On the contrary, it is increased every step he goes. It is by what he draws out of the well that his thirst is satisfied. If ever, then, you are tempted to think that you are surely safe for eternity, because you have been brought to change your treatment of the outward ordinances of religion, remember, I beseech you, the parable of the marriage feast, where many were called and invited to come in, but few, few were found having on the wedding garment. And these few alone shall sit still to partake of the feast - the joy of their Lord. The rest shall stand speechless, and be cast out into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
External observances can never stand in the stead of sanctification to the believer.
If it be a common thing for awakened minds to seek for peace in their external observances, to make a Christ of them, and rest in them as their means of acceptance with God, it is also a common thing for those who have been brought into Christ, and enjoy the peace of believing, to place mere external observances in the stead of growth in holiness. Every believer among you knows how fain the old heart within you would substitute the hearing of sermons, and the repeating of prayers, in the place of that faith which worketh by love, and which overcometh the world. Now, the great reason why the believer is often tempted to do this, is, that he loves the ordinances. Unconverted souls seldom take delight in the ordinances of Christ. They see no beauty in Jesus, they see no form nor comeliness in him, they hide their faces from him.