The life and work of St. Paul

FBUITS OF FAITH. 607
called, defending this unanimity against censoriousness on the one hand, and
against disdain on the other.
He does not attempt to conceal the bent of his own sympathies ; he de-
clares himself quite unambiguously on the side of the " strong." The life of
the Christian is a life in Christ, and rises transcendently above the minutiae
of ritual, or the self-torments of asceticism. " The kingdom of God "
such
is the great axiom which he lays down for the decision of all such questions
" is not meat and drink ; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost." The " strong," therefore, in St. Paul's judgment, were in the right
But, for this very reason, it was necessary to warn them against the contemptuous
assertion of their superior wisdom.
i. Let each party follow their own course if they believe it to be the best, but
let each abstain from the guilt and folly of condemning the other. God, not man,
is the judge, by whose judgment each man stands or falls. Nay, he snail stand, for
God is able to make him stand. Conceited illuminism is as deep an offence against
charity as saintly self-satisfaction. The first counsel, then, on which he strongly
insists is mutual forbearance, the careful avoidance of arguments and discussions
about disputed points. Let there be no intolerant scrupulosity, and no uncharitable
disdain, but an avoidance of dispute and a reciprocal recognition of honest convictions.
These differences are not about essentials, and it is not for any man to adopt
a violently dogmatic or uncharitably contemptuous tone towards those who differ
from himself respecting them. The party-spirit of religious bodies too often finds
the fuel for its burning questions in mere weeds and straw. l
ii. The second counsel is tbe cultivation of careful consideration which shall not
shock tender consciences ; it; is, in short, condescendence towards the weakness of
others, a willingness to take less tban our due, and a readiness to waive our own
rights, 2 and enjoy as a private possession between ourselves and God the confidence
of our faith. His own positive and sacred conviction is tbat these rules about food
are unessential ; that no food is intrinsically unclean. But if by acting on this conviction
we lead otbers to do the same, in spite of the protest of their consciences,
then for a paltry self -gratification we are undoing God's work, and slaying a soul
for which Christ died. 3 Rather than do this, rather than place a needless stumblingblock
in any Christian's path, it were well neither to eat meat nor to drink wine,
because Christian love is a thing more precious than even Christian liberty. 4
the man
iii. His third counsel is the obedience to clear convictions. 5 Happy
who has no scruples as to things intrinsically harmless. But if another cannot
1 "
adv. 1 12, irpo