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 in the  name  of  liberty,  but  she  commands nothing except  that  toleration  and  respect which she  has  herself  manifested,  and  she refuses to  take  up  that  burden  of  individual responsibility which  many  are  too  ready  to fling  on  to  her  shoulders  at  every  turn  of  the spiritual life.

The right  of  choice  and  its  duties  remain to the  individual  soul,  which  has  to  manifest its loyalty  by  not  cursing  that  which  the  Lord has not  cursed,  and  by  exercising,  in  things religious, that  temperance  and  courtesy  which are the  spiritual  counterpart  of  social  good manners. We are  not  bound  to  practise  all the devotions  which  the  Church  declares  holy and harmless;  but  we  are  bound  to  restrain our criticism  in  the  spirit  of  respect  for  our fellow Christians,  and  we  are  also  called  onto conform to  certain  general  usages  under  pain of becoming  boors  in  our  religious  communion. For, though  not  generally  recognized,  there are certain  faults  of  the  critical  spirit  which spring rather  from  want  of  manners  than from want  of  faith.

Granted, then,  the  approbation  or  toleration of  the  Church,  which  ensures  to  certain devotions a  general  usefulness  or,  at  any  rate, harmlessness, and  which  demands,  on  our side, at  least  courtesy  and  respect,  there