TRUEGODLINESS
DESCRIBED
Benjamin Keach (1640-1704)
(In the late 1600s Benjamin Keach wrote an allegory
entitled The Tr a v e l s
of True Godliness, which was similar in style to
Bunyan’s P i l g r i m ’s Progress.
In this article Keach portrays the Christian faith as
a male character named
True Godliness.)
TRUE GODLINESS being a great stranger to most men and indeed known
but by few, I shall in the first place, before
treating of his travels and of
the entertainment1
he meets with, give you a description of
him. Many
persons are subject to so great an error as to take Morality
for him; some
have mistaken Counterfeit Godliness for him;
and others, either through
ignorance or malice, rail and ignominiously2 call him Singularity,3 Stub -
bornness, Pride,
or Rebellion. These last declare him not fit to live, being a
seditious4 disturber of peace and order, wherever he comes. Yea,
such a factious5
and quarrelsome companion, that he is indeed the cause
of all those
unhappy differences, divisions, troubles, and miseries
with which the world
abounds. I conclude, therefore, that nothing is more
necessary than to take
off that mask which his implacable6 enemies have
put upon him and clear
him of all the slanders and reproaches of the sons of
Belial.7 When he is thus
made to appear in his own original and spotless
innocency, it will be seen that
none need be afraid of him, or be unwilling to
entertain him, or ashamed to
own him and make him their bosom companion.
K n o w, therefore, in the first place that Godliness
consists in the right
knowledge of divine truths or fundamental principles
of the Gospel,
which all men ought to know and be established in,
that would be saved.
“And without controversy great is the mystery of
godliness: God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into
glory” (1Ti 3:16). Yo u
see from this text that the great truths of the
Christian religion are called
G o d l i n e s s .
1
entertainment –
treatment.
2
ignominiously –
shamefully; disgracefully.
3
S i n g u l a r i t y –
differing from others in matters of behavior or religion for the purpose of
drawing
attention to one’s self. Keach’s point is that the faithful Christian will be
accused
of acting peculiarly just to be noticed.
4
seditious –
guilty of engaging in or provoking rebellion against the authority of the
state.
5
factious –
characterized by causing dissension and division.
6
implacable –
cannot be satisfied or pacified; irreconcilable.
7
Sons of Belial –
Belial means “wicked, worthless, lawless,” and came to be used in
Hebrew
literature as a name for Satan. A Son of Belial then is a wicked and worthless
person.
e t e rnal happiness of all true believers and of
eternal torment and misery of all
unbelievers and ungodly persons, who live and die in
their sins.
Now, I say, in the true knowledge and belief of these
principles (which
comprehend the fundamentals of true religion or the
Christian faith) does
True Godliness consist
as to his essential part.
S e c o n d l y, G o d l i n e s s as to his
inward parts is a holy conformity to these
sacred and divine principles, which natural men
understand not. True God -
liness consists
in the light of supernatural truths and life of grace, God manifesting
Himself in the light of those glorious principles and
working the life
of supernatural grace in the soul by the Holy Ghost.
It consists in the saving
and experimental15
knowledge of God and Jesus Christ [and]
in having the
evil qualities of the soul removed and heavenly habits
infused1 6 in their room
or in a gracious conformity and affection1 7 of the heart
to God, cleaving to all
truths made known to us and finding the powerful
influences of the Gospel
and Spirit of Christ upon us, whereby our souls are
brought into the image
and likeness of His death and resurrection. This is True
Godliness. [It is] not
a bare living up to the natural principles of
morality; nor an historical,
notional, or dogmatical knowledge1 8 of the sacred
Gospel and its precepts; but
a faithful conformity to the principles of the Gospel,
discharging our duties
with as much readiness19 and faithfulness towards God as
towards man, so
that our conscience may be kept void of offence
towards both (Act 24:16).
