The Ugly Poet

The Ugly Poet

People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions (1 Samuel 16:7).

HE WAS only five feet tall, and his huge head looked too large for his body. It looked even bigger with the large wig he wore. His nose was crooked, his eyes small and piercing, and his body frail. Physically there was nothing appealing about him.

He fell in love with a young woman and proposed to her, but her insensitive answer was, “I like the jewel but not the setting.” He never married.

Who was this unfortunate person? His name was Isaac Watts, and he is considered to be the father of English hymnody.

Watts was born in Southhampton, England, in 1674. His father, a schoolmaster, was a devout Christian who was twice imprisoned for his faith. From his youth, Watts began to show his poetic genius. When he was eighteen, he complained to his father that the Psalms, which were the only songs used in his church, were poorly paraphrased for singing. Being a schoolmaster, his father challenged him to write something better. Young Watts did just that, and the next Sunday his first hymn was sung in the worship service. It contained a verse that proved to be prophetic of the contribution that Watts would make to English worship:

Behold the glories of the lamb

Amidst His Father’s throne;

Prepare new honors for His Name,

And songs before unknown.

Within the next two years the youthful Watts wrote most of the 210 hymns contained in his Hymns and Spiritual Songs published in 1707, the first real hymnal in English.

In 1719 he published his Psalms of David in which he gave a New Testament perspective to the words of the Psalms. A familiar example is his version of Psalm 72:

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun

Does his successive journeys run;

His kingdom spread from shore to shore,

Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

When Watts was thirty-eight and experiencing one of his frequent bouts of poor health, his good friend Sir Thomas Abney invited him to his estate for a week of recuperation. When no improvement was seen, the Abneys invited him to stay on. Watts became such a well-loved part of the family that he stayed there for the rest of his life—another thirty-six years!

Humanly speaking Watts had many strikes against him. He suffered ridicule for his appearance, rejection by the woman he loved, and continual poor health. Even his living situation was dependent upon the goodwill of a friend. Yet in spite of all that, Watts led a richly productive life. The night before he died he said, “I am a sinner; Christ is my Savior. I can let all else go; the finished work of Christ is all my hope. To depart and be with Christ will be far better.”

Isaac Watts died on November 25, 1748, having written over six hundred hymns. His vision was to enable God’s people to be able to sing the words of Scripture in meaningful poetic form. Many of his hymns, such as “O God, Our Help in Ages Past,” “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” and “Joy to the World,” are still frequently sung today. The church continues to worship God through the words of Isaac Watts.

Reflection

How do you think you would have reacted to Isaac Watts? Do you, like most of us, look on the outward appearance or, like God, look upon the heart? Unfortunately we live in a culture that focuses on outward appearance. We venerate the beautiful and disdain the ugly. If that is our attitude, we will miss the Isaac Wattses of the world—and be the poorer for it.

People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.

1 Samuel 16:7