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

by Edwin Paxton Hood

In uno Jesu omnia.

2 Cor. v. 8: ‘Absent from the body, and present with the Lord.’ Col. iii. 4: ‘When Christ, who is my life, shall appear, then shall I also appear with Him in glory.’”

“This monument, on which the above modest inscription is placed, by order of the deceased, was erected, as a small testimony of regard to his memory, by Sir John Hartopp, Bart., and Dame Mary Abney.”

But, shortly after his death, a monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. Another monument erected in his chapel met with a singular fate: some years since the chapel was pulled down, and all its properties sold off. John Astley Marsden, Esq., of Liscard Castle, in Cheshire, passing through one of the London streets, saw a marble tablet inscribed with the name of Dr. Watts; inquiring about its meaning, he found it was the very tablet which had been set up behind his pulpit; he purchased it as an interesting relic of a man for whom he had a great reverence, he took it home to his residence in Cheshire, and upon his own ground he reared a church at his own expense, and there placed the old cast-aside monument, handing the church over in trust to the Congregational body. The inscription is that humble memorial which Watts himself had prepared, and to which we have referred. In addition, however, to these, a monument has been raised to his memory in Abney Park Cemetery, a cemetery which has succeeded to the reputation of Bunhill Fields as the resting-place of metropolitan Nonconformists, and is spread out upon the grounds where stood the house and park, the history of which, and its relation to the memory of Watts, we have given in an earlier part of this volume.

In 1861, principally through the active exertions of Mr. William Lankester, a monument was erected to his memory in his native town of Southampton. The statue, about eight feet high, which is three feet larger than life, is of white marble, and stands upon a pedestal of polished grey Aberdeen granite; and the site selected has received since then the designation “Watts’ Park.” The movement for the erection of the monument received the co-operation of Churchmen as well as Nonconformists, and the president of the committee was Dr. Wigram, the Bishop of Rochester. The statue was uncovered by the Earl of Shaftesbury, July 17th, 1861, and the day was kept with great festivity in the town;[46] it took the shape of a great local celebration in honour of a man who had conferred honour on the town by his life and writings. It is not uninteresting to think of the change of public sentiment since the day when the infant Isaac, in the arms of his mother, was held up to the eyes of his father in the gaol of the very town where, to the honoured memory of that infant, there was offered up so large an ovation of respect, in which not only the Mayor and Corporation, but members, ministers, and prelates of that very Church which had persecuted the father for his opinions, united. It is a testimony to the change which has passed over ecclesiastical opinion since that day.

Thus, some portion of the prophecy of Dr. Jennings in his funeral sermon, from the text, “He being dead yet speaketh,” was fulfilled. “If I am not greatly deceived, the same thing will be said of him in far distant ages that is said of Abel in our text; while he is now celebrating the honours of God and of the Lamb in the new songs of heaven, how many thousands of pious worshippers are this day lifting up their hearts to God in the sacred songs that he taught them upon earth! Though his voice is not any longer heard by us, yet his words, like those of the day and night, are gone out to the end of the world. America and Europe still hear him speak, and it is highly probable they may continue to do so till Europe and America shall be no more.”

Isaac Watts, D.D.

From the Bust in Dr. Williams’ Library.