application. A striking and instructive instance of this occurs in con

nection with the words which have now been read. The question had probably been proposed to the Apostle:"Is it, under any circumstances, lawful for Christians, in their occasional intercourse with the heathen around them, to partake of food which had been previously carried into an idol's temple, and regarded in the light of an offering?" The Apostle replies with admirable discrimination and wisdom :-" Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof;" so that whatever he has provided for

the food of man, may be gratefully received as his gift. "If any of them that believe not, bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not, for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake; for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." The enlightened Christian might be so convinced of the absolute non-entity of an idol, as to believe, that neither good nor harm could attach to the food from its contact with an idol's altar. But his conduct was not to be guided exclusively by his own conceptions. It was incumbent on him to take into

view, the ideas and the feelings of others. He owed a duty to all who might be present on that occasion. If any were idolaters, they might be in danger of supposing that he gave some countenance to their usages, by partaking of that food. If any were believers, either their minds might be grieved by that which they deemed inconsistent and culpable in their Christian brother; or they might be induced, by the force of his example, to do that, respecting which they were not without some scruples of conscience. Now to disregard the voice of conscience, even in its faintest whispers, is sinful; and therefore to do that which is calculated to excite

or encourage another to disregard

even the scruples of a tender conscience, is displeasing in the sight of God. The Apostle, therefore, having said, "Eat not, for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake," adds, in explanation ;-" Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other." He then anticipates an objection on the part of the individual thus interdicted, who might be disposed to say: "But why is my liberty judged by another man's conscience?" Why is the scrupulous conscience of another man to be the guide or the judge of my conduct? "For if I, by the bounteous grant of God, be allowed to partake of food without restriction, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?" In answer to this

objection, the Apostle lays down a principle sublimely simple, which recommends itself to every enlightened mind; and is applicable not only to cases bearing resemblance to that which had been specified, but to all the varying circumstances in which we can, by any possibility, be placed in the course of human life ::-"Whe

ther therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. You have before you, then, in these words of inspiration, the grand directory for the Government of the Conduct. May the blessing of the Holy Spirit rest upon the attempt now to be made, to recommend and to enforce this grand principle, in connection with some general rules