Isaac Watts (1674 – 1748) and Dispensationalism

 Isaac Watts was mentioned by Charles Ryrie as one who foreshadowed the dispensationalism of Scofield and Darby. Isaac Watts write a book called "The Harmony of All the Religions Which God Ever Prescribed to Men and All His Dispensations Towards Them", where he taught many dispensational concepts.
However, he did not develop his every idea to their logical conclusions, as living in a Reformed environment, he had covenantal influences. This may put Isaac Watts somewhat closer to progressive dispensationalism, however considering the environment around Isaac Watts, the influences are understandable.

First thing to note is that Watts noticed a substantial difference between the Mosaic covenant and the New Covenant. Watts seems to have taught that the commands which are not re-established in the New Testament writings, are not binding.

“Watts furthermore changed the psalms in order to harmonize them with prevailing economic attitudes of the eighteenth century. Where the psalmist had scored usury, Watts thought it necessary also to leave out the mention of usury, which though politically forbidden by the ,Jews among themselves was never unlawful to the Gentles, nor to any Christians since the ,Jewish polity (Mosaic law) expired." 

(R. M. Stevenson, Patterns of Protestant Church Music)

This quote is not saying that Isaac tried to change the bible, but that when he borrowed from the Psalms, writing his own hymns (he was a famous hymn writer), he did not borrow from the psalms word for word, instead "omitting" mentions of Mosaic commandments which no longer apply. 

Watts is also seen as teaching the doctrine that the dispensation of the church age started in Acts 2, as he says in the book "The Harmony of All the Religions Which God Ever Prescribed to Men and All His Dispensations Towards Them":

"the christian dispensation was not properly set up in all its forms, doctrines and duties, till the following day of Pentecost, and the pouring down of the Spirit upon the Apostles" 

Chales Ryrie thus describes Isaac Watt's dispensational scheme (Dispensationalism, page 53):

I. The Dispensation of Innocency, or the Religion of Adam at first

 II. The Adamical Dispensation of the Covenant of Grace, or the Religion of Adam after his Fall

 III. The Noahical Dispensation, or the Religion of Noah 

 IV The Abrahamical Dispensation, or the Religion of Abraham

 V The Mosaical Dispensation, or the Jewish Religion 

VI. The Christian Dispensation Except for the exclusion of the Millennium (he did not consider it a dispensation), this outline is exactly like that in the Scofield Reference Bible, and it is Watts's outline, not Darby's! Thus, throughout this period there was significant thinking and considerable literature on the subject of God's dealings with mankind throughout the ages. This was a period of developing dispensationalism

Now, despite Isaac not considering the millennium a dispensation, he was clearly still premillennial and believed in a future kingdom. Isaac's song "Jesus Shall Reign" has been generally seen as proof of his premillennial theology, which reads thus:

1 Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does its successive journeys run, his kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more. 2 To him shall endless prayer be made, and praises throng to crown his head. His name like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice.3 People and realms of every tongue dwell on his love with sweetest song, and infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on his name. 4 Blessings abound where'er he reigns: the prisoners leap to lose their chains, the weary find eternal rest, and all who suffer want are blest. 5 Let every creature rise and bring the highest honors to our King, angels descend with songs again, and earth repeat the loud amen.

This hymn is borrowed mainly from Psalm 72, now although he does not directly say that this will be fulfilled in the future, we see indications that he did. For example the words "His name like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice" are not in the original Psalm, and the inclusion implies this being an additive interpretation of Isaac Watts. This indicates that he believed that a sacrificial system will exist when this Psalm is fulfilled, which would place it in the millennium (Ezekiel's temple), as no such thing exists today. 

He additionally in a hymn about Isaiah 9:6 (Watts, Psalms and Hymns p. 300) attributed the millennial reign to "ages yet unknown". Watts also believed in a future conversion of Israel, as in his comments on Psalm 106 and Psalm 105 he says:

"Though the Jews now seem to be case off, yet the Apostle Paul assures us, that “God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew” (Rom. 11:2). Their unbelief and absence from God is but for a season; for they shall be recalled again, verses 25, 26"

"Then let the world forbear its rage, Nor put the land in fear; Israel must live through every age, And be the’ Almighty’s care."

Now, believing in premillennialism does not make one a dispensationalist alone, but his belief in the divine preservation of the Jewish people and apparent belief in a future temple in Jerusalem seem to connect him closer to dispensationalism, as historic premillennialists take the temple allegorically and applying to the church.

Now, it does have to be noted that Isaac was not a classical dispensationalist. His dispensational theology is still underdeveloped and he was influenced by the mainstream writers of his day. This led Isaac to apply many promises given for Israel to the church "spiritually". It seems that Isaac's theology mirrors progressive dispensationalism, which applies these prophecies "spiritually" to the church and "literally" to Israel at the same time. Although I am not a progressive dispensationalists, Isaac should be given some grace on the matter, as he lived before Darby and during a time where the role of Israel was not majorly discussed, thus his information was more limited, perhaps, if Isaac knew of Darby, he would have taught classical dispensationalism instead. However, Isaac's theology does show that many dispensational beliefs were taught prior to Darby, as Isaac was born over 100 years before him. Despite Isaac's dispensationalism being underdeveloped, we thus see that Darby was not the inventor of this theology, but merely a systematizer of it.

Although this article is not to be meant to be about progressive dispensationalism, I believe it has some problems. I suggest reading from Andy Woods on the issue of progressive dispensationalism, as he makes a detailed biblical examination of the doctrine.

You can find "The Coming Kingdom by Andy Woods" here.