Back in the 1500s, there was an English king who went by the moniker King Henry VIII. At this time, England was a Roman Catholic country. In fact, most all of Europe was under the religious (and political) control of the Church of Rome. There were underground religious groups, most of which held the Bible above the Pope, but these groups were hunted down and imprisoned or terminated. It was not so hard to do this in Europe because it was all accessible by land. England, however, was another matter. Separated from the Continent by the English Channel, England's religious climate rose and fell. Sometimes harshly Catholic, sometimes less so. It depended on the king.
For the Church at Rome, they had a strong ally in King Henry VIII. Stanchly Catholic, England was solidly under the Pope's control.
Except for the fact that King Henry VIII was a randy fellow who liked the women. And to be fair, he was concerned because he and his wife, Catherine of Aragon, were not conceiving a male heir to continue the kingly line. King Henry sought an annulment from Pope Clement VII. Clement would not allow such a thing! Not because of any Biblical reason. That was unimportant. No, no. It would have been political suicide to have allowed such an annulment. This created years of intense negotiations between Rome and London. Negotiations made all the harder because of distance.
And then, Anne Boleyn became pregnant with King Henry's child. The king cut off the Church at Rome, created the Church of England and named himself as the top dog. England had been a Catholic nation for centuries and so this created quite the stir. This is usually called the beginning of the English Protestant period, but that is untrue. If anything, the clamps grew tighter on the so-called non-Conformists. The Pilgrims sailed to the Americas for religious freedoms. The Puritans sailed to the Americas for religious freedoms. Even the Catholics sailed to the Americas for religious freedoms. In the New World these groups despised one another, but in England they would have died together.
There were a few groups that stayed in England. The Congregationalists were one such. They held to Biblical beliefs. They also held the notion that each individual congregation could govern itself. This was frowned upon by the Crown in London, but so much was going on, and the Congregationalists were such an insignificant group, that the Church of England just concentrated on the most outspoken within the group.
And this is where today's story really begins.
Isaac Watts was a firebrand. He espoused the Congregational ideal far and wide. And he was imprisoned for his views in 1674. He had just been trucked off to prison when his wife gave birth to their first child, whom she also named Isaac. It was hoped that the younger Isaac would have the robust defiance that had sent his father to prison.
Young Isaac, however, had health issues. Brilliant, he accepted Christ at an early age. He could speak and write Greek, Hebrew and Latin while still a young teenager. He was a dedicated Congregationalist, eventually pastoring a flock. But his health issues limited him. While his father had been a firebrand, young Isaac was more a candle.
At a young age he left the pastorate due to his health. But his intellect was such that he was in great demand as a speaker and teacher. Born as he had been, during England's chaotic religious era, his outlook was colored by that crisis. However, rather than being angry and resentful, he was drawn ever closer to the Savior. Even as his health suffered, young Isaac spoke of the grace and love of his great Master.
And he wrote. Oh, my, how he wrote! Poetry was a preferred style at the time, and young Isaac wrote hundreds and hundreds of poems of various lengths. At least 750 poems. Some he even set to music, although that was not his forte. Most of those poems that he set to music were later, even a hundred years later, given new tunes, but the words stayed the same.
In 1719 young Isaac published a large work of poems based on the Psalms. These poems reflected the depth of his love for Christ, for His compassion, for His grace. As he read Psalm 98, he was moved to tears. So much religious turmoil had marked his life, so much religious turmoil soiled the world at that very moment. People had died unspeakable deaths and others had suffered great physical and emotional distress. And yet, all that Isacc read in Psalm 98 was joy and praise and the power of Almighty God. Better to share the Gospel with an open hand than a closed fist. And Isaac began to write. This had nothing to do with Christmas. In fact, the Congregationalists took a dim view of that holiday. It was never intended to be a Christmas carol but was intended to invoke the deepest feeling of thankfulness. Sadly, it is only sung at Christmas today (except where I pastored, when it was a year round song) but this a song for the ages. Pure praise. As You read the words, think of a man, health failing, plague by memories of man's hatefulness in name of Jesus but also awed by the grace of Christ. See these words with different eyes.
Joy to the World
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n, and heav’n, and nature sing.
Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
