the bowing or not bowing was a matter of indifference in itself; and that, where it was not done as an act of dissimula- tion, nor was likely to be mistaken by others as an act of wor- ship, it might be done with a good conscience ; more especially as it was accompanied with a public disavowal of all regard for idols ; and arose only out of the accidental circumstance of the king leaning on his hand at those seasons. In this view of the subject, the prophet did not hesitate to say to him, " Go in peace."]
Such, we are persuaded, was the concession made. Let us now proceed to consider,
II. The instruction to be gathered from it —
The more carefully we examine this concession, the more instructive will it be found. We may learn from it,
1. How to determine the quahty of doubtful actions —
[Many actions, such as observing of holy days, or eating meats offered to idols, are indifferent in themselves, and may be good or evil, according to circumstances. Two things, then, are to be inquired into, namely, The circumstances under which they are done ; and, the principles from which they flow.
Had Naaman acted from a love to the world, or from a fear of man, his conduct would have been highly criminal : or, if by accommodating himself to the notions of the king he would have cast a stumbling-block before others, he would have sinned in doing it : but ivith his views, and under his circumstances, his conduct was wholly unexceptionable.
In this sentiment we are confirmed by the conduct of St. Paul. St. Paul, when taking Timothy with him as a feUow-labourer, circumcised him in order to remove the prejudices of the Jews, who would not otherwise have received him on account of his father being a Greek : but, when required to circumcise Titus, he refused, and would on no account give way ; because a com- pliance in that case was demanded as a necessary conformit}^ with the Mosaic law, which was now abolished. In both these cases he acted right, because of the difference of the circum- stances imder which he acted. So, when he " became all things to all men," he acted right, as well in conforming to legal observances as in abstaining from them, because his principle was right ^: whilst Peter, on the contrary, sinned in a very grievous manner by conforming to the Jewish prejudices, be- cause he acted from fear, and not from love. We do not mean to say, that every action which proceeds from a good principle,
^ Acts xxi. 22— 2G. and 1 Cor. ix. 19—22.