It consists in forsaking sin and loathing it as the
greatest evil and in cleaving
to God in sincerity of heart, valuing Him above all;
being willingly subject
from a principle of divine love to all His laws and
appointments. Godliness
makes a man say with the Psalmist, “Whom have I in
heaven but thee?” (Psa
73:25). St. Austin2
0 saith, “He loves not Christ at all,
that loves him not above
all.” He that entertains2 1 True Godliness is as zealous for the w o r k of religion
as for the wages of religion. Some there are
who serve God that they may
serve themselves upon God. But a true Christian
desires grace, not only that
God would glorify him in heaven, but that he may
glorify God on earth. He
True Godliness Described 3
N o w, should any demand to hear more particularly
what are those principles
of divine truth or fundamentals of the Christian
faith, which are the
essentials of True Godliness, I answer,
1. That there is one eternal, infinite, most holy,
most wise, just, good and
gracious God, or glorious Deity, subsisting8 in three
distinct Persons—the
F a t h e r, the Son, and the Holy Ghost—and these are
one, that is, one in essence.
2. That this God, out of His great love and goodness,
hath given us one
sure and infallible rule of faith and practice, viz.,9 the Holy
Scriptures, by
which we may know, not only that there is a God and
Creator, but the manner
of the creation of the world, together with the design
or reason wherefore He
made all things; and also how sin came into the world,
and what righteousness
it is which God requires to our justification (or
discharge from the guilt
of sin), viz., by a Redeemer—His own Son, whom He sent
into the world.
There is no other rule or way to know these things so
as for men to be saved
but by revelation or the sacred records of the Holy
Scriptures, the mystery of
salvation being far above human reason and [cannot] be
known by the natural
light in men.
3. That our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is
the Surety10 of the
New Covenant and only Mediator1 1 between God
and man, is truly God of the
essence of the Father and truly man of the substance
of the virgin Mary, consisting
of these two natures in one Person, and that
redemption, peace, and
reconciliation are by this Lord Jesus Christ alone.
4. That justification and pardon of sin are alone by
that full satisfaction
which Christ made to God’s justice and are apprehended
by faith alone
through the Holy Spirit.
5. That all men who are or can be saved must be
renewed, regenerated,12
and sanctified13 by the Holy Spirit.
6. That there will be a resurrection of the bodies of
all men at the Last Day.
7. That there will be an eternal judgment, that is,
all shall be brought to
the tribunal14 of Jesus Christ in the great Day and give an account
for all
things done in the body, and that there will be a
future state of glory and
2 F ree Grace Broadcaster Issue 192
• Summer 2005
8
subsisting –
existing.
9
viz.
– from Latin videcilet: that
is to say; namely.
1
0 S u re t y –
one who enters into a bond to undertake the responsibilities or debt of
another.
11
M e d i a t o r –
a go-between; one who intervenes between two hostile parties for the purpose
of
restoring them to a relationship of harmony and unity.
1
2 re g e n e r a t e d –
born again; brought from spiritual death to spiritual life and union with
Jesus
Christ by the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit.
1
3 s a n c t i f i e d –
made holy by the divine grace of the Holy Spirit; set apart for God’s use.
14
tribunal –
judgment seat.
15
experimental –
having a personal experience of anything; experiential.
16
infused –
to put into, as if by pouring; imparted by divine influence.
17
affection –
the state of mind toward something; inclination.
18
historical, notional, or
dogmatical knowledge – historical
= being acquainted with
the
truth, but not believing it by the regenerating power of God’s Spirit; notional =
imaginary;
existing in ideal only; and dogmatical
= acknowledging something on
the
basis of theological tradition without personally trusting it by the
regenerating
power
of the Holy Spirit.
19
readiness –
willingness.
20
St. Austin or
considered
by many the father of orthodox theology. Born in Tagaste,
21
entertains –
to hold in the mind with favor; to experience.
g a r b s ,3 0 superstitious vestments,3 1 images, crossings, salt, oil,
holy water, and
other ceremonies, which are by many thought necessary
to his existence.
