Now I'm convinced the Lord is kindTo men of heart sincere;Yet once my foolish thoughts repined,And bordered on despair.
I grieved to see the wicked thrive,And spoke with angry breath,"How pleasant and profane they live!How peaceful is their death!
"With well-fed flesh and haughty eyes,They lay their fears to sleep;Against the heav'ns their slanders rise,While saints in silence weep.
"In vain I lift my hands to pray,And cleanse my heart in vain;For I am chastened all the day,The night renews my pain."
Yet while my tongue indulged complaints,I felt my heart reprove,-"Sure I shall thus offend thy saints,And grieve the men I love."
But still I found my doubts too hard,The conflict too severe,Till I retired to search thy word,And learn thy secrets there.
There, as in some prophetic glass,I saw the sinner's feetHigh mounted on a slipp'ry place,Beside a fiery pit.
I heard the wretch profanely boast,Till at thy frown he fell;His honors in a dream were lost,And he awakes in hell.
Lord, what an envious fool I was!How like a thoughtless beast!Thus to suspect thy promised grace,And think the wicked blest.
Yet I was kept from full despair,Upheld by power unknown;That blessed hand that broke the snareShall guide me to thy throne.
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.