Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

Gospel was now brought within the hearing of the
priests of St. Michael's, and of the members of the
royal family who repaired to it. Hamilton, standing
up amid the altar and images, preached to the
polished audience that filled the edifice, with that
simplicity and chastity of speech which were best
fitted to win his way with those now listening to
him. It is not, would lie say, the cowl of St.
Francis, nor the frock of St. Dominic, that saves us;
it is the righteousness of Christ. It is not the shorn
head that makes a holy man, it is the renewed
heart. It is not the chrism of the Church, it is the
anointing of the Holy Spirit that replenishes the
soul with grace. What doth the Lord require of
thee, O man? To count so many beads a day? To
repeat so many paternosters? To fast so many days
in the year, or go so many miles on pilgrimages?
That is what the Pope requires of thee; but what
God requires of thee is to do justly, and love
mercy, and walk humbly. Pure religion, and
undefiled, is not to kiss a crucifix, or to burn
candles before Our Lady; pure religion is to visit
the fatherless and the widow in their affliction, and
to keep one's self unspotted from the world.
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