe, have -drunk up the blood of millions, and have furnished graves -for large armies; but it can hardly be said that <i>you</i> have -hitherto ‘resisted unto blood striving against sin.’ In a -war of more than twelve years’ continuance (<i>i.e.</i>, against -vice at home) there has but one man fallen. The -providence of God has put helmets of salvation upon -your heads. Some of you can relate wonders of deliverance -to safety when you have been beset by numbers, -and their rage has kindled into resolutions of revenge; -the Lord has taken away their courage in a moment, -the ‘men of might have not found their hands;’ thus -He has caused ‘the wrath of man to praise Him, and -the remainder of wrath He hath restrained.’<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> Read over -this psalm, and with Divine valour pursue the fight. But -if your life should be lost in such a cause as this, it will be -esteemed martyrdom in the sight of God, and shall be thus -written down in the book of the wars of the Lord. Believe -me, these red lines will look well in the records of heaven, -when the judgment shall be set, and the books opened in -the face of men and angels.”</p> - -</div> - -<p><i>Watts in the pulpit</i> ought to furnish the subject for a -distinct chapter—it must fall into this feeble attempt to -realize the man’s mind in his works. His sermons were -evidently carefully prepared and admirably arranged; it -was not possible for him to speak without thought, but he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_332"></a>[332]</span> -used very few notes in the pulpit, preparing carefully so -that the mind and memory were fully charged, giving to -such a mind as his freedom, instantaneous propriety, and -fulness of expression; many men who exhibit fulness of -wisdom, both in thought and language, in the study, find -all fail them when they come to speak in public. On -every hand we hear that this was not the case with Watts, -and that his deliverances in public corresponded to his -great powers in the study; and his sermons are of that -nature that they assure us if the delivery corresponded to -the strength of the matter and the felicity and harmony of -the composition, they must have been very impressive. As -some of the great sermons of Jeremy Taylor appear to have -been prepared to preach when he was in exile at the Golden -Grove in Wales, in the drawing-room of Lord Vaughan, so -some of Watts’ sermons were prepared for delivery at the -evening worship at Theobalds; one of the noblest of these -is a commanding piece on the Scale of Blessedness, or -Blessed Saints, Blessed Saviour, Blessed Trinity. In this -subduing sermon occurs one of the passages which excited -the wrath of Thomas Bradbury, and to which we have -referred. Here it is; the note is evidently intended to -justify himself from his coarse assailant, although he does -not say so.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">A SCALE OF BLESSEDNESS.</p> - -<p>“Can we ever imagine that Moses the meek, the friend -of God, who was, as it were, His confidant on earth, His -faithful prophet to institute a new religion, and establish a -new Church in the world, who, for God’s sake, endured -forty years of banishment, and had forty years’ fatigue in -a wilderness; who saw God on earth face to face, -and the shine was left upon his countenance: can we<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_333"></a>[333]</span> -suppose that this man has taken his seat no nearer -to God in Paradise than Samson and Jephthah, those -rash champions, those rude and bloody ministers of -Providence?<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> Or can we think that St. Paul, the greatest -of the apostles, ‘who laboured more than they all,’ and -‘was in sufferings’ more abundant than the rest; who -spent a long life in daily services and deaths for the sake of -Christ, is not fitted for, and advanced to a rank of blessedness -superior to that of the crucified thief, who became a -Christian but a few moments at the end of a life of impiety -and plunder? Can I persuade myself that a holy -man, who has known much of God in this world, and -spent his age on earth in contemplation of the Divine excellences, -who has acquired a great degree of nearness to -God in devotion, and has served Him, and suffered for -Him, even to old age and martyrdom, with a sprightly and -faithful zeal: can I believe that this man, who has been -trained up all his life to converse with God, and is fitted -to receive Divine communications above his fellows, shall -dwell no nearer to God hereafter, and share no larger a -degree of blessedness, than the little babe who has just -entered into this world to die out of it, and who is saved, -so far as we know, merely by spreading the veil of the -covenant grace, drawn over it by the hand of the parent’s -faith? Can it be that the Great Judge who ‘cometh and -His reward is with Him, to render to every one according<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_334"></a>[334]</span> -to his works,’ will make no distinction between Moses and -Samson, between the apostle and the thief, between the -aged martyr and the infant, in the world to come? And -yet, after all, it may be matter of inquiry, whether the -meanest saint among the sons of Adam has not some sort -of privilege above any rank of angels by being of a kindred -nature to our Emmanuel, to Jesus the Son of God.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>And the following is a fine passage on the Trinity, which -may be read with pleasure, although some years after he -says that “it is a warmer effort of the imagination than -riper years would indulge. What distinctions there may -be in this one Spirit I know not; I am <i>fully established in -the belief of the Deity of the Blessed Three</i>, though I know -not the manner of the explication.”</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">THE TRINITY.</p> - -<p>“The Father is so intimately near the Son and Spirit, -that no finite or created natures or unions can give a just -resemblance of it. We talk of the union of the sun and -his beams, of a tree and its branches: but these are but -poor images and faint shadows of this mystery, though -they are some of the best that I know. The union of the -soul and the body is, in my esteem, still farther from the -point, because their natures are so widely different. In -vain we search through all the creation to find a complete -similitude of the Creator.</p> - -<p>“And in vain may we run through all parts and powers -of nature and art, to seek a full resemblance of the mutual -propensity and love of the Blessed Three towards each -other. Mathematicians, indeed, talk of the perpetual tendencies -and infinite approximations of two or more lines<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_335"></a>[335]</span> -on the same surface, which yet never can entirely concur -in one line: and if we should say that the Three Persons -of the Trinity, by mutual indwelling and love, approach -each other infinitely in one Divine nature, and yet lose not -their distinct personality, it would be but an obscure -account of this sublime mystery. But this we are sure of, -that for three Divine Persons to be so inconceivably near -one another in the original and eternal spring of love, -goodness, and pleasure, must produce infinite delight. In -order to illustrate the happiness of the Sacred Three, may -we not suppose something of society necessary to the perfection -of happiness in all intellectual nature? To know -and be known, to love and to be beloved, are, perhaps, such -essential ingredients of complete felicity that it cannot -subsist without them. And it may be doubted whether -such mutual knowledge and love, as seems requisite for -this end, can be found in a nature absolutely simple in all -respects. May we not then suppose that some distinctions -in the Divine Being are of eternal necessity, in order to -complete the blessedness of Godhead? Such a distinction -as may admit, as a great man expresses it, of delicious -society. ‘We, for our parts, cannot but hereby have in -our minds a more gustful idea of a blessed state, than we -can conceive in mere eternal solitude.’