The distinction between formalism and hypocrisy in religion is, that the formalist follows a custom without setting up any claim to depth or sincerity of conviction, whilst the hypocrite falsely pretends to be full of godliness and zeal.
Formalism in the Anglican Communion.
The well-bred Anglican.
There is probably not a religion in the world that presents so large a proportion of formalists and so few complete hypocrites as the Anglican. Decorous obedience to all outward religious observances is very frequently combined in England with an entire absence of pretension to sanctity. The gentlemanly Englishman is a regular attendant at church, he does not forget to say grace at dinner, but he dislikes cant of all kinds, and it is a part of his habitual reserve to say nothing about his religious experiences. His observance of form is so perfect that you may be acquainted with him for many years without knowing what he really thinks. About politics he is open enough, but he makes you feel that it would be indiscreet to ask for any confidences on religion, it would be like asking for his opinion of his wife. He, on his part, is too well bred to betray any anxiety for the state of your own soul; he is not a member of the Salvation Army, and your eternal welfare is not any concern of his.
The Formalist and his Conscience.
Case of an English Atheist.
Who shall fix precisely the exact place at which formalism ends and real hypocrisy begins? The formalist has a sort of conscience which forbids him to go much beyond strictly ceremonial limits. He will seem to use his prayer-book in church, yet will sometimes shrink from reading prayers aloud in his own home. He would listen respectfully if a chaplain read them, but declines to do it with his own voice. I remember one excellent father of a family who had no objection to take his children to church, but nothing could induce him to conduct family worship, and in that household the wife and mother was the chaplain. Still, this is not any certain test. An English gentleman once told me that he had been a convinced atheist from boyhood, yet he went to church with unfailing regularity, and read family prayers like a clergyman. Are we to call this formalism or hypocrisy? I will leave the gentleman to make his own defence. He said that he was absolutely compelled to conform to the national religion externally, and might as well make his conformity thorough, the more so that it was natural for a family to have a religion, and he knew of none better than the Church of England.
Scotchmen and Dissenters.
The true English formalist looks upon the Scotch and the Dissenters as more frequently exposed to the vice of hypocrisy than he is himself. He is so careful to keep anything resembling piety out of his ordinary language that it seems to him ill bred in a Scotchman to make pious reference to the Scriptures or the Sabbath Day. On the other hand, he unfeignedly disapproves of the continental Sunday, because forms are not so steadily observed on the Continent, and it seems to him as if the French and Germans did not know how to behave.
Formalism in France.