Praises Due to God, Not to Idols

Author: Isaac Watts

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 >

Awake, ye saints, to praise your King. I. Watts. [Ps. cxxxv.] His C.M. version of Ps. cxxxv., in 8 stanzas of 4 lines, first published in his Psalms of David, &c, 1719. In a note thereto he says, “In the 5th stanza I have borrowed a verse from Jer. xiv. 22, "Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain.” This stanza begins "Which of the stocks and stones they trust." As a whole the paraphrase is not in general use. A cento beginning “Great is the Lord, and works unknown” is given in New Congregational Hymn Book, No. 225. It is composed of stanzas ii.-v. and viii.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)