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  A PLEA FOR THE GODLY
  by Thomas Watson
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Thomas Watson's treatise contrasting the excellence of righteous persons with
the wicked, describing their superior wisdom, spirit, conduct, prayers, and
eternal destiny.

  Chapters: 5

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 01 - A Plea for the Godly
    2. 02 - How Righteous More Excellent
    3. 03 - What He Has
    4. 04 - God's Titles for the Righteous
    5. 05 - Marks of the Righteous

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  CHAPTER 1: 01 - A PLEA FOR THE GODLY
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From A Plea for the Godly. by Thomas Watson A Plea for the Godly "The righteous
is more excellent than his neighbor." Proverbs 12:26

Solomon was a man of renown. He was the world’s wonder; he discoursed of trees
from the cedar-tree in Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. The
Proverbs are profound and holy aphorisms, inspired by the Spirit of God and
penned by him who was both a king and a preacher. A great part of this book is
to set forth the differences between the godly and the wicked, the happiness of
the one and the misery of the other. The text is spoken in the eulogium and
commendation of a righteous man: "The righteous is more excellent than his
neighbor."

I begin with the first word, "righteous." There is a twofold righteousness:

1. A civil righteousness; and so he is righteous who is adorned with the moral
virtues: prudence, justice, and temperance; who keeps free from penal statutes
and does not dash upon the rock of visible scandal. This righteousness is valid
in man’s court, but is insufficient to salvation. Under the fair leaves of
civility, the worm of unbelief may be hid. Many a person decked with morality is
now descended into hell. A bull may be tied with ribbons and wear a garland on
his head, yet go to the slaughter. However, for the honor of this age, it were
to be wished that there were more civil righteousness to be found in the world.

2. There is a gospel-righteousness, which is first a righteousness imputed,
namely, when Christ’s righteousness is made over to us. In Adam we were all
criminal persons, in whom "all have sinned," Romans 5:12. If the head plots
treason, all the body is guilty; "but Christ is made to us righteousness," 1
Corinthians 1:30. Indeed, it is only in this righteousness which we can stand
before the justice of God. This is the name whereby He shall be called, "The
Lord our righteousness," Jeremiah 23:6. This righteousness is a coat without
seam which not only covers but adorns us. This is as truly ours to justify as it
is Christ’s to bestow.

There is a righteousness imparted, which is the infusing the seed and habit of
grace in the soul, making a person internally holy. And so he is said to be
righteous who has a change of heart wrought in him and is transformed by the
renewing of his mind, Romans 12:2. Such a one, though he is not another man, yet
he is a new man, 2 Corinthians 5:17. The faculties are not new but the qualities
are, as the strings of a violin are the same but the tune is altered.

1. Righteousness is extensive in the subject; it has a spreading virtue. "The
God of peace sanctify you wholly," 1 Thessalonians 5:23. A child of God is
re-generate in every part though but in part.

2. "He is more excellent." Excellency is the en-nobling of a person, or a
gradual elevation of him above others. The righteous man is more excellent; that
is, he is a better man. The word for "excellent", in the Hebrew and Italian
signifies abundant. It is as if the Spirit of God had said, "The righteous has
more abundant worth in him, more intrinsical goodness." 3. "Than his neighbor."
"Neighbor" is not to be taken here strictly for one who lives in a vicinity and
is nearly situated, but by neighbor is meant anyone who is unrighteous, and does
not have the fear of God before his eyes. The text has two general parts:

1. The subject, "the righteous."

2. The predicate, "he is more excellent than his neighbor."

Solomon seems, as it were, to put the righteous and the wicked in a pair of
scales; the one weighs as weighty gold; the other weighs lighter than the dust
of the balance.

DOCTRINE. He who is truly righteous is far more excellent than any wicked person
in the world whatsoever. I say "truly righteous" to exclude the hypocrite who
has a form and slight tincture of piety, but knows not "the grace of God in
truth," Colossians 1:6. He has nothing of religion but the name, and religion
often suffers by him. But he who is really righteous is the excellent person and
has a superiority to all others. For the illustrating of the proposition, I
shall do two things. I shall show:

First, how the righteous man is more excellent.

Second, why the righteous man is more excellent


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  CHAPTER 2: 02 - HOW RIGHTEOUS MORE EXCELLENT
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From A Plea for the Godly. by Thomas Watson A Plea for the Godly (cont’d) 1. How
a righteous man is more excellent than another. This appears three ways in
respect of:

1. What he is.

2. What he has.

3. What he shall have.

1. What He Is A righteous man is more excellent than a wicked in respect of what
he is.

1. He is more richly endued with wisdom. He is of a dexterous sagacity, mixing
the serpent’s prudence with the dove’s innocence. "He that is spiritual judgeth
all things," 1 Corinthians 2:15. As the soul in the eye is the cause why it
sees, so the Spirit of God in the mind is the cause why it savingly understands.
The anointing of the Holy Ghost is irradiating; it clears a Christian’s
eyesight. "The same unction teacheth you all things," 1 John 2:27. The saints
are compared to wise virgins. Sensualists often have a greater reach in matters
of the world but they have no insight into the deep things of God, 1 Corinthians
2:14. A swine may see an acorn under the tree but it cannot see a star. David,
being divinely illuminated, grew wiser than his teachers, Psalms 119:99. A
righteous man is wise:

(1) To know himself. Take the most mercurial wit, the most subtle politician who
is able to dive into the mysteries of state, yet he is ignorant of his own
heart. There are those meanders and sophisms, those intrinsic pollutions, that
he cannot find out He dresses himself by the mirror of self-love. He does not
see the evil that is in him, nor will he believe it. Hazael could not imagine he
should he so bad when he came to be king, 2 Kings 8:13. But a
spiritually-enlightened soul sees that which the natural man does not. He sees
legions of vain thoughts. He sees how his grace is choked with corruption, his
humility is stained with pride, his faith mixed with unbelief. His very duties
are but shining sins. He sees so much of his heart that he dare not trust it.

(2) A righteous man is wise to know Jesus Christ. The natural man hears of
Christ by the hearing of the ear but he does not know Him. What, is your beloved
more than another beloved? Those who journeyed with Paul heard a voice but saw
no man, Acts 9:7. So the unregenerate person hears the minister set forth Christ
as altogether lovely; he hears a voice but sees no man. He does not see Christ’s
orient beauties. Christ is a treasure, but a hidden treasure. But a gracious
soul has the veil taken off; he sees the amazing excellencies of Christ. "Unto
you therefore which believe He is precious," 2 Peter 2:7. His merits, graces,
and benefits are precious. A righteous man has Christ’s eye-salve to see his
tried gold, Revelation 3:1-22. Zeuxis, having drawn a curious piece, Nicostratus
fell into the admiration of it and commended it. An ignorant man stood by and
asked him what rare excellency lie saw in that piece. Said he, "If you could see
with my eyes, you would admire it as well as I." So, if a carnal man could see
with a spiritual man’s eyes, he would wonder at those surpassing beauties in
Jesus Christ which he now makes light of.

(3) A righteous man is wise to discern the times. The children of Issachar were
men who had understanding of the times. The world cries out, "Glorious times!"
but a righteous man has an eye of discernment. He can see when the wicked make
void God’s law and when religion is crucified by such as cry "hosanna" to it. He
is wise to keep from the contagion of the times. These are they who were not
defiled with women, for they are virgins, Revelation 14:2. A person divinely
qualified is wiser than to run himself into snares or go to hell for company; he
is wise to salvation. "A good under-standing have all they that do His
commandments."

2. A righteous man is of a more excellent birth. Alexander the Great feigned
himself to be son to Jupiter. Every good Christian is high-born; he is born of
God, and that is more than to come from princes and he of the royal blood. David
thought it no small honor to be the king’s son-in-law, 1 Samuel 18:18. Oh, what
an infinite honor is it to be regenerated by the Spirit and enrolled among the
first-born of heaven! The righteous man derives his pedigree from the ancient of
days, Daniel 7:9. He gives the fairest nameplate, the eagle and the lion; he is
near akin to the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Isaiah 40:31.

3. A righteous person is of a more excellent beauty. How worldly beauty is
courted by all, and what is it? "Beauty is vain," Proverbs 31:30. The bravest
features of the body and the most lovely complexion are no other than
well-colored earth. But a righteous per-son has a celestial beauty shining in
him. He is embellished with knowledge, love, and meekness, which are of such
oriental splendor as to allure the very angels. A good Christian has sonic idea
and re-semblance of that sparkling holiness which is iii the Deity. Christ is
infinitely taken with the spiritual beauty of His church. "Thou art beautiful, 0
my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem," Song of Solomon 6:4, Tirzah was a map
of pleasure- Jerusalem was the metropolis of Judea, the star and light of all
the eastern world. This was symbolic, to set forth the radiance of the church’s
glory. "Turn away thine eyes from me for they have overcome me." verse 5. It is
as if Christ had said, "Oh, My spouse, such a resplendent luster is in your
visage that I can hardly bear it. I am wounded with the delightful darts of your
beauty!" One eye of a believer draws Christ’s heart to it. "Thou hast ravished
My heart with one of thine eyes," Song of Solomon 4:9 A saint’s beauty never
withers; it outlives death. True grace is like colors laid in oil which cannot
be washed off.