</p> - -<p>“And if this be true, then the three differences, which -we call personal distinctions, in the nature of God, are as -absolutely necessary as His blessedness, as His being, or -any of His perfections. And then we may return to the -words of my text, and boldly infer, that if the man is -blessed who is chosen by the free and sovereign grace of -God, and caused to approach, or draw near Him, what -immense and unknown blessedness belongs to each Divine -Person, to all the Sacred Three, who are by nature and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_336"></a>[336]</span> -unchangeable necessity so near, so united, so much one, -that the least moment’s separation seems to be infinitely -impossible, and, then we may venture to say, it is not to -be conceived: and the blessedness is conceivable by none -but God!</p> - -<p>“This is a nobler union and a more intense pleasure -than <i>the Man</i> Jesus Christ knows or feels, or can conceive, -for He is a creature. These are glories too Divine and -dazzling for the weak eye of our understanding, too bright -for the eye of angels, those morning stars; and they, and -we, must fall down together, alike overwhelmed with -them, and alike confounded. These are flights that tire -souls of the strongest wing, and finite minds faint in the -infinite pursuit; these are depths where our tallest thoughts -sink and drown; we are lost in this ocean of being and -blessedness that has no limit on either side, no surface, no -bottom, no shore. The nearness of the Divine Persons to -each other, and the unspeakable relish of their unbounded -pleasures, are too vast ideas for our bounded minds to -entertain. It is one infinite transport that runs through -the Father, Son, and Spirit, without beginning, and without -end, with boundless variety, yet ever perfect and ever -present without change, and without degree; and all this -because they are so near to one another, and so much one -with God.</p> - -<p>“But when we have fatigued our spirits and put them -to the utmost stretch, we must lie down and rest, and confess -the great incomprehensible. How far this sublime -transport of joy is varied in each subsistence; how far -their mutual knowledge of each other’s properties, or their -mutual delight in each other’s love, is distinct in each -Person, is a secret too high for the present determination -of our language and our thoughts: it commands our judgment<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_337"></a>[337]</span> -in silence, and our whole souls into wonder and -adoration.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>He frequently indulged in a warmth of expression; he -did not disdain ornament, although all was held in a wise -check, and indeed with a severe rein, and his sermons -were not less practical than beautiful. They abound in -such passages as the following, in which he so sweetly -and mildly expostulates with</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">CENSORIOUS CHRISTIANS.</p> - -<p>“Be not too severe in your censures, you who have been -kept from temptation, but pity others who are fallen, and -mourn over their fall. Do not think or say the worst -things you can of those who have been taken in the snare -of Satan, and been betrayed into some grosser iniquities. -When you see them grieved and ashamed of their own follies, -and bowed down under much heaviness, take occasion -then to speak a softening and a healing word. Speak for -them kindly, and speak to them tenderly. ‘Have compassion -of them, lest they be swallowed up of over much -sorrow.’ And remember, too, O censorious Christian, that -thou art also in the body. It is rich grace that has kept thee -hitherto, and the same God, who for wise ends has suffered -thy brother to fall, may punish thy severity and reproachful -language by withholding His grace from thee in the -next hour of temptation, and then thy own fall and guilt -shall upbraid thee with inward and bitter reflections, for -thy sharp censures of thy weak and tempted brother. This -life is the only time wherein we can pity the infirmities of -our brethren, and bear their burdens. This law of Christ -must be fulfilled in this world, for there is no room for it in -the next: ‘Wherefore bear ye one another’s burdens, and so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_338"></a>[338]</span> -fulfil ye the law of Christ.’ This world is the only place -where different opinions and doctrines are found amongst -the saints; disagreeing forms of devotion, and sects, and -parties, have no place on high: none of these things can -interrupt the worship or the peace of heaven. See to it -then, that you practise this grace of charity here, and love -thy brother, and receive him into thy heart in holy fellowship, -though he may be weak in faith, and though he may -observe days and times, and may feed upon herbs, and -indulge some superstitious follies while thou art strong in -faith, and well acquainted with the liberty of the Gospel. -Let not little things provoke you to divide communions on -earth: but by this sort of charity, and a Catholic spirit, -honour the Saviour and His Church here in this world; for -since there are no parties, nor sects, nor contrary sentiments -among the Church in heaven, this Christian virtue -can never find any room for exercise there. This kind of -charity ends with death.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>But such delineations as these might be pursued to a -great length, and we have scarcely dwelt at all upon that -aspect of his public teaching which the last quotation -instantly suggests, its eminent practical character; his discourses -on “Christian Morality,” his beautiful discourse -on “Humility,” for which he received the hearty thanks -of the Bishop of London; his “Caveat against Infidelity,” -his “Guide to Prayer;” summarily, it may be said, he -touched everything with an exquisite delicacy of conscience, -and with the elevation of a saint. His mind cannot be -summed in one attribute, neither his piety, nor his genius -can be said to find an adequate illustration in one work; -he was one of a race of men of whom, indeed, the history -of the literature of those times furnishes many illustrations, -whose learning and labours were alike vast; they must<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_339"></a>[339]</span> -have caught the earliest daybeam, and trimmed the lamp -far beyond the hours of midnight, pursuing their industrious -toil, devouring libraries. Their works formed a -library; they had not the necessities of our times to call -them away, nor was it the age of magazines and reviews, -and the lighter shallops of literature. The age immediately -preceding that of Watts, and his own age, present to us -the forms of many men, who in some sheltered nook passed -a life unprofitable—ought we to say inglorious?—satisfied -with the spoils of learning, they lived a life of barrenness; -they sought wisdom for her own sake, neither for the use -it enabled them to confer on others, or the fame it conferred -on themselves; or, if they published, it was not so much -from the benevolent idea of the transfusion of knowledge, -but really from their interest only in their own idea. -These were the men and those the times which may be -best described in the words of Milton:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose lamp at midnight hour</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is seen in some high lonely tower,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where he may oft outwatch the Bear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With thrice great Hermes, or unsphere</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The spirit of Plato, to unfold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What worlds or what vast regions hold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The immortal mind that hath forsook</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her mansion in this fleshly nook.