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diff --git a/old/69963-0.txt b/old/69963-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1266eb5..0000000 --- a/old/69963-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11540 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Isaac Watts; his life and writings, -his homes and friends, by E. Paxton Hood - -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 -www.gutenberg.org. 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. - -Title: Isaac Watts; his life and writings, his homes and friends - -Author: E. Paxton Hood - -Release Date: February 5, 2023 [eBook #69963] - -Language: English - -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.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISAAC WATTS; HIS LIFE AND -WRITINGS, HIS HOMES AND FRIENDS *** - - - - - - -[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF DR. WATTS. - -PRESENTED BY MISS ABNEY TO DR. WILLIAMS’ LIBRARY.] - - - - - ISAAC WATTS; - - His Life and Writings, - - _HIS HOMES AND FRIENDS_. - - “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.”—_Dr. - Johnson._ - - “The Independents, as represented by Dr. Watts, have a just - claim to be considered the real founders of modern English - hymnody.”—_Lord Selborne._ - - LONDON: - THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, - 56, PATERNOSTER ROW; 65, ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD; - AND 164, PICCADILLY. - MANCHESTER: CORPORATION STREET. BRIGHTON: WESTERN ROAD. - - - - -[Illustration: PREFACE.] - - -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. - -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. - -The object of the following pages will be to attempt to do some justice -to the various attributes of his mental 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. - -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 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. - -Thanks are due, and are hereby heartily rendered, to the Rev. Herman -Carlyle, LL.B., 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. - - E. PAXTON HOOD. - - - - -[Illustration: CONTENTS.] - - - CHAP. PAGE - - I.—BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF ISAAC WATTS 1 - - II.—IN THE ACADEMY AT STOKE NEWINGTON 15 - - III.—IN THE HARTOPP FAMILY 32 - - IV.—PASTOR OF A LONDON CHURCH 40 - - V.—FIRST PUBLICATION AS A SACRED POET 57 - - VI.—RESIDENCE IN THE ABNEY FAMILY 75 - - VII.—HYMNS 84 - - VIII.—A CIRCLE OF FRIENDS 136 - - IX.—THE COUNTESS OF HERTFORD AND MRS. ROWE 172 - - X.—SHIMEI BRADBURY 189 - - XI.—HIS TIMES 205 - - XII.—RETURN TO STOKE NEWINGTON 218 - - XIII.—THE WORLD TO COME 226 - - XIV.—THE MAN 246 - - XV.—DEATH AND BURIAL 258 - - XVI.—SUMMARY AND ESTIMATE OF PROSE WRITINGS 274 - - - - -[Illustration: ST. MICHAEL’S GAOL, IN WHICH WATTS’ FATHER WAS CONFINED.] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -Birth and Childhood of Isaac Watts. - - -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:”[1] this was the year in which he died. At the time, however, -of Isaac’s birth, deep 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 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. - -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 II., 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 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. - -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 -vitality to both families, and to have left its best influences in their -child. - -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. - -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. - -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:— - - “NEWINGTON: _February 8th, 1736-37_. - - “HONOURED AND DEAR SIR, - - “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. - - “I am, dear Sir, - - “Your most affectionate obedient Son, - - “ISAAC WATTS.” - -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: - - I write not for a farthing, but to try - How I your farthing writers can outvie. - -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: - - I am a vile polluted lump of earth, - S o I’ve continued ever since my birth; - A lthough Jehovah grace does daily give me, - A s sure this monster Satan will deceive me, - C ome, therefore, Lord, from Satan’s claws relieve me. - - W ash me in Thy blood, O Christ, - A nd grace Divine impart, - T hen search and try the corners of my heart, - T hat I in all things may be fit to do - S ervice to Thee, and sing Thy praises too. - -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. - -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?” - -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 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 III. Yet more interesting memories gather in another -part of the town, round the Widows’ Almshouses,[2] 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. - -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 II., 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. - -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.[3] - -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 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: - - Who stretched the comet to prodigious size, - And poured his flaming train o’er half the skies? - Is’t at Thy wrath the heavenly monster glares - O’er the pale nations, to announce Thy wars? - -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—_the State of England at the death of Charles -II._ 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. - -The period of the youth of Watts calls up to the mind a singularly -contradictory range of associations; it was a 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. - -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 -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,[4] 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. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -In the Academy at Stoke Newington. - - -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. - -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 M.A. -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.[5] - -Shortly after the departure of Mr. Morton for America, the academy to -which Watts was consigned was founded by the eminently learned Theophilus -Gale, M.A., 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 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, M.A., 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. - -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.” - -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 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, 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.”[6] - -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. - -Most of the biographers of Watts have referred to his fellow-students. -Several of them were interesting men. “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: - - So smooth your numbers, friend, your verse so sweet, - So sharp the jest, and yet the turn so neat, - That with her Martial, Rome would place Cirine, - Rome would prefer your sense and thought to mine. - Yet modest you decline the public stage, - To fix your friend alone amidst th’ applauding age. - -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, JOSIAH TUAM.” -If in some part singularly expressed, it gives a not unpleasing idea of -the writer’s character. - -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 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. - -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 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. - -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, M.A., 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 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 I. - -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 entrance into the academy. In his lines “To the much honoured Mr. -Thomas Rowe, the director of my youthful studies,” he says: - - I hate these shackles of the mind - Forged by the haughty wise; - Souls were not born to be confined, - And led, like Samson, blind and bound;— - But when his native strength he found - He well avenged his eyes. - I love thy gentle influence, Rowe, - Thy gentle influence like the sun, - Only dissolves the frozen snow, - Then bids our thoughts like rivers flow, - And choose the channels where they run. - -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. - -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 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: - - “GLOUCESTER: _Nov. 18th, 1711_. - - “REV. SIR, - - “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. - - “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 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,[7] 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 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. - - “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, - 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. - - “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. - - “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, 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. - - “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, - - “THOMAS SECKER.” - -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. - -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. - - Behold the glories of the Lamb - Amidst His Father’s throne; - Prepare new honours for His name, - And songs before unknown. - - Let elders worship at His feet, - The church adore around, - With vials full of odours sweet, - And harps of sweeter sound. - - Those are the prayers of the saints, - And these the hymns they raise; - Jesus is kind to our complaints, - He loves to hear our praise. - - Eternal Father, who shall look - Into Thy secret will? - Who but the Son shall take the book, - And open every seal? - - He shall fulfil Thy great decrees, - The Son deserves it well; - Lo! in His hand the sovereign keys - Of heaven, and death, and hell. - - Now to the Lamb that once was slain, - Be endless blessings paid; - Salvation, glory, joy, remain - For ever on Thy head. - - Thou hast redeemed our souls with blood, - Hast set the prisoners free; - Hast made us kings and priests to God, - And we shall reign with Thee. - - The worlds of nature and of grace - Are put beneath Thy power; - Then shorten these delaying days, - And bring the promised hour. - -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. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -In the Hartopp Family. - - -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 II. The -old house 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. - -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 II.; the baronetcy dated from the -time of James I., and the family received considerable honours from -Charles I., 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 -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. - -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 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. - -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 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.” - -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 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. - -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. - -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.”[8] - -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 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. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -Pastor of a London Church. - - -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. - -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 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 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. - -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 I. 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 -II. and James II. 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.[9] Most of the congregations we now should consider -small. No company composed of faithful souls meeting for Divine service -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,”[10] 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. - -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 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. - -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. 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 _human_ 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. - -It was over one of these old City churches, probably the most famous -of them, that the youthful Isaac Watts was 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 I. 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, 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 VIII.—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. - -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 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. - -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 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. - -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 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. - -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 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.” - -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 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. - -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 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.” - -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 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. - -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[11] to -Duke Street, St. Mary Axe. - -It had been the site of one of the most celebrated metropolitan -ecclesiastical establishments previous to the Reformation, the Priory -of the Holy Trinity, the founder of which was Matilda, Queen of Henry -I.; 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 VIII. 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. - -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 _Juden Strasse_. The Jews, who -now form its principal inhabitants, then first settled there. The spot -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. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -First Publication as a Sacred Poet. - - -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 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 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. - -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. 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.”