Mt. 5:3-12.
[Blest are the humble souls that seeTheir emptiness and poverty;Treasures of grace to them are giv'n,And crowns of joy laid up in heav'n.]
[Blest are the men of broken heart,Who mourn for sin with inward smartThe blood of Christ divinely flows,A healing balm for all their woes.]
[Blest are the meek, who stand afarFrom rage and passion, noise and war;God will secure their happy state,And plead their cause against the great.]
[Blest are the souls that thirst for grace,Hunger and long for righteousness;They shall be well supplied, and fedWith living streams and living bread.]
[Blest are the men whose bowels moveAnd melt with sympathy and love;From Christ the Lord shall they obtainLike sympathy and love again.]
[Blest are the pure, whose hearts arc cleanFrom the defiling powers of sin;With endless pleasure they shall seeA God of spotless purity.]
[Blest are the men of peaceful life,Who quench the coals of growing strife;They shall be called the heirs of bliss,The sons of God, the God of peace.]
[Blest are the suff'rers who partakeOf pain and shame for Jesus' sake;Their souls shall triumph in the LordGlory and joy are their reward.]
About the author
About the poet
Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 650 hymns. Many of his hymns remain in use today, and have been translated into many languages.
Born in Southampton, England, in 1674, Watts was brought up in the home of a committed religious Nonconformist — his father, also Isaac Watts, had been incarcerated twice for his controversial views. At King Edward VI School (where one of the houses is now named "Watts" in his honour), Watts learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew. From an early age, Watts displayed a propensity for rhyme.
Watts, unable to go to either Oxford or Cambridge on account of his non-conformity, went to the Dissenting Academy at Stoke Newington in 1690, and much of his life centred around that village, which is now part of Inner London.
His education led him to the pastorate of a large independent chapel in London, where he found himself in the position of helping trainee preachers, despite his poor health. Taking work as a private tutor, Watts lived with the Nonconformist Hartopp family at Fleetwood House, on Church Street in Stoke Newington, and later in the household of their immediate neighbours Sir Thomas Abney and Lady Mary. Though a Nonconformist, Sir Thomas practised occasional conformity to the Church of England, as necessitated by his being Lord Mayor of London between 1700 and 1701. Likewise, Isaac Watts held religious opinions that were more non-denominational or ecumenical than was at that time common for a Nonconformist; he had a greater interest in promoting education and scholarship than preaching for any particular ministry.
On the death of Sir Thomas Abney, Watts moved permanently with his widow and her remaining unmarried daughter, Elizabeth, to Abney House in Stoke Newington, a property that Mary had inherited from her brother. He lived there from 1748 to his death. The grounds at Abney Park led down to an island heronry in the Hackney Brook, where he sought inspiration for the many books and hymns he wrote.
Watts died in Stoke Newington in 1748, and was buried in Bunhill Fields, having left an extensive legacy of hymns, treatises, educational works and essays. His work was influential amongst Nonconformist independents and early religious revivalists, such as Philip Doddridge, who dedicated his best known work to Watts. On his death, Isaac Watts' papers were given to Yale University in then-colonial Connecticut.