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But to this order of mind Watts added that which altogether -changed it; he possessed in an eminent degree the -love of books and thought, lofty imaginations, and excursions -through the far-off continents of knowledge; but he -added to the volitions of genius, and the accumulations of -the scholar, the doing “all for the glory of God;” few lives -so useful and even so obvious seem to have been so sanctified -from every human passion and selfish isolation; and -hence with powers which might have found their gratification<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_340"></a>[340]</span> -had he chosen to move like some remote and -solitary planet in an unilluminating orb, he preferred -rather to be a satellite, shedding a useful lustre on his -serene way, and in the language of a well-known writer, -“singing while he shone.” The amiable critic to whom we -have already referred says that the whole lesson of Watts’ -life might be condensed into the apostolic injunction, -“Study to be quiet and mind your own business;” and the -estimate is greatly true. He was a firm Nonconformist, -but he was no agitator; he lived and wrought laboriously -in his vocation, and that vocation was to bring about “the -union of mental culture and vital piety.” As he did not -write pamphlets to expose the evils of the hierarchy, or -the defects of his own ecclesiastical system, so neither -did he attempt to rebuke in print such assailants as -Bradbury. He was the first in England who set the -Gospel to music; and many who knew not the meaning of -the words yet found their hearts melted by the melody of -genius. There is a saintly dignity and peaceful purity -about his life which it is not invidious to say gives to him, -even in writers of his own order, a high pre-eminence. -He seems to have been one whom “the peace of God -which passeth all understanding” kept. And surely he -has won a place in the universal Church—no Church -repudiates him; his eulogy has been pronounced, and his -life recorded, by Samuel Johnson, and Robert Southey, -and Josiah Conder. If his hymns crowd the “Congregational -Hymn Book,” they are to be found in the “Hymns -Ancient and Modern;” and, as we have seen, his monument -adorns not only the “conventicle” but the cathedral.</p> - -<p>Ages differ, and men differ with their age. This is the -place neither to compare nor to contrast; but in an -eminent sense Watts appears to have fulfilled himself.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_341"></a>[341]</span> -He drank deep from every kind of learning: we have seen -that he wrote upon every kind of subject; and although it -is the fashion now to pass him by, and even to underrate -many of those pieces in prose and verse which were long -held as the most cherished heirlooms of the Church, we -shall have to search long and far to discover a more ample -and consecrated intelligence, a more conscientious and -laborious worker, than the mild, the modest, yet majestic -hermit, philosopher, and sweet singer of Theobalds and -Stoke Newington.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="figcenter illowp56" id="illus6" style="max-width: 32.8125em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/illus6.jpg" alt=""> - <p class="caption">MONUMENT OF DR. WATTS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</h2> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> “Dr. Isaac Watts,” a Lecture by Hermann Carlyle, <span class="allsmcap">LL.B.</span>, seventh -minister of the church of which Dr. Watts’ father was for forty-eight -years a deacon.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> It is interesting to remember that Isaac Watts the elder was the -first local trustee to Robert Thorner’s munificent bequest, which is now -the grandest of all the Southampton charities, and has made the name -of Thorner in that town a household word.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> The soil of Southampton seems to have been favourable to the production -of the lyrical faculty, although it is not probable that many of -those whose hearts have been stirred by the holy strains of Watts have -been acquainted with the melodies of one of the most national of -English song-writers, the laureate of sailors, also a townsman of Southampton, -Thomas Dibden.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> See <a href="#TABLE_OF_COINCIDENTS">Appendix</a>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> Walter Wilson’s “Life of Defoe,” vol. i. pp. 26, 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> “The Improvement of the Mind,” chap. iv. of “Books and -Reading.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> Afterwards, says Dr. Gibbons, Dr. Daniel Scott. He was a very -learned and amiable man. After he had studied under Mr. Jones he -removed to Utrecht for further education; there he took the degree of -doctor of laws. In the year 1741 he published a new version of St. -Matthew’s Gospel, with critical notes, and an examination of Dr. Mills’ -various readings. He published, also, in the year 1745, an “Appendix -to H. Stephens’ Greek Lexicon,” in two volumes.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> “History and Antiquities of Stoke Newington.” By William -Robinson, <span class="allsmcap">LL.D.</span>, <span class="allsmcap">F.S.A.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> The interested reader consulting that singular monument of -patient and painstaking industry, “The History and Antiquities of -Dissenting Churches and Meeting-Houses in London, Westminster, and -Southwark,” by Walter Wilson, will probably feel astonishment, not less -at their number than at the singular places in which they assembled.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> Matt. xviii. 20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> Originally Mart Lane.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> “Quarterly Review,” vol. lxxxix. pp. 303, 304.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> “Ode to Mr. Pinhorne.” Translated by Dr. Gibbons.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> Lord Lytton, in “Devereux.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> “Quarterly Review,” No. 222, April, 1862. Art. Hymnology.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> “British and Foreign Evangelical Review,” 1865.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> “The Poet of the Sanctuary,” etc. By Josiah Conder. 1857.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> “The Psalter and the Hymn Book.” Three Lectures by James -Hamilton.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> See Crosbie’s “History of the English Baptists” (1740), vol. iii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> “Quarterly Review,” vol. xxxviii. Art. Psalmody.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> “Letter to Rev. S. F. Macdonald,” by James Martineau, 1859.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> “Old Town Folk,” chap. iii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> For illustrations of this, see “A Letter to the Rev. Mr. ⸺ -or a Gnat destroying the Little Arian Foxes among the Vines,” and -part of the “Remains of Dr. Watts’ Clear’d from the Leaves and Rags -of Arianism.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> See this idea illustrated in “An Essay on the Book of Psalms,” by -Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, 1825, and “An Essay on the Literature -of the Book of Psalms,” in the “Preachers’ Lantern,” vol. ii. p. 558.