Therefore, take heed you do not mistake the
counterfeit form of Godliness for
the true one. It is only necessary to note one thing
more, viz., you must be
sure to receive the p o w e r of Godliness with
his form; for his form without his
inward life and power will do you no good: it is but
as the body without the
soul, or the shell without the kernel, or the cabinet
without the jewel. Neither
[should] any slight his form, for you may remember
what the Apostle speaks
of “the form of doctrine” (Rom 6:17) and of “the form
of sound words” (2Ti
1:13); for as the true faith must be held fast, so
must the profession of it also.
You may, it is true, meet with a shell without the
kernel; but it is rare to meet
the kernel without the shell!
From The
Travels of True Godliness.
True Godliness Described 5
cries, “Lord, rather let me have a good heart than a
great estate.” Though he
loves many things beside God, yet he loves nothing
above God. This man fears
sin more than suffering, and therefore he will suffer
rather than sin.
Thirdly, that you may have a complete and perfect
knowledge of him, it
may not be amiss if I describe his form (2Ti 1:13;
3:5) together with the
h a b i l i m e n t s2 2 he continually wears. The
external parts of True Godliness a r e
very beautiful. And no wonder that they are so, seeing
he was fashioned by the
wisdom of the only wise God our Savior, the works of
Whose hands are all
glorious. But this, viz., the formation of Godliness,
being one of the highest
and most admirable contrivances23 of His eternal
wisdom, must of necessity
excel in glory and amiableness.2 4 His form and
external beauty, therefore, are
such that he needs no human artific e2 5 to adorn him
or to illustrate or set off
his comeliness2 6
of countenance; for there is nothing
defective as to his evangelical
and apostolical form, as he came out of his great
Creator’s hands. And
as there is nothing from head to foot that is
superfluous,27 so every line and
lineament,28 vein, nerve, and sinew are in such an exact and
admirable order
placed, that to his beauty there can be no addition.
Everyone, therefore, that
adds to or alters anything touching the form of True
Godliness, mars and
d e files instead of beautifying. Besides, God hath
strictly forbidden anything of
this nature to be done. “Add thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee,
and thou be found a liar” (Pro 30:6), by ascribing2 9 that to God
which is none
of His. Do not the Papists call those superstitious
and vain ceremonies used in
their church by the name of God’s worship? And what is
this less than putting
a lie upon Him? Besides, it reflects upon the wisdom
of God, to attempt to
change or alter anything in the form of Godliness, as
if God did not know best
how He Himself would be worshipped, but must be
indebted to man for his
help, wisdom, and contrivances, touching many things
that are called decent
and necessary. And does it not reflect upon the care
and faithfulness of God,
to suppose that He should not Himself take care to lay
down in His blessed
Word things which are all necessary to the form of
Godliness, without weak
man’s care and wisdom to supply what He should omit?
All, therefore, may perceive that True Godliness never
changes his countenance.
He is not altered in the least from the aspect he bore
in primitive
times. Nay, there is indeed nothing more foreign to
him than those pompous
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22
habiliments –
the apparel or garments appropriate for any occasion.
23
contrivances –
ingeniously, skilfully planning or accomplishing something.
24
amiableness –
loveliness.
25
artifice –
trickery.
26
comeliness –
beauty.
27
superfluous –
beyond what is required; excessively abundant.
28
lineament –
contour of the body; distinctive feature.
29
ascribing –
to attribute credit to; to reckon or account.
30
pompous garbs –
characterized by an exaggerated display of self-importance; pretentious.
3
1 v e s t m e n t s –
any of the ritual robes worn by members of the clergy or assistants at services
or
rites.
