Number of
books reviewed |
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5 |
| Average Grade |
|
A- |
| Highest: A+ |
Lowest: B |
|
 |
The Mischief of Sin
Thomas Watson // 162 pages | 1671
Main Heading: Theology
Sub Headings: Sin |
A- |
|
Watson, a puritan pastor, examines sin and its many effects on
our lives. We often fail to see just how deeply and darkly it
runs within us, in part due to the built-in limitations of our
own intellect and perception, and in part due to sin’s deceptive
nature. Although written more than 300 years ago (which explains
some of the dated language and spelling) this book’s principles
remain sound, for the human condition has not changed.
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We are enveloped with ignorance especially in sacred matters.
What a little of the sea will a nutshell hold? How little of God
will our intellect contain? [5]
Worldly things can no more relieve a troubled mind than a silk
stocking can ease a broken leg. [9]
The devil destroys some by making them neglect duty, and others
by making them idolize duty. Better is that infirmity which
humbles me than that duty which makes me proud. [25]
When we are brought low, let us justify God. God is just not
only when He punished the guilty, but when He afflicts the
righteous. Let us take heed of entertaining hard thoughts of
God, as if He had dealt too severely with us. [42]
Sin ushers in death. Do not say that it is sweet. What wise man
would drink poison because it is sweet? Who would desire a
pleasure that kills? [75]
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The Doctrine of Repentance
Thomas Watson // 122 pages | 1668
Main Heading: Theology
Sub Headings: Repentance |
A |
|
Watson maintains his reputation as the most readable of the
Puritans with an accessible, often pointed discussion of sin and
the necessity of repentance. Without turning from and forsaking
sin, we should not expect to receive mercy or pardon – yet it is
not our repentance that saves us: only Christ has the power to
save. In this life everyone (even those in Christ) struggles
with sin, which makes this a helpful, important, and extremely
relevant book.
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We should hate sin infinitely more than ever we loved it. [52]
If prayer does not make a man leave sin, sin will make him leave
prayer. [68]
Be as speedy in your repentance as you would have God speedy in
His mercies. [86]
Delighting in sin hardens the heart. In true repentance there
must be a grieving for sin, but how can one grieve for that
which he loves? He who delights in sin can hardly pray against
it. [102]
Sin feeds the sinner with delightful objects and then makes him
mortgage his soul. Judas pleased himself with the thirty pieces
of silver, but they proved deceitful riches. Ask him now how he
likes his bargain. [110]
TOP
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The Godly Man's Picture
Thomas Watson // 252 pages | 1666
Main Heading: Theology
Sub Headings: Preaching |
B |
|
A godly person is not merely one who professes God, but one who
possess the same character traits and acts in a similar manner
to God. In short, they display their godliness through their
God-likeness of character. Although I was always intrigued by
what Watson was saying, frequent heading and sub-heading breaks
disrupted the natural flow of the book. In all, Watson paints a
solid Picture that, while not his best, is certainly
worth the read.
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A godly man bears God's name and image;
godliness is Godlikeness. It is one thing to profess God,
another thing to resemble him. [32]
It is better to have God approve than the
world applaud. [97]
The people of God are beholden to their
troubles; they would never have had so much grace, if they
had not met with such severe trials. [125]
It is not the quantity but the quality; it
is not how much we do but how well. A musician is commended,
not for playing long but for playing well. We must not only
do what God appoints but as God appoints. [165]
The godly understand the mystery of living
by faith: they can trust God where they cannot trace him.
[199]
TOP
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The
Lord's Supper
Thomas Watson // 86 pages | 1665
Main Heading: Theology
Sub Headings: Lord's Supper |
A+ |
|
Most Christian churches make a practice of the Lord’s Supper and
have since Christ instituted it during His time on earth. But
what exactly takes place during the Supper? Are the elements
merely symbols or does something else take place? In the
pastoral style and candor he is known for, Watson investigates
each component of the Lord’s Supper, showing from Scripture its
true meaning and the way in which we should approach it. A
veritable classic.
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Think not that it is enough
to be outwardly devout at God’s table, drawing near to him
with the lip, when the heart is far from him…they who give
God only the skin of duty shall carry away only the shell of
comfort. [viii]
It is one thing for a traitor to
be pardoned, and another thing to be brought into favor. Sin cut
us off from God, Christ’s blood cements us to God. If we had had
as much grace as the angels, it could not have wrought our
reconciliation. If we offered up millions of sacrifices, if we
had wept rivers of tears, this could never have appeased an
angry Deity; only the blood of Christ can integrate us into
God’s favor, and make him look upon us with a smiling aspect.
When Christ died, the veil of the temple was rent; this was not
without a mystery, to show that through Christ’s blood, the veil
of our sins is rent, which interposed between God and us. [34]
The more bitterness we taste in
sin, the more sweetness we shall taste in Christ. [46]
Christ’s blood was shed to
reconcile us, not only to God, but one to another. Christ’s body
was broken to make up the breaches among Christians. How sad it
is that they who profess they are going to eat Christ’s flesh in
the sacrament should tear the flesh one of another! He who comes
to the Lord’s table in hatred is a Judas to Christ, and a Cain
to his brother. What benefit can he receive at the sacrament,
whose heart is envenomed with malice? [56]
Though we remember our sins with
grief, yet we should remember Christ’s sufferings with joy. Let
us weep for those sins which shed his blood, yet rejoice in that
blood which washes away our sins. [67]
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All
Things For Good
Thomas Watson // 127 pages | 1663 (2001)
Main Heading: Theology
Sub Headings: |
A |
|
Expounding upon Romans 8:28, Watson explains
how God promises to work all things for good in the lives of His
children. Specifically, he shows how both calm and affliction
are used by God to accomplish His work in us. Watson makes his
arguments convincingly, and is an able-penned wordsmith that
expresses his views with a potent mixture of poignancy and
brevity. His works are an indisputable treasure of Scriptural
illumination, and this one is no different.
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Affliction teaches what sin is. In the
word preached, we hear what a dreadful thing sin is, that it
is both defiling and damning, but we fear it no more than a
painted lion; therefore God lets loose affliction, and then
we feel sin bitter in the fruit of it. A sick-bed often
teaches more than a sermon. [27]
A child of God being conscious of sin, takes
the candle and lantern of the Word, and searches into his heart.
He desires to know the worst of himself; as a man who is
diseased in body desires to know the worst of his disease…It is
good to know our sins, that we may not flatter ourselves, or
take our condition to be better than it is. It is good to find
out our sins, lest they find us out. [49]
He who is in love with God is not much in love
with anything else. [78]
God would have us part with nothing for Him,
but that which will damn us if we keep it. [110]
When God calls a man, He does not repent of
it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day, and hate
another; or as princes, who make their subjects favorites, and
afterwards throw them into prison. This is the blessedness of a
saint; his condition admits of no alteration. God’s call is
founded upon His decree, and His decree is immutable. Acts of
grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people’s sins, but
not their names. Let the world ring changes every hour, a
believer’s condition is fixed and unalterable. [111]
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