4. A righteous man’s thoughts are more excellent. Thoughts are the firstborn of
the soul; sinful thoughts arise out of a bad heart like sparks out of a furnace
An unsanctified fancy is Satan’s work-house, Micah 2:1. "The thoughts of the
righteous arc right," Proverbs 12:1-18.~ A righteous man’s thoughts have gotten
wings and fled Co heaven. ’Then I awake, I am still with Thee," Psalms 139:18.
God is a saint’s treasure and where should his mind be but upon this treasure? A
righteous man has gotten upon the top of Mount Tahoe, solacing himself in
Jehovah. He contemplates the beauty of holiness, the love of Christ, the
felicity of saints glorified. His thoughts are among the cherubims. The soul,
while it is musing on Christ, is filled with holy and sweet raptures. It is
caught up into paradise. It is in heaven before its time. My meditation of Him
shall be sweet.

5. A righteous man’s desires are more excellent. H e spreads the sails of his
desire to receive the fresh breathings of God’s Spirit. I do not deny that a bad
man may have some faint aspirings after the best things. Those deserters of
Christ cried, "Lord ever-more give us this bread," John 6:34. But a righteous
man’s desires excel.

He desires Christ for Himself, not only for His jewels but His beauty; not only
as He is a Savior but as He is the Holy One, Acts 3:14.

He is unsatisfied without Christ. Not the richest morsels, not golden chalices
filled with sapphires or diamonds will content him without Christ. As the two
Marys were not satisfied with the linen clothes lying in the sepulcher unless
they had seen the body of Jesus, 50 it is not the linen on the communion table
or the elements of bread and wine that will satisfy a believer unless he meets
with Christ whom his soul loves.

He desires still more of Christ and would be swallowed up in the sweet ocean of
His love. Behold here a desire which God Himself has raised in the soul, and He
will open the breast of mercy and satisfy it.

6. A righteous man’s discourse is more excellent. His tongue is tuned to the
language of heaven. What is the discourse of the wicked about? Their wares and
drugs, like the fish in the gospel that had a piece of money in its mouth. "He
that is of the earth speaketh of the earth," John 3:31. And too often corrupt
communication proceeds from the wicked, their mouth being like a sink where all
the filth of the house runs out. These lepers need to have their lips covered.

Sinners, in their ordinary discourse, bring forth Scripture as the Philistines
did Sampson to make sport, as if the Bible were the best minstrel to play with,
and a jest were worth nothing unless it were seasoned with the salt of the
sanctuary. It is a saying of Luther, "Whom God has a mind to destroy, He lets
them play with Scripture." But in this sense the righteous is more excellent.
"The tongue of the just is as choice silver," Proverbs 10:20. Gracious words
drop as silver from him to the enriching of the souls of others. "The words of a
wise man s mouth are gracious," Ecclesiastes 10:12. In the Hebrew it is, "they
are grace." His words are not as vinegar to fret but as salt to season others,
Colossians 4:6. The roof of the mouth is called heaven. A godly man’s mouth is
full of heaven. He speaks as if he had already been in heaven. The holy
conference of the two disciples going to Emmaus brought Christ into their
company. "While they communed together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with
them," Luke 24:15. Such savory speeches drop from the holy lips that God has a
notebook to write them down. "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to
another, and God hearkened, and a book of remembrance was written," Malachi
3:16. It is reported of Tamerlain (the Mongol conqueror) that he kept a register
of the names and good deeds of his soldiers. God registers the speeches of His
people that they may not be lost.

7. A righteous man is of a more excellent spirit. An excel-lent spirit was found
in Daniel, Daniel 5:12. "My servant Caleb because he had another spirit with
him," Numbers 14:24. "A wicked man hath the spirit of the world," 1 Corinthians
2:12. He is of an atheistic spirit - Lucian is his Old Testament, Machiavel his
New - but a person invested with grace has choice-ness of spirit in him. He is
of a sublime, noble, invincible spirit.

He is of a sublime spirit; he savors the things of God. A person sublimated by
grace sets his feet where others set their hearts. He, being clothed with Christ
the Son of righteousness and crowned with the graces as glittering stars, has
the moon under him. The world may have his look but Christ has his love; he
dwells below but trades in the Jerusalem above. A true saint is taken up about
higher matters: getting the love and favor of God. He aspires after glory and
immortality; he looks no lower than a crown; he feeds as the birds of paradise
on the dew of heaven; he is employed about angels’ work, lifting up God’s name
in the world; he is a living organ of God’s praise.

He is of a noble spirit; he has the spirit of an heir. He scorns anything that
is disingenuous and sordid. He can deny himself but not disparage himself. He
can be humble but not base. He does not know how to palliate the sins of any,
which would be to wash the devil’s face. He cannot prostitute him-self to the
lusts of men or flatter to get preferment, Job 32:21. A righteous man abhors to
be biased from the truth for secular advantage. It was said of Luther that he
cared not for gold; his spirit was more noble than to be bribed with money. A
good man will not purchase the liberty of his person by ensnaring his
conscience. "Not accepting deliverance," Hebrews 1:1-14.

He is of an invincible spirit. He bears afflictions without fainting or fretting
though the archers shoot at him. His bow abides in strength. Such as lack a
principle of grace faint in the day of adversity; they cannot bear a frown from
a great man or digest a reproach. If the bough of a tree is rotten, the least
weight hung upon it breaks it. But the righteous has the heart of a lion. He is
not startled at the discourtesies of the world. He looks upon reproaches for
Christ as badges of honor, 1 Peter 4:11. When the Roman Catholics taunted Luther
for his apostasy from their church, Luther replied, "I confess I am an apostate
from you, but a blessed one; I am such an apostate as a magician is when he
renounces his compact made with the devil and betakes himself to Christ." Grace
steels the heart with courage and fires it with zeal.

Nazianzen said of Athanazius that he was both a loadstone and an adamant; a
loadstone for the sweetness of his disposition and an adamant for the
invincibleness of his resolution. When the emperor Valens promised Basil great
preferment if he would subscribe to the Arian heresy, Basil responded, "Sir,
these speeches are fit to catch little children, but we who are taught by the
Spirit are ready to endure a thousand deaths rather than suffer one syllable of
Scripture to be altered." A righteous man is willing to take the cross for his
jointure and, with Ignatius, wear Christ’s sufferings as a collar of pearl. "We
glory in tribulation," Romans 5:3. St Paul rattled his chain and gloried in it
as a woman who is proud of her jewels, said Chrysostom. "It is to my loss," said
Gordius the martyr, if you abate me anything of my sufferings." Of what heroic
undaunted spirits were the primitive Christians who could scorn preferments,
laugh at imprisonments, snatch up torments as crowns, and whose love to Christ
burned hotter than the fire insomuch that the heathens cried out, "Great is the
God of the Christians!"

8. The prayers of a righteous man are more excellent. Another may have more
elegancy in prayer but he has more sincerity. "The sacrifice of the wicked is an
abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the up-right is His delight,"
Proverbs 15:8. A sinner’s praying is howling, Hosea 7:14, but the prayer of a
righteous man is music in God’s ears. "Let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy
voice," Song of Solomon 2:14. Maximinius, a persecutor, being on his sick bed,
craved the prayers of the godly. The excellency of a righteous man’s prayer is
seen by its noble exploits and by its gracious returns.

(1) By its noble exploits. Luther’s prayer re-covered Theordorus Vitus from a
consumption after the physicians had given him over for dead. The prayer of the
righteous has stopped the sun iii its full career, Joshua 10:13. It has divided
the waters, Exodus 14:15, Exodus 14:21; overcome armies, Exodus 17:11; cast Out
devils, Matthew 17:21; opened prisons, Acts 12:9; shut heaven, James 5:17.
Prayer has had power with God, Hosea 12:4. The Tyrians tied fast their god
Hercules with a golden chain. The great Jehovah is held by the prayers of His
people. "I will not let Thee go till Thou bless me," said Jacob, Genesis 32:26.

(2) By its gracious return. When the tree of the promise is shaken by the hand
of prayer, some fruit falls. "He shall pray unto God, and He will be favorable
unto him," Job 33:26. Prayer is the golden fleet the saints send out to heaven
which comes home richly laden with mercy. Sometimes God gives His people the
same mercy in kind that they beg. "For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath
given me my petition," 1 Samuel 1:27. Sometimes God gives them that which is
better than they ask for. They pray for temporal things and He gives them
spiritual. They pray for more health and He gives them more grace. They desire
the venison and, instead of that, He gives them the blessing; so He pays them in
a better coin. That which makes the prayer of a righteous man so excellent and
availing is:

First, because his affections are drawn forth strongly in prayer; his eyes melt;
his heart burns. He is "fervent in spirit," Romans 12:11. It is a metaphor which
alludes to water boiling over. A good heart boils over with hot affections in
prayer. There may be powder in a gun when there is no fire. Some may have good
matter in prayer but no fire of affection to discharge it. Prayer without
fervency is like wine that has lost the spirits. Fervency, as Ambrose said,
baptizes a duty and gives it a name. Without this, prayer is not prayer. A
righteous man is carried up to heaven in a fiery chariot of devotion. This holy
fervency is caused by the Spirit of God which both inspires and enflames the
saint’s prayers, Romans 8:26. The Spirit helps us with sighs and groans. Not
only gifts but groans; and surely the incense of a righteous man’s prayer with
the Holy Ghost’s fire put to it must ascend as a sweet perfume to heaven.

