Its attempt to cover the whole of life must therefore resolve itself into an attempt to control the details of conduct _in all their detail_; to deal with them, one by one, bringing each in turn under the operation of an appropriate commandment, and if necessary deducing from the commandment a special rule to meet the special case.

In other words, besides being told what he is not to do (in the more strictly moral sphere of conduct), and what he is to do (in the more strictly ceremonial sphere), Man must be told, in the fullest detail, how he is to do whatever may have to be done in the daily round of his life.

Such at least is the aim of legalism.

The nets of the Law are woven fine, and flung far and wide.

If there are any acts in a man's life which escape through their clinging meshes, the force of Nature is to be blamed for this partial failure, not the zeal of the Doctors of the Law.
It is towards this inverted ideal that the doctrine of salvation through obedience will lead its votaries, when its master principle--that of distrust of human nature--has been followed out into all its natural consequences,--followed out, as it was by Pharisaism, with a fearless logic and a fixed tenacity of purpose.
An immense and ever-growing host of formulated rules, not one in a hundred of which makes any appeal to the heart of Man or has any meaning for his higher reason, will crush his life down, slowly and inexorably, beneath their deadly burden.