<<<Give ‘em Watts, Boys!>>>

Isaac Watts wrote great poetry.

And once, in a VERY avant-garde conceptual art piece, his poetry propelled actual musket-balls from American guns against invading British troops.

(Chris Burden,  Joseph Beuys and Christo got nothing on old Isaac…)

Pastor James Caldwell called it very well indeed at the Battle of Springfield, New Jersey on June 23, 1780:

When James Caldwell joined the battle in Springfield, the Americans were giving the British a sound beating, when suddenly one of the patriot companies ran out of paper wadding. Now wadding was just as important as powder and musket balls to the soldier. Instantly, James called for the company to retreat back to the local Presbyterian Church where he ran in and grabbed all the Isaac Watts hymnals. He rushed back outside and began slinging them to the soldiers with the admonition to “fill the British with doctrine from the hymnals” and, “Give ’em Watts, Boys!” “Put Watts Into ’em, Boys!”

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Others, it would appear, have heard of this incident as I had –  but thought it happened at Bunker Hill.

Without further ado, I give you Watts today:

Helpless               Isaac Watts  (1674 – 1748)

How helpless guilty nature lies,
Unconscious of its load!
The heart, unchanged can never rise
To happiness and God.

The will perverse, the passions blind,
In paths of ruin stray;
Reason, debased, can never find
The safe, the narrow way.

Can aught, beneath a power divine,
The stubborn will subdue?
Tis Thine, almighty Saviour, Thine,
To form the heart anew.

O change these wretched hearts of ours,
And give them life divine!
Then shall our passions and our powers,
Almighty Lord, be Thine!

Image from:  http://www.puritanboard.com