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> Lord Barrington’s “Theological Works,” 3 vols.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> “Biog. Brit.” Article, Barrington.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> Dr. Southey, remarking on this incident, says: “The hymn, -indeed, was likely to have this effect upon an assembly whose minds -were under the immediate impression produced by a pathetic preacher.” -They were those well-known words:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Give me the wings of faith to rise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within the veil, and see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The saints above, how great their joys,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How bright their glories be.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Once they were mourning here below,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wet their couch with tears,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They wrestled hard, as we do now,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With sins, and doubts, and fears.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I ask them whence their victory came;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They with united breath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their triumph to His death.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They marked the footsteps that He trod,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His zeal inspired their breast;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, following their Incarnate God,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Possess the promised rest.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our glorious Leader claims our praise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For His own pattern given,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While the long cloud of witnesses</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Show the same path to heaven.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> See an admirable and interesting summary of Doddridge’s Life and -Character,—“Philip Doddridge:” “North British Review.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> Glover’s “Leonidas,” a poem scarcely ever read or referred to now, -but which created considerable interest on its publication, and for some -time held a conspicuous place in English poetry.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> Mr. Waller’s lines, to which her ladyship refers, are at the conclusion -of his Divine Poems:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The soul’s dark cottage, battered and decayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lets in new light through chinks that time has made:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stronger by weakness wiser men become,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As they draw near to their eternal home:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That stand upon the threshold of the new.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The verses of Dr. Watts which her ladyship intends is the poem in his -“Horæ Lyricæ,” entitled “A Sight of Heaven in Sickness.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> “Daniel Defoe, His Life and Recently Discovered Writings.” By -William Lee. 3 vols.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> See “Memoirs of the Life and Times of Daniel Defoe,” etc. By -Walter Wilson, Esq.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> See the whole of this in the “Posthumous Works of the late -learned and Rev. Isaac Watts,” 1779.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> See an interesting table of “Memorable Affairs in my Life and -Coincidents,” in Watts’ writing, in <a href="#TABLE_OF_COINCIDENTS">Appendix</a> to this volume.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> See “History of England,” by Earl Stanhope, vol. i. chap. 1.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> Lord Macaulay says: “There was considerable excitement, but it -was allayed by a temperate and artful letter to the clergy, the work, in -all probability, of Bishop Gibson, who stood high in the favour of -Walpole, and shortly after became minister for ecclesiastical affairs.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> Essay on “Popular Ignorance.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> See the “Clapham Sect.” Sir James Stephen’s Essays in “Ecclesiastical -Biography.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> “Memorials, etc. etc. of the late W. M. Bunting.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> Doddridge’s “Life and Correspondence,” vol. iv. p. 520.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> “Without question we must affirm that Body is the necessary -means of bringing Mind into relationship with space and extension, and -so of giving it <i>Place</i>, very plainly a disembodied spirit, or we ought -rather to say, an unembodied spirit, or sheer mind, is <span class="smcap">nowhere</span>.”—Isaac -Taylor’s “Physical Theory of Another Life,” chap. ii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> See Preface to the second vol. of “World to Come,” Octavo edition.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> 1 Cor. i. 26.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> So says Mr. Carlyle, in one of the most interesting little documents -in connection with the life of Watts ever published, the little pamphlet -to which we have already referred.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> Montgomery on the Cholera Mount of Sheffield.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> “Memorials, Historical, Descriptive, Poetical and Pictorial, Commemorative -of the Inauguration of the Statue to Dr. Isaac Watts, in the -Western Park, Southampton, by the Earl of Shaftesbury, July 17th, -1861.” See also “The Proceedings connected with the Inauguration of -the Memorial Statue to Dr. Isaac Watts, at Southampton, July 17th, -1861.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> “There is also perhaps more method and clearness in the logic of -Watts than in that of Arnauld. The good English sense—the business -faculty—that of practical life, repeats itself here in the highest degree; -whilst the speculative mind of a tolerably scholarly theologian is yet -more full in <i>the art of thinking</i>. Now Watts is complete without being -extravagant; he has touched very adequately all that is necessary, and -he always stops at the very precise point where depth might have -injured transparency.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> “The Athenian Oracle, being an entire collection of all the valuable -Questions and Answers in the old Athenian Mercurys, intermixed with -many cases in Divinity, History, Philosophy, Mathematics, Love, and -Poetry, and never before Published,” etc. 4 vols. Printed for Andrew -Bell, at the Cross Keys.</p> - -<p>“Athenian Sport; or, Two Thousand Paradoxes Merrily Argued, by a -Member of the Athenian Society.”</p> - -<p>“Memoirs for the Ingenious; containing several Curious Observations -in Philosophy, Mathematics, Physic, Philology, and other Arts and -Sciences, in Miscellaneous Letters.” Printed for H. Rhodes, and for -J. Harris, at the Arrow, in the Poultry.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> “Another Collection of Philosophical Conferences of the French -Virtuosi, upon Questions of all sorts for the Improving of Natural Knowledge, -made in the Assembly of the Beaux Esprit of Paris, by the most -ingenious persons of that nation, rendered into English.” Sold at the -George, in Fleet Street, and the Mitre, Middle Temple, 1665.