Second, a righteous man’s prayers are so excel-lent because he sprinkles faith
in every prayer. "Unto Thee, 0 Lord, do I lift up my soul, 0 my God I trust in
Thee," Psalms 25:1. Faith is the breath of prayer. As the body cannot live
without breath, so prayer cannot live unless faith breathes in it. Faith is the
bullet which is shot in prayer. A believing prayer can obtain anything from God.
It is reported of a nobleman of this nation that the Queen gave him a ring and
told him that, when he was in any difficulty, let him send that ring to her and
she would assist him. To this ring I compare prayer. When a child of God stands
in need of anything, he sends this ring to God, presents it by the hand of
faith, and has his desires granted.

Third, a righteous man’s prayers are so excellent because Jesus Christ presents
them to His Father. Prayer, as it comes from the godly, is mixed with sin, but
Christ takes out the dross of their prayers and presents nothing but pure gold.
He dips the prayers of the righteous in His blood and mingles them with His
sweet odors, and so they are to God most fragrant and aromatic. A weak prayer
being laid upon Christ as the altar, the altar sanctifies it. Christ’s praying
over a saint’s prayer makes it prevalent in respect of his office (as He is a
priest), His relation (as He is a Son), and His merit (as He is God).

9. The tears of a righteous man are more excellent. Holy tears are the costly
gum which distills from the trees of righteousness. Mary Magdalene stood at
Christ’s feet weeping. Her tears dropped as pearls from her eyes. The tears of
the wicked are good for nothing. They are either carnal (they weep for worldly
losses) or spurious (they are more troubled for hell than sin). Their conscience
is in agony. There is water in their eyes because there is fire in their bones.
But the tears of a true penitent are more precious. They drop from the eye of
hope. They are purifying tears. The holy mourner weeps out sin, These tears are
the wine of angels. So precious they are that God bottles them. "Put Thou my
tears into Thy bottle," Psalms 56:8. In the Hebrew it is "my tear," to show that
God takes notice of every tear. Though holy tears are silent, yet they have a
voice. Though they fall to the earth, yet they reach heaven. Tears dropping from
the saints’ eyes are as sweet water dropping from the roses.

10. The tears of a righteous man is more excellent for spiritualness and for
usefulness.

First, the life of a righteous man is more excel lent for spiritualness, and
that three ways:

(1) He lives by a more spiritual rule than others. A sinner either lives by no
rule or by a false rule. He walks according to the course of the world. But a
righteous man goes by the canon of Scripture as a well-made dial goes exactly by
the sun. God’s Word is the oracle he consults with; it is his pillar of fire or
pole-star to direct him. "Thy word is a lantern to my feet," Psalms 119:105. The
Word is a divine treatise; it is a model and platform of God’s mind to which a
pious man conforms his actions both moral and sacred. He will not resolve his
faith into councils or fathers, nor will he follow the examples of the best men
further than they follow the Word.

(2) A righteous man lives more spiritually as he lives a life above others,
whereas they live no higher than reason. The just lives by faith. A righteous
man moves in a higher sphere. He penetrates the clouds. Moses saw Him who is
invisible. Sense and reason are too low in stature to see Christ. Faith does not
climb up into the tree as Zacchcus (Luke 19:1-4), but within the veil, and there
sees Jesus. A holy person sends out faith as a spy to view the land of promise;
faith unties difficulties. "Who against hope believed in hope," Romans 4:1-2.
Against the hope of sense, Abraham believed in hope of the promise. Faith
anticipates future things and makes them present. When God told Abraham what a
glorious country He would give him, Abraham looked upon it as if it had been
actually done and he had taken possession. Faith can live upon God in the
deficiency of visible comforts. Although the fig-tree does not blossom, yet I
will rejoice in the Lord. A righteous man believes that if God will save him
from hell, He will save him from want; if He will give him a kingdom, He will
not deny him daily bread.

(3) A righteous man lives more spiritually as he shows forth more of tile powers
of holiness in his life than others. He is a pattern of piety. Aaron, the saint
of the Lord, was adorned more by his sanctity more than his mitre or linen
garments. A moralist may live as a man, but he who is regenerate lives the life
of Christ. The Macedonians, on the birthday of Alexander the Great, wore
Alexander’s picture about their necks set with gold and pearl. So the righteous
carry the lively picture of Christ in their holy example. They live so devoutly
as if they had seen the Lord with bodily eyes.

Second, the life of a righteous man is more excel-lent for usefulness. He is a
blessing in the midst of the land. He spends and is spent for Christ; yet he
would rather wear Out than rust out. The lives of the wicked are unprofitable
(therefore they are com-pared to chaff), and hurtful (therefore compared to
thorns). But a righteous man is like the bee or silk-worm, working for the good
of others. "It comforts me," said worthy (John) Jewel, "that I have exhausted
myself in the labors of my holy calling." A good man hangs between these two as
a needle between two loadstones: longing to be with Christ in heaven and loving
to serve Him on earth.

(1) A righteous man is helpful to the bodies of others. He is a temporal savior.
He has one eye shut to wink at the failings of others and another eye open to
observe their wants. He is like the heavens diffusing his influence and sending
down his silver drops of charity; he is a staff to the lame and bread to the
hungry. He puts under a golden crutch to support others when they are falling.
It is reported of young Lord Harrington that he gave a tenth of his yearly
revenue to charitable uses. As Mary brought her sweet ointments to anoint
Christ’s body, so a gracious soul brings his ointments of charity to anoint the
saints, who are Christ’s living Body. A good man judiciously considers how he
himself lives upon contribution: the earth enriches him with veins of silver and
crops of corn. One creature brings him wool, another oil, another silk.
Observing every creature conspiring for his good, he studies to lay out himself
for the good of others. Faith, if it has not works, is dead, James 2:17. Faith
sanctifies works and works testify of faith. A believer, with one hand, receives
Christ’s merits; with the other hand he relieves his fellow members. And he not
only gives to the necessities of the poor but gives freely. Charity drops from
him as myrrh from the tree. He does not put his alms among his desperate debts;
he is thankful that God has made him in the number of givers and not receivers.

(2) A righteous man is helpful to the souls of others. He who pities his
neighbor’s ox when it is fallen into a pit much more pities his neighbor’s soul
that is falling into hell. He counsels the ignorant, confirms the weak, reduces
the wandering, and converts the sinner from the error of his way.

(3) A righteous man is helpful to a kingdom. He stands as a screen between it
and the fire of God’s wrath. "Therefore He said He would destroy them, had not
Moses his servant stood before Him in the breach to turn away wrath from them,"
Psalms 106:23. when a breach is made in the wall of a castle, soldiers stand in
that breach till the enemy is beaten back. So when the wrath of God was coming
against Israel, Moses stood in the breach and, by his prayers, kept if off. The
saints are the Atlases who bear up a nation from sinking. The poets feigned of
Hector that, as long as he lived, Troy could not be demolished. "I bear up the
pillars," Psalms 75:3. Ambrose was called the wall of Italy. Lot, while in
Sodom, kept off the fire. "Haste thee, escape to Zoar, for I cannot do any thing
till thou be come thither," Genesis 19:22. A wicked nation is often reprieved
for the righteous’ sake. The tares are spared for the wheat’s sake.

11. The death of a righteous man is more excellent. Death comes with a habeas
corpus. "What man is he that liveth and shall not see death?" Psalms 89:48.
Grace itself gives no charter of exemption from it. An earthen pot, though full
of gold, may break The righteous, who are earthen vessels, though they are
filled with the golden graces, are not freed from breaking by death. But their
death is precious. Wicked men, like hawks, are set high upon a perch, decked
with jingling bells, but then comes their passing bell and calls them away; and,
when they die, there is no missing them. Their life was scarcely worth a prayer,
nor their death worth a tear. The wicked die in their sins, John 8:24. Death to
them is but a trap door to let them into hell. But when a righteous man dies,
his sins die with him. The pale face of death looks ruddy, being sprinkled with
the blood of the Lamb. When a believer has death in his body, he has Christ in
his soul. The day of his death is his ascension day to heaven. The death of a
saint is precious to God; the righteous are said to be gathered. A sinner is
carried away in a storm, whereas the righteous are gathered like we gather
precious fruit and candy it. So greatly does God value the death of a saint that
He makes inquisition for every drop of his blood. His death is precious to the
saints who survive him. They follow his hearse weeping as David did Abner’s.
Though they know that, when a godly man dies, he is fixed in a higher and more
transparent orb, yet they cannot but mourn at the fall of such a star. It is a
lamentation when God cuts down the pillars of a land; the great cables and
anchors of a ship being gone, there is danger of a shipwreck. It presages a
storm coming when God hides His jewels. After Austin’s death followed the
sacking of Hippo by the Goths and Vandals. After the decease of Paraeus came the
destruction of Heidelberg. Hence it is that the saints who are left behind, when
they see such as are the glory of a kingdom taken away by a stroke of death,
cannot but cry as Elisha did when Elijah was parted from him. "My Father, my
Father, the chariot of Israel and tile horsemen thereof", 2 Kings 2:12. The
saints living are affected with the loss of the godly, and carry them to their
grave with a shower of tears.

