Isaac Watts; his life and writings, his homes and friends

by Edwin Paxton Hood

“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,