They were more than content with our correct repetition of
the words. We were never taught either to read or repeat with our eyes
on the object. And we had come to our manhood before we knew how to seek
for the visual image that lies at the root of all our words. And thus
the ill-taught schoolboy became in us the father of the confirmed
formalist. The mischief of this neglect still spreads through the whole
of our life, but it is absolutely disastrous in our religious life. Look
at the religious formalist at family worship with his household gathered
round him all in his own image. He would not on any account let his
family break up any night without the habitual duty. He has a severe
method in his religious duties that nothing is ever allowed to disarrange
or in any way to interfere with. As the hour strikes, the big Bible is
brought out. He opens where he left off last night, he reads the
regulation chapter, he leads the singing in the regulation psalm, and
then, as from a book, he repeats his regulation prayer. But he never
says a word to show that he either sees or feels what he reads, and his
household break up without an idea in their heads or an affection in
their hearts.
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