" He goes first to his Saviour, and afterwards stands up before
all his mates and makes his confession boldly: every new confidence
nails him to his vows; he knows that the very worst of his past will
never be brought up against him, and he is supported by the sympathy of
the rough fellows who punctuate his utterances with sighs and kindly
handshaking.
When the penitent sits down his mind is eased; the mysterious sympathy
of numbers cheers him, the sense of Divine forgiveness has given him
power, and he is ready to face life again with new heart. Ferrier caught
the note of formality again and again, but he could see that the phrases
had not putrefied into cant.
Just as the soul can only be made manifest through the body, so a
thought can only be made manifest by means of words. An importunate,
living thought is framed in a perfect phrase which reflects the life of
the thought. Then you have genuine religious utterance. The conditions
change and the thought is outworn: if the phrase that clothed the old
thought remains and is used glibly as a verbal counter, then you have
Cant, and the longer the phrase is parrotted by an unbeliever, the more
venomous does the virus of cant become. To the fishers--childlike
men--many of the old Methodist turns of speech are vital; to a cultured
man the husk of words may be dry and dead, but if he is clever and
indulgent he will see the difference between his own mental state and
that of the poor fisher to whom he listens.
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