Benjamin Keach (1640-1704):
important Particular Baptist preacher, author, and ardent
defender
of Baptist principles, even against Richard Baxter. Often in prison and
frequently
in
danger for preaching the Gospel, he was the first to introduce singing hymns in
the
worship of English congregations. Prolific author of Tro p o l o g i a (reprinted
as P re a c h -
ing from the Types and Metaphors of the Bible),
Gospel Mysteries Explained (reprinted
as
Exposition of the Parables),
and numerous other works. Born at Stokeham, Buckinghamshire,
God knows what godliness is, for He has created it, He
sustains it, He is
pledged to perfect it, and His delight is in it. What
matters it whether you are
understood by your fellow-men or not, so long as you are
understood by God?
If that secret prayer of yours is known to Him, seek not to
have it known to anyone
besides. If your conscientious motive be discerned in
heaven, mind not
though it be denounced on earth. If your designs—the great
principles that sway
you—are such as you dare plead in the great Day of Judgment,
you need not
stop to plead them before a jesting, jeering generation. Be
godly, and fear not.
And, if you be misrepresented, remember that should your
character be dead
and buried among men, there will be “a resurrection of
reputations” as well as
of bodies. “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun
in the kingdom of
their Father” (Mat 13:43). Therefore be not afraid to
possess this peculiar character,
for though it is misunderstood on earth, it is well
understood in heaven.
—Charles Spurgeon
The Nature of an Upright Man 7
Are my services rightly done? Are my infirmities
consistent with integrity?”
An upright saint is like an apple with rotten specks,
but a hypocrite is like the
apple with a rotten core.
The sincere Christian has a speck of passion here,
there one of worldliness,
and there one of pride. But cut him up and anatomize
him, and he is
sound at heart; there Christ and Christianity live and
reign. A hypocrite is like
an apple that is smooth and lovely on the outside, but
rotten within. His
words may be exact, his duties devout, and his life
blameless; but look within,
and his heart is the sty of sin, the den of Satan.
3. AN UP R I G H T HE A R T IS PU R E W I T H O
U T MI
X T U R E. It is not absolutely pure,
for that happy condition is reserved for heaven; but
it is compared with the
pollution and base mixture that constitutes a
hypocrite. Though his hand
cannot do all that God bids, yet his heart is sincere
in all he does. His soul is
bent for perfect purity, and so he has his name from
that. “Blessed are the
pure in heart” (Mat 5:8). In his words he sometimes
fails and also in his
thoughts and deeds. But open his heart, and there is a
love, a desire, a design,
and an endeavor after real and absolute purity. He is
not legally pure, that is,
free from all sin; but he is evangelically pure, free
from the reign of all sin,
especially of hypocrisy, which is so flatly contrary
to the covenant of grace.
And in this sense the upright man is the Scripture
Puritan, and so is further
from hypocrisy than any other man. He is really glad
that God is the Searcher
of hearts, for then he knows that He will find His
name and nature in His own
[chosen people].
And yet the most upright man in the world has some
hypocrisy in him.
“Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure
from my sin?” (Pro
20:9). But he detects, resists, and hates this hypocrisy;
and so it cannot
denominate him as a hypocrite in this world, nor damn
him as one in
a n o t h e r. His ends are generally purely for the
glory of God; his frame of heart
and thoughts are pure, and generally better than his
outside; the farther you
trace him, the better he is. He is pure from
dishonesty in his dealings, purer
yet in his family from all appearance of evil, purer
still in his closet, and most
pure in his heart. Though there is sin there, yet
there is also there an antipathy4
against it, so that it does not mingle with it.
The hypocrite chooses sin; the upright man would have
no sin if he could
choose. The traveler meets with dirt on his way, but
he keeps it off as well as
he can and does not mingle with it. And if he gets
soiled, he rubs it off as soon
as may be. But the swine delights in it and cannot be
well without it. It is just
so between the upright man and the hypocrite. The most
upright saint on
earth is mired with sin sometimes, but he did not
design it in the morning,
nor does he sleep with it at night. But a hypocrite
designs it and delights in it;
THENATURE OF
AN UPRIGHTMAN
Richard Steele (1629-1692)
“With an upright man, thou wilt shew thyself
upright”—Psalm 18:25.
