Thomas Watson (1620 – 1686) was a brilliant Puritan pastor and author. He was known for having a great intellect and showed an amazing grasp of the English language, as well as a solid understanding of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Many of his writings are still in print today and I pray by the quotes I have selected for this devotion you may see why I consider him one of the great Christians minds of the last 400 years.1
“Christ went more willingly to the cross than we do to the throne of grace.”
“God sweetens outward pain with inward peace.”
“Until sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.”
“Knowledge is the eye that must direct the foot of obedience.”
“Unless we deny our own will, we shall never do God’s will.”
“The more bitterness we taste in sin, the more sweetness we shall taste in Christ.”
“Ministers can but speak to the ear, the Spirit speaks to the heart.”
“We must love God more for what He is, than for what He bestows.”
“Satan loves to fish in the troubled waters of a discontented heart.”
“It is better to go to heaven with a few, than to hell in the crowd.”
“If we do not regard God when he speaks to us, he will not regard us when we pray to him.”
“If God should show mercy only to such as deserve it, he must show mercy to none.”
“Great was the work of creation, but greater was the work of redemption. Great wisdom was seen in making us—but more miraculous wisdom in saving us. Great power was seen in bringing us out of nothing—but greater power in helping us when we were worse than nothing. In the creation, God gave us ourselves; in the redemption, He gave us Himself.”
“The race is short between the cradle and the grave!”
“No man did ever come off a loser by his acquaintance with God.”
“God did not choose us because we were worthy, but by choosing us He makes us worthy.”
“The holiness of the saints will not excuse them from sufferings.”
“When men throw off the Word, then God throws them off, and then Satan takes them by the hand, and leads them into snares at his pleasure. He who thinks himself too good to be ruled by the Word, will be found too bad to be owned by God; and if God does not, or will not own him, Satan will by his stratagems overthrow him.”
“Lusts within are worse than lions without.”
“A Christian without meditation is like a soldier without weapons, or a workman without tools.”
“Though God is the fountain of grace—yet the saints are the pipes which transmit the living streams to others.”
“Daily bread may make us live comfortably but forgiveness of sins will make us die comfortably.”
“What is the duty which God requireth of man? Obedience to his revealed will. It is not enough to hear God’s voice, but we must obey. Obedience is a part of the honour we owe to God.”
“Many people think it is enough to bring their bodies to the assembly, but never look at their hearts. They satisfy themselves that they have been at church, though they have not been with God there.”
1 All of these quotes are from the website below:
Wow! Amazing quotes. Loved pondering on them. Thanks for sharing!