I appreciate how Watson, like many Puritans, saturates his writing with scriptural references, His section on the fear of God was just splendid, Need to be convicted Read or listen to what the Puritans have to say about Godliness, Watson included a dose of encouragement as well, I know I would have gotten more out of a print edition, but I appreciate hoopla and it's good selection of Puritan works, The book was hard to understand at times but these puritans never pull any punches,
Here are my notes, . .
Little with fear of God/contentment is better than hedonistic riches,
Lazureths' crumbs were better than the rich man's banquet,
Look to the word, not the example of other people
We deceive ourselves that we are better than we are,
We deceive ourselves to sin with false repentance,
Our hearts should burn in us for God because of our thought life towards him,
Your thought of God is one of the most important things about you,
You are only as good as your thoughts, When you are alone. That is who you are,
Godliness is the most precious possession we can have, Thomas Watson is particularly helpful in this book on the section on the fear of God, Here is one quote to walk away with: “the fear of God paves the way for spiritual joy, Some may think the fear of God breads sadness not it is the inlet to joy! The fear of God is the morning star, which ushers in the sunlight of comfort: "Walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit" Acts:” Amazing to think that Watson was huge with middleclass English evangelicals at one point.
Heavyhitting call to holiness / Godliness with justifications for why it matters and what you stand to gain from pursuing it both in this life and the life to come.
Stellar classical English rhetoric, metaphor, and style, as with the other Watson book I read, He's never short on classical and Scriptural allusions to make his point, A reminder that a healthy fear of God has wholesome effects upon one's life, "Books are the "children of the brain", In this writing age, when they are brought forth ad nauseam, I intended that my pen should have been silentbut the variety and weightiness of this subject, as also the desire of some friends, did prevail with me to publish it.
The main design of this excellent Scripture, is to encourage solid piety, and confute the atheists of the world, who imagine there is no gain in godliness, "
"Let us keep up the vigor of our zeal, in degenerate times, We should by a holy contrarinessburn hotter in a frozen age, We live in the dregs of time sin is grown common and impudent, It is excellent to walk contrary to the world, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world!" Romans:, Let us be as lilies and roses among the briars, Sin is never the better, because it is in fashion! Nor will this plea hold at the last daythat we did as the most did, "
Thomas Watson, London, November,Thomas Watson is hands down my favorite Puritan, The way he writes so draws me into the experience of what he's writing about, I cannot help but love his books amp the life changing messages they bring.
As always, he opened my eyes to so many new perspectives on godly living amp provided the usual practical examples he's so famous for, Chapter'Is the Fear of God in Our Hearts' really impacted me amp shed new light on many texts concerning this subject,
Watson is not so hard to read as some of the other Puritans so this book could easily be read in a few days or week amp be easily understood.
Putting it into practice, now that is the hard part, Among C. H. Spurgeons,Puritan books, one prize was said to be missing: Thomas Watsons Notes on Malachi:, Wrote Spurgeon, This would be a great find, for Watson is one of the clearest and liveliest of Puritan authors, The book that Spurgeon longed for, reset and lightly edited, rich spirituality, nourishing doctrine, practical wisdom, Thomas Watson tackles the subject of godliness in this excellent book, What stood out to me the most was how he tackled the fear of God, He really explained it well and looked at it in so many different angles, He has an interesting way of applying to the reader what he is teaching and uses many pictures and illustrations to make things clear, It was written back in thecentury but it far exceeds the books of today in both quality and depth, Highly recommended Originally published inas "Religion Our True Interest", this is yet another good book from the author, written in easygoing, clear manner some words have been modernized to make things easier for us today.
It ponders on a Bible text, malachi:, on what the gain of godliness piety is,
First part talk about the character of the godly,
of staying such in evil days and be motivated with strong zeal to be faithful,
on having a good fear of God and how to know if one has it,
on how the godly speak about things of faith examples of subjects are given, and also what does not belong there,
and meditate on God's name frequently what he's like, his works, his mercy and so on.
In the second part the subject is what the good effects of this behavior is, how God reacts to our good conduct: He notices, records it, rewards it here and after life.
A chapter on the difference between the righteous and the worldpersons,
and finally there's a short chapter of consolation for the afflicted believers, to strenghten them,
This was a breeze to read and this is true with some authors, that you know they write in a way that makes things flow smoothly, Another good sign was that I got many notes out of the text, especially the good fear of God part, There are religious books that are very good yet you don't get much to write down from them, Kind of wish I had more
of the author's books, but then I can reread after a while, Very enjoyable read. : I enjoyed this one a lot, Watson is the most tweetable Puritan I've encountered, Let's see if I can post some of the quotes I gleaned:
image error Watson is very clear in his exhortations, He doesn't beat around the bush, Just like the subtitle explains, this is a good collection of practical notes on Malachi:, full of instruction, exhortation, and encouragement,
For example from page:
"Question: How may good conference i, e. conversation be arrived at
Answer: If you wish to discourse of religion, get your minds well furnished with knowledgeSome are backward to speak of good things for lack of matter.
. . If you would have your tongues run fluently in religion, they must be fed with a spring of knowledge,
Answer: If you would discourse readily in the things of God, make religion your delight, What men delight in, they will be speaking of,
Answer: Pray that God will both gift and grace you for Christian conference: 'O Lord open thou my lips' Ps,:. " This is another dense read to be fair is what writtenyears ago, I found he hardlined too much on works in salvation and the coercion of devil in choices and a few other things that I do not entirely disagree with, but were overstated.
. . again, he was a Puritanyears ago,
Watson throws down some shade at Arminian through a few sick burns, which was nice to hear, He kept referring to the saints in one portion as 'God's jewels' and theyear old in me had a hard time keeping it together for obvious reasons,
It's another good, solid, foundational read that is thick with thought, consideration, and insight, Amazingly simple, clear style. Its hard to believe he lived at roughly the same time as Milton, My first read from this author and I know that I need to read more of his works, This sermon is a mustread/listen for any seriousminded Christian, In a world that most of God's word has been watered down to appease the culture, and to not offend, It was a breath of fresh air, to hear the word in its purest form,
There was so much meat in this one, below are some quotes that resonated with me:
the profaneness of the times should not slacken our zealbut heighten it, The looser others arethe stricter we should be, In those degenerate times when men were arrived at the peak and height of impudence and dared to speak treason against heaventhen those who feared the Lord spoke often one to another.
When others were plaintiffsthese were defendants when others spoke against Godthese spoke for God,
Watson, Thomas. The Great Gain of Godliness, UNKNOWN. Kindle Edition.
Reproaches are but splinters of the cross, How will he endure the stakewho cannot bear a scoff Reproaches for Christ, are ensigns of honor, and badges of adoptionPeter:, Let Christians bind these reproaches, as a crown about their head, Better have men reproach you for being godlythan have God damn you for being wicked! Be not laughed out of your religion, If a lame man laughs at you for walking uprightwill you therefore limp
Watson, Thomas, The Great Gain of Godliness, UNKNOWN. Kindle Edition. .