How sweet and awful is the place. I. Watts. [The Great Supper.] First published in his Hymns and Sacred Songs, 1707 (edition 1709, Book iii., No. 13), in 7 stanzas of 4 lines, and based upon St. Luke xiv. 17, &c. It is given, sometimes in an abbreviated form, in several modern collections in Great Britain and America. In Dr. Alexander's Augustine Hymn Book, 1849, and later editions it is given as "How sweetly awful is the place;" and in the Baptist Hymnal, 1879, "How sweet and sacred is the place."
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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 >
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