ords are in it, and many large volumes have
been drawn out of it, but Jesus Christ is the body of it; He is the
Mark all these words shoot at."[40] It henceforth becomes our business
to find Christ's life and Christ's death in us, to see that all His
deeds are done in us. Christ's will must become our will, Christ's
peace our peace, Christ's sufferings our sufferings, Christ's cross our
cross, and then we may know "the eternal Sabbath," and keep "quiet,
even if the whole fabrick of heaven and earth crack and the mountains
tumble down."[41]

Everard was always on the watch for those things which prevent the
growth, progress, and advance of the soul into the deeper significance
of religion. The true Christian continually "grows taller in Christ,"
he does not stop at "the child's stature," his growth is "not stinted
like a Dwarf."[42] He discovers one of the prevailing {251} causes of
arrested development, the "stinting" of the soul, to lie in the wrong
use of externals, in the subtle tendency to "rest" in the elements or
beginnings of religion, as he calls them, in "the lowest things in
Christianity." This is "to cover oneself with fig-leaves as Adam
did."[43] Men "turn shadows into substance," and instead of using
ordinances and sacraments, "as means, schoolmasters and tutors," "as
steps and guides to Christ who is the Truth and Substance," they so use
them that they stop the soul mid-way and hinder it from going on to
Christ.[44] He cites the way in which St. Paul "burst out into a holy
defiance" of everything which did not directly minister to the
formation of a new creation within the person, whether it were Moses
and the law or even Christ after the flesh, or any "outward Priviledges
and Ordinances" whatever. Those who make these things "the top and
quintessence of religion" miss the Apostle's "more excellent way."
Those who "stick in externals" and "rest upon them as Crutches and
Go-bies" [_i.e._ become arrested there] prevent growth in religion,
"turn the ordinance into an Idol" and occasion disputes and
differences, "like children who quarrel about triffles."[45] But
Everard is, nevertheless, very cautious not to go too far in this
direction and he always shows poise and balance. So long as the
outward, whether letter or sacrament, is kept in its place and is used
as means or medium for the attainment of a spiritual goal--the
formation of Christ within--he approves of its use and warns against a
too sud