Isaac Watts' Birthday

Today, in 1674, the great hymn-writer Isaac Watts was born in Southampton, England. Watts, who has a special place in my heart for having received a D.D. degree from the University of Edinburgh (!), wrote something like 600 hymns in his lifetime. He wrote the opening hymn of praise that we sang yesterday, "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past" but is perhaps best known for the familiar Christmas hymn "Joy to the World." Watts is buried, along with John Bunyan and many other non-conformists, in Bunhill Fields Cemetary in London.