Glimpses of the Life and Work of G. D. Watson

G. D. Watson (1845-1924) was one of the most influential and best-loved preachers of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century holiness movement, and his influence lives on today through his numerous writings. He was a humble man with amazing intellectual prowess and an exceptional grasp of spiritual truth. As a successful pastor in his early thirties he was led into a deep consecration of his whole being to God which completely transformed his life and ministry. After some years in the pastorate, Watson felt the call to evangelism. He traveled widely in the United States and eventually held meetings in England, the West Indies, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and Korea. Dr. Levin P. Causey said of Dr. Watson: "He stands apart, unique, a rare genius. He was no copyist. His chariot wheels were not loaded with and stirred up by other drivers. His thinking was Watsonian, of the George type. His rhetoric was according to the rules of Watson. He was largely self-trained, and it would have been difficult to train him otherwise. He was original to an unusual degree; not that he ignored entirely the thoughts and works of others. This may no man do. He read voraciously and absorbed what he read, but he had the power of transforming and resetting that which he gathered from others, until it stood forth clothed in new dress and bearing the image of originality. In the life of George Watson were mingled rare natural endowments and hard work. He excelled both as a speaker and a writer. Great preachers who heard him and read his writings were impressed that a star of great magnitude had risen among them. Dr. Robert N. Baer, of the Baltimore Conference, said of him, when he had been preaching only some half dozen years, that no other man could say things as Watson said them."All readers of Watson's books will be forever grateful to his wife of fifty-five years for pulling aside the curtain on a life lived so completely for God and souls.