Isaac Watts (July 17, 1674-November 25, 1748) was an English dissenting theologian, poet and hymn writer. He composed over 600 hymns, many of which are still sung. His work, Isaac Watts' Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, 1707, was chosen, along with the Bible, as a principal textbook to teach reading in the public schools of the District of Columbia by President Thomas Jefferson, who chaired the school board and authored the city's first plan of education.
In his Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, 1707, Isaac Watts wrote the carol, "Joy to the World":
<Joy to the World, the Lord is come,
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart, prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing!
Joy to the World, the Savior reigns,
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, Repeat, the sounding joy!
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove,
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, and wonders, of His love!> 1674IW001
Isaac Watts wrote in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707, "The Excellency of the Bible":
<The stars, that in their courses roll,
Have much instruction given;
But thy good Word informs my soul
How I may climb to heaven.> 1674IW002
Isaac Watts wrote in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707, "Praise for the Gospel":
<How glad the heathens would have been,
That worship idols, wood and stone,
If they the book of God had seen,
`Or Jesus and his gospel known!> 1674IW003
Isaac Watts wrote in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707, "Praise to God for Learning to Read":
<Dear Lord, this Book of thine
Informs me where to go,
For grace to pardon all my sin,
And make me holy too.> 1674IW004
In Psalm 90, 1719, st. I, Isaac Watts wrote:
<O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.> 1674IW005
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1674IW001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Isaac Watts. J.O. Wilson, Public Schools of Washington (Washington, D.C.: Columbia Historical Society, 1897), Vol. 1, p. 5. John W. Whitehead, The Second American Revolution (Elgin, IL: David C.Cook Publishing Co., 1982), p. 100.
1674IW002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Isaac Watts, 1707, in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, The Excellency of the Bible. Burton Stevenson, The Home Book of Quotations (New York: Dodd, Mead, & Co., 1967), p. 158.
1674IW003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Isaac Watts, 1707, in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Praise for the Gospel. Burton Stevenson, The Home Book of Quotations (New York: Dodd, Mead, & Co., 1967), p. 158. 1674IW004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Isaac Watts, 1707, in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Praise to God for Learning to Read. Burton Stevenson, The Home Book of Quotations (New York: Dodd, Mead, & Co., 1967), p. 158.
1674IW005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Isaac Watts, 1719, in Psalm 90, st. I. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 328.