60. "Abroad in the Meadows to see the Young Lambs" MISS M. E. EDWARDS. 60. Sheep and Lambs W. HOLMAN HUNT. H. FITZCOOK. H. FITZCOOK. H. FITZCOOK. 62. The Rose. 63. The Thief 66. The Ants . 67. "If I meet with Railing Tongues" H. FITZCOOK. MISS C. WALKER. 69. "But now the fair Traveller comes to the West" D. C. HITCHCOCK. 70. "Holy Angels guard thy Bed". W. CAVE THOMAS. The Headings, Borders, Tail-pieces, Ornaments, and Cover, are by his utterance made his discourses very efficacious." He was looked upon by his contemporaries as one of the best readers and speakers of his time, whose action and general powers of elocution were so striking, that every sermon he uttered told upon his readers. For upwards of half a century after the death of Doctor Watts, aged persons who, as children, had heard him in the pulpit, used to speak with admiration of his persuasive delivery. Thus he continued to preach and study many years, and to do good both by his instruction and example, till at last the infirmities of age disabled him from the more laborious part of his ministerial functions, when, being no longer capable of public duty, he offered to relinquish his salary, but his congregation would not accept his resignation. One-third of his income was given to the poor-it did not exceed one hundred pounds; but as all his wants were liberally supplied by the Abneys, this small stipend proved amply sufficient for him. At last, after a long and slow decline, Isaac Watts expired at Stoke Newington, on the 25th of November 1748, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and was buried in Bunhill Fields. A handsome tomb was afterwards erected over his grave by Lady Abney and his pupil Sir John Hartopp. The collective works of Dr. Watts were originally published in 6 vols. 4to, but a more complete edition has since appeared in 9 vols. 8vo. Of his philosophical compositions, those most likely to endure and perpetuate his name are his "Logic" and "Improvement of the Mind." The former of these came out in 1725, and almost immediately was admitted into the colleges of the day as a class-book for students. Dr. Johnson mentions it as one of the books he read at the university. The latter of these thoughtful writings may even now be met with occasionally on the book-stalls. The Sermons form the great bulk of his writings. Although they abound in judicious reflection, they have not the attraction of those of Blair, Barrow, Robert Hall, and others; but such as they are, the finest pearls they contain appear to have been selected by the humble admirer of Doctor Watts who, in 1782, published his "Beauties." This little duodecimo is an admirable book, consisting of short passages not exceeding a page or half a page; and it is wonderful, considering the great popularity of his name, that no publisher has since reprinted it. A copy of it exists in the library of the British Museum (851 e. 12. London, 1782). BIOGRAPHY. But in point of popularity, his "Psalms and Hymns," and his "Divine and Moral Songs," far exceed all publications of the last century; and of these nearly a million must have been printed in the United Kingdom and America. They are still as fresh in the second half of the nineteenth century as they were in the first half of the eighteenth, when they originally appeared. Besides these, the Doctor wrote many little books of instruction for children in the form of catechisms. He was constituted a doctor of divinity in 1728 by the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen. |