"JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME!"

Isaac Watts, (1674-1748), writer of hymn texts, who came to be known as "The Father of English Hymnody", did not write "Joy to the World" as a Christmas hymn; he was merely pursuing his main purpose of converting the Psalms in the Bible into "singable" hymns. The result of his treatment of the 98th Psalm is what we sing at Christmas.

As the story goes, it came about something like this. Around the year 1686, twelve year old Isaac and the Watts family were returning home from church. He was complaining to his father about the hymns in the church service--the Psalter and the Psalms they had sung. Isaac's father reportedly said:"Well, if you don't like the hymns, why don't you write something better?"

That is exactly what Isaac did, and his hymn was used in the church service the very next Sunday. History tells us that he wrote one new hymn a week, for two years, many based on the Psalms, and most of them were used in the church services. We are not told what the hymn tunes were, but it was common in those days to "re-use" older tunes from other hymns, if the meter matched.

Let us note here that as a very young lad Isaac had shown literary genius. From five to thirteen years old, he learned Latin, Greek, French, and Hebrew. Besides hymn writing, he was also a student of theology and philosophy. He wrote significant volumes which had a powerful influence on English thinking. We are not told what these volumes were.

He eventually published 210 hymns in a collection entitled "Hymns and Spiritual Songs."  Most of his hymns were very good. He did, of course use the language of the time, some of which hymnal committees have chosen to update somewhat, as in the gospel song "At the Cross." The original wording was "Would he devote that sacred head for such as worm as I?" Committees in the 20th Century changed it to "for sinners such as I?"

He went on to write over 600 hymns and rightly earned the title, "The Father of English Hymnody." Without Isaac Watts, Christian worship would be the poorer. In my much-used Baptist Hymnal, 1957 edition, I count seventeen hymns by Isaac Watts.

As stated earlier, "Joy to the World" was not specifically written as a Christmas "carol." It was Watts' interpretation of the 98h Psalm in plain English. It is not verbatim. Note: " Let the sea roar;" "Let the floods clap their hands;" "Let the hills be joyful together." Henceforth, when we sing this great hymn, may we not merely repeat words mindlessly, but let's be aware that we are joining all creation in singing to our Heavenly Father.

The tune is thought to be an arrangement by Lowell Mason, (1792-1872), an excellent tune-writer of the period; the arrangement was based on themes from Handel's "The Messiah."  Mason, an American choir director, composer, and educator gave us dozens of fine tunes, 23 of them appearing in the Baptist Hymnal of 1957.

I want to point out, as I wrap this up, that two other of our greatest hymns were written by Isaac Watts, "O God, Our Help In Ages Past," and "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross." The first captures the eternality of God more than any hymn I know. Read the words to these two. They are not used often, unfortunately.

This Christmas season, let's all join with Isaac Watts, our friends, and all Creation, in singing:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come,
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing!
While fields and floods,
Rocks, hills, and plains,
Repeat the sounding JOY!!!
---30---
Merry Christmas...from Mil

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