12. The dust of a righteous man is more excellent. When the bodies of the wicked
are laid in the grave, there lies a heap of dust to be tumbled into hell. But
the dust of a righteous man is part of Christ’s mystical Body. The dust of a
saint is united to Christ while it is in the grave, and as the dust of believers
is now excellent, so it will appear shortly in the sight of men and angels.
Emperor Trajan’s ashes were honored at Rome, so the ashes of the saints at the
resurrection shall be honored when they shall be made like Christ’s glorious
body in its beauty.. strength, agility, and immortality.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 3: 03 - WHAT HE HAS
========================================================================

From A Plea for the Godly. by Thomas Watson A Plea for the Godly (cont’d)

2. What He Has. A righteous man is more excellent than a wicked in respect of
what he has.

1. He has a more excellent name. God Himself embalmed Moses’ name and set a
garland of honor upon his hearse. Joshua 1:2, "Moses My servant is dead." Thc
names of the righteous are registered in the sacred records of Scripture.
Proverbs 10:7, "The memory of the just is blessed." Isaiah 65:15 "The wicked
leave their name for a curse." How cursed is the name of Judas! What Christian
would baptize his child with that name? How odious are the names of Nero,
Domitian, and Bonner! When their bodies rot underground, their names rot above
ground. But by faith the righteous obtained a good report. How renowned was
Moses for his meekness, Cornelius for his alms? Their names send forth a
fragrant per-fume in the church of God to this day. "The righteous shall be in
everlasting remembrance," Psalms 112:6. It may be said of a gracious person as
once was said of King David, his name was much esteemed. A wicked man may leave
a great estate behind; a righteous man leaves a good name.

2. A righteous man has more excellent company. He has the communion of saints.
"I am companion to all them that fear Thee," Psalms 119:6. A good man delights
in a companion of his own species. The lamb does not care to be with the wolf.
If unawares a godly man comes into the company of the wicked, he fears either
pollution or scandal. Therefore, he makes haste to get out as out of an infected
house. A righteous man flourishes among the saints. He is joined to Christ’s
mystical Body. "And being let go, they went to their own company," Acts 4:23. A
righteous man has communion with God. "Our fellowship is with the Father and His
Son Jesus," 1 John 1:3. A gracious soul has sweet inter-course with heaven; he
goes to God by prayer and God comes to him by His Spirit. How happy is that
person who has the angels to guard him and God to keep him company!

3. A righteous man has more excellent promises belonging to him. What a sinner
has is rather by providence than by virtue of a promise. It is the saints who
are called "heirs of the promise;" Hebrews 6:17, and those promises are
precious, 2 Peter 1:4. They are the beams of the sun of righteousness, the
pleasant streams that run in the paradise of Scripture. "All things work
together for good," Romans 8:28, but to whom? "To them that love God." All
mercies shall work for their good. They shall be footstools to lift up their
hearts higher to heaven, and all afflictions shall work for their good; the rod
shall be a divine pencil to draw Christ’s image more lively upon their souls.

There is another promise. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee," Hebrews
13:5. This promise be-longs to the heirs of salvation. God will not leave His
people either to their strong corruptions or their weak graces. He will counsel
them in their doubts, supply them in their wants, and defend them in their
dangers. When they are most assaulted, they shall be most assisted. How can God
leave them? They are His spouse. Will a man leave his spouse?

Thus the saints have the royal charter of the promises settled upon them. As
these promises are sweet, so they are sure. Men reckon their wealth not always
by what ready money they have in their houses but by their bonds and leases. A
Christian’s estate lies mostly in bonds and bills of God’s hand sealed with His
oath. What better security can there be?

4. A righteous man has more excellent freedom. "And I will walk at liberty,"
Psalms 119:45. Another is capable of civil freedom; he may be a Roman born, but
he is still enslaved to his lusts. But a righteous person is God’s freeman, 1
Corinthians 7:22. His neck is out of the devil’s yoke. He is "free from the law
of sin," Romans 8:2. He has God’s free Spirit, Psalms 51:12, which makes him
free and cheerful in his obedience. The will is not compelled but changed. A
re-generate person is drawn indeed by the Spirit, hut sweetly, as one is drawn
into a garden of spices by the fragrance of their smell. He is drawn to Christ
as one is drawn with another’s beauty. He is free; a righteous soul chooses the
ways of God, Psalms 119:30, and what greater act of freedom is there than an act
of choice? And a saint cannot have his spiritual freedom taken from him. While
be suffers in prison, his conscience is most free. In short, he is made free to
enjoy "the innumerable company of angels," Hebrews 12:22.

5. A righteous man has more excellent food. Carnal men feed only on earthly
provision; the righteous feeds on heavenly. He tastes how sweet the Lord is,
Psalms 34:8. He feeds on God’s love; this is the hidden manna. He eats Christ’s
flesh, which not only begets life, John 6:33, but prevents death. "This is the
bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die,"
John 6:50 - that is, not die the second death. Other bread may nauseate or cause
bloating, but there is no excess here. We can-not eat too much of the Bread of
Life. We cannot have too much of Christ, as one cannot have too much of health.
Oh, what excellent food is this! God Himself is in this cheer!

6. A righteous man has more excellent armor, namely, "the armor of light,",
Romans 13:12. This armor is of God’s making, and the Lord, with His armor, gives
strength. Alexander the Great might have given a coward armor, but he could not
give him courage. But God infuses a spirit of magnanimity into His people. With
His armor He conveys strength. "My strength is made perfect in weakness," 2
Corinthians 12:9. When a Christian has on God’s armor and goes forth in the
power of His might. nothing can hurt him. That wicked one touches him not, that
is, with a deadly touch. Grace is armor of proof; it may be shot, but it cannot
be shot through. This spiritual armor is not burdensome; a Christian may run his
race in it as well as fight. The more the armor of God is struck at, the
stronger it is; the more faith is assaulted, the more vigorous it is; the more
zeal is opposed, the hotter it is. This excellent armor makes a Christian
steadfast in religion. Hypocrites wear Christ’s colors but lack His armor;
therefore, they fall away. The righteous man never gives over the spiritual
combat till the trophies are hung up and the palm branches are put in his hand
in token of victory.

7. A righteous man has more excellent hopes. A sinner’s hope is in this life; he
hopes to increase his estate. He makes the wedge of gold his hope, but it is a
perishing hope, Proverbs 11:7. But the righteous man’s hope excels. His hope is
in Christ; it is both a helmet and an anchor. While he is fighting with
temptation, hope is a helmet. While he is upon the waters of affliction, hope is
an anchor. The anchor of a ship is cast downwards; the anchor of the soul is
cast upwards in heaven. A saint’s hope is a purifying hope, a death-bed hope, a
soul-comforting hope. He is "looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Savior," Titus 2:13. When Christ was in the
flesh, He appeared as a Surety; now in heaven He appears as an Advocate and,
when He comes in the clouds, He will appear as a Judge. A righteous man hopes
for this blessed appearing, when Christ ;hall vindicate His saints from all
un-just calumnies and openly acquit them in the court.

8. A righteous man has more excellent joys. Religion does not restrain but
refines his joy. What is the joy of a sinner? He takes joy in corn and wine; he
sucks from the flower of pleasure. Alas! What is this to the joy of the
righteous? We joy in God. This joy arises from the pardon of sin, the
firstfruits of the Spirit, and the foretaste of glory. The gleanings of this
heavenly by are better than the vintage of carnal joy. Plato told the musicians
that philosophers could dine and sup without them. How much more can a believer
be merry in the Lord without the supplement of worldly comforts!

It is more inward joy. "Thou hast put gladness in my heart," Psalms 4:7. Other
joy lies more in the surface; it pleases the senses. It is like the paradise the
Turks dream of where they shall have all dainty dishes served with gold in
abundance, silken and purple apparel, and angels their servants bringing them
red wine in silver cups. This delights the fancy and the senses, but divine joy
cheers the conscience. Aecolampadius, on his sick bed, when asked if he wanted
any light, put his hand to his heart and said, "Here I have light enough." The
saints’ joy, being inward, sweetens affliction. It turns their water into wine.
"Having received the Word in much affliction with joy" 1 Thessalonians 1:6.
Theodoret, when he was on the rack, in the midst of his torments said that he
found no anguish. When they took him down from the rack, he complained they did
him wrong in so doing. "For," said he, "all the while I was on the rack, I
thought there was one in white, an angel who stood by and wiped off the sweat,
and I found much sweetness which now I have lost."

It is a more unmixed joy. Worldly joy is usually spiced with some bitterness;
guilt eclipses it. "In laughter the heart is sorrowful," Proverbs 14:13. One may
drink wormwood in a golden cup. but the joy of ’he righteous, like David’s harp,
drives away sadness. It gives honey without gall; it has no allay or umbrage.
The joy of the righteous is more durable. Other joy is like a flower that
withers while you are smelling it. I have read of a river in America that runs
in the day with a full torrent but is dry at night. The comforts of the world
run strongly in the day of health and prosperity, but at the night of death they
ire dried up. But as joy abounds in the godly, so it abides. "Your joy no man
taketh from you," John 16:22. Divine joy is but begun in this life; it is
perfected in glory’. Here is but the tuning of the instrument; the sweet concert
is reserved for heaven. Here the saints do hut sup of the cup; there they shall
drink of the rivers of pleasure forevermore.