AN UPRIGHT HEART IS SINGLE WITHOUT DIVISION. To a hypocrite, there
are many gods and many lords; and he must have a heart
for each. But
to the upright, there is but one God the Father and
one Lord Jesus
Christ, and one heart will serve them both. He who
fixes his heart upon the
creature, for every creature he must have a heart; and
the dividing of his
heart destroys him (Hos 10:2). Worldly profits knock
at the door, and he must
have a heart for them. Carnal pleasures present
themselves, and he must have
a heart for them also. Sinful preferments1 a p p e a r,
and they must have a heart
too. Of necessary objects, the number is few; of
needless vanities, the number
is endless. The upright man has made choice of God and
has enough.
A single Christ is enough for a single heart; hence
holy David prayed in
Psalm 86:11: “Unite my heart to fear thy name.” That
is, “Let me have but one
heart and mind, and let that be Thine.”
As there are thousands of beams and rays, yet they all
meet and center in the
sun. So an upright man, though he has a thousand
thoughts, yet they all (by his
good will) meet in God. He has many subordinate
ends—to procure a livelihood,
to preserve his credit, to provide for his
children—but he has no supreme end
but God alone. Hence he has that steadiness in his
resolutions, that undistractedness
in his holy duties, that consistency in his actions,
and that evenness in
the frame of his heart, which miserable hypocrites
cannot attain.
2. AN UPRIGHT HEART IS SOUND WITHOUT ROTTENNESS. “Let my heart be
sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed” (Psa
119:80). The more sincerity,
the less shame. Integrity is the great author of
confidence. Every frost
shakes an unsound body, and every trial shakes an
unsound soul. An upright
man does not always have so pure a color as a
hypocrite may have, but his
color is natural: it is his own; it is not painted;
his constitution is firm. The
hypocrite’s beauty is borrowed; the fire of trial will
melt it off.
An upright man has his infirmities, his diseases; but
his new nature works
them out, for he is sound within. Leprosy overspreads
the hypocrite, but he
hides it. “For he flattereth himself in his own eyes,
until his iniquity be found
to be hateful” (Psa 36:2). He endeavors to hide
himself from God, more from
men, but most from himself. He would fain2 be in with
himself howsoever,
and this trade he drives “till his iniquity be found
to be hateful.” But an
upright man is always sifting3 and trying
himself: “Am I sound? Am I right?
1 preferments –
preferences; desirable or favored choices.
2 fain – gladly;
willingly.
3 sifting – examining
and sorting carefully. 4 antipathy – a strong feeling of intense dislike;
hostile feelings toward.
The Nature of an Upright Man 9
hates, and leaves his sin.
When the upright man confesses his sin, his heart
aches, and he is deeply
troubled for it; he does not dissemble.8 The hypocrite
proclaims open war, but
maintains secret intelligence9 with his lusts.
When the upright man prays for
any grace, he earnestly desires it, and he takes pains
to compass it too; for he
is in good earnest and does not dissemble.
He who will dissemble with God will dissemble with any
man in the
world. See the wide difference between Saul and David.
Saul is charged with
a fault in 1 Samuel 15:14. He denies it, and the
charge is renewed in verse 17.
Still he minces10
the matter and looks for fig-leaves to
cover all. But plainhearted
David is another man: he is charged, and he yields;
one prick opens a
vein of sorrow in his heart. He tells all, he makes a
psalm of it, and therein
concludes this in Psalm 51:6: “Behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward
parts.” The plain-hearted man says, “As for me, with
the upright man I will
show myself upright.”
From The
Character of the Upright Man reprinted
by Soli Deo Gloria. Used by permission.
he is never so well contented as in sin. In a word,
the hypocrite may avoid sin,
but no man can abhor sin save the upright man.
4. AN UP R I G H T MA N IS PE R F E C T A N
D EN
T I R E W I T H O U T RE S E RVAT I O N.
“ M a r k
the perfect man, and behold the upright” (Psa 37:37).
