were never intended but as types and shadows, which were to vanish when the substance should appear. There were not in those rites any essential qualities, either of good or evil. They derived all their force from their having been divinely appointed; and, of course, they lost all their force when that appointment was withdrawn. If any chose to observe them, they were at liberty to do so, without any offence to God : and if any were disinclined to observe them, they were equally at liberty to follow the dictates of their own judgment. If any man thought them still obligatory, he of course was bound by them : but all who saw that they were no longer required, were free to neglect and discard them.
The same might be said of many things at this day, respect- ing which different parties form different opinions, according to the degree of their information, or to the particular preju- dices which they have imbibed. I refer to certain rites and ceremonies in religion, on which some place an undue stress ; whilst others, with equal vehemence, decry them. I must say the same, also, in reference to some habits of the world, respecting which men may speak in too unqualified terms ; whether they justify them, or whether they condemn.]
But our great duty, in reference to all such things, is, to guard against giving needless offence to any party—
[In reference to Jewish or Gentile observances, the Apostle says, " Give no offence either to the Jews, or to the Gentiles, or to the Church of God." The things about which the parties differed were really non-essential : and there was danger of giving offence to either side by a contemptuous dis- regard of their prejudices. It was not right to wound the feelings of a Jew, by doing in his presence what was contrary to the law, which he regarded as still in force : nor was it right, by a free and indisci'iminate use of meats offered to idols, to hurt the feelings of a Gentile brother; who, having been accustomed to feast on these meats as a religious act, would be ready to think that the person eating them did not indeed abhor idolatry in the way that he professed. At the same time, offence might easily be given to the Church of God, by pro- ducing disunion and division amongst her members, whom we should rather have laboured to " edify in faith and love."
The same may be said in reference to all matters of indif- ference, in every age and in every place. There should be a tender regard to the feelings and infirmities of others ; and a determination never to please ourselves at the expense of others. Self-denial, rather, should be the disposition of our minds, and the habit of our lives : and rather than wound the