Reverend Isaac Watts born on a summer day in 1674, was more than a man of words; he was a spiritual maestro whose melodies echoed through the halls of time.
As an English Congregational minister, his sermons were just the beginning of his legacy. With a quill that danced to the rhythm of divine inspiration, Watts penned over 750 hymns, each a testament to his faith and artistry.
His hymns, like the timeless “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “Joy to the World,” and “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past,” are not mere words set to music; they are vessels of worship that have sailed across oceans and centuries, touching hearts in countless tongues.
Dubbed the “Godfather of English Hymnody,” Watts’s influence is a melody that never fades, a chorus of devotion that continues to resonate in the soul of hymnals worldwide. His was a voice that turned faith into song and song into a beacon of hope for generations to come.
The hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” (also one of my favourites) has much information in the testament to Jesus Christ and brings the suffering of Jesus during the crucifixion into reach of all of us through song & worship.
Examples of this can be read in the bible in the following verses:
Galatians 2:20
(NKJV) I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me
(RV60) Con Cristo estoy juntamente crucificado, y ya no vivo yo, mas vive Cristo en mí; y lo que ahora vivo en la carne, lo vivo en la fe del Hijo de Dios, el cual me amó y se entregó a sí mismo por mí
Galatians 6:14
(NKJV) But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world
(RV60) Pero lejos esté de mí gloriarme, sino en la cruz de nuestro Señor Jesucristo, por quien el mundo me es crucificado a mí, y yo al mundo
The text of the hymn is as follows:
1. When I survey the wond’rous Cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but Loss,
And pour contempt on all my Pride.
2. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the Death of Christ my God:
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his Blood.
3. See from his Head, his Hands, his Feet,
Sorrow and Love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such Love and Sorrow meet,
Or Thorns compose so rich a Crown?
4. His dying Crimson, like a Robe,
Spreads o’er his Body on the Tree;
Then I am dead to all the Globe,
And all the Globe is dead to me.
5. Were the whole Realm of Nature mine,
That was a Present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my Soul, my Life, my All.
Peace be with you.