You may see them both
at once. His heart is entirely devoted to the will and
ways of God. The hypocrite
ever has some exceptions and reservations. “Such a sin
I must not
leave; such a grace I can not love; such a duty I will
not practice. Thus far I
will yield but no farther; thus far I will go. It is
consistent with my carnal
ends, but all the world shall not persuade me
farther.” The judgment of the
hypocrite will drive beyond his will, his conscience
beyond his affections; he
is not entire, his heart is parted, and so he is off
and on.
The upright man has but one happiness, and that is the
enjoyment of God;
he has but one rule, and that is His holy will; he has
but one work, and that is
to please his Maker. Thereupon he is entire and
certain in his choices, in his
desires, in his ways and contrivances.5 And though
there may be some
d e m u r s6 in his prosecution of his main business, yet there is
no hesitancy and
wavering between two objects; for he is entirely fixed
and resolved therein,
and so may be said to be “perfect and entire, wanting
nothing.”
There is in every hypocrite some one fort or
stronghold that has never
yielded to the sovereignty and empire of God’s will.
Some lust fortifies itself in
the will; but where integrity enters, it brings every
thought into captivity to
the obedience of Christ. “Lord,” he says, “I am wholly
Thine; do what Thou
wilt with me. Say what Thou wilt to me. Write what
Thou wilt upon me. ‘O
LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had
dominion over us: but by
thee only will we make mention of thy name’” (Isa
26:13). Here is the upright
man.
5. AN UPRIGHT HEART IS PLAIN WITHOUT GUILE.7 “Blessed is the man unto
whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose
spirit there is no guile”
(Psa 32:2). Here is a blessed word indeed. Alas! We
have great and many iniquities;
would it not be happy for us to be as if we had never
sinned? Why, nonimputation
will be as well for us as if there had been no
transgression; sins
remitted are as if they had not been committed; the
debt-book crossed as
good as if no entries had ever been made. But who is
this blessed man? “In
whose spirit there is no guile,” that is, no
fundamental guile. He is the man
who has not deceitfully covenanted with his God. He
has no approved guile,
to approve and yield to any way of wickedness. He does
not juggle with God or
men or with his own conscience. He does not hide his
idols under him when
God is searching his tent. Rather, as it follows in
verse five, he acknowledges,
8 F ree Grace Broadcaster Issue 192
• Summer 2005
5 contrivances –
plans.
6 demurs – delays;
lingerings.
7 guile – cunning;
deceit; treachery.
Richard Steele (1629-1692): Puritan preacher and
author; ejected from his pulpit by
the Act of Uniformity in 1662 and later by The Five
Mile Act. But he never stopped
verbally proclaiming the riches of Christ. Remembered
as “a very valuable and useful
man, a good scholar, a hard student, and an excellent
preacher.” Born at Bartholmley,
8 dissemble –
disguise so as to conceal or deceive.
9 intelligence – communication;
a good understanding between.
10 minces – makes
little of; minimizes.
Can a man be like to God? Ah, me! What a wide discrepancy
there must
always be between God and the best of men! We are unlike God
even in our
likeness to Him. . . . Yet grace does make us like God in
righteousness and true
holiness and especially in love. Has the Holy Spirit taught
thee, my dear friend,
to love even those that hate thee? Hast thou a love that
leaps out, like the waters
from the smitten rock that every thirsty one may drink? . .
. Dost thou love even
those that render thee no love in return, as He did who gave
His life for His enemies?
And dost thou choose that which is good? Dost thou delight
thyself in
peace? Dost thou seek after that which is pure? Art thou
ever gladdened with
that which is kind and just? Then art thou like thy Father
Who is in heaven,
thou art a godly man, and this text is for you: “Know that
the Lord hath set
apart him that is godly for himself” (Psa 4:3). —Charles Spurgeon
Signs and Character of a Godly Man
11
A n w e r: He, who rightly applies Christ, puts
these two together: Jesus a n d
Lord (Phi 3:8). Christ Jesus my Lord: many take Christ
as a Jesus, but refuse
Him as a Lord. Do you join Prince and Savior? (Act
5:31). Would you as well
be ruled by Christ’s laws as saved by His blood?
