Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-08-12
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
THOUGHTS WORTHY OF CALM
REFLECTION. A
A Pleasant, Interesting, and INSTRUCT
I've Lesson, and Where II May Be
Found-A Learned and Concise Re-
view Of the Same.


LessOn for August 10.
Golden Text.-"For none of us liveth to
himself. Rom. 14:.7.
Abstaining for the sake of others is the
subject of this lesson-I Cor. 8: 1-13. Two
lessons are here selected from ! CORN
thians because we have just studied about
Paups ministry in Corinth. 1t should of
course be remembered that the. epistle
was written about five years after the
events narrated in lesson Z, while Paul
was ut Ephesus on his third missionary
| journey. Lessons and 8 throw light
on two important features of life in the
COrinthian thurch-its difficulty as to
food offered to idols and other ceremonials
of the heather religion and its tendency
to internal rivalries and divisions.
The drift of Paul's thought in the first
verses may not be apparent at first. I'VE
know that we all have knowledge" refers
to knowledge of the true absurdity and
harmlessness of the idols referred to. The
apostle he il remembered, is addressing
those i'm the Corinthian church who not
only feel no computations in using such
meat, but are inclined to ridicule the scru-
pies of their weaker brethren. He says
to such, 'Do not boast of your superior
knowledge just because you happen to
hold the correct position about: the worth
lessness of the pagan GODS Such knowl-
edge is no credit to them il they allow it to
make them overbearing and scornful. 1t
is love that buildeth up c'charity edit
eth').
IF any nan think that he knoweth any
thing: that is, think that he knows any
thing perfectly and completely; this is an
indication of ignorance. The wider and
truer knowledge is the knowledge Of a
man who loves God and guides his life
by divine principles of charity and for
bearance.
I'VE know that an idol is nothing in the
world: so far Paul and his readers are
agreed. But he sees this truth from a
vastly higher point than they. He can
afford, though perfectly aware of the fact
stated, to defer to the scruples of others
less fortunate, because it causes him only
some slight inconvenience, no real injury,
to abstain from the doubtful food.
1t is interesting to note that many Of
the Christians Of the early church believ-
ed that the Greek and Roman gods did
have an actual existence, though as evil
spirits with limited powers or wholly inn
potent. Even some of the church faith
tiS VI tht louI ctHtuiicS this
view. 1t was associated with agnosti-
cism, but affected the speculations Of the
orthodox also. This was all contrary to
the plain teachings of the Bible.
Paul was II very reverent man, and fire.
quently the mere mention Of the name Of
God or Christ led him to utter a sort of
devout exclamation, as here. 1t occurs in
various forms in many places in his writ
ings. Now he begins to explain why those
of his readers who felt no conscientious
objection to the disputed practice should
have regard to the opinions of others.
The reason given is that the concession
is so very small, while the advantage to
the other mans conscience is so very
great.
Through thy knowledge: that is. be-
cause thou, being aware of the intrinsic
harmlessness of the food, willfully leadest
thy brother to do an act which he feels to
be wrong. Not only is Paul willing, for
the weak brethren's sake, to use care in
discriminating between meats. but even,
if need he, to refrain altogether from
animal food, to make assurance dOubly
sure and avoid leading any one astray