[12] 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. - -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 III. 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 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:” - - Preserve, O venerable pile, - Inviolate thy sacred trust; - To thy cold arms the British isle, - Weeping, commits her richest dust. - - Rest his dear sword beneath his head; - Round him his faithful arms shall stand: - Fix his bright ensigns on his bed, - The guards and honours of our land. - - High o’er the grave _Religion_ set - In solemn guise; pronounce the ground - Sacred, to bar unhallowed feet, - And plant her guardian virtues round. - - Fair _Liberty_, in sables drest, - Write his loved name upon his urn; - William, the scourge of tyrants past, - And awe of princes yet unborn. - - Sweet _Peace_, his sacred relics keep, - With olives blooming round her head, - And stretch her wings across the deep - To bless the nations with the shade. - - Stand on the pile, immortal _Fame_, - Broad stars adorn thy brightest robe; - Thy thousand voices sound his name - In silver accents round the globe. - - _Flattery_ shall faint beneath the sound, - While hoary _Truth_ inspires the song; - _Envy_ grow pale, and bite the ground, - And _Slander_ gnaw her forky tongue. - - Night and the grave, remove your gloom; - Darkness becomes the vulgar dead; - But glory bids the royal tomb - Disdain the horrors of a shade. - - _Glory_ with all her lamps shall burn, - And watch the warrior’s sleeping clay, - Till the last trumpet rouse his urn, - To aid the triumphs of the day. - -But he had a simpler manner, and even in his stronger expressions rose to -the majesty of simple strength, as in the following: - - LAUNCHING INTO ETERNITY. - - It was a brave attempt! advent’rous he, - Who in the first ship broke the unknown sea: - And leaving his dear native shores behind, - Trusted his life to the licentious wind. - I see the surging brine: the tempest raves: - He on the pine-plank rides across the waves, - Exulting on the edge of thousand gaping graves: - He steers the winged boat, and shifts the sails, - Conquers the flood, and manages the gales. - Such is the soul that leaves this mortal land, - Fearless when the great Master gives command. - Death is the storm: she smiles to hear it roar, - And bids the tempest waft her from the shore: - Then with a skilful helm she sweeps the seas, - And manages the raging storm with ease: - (Her faith can govern death) she spreads her wings - Wide to the wind, and as she sails she sings, - And loses by degrees the sight of mortal things. - As the shores lessen, so her joys arise, - The waves roll gentler, and the tempest dies, - Now vast eternity fills all her sight, - She floats on the broad deep with infinite delight, - The seas for ever calm, the skies for ever bright. - -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: - - My God, I love, and I adore; - But souls that love would know Thee more. - Wilt Thou for ever hide, and stand - Behind the labours of Thy hand? - Thy hand unseen sustains the poles - On which this huge creation rolls: - The starry arch proclaims Thy power, - Thy pencil glows in every flower; - In thousand shapes and colours rise - Thy painted wonders to our eyes; - While beasts and birds, with labouring throats, - Teach us a God in thousand notes, - The meanest pin in Nature’s frame - Marks out some letter of Thy name. - Where sense can reach, or fancy rove, - From hill to hill, from field to grove, - Across the waves, around the sky, - There’s not a spot, or deep or high, - Where the Creator has not trod, - And left the footstep of a God. - -And in the same strain, with what strength and majesty he sweeps every -chord of Nature in his sublime version of the 148th Psalm: - - Loud hallelujahs to the Lord. - -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: - - Thy hand, how wide it spreads the sky! - How glorious to behold! - Tinged with a blue of heavenly dye, - And starred with sparkling gold. - - There Thou canst bid the globes of light - Their endless circles run; - Where the pale planet rules the night, - And day obeys the sun. - - The noisy winds stand ready there - Thy orders to obey; - With sounding wings they sweep the air, - To make Thy chariot way. - - There like a trumpet loud and strong, - Thy thunder shakes our coast; - While the red lightnings wave along, - The banners of Thy host. - - On the thin air, without a prop, - Hang fruitful showers around; - At Thy command they sink, and drop - Their fatness to the ground. - -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: - - Virgins, who roll your artful eyes, - And shoot delicious danger thence; - Swiftly the lovely lightning flies, - And melts our reason down to sense. - -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— - - Life is a pain without Thy love; - Who can ever bear to be - Cursed with immortality, - Among the stars, but far from Thee? - -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. - - My God, the spring of all my joys, - -is one of countless illustrations— - - My God, my life, my love, - To Thee, to Thee, I call. - -or— - - Dearest of all the names above. - -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: - - His charm shall make my numbers flow, - And hold the falling floods; - While silence sits on every bough, - And bends the listening woods. - - I’ll carve our passion on the bark; - And every wounded tree - Shall drop and hear some mystic mark - That Jesus died for me. - - The swains shall wonder when they read, - Inscribed on all the grove, - That Heaven itself came down and bled - To win a mortal’s love. - -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: - - Sweet was the journey to the sky - The wondrous prophet tried; - “Climb up the mount,” said God, “and die;” - The prophet climbed and died. - - Softly his fainting head he lay - Upon his Maker’s breast; - His Maker kissed his soul away, - And laid his flesh to rest. - - In God’s own arms he left the breath - That God’s own Spirit gave; - His was the noblest road to death, - And his the sweetest grave. - -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: - - TRUE RICHES. - - I am not concerned to know - What, to-morrow, fate will do: - ’Tis enough that I can say, - I’ve possessed myself to-day: - Then, if haply midnight death - Seize my flesh, and stop my breath, - Yet to-morrow I shall be - Heir to the best part of me. - - Glittering stones, and golden things, - Wealth and honours that have wings, - Ever fluttering to be gone, - I could never call my own: - Riches that the world bestows, - She can take, and I can lose; - But the treasures that are mine - Lie afar beyond her line. - When I view my spacious soul, - And survey myself a whole, - And enjoy myself alone, - I’m a kingdom of my own. - - I’ve a mighty part within - That the world hath never seen, - Rich as Eden’s happy ground, - And with choicer plenty crowned. - Here on all the shining boughs - Knowledge fair and useful grows; - On the same young flow’ry tree - All the seasons you may see; - Notions in the bloom of light, - Just disclosing to the sight; - Here are thoughts of larger growth, - Rip’ning into solid truth; - Fruits refined, of noble taste; - Seraphs feed on such repast. - Here, in a green and shady grove, - Streams of pleasure mix with love: - There, beneath the smiling skies, - Hills of contemplation rise; - Now, upon some shining top, - Angels light, and call me up; - I rejoice to raise my feet, - Both rejoice when there we meet. - - There are endless beauties more - Earth hath no resemblance for; - Nothing like them round the pole, - Nothing can describe the soul. - ’Tis a region half unknown, - That has treasures of its own, - More remote from public view - Than the bowels of Peru; - Broader ’tis, and brighter far, - Than the golden Indies are; - Ships that trace the watery stage - Cannot coast it in an age; - Harts, or horses, strong and fleet, - Had they wings to help their feet, - Could not run it half-way o’er - In ten thousand days or more. - - Yet the silly wand’ring mind, - Loath to be too much confined, - Roves and takes her daily tours, - Coasting round the narrow shores— - Narrow shores of flesh and sense, - Picking shells and pebbles thence: - Or she sits at Fancy’s door, - Calling shapes and shadows to her; - Foreign visits still receiving, - And to herself a stranger living. - Never, never would she buy - Indian dust, or Tyrian dye; - Never trade abroad for more, - If she saw her native store: - If her inward worth were known, - She might ever live alone. - -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:” - - “Nos numerus sumus, et fruges consumere nati, - Alcinoique juventus - Cui pulchrum fuit in medios dormire dies,” etc. - - PARAPHRASE. - - There are a number of us creep - Into this world, to eat and sleep; - And know no reason why they’re born, - But merely to consume the corn, - Devour the cattle, fowl, and fish, - And leave behind an empty dish. - The crows and ravens do the same, - Unlucky birds of hateful name; - Ravens or crows might fill their places, - And swallow corn and carcases. - Then if their tombstone, when they die, - Ben’t taught to flatter and to lie, - There’s nothing better will be said, - Than that “They’ve eat up all their bread, - Drank up their drink, and gone to bed.” - -And the following verses are surely very pleasing to the discontented and -unquiet: - - ’Tis a dull circle that we tread, - Just from the window to the bed, - To rise to see, and to be seen, - Graze on the world awhile, and then - We yawn, and stretch to sleep again. - But Fancy, that uneasy guest, - Still holds a longing in our breast: - She finds or frames vexations still, - Herself the greatest plague we feel. - We take great pleasure in our pain, - And make a mountain of a grain, - Assume the load, and pant and sweat - Beneath th’ imaginary weight. - With our dear selves we live at strife, - While the most constant scenes of life - From peevish humours are not free; - Still we affect variety: - Rather than pass an easy day, - We fret and chide the hours away, - Grow weary of this circling sun, - And vex that he should ever run - The same old track; and still, and still - Rise red behind yon eastern hill, - And chide the moon that darts her light - Through the same casement every night. - - We shift our chambers and our homes, - To dwell where trouble never comes: - Sylvia has left the city crowd, - Against the court exclaims aloud, - Flies to the woods; a hermit saint! - She loathes her patches, pins and paint, - Dear diamonds from her neck are torn; - But humour, that eternal thorn, - Sticks in her heart: she’s hurried still, - ’Twixt her wild passions and her will: - Haunted and hagged where’er she roves, - By purling streams, and silent groves, - Or with her furies, or her loves. - - Then our native land we hate, - Too cold, too windy, or too wet; - Change the thick climate, and repair - To France or Italy for air. - - Happy the soul that virtue shows - To fix the place of her repose, - Needless to move; for she can dwell - In her old grandsire’s hall as well. - Virtue that never loves to roam, - But sweetly hides herself at home. - And easy on a native throne - Of humble turf sits gently down. - -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,— - - Seize upon truth where’er ’tis found, - On Christian, or on heathen ground. - Amongst your friends, amongst your foes, - The flower’s divine where’er it grows, - Neglect the prickle and assume the rose. - -In which he elevates the sentiment of Virgil,— - - “Fas est ab hoste doceri.” - -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— - - Thy name, Almighty Sire, and Thine, - Jesus, where His full glories shine, - Shall consecrate my lays.[13] - -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: - - The ram, the bull, the heavenly twins, - And next the crab the lion shines, - The virgin and the scales; - The archer, scorpion, and the goat, - The man that holds the water-pot, - The fish with glittering tails. - -And his receipt for the orderly conduct of Divine worship, for sustaining -a mental effort in prayer, is useful, beautiful, and perfect: - - Call upon God, adore, confess, - Petition, plead, and then declare - You are the Lord’s, give thanks and bless, - And let Amen confirm the prayer. - -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 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. - -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 _accident_ 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. - -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 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. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: ABNEY HOUSE, STOKE NEWINGTON.] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -Residence in the Abney family. - - -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 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. - -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 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 XIV., 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 III., 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. - -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, 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. - -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 _Sir Thomas’s_ -keep to their primitive text, and not venture damnation to play at long -spoon and custard for a transitory twelvemonth; and would have your _Sir -Tom_ sing psalms at Highgate Hill, and split texts of Scripture _with -his diminutive figure of a chaplain_, without running the hazard of -qualifying himself to be called a handsome man for riding on horseback -before the City trainbands.” - -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.” - -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 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 I., 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 I. 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.” - -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[14] 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. - -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: - - A soul prepared needs no delays, - The summons comes, the saint obeys; - Swift was his flight and short the road, - He closed his eyes and saw his God. - His flesh rests here till Jesus come - And claims the treasure from the tomb. - -Another epitaph: - - Beneath this stone Death’s prisoner lies. - That stone shall move, the prisoner rise - When Jesus with Almighty word - Calls His dead saints to meet their Lord. - -The following lines were not long since in existence, written upon a -ceiling dial at a western window of Theobalds: - - Little sun upon the ceiling - Ever moving, ever stealing - Moments, minutes, hours away; - May no shade forbid thy shining - While the heavenly sun declining - Calls us to improve the day. - -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: - - Thus steal the silent hours away, - The sun thus hastes to reach the sea, - And men to mingle with their clay. - Thus light and shade divide the year, - Thus till the last great day appear - And shut the starry theatre. - -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. 