3. What He Shall Have. A righteous man is more excellent than a wicked in
respect of what he shall have. He shall have a better reward. Both righteous and
wicked are re-warded, but there is a vast difference. The wicked shall have a
reward of punishment, the righteous of mercy. So that a man shall say, verily
there is a reward for the righteous," Psalm .58:11. They shall be rewarded with
a kingdom. The height of men’s ambition is a kingdom. Earthly kingdoms are
corruptible. What has become of the pride of Babylon, the glory of Athens, the
pomp of Troy? They lie buried in their own ruins But the kingdom of heaven
can-not be shaken, Hebrews 12:28; it runs parallel with eternity. In that
blessed kingdom, we shall have a transforming sight of God, we shall be like
Him, 1 John 3:2, like a pearl, by the beams of the sun, becomes bright and
radiant like the sun. God’s terror shall be then laid aside. The majesty in God
shall appear, but majesty shining with beauty and sweetened with love. This will
be unspeakable and full of glory. And this reward is near at hand. "Now is our
salivation nearer than when we believed," Romans 13:11. When Columbus’s men were
weary of their voyage, he desired them to go on but three days longer. They did
so and discovered America. While the righteous fall upon the waters of
affliction, this may comfort them in their voyage; by going a little further
they will see heaven. There the tree of life grows and the crystal streams flow
from Lebanon. The saints’ salvation is now nearer than on the birthday of their
faith. Thus I have beaten out this gold in the text into the leaf, and shown you
wherein "the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor," Proverbs 12:26.

II. The second thing is why a righteous man is more excellent than another. The
reason is in respect of that near relation he stands in to Christ. There is
consanguinity; He is brother to Christ. Christ partakes of his flesh and he
partakes of Christ’s Spirit. There is unity: A righteous man is one with Christ
as the members arc one with the head. Then, surely, the righteous must have a
surpassing dignity. If Christ is a precious corner stone, 1 Peter 2:6, then also
those lively stones must be precious which are built upon Him.

USE 1. See from hence what it is that raises the price of a person. It is
righteousness; this puts a glory and excellency upon him. He that is graceless
is worthless. "The heart of the wicked is little worth," Proverbs 10:20. But
righteousness makes the heart like the heaven bespangled with stars. The graces
are compared to chains of gold for their value, and to myrrh and cassia for
their fragrancy. As the precious stones shone upon Aaron’s breastplate, so
righteousness shines in the eyes of God and angles. What made Christ admire the
woman of Canaan but her graces? "Great is thy faith," Matthew 15:28. Christ was
more taken with that than all the fancy buildings of the Temple. God does not
esteem the better of any man because he is rich or noble or embellished with
worldly ornaments. It is righteousness that advances him. Righteousness is to
the soul as the diamond to the ring, as light to the world which bespangles and
adorns it

USE 2. Learn then, that it is no disparagement to any person to be righteous
seeing it casts a splendor and renown on him and makes him more excel-lent than
others. Some are loathe to espouse religion because they think it will be a
stain to their reputation; but you see how righteousness emblazons one’s
nameplate and gives him a super-eminence above others. Novarinus relates of an
ancient king who invited a company of poor Christians and set them above some of
his nobles. Being asked why he showed so much respect to men of such mean birth
and extract, he replied, "I must honor these as the children of the high God;
they will be kings and princes with me in another world." Theodosius thought it
a greater renown to be a member of Christ than the head of an empire. The
righteous are highly in favor with God and He has enrolled their names in the
Book of Life. It was a custom among the Romans to write down the names of their
senators in a book; therefore, they were called Patres Conscnpii. This is the
honor of the righteous - their names are written among the courtiers of heaven.
Believers, in regard of their mystical union with Christ, have a kind of
excellence above the angels. The angels are morning stars, Job 38:7, but these
are clothed with the sun. Can it be any shame to be listed among the saints when
God is not ashamed to be called their God? Hebrews 11:16.

USE 3. See what high thoughts God has of the righteous, He looks upon them as
more excellent than others, and His judgment is best worth praising. The saints
have low thoughts of themselves; they overlook their own worth, like Moses who
knew not that his face shined. The eye, though beautiful, does not see itself.
Yet, as low thoughts as the righteous have of themselves, God has high thoughts
of them. "Since Thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable,"
Isaiah 43:4. The Lord puts way the wicked like dross. The greatest man in the
world, lacking holiness, is like Naaman, who was captain of the king’s host and
a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper, 2 Kings 5:1. A wicked man may be
higher than others in nobility and worldly grandeur. A dunghill is higher than
other ground, but it is never the better; it sends forth odious vapors.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 4: 04 - GOD'S TITLES FOR THE RIGHTEOUS
========================================================================

From A Plea for the Godly. by Thomas Watson A Plea for the Godly (cont’d) GOD’S
TITLES FOR THE RIGHTEOUS But God sets a high estimate upon the righteous, and
that appears by bestowing more excellent titles on them than upon others.

1. God calls them His jewels. He laid His best jewel to pawn for them. They are
jewels for their sparkling quality. They shine in God’s eye. The saints have a
kind of angelic brightness, as one of the ancients expresses it.

They are jewels for their price. Diamonds, said Pliny, were not known a long
time but among kings and emperors. The price of a saint is above others, "Better
is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that perverteth his ways,
though he be rich", Proverbs 28:6.

2. God calls the righteous "hidden ones," Psalms 83:3. They are hidden, first,
for their invisibility. Their excellence is not known to many. The world can see
their infirmity, not their eminence. A saint has that eternal glory which cannot
be beheld by a carnal eye; the fair face is hid under a veil Second, righteous
are hidden for their safety. Diamonds are hid in the rock, so the saint’s life
is hid in Christ, the Rock of Ages, Colossians 9:5.

3. God calls the righteous "the excellent of the earth," Psalms 16:2, or ’the
magnificent, " as Junius renders it. They are the spiritual phoenixes; they are
the cream and flower of the creation; they are the purer part of the world,
doubly refined, Zechariah 13:9.

4. God calls them "vessels of honor, 2 Timothy 2:21.Though they are earthen
vessels, yet they have heavenly treasure in them. They are filled with the wine
of the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18 Though they are scoured with affliction, yet it is
to make them brighter, Daniel 12:10.

5. God calls them the apple of His eye Zechariah 2:8. The apple of the eye is
the tenderest part of the eye, to express God’s tenderness of them, said Salvian
God cannot endure to have His eyeball touched.

6. God calls them "His portion, " Deuteronomy 32:9. As if riches lay in them. As
a man seals a hag of money for his use, so the Lord seals His people as His
portion with a double seal, one of election, 2 Timothy 2:19, the other of
assurance, Ephesians 1:13.

7. God calls them His "plant of renown. "Ezekiel 34:19. He hedges in this noble
plant with His protection, waters it with the silver drops of His ordinances,
blesses the springing of it, adorns it with fruit, and transplants it into the
heavenly paradise where it grows continually in the sweet sunshine of His favor.

8. God calls them "joint heirs with Christ, "Romans 8:17. Jesus Christ is a rich
heir. He is Lord of all. and the saints have shares with Christ.

9. God calls them the luminaries of the world. They give light by their precepts
and example. "Among whom ye shine as lights in the world," Php 2:15, Lot was a
bright star in Sodom. The world would be dark were it not for the children of
light.

10. God calls them a "peculiar people," 1 Peter 2:9. He has taken them out of
the world as out of the wild forest, and enclosed them to Himself by a decree.
They are a purchased people. The righteous are the purchase of Christ’s blood,
and He will not lose His purchase.

11. God calls them a kingdom of priests. They are kings. They have their throne,
Revelation 3:21, and white robes, Revelation 6:11, Robes signify their dignity
and white their sanctity.

They are priests. The priesthood under the law was honorable. The king’s
daughter was wife to Jehoiada the priest, 2 Chronicles 22:11. In ancient times,
the Egyptians chose their kings out of their priests. The saints are consecrated
to be priests. to offer up to God eucharistical sacrifice of praise and
thanksgiving in heaven.

God calls them a crown of glory and a diadem in His hand, Isaiah 62:3 That is,
said a learned writer, they are exceedingly eminent and renowned above other
people. The crown Is a sign of thc highest state and honor Nay, the Lord calls
them expressly His glory. "Israel My glory." Isaiah 46:13, as if His glory lay
in His people All this shows what a high estimate God puts upon the righteous in
giving them such illustrious titles of honor. They are princes in all lands;
kings minister to them, even angels. The Lord will give whole kingdoms to ransom
them, "I gave Egypt for thy ransom," Isaiah 43:3. That was when God destroyed
Egypt in the Red Sea for the saving of Israel. Nay, God gave His own Son to die
for their ransom. And if God esteems so highly His people now on earth, how much
more will He value them when they are in heaven? If when the righteous arc
afflicted they are so excellent, how much more when they are crowned? If with
their blemishes they are precious, then how much more when their imperfections
shall be done away and they shall be presented to the Father without spot and
wrinkle? If gold is valuable in the wedge and the ore, then how precious is it
when it is fully refined? If wheat is excellent when it is mingled with chaff,
then how much worth has it when it is fanned and made pure? If God reputes the
righteous more excellent than others when conflicting with infirmities, then how
incomparably excellent and glorious will they appear in His eye when they shall
be cleansed from all remaining corruption, and shall shine with knowledge as the
air with light? If a man makes any ac-count of his friend when he sees him under
distempers of body which cause forwardness, how much more will he prize him when
he sees him in perfect health and his spirit calm and sedate? If God esteems the
righteous better than others in the pre-sent juncture of time, when they have
their unto-ward passions and fainting-fits of unbelief, what will He do when
they shall be perfectly holy and as an-gels of God?

