"I live by the faith of the Son of God." --- Galatians 2:20.
In spiritual things we are too often living upon self. We seek in frames, forms, creatures, and animal life, that inward peace and stability of mind which is only to be found in the Redeemer. Outward duties are well in their place, but they have no divine life in themselves, or to give. They are to be performed, but not trusted in; to be used with grace, but cannot buy grace. They are as the scaffold of the building, - a mean for carrying on the work, but not the end of the great design.
In the power of Christ they are blessings; without it they have no power. The whole trust must be in Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life; without him prayers, praises, rites and ordinances, are carcasses without a soul. Every performance of outward worship is so, unless the Saviour fills it with his Divine Spirit. Then it is we experience a communion of heart, a reviving of the soul after the adorable Jesus, and a delightful view behind the veil of outward ordinances, (such as no carnal eye can behold,) manifesting the Lord in his goodness, beauty, grandeur, blessedness, and glory.
Nature had all its glorious lost,
When brought before thy throne;
No flesh shall in thy presence boast,
But in the Lord alone.