The Story of Our Hymns Part 24

Early in life young Watts had revealed signs of poetic genius. As a boy of seven years he had amused his parents with his rhymes. As he grew older he became impatient with the wretched paraphrases of the Psalms then in use in the Reformed churches. These views were shared generally by those who possessed a discriminating taste in poetry. "Scandalous doggerel" was the term applied by Samuel Wesley, father of the famous Wesley brothers, to the versified Psalms of Sternhold and Hopkins, who had published the most popular psalm-book of the day.

When young Watts ventured to voice his displeasure over the psalm-singing in his father's church in Southampton, one of the church officers retorted: "Give us something better, young man." Although he was only eighteen years old at the time, he accepted the challenge and wrote his first hymn, which was sung at the following Sunday evening services. The first stanza seems prophetic of his future career:

Behold the glories of the Lamb Amidst His Father's throne; Prepare new honors for His Name, And songs before unknown.

The hymn met with such favorable reception that the youthful poet was encouraged to write others, and within the next two years he produced nearly all of the 210 hymns that const.i.tuted his famous collection, "Hymns and Spiritual Songs," published in 1707. This was the first real hymn-book in the English language.

Twelve years later he published his "Psalms of David," a metrical version of the Psalter, but, as he himself stated, rendered "in the language of the New Testament, and applied to the Christian state and worship."

Indeed, the Psalms were given such a distinctively Christian flavor that their Old Testament origin is often overlooked. Witness, for example, the opening lines of his rendition of the Seventy-second Psalm:

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun Does his successive journeys run.

In addition to being a preacher and a poet, Watts was an ardent student of theology and philosophy, and wrote several notable books. Always frail in health from childhood, his intense studies finally resulted in completely shattering his const.i.tution, and he was compelled to give up his parish.

During this period of physical distress, the stricken poet was invited to become a guest for a week in the home of Sir Thomas Abney, an intimate friend and admirer. The friendship continued to grow, and inasmuch as Watts did not improve in health, he was urged to remain. He finally so endeared himself to the Abney family that they refused to let him go, and he who had come to spend a week remained for the rest of his life--thirty-six years!

The great hymnist died on November 25, 1748, and was buried at Bunhill Fields, London, near the graves of John Bunyan and Daniel Defoe. A monument to his memory was placed in Westminster Abbey, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an Englishman.

To Isaac Watts we are indebted for some of our most sublime hymns. "When I survey the wondrous cross" has been named by Matthew Arnold as the finest hymn in the English language, and most critics concur in the judgment. Certainly it is one of the most beautiful. John Julian, the noted hymnologist, declares that it must be cla.s.sified with the four hymns that stand at the head of all English hymns.

Other hymns of Watts continue to hold their grip on the Christian Church after the pa.s.sing of two centuries. No Christmas service seems complete without singing his beautiful paraphrase of the ninety-eighth Psalm, "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!" Another hymn, "O G.o.d, our help in ages past," based on the ninetieth Psalm, is indispensable at New Year's time.

Then there is the majestic hymn of worship, "Before Jehovah's awful throne," as well as the appealing Lenten hymn, "Alas, and did my Saviour bleed?" And who has not been stirred by the challenge in "Am I a soldier of the cross?" Other hymns by Watts include such favorites as "There is a land of pure delight," "Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove," "O that the Lord would guide my ways," "My dear Redeemer and my Lord," "How beauteous are their feet," "Come, sound His praise abroad," "My soul, repeat His praise," "O bless the Lord, my soul," "Lord of the worlds above," "Lord, we confess our numerous faults," "In vain we seek for peace with G.o.d,"

"Not all the blood of beasts," "So let our lips and lives express," "The Lord my Shepherd is," and "When I can read my t.i.tle clear."

Although Watts never married, he deeply loved little children, and he is the author of some of the most famous nursery rhymes in the English language. The profound genius that produced "O G.o.d, our help in ages in past" also understood how to appeal to the childish mind by means of such happy little jingles as, "How doth the little busy bee" and "Let dogs delight to bark and bite," as well as by the exquisite cradle-song:

Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber; Holy angels guard thy bed; Heavenly blessings without number Gently falling on thy head.

Sleep, my babe, thy food and raiment, House and home, thy friends provide; All without thy care or payment, All thy wants are well supplied.

