I consider him as a better interpreter of the christian doctrine than the most learned critics, who, proud of their reason and their learning, despised or neglected the very life and soul of christianity, the living, everlasting gospel, the supernatural influence of divine grace; and be it ever remembered, that Dr. Watts was a man who studied the abstrusest sciences, and was as well qualified to become a verbal critic, or a logical disputant on the scriptures, as the most learned among the Doctors of the Sorbonne, or the greatest proficients in polemical divinity. I mention this circumstance for the consideration of those who insinuate that the doctrines of grace cannot be entertained but by ignorant, as well as fanatical persons; by persons uninitiated in the mysteries of philosophy.-KNOX, VICESSIMUS, 1795, Christian Philosophy.

Few writers have been more useful, especially in Psalms and Hymns: a fine genius, and deep piety. He fell into some peculiar notions on the Trinity, and was answered by Abraham Taylor, Hurrion, and Edwards. If the wise and good Dr. Watts erred, let all take heed of rash speculations on revealed things.-BICKERSTETH, EDWARD, 1844, The Christian Student.

LOGICK

1725

Watts, when he does not bewilder himself and his readers in scholastic subtleties, . is very judicious.-GREEN, THOMAS, 1779-1810, Diary of a Lover of

Literature.

The Logic of Watts, of Duncan, and of others, are worth reading as books, but not as books upon Logic.-HAMILTON, SIR WILLIAM, 1856?-60, Lectures on Logic, Lecture ix.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND
1741

An excellent work. It is metaphysics carried into every day life and practice. -BLAKEY, ROBERT, 1848, History of the Philosophy of Mind, vol. III, p. 244.

The justice of this commendation has generally been acceded to, although more recent inquiries have shown, that some of the views of the mind in the book in question are defective.-UPHAM, THOMAS COGSWELL, 1831-33, Elements of Mental Philosophy, vol. II, p. 75, note.

HYMNS

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 his country, more glory than upon the greatest either of that or of any other, by making his Divine Songs a more abundant and useful 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 of joy, peace, labor, 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. Then, as in the pages of the evangelist, a word in season for every one who needs it, in whatever circumstance she may require counsel, consolation, reproof, or instruction. We say this, without reserve, of the materials of his hymns, had their execution always 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!--MONTGOMERY, JAMES, 1825, The Christian Psalmist, Introductory Essay.

Some of his hymns were written to be sung after his sermons, the hymn in each case giving expression to the meaning of the text upon which he had been discoursing. Produced as they were wanted, and for a practical purpose, some of these hymns lack the fire and genius of poetry, and the same must be admitted of some of his other productions.—MILLER, Josiah, 1866, Our Hymns, p. 82.

The Independents, as represented by Dr. Watts, have a just claim to be considered the real founders of modern English hymnody. No doubt Watts's taste was often faulty, and his style unequal; but more hymns which approached to a very high standard of excellence might be found in his works than in those of any

other single writer in the English language.-PALMER, SIR ROUNDELL, 1866, Lecture on English Church Hymnody.

We are confirmed in our estimate of the relative value of Watts' hymns by the proportion they bear in nearly all our collections to those of other contributors. Of 1290 hymns in the "Sabbath Hymn Book," 254, as we count, are from Watts, and 56 from Charles Wesley, the next largest contributor. The "Plymouth Collection" has 1374 hymns, of which 218 are from Watts and 81 are from Wesley. In "Songs for the Sanctuary," Dr. Charles S. Robinson's book, there are 1345 hymns, with 198 from Dr. Watts. "Psalms and Hymns," the Connecticut Collection, so called, has 1293 separate pieces, of which 514 are Watts'. The "Psalmist" (Baptist) has 1180, with 301 from Dr. Watts. And so in nearly all the hymn books of the various denominations, with the exception of the Methodist Episcopal and Wesleyan churches; and in their collections, while Wesley leads, Watts is admitted to the second rank. A recent writer in an English magazine, after an examination of 750 different hymn books, ascribes to Dr. Watts the authorship of two-fifths of the hymns which are used in the English-speaking world.-ROBINSON, R. T., 1868, Dr. Watts' Hymns, Hours at Home, vol. 7, p. 519.

There are lines in those hymns which offend against all good taste. Yet there are wonderful jewels in that oft rubbishy mass of some six hundred religious poems. The man who could write them "ought not to have written as he has written." They "will be sung, I fancy," says the same critic, "so long as men praise God together." And indeed, they are wonderful, wonderful in their firm clear English, their noble sentences, in that true ring which touches every Christian heart.PRESCOTT, J. E., 1883, Christian Hymns and Hymn Writers, p. 97.

