Thomas Watson Quotes

46 Sourced Quotes

He that loves the world, how active is he! He will break his peace and sleep for it. He that loves honour, what hazards will he run! He will swim to the throne in blood.... Love heaven, and you cannot miss it; love breaks through all opposition-it takes heaven by storm.

Thomas Watson
It is hard to carry a full cup without spilling, and a full estate without sinning.

Thomas Watson
Those prayers God likes best which come seething hot from the heart.

Thomas Watson
A wicked man in prayer may lift up his hands, but he cannot lift up his face.

Thomas Watson
The world rings changes, it is never constant but in its disappointments. The world is but a great inn, where we are to stay a night or two, and be gone; what madness is it so to set our heart upon our inn, as to forget our home?

Thomas Watson
The right manner of growth is to grow less in one's own eyes.

Thomas Watson
Make up your spiritual accounts daily; see how matters stand between God and your souls (Psalm 77:6). Often reckonings keep God and conscience friends. Do with your hearts as you do with your watches, wind them up every morning by prayer, and at night examine whether your hearts have gone true all that day, whether the wheels of your affections have moved swiftly toward heaven.

Thomas Watson
The godly have some good in them, therefore the devil afflicts them; and some evil in them, therefore God afflicts them.

Thomas Watson
Christ heals with more ease than any other. Christ makes the devil go out with a word (Mark 9:25). Nay, he can cure with a look: Christ's look melted Peter into repentance; it was a healing look. If Christ doth but cast a look upon the soul he can recover it. Therefore David prays to have a look from God, 'Look Thou upon me, and be merciful unto me' (Psalm 119:132).

Thomas Watson
He may look on death with joy, who can look on forgiveness with faith.

Thomas Watson
God's decree is the very pillar and basis on which the saint's perseverance depends. That decree ties the knot of adoption so fast, that neither sin, death, nor hell, can break it asunder.

Thomas Watson
How many souls have been blown into hell with the wind of popular applause?

Thomas Watson
The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel.

Thomas Watson
Solve it. Solve it quickly, solve it right or wrong. If you solve it wrong, it will come back and slap you in the face, and then you can solve it right. Lying dead in the water and doing nothing is a comfortable alternative because it is without risk, but it is an absolutely fatal way to manage a business.

Thomas Watson
To know that nothing hurts the godly, is a matter of comfort; but to be assured that all things which fall out shall co-operate for their good, that their crosses shall be turned into blessings, that showers of affliction water the withering root of their grace and make it flourish more; this may fill their hearts with joy till they run over.

Thomas Watson
God takes away the world, that the heart may cleave more to Him in sincerity.

Thomas Watson
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 favourites, and afterwards throw theminto 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.

Thomas Watson
If a wicked man seems to have peace at death, it is not from the knowledge of his happiness, but from the ignorance of his danger.

Thomas Watson
What if we have more of the rough file, if we have less rust! Afflictions carry away nothing but the dross of sin.

Thomas Watson
Let us then ascribe the whole work of grace to the pleasure of God's Will. God did not choose us because we were worthy, but by choosing us He makes us worthy.

Thomas Watson
Satan's time of tempting is usually after an ordinance; and the reason is, because then he thinks he shall find us most secure. When we have been at solemn duties, we are apt to think all is done, and we grow remiss, and leave off that zeal and strictness as before; just as a soldier, who after a battle leaves off his armour, not once dreaming, of an enemy. Satan watches his time, and when we least suspect, then he throws in a temptation.

Thomas Watson
There is justice in hell, but sin is the most unjust thing. It would rob God of his glory, Christ of his purchase, the soul of its happiness.

Thomas Watson
There is more evil in a drop of sin than in a sea of affliction.

Thomas Watson
"The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved" (2 Peter 3:12), but not that truth which came from heaven (1 Peter 1:25)

Thomas Watson
That preaching is to be preferred which makes the truest discovery of men's sins and shows them their hearts.

Thomas Watson
It is our work to cast care, and it is God's work to take care.

Thomas Watson
Though the way of religion has thorns in it with respect to persecution, yet it is full of roses with respect to that inward peace and contentment that the soul finds in it.

Thomas Watson
Repentance is a grace of God's Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed.

Thomas Watson
There is nothing that can hurt the soul but sin; it is not affliction that hurts it, it often makes it better, as the furnace makes gold the purer; but it is sin that damnifies.

Thomas Watson
The first sermon that Christ preached, indeed, the first word of his sermon was 'Repent'.

Thomas Watson