When you see an English country church withdrawn, secluded, out of the
reach of wheels, standing amid grassy graves and surrounded by noble
trees, approached by paths and shaded lanes, you appreciate more than
ever this beautiful habit of the people. Only a race that knows how
to use its feet, and holds footpaths sacred, could put such a charm
of privacy and humility into such a structure. I think I should be
tempted to go to church myself if I saw all my neighbours starting
off across the fields or along paths that led to such charmed spots,
and was sure I would not be jostled or run over by the rival chariots
of the worshippers at the temple doors. I think this is what ails our
religion; humility and devoutness of heart leave one when he lays by
his walking shoes and walking clothes, and sets out for church drawn by
something.
Indeed, I think it would be tantamount to an astonishing revival of
religion if the people would all walk to church on Sunday and walk home
again. Think how the stones would preach to them by the wayside; how
their benumbed minds would warm up beneath the friction of the gravel;
how their vain and foolish thoughts, their desponding thoughts, their
besetting demons of one kind and another, would drop behind them,
unable to keep up or to endure the fresh air. They would walk away
from their _ennui_, their worldly cares, their uncharitableness, their
pride of dress; for these devils always want to ride, while the simple
virtues are never so happy as when on foot. Let us walk by all means;
but if we will ride, get an ass.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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