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: - - Locus est pluribus umbris. - -And on the other: - - Quis me dolorum propria dignabitor umbra. - -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. - -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. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -Hymns. - - -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: - - “SOUTHAMPTON: _March, 1700_. - - “DEAR BROTHER,— - - “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 - 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. - - “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: - - So far hath schism prevailed they hate to see - Our lines and words in couplings to agree, - It looks too like abhorred conformity: - A hymn so soft, so smooth, so neatly drest, - Savours of human learning and the beast. - - 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. - - “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, _ne in rude - vulgus cadant_, 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, - - “Your most affectionate kinsman and friend, - - “ENOCH WATTS.” - -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. - -“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 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.” - -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 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.’” - -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 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 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.[15] 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 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 _ennui_ 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— - - There is a land of pure delight, - -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. - -For song being a natural expression of inflamed emotion, 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. - -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 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! - -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 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. “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. - -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_ 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 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.”[16] - -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 I. 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 I., -who sent a copy to Charles V. 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 II. 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. - -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.” - -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, - - Creator, Spirit, by whose aid. - -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.” - -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?”[17] - -It was about the time that Isaac Watts came to London that some of the -assemblies of the saints were shaken 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.[18] -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, and Spiritual Songs, proved -to be an Holy Ordinance of Jesus Christ.” This appeared in 1691.[19] -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. - -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 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. - -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. - -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—_he was not a poet!_ 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—_his poetry will do little -to excite dormant piety_.” 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, but not another word about our -author.[20] 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 - - There shall I bathe my weary soul - In seas of heavenly rest, - And not a wave of trouble roll - Across my peaceful breast. - -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 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: - - How _decent_ and how wise, - How glorious to behold, - Beyond the pomp that charms the eyes - And rites adorned with gold. - -Thus, again, of God: - - He sits on no _precarious_ throne, - Nor borrows leave to be. - -And thus again: - - Let every creature rise and bring - _Peculiar_ honours to our King. - -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. - -Watts has suffered in many ways. Accused by one 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 _Te Deum_ 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 of your Church in doctrines which he did not hold!”[21] 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. - -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, - - Ere the blue heavens were stretched abroad, - From everlasting was the Word: - With God He was; the Word was God, - And must divinely be adored. - - By His own power were all things made; - By Him supported all things stand; - He is the whole creation’s Head, - And angels fly at His command. - - Ere sin was born or Satan fell, - He led the host of morning stars: - Thy generations who can tell, - Or count the number of Thy years? - - But lo! He leaves those heav’nly forms, - The Word descends and dwells in clay, - That He may hold converse with worms, - Dressed in such feeble flesh as they. - - Mortals with joy beheld His face, - The Eternal Father’s only Son; - How full of truth! how full of grace! - When through His eyes the Godhead shone. - - Archangels leave their high abode - To learn new myst’ries here, and tell - The loves of our descending God, - The glories of Immanuel. - -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!— - - Blood hath a voice to pierce the skies, - Revenge the blood of Abel cries; - But the dear stream, when Christ was slain, - Speaks peace as loud from every vein! - -He saw infinite attributes in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, God -manifested in the flesh, and he saw infinite 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. - -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, - - Lord we are blind, we mortals blind. - -Much of the mystic spirit which pervades his verse is perceptible in the -fine paradox in the following expressions of the last verse: - - The Lord of Glory builds His seat - Of gems unsufferably bright; - And lays beneath His sacred feet - Substantial beams of gloomy night! - -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 -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 - - What equal honours shall we bring - To Thee, O Lord, our God, the Lamb? - Since all the notes that angels sing - Are far inferior to Thy name. - -Or, - - When I survey the wondrous cross - On which the Prince of Glory died, - My richest gain I count but loss, - And pour contempt on all my pride. - -Or, - - Up to the fields where angels lie, - And living waters gently roll, - Pain would my thoughts leap out and fly, - But sin hangs heavy on my soul. - - Thy wondrous blood, dear dying Christ, - Can make this load of guilt remove, - And Thou canst hear me where Thou flyest, - On Thy kind wings, celestial Dove! - -Or, - - Descend from heaven, immortal Dove, - Stoop down and take us on Thy wings, - And mount and hear us far above - The reach of these inferior things. - -Or the hymn commencing - - Oh the delights! the heavenly joys! - -Or that, - - Now to the Lord a noble song! - -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 _Praise to God_, are -frequently among the most noble in our language; for instance: - - Sing to the Lord who built the skies, - The Lord that reared this stately frame; - Let all the nation sound His praise, - And lands unknown repeat His name. - - He formed the seas, He formed the hills, - Made every drop, and every dust, - Nature and time, with all her wheels, - And pushed them into motion first. - - Now from His high imperial throne - He looks far down upon the spheres; - He bids the shining orbs roll on, - And round He turns the hasty years. - - Thus shall this moving engine last - Till all His saints are gathered in, - Then for the trumpet’s dreadful blast, - To shake it all to dust again! - - Yet, when the sound shall tear the skies, - And lightning burn the globe below, - Saints, you may lift your joyful eyes, - There’s a new heaven and earth for you. - -He was fond of singing _the uncreated glories of the Son of God_, His -official and mediatorial Majesty, as in that complete and glowing hymn, - - Join all the glorious names. - -Or, - - Go worship at Immanuel’s feet. - -He had to vindicate himself during his life for the use of doxologies, or -hymns of _praise to the Holy Spirit_, as in - - Eternal Spirit, we confess - And sing the wonders of Thy grace. - -Or the invocation, - - Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove! - -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. - -Few writers more affectingly set forth _the death of Christ_: - - He dies! the Friend of sinners dies! - Lo! Salem’s daughters weep around; - A solemn darkness veils the skies, - A sudden trembling shakes the ground. - - Break off your tears, ye saints, and tell - How high our great Deliverer reigns; - Sing how He spoiled the hosts of hell, - And led the monster Death in chains. - - Say, “Live for ever, wondrous King! - Born to redeem and strong to save;” - Then ask the monster, “Where’s thy sting?” - And “Where’s thy victory, boasting grave?” - -The hymn, indeed, contains some weak lines, but the first and the three -last verses have even great dramatic vigour and strength. - -But hymns are not always to shine with splendid lights, _they are to -soothe and comfort_; hence such words as— - - Come hither, all ye weary souls. - -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: - - Jesus can make a dying bed - As soft as downy pillows are, - While on His breast I lean _my_ head, - And breathe my life out sweetly there. - -The old man listened as well as he could to the verse, then turned his -head on the pillow, repeated the words “_my_ 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. - -_Devotion_ is the eminent attribute of these hymns,—ardent, inflamed -rapture of holiness. Well has it been 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. - - Religion never was designed - To make our pleasures less. - - Thou art the sea of love - Where all my pleasures roll, - The circle where my passions move, - And centre of my soul. - - To Thee my spirits fly - With infinite desire, - And yet how far from Thee I lie! - Dear Jesus, raise me higher. - - I cannot bear Thy absence, Lord, - My life expires if Thou depart; - Be thou, my heart, still near my God, - And Thou, my God, be near my heart. - -Such are the streams of devotion on which we are borne in the verses of -Watts. - -Some of his hymns are like _collects_, the compact, comforting little -_watchwords and creeds of the Church_— - - Firm as the earth Thy Gospel stands. - -Or— - - Our God, how firm His promise stands. - -Sometimes we have a fine _bold trumpet-like tone of Faith_: - - Begin, my tongue, some heavenly theme, - And speak some boundless thing; - The mighty works, or mightier name - Of our eternal King. - - His very word of grace is strong - As that which built the skies; - The Voice that rolls the stars along - Speaks all the promises. - - He said, “Let the wide heaven be spread,” - And heaven was stretched abroad: - “Abra’m, I’ll be thy God,” He said, - And He _was_ Abra’m’s God. - -How well he has expressed the _depths of contrition_ in his version of -the 51st Psalm, what plaintive compassion— - - O Thou that hear’st when sinners cry! - -And equally well he has depicted the _happiness_ and _serenity_ of “a -heart sprinkled from an evil conscience:” - - O happy soul that lives on high! - -Or— - - Lord, how secure and blest are they - Who feel the joys of pardoned sin. - -Then how vigorously his notes rouse and stir to the activities of the -_Christian life_: - - Are we the soldiers of the cross, - The followers of the Lamb? - -Or— - - Stand up, my soul, shake off thy fears! - -The _patriotic lyrics_ and hymns of Watts have sounded, how in his day -they throbbed, with that pulse of prayer for our country: - - Shine, mighty God! on Britain shine - With beams of heavenly grace; - Reveal Thy power through all our coasts, - And show Thy smiling face. - - Amidst our isle, exalted high, - Do Thou our glory stand; - And, like a wall of guardian fire, - Surround the favoured land. - -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.[22] - - Let children hear the mighty deeds - Which God performed of old, - Which in our younger years we saw, - And which our fathers told. - - Our lips shall tell them to our sons, - And they again to theirs, - That generations yet unborn - May teach them to their heirs. - -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: - - Our God, our help in ages past, - Our hope for years to come, - Our shelter from the stormy blast, - And our eternal home. - - Under the shadow of Thy throne - Thy saints have dwelt secure: - Sufficient is Thine arm alone, - And our defence is sure. - - Before the hills in order stood, - Or earth received her frame, - From everlasting Thou art God, - To endless years the same. - - Thy word commands our flesh to dust— - “Return, ye sons of men;” - All nations rose from earth at first, - And turn to earth again. - - A thousand ages in Thy sight - Are like an evening gone; - Short as the watch that ends the night - Before the rising sun. - - The busy tribes of flesh and blood, - With all their lives and cares, - Are carried downwards by the flood, - And lost in following years. - - Time, like an ever-rolling stream, - Bears all its sons away; - They fly, forgotten, as a dream - Dies at the opening day. - - Like flowery fields the nations stand, - Pleased with the morning light; - The flowers beneath the mower’s hand - Lie withering ere ’tis night. - - Our God, our help in ages past, - Our hope for years to come, - Be Thou our guard while troubles last, - And our eternal home. - -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. - -What grand expressions of _personal faith_ abound among these verses, -what a radiant casting back of the blunted arrows of doubt and unbelief! - - Questions and doubts are heard no more; - Let Christ and joy be all our theme; - His Spirit seals His Gospel sure, - To every soul that trusts in Him. - - Learning and wit may cease their strife, - When miracles with glory shine; - The Voice that calls the dead to life - Must be almighty and Divine. - -What faith in the _Saviour’s glorious resurrection and second advent_!