Wise Man--"Will you hear the beginning and the end of
the whole matter? Fear God and keep his commandments; for that is the whole
duty of man."

Had it been possible for mankind to sustain themselves upon this single
principle without disguising its simplicity, their history would have been
painted in far other colours than those which have so long chequered its
surface. This, however, has not been given to us; and perhaps it never will
be given. As the soul is clothed in flesh, and only thus is able to perform
its functions in this earth, where it is sent to live; as the thought must
find a word before it can pass from mind to mind; so every great truth
seeks some body, some outward form in which to exhibit its powers. It
appears in the world, and men lay hold of it, and represent it to
themselves, in histories, in forms of words, in sacramental symbols; and
these things which in their proper nature are but illustrations, stiffen
into essential fact, and become part of the reality. So arises in era after
era an outward and mortal expression of the inward immortal life; and at
once the old struggle begins to repeat itself between the flesh and the
spirit, the form and the reality. For a while the lower tendencies are held
in check; the meaning of the symbolism is remembered and fresh; it is a
living language, pregnant and suggestive. Bye and bye, as the mind passes
into other phases, the meaning is forgotten; the language becomes a dead
language; and the living robe of life becomes a winding-sheet of
corruption. The form is represented as everything, the spirit as nothing;
obedience is dispensed with; sin and religion arrange a compromise; and
outward observances, or technical inward emotions, are converted into
jugglers' tricks, by which men are enabled to enjoy their pleasures and
escape the penalties of wrong. Then such religion becomes no religion, but
a falsehood; and honourable men turn away from it, and fall back in haste
upon the naked elemental life.

This, as I understand it, was the position of the early Protestants. They
found the service of God buried in a system where obedience was dissipated
into superstition; where sin was expiated by the vicarious virtues of other
men; where, instead of leading a holy life, men were taught that their
souls might be saved through masses said for them, at a money rate, by
priests whose licentiousness disgraced the nation which endured it; a
system in which, amidst all th