ean of itself. It is, he implies, a weak and unduly scrupulous
conscience which makes men vegetarians. But, on the other hand, this
weaker brother--this man with less clear perception of Christian
principle in the matter--must in no way be alienated. He is to be made
welcome. There is no obligation upon him to eat meat. God laid no
such requirement upon him when he became a Christian. 'God received
him.' The Church must continue the like liberality, and not even seek
to pronounce judgement in the matter. In life and death each man is
Christ's servant, and is responsible to God for what he does or does
not do. Therefore let each man simply be faithful to his own
conscience before God in this matter, so that whatever he eats he can
'say his grace,' or 'give thanks,' with a good conscience; and let him
be respectfully tolerant of his brother's practice--the strong not
despising the weak, nor the weak judging and condemning the strong.

So far for liberty. But if, by using our liberty to eat meat, we are
found to run a risk of really {143} troubling our brother, or even
(what is worse) leading him to act against his conscience and eat what
he feels he ought not[12], then we must abstain. This becomes matter
of character and peaceable fellowship and spiritual joy, and these are
the really material things in the kingdom of God. Sooner than do
injury to this really divine cause, sooner than be a hindrance to his
brother, the Christian had better willingly abstain altogether from
flesh and wine too.

In passing St. Paul had noticed another indifferent matter besides the
eating of meats. It was the observance of days. St. Paul undoubtedly
considered that all distinction of high days and common days, all
distinction of the sabbath from other days, had been in principle
abolished by Christianity. For Gentile Christians, like the Galatians,
to be 'observing (Jewish) days, and months, and seasons, and
years[13],' is to show a miserable disposition to fall back upon a
superannuated legal idea of religion--to fall back from the religion of
the Spirit to the religion of the letter; from the substance to the
{144} shadow. For the Christian, in fundamental principle, there are
no 'sacred days,' for all days are indifferently sacred. As instructed
Christian men could eat all meats, so they could regard all days as on
the same level in God's sight. But all Christians had not the full
perception of principle. Among the G