Watts, Isaac. Dr. Watts' Four Catechisms for Children. New York: American Tract Society, ca 1850. [11969] Printed wrapper, back detached and present, 11 x 7 cm, (4 1/4 x 2 7/8 inches). 1853 owner's inscription on the ffep. Frontispiece wood engraving plus many more in the text; 88 pages with light foxing. Good. Pamphlet. This includes The Catechism of Scripture Names; The First Catechism; The Second Catechism, extracted from Dr. Watts; and A Preservative from the Sins and Follies of Childhood and Youth. Isaac Watts (1674-1748); English Independent minister, author, and hymn-writer. "Watts was one of the most popular writers of his day. His educational materials - the 'Catechisms' (1730) and the 'Scripture History' (1732) were still standard works in the middle of this [the 19th] century. His philosophical books, especially the 'Logic' (1726), had a long circulation; so also had his 'World to Come' (1738) and other works of popular divinity. The best of his works is 'The Improvement of the Mind' (1741), which Johnson eulogises...The poetry of Watts took the religious world of dissent by storm. It gave an utterance, till then unheard in England, to the spiritual emotions, in their contemplation of God's glory in nature and his revelation in Christ, and made hymn-singing a fervid devotional force...The Calvinism of Watts was of the milder type which shrinks from the doctrine of reprobation. He held liberal views on education. His tolerance and love of comprehension degenerated at times into weakness; as in his proposal to unite the Independents and Baptists by surrendering the doctrine of infant baptism, if the baptists would give up immersion. His learning and piety attracted a large circle, including Doddridge, Lady Hertford (afterwards Duchess of Somerset), the first Lord Barrington, Bishop Gibson, Archbishop Hort, and Archbishop Secker. The university of Edinburgh gave him an honorary D.D. degree (1728)." - DNB.