— - - With joy we tell this scoffing age, - He that was dead hath left His tomb; - He lives above their utmost rage, - And we are waiting till He come. - -_Sabbath songs_, 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— - - Salvation! O the joyful sound! - -Or— - - Plunged in a gulf of dark despair. - -The first _Elegies_ 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:” - - It is the Lord our Saviour’s hand - Weakens our strength amidst the race: - Disease and death at His command - Arrest us and cut short our days. - - Spare us, O Lord, aloud we pray, - Nor let our sun go down at noon; - Thy years are one eternal day, - And must Thy children die so soon? - - Yet in the midst of death and grief, - This thought our sorrow shall assuage, - “Our Father and our Saviour live; - Christ is the same through every age.” - - Before Thy face Thy church shall live, - And on Thy throne Thy children reign: - This dying world shall they survive, - And the dead saints be raised again. - -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: - - Hear what the Voice from heaven proclaims - For all the pious dead! - Sweet is the savour of their names, - And soft their sleeping bed. - -And how often, in similar circumstances, that other sweet requiem: - - Why do we mourn departing friends? - -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: - - Are we not tending upward too, - As fast as time can move? - Nor would we wish the hours more slow - To keep us from our love. - -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: - - Jesus shall reign where’er the sun - Does his successive journeys run. - -Who has more triumphantly followed the spirit of the 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. - - Give me the wings of faith to rise - Within the veil, and see - The saints above; how great their joys, - How vast their glories be! - -Some critics have objected to what seems to us the sweet natural pathos -of that verse: - - How we should scorn the clothes of flesh, - These fetters and this load, - And long for evening to undress, - That we may rest with God. - -Or that fine piece: - - Absent from flesh! O blissful thought! - -And the following verses, not so often quoted, or so well known: - - And is this heaven? and am I there? - How short the road! how swift the flight! - I am all life, all eye, all ear; - Jesus is here my soul’s delight. - - Is this, the heavenly Friend who hung - In blood and anguish on the tree, - Whom Paul proclaimed and David sung, - Who died for them, who died for me? - - Creator-God, eternal light, - Fountain of good, tremendous power, - Oceans of wonders, blissful sight! - Beauty and love unknown before. - - Thy grace, Thy nature, all unknown - In yon dark region whence I came, - Where languid glimpses from Thy throne - And feeble whispers teach Thy name. - - I’m in a world where all is new, - Myself, my God; O blest amaze! - Not my best hopes or wishes knew - To form a shadow of His grace. - - Fixed on my God, my heart, adore; - My restless thoughts, forbear to rove; - Ye meaner passions, stir no more; - But all my powers be joy and love. - -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:” - - Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb! - Take this new treasure to thy trust, - And give these sacred relics room - Awhile to slumber in the dust. - - Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear - Invade thy bounds: no mortal woes - Can reach the forms which slumber here, - And angels watch their soft repose. - - So Jesus slept! God’s dying Son - Passed through the grave and blessed the bed: - Rest here, dear saint, till from His throne - The morning break and pierce the shade! - - Break from His throne, illustrious morn! - Attend, O earth, His sovereign word; - Restore thy trust—a glorious form - Called to ascend and meet the Lord. - -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 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. - -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. - -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: - - The little ants, for one poor grain - _Exert themselves_ and strive. - -Instead of— - - Labour and tug and strive. - -But such emendations are innocent when compared with those in which the -entire doctrine of the hymn has been expelled.[23] Lord Selborne (Sir -Roundell Palmer) has said, “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. - - Before Jehovah’s awful throne, - -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: - - The opening heavens around me shine - With beams of sacred bliss, - -were probably suggested to Watts by Gray’s— - - The meanest flow’ret of the vale, - The simplest note that swells the gale, - The common sun, the air, the skies, - To him are opening paradise. - -Watts’ lines were published nine years before Gray was born! - -Comparing the two great hymn-writers, Isaac Watts 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 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. - -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 - - Land of pure delight - Where saints immortal reign. - -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, 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. - -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, David excites to the praises of -God.” And this has continued true ever since. - -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 _same manner_ 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.e._ 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 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.[24] 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.” - -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: - - Arise, O King of Grace, arise - And enter to Thy rest! - Lo! Thy church waits with longing eyes - Thus to be owned and blest. - - Enter with all Thy glorious train, - Thy Spirit and Thy word; - All that the Ark did once contain - Could not such grace afford. - -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 -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. - -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: - - HEBREW MELODIES CHRISTIANIZED. - - “But since I believe that any Divine sentence, or Christian - verse, agreeable to Scripture, may be sung, 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 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?” - -And, again, he says on the— - - SPIRIT OF THE HEBREW PSALMS. - - “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 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.” - -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 -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.” - -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 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: - - Show pity, Lord: O Lord, forgive; - Let a repenting rebel live; - Are not Thy mercies large and free? - May not a sinner trust in Thee? - -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: - - A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, - On Thy kind arms I fall. - -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’, - - The Lord pours eyesight on the blind, - The Lord supports the sinking mind. - -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 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: - - The Lord in the day of His anger did lay - Your sins on the Lamb, and He bore them away, - -he said, “Stop, Mrs. Brass, don’t you think it should be— - - “The Lord in the day of His _mercy_ did lay?” - -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. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF ISAAC WATTS IN EARLY LIFE. - -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.] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -A Circle of Friends. - - -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 RICHARD CROMWELL. He was a member of Watts’ -church, although he removed from Cheshunt some short time after Watts’ -settlement. - -But a more remarkable person than Richard Cromwell was Cromwell’s niece, -the granddaughter of the great Protector, Mrs. BENDISH, 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 I. 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. -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: - - If ’tis a rugged path you go, - And thousand foes your steps surround, - Tread the thorns down, charge through the foe; - The hardest fight is highest crowned. - -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. - -Among the ministerial friends of Watts stands the almost forgotten name -of JOHN SHOWER, 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. - -And there were men around Watts in the ministry with whom he had great -congeniality of sentiment. Eminent among these was SAMUEL ROSEWELL, -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 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: - - “DEAR BROTHER ROSEWELL, - - “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 same mansions, and give you the pleasure of - welcoming to those bright regions - - “Your affectionate and unworthy friend and brother, - - “ISAAC WATTS. - - “LIME STREET, _7th April, 1722_. - - “Just going to Theobalds. - - “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.” - -And among his friends, as we have already seen, he kept up a considerable -intimacy with his own fellow-townsman and fellow-student, SAMUEL SAY, 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 the Changes of the Silkworm.” Watts thought highly of his -judgment, as the following, among other letters, indicates: - - “_April 11th, 1728._ - - “DEAR SIR, - - “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 _Sheol_ 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 - _soul_, _i.e._, the _life_, may answer the Hebrew manner of the - reduplication of the same thing in other words, yet, as David - sometimes speaks of the _soul_ as a thing distinct from the - body, and may not the _soul_ be taken in this place and _Sheol_ - signify _Hades_, the state of the dead? - - “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 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—_præter mille annos_. 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, - - “I am your affectionate brother and servant, - - “I. WATTS.” - -WILLIAM COWARD 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, 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 -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. - -Among the friends of Watts, whose names ought to be mentioned, we must -not omit that of JOHN SHUTE, LORD BARRINGTON, 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.[25] 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 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 I. 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 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. - -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,[26] 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.” - -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 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: - - “LONDON, _Jan. 11, 1718_. - - “REV. SIR, - - “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 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. - - “I am, sir, your most obliged humble servant, - - “BARRINGTON. - - “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.” - -Yet another of the circle of friends, whose names occur to the mind -when we think of Watts, is the saintly JAMES HERVEY. One of Watts’ -biographers speaks of “the 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: - - “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, - - “JAMES HERVEY.” - -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 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. - -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 PHILIP -DODDRIDGE. 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 limited in the range of their emotions, and never -attempting the lofty and dazzling flight of Watts’ nobler pieces. - -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. - -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. - -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 _alma mater_ beneath the more modest and -obscure roof of a Dissenting academy at Kibworth, in Leicestershire. - -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.” - - “STOKE NEWINGTON, _Oct. 18, 1746_, Saturday. - - “DEAR SIR, - - “My much esteemed friend and brother, - - “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 _conversation_; 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 glad to hear Mrs. Doddridge has - her health better; and I heartily pray for your prosperity, - peace, and success in your daily labours. - - “I am yours affectionately, in our common Lord, - - “I. WATTS. - - “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.’” - -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. - -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. - -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 “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: - - “REV. AND DEAR SIR, - - “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 in your committing a work - to me, which you had yourself projected, as one of the most - considerable services of your life. - - “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. - - “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 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. - - “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 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. - - “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. 