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> Rogers’ “Life of Howe,” p. 476.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> The matter, we suppose, is long since set at rest; it may be very -distinctly set at rest by a study of Watts’ works, discussing the great -question of the Trinity. “Watts not a Socinian,” by the Rev. S. Palmer, -puts the matter in a popular and concise form; but when his monument -was erected in Southampton, a lecture was delivered and published on -“His Life, Character, and Religious Opinions,” by the Rev. Edmund -Kell, <span class="allsmcap">M.A.</span>, <span class="allsmcap">F.S.A.</span>, the late Unitarian minister of Southampton, in -which the old exploded dishonest statements were all reiterated.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> This is illustrated and manifest by the writings of Waterland, -which are almost contemporary with the discussions of Watts.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> J. R. Lowell.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> This matter has been well argued against the Atheistic view, in a -very interesting little pamphlet, “Croll on the Conservation of Force.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> Psalm lxxvi. 5, 10.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> “These expressions may be sufficiently justified if we consider Jephthah’s -rash vow of sacrifice, which fell upon his only child; and Samson’s -rude or unbecoming conduct in his amours with the Philistine -woman at Timnath, the harlot at Gaza, and his Delilah at Sorek; his -bloody quarrels and his manner of life. The learned and pious Dr. -Owen, as I have been often informed by his intimate friend, Sir John -Hartopp, called him a rude believer. He might have strong faith of -miracles, but a small share of that faith which purifies the heart.”</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_342"></a>[342]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="TABLE_OF_COINCIDENTS">TABLE OF COINCIDENTS.</h2> - -</div> - -<p><i>Mention has been made in <a href="#Page_14">p. 14</a> of a curious Autobiographical Table -prepared by Dr. Watts of the chief incidents in his life, together with -contemporaneous events of public interest. We give a fac-simile of the -first page, and the contents of the remainder.</i></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp83" id="concordance" style="max-width: 62.5em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/concordance.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_343"></a>[343]</span></p> - -<table class="concordance"> - <tr> - <th><span class="smcap">Coincidents.</span></th> - <th><span class="smcap">Memoranda.</span></th> - <th></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>1693: July 13: Grandmo. Watts dyed</td> - <td>I was admitted to Mr. T. Rows Church.</td> - <td>Dec. 1693</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>I went into yᵉ Country</td> - <td>June. 1694</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Dwelt at my father’s house 2 years & ¼.</td> - <td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Came to Sʳ John Hartopp’s to be a Tutor to his Son at Newington</td> - <td>Oct. 15. 1696</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>1697. Jun. 11: Grandfa. Tanton dyed</td> - <td></td> - <td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>12 Cousin Isaac Watts dyed</td> - <td>Began to preach, after I had pursued University Studys above 8 years.</td> - <td>July. 17. 1698</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>1697 Peace at Reswic concluded</td> - <td>Went to Southampton and preached there severall times in a visit to my friends.</td> - <td>Augᵗ: 1698.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>1698/9 Cousin John Chapmā of Portsm dyed</td> - <td>Preacht as Dr. Chanceys Assistant in yᵉ Church at Mark Lane, & a - little after that my fever and weakness began.</td> - <td>Feb. 1698/9</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>1699/1700 Feb: Mʳ Wᵐ Adams dyed</td> - <td>Paid another Visit to Southampton of 5 weeks.</td> - <td>July 1699<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_344"></a>[344]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>1700. March 30. Grandmo. Tanton [died.]</td> - <td>Another.</td> - <td>June 1700</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>May 22. Mʳ John Pook</td> - <td>Went to yᵉ Bath by yᵉ advice of Physicians.</td> - <td>June. 9. 1701.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Novʳ: 11: Mʳ Tho. Gunston</td> - <td></td> - <td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>From yᵉ Bath to Southampton</td> - <td>July. 1701</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Thence to Tunbridge.</td> - <td>Sept 3 1701.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>returned to Newington</td> - <td>Nov. 3:</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>& to preaching at Mark Lane.</td> - <td>Nov: 1701</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>So yᵗ I was detained from Study & preaching 5 o/m by my - Weakness. Except one very short discourse at Southto. in extreme necessity.</td> - <td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Dr. Chancy having left his people, Aprill 1701. & I being - returned to preach among ’em, they Call’d me to yᵉ Pastorall - office.</td> - <td>Jan. 15. 1701/2</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td rowspan="3">1702 March 8th, Morning: King Wᵐ dyed</td> - <td>Accepted it</td> - <td>March 8⸺</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>& was ordained</td> - <td class="nw">March 18. 1701/2</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Visited my friends at Southampton</td> - <td>July. 1702.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Seizd wᵗʰ violent Jaundice & Cholic 3 weeks after my return - to London & had a very slow recovery—8 or 9 weeks Illness</td> - <td>from Septʳ 8 or thereabout to Novʳ 27 or 8</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>This year (viz) 1702 by Slow degrees removed from Newington - to Mʳ Tho: Hollis’s in the Minories.</td> - <td>1702</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Mrs. Owen Dr Owen’s Widow dyed Janʸ. 18: 1703/4</td> - <td>June—Mʳ Samˡˡ Price was chosen by yᵉ Church to assist me in preaching</td> - <td>1703</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Augᵗ I went to Tunbridge and stayd there 7 weeks with scarce any - benefitt, for the waters thro some defect of my stomach did not digest - well.</td> - <td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>1703 Novʳ 26 Friday night and Saturday morning, the Great and - Dreadfull Storm</td> - <td>Decʳ: after having intermitted in a great measure a method of study - and pursuit of Learning, 4 years, by reasō of my great indispositions of - body and weakness of head (excepᵗ w: was of absolute necessity for my - Constant preaching) & being not satisfyd to <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_345"></a>[345]</span> - live so any longer, after due consideratiō & prayer, I took a boy - to read to me & write for me, whereby my studies are much assisted.</td> - <td>Decʳ 1703</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Visited my friends at Southto.</td> - <td>May 1704</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Augᵗ: 31. 1704 Bro: Richard marryd</td> - <td>Remov’d our Meeting place to pinners hall and began expositions of Scripture.</td> - <td>June 1704</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Br. Joseph Brandley my first servᵗ went away Decʳ 1704: & Edwd. Hitchin came</td> - <td>Visited Southton</td> - <td>July 1705</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Published my Poems</td> - <td>Decʳ 1705</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Augᵗ 1705 Mʳ Tho: Rowe my Tutor dyed</td> - <td></td> - <td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Mʳ Benoni Rowe my intimate friend dyed Apˡˡ: 1706</td> - <td>Went to Southton May. 18ᵗʰ 1706 returned agⁿ wᵗʰ but small recruit of health.