Rules

Let our rules be such as may be easily and cheerfully observed , remembering that we are to serve God in the newness of the spirit , not in the oldness of the letter .  Let the object be to make them a help , not to convert them into a penance . And let their inferiority and subserviency to the principle on which they are founded be always kept in mind . Let them not be easily dispensed with when once made ; and yet , let there be no foolish superstitious  scruple about dispensing with them when real necessity arises . Oh, who shall teach the one-sided mind of man the true middle path between the bondage of observances  ( which is the bondage of Judaism ) and that spurious  (so-called) freedom , which affects to disdain self - discipline , and refuses to acknowledge itself under the Law to Christ !God will show us the path , if we will not lean to our own understanding , but follow , with the simplicity and docility of children , the guidance of His hand .