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 esteems, so greatly needs, and so warmly returns - that remembrance as, - - “Reverend Sir, your most affectionate brother, - - “And obliged humble servant, - - “PHILIP DODDRIDGE. - - “NORTHAMPTON, _Dec. 13, 1744_.” - -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: - - “REV. SIR, - - “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 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 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, - - “ISAAC WATTS.” - -“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— - - O God of Bethel, by whose hand, - -ought not to be regarded as his. It may not be uninteresting to notice -together the variations in the two hymns: - - LOGAN. - - O God of Bethel! by Whose hand - Thy people still are fed; - Who through this weary pilgrimage - Hast all our fathers led; - - Our vows, our prayers, we now present - Before Thy throne of grace. - God of our fathers! be the God - Of their succeeding race. - - Through each perplexing path of life, - Our wandering footsteps guide: - Give us each day our daily bread, - And raiment fit provide. - - O spread Thy covering wings around, - Till all our wanderings cease, - And at our Father’s loved abode - Our souls arrive in peace. - - Such blessings from Thy gracious hand, - Our humble prayers implore; - And Thou shalt be our chosen God - And portion ever more. - - DODDRIDGE. - - O God of Jacob, by Whose hand - Thine Israel still is fed, - Who through this weary pilgrimage - Hast all our fathers led; - - To Thee our humble vows we raise, - To Thee address our prayer, - And in Thy kind and faithful breast - Deposit all our care. - - If Thou through each perplexing path, - Wilt be our constant guide: - If Thou wilt daily bread supply, - And raiment will provide; - - If Thou wilt spread Thy shield around, - Till these our wanderings cease, - And at our Father’s loved abode - Our souls arrive in peace; - - To Thee, as to our covenant-God, - We’ll our whole selves resign; - And count that not our tenth alone, - But all we have is Thine. - -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 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. - -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. - -“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 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.[27] 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 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.” - -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: - - “PERCY LODGE, _Nov. 15, 1747_. - - “REVEREND SIR, - - “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.’ - - “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 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 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. - - “I am, with an affectionate esteem, Sir, - - “Your most faithful and obliged humble servant, - - “F. HERTFORD.” - -It is impossible not to feel that, viewed from many aspects, Philip -Doddridge must have been Watts’ most 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. - -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.[28] - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -The Countess of Hertford and Mrs. Rowe. - - -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.e._ 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: - - “O Hertford, fitted or to shine in courts - With unaffected grace, or walk the plain - With innocence and meditation joined - In soft assemblage, listen to my song, - Which thy own season paints; when Nature all - Is blooming, and benevolent like thee.” - -A collection of select letters, published by Mr. Hull, in two volumes, -includes eleven written by the Duchess, and 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.’” - -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 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”: - - Struck with a sight of Philomela’s urn, - Eusebia weeps and calls the Muse to mourn; - While from her lips the tuneful sorrows fell, - The groves confess a rising Philomel. - -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 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 -_you_ 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,’[29] 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: - - Teach me to feel another’s woe, - To hide the faults I see; - That mercy I to others show, - That mercy show to me: - -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: - - “_Jan. 17, 1739._ - - “SIR, - - “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[30] 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 of it - to my heart, to which end allow me to beg your prayers as an - assistance. - - “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: - - How lately was yon russet grove - The seat of harmony and love! - How beauteous all the sylvan scene! - The flowers how gay, the trees how green! - But now it no such charms can boast, - Its music gone, its verdure lost; - The changing leaves fall fast away, - And all its pride is in decay; - Where blossoms deckt the pointed thorn - Now hangs the wintry drop forlorn; - No longer from the fragrant bush - Odours exhale, nor roses blush. - Along the late enamelled mead - No golden cowslip lifts its head, - Scarce can the grass its spires sustain, - Chilled by the frost, or drenched with rain. - Alas! just thus with life it fares. - Our youth like smiling spring appears, - Allied to joy, unbroke with cares; - But swiftly fly those cheerful hours, - Like falling leaves, or fading flowers; - We quickly hasten to decline, - And ev’ry sprightly joy resign: - Then be our heart prepared to leave - Those joys, nor at their absence grieve; - Sublimer pleasures let us prove, - And fix our thoughts on those above, - By the bright eye of sacred truth - Review the dangers of our youth, - Think how by turns wild passions raged, - By calm reflection now assuaged, - And bless the gentle ev’ning hour, - When reason best exerts its power, - And drives those tyrants from our breast, - Whose empire they too long possest: - Devotion comes with grace divine, - Around them heavenly glories shine, - While ev’ry gloom their rays dispel, - And banish the deceits of hell; - Ambition now no more aspires, - Contentment mod’rates our desires, - From envy free we can behold - Another’s honours, or his gold, - Nor jealousy our rest alarms, - No longer slaves to mortal charms. - With prudence, patience comes along, - Who smiles beneath oppressive wrong: - If then such peaceful heav’nly guests - Age introduces to our breasts, - Can we his soft approaches fear, - Or heave a sigh, or drop a tear, - Because our outward forms decay, - And time our vigour steals away? - Should we regret our short-lived bloom, - Which, could it last us to the tomb, - Must quickly there to dust consume? - If thus life’s progress we survey, - View what it gives, what takes away, - We shall with thankful hearts declare, - It leaves us all that’s worth our care. - - “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. 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 - - “I am, Sir, - - “Your most faithful humble servant, - - “F. HERTFORD.” - -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 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.” - -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.’ 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.” - - “MARLBOROUGH, _July 30, 1739_. - - “SIR, - - “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 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!” - -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 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.” - -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 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: - - A RURAL MEDITATION. - - Here in the tuneful groves and flow’ry fields, - Nature a thousand various beauties yields: - The daisy and tall cowslip we behold - Arrayed in snowy white, or freckled gold. - The verdant prospect cherishes our sight, - Affording joy unmixed, and calm delight - The forest-walk, and venerable shade, - Wide-spreading lawns, bright rills, and silent glade, - With a religious awe our souls inspire, - And to the heav’ns our raptured thoughts aspire, - To Him who sits in majesty on high, - Who turned the starry arches of the sky; - Whose word ordained the silver Thames to flow, - Raised all the hills, and laid the valleys low; - Who taught the nightingale in shades to sing, - And bade the skylark warble on the wing; - Makes the young steer obedient till the land, - And lowing heifers own the milker’s hand; - Calms the rough sea, and stills the raging wind, - And rules the passions of the human mind. - -This correspondence sets in a very beautiful light the character of this -amiable and excellent lady, no doubt one 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 I. 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. - -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— - - He dies in woe, that thou mayst live in peace. - -It would seem that Watts’ attachment was some time talked about -extensively, for Young refers to it in one of his satires: - - What angels would those be, who thus excel - In theologies, could they sew as well! - Yet why should not the fair her text pursue? - Can she more decently the Doctor woo? - Isaac, a brother of the canting strain, - When he has knocked at his own skull in vain, - To beauteous Marcia often will repair, - With a dark text to light it at the fair. - Oh how his pious soul exults to find - Such love for holy men in womankind! - Charmed with her learning, with what rapture he - Hangs on her bloom, like an industrious bee; - Hums round about her, and with all his power, - Extracts sweet wisdom from so fair a flower. - -More respectfully, Mrs. Barbauld appears to allude to the circumstance -when addressing Mrs. Rowe, she says: - - Thynne, Carteret, Blackmore, Orrery approved, - And Prior praised, and noble Hertford loved, - Seraphic Ken, and tuneful Watts were thine, - And virtue’s noblest champions filled the line. - -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 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. - -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 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. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -Shimei Bradbury. - - -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 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.” - -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.’”[31] - -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.”[32] - -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 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 I. 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.” - -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, 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. - -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 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 _against_ 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’ _(w)hims_.” - -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 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; 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: - - “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 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. - - “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. - - “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 effectually proved - myself all that which you are pleased to subscribe, viz., your - steady, hearty, and real friend, your obedient and devoted - servant, - - “I. WATTS.” - -And the following letter is a very fair illustration of the temper and -spirit of Watts’ replies to his censorious and abusive brother: - - “LIME STREET, _Nov. 1, 1725_. - - “REVEREND SIR, - - “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. - - “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 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 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. - - “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, - - “I. WATTS.” - -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 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.” - -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: - -“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 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.” - -To this came back the following: - -“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?”[33] - -On the whole, it is well to refer to this controversy. It is a painful, -important item in Watts’ life, and brings out 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.” - -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 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, _Pro Christo et patriâ_, 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 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.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -His Times. - - -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 II. to the closing years -of George II. 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 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. - -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.” - -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 -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.[34] - -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 altogether in such a -state as it had not been in since the Restoration of Charles II. - -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 III, 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. - -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 -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.” - -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 XIV., and exhibiting the power and influence of England in the -foreign affairs of Europe in a manner never so remarkably exhibited -before. - -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 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.”[35] 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 I. 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.” - -Watts lived through that great agitation which consigned 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.[36] - -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 -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. - -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 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 -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. - -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 _spectacle_ 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. - -In several pages of this volume glances have been given at the aspects -of the age and its manners, so far as they 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[37] 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. - -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; 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 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. - -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. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -Return to Stoke Newington. - - -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 -(_Stoke Newington_, 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 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 VIII., 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. - -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 -eminence; not less renowned than Clapham for its “Sect,” was Stoke -Newington eminent as the home and haunt of Nonconformist celebrities.[38] -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. - -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, 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. - -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: - - Mourn, ye young gardens, ye unfinished gates, - Ye green enclosures and ye growing sweets - Lament; for ye our midnight hours have known, - And watched us walking by the silent moon - In conference divine, while heavenly fire, - Kindling our breasts, did all our thoughts inspire - With joys almost immortal. - -And again— - - Oft have I laid the awful Calvin by, - And the sweet Cowley, with impatient eye - To see these walls, pay the sad visit here, - And drop the tribute of an hourly tear. - Still I behold some melancholy scene, - With many a pensive thought and many a sigh between. - Two days ago we took the evening air, - I and my grief. - -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. - -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 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.”[39] - -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 -_santa croce_, or _campo santo_ of revered and hallowed dust. - -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 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: - - ISAAC WATTS - - “In Christo mea vita latet, mea gloria Christus, hunc lingua, - hunc calamus celebrat nec magis, tacebit. In uno Jesu omnia.” - -And on the upper corner “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” - -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.’”[40] - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -The World to Come. - - -“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 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. - -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.” - -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. 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.” - -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— - - THE BRAIN BOOK. - - “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 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 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.” - -And thus he endeavours to image to his mind the worlds: - - EARTH, HEAVEN, AND HELL. - - “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 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. - - “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.” - -He teaches and very much elaborates, as Southey says, the doctrine of -Milton: - - —What, if earth - Be but the shadow of Heaven, and things therein - Each to other like, more than on earth is thought? - -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 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 _everywhere_, and do not probably exist -_anywhere_, philosophically they may be said to exist _nowhere_.[41] 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: - - If a star were confined in a tomb, - Its captive light would e’en shine there; - But when it bursts it dissipates the gloom, - And shines through all the sphere. - -“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. - -“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.” - -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 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.[42] - -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— - - CONCERNING THE POSSIBILITY OF APPARITIONS. - - “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 - 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. - - “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?” - -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? - - ALL THINGS PREACH THE END OF TIME. - - “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! 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 ‘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.” - -And we should think that many a believer has read the following with -sentiments of delight: - - CHRIST ADMIRED AND GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. - - “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.’[43] - 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. - - “Come, all ye saints of these latter ages, ‘upon whom the - 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. - - “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, 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. - - “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.’ - - “‘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!’ - - “Then a third shall confess: ‘I was a profane wretch, a - swearer, a blasphemer; I hoped for no heaven, and I feared 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.’ - - “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.’ - - “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!’ - - “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 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. - - “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 all their trophies at the feet of his Saviour, with - humble acknowledgments, and shouts of honour. - - “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. - - “‘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.” - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -The Man. - - -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 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: - - Were I so tall to reach the pole, - And grasp the ocean in a span, - I must be measured by my soul,— - The mind’s the standard of the man. - -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. - -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 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. - -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 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. - -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 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: - -“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?” - -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 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 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: - - TO AMYNTAS. - - “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. - - “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 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.” - -But here are the verses— - - ODE TO LADY SUNDERLAND, 1712. - - Fair nymph, ascend to Beauty’s throne, - And rule that radiant world alone; - Let favourites take thy lower sphere, - No monarchs are thy rivals here. - - The court of Beauty built sublime, - Defies all pow’rs but heaven and time; - Envy, that clouds the hero’s sky, - Aims but in vain her shafts so high. - - Not Blenheim’s field, nor Ister’s flood, - Nor standards dyed in Gallic blood, - Torn from the foe, add nobler grace - To Churchill’s house than Spenser’s face. - - The warlike thunder of his arms - Is less commanding than her charms; - His lightning strikes with less surprise - Than sudden glances from her eyes. - - His captives feel their limbs confined - In iron; she enslaves the mind: - We follow with a pleasing pain, - And bless the conqueror and the chain. - - The Muse that dares in numbers do - What paint and pencil never knew, - Faints at her presence in despair, - And owns th’ inimitable fair. - -Presently appeared the following epigram or _impromptu_ 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!— - - While numerous bards have sounded Spenser’s name, - And made her beauties heirs to lasting fame, - Her memory still to their united lays - Stands less indebted than to Watts’s praise. - What wondrous charms must to that fair be given, - Who moved a mind that dwelt so near to heaven! - -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. - -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 by grace, was to write a biography. _His_ 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 -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.”[44] 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. - -“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. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -Death and Burial. - - -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 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.” - -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. 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?’” - -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.” - -His dying sayings are recorded, and they were all of them of a quiet and -peaceful nature. Dr. Jennings, who 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 -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.” - -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 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 is worthy of all that can be done for him. I am your very -faithful and truly afflicted servant.” - -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: - - “So sleep the saints, and cease to groan, - When sin and death have done their worst: - Christ has a glory like His own - Which waits to clothe their waking dust!” - -And this was the manner in which “this silver cord was loosed, and this -golden bowl broken.” - -They buried him, of course, in Bunhill Fields; thither already had been -borne the bodies of many of those who 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 _Campo Santo_ 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 _Père la Chaise_ 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. - -The history of this pensive enclosure goes back to the reign of Henry -III. 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 _Fens_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 of ground, which, -affection had called the _Bon_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: - - In death divided from their dearest kin, - This was a field to bury strangers in; - Fragments from families untimely reft, - Like spoils in flight, or limbs in battle left, - Lay there[45]⸺ - -The subsequent history of the place justifies another characterization -from the same poet: - - For they were there to this Siberia sent, - Doomed in the grave itself to banishment. - -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: 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 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. - -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, 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: - - “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— - - In uno Jesu omnia. - - 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.’” - - “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.” - -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 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. - -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;[46] it took the shape of a great local celebration in honour of a -man who had conferred 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. - -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.” - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: Isaac Watts, D.D. - -_From the Bust in Dr. Williams’ Library._] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -Summary and Estimate of Prose Writings. - - -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 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.” - -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. - -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 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 _l’Art -de Penser_. 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.”[47] - -As the “Logic” is a methodical and orderly arrangement 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 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. - -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 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. - -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 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.” - -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 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. - - THE SKELETON. - - “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 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. - - “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 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 _hoti_ and the _dioti_—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. - - “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.’” - - GOD IN VEGETATION. - - “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 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 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.” - - FOOD. - - “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 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.” - - CHRIST AS A SUN. - - “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 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, 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 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.” - - APPARENT FOLLY REAL WISDOM. - - “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 - 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.’ - - “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 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.’” - - A PLEA FOR CHRISTIANIZING HORACE. - - “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 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. - - ‘Non est meum, si mugiat Africis - Malus procellis, ad miseras preces - Decurrere, et votis pacisci, - Ne Cypriæ Syriæque merces - - Addant avaro divitias mari; - Dum me, biremis præsidio scaphæ, - Nudum per Ægeos tumultus - Aura ferat, geminusque Pollux.’ - - THE BRITISH FISHERMAN. - - Let Spain’s proud traders, when the mast - Bends groaning to the stormy blast, - Run to their beads with wretched plaints, - And vow and bargain with their saints, - Lest Turkish silks or Tyrian wares - Sink in the drowning ship, - Or the rich dust Peru prepares, - Defraud their long projecting cares, - And add new treasures to the greedy deep. - - My little skiff that skims the shores, - With half a sail and two short oars, - Provides me food in gentler waves; - But if they gape in watery graves - I trust the Eternal Power, whose hand - Has swelled the storm on high, - To waft my boat and me to land, - Or give some angel swift command - To bear the drowning sailor to the sky.” - -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.” - -This circumstance of _the variety of his writings_ 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 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. - -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 _wisdom_ 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,[48] and he will find few other -volumes which will 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 _a n d_ not spell _t u m_? _t h e_, _m e d_? -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. - -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 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;”[49] and the vanities of theology were quite -equal to the vanities of literature, as may be seen in the innumerable -productions of the time. - -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 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. - -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 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. - -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 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 _clearness_. - -He ever kept before him a purpose of _usefulness_, alike in teaching men -what to think about, and how to think about it; indeed, it is simply -true, as Gibbons has remarked, that _perspicuity_ 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 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—_its perfect ease_. 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: - - Smooth be your style, and plain and natural, - To strike the sins of Wapping or Whitehall; - While others think this easy to attain, - Let them but try, and with their utmost pain, - They’ll sweat and strive to imitate in vain. - -Another attribute, to which Gibbons alludes, in Watts’ style is his -_dignity_, 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 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: - -“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 _heathen fathers_ -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 _Rhapsodus_ 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.” - -His _ideas_ 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, 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.” - -And hence his style is so _attractive_; 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: - - THE SOUL AND GOD. - - “My soul is touched with such a Divine influence that it cannot - rest, while God withdraws, _as the needle trembles, and hunts - after the living loadstone_.” - - A SENSITIVE HEART. - - “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.” - - IMPULSIVE CHRISTIANS. - - “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.” - - THE FULFILMENT OF DIVINE PREDICTIONS. - - “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.” - -He had an eminent _power in description_; 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: - - THE FIRST OF MAY. - - “’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 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.” - -The following strikes us as very pleasing: - - ON DISTANT THUNDER. - - “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 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.” - -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[50] 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 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.” - -The reader will not fail to notice, in this nervous passage, the happy -imagery by which the writer gives point to his ideas. - -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 _reverence_ 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.[51] 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 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 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. - -“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.” - -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— - - Dark with excessive light its skirts appear. - -Arianism was vexing the church in general in England in that age.[52] -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 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 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. - -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 -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 _im_plicitly rather than _ex_plicitly. - -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. - -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 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. - -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 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 _crevasse_, while he hath himself - - The secret learned - To mix his blood with sunshine, and to take - The wind into his pulses.[53] - -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 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 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. - -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 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, -_ity_ in solidity, _sion_ in extension, which imply a quality without -including the substance; as white_ness_, 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 _things_ are made by God, or Nature, _words_ 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 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 _sub-stans_, the substance as of -all souls, so of all being. - -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: - - SUNBEAMS AND STARBEAMS. - - “What a surprising work of God is vision, that notwithstanding - all these infinite meetings and crossings of starbeams 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 - stupendous bodily organ, the eye, and not adore the Wisdom that - contrived it?” - -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.[54] Thus Dr. Watts argues in his remarks: - - THE DIRECTION OF MOTION A PROOF OF DEITY. - - “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 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 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?” - -In the same manner, also, he replies to the modern doctrine of -_traducianism_ in his remarks on - - CREATION OR CONSERVATION. - - “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 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 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.” - -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 -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: - - NAMES AND NAMING THINGS. - - “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 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.” - -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: - - CLASSIFICATION OF CAUSES. - - “_A deficient cause_ 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 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. - - “_A permissive cause_ 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. - - “_Note._—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. - - “_A moral permissive cause_ removes moral impediments, or takes - away prohibitions, and gives leave to act: so a 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. - - “_Query._—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? - - “_A condition_ has been usually caused _causa sine quâ non_, - 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. - - “_Note._—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.” - - 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 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 XIV. He gives the following - side-glance to the wars in Flanders, and on the borders of the - Rhine, and he refers to the importance, not only of fighting - the enemy abroad, but resisting vice at home. He exclaims, in a - remarkable passage: - - “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 _you_ have hitherto ‘resisted - unto blood striving against sin.’ In a war of more than twelve - years’ continuance (_i.e._, 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.’[55] 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.” - -_Watts in the pulpit_ 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 -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. - - A SCALE OF BLESSEDNESS. - - “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 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?[56] 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 - 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.” - -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 _fully -established in the belief of the Deity of the Blessed Three_, though I -know not the manner of the explication.” - - THE TRINITY. - - “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. - - “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 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.’ - - “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 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! - - “This is a nobler union and a more intense pleasure than _the - Man_ 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. - - “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 in silence, and our whole souls into - wonder and adoration.” - -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 - - CENSORIOUS CHRISTIANS. - - “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 - 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.” - -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 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: - - Whose lamp at midnight hour - Is seen in some high lonely tower, - Where he may oft outwatch the Bear - With thrice great Hermes, or unsphere - The spirit of Plato, to unfold - What worlds or what vast regions hold - The immortal mind that hath forsook - Her mansion in this fleshly nook. - -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 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. - -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. 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. - -[Illustration: MONUMENT OF DR. WATTS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.] - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] “Dr. Isaac Watts,” a Lecture by Hermann Carlyle, LL.B., seventh -minister of the church of which Dr. Watts’ father was for forty-eight -years a deacon. - -[2] 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. - -[3] 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. - -[4] See Appendix. - -[5] Walter Wilson’s “Life of Defoe,” vol. i. pp. 26, 27. - -[6] “The Improvement of the Mind,” chap. iv. of “Books and Reading.” - -[7] 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. - -[8] “History and Antiquities of Stoke Newington.” By William Robinson, -LL.D., F.S.A. - -[9] 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. - -[10] Matt. xviii. 20. - -[11] Originally Mart Lane. - -[12] “Quarterly Review,” vol. lxxxix. pp. 303, 304. - -[13] “Ode to Mr. Pinhorne.” Translated by Dr. Gibbons. - -[14] Lord Lytton, in “Devereux.” - -[15] “Quarterly Review,” No. 222, April, 1862. Art. Hymnology. - -[16] “British and Foreign Evangelical Review,” 1865. - -[17] “The Poet of the Sanctuary,” etc. By Josiah Conder. 1857. - -[18] “The Psalter and the Hymn Book.” Three Lectures by James Hamilton. - -[19] See Crosbie’s “History of the English Baptists” (1740), vol. iii. - -[20] “Quarterly Review,” vol. xxxviii. Art. Psalmody. - -[21] “Letter to Rev. S. F. Macdonald,” by James Martineau, 1859. - -[22] “Old Town Folk,” chap. iii. - -[23] 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.” - -[24] 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. - -[25] Lord Barrington’s “Theological Works,” 3 vols. - -[26] “Biog. Brit.” Article, Barrington. - -[27] 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: - - Give me the wings of faith to rise - Within the veil, and see - The saints above, how great their joys, - How bright their glories be. - - Once they were mourning here below, - And wet their couch with tears, - They wrestled hard, as we do now, - With sins, and doubts, and fears. - - I ask them whence their victory came; - They with united breath - Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb, - Their triumph to His death. - - They marked the footsteps that He trod, - His zeal inspired their breast; - And, following their Incarnate God, - Possess the promised rest. - - Our glorious Leader claims our praise - For His own pattern given, - While the long cloud of witnesses - Show the same path to heaven. - -[28] See an admirable and interesting summary of Doddridge’s Life and -Character,—“Philip Doddridge:” “North British Review.” - -[29] 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. - -[30] Mr. Waller’s lines, to which her ladyship refers, are at the -conclusion of his Divine Poems: - - The soul’s dark cottage, battered and decayed, - Lets in new light through chinks that time has made: - Stronger by weakness wiser men become, - As they draw near to their eternal home: - Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view, - That stand upon the threshold of the new. - -The verses of Dr. Watts which her ladyship intends is the poem in his -“Horæ Lyricæ,” entitled “A Sight of Heaven in Sickness.” - -[31] “Daniel Defoe, His Life and Recently Discovered Writings.” By -William Lee. 3 vols. - -[32] See “Memoirs of the Life and Times of Daniel Defoe,” etc. By Walter -Wilson, Esq. - -[33] See the whole of this in the “Posthumous Works of the late learned -and Rev. Isaac Watts,” 1779. - -[34] See an interesting table of “Memorable Affairs in my Life and -Coincidents,” in Watts’ writing, in Appendix to this volume. - -[35] See “History of England,” by Earl Stanhope, vol. i. chap. 1. - -[36] 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.” - -[37] Essay on “Popular Ignorance.” - -[38] See the “Clapham Sect.” Sir James Stephen’s Essays in -“Ecclesiastical Biography.” - -[39] “Memorials, etc. etc. of the late W. M. Bunting.” - -[40] Doddridge’s “Life and Correspondence,” vol. iv. p. 520. - -[41] “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 _Place_, very plainly a disembodied spirit, or we ought rather -to say, an unembodied spirit, or sheer mind, is NOWHERE.”—Isaac Taylor’s -“Physical Theory of Another Life,” chap. ii. - -[42] See Preface to the second vol. of “World to Come,” Octavo edition. - -[43] 1 Cor. i. 26. - -[44] 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. - -[45] Montgomery on the Cholera Mount of Sheffield. - -[46] “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.” - -[47] “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 _the art of thinking_. 