formality

Every hope that finds a Saviour in the externals of rites and services , and  means of grace , must be ground to powder and given to the winds. The channels of grace are not grace . The way is not the end . The instruments , by which we feed , are not food . The scaffold is not the building . The door is not the mansion. Here again is work , which requires a martyrs spirit ,and more than human discernment. Satan is quick to deck our holy things , and our holy places with a show of saving efficacy  .He whispers , that to put these things in their proper place , is to put religion out of all place . We must not hesitate . Christ must be embraced , unaided and alone , or not at all.
    I need scarcely add , that every sweet sin , which has long been caressed in the recesses of the heart , must be dragged to the light and slain. This is often as the plucking out of the right eye.  But there must be no sparing. Christ is light . Sin is darkness . How can they be one ? Sin loved , indulged , retained , binds fast the soul to the wheels of the chariot , in which Christ cannot sit .Law