I don't know but these bits of moral music may have been hustled out from modern church primers for something more æsthetic; but I am sure that a good many white-haired people-of whom I hope to count some among my readersare carried back pleasantly by the rhythmic jingle of the good Doctor to those child days when hopes were fresh, and holidays a joy, and summers long; and

when flowery paths stretched out before us, over which we have gone toiling since -to quite other music than that of Dr. Isaac Watts. And if his songs are gone out of our fine books, and have fallen below the mention of the dilettanti critics, I am the more glad to rescue his name, as that of an honest, devout, hard-working, cultivated man who has woven an immeasurable deal of moral fibre into the web and woof of many generations of men and women. MITCHELL, DONALD G., 1895, English Lands Letters and Kings, Queen Anne and the Georges, p. 14.

His poetical fame rests on his hymns. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the stern embargo which Calvin had laid on the use in the music of sacred worship of everything except metrical psalms and canticles has been broken by the obscure hymns of Mason, Keach, Barton, and others; and hymns were freely used in the baptist and independent congregations. The poetry of Watts took the religious world of dissent by storm. It gave an utterance, till then unheard in England, to the spiritual emotions, in their contemplation of God's glory in nature and his revelation in Christ, and made hymn-singing a fervid devotional force. The success of Watts's hymns approached that of the new version of the Psalms. Edition followed edition. In the early years of this century the annual output of Watts's hymns, notwithstanding all the wealth of hymn production arising out of methodism, was still fifty thousand copies. -BENNETT, LEIGH, 1899, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. LX, p. 68.

POEMS

Was nevertheless, if I am in any degree a judge of verse, a man of true poetical ability; careless, indeed, for the most part, and inattentive too often to those niceties which constitute elegance of expression, but frequently sublime in his conceptions, and masterly in his execution. COWPER, WILLIAM, 1781, Letter to Rev. John Newton, Sept. 18, Works, vol. II, p. 354.

He is emphatically the classic poet of the religious world, wherever the English language is known.-CLEVELAND, CHARLES D., 1848, A Compendium of English Literature, p. 480.

I have liked Dr. Watts's "Psalms and

Hymns" ever since the time when, scarcely three years old, I was made to repeat, with his book in my hand, and with such gestures as were prescribed to me, the psalm beginning with the words:

"Come sound his praise abroad
And hymns of glory sing."

I maintain, for my part, that Dr. Watts has done admirably well what he undertook to do, and the proof, if I wanted any other than the pleasure with which I always read him, I find in the strong hold which his devotional verses have taken on the hearts of men in all conditions of life, and, I think, all varieties of religious belief. The secret of this popularity lies, as it seems to me, in the union of strong feeling with great poetic merit. In what he wrote there are occasional transgressions against good taste, as in his versification of Solomon's Song. There are slovenly lines, and even stanzas, but there is always great fervor and profound earnestness. No poet has ever expressed religious emotions with greater energy. I know very well that poetry of a very moderate degree of merit not unfrequently obtains great popularity on account of its religious character; but I do not recollect an instance in which

it has held that popularity long. The

devotional verses of Watts have stood the test of time, and it seemed to me due to him that some of the characteristic merits by which they are recommended to the general mind should be pointed out. BRYANT, W. C., 1864, The Spirit of the Fair. In him the thought is true, the form of its utterance false; the feeling lovely, the word, often to a degree, repulsive. The ugly web is crossed now and then by a fine line, and even damasked with an occasional good poem: I have found two, and only two, in the whole of his seventyfive "Lyrics sacred to Devotion." His objectivity and boldness of thought, and his freedom of utterance, cause us ever and anon to lament that he had not the humility and faith of an artist as well as of a Christian. -MACDONALD, GEORGE, 1868, England's Antiphon, p. 281.

Shelley's masterpiece, in the shorter form of lyric (as, if such a judgment be permissible, all things considered, the Editor would hold the "Skylark"), follows Gray's: and in No. 83 we have one of the most stately and musical odes in

our or any language. With these, Watts, verses come like the child they describe into a company of kings and conquerors. Indeed, the admirable author of the "Cradle Song" almost apologized for publishing it; yet within its little sphere, this also is a masterpiece:- Reynolds himself does not paint childhood with a more absolute tenderness.—PALGRAVE, FRANCIS TURNER, 1875, ed., The Children's Treasury of English Song, p. 292, note.

GENERAL

This, I think, is a just censure on the greatest part of those who have written religious books in English verse; but I except from this number the ingenious Mr. Watts, whose Divine poetry is very laudable, and much superior to all that have gone before him in the lyric kind.BLACKMORE, SIR RICHARD, 1718, Preface to a Collection of Poems.

