Selected Puritan Readings (Post #4 Worship)

“A godly man is very exact and careful about the worship of God.

The Greek word for ‘godly’ signifies a true worshipper of God. A godly man reverences divine institutions, and is more for the purity of worship than the pomp. Mixture in sacred things is like a dash in the wine, which though it gives it colour, yet only adulterates it. The Lord wanted Moses to make the tabernacle ‘according to the pattern shewed thee in the mount’ (Exod. 25:40). If Moses had left out anything in the pattern, or added anything to it, it would have been very provocative. The Lord has always given testimonies of his displeasure against such as have corrupted his worship. Nadab and Abihu offered ‘strange fire’ (other than God had sanctified on the altar), ‘and fire went out from the Lord, and devoured them’ (Lev.10:1,2)….

​A godly man dare not vary from the pattern which God has shown him in the scripture. This is probably not 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 superinduce anything of his own devising.”

~Excerpts from The Godly Man’s Picture
By Thomas Watson (1620-1686)