1 How meanly dwells the immortal mind!
How vile these bodies are!
Why was a clod of earth, designed
To enclose a heavenly star?
2 Weak cottage where our souls reside,
This flesh a tottering wall:
The frightful breaches gaping wide,
The buildings bends to fall.
3 All round it storms of sorrow blow,
And waves of trouble roll;
Cold waves, and winter storms, beat through,
And pain the tenant soul.
4 "Alas, how frail our state!" said I,
And thus went mourning on,
Till sudden from the cleaving sky
A gleam of glory shone.
5 My soul all felt the glory come,
And breathed her native air;
Then she remembered heaven her home,
And she a prisoner here.
6 Straight she began to change her key,
And joyful in her chains,
She sung the frailty of her clay
In pleasurable strains.
7 "How weak the prison is where I dwell!
This flesh a tottering wall!
The breaches cheerfully foretell,
The house must shortly fall.
8 "No more my friends, shall I complain,
Though all my heart strings ache,
Welcome disease, and every pain,
That makes the cottage shake.
9 "I have a mansion built above,
By the eternal hand
And should the earth's old basis move
My heavenly house must stand.
10 "Yes for 'tis there my Savior reigns;
(I long to see my God)
And his immortal strength sustains
The purchase of his blood.
11 "Hark, from on high my Savior call
I come, my Lord, my love;
Devotion breaks the prison walls,
And speeds my last remove."
The Christian's duty, exhibited in a series of hymns, 1791
Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster, and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. In 1712, he accepted an invitation to visit Sir Thomas Abney, at his residence of Abney Park, and at Sir Thomas' pressing request, made it his home for the remainder of his life. It was a residence most favourable for his health, and for the prosecution of his literary… Go to person page >
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