Quotes & Books by the Most Popular Puritan Pastor & Author
Thomas Watson’s A Body of Divinity is one of the most precious of the peerless works of the Puritans; and those best acquainted with it prize it most. Watson was one of the most concise, racy, illustrative, and suggestive of those eminent divines who made the Puritan age the Augustan period of evangelical literature. There is a happy union of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical wisdom throughout all his works, and his Body of Divinity is, beyond all the rest, useful to the student and the minister. ~ C. H. Spurgeon
When Christians abate their fervency in private devotions, God abates their peace. If you slacken the strings of the violin, the music is spoiled; so, if a Christian is slack in duty, they spoil the sweet music of peace in their souls. As the fire decays, the cold increases; so, as fervency in duty abates, our peace cools. “A Body of Divinity” pg. 264
When a man rides on a lame horse, his riding is the cause why the horse goes, but the lameness is from the horse itself. Herein is God’s wisdom, that the sins of men carry on His work, yet He has no hand in them. “A Body of Divinity” pg. 75
God loves to counterplot politicians; He makes use of their own wit to undo them, and hangs Haman upon his own gallows. “A Body of Divinity” pg. 75
Faith will be of more use to us than any grace; as an eye, though dim, was of more use to an Israelite than all the other members of his body, a strong arm, or a nimble foot. It was his eye looking on the brazen serpent that cured him. It is not knowledge, though angelic, not repentance, though we could shed rivers of tears, could justify us; only faith, whereby we look on Christ. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). “A Body of Divinity” pg. 218
Now, such as are not settled in religion, will, at one time or other, prove wandering stars; they will lose their former steadfastness, and wander from one opinion to another. Such as are unsettled are of the tribe of Reuben, “unstable as water,” (Gen. 49:4); like a ship without ballast, overturned with every wind of doctrine. Beza writes of one Belfectius, that his religion changed as the moon. The Arians had every year a new faith. These are not pillars in the temple of God, but reeds shaken every way. “A Body of Divinity” pg. 1
[Christ] was born of a virgin, that we might be born of God. He took our flesh, that He might give us His Spirit. He lay in the manger that we might lie in paradise. He came down from heaven, that He might bring us to heaven. And what was all this but love? If our hearts be not rocks, this love of Christ should affect us. Behold love that surpasses knowledge (Eph. 3:19)! “A Body of Divinity” pg. 196
The creation is the heathen man’s Bible, the ploughman’s primer, and the traveler’s perspective glass, through which he receives a representation of the infinite excellencies which are in God. The creation is a large volume, in which God’s works are bound up; and this volume has three great leaves in it, heaven, earth, and sea. . . The world is like a curious piece of tapestry, in which we may see the skill and wisdom of Him that made it. . . Every star in the sky, every bird that flies in the air, is a witness against the heathen. A creature could not make itself. “A Body of Divinity” pg. 116
That the ship may be kept from overturning, it must have its anchor fastened. Knowledge of biblical doctrine is to the soul as an anchor to the ship, that holds it steady in the midst of the rolling waves of error, or the violent winds of persecution. “A Body of Divinity” pg. 4
Read the Bible with reverence. Think in every line you read that God is speaking to you. The ark wherein the law was put was overlaid with pure gold, and was carried on bars, that the Levites might not touch it (Ex. 25:14). Why was this, but to give reverence to the law? Read with seriousness. It is matter of life and death; by this Word you must be tried; conscience and Scripture are the jury God will proceed by, in judging you. Read the Word with affection. Get your hearts quickened with the Word; go to it to fetch fire. ‘Did not our hearts burn within us’ (Luke 24:32)? Labour that the Word may not only be a lamp to direct, but a fire to warm. Read the Scripture, not only as a history, but as a love letter sent you from God, which may affect your hearts. Pray that the same Spirit that wrote the Word may assist you in reading it; that God’s Spirit would show you the wonderful things of his law. ‘Go near,’ saith God to Philip, ‘join thyself to this chariot’ (Acts 8:29). So, when God’s Spirit joins himself with the chariot of his Word, it becomes effectual. ~ A Body of Divinity
If God lets men prosper a while in their sin, His vial of wrath is all this while filling; His sword is all this time whetting: and though God may forbear men a while, yet long forbearance is no forgiveness. The longer God is in taking His blow, the heavier it will be at last. “A Body of Divinity” pg. 90
