Watson encourages us to have our faces shine with tears of sorrow and joy. Watson says: “[Repenting tears] are beautifying; a tear in the eye doth more adorn than a ring on the finger; oil makes the face to shine, tears make the heart to shine; tears are comforting; a sinner’s mirth turns to melancholy, a saint’s mourning turns to music.”

There’s no shortage of books and articles urging men to “man up” and act like men. However, most of these look toward a perceived understanding of what it is to be a man. We have heroes that we look up to and love the hero in the action movie. We read biographies of great men who accomplished great historical feats that changed the course of history. We love to read of fictional characters in novels who face danger head-on. We love to be like Strider in The Lord of the Rings. However, most of these perceptions are not based on biblical truths. They are often one-sided, influenced by culture more than the Bible.

This is one of the great reasons I love reading historical books—you are introduced to other aspects of the Bible. This happened when we were reading through Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture: Drawn with a Scripture Pencil in a men’s book study. The week when all of my training as a man (with English and Scottish blood in my veins) said, “Maybe I should call in sick this week.” The chapter was titled, “A Man Who Weeps.” Instilled in me is the idea that we need to be tough and strong. Tears are a sign of weakness.

Godly Men Cry

Watson, in classic Puritan fashion, lays out six reasons why a godly man weeps:

1. For the indwelling of sin;

2.For the adherency of corruption;

3.For being overcome by the prevalence of corruption;

4.That he cannot be more holy;

5.Out of the sense of God’s love; and

6.Because the sin of a justified person is very odious.

Watson expresses not merely that we be weepers, quick to shed tears, but that we would be evangelical weepers. If Watson were writing for the modern church, the section would be called “Gospel-Centered Weeping.” Watson expresses two types of people who cry but do not engage in ‘evangelical’ weeping. He says men are quick to cry when they lose a loved one but not when they are in danger of losing God and their souls.

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