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The great gain of holinessA right fearTHE GREAT GAIN OF GODLINESS Thomas who? Watson. A Puritan. This book was written in 1682 (as Religion our True Interest) and has been tweaked and re-issued. And it’s a devotional gem. The book is essentially Watson preaching Malachi 3.16-18. Watson says his aim is to ‘encourage solid piety and confute the atheists of this world who believe there is no gain in godliness’. This re-issue is timely. Watson has much to say on a right fear of God as an ‘excellent thing’ — surely a message today’s church needs to recapture. Try this: ‘God in great wisdom couples these two graces of faith and fear. Fear preserves seriousness, faith preserves cheerfulness.’ And that is very much Watson’s style: his book is soundbite city. Another feature is his lists, such as: ‘Nine ways we can know whether we have the fear of God in our hearts’, ‘Eight things God writes down in his book of remembrance’, ‘Three uses of the doctrine of God’s name’, and so on. He makes many Bible cross-references: some are a little flowery. The publishers have updated some of his language: words like ‘truckle’ and ‘antiperistasis’ are explained. Other words have crept through untouched: the occasional phrase of Latin, and some less-used English (eg, acme, wanton, portentous and unction). But, language aside, this book reminds us of the preciousness of Christ and the greatness of God and, if it gets us back to a right fear of the Lord and to reading the Puritans, that’s no bad thing. Al Horn,
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