External forms cannot take the place of inward piety. The Jewish teachers exalted themselves as righteous; they called all those who differed from them accursed, and closed the gates of heaven to them, declaring that those who had not learned in their schools, were not righteous. But with all their criticisms and exactions, with all their forms and ceremonies, they were an offense to God. They looked down upon and despised the very ones precious in the sight of the Lord.... (TMK 114.3) MC VC