</td> - <td>July 5ᵗʰ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Bro: Thomas marry’d, May 9ᵗʰ: 1706</td> - <td colspan="2">went to Tunbridge Augᵗ 8ᵗʰ: Returned much stronger Augᵗ 30.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td colspan="2">Publisht essay against Uncharitableness Apˡˡ 1707.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td colspan="2">Went to Southton July, returned July Went to Tunbridg: Augᵗ: returned Sepᵗ 3ᵈ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Union of E & Scot: May 1ˢᵗ 1707</td> - <td colspan="2">All this Year my health has been encouraging</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td rowspan="3">This year yᵉ French prophetts made a great noise in our nation, and - drew in Mʳ Lacy, Sir R. Bulckley &c. 200 or more had yᵉ agitations, - 40 had yᵉ inspiration—Provd a delusion of Satan at Birminghā Feb 3 or 4ᵗʰ 1707/8</td> - <td colspan="2">Publisht my Hymns & Spˡˡ Songs July 1707</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2">Overturned in a coach without hurt. Oct. 5. 1707</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2">Preached a reformation Sermō: Oct. 6. 1707, and printed it</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Sister Sarah marryed. Feb: 1707/8</td> - <td colspan="2">Went to Southtoⁿ—and afterward to Tunbr: Augᵗ 1708</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Pretender’s invasion disappointed. March: 1708</td> - <td colspan="2">Removed our Meeting place to Bury Street Sepʳ 29: 1708.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>May 25 1708 The Prophetts disappointed by Mʳ Eams not rising frō the Dead</td> - <td colspan="2">Printed 2ᵈ Edition of Hymns & 2ᵈ ed: of Poems: - Apˡˡ & May 1709.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Terrible long snowy winter 1708/9</td> - <td colspan="2"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Bro R: came to settle in Londō: Oct 7 1709</td> - <td colspan="2">Went to Southton: June: Tunbridg. Augᵗ 1709</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td rowspan="5">Mar: 1 1709/10 yᵉ Mob rose & pulled down yᵉ pews and gallerys of - 6 meeting houses (viz) Mʳ Burgess, Mʳ Bradbury, Mʳ Earle, - Mʳ Wright, Mʳ Hamilton, & Mʳ Chr: Taylor but were dispersed - by yᵉ Guards under Capt: Horsey at 1 or 2 in yᵉ morning.</td> - <td colspan="2">Edwᵈ Hitchen my Servᵗ went away Decʳ: 31.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2">I bought a horse for my health Apˡˡ: 1710</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2">I rode down to Southton, & back agⁿ June & according to - yᵉ accoᵗᵗ: I kept I rode above 800 mile frō Apˡˡ 13ᵗʰ to Sepʳ 28ᵗʰ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2"> I removed from Mʳ. Hollis’s & went to live wᵗʰ Mʳ - Bowes att Dec. 30ᵗʰ & John Merchant my Servᵗ: came to me</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2">Went to Southton June, returned July</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Mʳ Arthur Shallot senʳ dyed: 4ᵗʰ Feb 1710/11 and Mʳ Tho: Hunt - merchant & his wife dyed about yᵉ same time.</td> - <td colspan="2" rowspan="3">Went to Tunbridge Augᵗ: returned 7 Sepʳ being under - a disorder of my stomach, and freqᵗ pains of yᵉ head. Found some - relief at Tunbr: waters.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Mʳˢ Ann Pickford dyed Apˡˡ: 7ᵗʰ 1711.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>My Lady Hartopp dyed Novʳ: 9ᵗʰ: & Mʳˢ Gould, Novʳ 15ᵗʰ 1711.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_346"></a>[346]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header-index.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX.</h2> - -</div> - -<ul> - -<li class="ifrst">Abney House, old, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> -<li class="isub1">Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Academy at Gloucester, the, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> -<li class="isub1">at Stoke Newington, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Acrostic, an, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Anecdotes—Blind woman and Watts’ hymns, the, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Bradbury and Burnet, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Bradbury and Dr. Watts, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">death of an aged minister, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Derby (Earl) and the blind woman, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">dying Webster, the, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">giant and pigmy, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">of Luther, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">sceptic defeated, the, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">stonemason’s dream, the, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">text for Queen Anne, a, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">“That the great Dr. Watts?” <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Watts’ (W)<i>hims</i>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">“What think you of death?” <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Whitefield and Watts, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Anne’s reign, close of Queen, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Arianism of Watts’ day, the, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Artificial poetry, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Atonement, the poet of the, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Atterbury, Bishop, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Augustine, St., on the songs of the Church, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Barbauld, Mrs., <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Barrington, Lord, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> -<li class="isub1">letter to Watts, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Baxter on sacred hymns, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bendish, Mrs., <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Birth and childhood of Watts, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Blair’s “Grave,” <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bookmen, the age of great, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bradbury, Thomas, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and Bishop Burnet, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and Dr. Watts, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">characteristics, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Defoe’s reproof to, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">political preacher, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bunhill Fields, its associations, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bunting, W. M., <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Carey’s tombstone, inscription, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Carter, Mrs. Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Caryl’s “Book of Job,” <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Catechism, Watts’, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cedar tree and the scythe, the, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Character of Watts, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Chauncy, Dr. Isaac, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Christ, Psalms restored to, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Classical sentiment, translation, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Coincidents, table of (<a href="#TABLE_OF_COINCIDENTS"><i>see</i> Appendix</a>)</li> - -<li class="indx">Collins, Antony, and Lord Barrington, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Comet, lines on a, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Conder, Josiah, <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Controversy between Watts and Bradbury, <a href="#Page_194">194-201</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Countess of Hertford and Mrs. Rowe, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and the Rise and Progress of Religion, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Coward, William, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Critics, hostile, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cromwell, Richard, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Crucial events, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Daughters, a group of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Death, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Defoe in the pillory, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">quoted, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Derby, Earl, and the blind woman, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_347"></a>[347]</span>Devotion the attribute of Watts’ hymns, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Dissenters, Shortest way with, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Doddridge, Dr. Philip, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Dying, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Elegy, a lovely, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - -<li class="indx">England in the times of the last Stuarts, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="indx">England’s history, happiest period of, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> - -<li class="indx">English hymnology, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Epigram, an, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Erskine, Ralph, and Watts’ hymns, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Expression, fervour of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Faith, expressions of personal, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Family, in the Hartopp, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> -<li class="isub1">last of the Hartopp, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Father, imprisonment of Watts’, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fleetwood, General, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Foster, John, <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Friend, letter to an afflicted, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Friends, Watts’, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fuller, Thomas, on death, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gale, Theophilus, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Gardiner, Colonel, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Gibbons, Dr., <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Girdlers’ Hall church, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Gloucester academy, the, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Glover’s “Leonidas,” <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Grandfather and grandmother of Watts, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Gunston, Thomas, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Harris, Robert, <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hart, Josiah, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hartopp, Sir John, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">daughters of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hartopps, last of the, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hertford, Countess of, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">friendship with Watts, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">letters, character of, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">letters to Watts, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">modesty, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">poetry, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hervey, James, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">letter to Watts, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hollis family, the, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Horæ Lyricæ,” <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx">House in French Street, the old, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">old Abney, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Stoke Newington, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Theobalds, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hughes, John, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hymns, Apostolic, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hymn, Augustine’s definition of a, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">origin of Watts’ first, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">? what is a, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hymnology, Christian, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">English, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Industry, mental, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">of Watts, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Johnson, Dr., <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Jones, Rev. Samuel, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Jennings, Dr., <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Keble’s “Christian Year,” <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">criticism of Watts’ poetry, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Ken, Bishop, and Watts contrasted, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Kennedy, Dr., <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Kentish petition, the, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Knox, A., criticism on Watts, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Latin, thinking in, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Letters—Countess of Hertford to Watts, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Doddridge to Watts, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Doddridge’s dedicatory, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Hervey to Watts, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Jewel to Peter Martyr, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Lord Barrington to Watts, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">of Enoch Watts, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Secker to Watts, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">to Amsterdam, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">to an afflicted friend, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">to Bradbury, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">to Doddridge, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>:</li> -<li class="isub1">to Samuel Say, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">to Thomas Rosewell, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Watts to his father, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Liddon, Canon, <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Lispings in numbers, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Logan and Doddridge, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> - -<li class="indx">London in Watts’ day, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Luther’s songs, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Macaulay, Lord, <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Mansion, an old family, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Mark Lane chapel, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">the church in, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Marot, Clement, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Martineau, James, <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Media