{"id":7592,"date":"2010-09-10T22:53:47","date_gmt":"2010-09-11T05:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/?p=7592"},"modified":"2012-08-23T15:23:30","modified_gmt":"2012-08-23T22:23:30","slug":"dr-watts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/?p=7592","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Watts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been reading through Isaac Watts&#8217; <em>Hymns and Spiritual Songs<\/em>. He uses clear, vigorous language to present vivid and compelling imagery. I often disagree with his theology, but I think his hymns have rarely been surpassed in the English language. And sometimes I do I agree with his theology. Take, for example, this hymn:<\/p>\n<p>Hymn 1:24.<br \/>\nThe rich sinner dying, Psalm 49:6-9. Eccl. 8:8. Job 3:14-15.<\/p>\n<p>1 In vain the wealthy mortals toil,<br \/>\nAnd heap their shining dust in vain,<br \/>\nLook down and scorn the humble poor,<br \/>\nAnd boast their lofty hills of gain.<\/p>\n<p>2 Their golden cordials cannot ease<br \/>\nTheir pained hearts or aching heads,<br \/>\nNor fright nor bribe approaching death<br \/>\nFrom glittering roofs and downy beds.<\/p>\n<p>3 The lingering, the unwilling soul<br \/>\nThe dismal summons must obey,<br \/>\nAnd bid a long a sad farewell<br \/>\nTo the pale lump of lifeless clay.<\/p>\n<p>4 Thence they are huddled to the grave,<br \/>\nWhere kings and slaves have equal thrones;<br \/>\nTheir bones without distinction lie<br \/>\nAmongst the heap of meaner bones.<\/p>\n<p>Now that&#8217;s what I call vivid imagery. Wouldn&#8217;t you enjoy singing that hymn? Wouldn&#8217;t it help keep you focused on what&#8217;s really important in life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been reading through Isaac Watts&#8217; Hymns and Spiritual Songs. He uses clear, vigorous language to present vivid and compelling imagery. I often disagree with his theology, but I think his hymns have rarely been surpassed in the English language. And sometimes I do I agree with his theology. Take, for example, this hymn: Hymn [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[595],"class_list":["post-7592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engaging-worship","tag-isaac-watts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8200,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7592\/revisions\/8200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}