Studies in the Hymnody of Isaac Watts

David W. Music, D.M.A. (1977), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, is Professor Emeritus of Church Music at Baylor University. His most recent book, co-authored with Scotty Gray, is A Noble Theme, a Skillful Writer: Timothy Dudley-Smith and Christian Hymnody (Hope, 2021).

List of Tables and Figures

Abbreviations

Introduction

 1 This Book

 2Sources, Definitions, and Orthography

 3Biography and Hymn Publications

 4Early Life and Education

 5English Congregational Song before Watts

 6The Beginning of Watts’s Hymn Writing

  6.1Horæ Lyricæ

  6.2Hymns and Spiritual Songs

  6.3Divine Songs

  6.4The Psalms of David Imitated

 7Final Years



1 The Bible and the Hymns of Watts

 1The Relationship between Hymns and the Bible

  1.1Hymns and Spiritual Songs

  1.2The Psalms of David Imitated

 2Watts’s Use of the Bible



2 The Theology of Watts’s Hymns

 1Holy Scripture

 2God and the Holy Trinity

 3God’s Eternal Decree

 4Creation and Providence

 5Fall of Humanity, Sin, and Punishment

 6God’s Covenant with Humanity through Christ the Mediator

 7Free Will and the Calling of God

 8Justification, Adoption, Sanctification, and Saving Faith

 9Repentance

 10 Good Works

 11 Perseverance of the Saints

 12 Assurance of Salvation

 13 The Law of God

 14 The Gospel and Grace

 15 Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience

 16 Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day

 17 The Civil Magistrate

 18 The Church

 19 The Communion of Saints

 20 The Sacraments: Baptism and Lord’s Supper

 21 The Soul after Death, the Resurrection, and the Last Judgment

 22 Additional Topics

 23 General Theological Perspectives



3 Watts’s Hymns and Liturgy

 1Worship at Bury Street Church

 2The Liturgical Functions of Hymns

 3The Sermon Hymn

 4The Lord’s Supper and Baptism

 5Hymns for Other Aspects of Worship

 6Liturgical Texts

 7Public and Private Worship

 8The Liturgical Use of Watts’s Hymns



4 The Literary Dimension of Watts’s Hymns

 1The Functional Nature of Watts’s Writing

 2Hymnic Meter

 3Poetic Meter

 4Rhyme

 5Poetic Devices

  5.1Comparison

  5.2Contrast

  5.3Substitution

  5.4Hyperbole

  5.5Personification and Apostrophe

  5.6Arrangement of Words

  5.7Emphasis

  5.8“Color” Devices

  5.9Figures of Sound

  5.10 Isocolon

  5.11 The “Sound” of Watts’s Hymns

 6Form

 7Watts’s Borrowings

 8Textual Revision

 9Watts and the Poetry of the Hymn



5 Watts’s Hymns and Music

 1Hymnic Meters and Psalm Tunes

 2Watts and the Singing of Hymns

  2.1Lining Out

  2.2Tempo and the Length of Singing

 3Early Publications of Watts’s Hymns with Music

  3.1Tune Supplements

  3.2Tune Books

 4Watts and the Music of Hymnody



6 An Analysis of Four Hymns from Hymns and Spiritual Songs

 1“Infinite Grief! Amazing Woe!”

 2“God of the Morning, at Whose Voice”

 3How Are Thy Glories Here Display’d

 4Lo, What a Glorious Sight Appears



7 An Analysis of Four Hymns from The Psalms of David Imitated

 1“I Lift My Soul to God”

 2“Great God, the Heaven’s Well-Order’d Frame”

 3Deep in Our Hearts Let Us Record

 4How Pleas’d and Blest Was I



Conclusion

Bibliography

Index