Christ is “a priest upon his
throne” (Zec 6:13). He will never be a priest to
intercede, unless your heart be
the throne where He sways His sceptre. A true applying
of Christ is when we
so take Him for an husband that we give up ourselves
to Him as a Lord.
The knowledge of a godly man is transforming :
“We all with open face,
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same
image” (2Co 3:8). As a painter looking upon a face,
draws a face like it in the
picture; so looking upon Christ in the glass of the
Gospel, we are changed
into His similitude.4 We may look upon other objects
that are glorious yet not
be made glorious by them: a deformed face may look
upon beauty and yet not
be made beautiful. A wounded man may look upon a
surgeon and yet not be
healed. But this is the excellency of divine
knowledge: it gives us such a sight
of Christ as makes us partake of His nature. As Moses,
when he had seen
God’s back parts: his face shined, [for] some of the
rays and beams of God’s
glory fell upon him.
The knowledge of a godly man is g r o w i n g :
“Increasing in the knowledge
of God” (
increaseth in the horizon till it comes to the
meridian.5 So sweet is spiritual
knowledge, that the more a saint knows, the thirstier
he is of knowledge. It is
called the riches of knowledge (1Co 1:5). The more
riches a man hath, the
more still he desires. Though Paul knew Christ, yet he
would know him
more: “That I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection” (Phi 3:10).
Question: But how shall we get this saving knowledge?
Answer: Not by the power of nature: some speak of
reason well-improved
how far it will go; but alas, the plumb-line of reason
is too short to fathom the
deep things of God; a man can no more by the power of
reason reach the saving
knowledge of God, than a pigmy can reach the pyramids;
the light of
nature will no more help us to see Christ, than the
light of a candle will help
us to understand. “The natural man receiveth not the
things of God, neither
can he know them” (1Co 2:14). What shall we do then to
know God in a soulsaving
manner? I answer, “Let us implore the help of God’s
Spirit.” Paul never
saw himself blind till a light shined from heaven (Act
9:3). God must anoint
our eyes ere6 we can see. What needed Christ to have bid
Him for eye-salve, if she could see before? (Rev 3:18)
O let us beg the Spirit,
which is a Spirit of revelation (Eph 1:17). Saving
knowledge is not by
SIGNS AND
CHARACTER
OF AGODLYMAN
Thomas Watson (c. 1620-1686)
“For this shall every one that is godly pray unto
thee”—Psalm 32:6.
WHO is the godly man? For the full answer whereunto, I
shall lay down
several specific signs and character of a godly man.
The first fundamental sign is a godly man is a man
of knowledge : “The
prudent are crowned with knowledge” (Pro 14:18). The
saints are called “wise
virgins” (Mat 25:4). A natural man may have some
discursive1 knowledge of
God, but he knoweth nothing as he ought to know (1Co
8:2). He knows not
God savingly: he may have the eye of reason open, but
he discerns not the
things of God after a spiritual manner. Waters cannot
go beyond their springhead;
vapors cannot rise higher than the sun draws them. A
natural man cannot
act above his sphere. He is no more able to judge
aright of sacred things,
than a blind man is to judge of colors. 1. He sees
not the evil of his heart: if a
face be ever so black and deformed, yet it is not seen
under a veil. The heart of
a sinner is so black, that nothing but hell can
pattern it, yet the veil of ignorance
hides it. 2. He sees not the beauties of a Savior: Christ
is a pearl, but an
hidden pearl.
The knowledge of a godly man is quickening2: “I will never
forget thy
precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me” (Psa
119:93). Knowledge in
a natural man’s head is like a torch in a dead man’s
hand; true knowledge animates.
