| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| Watts, Isaac |
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| 1674–1748, English clergyman and hymn writer, b. Southampton. He was one of the most eminent Dissenting divines of his day. As a pastor in London he was known for his sermons, but beginning in 1712 poor health caused him to live in semiretirement. His several hundred hymns embody a stern Calvinism assuaged with a gentleness and sympathy. The few hymns that are included in present-day hymnals are among the finest examples of English metrical hymnody. Those beginning “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” “When I survey the wondrous cross,” “Joy to the world,” and “O God, our help in ages past,” appeared in his Psalms of David Imitated (1719). |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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