Praise ye the Lord; 'tis good to raiseOur hearts and voices in his praise;His nature and his works inviteTo make this duty our delight.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem,And gathers nations to his name;His mercy melts the stubborn soul,And makes the broken spirit whole.
He formed the stars, those heav'nly flames;He counts their numbers, calls their names;His wisdom's vast, and knows no bound,A deep where all our thoughts are drowned.
Great is our Lord, and great his might;And all his glories infinite:He crowns the meek, rewards the just,And treads the wicked to the dust.
PAUSE.
Sing to the Lord, exalt him high,Who spreads his clouds all round the sky;There he prepares the fruitful rain,Nor lets the drops descend in vain.
He makes the grass the hills adorn,And clothes the smiling fields with corn;The beasts with food his hands supply,And the young ravens when they cry.
What is the creature's skill or force,The sprightly man, the warlike horse,The nimble wit, the active limb?All are too mean delights for him.
But saints are lovely in his sight,He views his children with delight;He sees their hope, he knows their fear,And looks, and loves his image there.
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.