Vita,” the, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Messianic version of the Psalms, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Mind of Watts, seraphic, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Minories, the, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Modesty of Watts, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Montgomery’s estimate of Watts’ hymns, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Monument to Watts, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_348"></a>[348]</span>Morton, Rev. Charles, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Motto, a, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Mystic, Watts a, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nature, Watts’ love of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Nights, sleepless, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Nonconformist, a political, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> -<li class="isub1">service, early, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Nonconformists of old London, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Papacy, Watts’ antipathy to, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Parentage of Watts, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Parker, Mr., <i>quo</i>., <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pastor, a youthful, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pastor of a London church, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Persecution, the child of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Personal appearance of Watts, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Personification, a definition of, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Personifications, a constellation of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Perspicuity of Watts, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Philosophical works of Watts, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Physical theory of another life, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pinhorne, Rev. John, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Poetry of Watts’ time, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Poets, imperfections of, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Polhill, David, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pope, a criticism on, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Portrait of Watts, a, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Prayer, a beautiful, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Preacher, Watts as a, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Precocity, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Price, Samuel, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Prose writings, Estimate and summary, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Psalmless churches, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Psalms, Watts’, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pupil, Watts’, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Puritan reminiscence, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Quarterly Review,” <i>quo</i>., <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Relic, an interesting, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Resignation in sorrow, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> -<li class="isub1">Watts’, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rise and Progress of Religion, etc., <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rogers, Henry, <i>quo</i>., <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rogers, Samuel, “Human Life,” characterized, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rosewell, Samuel, death of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> -<li class="isub1">letter to, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rowe, Mrs., <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> -<li class="isub1">and Dr. Watts, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rowe, Thomas, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sacheverell mob, doings of the, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Saltzburgers, the, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Say, Samuel, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Schism Bill, the, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Scott, Dr. Daniel, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Selborne, Lord, <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Secker, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Sermons, branching, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">satirized by Watts, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Shimei Bradbury, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Shower, John, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Singing controversy, the, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Southampton gaol, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">of Watts’ day, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">plague at, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Southey, Dr., <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Spirit, a meek and quiet, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Stoke Newington, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">side of life, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">the old house at, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Storm of 1703, the great, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Students, Watts’ fellow, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Study, methods of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Watts’, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Suburb, an old London, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Theobalds, the old house at, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Theological works of Watts, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Theology, nature of Watts’, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Thomson <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Times of Watts, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Tunbridge Wells, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Tutor, Watts as a, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Unitarians and Watts, the, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Verse, a perfect, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Verse, the accident of Watts’ life, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Verses, satiric, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Waller <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Walsh and Fletcher, death of, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Watchwords and Creeds, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Well, Watts’, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Wesley, Charles, and Watts contrasted, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Wesleyan Magazine” <i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Wesleys’ Obligations to Watts, the, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Words, dying, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“World to Come” criticised, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Young, Dr., <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1"><i>quo.</i>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Zodiac, signs of the, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li> - -</ul> - -<p class="titlepage">LONDON: PARDON AND SON, PRINTERS, PATERNOSTER ROW.</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISAAC WATTS; HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS, HIS HOMES AND FRIENDS ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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