USE 4. See the different esteem that God has of the righteous and that men have
of them. The men of the world esteem the saints lightly; they disdain them and
scarcely allow them half an eye. ’hey think, of all things, the people of God
may be best ’pared; they look upon them as the burden and refuse of the earth.
"We are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things
unto this day," 1 Corinthians 4:13. The apostles were the eyes of the world, the
breasts of the church, and earthly angels; yet they were counted by some like
the dung cart that goes through the city into which everyone throws his filth.
The saints are loaded with invectives and are not judged worthy to live in the
world. "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should
live," Acts 22:22. But God has an entirely different way of evaluating the
righteous. He thinks the world is not worth", of them. "Of whom the world was
not worthy, Hebrews 11:38. Hence it is that He takes his children so fast away
by death and places them among the cherubims. God looks upon the righteous as
His curious needle-work, wrought with the finger of the Holy Ghost and the glory
of the creation. He would soon break up house in the world were it not for their
sakes. This excellent esteem God has of them will be best seen when He shall
separate between the precious and the vile and shall say to the wicked, Go ye
cursed," and to the godly," Come ye blessed."

USE 5. See how dearly God loves the righteous and how near to His heart they
lie. They are more excellent. The word "excellent" carries affection in it.
Things we prize we love. The righteous are God’s treasure, Psalms 135:4, and
where His treasure is there is His heart. They are God’s delicious garden where
He plants the flower of His love, They are the dearly beloved of His soul. They
are His darling. He engraves them upon the palms of His hands that they may be
never out of His eye. He rejoices over them with joy and rests in His love. It
is no ordinary affection that God bears to the righteous. The sun shining upon a
burning glass sets on fire only the object that is near the glass. The beams of
God’s love are more intensely enflamed towards them who are near Him by grace;
these have the strength and spirits of His love distilled, He loves them as He
loves Christ. Indeed, in one sense, God’s Jove to Christ and believers is not
alike, for Christ is loved purely for His own sake but believers are loved for
Christ’s sake. Yet, in another sense, God the Father loves believers as He loves
Christ. It is the same love for the quality, the same for the unchangeableness
of it. God will no more cease to love believers than He will to love Christ.

USE 6. See from hence what a venerable opinion we should have of the righteous.
They are to be prized by us above others. "He honoreth them that fear the Lord,"
Psalms 15:4. A saint in rags is better than a sinner in scarlet. We prize things
that have excellency in them. Why do we value gold and pearl but because they
excel glass beads? Oh, then, esteem the righteous as most worthy because of
intrinsic holiness whereby they outshine their neighbors! The righteous carry
Christ about them. "Christ liveth in me," Galatians 2:20. Queen Cleopatra put a
jewel in her cup which contained the price of a kingdom. How rich are they who
carry Christ, the Pearl of price, with them! Despise not the saints for their
worldly poverty, but honor them for their virtue. We esteem a ruby or diamond
though it is in the dust. John Baptist wore but a leather girdle, yet he was
more than a prophet. He was honored to usher in the King of Glory into the
world. John was so eminent a person that Herod would have kept his oath, though
he had not beheaded him, for he swore to the damsel to give her what she asked
up to half of the kingdom. But John Baptist was worth more than all his kingdom.
A saint’s exterior may be poor but he has a rich lining. The outside of the
Tabernacle was goat’s hair, but within it was embellished with gold. "The king’s
daughter is all glorious within," Psalms 45:13. Jesus Christ Himself was
outwardly mean, yet in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom. A soul inspired
by the Almighty and beautified with grace exceeds others more than the light of
the sun exceeds the light of a candle.

USE 7, If the righteous are more excellent than others, then how severe will God
be against those who wrong them? The wicked are thorns in the sides of the
godly. Saint Paul was scourged by cruel hands. "Thrice was I beaten with rods,"
2 Corinthians 11:25, as if you should see a slave whip the king’s son; but shall
not God avenge His elect? Surely He will. "The sword of the Lord is filled with
blood... for it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses
for the controversy of Zion," Isaiah 34:6-8. It is as if the prophet had said,
"The time appointed has now come for God to avenge Zion for the wrongs done to
her." Jeremiah 50:10-11 says, "Chaldea shall be a spoil, saith the Lord, because
ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, 0 ye destroyers of Mine heritage." And
Jeremiah 30:16, "All that prey upon thee, will I give for a prey. The saints are
persons of honor; they are God’s first-born. Oh, how enraged will the Lord be
against such as offer injury to them! They trample God’s pearls in the dust.
They strike at the apple of His eye. The righteous are God’s diadem. Will a king
endure to have His robes spit upon and his crown thrown in the dirt? What is
done to the righteous is done to God Himself. When the king’s favorite is struck
at, the king himself is struck at. "I know thy rage against me," 2 Kings 19:27.
The rage of Sennacherib was against the person of Hezakiah, hut, there being a
league between God and His people, the Lord took it as done to Himself. "I know
Thy rage against me: certainly it shall not go unpunished. He reproved kings for
their sakes. What became of (the pagan Emperors) Julian, Nero, and Diocletian?
One of them had his death wound from heaven. Others had their bowels come out
and died raving. Charles the ninth of France, who had glutted himself with the
blood of so many Christians in the massacre at Paris, was in such inward horror
that he never dared be waked without music, and at length blood issued Out at so
many parts of his body that he died bleeding. These were set up as public
monuments of God’s vengeance.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 5: 05 - MARKS OF THE RIGHTEOUS
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From A Plea for the Godly. by Thomas Watson A Plea for the Godly (cont’d) THE
MARKS OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN Let us try whether we are in the number of these
righteous ones; whether we are indeed more excel-lent than others.

1. A righteous man is a humble man. He who is proud of his righteousness is
unrighteous. "God I thank Thee that I am not as other men are. . . . I fast. . .
I give tithes. . ." Luke 18:11-12. Here was a triple crown of pride the Pharisee
wore. Righteousness, though it raises the name, depresses the heart. "If I am
righteous, I will not lift up my head," Job 10:15. The violet is a sweet flower,
yet hangs down the head; such a flower was Job. The righteous are like the
silkworm. While she weaves her curious works, she hides her-self in the silk.
The righteous man is more likely to judge himself than to play the critic on
another. He shrinks into nothing in his own thoughts. David cried out, "I am a
worm and no man"; though a saint, though a king, yet a worm.

St. Austin said, "Lord, I am not worthy of Thy love." Bishop Hooper said, "Lord
I am hell, but Thou art heaven " One of the martyrs subscribed his letter, "The
most hard-hearted sinner, John Brad-ford." He who is righteous puts a greater
value upon others than upon himself. "Let each esteem other better than
themselves," Php 2:3. The higher grace is, the lower the heart is. The more gold
you put into the scale, the lower it descends. The richer the ship is laden, the
lower it sails- When the soul looks black in its own eye, it is most comely. "I
dwell with him also that is of an humble spirit," Isaiah 57:15. God has two
heavens, and the humble heart is one of them.

2. A righteous man is devoted to holiness. The priests under the law were not
only washed in the great laver but also adorned with glorious apparel, Exodus
28:2, the emblem of a righteous man who is not only washed from gross sin, but
adorned with inward sanctity. He is what he seems. He does not have holiness
painted on him but living in him. It is said of Zachariah and Elizabeth that
"they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord blameless," Luke 1:6. A good Christian is God’s temple.
His body is the outward court of the temple and his soul the holy of holies. He
is pure in heart, Matthew 5:8. His work is to serve God and his end is to enjoy
Him. Man, having a principle of reason, must not live as a beast, and, having a
principle of righteousness, he must not live as a sinner. He is not
metamorphosed; "he lives godly," Titus 2:12. Christ is not only his Priest, but
his Pattern. As he makes use of Christ’s death for his salvation, so of Christ’s
life for his imitation.

3. A righteous man is just in his dealings. "Who shall ascend into the hill of
the Lord? He that hath clean hands," Psalms 24:3-4. He who is righteous has not
only his heart purged from unholiness but his hands from injustice. He abhors
all indirect ways; he will not defraud to grow rich. He will not sell his
conscience for a wedge of gold. A good Christian is zealous for duties of both
tables; he makes piety and justice kiss each other.

