No man less: and, above all,
not against the Church forms and ceremonies, which have grown up,
gradually and naturally, out of the piety, and experience, and
practical common sense of many generations of God's saints. Men
must have forms and ceremonies to put them in mind of the spiritual
truths which they cannot see or handle. Men cannot get on without
them; and those who throw away the Church forms have to invent fresh
ones, and less good ones, for themselves.
All, I say, have their forms and ceremonies; and all are in danger,
as we churchmen are, of making those forms stand instead of true
religion. In the Church or out of the Church, men are all tempted
to have, like the Pharisees, their traditions of the elders, their
little rules as to conduct, over and above what the Bible and the
Prayer-book have commanded; and all are tempted to be more shocked
if those rules are broken, than if really wrong and wicked things
are done; and like the Pharisees of old, to be careful in paying
tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, the commonest garden herbs, and
yet forget the weighty matters of the law, justice, mercy, and
judgment. I have known those who would be really more shocked at
seeing a religious man dance or sing, than at hearing him tell a
lie. But I will give no examples, lest I should set you on judging
others.
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