But, leaving these subjects, which may be defined as variations within the Evangelical body, let us pass on to apply the principle to some of those great questions in which the whole body are united in the earnest struggle for the truth of God; and let us begin with that which is undoubtedly one of the great questions of the day,—the relative value of ritual, and reality in religion. Now let us admit at the outset that it is utterly impossible to have reality without ritual. It is impossible for twelve men to meet together and worship God decently and in order without a ritual of some kind or other. Nay, I would go further, and say it is impossible for any one, even alone, to pour out his heart before God without a certain amount of ritual or form. There must be a certain ritual, or external action, in harmony with the spiritual or internal movements of the soul. But though you cannot have reality without ritual, you may have ritual without reality. You may have an elaborate form, notwithstanding the total absence of the weightier matters of the law. It becomes therefore a matter of deep interest for us to consider what is the relative position of ritual in the Christian system, and what place it occupies in sacred Scripture. Now it was once said to me by an advanced Ritualist, “If there be an elaborate and gorgeous ritual in heaven, and if there was an elaborate and gorgeous ritual under the law, may we not conclude that we ought to have the same in this intermediate dispensation?”