4. A Righteous man serves God out of a principle of love. Grace now biases the
heart and carries it strongly towards God in ardent affection. A righteous man S
serving God is not by constraint but consent. It is heaven to him to serve God!
He mounts up in the fiery chariot of love and breathes forth his soul into his
Savior’s bosom. Love is the shibboleth that differentiates a righteous man from
others. The carnal man says, "What a weariness is it to serve the Lord!" Malachi
1:13. The righteous man says, ’What a plea-sure is it!" "I delight in the law of
God in the inner man," Romans 7:22. As the bee delights to suck the flower, so a
holy person delights to obey God. He does duty out of love to duty; he prays out
of love to prayer. When he sings, he makes melody in his heart to the Lord. Love
lines the yoke of religion and makes it easy. As a bride delights in putting on
her jewels, as a musician delights in playing on his violin, so a gracious soul
delights in obeying God. love to duty is better than duty; serving God with
de-light is angelic. The seraphims are described as having wings, Isaiah 6:2, to
show their cheerfulness as well as their ability in God’s service.

5. A righteous man perseveres in religion. He who gives over his work before he
has finished it is but half a workman; and he that gives over in religion before
he has finished his faith is but half a Christian The promise is to him who
overcomes. Who makes reckoning of corn that sheds before harvest? It was the
glory of the church of Thyatira that her last works were more than her first.
Perseverance carries away the garland. A true Christian not only sets out in the
race but holds out. "The righteous also shall hold on his way," Job 17:9, be
that way what it will. Though strewn with thorns, though there is a lion in the
way, he is resolved to hold on his way "Bonds and afflictions abide me, but none
of these things move me," Acts 20:23-24 The troubles a godly man meets with for
conscience enflame his zeal all the more. Sufferings cannot make Christ stop
loving the saints, nor make the saints stop loving Christ. Though Job lost all,
he held fast his integrity. Unsound hearts, when they see the swords and staves
are up, leave Christ and shift for themselves. A right-spirited saint is made of
mettle that will not wear out. Athanasius (the Church Father) was the glory of
his age; he had a counter motion to the times; he kept his piety when the world
turned Arian. Melancthon, who was called the phoenix of Germany, was, as Ambrose
said, like the cypress tree that keeps its greenness in the winter season. The
church of Pergamus held fast to Christ’s name though she dwelt where Satan’s
seat was. This is to be righteous: to be faithful to the death and not suffer
the breastplate of holiness to be shot through. My foot has held His steps; His
way have I kept and not declined. And whoever is thus divinely qualified is
entitled to the privilege in the text. He is more excellent than others.

USE 8. If the righteous are thus excellent, let it encourage us all to true
piety. No sooner do we be-come gracious than we become precious. This day have
"I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you," Joshua 5:9. That day we
become righteous, our reproach is rolled away from us. Faith raises our fame;
righteousness exchanges our fetters for a crown. A crown of glory shall she
deliver to you. By espousing godliness, we are better and richer than others,
being possessed of a gold mine - the un-searchable riches of Christ! We have
from Christ the riches of justification, consolation, and glorification. We are
as rich as the angels. Oh, then, let this excite every one to be godly!
Righteousness puts a splendid excellence upon a man, as if you should see a clod
of dust turned into a star.

1. If the righteous are so excellent in God’s eye, then let God be excellent in
their eye. If they are high in God’s thoughts, let God be high in theirs. Let
the saints have adoring thoughts of God. "Thy righteousness, O God, is very
high. Thou whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth," Psalms
83:18. God is the most super-eminent blessing; who can show forth all His
praise? God surpasses the praises of the archangels. He is encircled with glory
and majesty. He infinitely outvies all the powers of the earth. Princes hold
their crowns by immediate tenure from Him; His dominions are largest, His
possession longest. "Thy throne, 0 God, is forever and ever," Psalms 45:6. Those
excellencies which lie scattered in the creature are infinitely united in God.
Austin complains that man can admire the magnitude of the stars and not admire
Him who is the Father of lights. Oh, esteem God most excellent!

God’s wisdom is excellent. He is wise in heart. He knows the causes of things;
yea, at one instant. Angels light their lamps at this sun.

God’s power is excellent. He is Almighty. His power is as large as His will.
What His soul desires, even that He does. He bridles the proud waves. He cuts
off the spirit of princes. God’s holiness is excellent. This is the most
sparkling jewel of His crown. "Glorious in holiness." Exodus 15:11. God is first
transcendently holy: "There is none holy as the Lord," 1 Samuel 2:2. The blessed
seraphims cover their faces and cry "Holy, holy, holy", but what angels can take
the just dimensions of His sanctity? They are too low in stature to measure
these pyramids.

God is communicatively holy: "I am the Lord which sanctify you," Leviticus
’2O:8. He is not only a pattern of holiness but a fountain. He empties His
golden oil through the pipes of the sanctuary. His holiness is imparted, not
impaired.

God is unchangeably holy. His holiness can no more cease than His godhead. He
never lost a drop of His holiness. As He cannot have more holiness, because He
is perfectly holy, so He cannot have less holiness, because He is unchangeably
holy.

God’s love is excellent. "How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, 0 God!" Psalms
36:7. This drops as the honeycomb; it dulcifies and sweetens the waters of
Marah; it is better than life; it has a hyper-hyperbole in it. "It passes
knowledge," Ephesians 3:19. God’s love may be felt but not fathomed. Oh, then,
let the saints have God-admiring thoughts! The psalmist esteemed Him above the
glory of heaven and the comforts of the earth, Psalms 73:25. God is the mar-row
and quintessence of all good. his beauty is amazing; His love is ravishing. All
divine perfections meet in God as the lines in the center. Let us, then, with
Paul, count all things loss for Him. If God puts such a value and appreciation
upon the righteous, that they are highest in His esteem, let Him be highest in
theirs.

2. If God has so honored the righteous and made them better than others, let not
the righteous debase themselves or lose any of their excellency. Has God made
them precious? Let not them make themselves vile.

(1) Let them not debase themselves with earth. An earthly saint is as great a
contradiction as an orthodox heretic. It is called filthy lucre because it makes
a person so filthy. Earthliness is an enemy to grace. It is Aristotle’s
observation that dogs can-not hunt among sweet flowers because the smell of the
flowers diverts the scent of the hare. Those can scarcely run after Christ in
the savor of His ointments who are diverted by the smell of earthly de-lights.
Whom the Helena of the world kisses, she be-trays. It is below a Christian - and
too much resembles Satan - to be always compassing the earth. ’And seekest thou
great things for thyself"Jeremiah 45:5. As if God had asked Baruch, Jeremiah’s
secretary, ’Baruch, who are by your new birth excellent, akin to angels; by your
office excellent; a Levite; do you now seek earthly things? I am going to pluck
up, and are you planting? The ship is sinking, and are you decorating your
cabin? Oh, Baruch, do not so degrade yourself of your honor! Do you seek great
things? Seek them not." Though the wicked, like eels, wrap themselves in the
mud, yet let the birds of paradise fly aloft. The higher grace is, the less
earthly-minded should Christians be; the higher the sun is, the shorter the
shadow.

(2) Let not the righteous debase themselves by sinful compliance. Such as
profess themselves to be regenerate should not be malleable to every opinion and
humor. Shall the excellent cedar bend like the pliant willow? "Issachar is a
strong ass, couching down between two burdens," Genesis 49:14. Issachar was a
strong tribe but lacked courage. You who are righteous, be not too pliant. Do
not choose iniquity rather than affliction, Job 36:21. Do not so value your
liberty as to wound your integrity. God is a great God; dare not to offend Him.
He is a good God; venture not to lose Him. Be not swayed by the evil examples of
others. Dead fish only swim downstream. The righteous greatly lessen both their
esteem and re-ward by fraternizing with sinners. Let not the godly violate their
conscience. The dust will be wiped off this glass and then it will represent
guilt. When Crankier had, with some reticence of mind, sub-scribed to the popish
articles, lie was afterwards in great horror; his conscience was like Moses’ rod
turned into a serpent. He could have no peace till he had recanted his
subscription. By sordid, unworthy actions, the Holy Spirit will be grieved, the
godly will be offended, the wicked will insult, and conscience will accuse.
Conscience is like a bee: If a man does well, it gives honey; if ill, it puts
forth a sting.

(3) If the righteous are more excellent than others, let not them envy the
prosperity of the wicked. "Let not thy heart envy sinners," Proverbs 23:17. God
has made you better than they. He has given you His Spirit to sanctify you and
His Son to save you. Envy is an ill humor. It hurts a man’s self most. Envy
drinks its own venom; it corrodes the body as canker does iron. The first man
born in the world was envious. Ibeodoret observes that it was not so much Cain’s
own sin that troubled him as to see his brother’s offering accepted. It is
unbecoming for God’s people to feed this fretting disease; it is bad to feed an
envy. What if God wrings out the water of a full cup to the wicked? It is but a
sugared poison. Prosperity, Like Circe (the mythological witch), with its
enchantments turns men into swine; it makes them grow worse. The moon never
suffers an eclipse but when it is at the full. The world is given to the wicked
in anger. When Belshazzar was in the midst of his jollity, the hand of God was
writing bitter things against him. The hot day of prosperity presages thunder at
night. Haman’s banquet was but a preface to the hangman’s noose. Oh, Christian,
shake off envy as Paul did the viper! God has made more excellent than others,
He has given you better riches and preferment. They have a golden apple, you
have a crown, 2 Timothy 4:8. God keeps the best wine till last. Let this divine
harp drive away the evil spirit of envy and discontent.