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.” - -[48] “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. - -“Athenian Sport; or, Two Thousand Paradoxes Merrily Argued, by a Member -of the Athenian Society.” - -“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. - -[49] “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. - -[50] Rogers’ “Life of Howe,” p. 476. - -[51] 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, M.A., -F.S.A., the late Unitarian minister of Southampton, in which the old -exploded dishonest statements were all reiterated. - -[52] This is illustrated and manifest by the writings of Waterland, which -are almost contemporary with the discussions of Watts. - -[53] J. R. Lowell. - -[54] This matter has been well argued against the Atheistic view, in a -very interesting little pamphlet, “Croll on the Conservation of Force.” - -[55] Psalm lxxvi. 5, 10. - -[56] “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.” - - - - -TABLE OF COINCIDENTS. - - -_Mention has been made in p. 14 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._ - -[Illustration] - - COINCIDENTS. MEMORANDA. - - 1693: July 13: Grandmo. I was admitted to Mr. T. Rows - Watts dyed Church. Dec. 1693 - - I went into yᵉ Country June. 1694 - - Dwelt at my father’s house - 2 years & ¼. - - Came to Sʳ John Hartopp’s to - be a Tutor to his Son at - Newington Oct. 15. 1696 - - 1697. Jun. 11: Grandfa. - Tanton dyed - - 12 Cousin Isaac Began to preach, after I had - Watts dyed pursued University Studys - above 8 years. July. 17. 1698 - - 1697 Peace at Reswic Went to Southampton and - concluded preached there severall times - in a visit to my friends. Augᵗ: 1698. - - 1698/9 Cousin John Preacht as Dr. Chanceys - Chapmā of Portsm dyed Assistant in yᵉ Church at - Mark Lane, & a little after - that my fever and weakness - began. Feb. 1698/9 - - 1699/1700 Feb: Mʳ Wᵐ Adams Paid another Visit to Southampton - dyed of 5 weeks. July 1699 - - 1700. March 30. Grandmo. Another. June 1700 - Tanton [died.] - - May 22. Mʳ John Pook Went to yᵉ Bath by yᵉ advice - of Physicians. June. 9. 1701. - Novʳ: 11: Mʳ Tho. - Gunston - From yᵉ Bath to Southampton July. 1701 - Thence to Tunbridge. Sept 3 1701. - returned to Newington Nov. 3: - & to preaching at Mark Lane. Nov: 1701 - - So yᵗ I was detained from Study & preaching - 5 o/m by my Weakness. Except one very - short discourse at Southto. in extreme - necessity. - - Dr. Chancy having left his people, - Aprill 1701. & I being returned to - preach among ’em, they Call’d me to - yᵉ Pastorall office. Jan. 15. 1701/2 - - 1702 March 8th, Morning: Accepted it March 8⸺ - King Wᵐ dyed & was ordained March 18. 1701/2 - - Visited my friends at Southampton July. 1702. - - Seizd wᵗʰ violent Jaundice from Septʳ 8 or - & Cholic 3 weeks after my thereabout to - return to London & had a Novʳ 27 or 8 - very slow recovery—8 or 9 - weeks Illness - - This year (viz) 1702 by Slow degrees - removed from Newington to Mʳ Tho: - Hollis’s in the Minories. 1702 - - Mrs. Owen Dr Owen’s June—Mʳ Samˡˡ Price was chosen by yᵉ - Widow dyed Janʸ. 18: Church to assist me in preaching 1703 - 1703/4 - - 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. - - 1703 Novʳ 26 Friday night Decʳ: after having intermitted in a great - and Saturday morning, measure a method of study and pursuit of - the Great and Dreadfull Learning, 4 years, by reasō of my great - Storm indispositions of body and weakness of head - (excepᵗ w: was of absolute necessity for my - Constant preaching) & being not satisfyd to - 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. Decʳ 1703 - - Visited my friends at Southto. May 1704 - - Augᵗ: 31. 1704 Bro: Remov’d our Meeting place to pinners - Richard marryd hall and began expositions of - Scripture. June 1704 - - Br. Joseph Brandley my Visited Southton July 1705 - first servᵗ went away - Decʳ 1704: & Edwd. - Hitchin came - - Published my Poems Decʳ 1705 - - Augᵗ 1705 Mʳ Tho: Rowe - my Tutor dyed - - Mʳ Benoni Rowe my Went to Southton May. 18ᵗʰ 1706 returned - intimate friend dyed agⁿ wᵗʰ but small recruit of health. - Apˡˡ: 1706 July 5ᵗʰ - - Bro: Thomas marry’d, - May 9ᵗʰ: 1706 - went to Tunbridge Augᵗ 8ᵗʰ: Returned much - stronger Augᵗ 30. - Publisht essay against - Uncharitableness Apˡˡ 1707. - Went to Southton July, returned July Went - to Tunbridg: Augᵗ: returned Sepᵗ 3ᵈ - - Union of E & Scot: May All this Year my health has been encouraging - 1ˢᵗ 1707 - - This year yᵉ French Publisht my Hymns & Spˡˡ Songs July 1707 - prophetts made a great Overturned in a coach without hurt. Oct. 5. - noise in our nation, 1707 - and drew in Mʳ Lacy, Preached a reformation Sermō: Oct. 6. 1707, - Sir R. Bulckley &c. 200 and printed it - or more had - yᵉ agitations, 40 had yᵉ - inspiration—Provd a - delusion of Satan at - Birminghā Feb 3 or 4ᵗʰ - 1707/8 - - Sister Sarah marryed. Went to Southtoⁿ—and afterward to Tunbr: - Feb: 1707/8 Augᵗ 1708 - - Pretender’s invasion Removed our Meeting place to Bury Street - disappointed. March: Sepʳ 29: 1708. - 1708 - - May 25 1708 The Prophetts Printed 2ᵈ Edition of Hymns & 2ᵈ ed: of - disappointed by Mʳ Eams Poems: Apˡˡ & May 1709. - not rising frō the Dead - - Terrible long snowy winter - 1708/9 - - Bro R: came to settle in Went to Southton: June: Tunbridg. Augᵗ 1709 - Londō: Oct 7 1709 - - Mar: 1 1709/10 yᵉ Mob rose Edwᵈ Hitchen my Servᵗ went away Decʳ: 31. - & pulled down yᵉ pews I bought a horse for my health Apˡˡ: 1710 - and gallerys of 6 I rode down to Southton, & back agⁿ June & - meeting houses (viz) according to yᵉ accoᵗᵗ: I kept I rode above - Mʳ Burgess, Mʳ Bradbury, 800 mile frō Apˡˡ 13ᵗʰ to Sepʳ 28ᵗʰ - Mʳ Earle, Mʳ Wright, Mʳ I removed from Mʳ. Hollis’s & went to live - Hamilton, & Mʳ Chr: wᵗʰ Mʳ Bowes att Dec. 30ᵗʰ & John Merchant - Taylor but were my Servᵗ: came to me - dispersed by yᵉ Guards Went to Southton June, returned July - under Capt: Horsey at 1 - or 2 in yᵉ morning. - - Mʳ Arthur Shallot senʳ Went to Tunbridge Augᵗ: returned 7 Sepʳ - dyed: 4ᵗʰ Feb 1710/11 being under a disorder of my stomach, - and Mʳ Tho: Hunt and freqᵗ pains of yᵉ head. Found some - merchant & his wife relief at Tunbr: waters. - dyed about yᵉ same time. - - Mʳˢ Ann Pickford dyed - Apˡˡ: 7ᵗʰ 1711. - - My Lady Hartopp dyed - Novʳ: 9ᵗʰ: & Mʳˢ - Gould, Novʳ 15ᵗʰ 1711. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -INDEX. - - - Abney House, old, 223 - Sir Thomas, 76 - - Academy at Gloucester, the, 25 - at Stoke Newington, 15 - - Acrostic, an, 7 - - Anecdotes—Blind woman and Watts’ hymns, the, 134; - Bradbury and Burnet, 191; - Bradbury and Dr. Watts, 193; - death of an aged minister, 113; - Derby (Earl) and the blind woman, 134; - dying Webster, the, 134; - giant and pigmy, 248; - of Luther, 97; - sceptic defeated, the, 146; - stonemason’s dream, the, 5; - text for Queen Anne, a, 202; - “That the great Dr. Watts?” 247; - Watts’ (W)_hims_, 193; - “What think you of death?” 269; - Whitefield and Watts, 261 - - Anne’s reign, close of Queen, 209 - - Arianism of Watts’ day, the, 311 - - Artificial poetry, 58 - - Atonement, the poet of the, 108 - - Atterbury, Bishop, 210 - - Augustine, St., on the songs of the Church, 97 - - - Barbauld, Mrs., _quo._, 186 - - Barrington, Lord, 144 - letter to Watts, 147 - - Baxter on sacred hymns, 100 - - Bendish, Mrs., 136 - - Birth and childhood of Watts, 1 - - Blair’s “Grave,” 215 - - Bookmen, the age of great, 339 - - Bradbury, Thomas, 189, 190; - and Bishop Burnet, 191; - and Dr. Watts, 192; - characteristics, 202; - Defoe’s reproof to, 189; - political preacher, 190 - - Bunhill Fields, its associations, 265 - - Bunting, W. M., _quo._, 223 - - - Carey’s tombstone, inscription, 134 - - Carter, Mrs. Elizabeth, 180 - - Caryl’s “Book of Job,” 46 - - Catechism, Watts’, 141 - - Cedar tree and the scythe, the, 37 - - Character of Watts, 248 - - Chauncy, Dr. Isaac, 48 - - Christ, Psalms restored to, 129 - - Classical sentiment, translation, 71 - - Coincidents, table of (_see_ Appendix) - - Collins, Antony, and Lord Barrington, 146 - - Comet, lines on a, 12 - - Conder, Josiah, _quo._, 100 - - Controversy between Watts and Bradbury, 194-201 - - Countess of Hertford and Mrs. Rowe, 172; - and the Rise and Progress of Religion, 167 - - Coward, William, 142 - - Critics, hostile, 111 - - Cromwell, Richard, 80 - - Crucial events, 14 - - - Daughters, a group of, 36 - - Death, 259 - - Defoe in the pillory, 208; - quoted, 15 - - Derby, Earl, and the blind woman, 134 - - Devotion the attribute of Watts’ hymns, 113 - - Dissenters, Shortest way with, 78 - - Doddridge, Dr. Philip, 151 - - Dying, 262 - - - Elegy, a lovely, 36 - - England in the times of the last Stuarts, 12 - - England’s history, happiest period of, 206 - - English hymnology, 99 - - Epigram, an, 174, 255 - - Erskine, Ralph, and Watts’ hymns, 122 - - Expression, fervour of, 65 - - - Faith, expressions of personal, 117 - - Family, in the Hartopp, 32 - last of the Hartopp, 38 - - Father, imprisonment of Watts’, 1 - - Fleetwood, General, 35 - - Foster, John, _quo._, 215 - - Friend, letter to an afflicted, 53 - - Friends, Watts’, 136 - - Fuller, Thomas, on death, 260 - - - Gale, Theophilus, 16 - - Gardiner, Colonel, 166 - - Gibbons, Dr., _quo._, 53, 54, 89, 256, 260, 261 - - Girdlers’ Hall church, 22 - - Gloucester academy, the, 25 - - Glover’s “Leonidas,” 175 - - Grandfather and grandmother of Watts, 4 - - Gunston, Thomas, 220 - - - Harris, Robert, _quo._, 257 - - Hart, Josiah, 20 - - Hartopp, Sir John, 33; - daughters of, 36 - - Hartopps, last of the, 38 - - Hertford, Countess of, 172; - friendship with Watts, 174; - letters, character of, 173; - letters to Watts, 167, 174, 176, 179, 181, 182; - modesty, 182; - poetry, 177, 184 - - Hervey, James, 148; - letter to Watts, 150 - - Hollis family, the, 51 - - “Horæ Lyricæ,” 57 - - House in French Street, the old, 11; - old Abney, 223; - Stoke Newington, 32; - Theobalds, 79 - - Hughes, John, 20 - - Hymns, Apostolic, 90 - - Hymn, Augustine’s definition of a, 92; - origin of Watts’ first, 30; - ? what is a, 93 - - Hymnology, Christian, 91; - English, 99 - - - Industry, mental, 50; - of Watts, 249 - - - Johnson, Dr., _quo._, 17, 18, 75, 96, 313 - - Jones, Rev. Samuel, 25 - - Jennings, Dr., _quo._, 272 - - - Keble’s “Christian Year,” 89; - criticism of Watts’ poetry, 103 - - Ken, Bishop, and Watts contrasted, 59 - - Kennedy, Dr., _quo._, 111 - - Kentish petition, the, 207 - - Knox, A., criticism on Watts, 102 - - - Latin, thinking in, 105 - - Letters—Countess of Hertford to Watts, 167, 174, 176, 179, 181, 182; - Doddridge to Watts, 164; - Doddridge’s dedicatory, 155; - Hervey to Watts, 150; - Jewel to Peter Martyr, 99; - Lord Barrington to Watts, 147; - of Enoch Watts, 84; - Secker to Watts, 25; - to Amsterdam, 160; - to an afflicted friend, 53; - to Bradbury, 195, 197; - to Doddridge, 153: - to Samuel Say, 141; - to Thomas Rosewell, 139; - Watts to his father, 6 - - Liddon, Canon, _quo._, 90 - - Lispings in numbers, 7 - - Logan and Doddridge, 162 - - London in Watts’ day, 42 - - Luther’s songs, 97 - - - Macaulay, Lord, _quo._, 211 - - Mansion, an old family, 32 - - Mark Lane chapel, 54; - the church in, 46 - - Marot, Clement, 98 - - Martineau, James, _quo._, 106 - - “Media Vita,” the, 95 - - Messianic version of the Psalms, 126 - - Mind of Watts, seraphic, 308 - - Minories, the, 51 - - Modesty of Watts, 132 - - Montgomery’s estimate of Watts’ hymns, 88 - - Monument to Watts, 271 - - Morton, Rev. Charles, 16 - - Motto, a, 203 - - Mystic, Watts a, 109 - - - Nature, Watts’ love of, 63 - - Nights, sleepless, 83 - - Nonconformist, a political, 190 - service, early, 43 - - Nonconformists of old London, 45 - - - Papacy, Watts’ antipathy to, 211 - - Parentage of Watts, 3 - - Parker, Mr., _quo_., 264, 265 - - Pastor, a youthful, 49 - - Pastor of a London church, 40 - - Persecution, the child of, 2 - - Personal appearance of Watts, 233 - - Personification, a definition of, 60 - - Personifications, a constellation of, 61 - - Perspicuity of Watts, 329 - - Philosophical works of Watts, 315 - - Physical theory of another life, 233 - - Pinhorne, Rev. John, 8 - - Poetry of Watts’ time, 58 - - Poets, imperfections of, 105 - - Polhill, David, 207 - - Pope, a criticism on, 175 - - Portrait of Watts, a, 224 - - Prayer, a beautiful, 309 - - Preacher, Watts as a, 40 - - Precocity, 7 - - Price, Samuel, 54 - - Prose writings, Estimate and summary, 273 - - Psalmless churches, 101 - - Psalms, Watts’, 126 - - Pupil, Watts’, 38 - - Puritan reminiscence, 43 - - - “Quarterly Review,” _quo_., 59 - - - Relic, an interesting, 270 - - Resignation in sorrow, 173 - Watts’, 260 - - Rise and Progress of Religion, etc., 155, 162 - - Rogers, Henry, _quo_., 306 - - Rogers, Samuel, “Human Life,” characterized, 67 - - Rosewell, Samuel, death of, 138 - letter to, 139 - - Rowe, Mrs., 173, 187 - and Dr. Watts, 185 - - Rowe, Thomas, 17, 24 - - - Sacheverell mob, doings of the, 209 - - Saltzburgers, the, 213 - - Say, Samuel, 21, 140 - - Schism Bill, the, 209 - - Scott, Dr. Daniel, 26 - - Selborne, Lord, _quo._, 122 - - Secker, Archbishop, 25 - - Sermons, branching, 306; - satirized by Watts, 306 - - Shimei Bradbury, 189 - - Shower, John, 138 - - Singing controversy, the, 101 - - Southampton gaol, 2; - of Watts’ day, 9; - plague at, 11 - - Southey, Dr., _quo._, 165 - - Spirit, a meek and quiet, 199 - - Stoke Newington, 218; - side of life, 67; - the old house at, 32 - - Storm of 1703, the great, 208 - - Students, Watts’ fellow, 19 - - Study, methods of, 18; - Watts’, 82 - - Suburb, an old London, 55 - - - Theobalds, the old house at, 79 - - Theological works of Watts, 313 - - Theology, nature of Watts’, 109 - - Thomson _quo._, 172 - - Times of Watts, 206 - - Tunbridge Wells, 250 - - Tutor, Watts as a, 37 - - - Unitarians and Watts, the, 106, 313 - - - Verse, a perfect, 104 - - Verse, the accident of Watts’ life, 73 - - Verses, satiric, 69 - - - Waller _quo._, 176 - - Walsh and Fletcher, death of, 259 - - Watchwords and Creeds, 115 - - Well, Watts’, 257 - - Wesley, Charles, and Watts contrasted, 124 - - “Wesleyan Magazine” _quo._, 107 - - Wesleys’ Obligations to Watts, the, 123 - - Words, dying, 262 - - “World to Come” criticised, 226 - - - Young, Dr., 216; - _quo._, 186 - - - Zodiac, signs of the, 72. - - -LONDON: PARDON AND SON, PRINTERS, PATERNOSTER ROW. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISAAC WATTS; HIS LIFE AND -WRITINGS, HIS HOMES AND FRIENDS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -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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