sed upon it, apprehend, and adopt
it. This, which may be justly said of all truth, may be especially
declared of religious truth, which is of no value unless made a
vivifying principle, and can never become a vivifying principle unless
perceived by the understanding and recognized by the heart.

The true office of the pastors of the Church (and likewise of all
believers) is to lead others to that knowledge of the truth which can
never be imposed. Their concern for the spiritual welfare of their
brethren can never be too earnest; their diligence in guidance and
guardianship, too eager; their value for purity of faith, too high; or
their apprehension of spiritual danger, too ready or too ardent. But all
this concern and apprehension should be justly directed, and this
guidance and guardianship exercised with a regard to the rights with
which God has invested every man. The first object to be desired is
spiritual advancement, to which intellectual rectitude is subsidiary.
The first object of dread is moral corruption, and not mental error. The
guidance to be exercised is that of an experienced over an inexperienced
person. The one points out to the other the snares and dangers into
which he is liable to fall, the labyrinth in which he may lose himself,
and the various tendencies of different paths; but he has no lawful
power to insist upon a particular path being pursued, or to condemn his
companion to destruction for interpreting differently the invitation on
which they both proceed. The guardianship is faithful as long as it
consists in warning off the attacks of temptation, declaring the threats
and promises of the Gospel, and educating for independent action; but it
becomes tyranny when restraints are imposed on the exercise of the
faculties, and any impediments are thrown in the way of a free range
through the spiritual world of which God has made every man an
inhabitant. It is the office of Christian pastors to study the sacred
records with all diligence, striving to ascertain by the help of
learning and philosophy, and every other help, what the true faith is,
and how other minds may be best disposed for its apprehension; to place
before those minds whatever may best tend to enlighten, convince, and
establish them; to excite them to activity and stimulate them to further
action when aroused. But further than this they must not go. The mind
must work out the results for itself; and for those results none but
itself c