Happy will be that reader whose mind is disposed, by his verses or his prose, to imitate him in all but his non-conformity, to copy his benevolence to man, and his reverence to God.- JOHNSON, SAMUEL, 1779-81, Watts, Lives of the English Poets.

In his literary character, Dr. Watts may be considered as a poet, a philosopher, and a theologian. In the first of these departments, if he did not attain a very high rank, he was, at least, considerably above mediocrity; and his devotional poetry, in particular, possesses a sweetness and simplicity, both in thought and diction, which deservedly acquired for it, especially among the Dissenters, with whom his psalms and hymns are in daily

use,

an established reputation. His philosophical productions can claim the rare merit of being always practically useful, and have been of the most essential service in the education of youth. His logic has received the highest encomium by its admission into the universities; his "Philosophical Essays:" his "Treatise on Education," &c. &c., are conducive to the best purposes of morality and instruction; and on his work entitled "The Improvement of the Mind." . . In theology the compositions of our author are uncommonly numerous; and every page displays his unaffected piety, the purity of his principles, the mildness of his disposition, and the great goodness of his heart. The style of all his works is

perspicuous, correct, and frequently elegant; and, happily for mankind, his labours have been translated and dispersed with a zeal which does honour to human nature; for there are probably few persons who have studied the writings of Dr. Watts without a wish for improvement; without an effort to become a wiser or a better member of society.-DRAKE, NATHAN, 1804, Essays Illustrative of the Tatler, Spectator and Guardian, vol. III, pp. 338, 339.

Dr. Watts's devotional poetry was for the most part intentionally lowered to the understanding of children. If this was a sacrifice of taste, it was at least made to the best of intentions. The sense and sincerity of his prose writings, the excellent method in which he attempted to connect the study of ancient logic with common sense, and the conciliatory manner in which he allures the youthful mind to habits of study and reflection, are probably remembered with gratitude by nine men out of ten, who have had proper books put into their hands at an early period of their education.-CAMPBELL, THOMAS, 1819, Specimens of the British Poets.

Of Watts, the companion of our younger and later years, it is impossible to speak without reverence and respect. His Hymns are the charm of our early youth; his Logic, the well-known theme of schoolboy study; and his Sermons, Essays, and other theological compositions, are a source of never failing gratification, in the advance, maturity, and decline of life. The man at fourscore may remember, with gratitude, the advantage of having committed the Hymns of this pious man to his infantine memory.

DIBDIN, THOMAS FROG NALL, 1824, The Library Companion, p. 65. There are some reputations that are great merely because they are amiable. There is Dr. Watts; look at the encomiums passed on him by Dr. Johnson: and yet to what, according to his statement, does his merit amount? Why, only to this: that he did that best which none can do well, and employed his talents uniformly for the welfare of mankind. He was a good man, and the voice of the public has given him credit for being a great one. The world may be forced to do homage to great talents, but they only bow willingly to these when they are joined with benevolence and modesty; nor will they put

weapons into the hands of the bold and unprincipled sophist to be turned against their own interests and wishes.-NORTHCOTE, JAMES, 1826-7, Conversations, ed. William Hazlitt, p. 248.

Watts had inherited a large share of the original temptation, that inward and spiritual temptation whereby man is incited to pluck the forbidden fruit. He approached too near the veil; and confiding in his own natural and cultivated acuteness, endeavoured sometimes strictly to define what the Scriptures have left indefinite, as if he were possessed of an intellectual prism with which he could decompose the Light of Light. There were times when he was conscious of this. Upon publishing some sermons, many years after they were written, in which he had expatiated on the nature of the Trinity, he confessed in a note that there were "warmer efforts of imagination than riper years could indulge, on a theme so sublime and abstruse."-SOUTHEY, ROBERT, 1834, Life of Isaac Watts.

A name never to be uttered without reverence by any lover of pure Christianity or by any well-wisher of mankind.WILSON, JAMES GRANT, 1876, The Poets and Poetry of Scotland, vol. 1, p. 141.

In his doctrinal writings there are signs of the diffuse sentimentalism which not unfrequently acccompanies a feeble constitution. We may grant to his biographer that there is not an expression in his sermons "that could raise the faintest blush upon the cheek of modesty, or irritate the risibility of the most puerile.' The more positive merits discovered by the same admirer will, perhaps, hardly keep the modern reader from somnolency. The sermons, however, show something of the old unction. They appeal strongly to the inward witness of the spirit, with a comparative indifference to the ordinary evidential argument. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he addresses the heart rather than the intellect; and in his hands Christianity is not emasculated Deism, but a declaration to man of the means by which God pleases to work a supernatural change in human nature. The emotional current is still running strongly, though combined with a rather heterogeneous collection of speculative opinions.—STEPHEN, LESLIE, 1876, History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, vol. II, p. 386.