"I do frankly acknowledge Liturgy to be no more than an art--and
therefore not in the least generally necessary to salvation; and I
do not in the least 'condemn' people who do not appreciate it. It
is only a way of presenting facts--and, in the case of Holy Week
Ceremonies, these facts are such as those of the Passion of
Christ, the sins of men, the Resurrection and the Sovereignty of
Christ."

* * * * *

I have laid stress upon all this, because I believe that from this time
the poetry and beauty of ritual had a deep and increasing fascination
for Hugh. But it is a thing about which it is so easy for the enemy to
blaspheme, to ridicule ceremonial in religion as a mere species of
entertainment, that religious minds have always been inclined to
disclaim the strength of its influence. Hugh certainly inherited this
particular perception from my father. I should doubt if anyone ever knew
so much about religious ceremonial as he did, or perceived so clearly
the force of it. "I am almost ashamed to seem to know so much about
these things," I have often heard him say; and again, "I don't ever seem
able to forget the smallest detail of ritual." My father had a very
strong artistic nature--poetry, sculpture, painting, architecture,
scenery, were all full of fascination to him--for music alone of the
arts he had but little taste; and I think that it ought to be realised
that Hugh's nature was an artistic one through and through. He had the
most lively and passionate sensibility to the appeal of art. He had,
too, behind the outer sensitiveness, the inner toughness of the artist.
It is often mistakenly thought that the artist is sensitive through and
through. In my experience, this is not the case. The artist has to be
protected against the overwhelming onset of emotions and perceptions by