The season is upon us. One station here is already playing Christmas tunes all day==and I love it! I never tire of these old tunes.
One of my favorites is Joy To The World with words by Isaac Watts and melody by George F. Handel.
When Watts came along, English churches were still mostly singing the Psalms of David. Watts found that limiting and invented "English hymns." He did not, however, neglect David's psalms. In 1719 he published a unique hymnal in which he translated, interpreted and paraphrased the Psalms through the eyes of New Testament faith. The hymnal was called The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. His archrival Thomas Bradbury was critical of the hymns and called them "whims" instead of hymns, and accused Watts of thinking he was King David.
Joy to the World is Watts interpretation of Psalm 98, "Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
"Joy is the serious business of heaven." C. S. Lewis
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