Puritan Gems: Wise and Holy Sayings of Thomas Watson

By Thomas Watson

These are a collection of the eminent Puritan pastor, Thomas Watson. Reading a few of these quotes is a great way to start a devotional time, the morning, or end an evening to help one's heart be centered on Christ and his work and ways.

• Language: English
• Publisher: GLH Publishing
• Release date: Jun 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781648630583

Thomas Watson

I am a writer, amateur astronomer, and long-time fan of science fiction living in Tucson, AZ. I'm a transplanted desert rat, having come to the Sonoran Desert of the American Southwest many years ago from my childhood home in Illinois. I have a B.S. in plant biology from the University of Arizona, and have in the past worked as a laboratory technician for that institution. Among many other things, I am also a student of history, natural history, and backyard horticulture.  I also cook a pretty good green chili pork stew. But most of all, I'm a writer. The art of writing is one of those matters that I find difficult to trace to a single source of inspiration in my life. Instead of an "Aha! This is it!" moment, I would say my desire to write is the cumulative effect of my life-long print addiction. My parents once teased me by claiming I learned to read before I could tie my own shoelaces. Whether or not that's true, I learned to read very early in life, and have as a reader always cast a very wide net. My bookshelves are crowded and eclectic, with fiction by C.J. Cherryh, Isaac Asimov, and Tony Hillerman, and nonfiction by Annie Dillard, Stephen Jay Gould, and Ron Chernow, among many others. It's no doubt due to my eclectic reading habits that I have an equal interest in writing both fiction and nonfiction. The experience of reading, of feeling what a writer could do to my head and my heart with their words, eventually moved me to see if I could do the same thing for others. I'm still trying to answer that question.

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Puritan Gems

Wise and Holy Sayings

of Thomas Watson

Edited and Arranged by

John Adey

Vintage Puritan

GLH Publishing

Louisville, KY

Edited and arranged by John Adey, 1850.

Public Domain.

ISBN:  

  Paperback 978-1-64863-057-6

  Epub 978-1-64863-058-3

For information on new releases, weekly deals, and free ebooks visit

www.GLHpublishing.com

Contents

Preface

Afflictions

Assurance

Angels

Care

Cheerfulness

Christ

Christians

Church

Conscience

Contentment

Election

Eternity

Exhortation

Experience

Exposition of Texts

Faith

Fear of God

Grace and Graces of the Spirit

God

Heaven

Hell

Holiness

The Holy Spirit

Hope

Humility

Life

The Lord’s Supper

Love

Mercy

Meditation

Ministers

Pardon

Prayer

Praise

Promises

Providence

Redemption

Riches

Salvation

Scriptures

Sin and Sinners

Soul

Temptation

Truth

World

Preface

The Author from whose works the contents of this little volume have been selected and arranged, was the Rev. Thomas Watson, M.A., minister of St. Stephen’s, Walbrook, London. He was one of the excellent men ejected from the Church of England by the passing of the Act of Uniformity, in 1662, when upwards of two thousand clergymen lost their livings, and the greater part of them suffered poverty and reproach, and passed through severe trials, for conscience’ sake.

Mr. Watson received his education for the ministry at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He possessed considerable attainments, was very popular as a preacher, and particularly gifted in prayer. He was the author of several works, some of which have been frequently reprinted, especially in Scotland. His printed sermons were numerous, one of which he preached before the House of Commons.

It will be seen from the following extracts that their author was peculiar in his style, very sententious, and abounding in figures; but his writings are particularly distinguished for their practical tendency, and the frequency with which we meet with earnest appeals to the ungodly. The unreserved freeness with which he presented the invitations of the Gospel, with the pungency of his reproofs, must have made him very successful in ‘winning souls.’

As a minister and pastor, Mr. Watson was highly esteemed by his flock; and the closing paragraph of his farewell sermon to them before his ejectment, will serve to illustrate their mutual regard, and the times when the rights of conscience were so grossly violated and the principles of religious liberty so little understood:

The hour is come wherein the sun is setting upon not a few of the prophets: our work seems to be at an end; our pulpits and places must know us no more. You are not ignorant what things there are imposed on us as the condition of our continuing our ministration. I must profess before God, angels, and men, that my nonsubmission is not from any disloyalty to authority or any factious disposition, but because I dare not do anything concerning which my heart tells me the Lord says, Do it not. I feel I must part with my conscience or with my ministry. I choose, therefore, that my ministry be sealed up by my sufferings, rather than lengthened out by a lie; but I shall, through the grace of God, endeavour patiently and peaceably to suffer as a Christian. And now, welcome the cross of Christ; welcome reproach; welcome poverty, scorn, and contempt, or whatever may befall me! This morning, I had a flock and you had a pastor, but now behold a pastor without a flock, and a flock without a shepherd! This morning, I had a house, now I have none. This morning, I had a living, now I have none: ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.’ And thus, brethren, I bid you all farewell. ‘Finally, brethren, farewell!’

After his ejectment, this Puritan Divine resided some years in London, preaching whenever he had an opportunity; and when age and infirmities advanced upon him, he retired into Essex, and soon after died suddenly, in his study, while engaged in secret prayer.

The Editor, in publishing these extracts, hopes he shall be doing some small service to the cause of truth and godliness. He has long wished that the many which are scattered through the Author’s writings might be better known, especially as the volumes in which they lie are now, comparatively, but little known or read.

It has been thought this miniature Cabinet would be an appropriate companion for the journey—the voyage—in the walk—in leisure moments, or on the couch of weakness, when some sentence might be found adapted to the peculiar circumstances of the reader, and be conducive to instruction and edification.

The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.

John Adey

Surrey Square, London, 1850.

Afflictions

When God puts his children to the school of the cross, he deals with them tenderly, because he does not leave them without a promise,—God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able. He will not lay a