oughtless mirth, while they bend the knee to offer up a
prayer, and make the sign of the cross, in emblem of their faith in
Him who died upon it."

Moodie shook his head. "You have well named its external religion. It
is a whited sepulchre, full within of dead men's bones. The Kirk
swept out all that rubbish long ago, and the less it is like Rome the
nearer the pure faith."

"They would be odd Christians," said L'Isle, "who held nothing in
common with Rome. I doubt, too, whether it be possible to preserve the
substance with an utter disregard to form. When inspiration ceased, it
was time to frame liturgies and creeds. But there is one material
point in which the Kirk of Scotland and the Church of Rome still
strongly resemble each other."

Moodie pricked up his ears at this astounding assertion, and
scornfully asked: "What point is that, sir?"

"Their vicarious public worship," answered L'Isle. "They both pray by
proxy. The Papists employ a priest to pray for them in a dead language
which they do not understand, and the Presbyterians a minister to
offer up petitions unknown to his people until after they are uttered,
who stand listening, or seeming to listen, to this vicarious prayer,
which may be, and often is, unfitted to the wants of their hearts, and
the convictions of their consciences."

"And to escape these dangers, more possible than likely, you flee to
those dead formularies you call your liturgy," retorted Moodie.

"To the formalist and the negligent," L'Isle replied, "the liturgy is
but a form; but to the earnest churchman it is a thing of life. Using
it, the Christian congregation, priest and layman, pastor and flock,
join in an united confession of their sins, in the profession of their
common faith, in prayer for mercies needed, in thanksgiving for
blessings bestowed. God's praise is sung, his pardon to repentant
sinners authoritatively pronounced, the sacraments ordained by Christ
are reverently administered, and the whole body of revealed truth and
sacred history systematically recited to the people in the course of
each year--a most profitable teaching to the young and ignorant, who
cannot search the Scriptures for themselves. This is a true Christian
public worship, complete in itself. Nor do we neglect preaching as a
means of instruction and exhortation, without holding it to be an
always essential accompaniment, much less, as you do, the right arm in
the public worship of God."

"And to this