“When a man is a Christian in name only, and not in reality – in outward things only, and not in his inward feelings – in profession only, and not in practice – when his Christianity in short is a mere matter of form, or fashion, or custom, without any influence on his heart or life – in such a case as this the man has what I call a ‘formal religion.’ He possesses indeed the form, or shell, or surface of religion, but he does not possess its substance or its power.”
~ J.C. Ryle
Practical Religion, “Formality”, 262, 263.