(4) If the righteous are so excellent, let it persuade people to get into their
company and choose to be of their acquaintance. Next to being good, it is wisdom
to converse with those who are so. "The excellent in whom is all My delight,"
Psalms 16:3. Be not like swine, who would rather lie in the dung than in a fair
meadow. The righteous are the light of the world, and it is prudence to follow
them who carry the light. Seek for the olive; but if the bramble takes hold of
you, cast it away. There is much good to be gotten in the society of the godly.
Their speeches edify. their prayers quicken) their examples teach. Graft among
the saints. A slip grafted into a good stock partakes of the virtue and
influence of the root. The righteous are more excellent. Be often among these
spices and you will smell them. "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise,"
Proverbs 13:20.

(5) It exhorts the righteous to walk worthy of the high honor which God has
raised them to. "Walk as children of light," Ephesians 5:8. As you are more
excellent by your high calling, so be more excellent in your walking. Adorn
religion by your prudent holy carriage "Shine as lights in the world," Php 2:15.
Some Antinomians of old taught that whatever a man’s life was, yet he was
justified. So they believed the false gospel which Luther confuted. Such as are
a royal priesthood should be a peculiar people. The Lord has dignified the
righteous above the rest of the world, and they must not take the same latitude
others do. For example, "It is not for kings, 0 Lemuel, it is not for kings to
drink wine; nor for princes strong drink," Proverbs 31:4. It is becoming not
them who are high-born to be in-temperate. So it is not for you who are of a
sacred pedigree - whom God has made superior to others -to be vain and loose in
your behavior. Alexander would have the Grecians known not only by their
garments but also by their virtues. A child of God should be known by the
exemplary nature of his life. "Be ye holy in all manner of conversation," 1
Peter 1:15. Christ has anointed His people with the graces as those virgins were
purified with sweet odors, Esther 2:12, and He expects that they should send
abroad a sweet perfume of holiness. Christians must observe that which is lovely
and of good report, Php 4:8. They need to walk accurately, Ephesians 5:15,
because so many watch for their halting. If the wicked find anything the people
of God dishonorable to their profession, they lay the blame upon religion. It is
noted by the fifth-century Christian writer, "What will e pagans say when they
see Christians loose and ’The Christians live so bad because Christ taught them
no better.’ How should the righteous off occasion from those who seek occasion?
2 Corinthians 11:12. Daniel’s piety sealed up the lips .r his enemies, Daniel
6:4. Martin Bucer was so unblamable in his life that those who most maligned had
nothing justly to lay to his charge.

Oh, Christians, look to your steps! When you ’e prayed against sin, then watch
against temptation, A spot in a royal robe cannot be hid; a dash of ink would
quickly have been spied in Aaron’s white If there is a blemish in a professor,
everyone’s eye is upon it. The sin of such a person causes rig among the saints,
as the patriarchs could not help but be ashamed when the cup was found in
Benjamin’s sack. Oh, that all who profess the name would depart from iniquity, 2
Timothy 2:19! Dare not blaspheme that worthy name by which you called, James
2:7! Such as are more excellent others, God expects some singular thing from
them. They should bring more glory to God and, by exemplary piety, make
proselytes to religion. Better fruit is expected from a vineyard than from a
wild forest.

(6) Has God so enabled the righteous and given them a super-excellency above
other? Then let the righteous be thankful. "He raiseth the poor Out of the dust,
that He may set him with princes," Psalms 113:7-8.

God has raised you out of the low estate wherein you were by nature, and has
made you more illustrious than others that He may set you with angels, those
princes above. "0 let the high praises of God be in your mouth," Psalms 149:6.
God has done more for believers than for all the world besides. He has given
them the "holy anointing", the "new name", the "white stone", which is "the
earnest of the inheritance." At the day of judgment, Jesus Christ will confess
their names before His Father and the holy angels, Revelation 3:5. And their
souls and bodies, being re-united, shall be fully invested with glory. After
their session at Christ’s right hand, it shall be proclaimed, "Thus shall it be
done to the persons whom the King of heaven will honor." Does not all this
deserve thankfulness? "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord," Psalms 100:1. In the
Hebrew it is’ "Sound for His praise as with a trumpet," Praise God with the best
instrument, the heart, and let it be screwed up to the highest peg. Do it with
the whole heart. You who are righteous, speak well of God and tell others what
He has done for you. His blessings bestowed are legacies, not debts. Praise is
glorifying God, Psalms 50:23, and will not you cheerfully pay this debt? Will
you not do it constantly? "I will sing praises unto my God while I have any
being," Psalms 146:2. The people of Carthage at first used to send a tenth of
their yearly revenue to Hercules, but by degrees they grew weary and stopped
sending. Christians fail much in their thank-offering. Do not be like those who
play a fit or two of music in a year and then the violin must be hung up. Be
often upon Mount Gerizim blessing God. Consider that thankfulness is the work of
heaven; you who shall have angels’ reward, do an-gels’ work. Sound forth the
memorial of God’s holiness and celebrate His fame. Praise is thc music of
heaven; do not let God lack His music. While others murmur, you bless. Wait and
long for that time when you shall be called up to the heavenly mount and placed
among the glorious cherubims, where your employment to all eternity will be to
breathe forth love and sound forth praise.

USE 9. Of consolation to the righteous who are under dejection of spirit. God
esteems them more excellent than others. It is comfort:

1. When they are humbled by sin. They have mean thoughts of themselves, and see
so much corruption that they think they have no grace. Aye, but here is comfort;
God sees an excellency in them though they can see none in themselves. He can
distinguish between the grace in them and the infirmity; and He judges them not
by their worst part but by their best. God prizes His people, notwithstanding
their failings. A man values his corn though it is mingled with chaff.

2. When the righteous are humbled by affliction. "He hath covered me with
ashes," Lamentations 3:16. My outward comforts are, as it were, in the grave and
have ashes thrown upon them. The godly are apt to mistake and think God does not
care for them be-cause He afflicts them. "If the Lord be with us, why then is
all this befallen us?" Judges 6:13. But let not the righteous be troubled or
cast away their anchor Still God makes great account of them and, though they
are more afflicted than others, yet they are more excellent. God esteemed highly
of Hezekiah on his sickbed. He heard his prayer and bottled his tears, Isaiah
38:5. Job, when full of biles and sores, was dear to God. Job on the dunghill
was more excellent than Pharaoh on the throne. God boasted of Job to Satan,
"There is none like him in the earth," Job 2:3. A goldsmith esteems his gold
though it is in the furnace. God sees an excellence in the saints when they are
bleeding under their sufferings. A piece of porcelain is of great value though
it is battered. Grapes are precious though they are in the winepress. Jesus
Christ was on the cross, yet He had been proclaimed to be God’s beloved Son by a
voice from heaven, Matthew 3:1".

3. It is comfort when the righteous are humbled by desertion. "The arrows of the
Almighty are within me," Job 6:4. The Hebrew word for arrow comes from a root
that signifies "to cut", to show that the poisoned arrow of desertion cuts to
the heart The Psalmist cries out, "Thy wrath lieth hard upon me," Psalms 88:7;
which is to say, "Like a mountain of lead, it even sinks my spirits." In this
forlorn state, the saints think God esteems them vile and has cast them off.
"Lord, why castest Thou off my soul?" Psalms 88:14. God holds His deserted ones,
as it were, over the fire of hell, and they think they are ready to drop in.
But, Christian, you may be sorely deserted, yet God may judge you excellent!
Zion thought she was quite forsaken. Zion said, "The Lord bath forsaken me,"
Isaiah 49:14. But, at that time, God had a dear respect for her. "I have graven
thee upon the palms of My hands," Isaiah 49:16. God may have the face of an
enemy yet the heart of a father. The Lord deserts His people for their profit,
Hebrews 12:10. While He is humbling them, He is healing them. He seems to put
them away from Him, but it is to draw them nearer to Him. He would exercise
their faith and prayers the more. God is all this while preparing the saints for
the sweet embraces of His love. Desertion is like a purging medicine. The Lord
will purge out some ill humour of sin and, after-wards, will manifest His love
to His children. The cordial is kept till the working of the medicine is over.

CONCLUSION. Thus, good reader, I have, with all convenient brevity, endeavored
to vindicate the true saint and take him out of the fog. I have set be-fore your
eyes a child of light. "Mark the perfect man," Psalms 37:37, and imitate him.
If, notwithstanding all this surpassing excellency of the righteous, any shall
be so wicked as to persist in unrighteousness, they love death. If they shall
glory in their unrighteousness, it is as if beggars should boast of their sores;
if they shall disparage holiness, it is like a blind man reproaching the sun.
Let the righteous bind reproaches as a crown about their head and be no more
troubled than they would be to have mad men laugh at them. "Rest in the Lord,
and wait patiently for Him," Psalms 37:7. The time is shortly coming when God
will clear the innocence of His servants after He has wiped away all tears from
their eyes. He will wipe off reproach from their name and, then, this text shall
he universally subscribed to, "The righteous is more excellent than his
neighbors"


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/watson-thomas-a-plea-for-the-godly/
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