I love the puritans. They are fascinating in a number of ways. Notably they are men who preached the Word of God in an uncompromising fashion when preaching was not popular. Many were ejected from their churches because they refused to conform to the ministry mandates set by the state. They were also a notable group because of their rational capacity. They had the ability to think about deep things for a long time, to meditate. Their lives were not inundated with television, Internet, freeways, cell phones, and conference calls. They spent their time steeping their brains in the truth, which led to their souls expanding in worship and obedience to God. Finally I love them because of their immense capacity to articulate the truth of God in convicting, profound, and illustrative ways. They were wordsmiths, whose ability to cement the Word of God on the minds of the hearers is unmatched by any group of preachers in any other era outside of the Bible. 

My favorite puritan is Thomas Watson. I share this opinion with most that read puritan literature, including our pastor-teacher Jack Hughes, whose doctoral studies examined the life and teaching of Watson. This book, The Godly Man's Picture, in my estimation is his finest work. I would rate this book probably in the top 10 books ever read. 

Watson deals with the Christian life from a very broad angle, as his intention is to trace with a "Scripture pencil" one who is godly. Because there seems to have been in his day a lack of godliness (as is the case in our day), Watson had an agenda to define godliness and examine it in the light of those who might make a claim to godliness, but are inside hypocrites. He defined godliness wonderfully as "the sacred impression and workmanship of God in a man, whereby from being carnal he is made spiritual" (p.9). 

Every paragraph contained in this work is a quote that should be written down and meditated upon for hours (go to our website for a sampling). It seemed as though he had much time to think, and the audience to whom this would have been addressed certainly had an appetite for truth at an intense level of mental concentration. The Puritans seemed to have a way about them in which they knew and articulated exactly what they needed to say in a way that was powerful and lasting in the readers' minds. My personal copy has many places where I have underlined and put a "Q" out to the side to be an entry in my quote book. 

Another quality of Watson found in this book was his comprehensive approach to the man of God in the many facets where this godliness would manifest itself, such as the activities of prayer, and being in the Word. In addition, what really made this book powerful was the attention given to the heart issues of this man, his passions, and affections, including how they related to the above disciplines. He is hard on the man who does not have a heart that goes hard after God, being critical of his salvation. 

What was perhaps equally impressive was his ability to take these subjects, from a topical approach, and compile the data from the rest of the Bible. Teachers who teach topically today run the great risk of teaching something that is not in context nor fairly representative of what the Bible teaches about a subject, omitting certain things that bring balance. I found Watson incredibly thorough and accurate in his handling of the topics. It is clear that he knew his Bible very well, quoting verses from stories that I had never really heard. 

One caution about reading the Puritans, I find a habit of spiritualizing the verses to impose upon them a meaning that was not intended by the original Bible author. Nonetheless, the most powerful thing which I took away from this was the challenge to have integrity through and through. I was probably most convicted about my prayer life. I remember many times setting the book aside to ask for forgiveness for my lack of prayer, and feeling the weight of my apathy in the discipline. 

While reading this book, I would constantly interrupt my wife from her housework and conversations to read her many of the statements in the book to encourage her. Two of the most memorable discussions in the book related to pride and the Word of God. Regarding pride, Watson dissects and reams the pride that exists in the heart and life of a man or woman, with a large treatment of its root and remedy. Regarding the Word of God, he teaches that we are to long for the "threats of the word" and the "menaces of the word." He said that God's man craves them as He does the comforts of the word. This is because the godly man cherishes the wounds that the Scriptures will make to his soul because "there is love in every threat" (p. 61) since God "means to scare us from sin." I have learned to long for the rebukes as I do the promises for they both come from the hand of God and result in my being closer to Him and more holy. I cannot say enough good about this book. Are you godly? Read this book with a teachable heart and you will move much closer to it, guaranteed!

From the Back Cover

Few preachers in the Puritan era (or any other period of church history) match Thomas Watson for his ability to combine rich spirituality, nourishing doctrine and sane wisdom with fascinating illustrations and a pleasant style.  Watson is remembered chiefly for his posthumously published Body of Practical Divinity (reprinted by the Trust in three volumes).  But his extant sermons also include this marvelous series on the character of the Christian.  It is, as C. H. Spurgeon said of his other work, 'a happy union of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical wisdom'.

Watson is always the essence of sanity and reliability.  But, in addition, this work shows how attractive the grace of God is.  Christians of all stages, reading it for the first time, will feel as if they have entered the gallery of a great portrait painter  As his sub-title suggests, Watson works with 'a Scripture pencil' in this priceless sketch of the true believer.