Watts, Moody, and Sankey
Scripture
Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Matthew 5:9, NIV
Quote
“When we judge by appearance, we see only the tip of the iceberg. Character is revealed by what is below.”
Ya’akov {Adapted}
My Thoughts
I think practically everyone likes a good story. Isaac Watts was a poet, hymn writer and preacher. Watts was like Paul in that he was very unattractive physically. A prominent woman, Elizabeth Singer, fell in love with Watts poems and hymns but when she saw him for the first time, she was unimpressed and you might say distressed. She had plans for Watts but everything changed once she saw him. As my mother use to say, “You can’t judge a book by looking at the cover.” Unfortunately Elizabeth did just that and she did not get to share the life of one of the most successful men who has ever lived. Watts wrote 600 hymns and has become the most popular hymn writer of all time. He also wrote hundreds of poem and he published 52 books and one on logic that was used in universities. He also had books grammar, astronomy, philosophy, geography and theology. He has a book on Psalms and I want it.
One of his many hymns was AM I A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS? He wrote this hymn in preparing his Sunday message ‘HOLY FORTITUDE’, based on 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave and strong.” Over a century later, this hymn played a role in bringing Ira Sankey and D.L. Moody together. Moody was an evangelist who had international fame but he did not have a music man on his team. Sankey was a tax collector. I don’t know if he was a State Trooper or worked for the IRS. He showed up at one of Moody’s meetings in Indianapolis and was asked to lead the singing. He had a magnificent voice. Moody pulled him aside after the meeting and drilled him with a series of questions. When he told Moody that he worked for the government, Moody said, “You will have to give that up.” “What for” was Sankey’s reply. “You are going to work for me,” said Moody. Sankey had no intention of giving up his govenment job and going on the road with Moody, but within a days time, he changed his mind and the rest is history. For the next twenty years they traveled the world preaching and singing the gospel.
Extra
Life is full of disappointments. Our mover was to be here at noon and he never showed. Troy finally got in touch with him and he said he was not coming. Didn’t give us specifics. We knew we had a tiny window with the rain coming. We can get dry here quick but the spot we are moving to is a different story. So we don’t know when we will get to move but the office here in the house is working. LORD willing we are going to Huntsville this morning and hope to make our dinner meeting in Decatur by 11:38 but we will be cutting it close. We are excited about the supper tonight at 6:00. Be sure to invite someone.
Have a good day and thanks for reading the blog.