SECTION II.

PERPLEXITIES AND PERILS TO THE RECENT CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY, FROM THE CONNECTION OF GENTILE MANNERS WITH IDOLATROUS OBSERVANCES. KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT LOVE NO PRINCIPLE OF CHRISTIAN ACTION. PAUL'S APPEAL TO HIS OWN EXAMPLE OF FORBEARANCE FROM LAWFUL THINGS FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS.

CHAPS. VIII., IX.

VIII. 1. Now concerning things offered unto idols, we know'; for we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth 2 up; but charity buildeth up. And if any one think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he 3 ought to know. But if any one loveth God, the same is 4 known of Him. As concerning therefore the eating of things offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other 5 God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there are gods many, 6 and lords many), yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through 7 him.' But there is not in all this knowledge: for some, with a consciousness of the idol, to this hour eat as of what was offered to an idol, and their conscience being

8 weak is defiled. But meat commendeth us not to God; for neither, if we eat, are we the better; nor, if we eat 9 not, are we the worse.' But see to it, lest by any means this liberty of yours become an occasion of sin to them 10 that are weak. For if any one see thee, who hast knowledge, at table in an idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat the things of11 fered to idols? And through thy knowledge, the weak 12 brother for whom Christ died shall perish. But when ye thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak con13 science, ye sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to sin, I will never more eat flesh, lest I make my brother to sin.

IX. 1. Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in 2 the Lord? If to others I am not an Apostle, at least I am to you, for ye are the seal of my Apostleship in the 3 Lord. My answer to those who question me is this: 4 Have not we privilege to eat and to drink? Have not 5 we privilege to take one of the sisters to wife, as well as the other Apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Ce6 phas? Or have I and Barnabas, only, no privilege to 7 abstain from working? Who ever serveth in war at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of its fruit? or who tendeth a flock, and eateth not of 8 the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man? 9 or doth not the law also say the same? For it is writ

ten in the law of Moses, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn."* Is God's care for 10 oxen ? Or does he not say it altogether for us? For us it was written, that he who plougheth should plough in

* Deut. xxv. 4.

hope,

and he that thresheth, in the hope of partaking. 11 If we have sown for you spiritual things, is it a great 12 thing if we reap your fleshly things? If others partake

of this privilege with you, shall not we rather? Yet we have not used this privilege; but we endure all things, that we may give no hinderance to the Gospel of Christ. 13 Know ye not that they who minister in holy things are fed from the temple? and that they who wait at the altar 14 partake with the altar? So also hath the Lord ordained

for those who preach the Gospel, to live by the Gospel. 15 But I have not used any of these things: neither have I written these things that so it should be done unto me : for better to die than that any one should make my glo16 rying void. For that I preach the Gospel is not my glo

rying; for necessity is laid upon me; for woe is me if I 17 preach not the Gospel. For if I do this willingly I have

a reward; but if unwillingly, I have been put in trust 18 with a charge. What then is my reward? That, whilst preaching the Gospel, I make the Gospel of Christ without cost, so that I abuse not my privilege in the Gospel. 19 For being free from all, I have made myself the slave of 20 all, that I might gain the more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to those under the law, as one under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain those who are under the 21 law; to those without law, as one without law (not being without law to God, but under law to Christ), that I might 22 gain those that are without law. To the weak became I as one weak, that I might gain the weak. I became all 23 things to all, that by all means I might save some.

And

this I do for the Gospel's sake, that I may be a partaker 24 in it. Know ye not that they who run in the race-course run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye 25 may obtain. And every one that contendeth in the games

is temperate in all things: and they, that they may obtain a corruptible crown; but we, that we may obtain an in26 corruptible. I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; I so 27 fight, as not beating the air: but I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection, lest, having been a herald to others, I should myself become dishonored.

Ir is but seldom that new moral Light comes so suddenly on the souls of men, that it enters into direct collision with the existing arrangements of Society, and requires violent changes in their modes of life. Even the greatest social revolutions, when they come in the natural course of human affairs, spring from the inward life and progress of Man : they are not sudden bursts of Enthusiasm or newborn Truth, but the eventual expressions of sentiments that had been long working in the popular mind, and that, after silently remodelling standard modes of thinking, pass at length into outward representation, and are livingly reflected in the Institu. tions, and the Civilization, which their spirit has created. Such natural Revolutions, if ushered into day by the quiet hand of God, whose preparations for progress are in the silent renovations of the heart, and whose Providence revolts from all violence of transition, if left to the unconstrained ebb and flow of the vast human spirit moved and directed by influence and energy from on high, — if not artificially checked and fretted by selfish interferences and class obstructions, would no more disarrange any existing interest, or come into abrupt opposition

to any existing mode of life, than the Light of day, which reaches its meridian fulness without any human eye being able to detect the momentary gradation of its brightness, enters into an abrupt struggle with the Darkness, which insensibly it conquers. It is only the spirit of individual self-will, seeking to realize its own ends by precipitancy or resistance, that disturbs for a time the quiet flow of God's advancing providence; and under the natural government of the world, there are no violent changes introduced into human affairs, or into the moral adjustments of life, except those that spring from the selfish opposition of Individuals to the directions of the general Good, from some powerful Class arresting, for a brief and desperate moment, the strong movement of Humanity. Such is the Law of God's natural providence; - violence never appears in it; - sudden changes never take place in it, except when forced into existence by the selfish opposition of Individuals to the general directions of Mankind.

It might be supposed, that, in the times of a supernatural Influence exerted from on high, this Law of gentle and peaceful transitions would disappear, — that Revelation, by its very nature implying the coming of new Light into the world, not born within the heart but descending from heaven upon it, would at once, by a sudden enlightening of the moral nature, throw it out of harmony with institutions and modes of life which had been suited to its unregenerated state, the products of its lower and darker views; and that the perception of new and purer moral relations would require corresponding out