case was the same in the days of the Apostles; and did Peter ever desire
that Paul's writings should therefore be kept back from the unlearned
and unstable? Or did he enjoin an explanation of them from the wise, to
which the foolish should be required to assent? No; he recommended
caution in giving heed to other men's errors, and growth in the
knowledge of Christ Jesus; both which must be better promoted by
independent thought and judgment than by subservience to any mind,
however pure and enlightened. Christ himself, though he knew what was in
man, never required this subservience from any one of his followers. He
gave his instructions in as many different forms as we have them in now:
in discourses, in parables, in familiar dialogue, and by actions; and
invariably he left to the hearers the application of the principles thus
conveyed, except when pressed by his immediate followers for an
interpretation. He took no pains to preserve his Gospel from 'the rash
criticisms of the vulgar,' as the piety of Fenelon erroneously advises.
He did not act upon the belief that previous instruction was necessary
to the comprehension of the word of life, or that 'the people should be
full of the spirit of the Gospel before they are entrusted with the
letter.' The letter of the Gospel now is the same as the letter of the
Gospel then; the spirit now, as then, is only to be got at through the
letter; and the letter now, as then, is only valuable as it communicates
the spirit. Christ did not think that 'it should only be permitted to
the simple, the docile, and the humble; to those who wish to nourish
themselves with its divine truths in silence; and withheld from those
who merely seek to satisfy their curiosity, to dispute, to dogmatize, to
criticize.' This doctrine of Fenelon is, we are told, and ever has been,
the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. Were the disciples to whom
Christ spoke of the bread of life and who therefore forsook him, 'docile
and humble?' Yet what saying was more 'hard to be understood?' When he
declared the nature of his Gospel, and the authority under which he
proposed it, were the Pharisees in the temple 'simple and docile?' Was
there no disposition 'to dispute, to dogmatize, to criticize' among the
elders, the scribes, the Sadducees whom he referred to his works,
assured of the temporary nature of the Jewish covenant, and besought to
listen to the truth which should make them free? The glad tidings of
salv