How much better thou'rt attended Than the Son of G.o.d could be, When from heaven He descended, And became a child like thee.

Soft and easy is thy cradle, Coa.r.s.e and hard thy Saviour lay, When His birthplace was a stable, And His softest bed the hay.

Seeking the Heavenly Prize

Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve, And press with vigor on; A heavenly race demands thy zeal, And an immortal crown.

A cloud of witnesses around Hold thee in full survey: Forget the steps already trod, And onward urge thy way.

'Tis G.o.d's all-animating voice That calls thee from on high; 'Tis His own hand presents the prize To thine aspiring eye:

That prize with peerless glories bright Which shall new l.u.s.ter boast, When victors' wreaths and monarchs' gems Shall blend in common dust.

Blest Saviour, introduced by Thee, Have I my race begun; And, crowned with victory, at Thy feet I'll lay my honors down.

Philip Doddridge (1702-1751).

DODDRIDGE: PREACHER, TEACHER AND HYMNIST

Philip Doddridge was one of England's gifted evangelical preachers. Like the Wesley brothers, he came from a large family. While there were nineteen children in the Wesley family, Philip Doddridge was the last of twenty children.

The religious background of the Doddridge family was significant.

Although his father was an oil merchant in London, his grandfather had been one of the Independent ministers under the Commonwealth who were ejected in 1662. Both of his parents were pious people, and Philip, who was born June 26, 1702, was brought up in a religious atmosphere.

He was such a delicate child that his life was despaired of almost from birth. His parents died while he was yet quite young, but kind friends cared for the orphan boy and sent him to school.

Because he revealed such unusual gifts as a student, the d.u.c.h.ess of Bedford offered to give him a university training on condition that he would become a minister of the Church of England. This, however, Philip declined to do, and he entered a nonconformist seminary instead.

At the age of twenty-one years he was ordained as pastor of the Independent congregation at Kibworth, England. Six years later he began his real life work at Northampton, where he served as the head of a theological training school and preached in the local congregation.

To this school came young men from all parts of the British Isles and even from the continent. Most of them prepared to become ministers in the Independent Church. Doddridge himself was practically the whole faculty.

Among his subjects were Hebrew, Greek, Algebra, Philosophy, Trigonometry, Logic, and theological branches.

As a hymn-writer Doddridge ranks among the foremost in England. He was a friend and admirer of Isaac Watts, whose hymns at this time had set all England singing. In some respects his lyrics resemble those of Watts.

Although they do not possess the strength and majesty found in the latter's hymns, they have more personal warmth and tenderness. Witness, for instance, the children's hymn:

See Israel's gentle Shepherd stand With all-engaging charms; Hark! how He calls the tender lambs, And folds them in His arms.

Note also the spiritual joy that is reflected in the hymn so often used at confirmation:

O happy day, that stays my choice On Thee, my Saviour and my G.o.d!

Well may this glowing heart rejoice, And tell its raptures all abroad.

Something of Doddridge's own confiding trust in G.o.d is expressed in the beautiful lines:

Shine on our souls, eternal G.o.d!

With rays of beauty shine; O let Thy favor crown our days, And all their round be Thine.

Did we not raise our hands to Thee, Our hands might toil in vain; Small joy success itself could give, If Thou Thy love restrain.

Other noted hymns by Doddridge include such gems as "Hark, the glad sound, the Saviour comes," "Great G.o.d, we sing that mighty hand," "O Fount of good, to own Thy love," and "Father of all, Thy care we bless."

Doddridge wrote about four hundred hymns. Most of them were composed for use in his own congregation in connection with his sermons. None of them was published during his life-time, but ma.n.u.script copies were widely circulated among the Independent congregations in England. The fact that about one-third of his hymns are still in common use on both sides of the Atlantic bears witness of their unusual merit.

Though Doddridge struggled under the burden of feeble health, his life was filled with arduous duties. When he was only forty-eight years old it became apparent that he had fallen a victim to tubercular infection. He was advised to leave England for Lisbon, Portugal. Lacking funds for the voyage, friends in all parts of England came to his aid. The journey was undertaken, but on October 26, 1751, he died at Lisbon.

A Hymn of the Ages