THE PLACE OF DOGMA [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Christ's question : " What think ye of Christ ? " may be said to lay the foundation of all dogma, just as all ritual may be seen cradled in (say) such an observance as taking off one's hat at " God save the King." I take it that such dogma and ritual as are here indicated are beyond cavil.
What we rightly reject is the exaggeration of both, which, melting them into one, has produced a body of belief in which corollaries and dependents outsoar their principals, and a tale of incredibly minute observances is presented, not as a symbol of and aid to worship, but in some sense worship itself.
The cri de coeur of another age : " Thinkest thou that I will eat bull's flesh, or drink the blood of goats ? " finds an echo, mutatis mutandis, in this.—I am, Sir, &C., X.
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