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Thomas Watson's Body of Practical Divinity is one of the most precious of the peerless works of the Puritans; and those best acquainted with it prize it most. Watson was one of the most concise, racy, illustrative, and suggestive of those eminent divines who made the Puritan age the Augustan period of evangelical literature. There is a happy union of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical wisdom throughout all his works, and his Body of Divinity is, beyond all the rest, useful to the student and the minister...
About the author
Thomas Watson (c. 1620-1686) was an English Nonconformist Puritan pastor and author, educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He served at St. Stephen Walbrook Church in London for 16 years and leaned toward Presbyterian views during the English Civil War. Imprisoned in 1651 and released the next year, Watson was forced to preach privately after 1662 but obtained a license to preach publicly in 1672. His writings include The Godly Man's Picture, The Ten Commandments, and The Body of Divinity. Watson's life was marked by devotion and trials, encapsulated by his saying, "A true Christian carries Christ in his heart and the cross on his shoulders." He died in 1686 while praying.
