Book excerpt: "The Great God values not the service of men, if the heart be not in it: The Lord sees and judges the heart; he has no regard to outward forms of worship, if there be no inward adoration, if no devout affection be employed therein. It is therefore a matter of infinite importance, to have the whole heart engaged steadfastly to God."- Isaac Watts "Do not spend the day in gathering flowers by the way side, lest night come upon you before you arrive at your journey's end, and then you will not reach it." Isaac Watts, Logic: The Right Use of Reason in the Inquiry After Truth "Isaac Watts - 'the Father of the English Hymn,' as his tombstone in Bunhill Fields records - was born at Southampton, July 17, 1674, and died on November 25, 1748. He was only five feet in height, and of feeble physique throughout his life; but he left behind him nearly five hundred hymns and paraphrases, many of which are amongst the most cherished treasures of public and private devotion. His versifications of the Psalms include such noble lines as 'Our God, our help in ages past' (altered, but not improved, by John Wesley to 'O God, our help in ages past), and 'Jesus shall reign where'er the sun.' It should not be forgotten that Dr. Watts - who was a bachelor - was the author of those never-to-be-forgotten infantile rhymes: 'How doth the little busy bee,' and 'Let dogs delight to bark and bite." -The Musical Times, Volume 43, 1902