&óó CHRISTIAN MORALITY, VIZ. [SERM. &XTB. brought, but will carry on contention and dispute, let him remember this decisive argument, that we have no such custom, nor the churches of God," we the preach- ers of the gospel, and the apostles of Christ, have neither found nor approved such sort of customs among the christians where we have lived, nor are they prac- tised in any of the churches of God, which we have heard of. I will readily allow,. that the strict professors of reli- gion in some particular ages. of the church, mayhave ge- nerally indulged either some unreasonable scruples, or Some unreasonable liberties. There are some practices of evident and undoubted lawfulness, which have been forbidden in severe and dreadful language by some or other of our religious ancestors; such as wearing bor- rowed hair, or suffering our own to reach the shoulders; using any thine that borders upon lot or chance, except in matters of sacred or solemn concernment : wishing a friend's health when we drink ; practising any part of our civil calling after sun-set on Saturdays, or even calling the months, or the days of the week by names borrowed from the heathens, such as Monday or Tuesday, Janu- ary or February : Yet in such cases as these, had I lived amongst them, I would have conformed to their customs, and have given no offence; but I would have taken every proper occasion to shew that these were unnecessary scru pies. This was the conduct of St. Paul, in the controversy about eating meats offered to idols ; 1' Cor. viii. 8. Meat commendeth us not to God; for neither if. we eat, are we the better; neither ifwe eat not, are we the worse. There he declares how needless these scruples were; and 1 Cor. x. 25. to shew their christian liberty, where no scrupulous person was present and opposed it, he bids them, eat whatsoever is sold in the shambles, ask- ing no questions for conscience sake." But in both these places he cautions then against offending the weaker brethren, and shews also how afraid he was of giving offence, or acting in their presence contrary to their practices, even though theywere built on. needless scru- ples.. 1 Cor. viii. 13. "Iwill eat no flesh while the world standeth, if it maketh my brother to offend ; that is, if it tempt him to grow bold, and venture upon the same
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