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Nor can stress be properly laid on the language of Elisha , in reply . The prophet's inspiration was ndt universal and continued : it did not reside in him " without measure . ' * We
do not perceive that he had authority , even if he possessed ability , to silence the scruples of a doubting conscience . Here , as in the casq of Hazael , * t ~ he does not go beyond his commission : he waives an answer to Naaman ' s
inquiry , and siiftply wishes bun prosperity , % on his departure . Situated as Elisha was , his conduct was honourably prudent . Expositors halve said much , by way of reconciling Naatnan ' s language and intended behaviour with our correcter
views of religious virtue . Some inform us that only native Jews were forbidden to participate in the idolatry of their neighbours . § But this is said at least without , if not against , evidence , and was the comment of a later age . Other annotatorsl ) allege that
Naaman speaks of his past habits ; not of any which he designed still to gratify . Here again the statement is destitute of proof . But , however this be , Naaman himself was quite aware of the equivocal and ambiguous nature of the action for which he asked
indulgence . In his own judgment , it was either idolatry or the semblance of idolatry . For so young a convert , his ingenuous acknowledgment does him the greatest honour : and yet , while we cannot presume loudly to censure him , in respect of his design ,
while we behold with pleasure his wish to be honest , while we leave his case to the merciful and righteous decision of the God whom he now owned , we cannot , in reason , look upon that case as a precedent , warranting like compliances from Christians .
As the thing regards Christians , it has been solemnly determined by an inspired teacher of our religion . ^ The members of the Church at Co-? DiodatiAnn . in loc . f 2 Kings viii . 13 . I Schulz . Schol . in V . Test , in loc . This language was , 1 think , the Eastern Salam .
§ Selden , De Jur . Nat . &c . L . ii . C . 11 || Bochart , Geog . Sacr . fed . 4 , ) pp 892 , &c . If 1 Cor . viii . ix . x .
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rinth lived in the midst of Heathens , Their unconverted neighbours regularly offered sacrifices to idols , and afterwards feasted on what remained of the victims , nor unfrequently invited their friends from among the
Christians of the city to be guests at these banquets . The question arose , and none could be more natural , whether the presence of Christians , on such occasions , was an act of idolatry
or no . They asked Paul ' s opinion ; and he gave it against the pr&ctice , but made , at the same time , a distinct tion which so wise and good a man could not fail to make . It would in .
many instances happen that disciples of Jesus Christ partodk in such meals , with a perfect ignorance of the flesh of the victims offered to idols being set before them : in such instances »
according to Paul , there is and can be no guilt . The action became criminal ^ only when tlie Christian gitest had a knowledge of the feast being furnished by the remains of a Heathen sacrifice . *
Now whether we regard the Apostle ' s office or his argument , he has determined for us the case of stated and of occasional conformity to what in our understandings and our hearts we disapprove . He has with clearness pointed out the course which
common honesty , and , still more , religious integrity , demands that we pursue . No pleas for compliance could be more plausible than what the Corinthians urged : yet , though plausible , they were unsound ; and they were instantly overruled by Paul .
The professor of Christianity , therefore , who bows himself down in any house , which to him is the house of Riminon , must be without excuse . In vain does he appeal to Naaman ' s example . That example , with tae nature and the circumstances of which
we are still but inadequately acquainted , cannot be a precedent to the believer in the gospel . At most , it could only be his guide and Justification , were he a courtier , a personal attendant on his sovereign in •• the hours and the place of that sovereign ' s worship ; f though I cannot
* 1 Cor . x . 28 , and see Ezek . xxxix ., with Neweome * s valuable notes , iu loc . + See the curious note of Grotius on Luke iv . 27 .
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G 6 Observations on 2 King's v . 18 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1826, page 66, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2545/page/2/
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