A godly man is like John Baptist, “a burning and a
shining lamp” (Joh
5:35). He doth not only shine by illumination, but
burn by affection. The
spouse’s knowledge made her “sick of love” (Song 2:5),
[or] “I am wounded
with love. I am like a deer that is struck with a
dart; my soul lies a bleeding
and nothing can cure me but a sight of Him whom my soul
loves.”
The knowledge of a godly man is appropriating :
“I know that my
Redeemer liveth” (Job 19:25). A medicine is best when
it is applied; this
applicative knowledge is joyful. Christ is called a
Surety3 (Heb 7:22). O what
joy, when I am drowned in debt, to know that Christ is
my Surety! Christ is
called an Advocate (1Jo 2:1). The Greek word for advocate
signifies “a comforter.”
O what comfort is it, when I have a bad cause, to know
Christ is my
Advocate, Who never lost any cause He pleaded!
Q u e s t i o n: But how shall I know that I make a
right application of Christ?
An hypocrite may think he applies when he doth not.
1
discursive –
rambling; rapidly passing from one subject to another.
2
quickening –
animating; makes him alive spiritually.
3
Surety –
one who assures the fulfillment of something; a guarantor.
4
similitude –
likeness; resemblance.
5
meridian –
mid-day; noon; hence, the highest perfection.
6
ere –
before.
Signs and Character of a Godly Man
13
against all troubles. It is a godly man’s sheet-anchor12 that he casts
out into
the
Question: Wherein do the godly discover their
holiness?
A n s w e r : 1. In hating the garment spotted by
the fle s h (Jud 23). The godly
do set themselves against evil both in purpose and
practice. They are fearful of
that which looks like sin (1Th 5:22). The appearance
of evil may prejudice a
weak Christian: if it doth not defile a man’s own
conscience, it may offend his
b r o t h e r ’s conscience; and to sin against him is
to sin against Christ (1Co 8:12).
A godly man will not go as far as he may, lest he go
further than he should.
2. The godly discover their holiness in being
advocates for holiness: “I will
speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will
not be ashamed” (Psa
119:6). When piety is calumniated13 in the world,
the saints will stand up in
the defence of it. They will wipe off the dust of a
reproach from the face of
religion. Holiness defends the godly, and they will
defend holiness. It defends
them from danger, and they will defend it from
disgrace.
A godly man is very exact and curious about the
worship of God: the
Greek word for g o d l y s i g n i fies “a
right worshipper of God.” A godly man doth
reverence divine institutions and is more for the
purity of worship than the
p o m p .1 4. . . The Lord would have Moses make the tabernacle
according to the
pattern in the mount (Exo 25:40). If Moses had left
out anything in the pattern
or added anything to it, it would have been very
provoking. The Lord
hath always given testimonies of His displeasure
against such as have corrupted
His worship: Nadab and Abihu “offered strange fire
before the LORD,
which he commanded them not. And there went out fire
from the LORD, and
devoured them, and they died before the LORD” (Lev
10:1, 2). Whatsoever is
not of God’s own appointment in His worship, He looks
upon as strange fire.
And no wonder He is so highly incensed at it: for as
if God were not wise
enough to appoint the manner how He will be served,
men will go to prescribe15
to Him, and as if the rules for His worship were
defective, they will
attempt to mend the copy and superadd16 their
inventions. . . . A godly man
dares not vary from the pattern which God hath shown
him in the Scripture;
and probably this might not be the least reason, why
David was called a man
after God’s own heart because he kept the springs of
God’s worship pure and
in matters sacred did not superinduce17 anything of
his own devising.
s p e c ulation, but by inspiration (Job 32:8). The
inspiration of the Almighty
giveth understanding.
We may have excellent notions in divinity,7 but the Holy
Ghost must
enable us to know them after a spiritual manner; a man
may see the figures
upon a dial, but he cannot tell how the day goes
unless the sun shine. We may
read many truths in the Bible, but we cannot know them
savingly till God’s
Spirit doth shine upon us. “The Spirit searching all
things, yea, the deep