RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Watson Wayland
separatistic administration of the sacraments, but it was determined to reach a decision by a final debate, in which the cause of the Anabaptists was defeated, according to the opinion of the dominant element. Watt, to whom Zwingli had sent his treatise, Vom Tauf, Wiedertauf und Kindertauf, in 1524, was the center of this controversy and contributed a comprehensive work against the Anabaptists, which has been lost.
Watt now reorganized the church of St. Gall by measures which included the submission of the clergy to the city council. When Watt finally was elected chief magistrate of the city in 1526, the victory of the St. Gall Reformation seemed assured. The success of the disputation of Bern (1528), in which Watt was moderator, gave occasion for the enforcement of the Reformation in the country region subject to the abbey. Wearied by the disputes growing out of the question of disposal of this abbey, Watt gradually became less prominent in controversial issues. He now devoted his interests to the study of the history of his native city and the abbey to which the city owed its existence. After the battle of Kappel, in which Zwingli fell, 1531, Watt witnessed the restoration of Roman Catholicism in the abbey, and political derangement in the city, He continued his work for the welfare of the church for twenty years. To bring about an agreement concerning the views of the Eucharist, he wrote his Aphorismorum de consideratione eucharistie libri VI (Zurich, 1535). In his writings: Pro veritate carnis triumphantis Christi and Epistola ad Zuiccium, together with the Antilogia ad Gasparis Schwenkfeldit argumenta conscripta (1540), directed against Schwenkfeld, he again defended the Swiss Christology. But the study of the historical past was of more interest to him than theological analysis. His Grosse Chronik der Aebte des Klosters St. Gallen (3 vols., St. Gall, 1575-79), a historical justification of the Reformation, may be considered one of the most important controversial works on the history of the Swiss and the German reformation.
(H. HERMELINK.) BrBstioGRAPHY: The German historical writings by Watt were edited by HE. Gétzinger, 3 vols., St. Gall, 1875-79; the
Farrago is in M. Goldast, Rerum Alamannicarum scrip-
tores, iii. 1-80, ed. H. C. Senkenberg, Frankfort, 1730.
His letters were collected by E. Arbenz, for the His-
torischer Verein of St. Gall, Mitteilungen, vols. xxiv.—xxv.,
xxvil._-xxix. Other sources are Johann Kessler’s Vita,
revised at St. Gall, 1865, and his Sabbata, ed. EK. Gét-
zinger, for the St. Gall Verein, 1866-68, and in a new ed.,
St. Gall, 1901. Consult: T. Pressel, Joachim Vadian,
Elberfeld, 1861; R. Sta&helin, in Beztrige zur vaterlindt-
schen Geschichte, xi. 191-262, Basel, 1882; E. Arbenz, in
Neujahrsblitter des historischen Vereins, St. Gall, 1886,
1895, 1905; E. Egli, Die St. Gallen Taufer, Zurich, 1887;
K. Dandliker, Geschichte der Schweiz, ii. 424 sqq., Zurich,
1894; idem, Short Hist. of Switzerland, pp. 137, 154, 156,
London, 1899; E. Gétzinger, in Schriften des Vereins fiir
Reformationsgeschichte, 1 (1895); W. D. McCrackan, Rise
of the Swiss Republic, pp. 93, 264, 2d ed., New York, 1901;
S. M. Jackson, Huldreich Zwingli, passim, 2d ed., New
York, 1903.
WATTS, ISAAC: Founder of English hymnody; b. at Southampton, England, July 17, 1674; d. at Stoke Newington (4 m. n.e. of Charing Cross, London) Nov. 25, 1748. He obtained an excellent education at Southampton grammar-school, then, joining the dissenters, he studied at an academy at
Stoke Newington, where he acquired his accuracy
of thought and habit of laborious analysis; leaving
the academy in 1694, he spent two years at home, beginning his hymn-writing. He was private tutor,
1696-1701; became assistant pastor in the chapel
at Mark Lane, 1699, and sole pastor, 1702; because
of frequent attacks of illness, Samuel Price had as-
sisted him from 1703 and was chosen copastor 1713;
his illness increased with time, but the congregation
refused to part with one who had become so famous and beloved. Watts was one of the most popular writers of his time; the Hore Lyrice (London,
1706) won him fame as a poet, but it was his hymns
that so distinguished him. His poetry by giving
utterance to the spiritual emotions made hymnsinging an earnest devotional power; the success of his hymns was tremendous, the two staple volumes were the Hymns (1707) and the Psalms of David
(1719). The various pieces numbered about 600, of
which quite a number are still in general use. His
best pieces rank among the finest hymns in English.
Watts was also the founder of children’s hymnology,
writing the Divine Songs (1715). For an estimate
of his place in hymnody, see Hymnouoey, IX., § 3.
He was opposed in 1719 to the imposition of the
doctrine of the Trinity on independent ministers.
He held a theory which he hoped might close the
breach between Arianism and the faith of the
Church; he maintained that the human soul of
Christ, created before the world, had been united
to the divine principle in the Godhead known as
the Sophia or Logos, and that the personality of the Holy Ghost was figurative rather than literal.
He held liberal views on education, and his learn-
ing and piety attracted a great many. His works,
outside his hymns, embrace The Knowledge of the
Heavens and the Earth Made Easy (London, 1726);
An Hssay towards the Encouragement of Charity
Schools (1728); Reliquie Juveniles (1734); Philo-
sophical Essays (3d ed., 2 pts., 1742). His Works
appeared ed. D. Jennings and P. Doddridge (6 vols.,
London, 1753; with Memoirs by G. Burder, 6 vols.,
1810-11; 9 vols., Leeds, 1810-11); and Posthumous
Works (2 vols., London, 1779).
BrstiocRapHy: Lives have been written by T. Gibbons, London, 1780; S. Johnson, London, 1785, 2d ed., 1791; T. Milner, London, 1834; E. Paxton Hood, London, 1875. Consult further: Walter Wilson, Hist. and Antiquities of the Dissenting Churches, 4 vols., London, 1808-14; R. E. A. Willmott, Lives of the Sacred Poets, London, 1838; F. Saunders, Hvenings with the Sacred Poets, London, 1870; S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, pp. 61-64, New York, 1886; N. Smith, Hymns historically Famous, pp. 49-55, Chicago, 1901; Julian, Hymnology, pp. 349-350, 920, 1236- 1241; DNB, lx. 67-70.
WAYLAND, FRANCIS: Baptist preacher and educator; b. in New York Mar. 11, 1796; d. at Providence, R. I., Sept. 30, 1865. He was graduated from Union College in 1813; studied medicine for three years; uniting with the Baptist church, he studied at Andover Theological Seminary, 1816-17; was tutor in Union College, 1817-21; pastor of the First Baptist Church in Boston, 1821-26; professor in Union College in 1826; president of Brown University, 1827-55; pastor of the First Baptist Church in Providence, 1855-57; and subsequently devoted himself to religious and humane work. He is widely remembered as a college officer, The text-books
Wayland Webb