The first of these rules we find, 1 Cor. x. 31, "Whether, therefore, ye
eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God;" and Rom.
xiv. 7, 8, "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die
unto the Lord:" where the Apostle, as Calvin noteth,(1190) reasoneth from
the whole to the part. Our whole life, and, by consequence, all the
particular actions of it, ought to be referred to God's glory, and ordered
according to his will. Again, Col. iii. 17, "And whatsoever ye do, in word
or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." In the expounding of which
words Dr Davenant saith well, that _Etiam ille actiones quae sunt sua
natura adiaphorae, debent tamen a Christianis fieri in nomine Christi, hoc
est, juxta voluntatem Christi, et ad gloriam Christi_.

The second rule is the rule of charity; which teacheth us not to use
anything indifferent when scandal riseth out of it: Rom. xiv. 21, "It is
good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy
brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak;" yea, though it do not
weaken, if it be not expedient for edifying our brother, be it never so
lawful or indifferent in its own nature, the law of charity bindeth us to
abstain from it: Rom. xiv. 19, "Let us therefore follow after the things
which make for peace, and the things wherewith one may edify another;"
Rom. xv. 2, "Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to
edification;" 1 Cor. x. 23, "All things are lawful for me, but all things
are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify
not:" where the Apostle teacheth, that _in cibo_, &c.,(1191) "In meat,
drink, and the whole kind of things indifferent, it is not enough to look
whether they be lawful, but that, farther, we are to look whether to do or
omit the same be expedient, and may edify." The Bishop of Winchester,
preaching upon John xvi. 7, "I tell you the truth: it is expedient for you
that I go away," &c., marketh, that Christ would not go away without
acquainting his disciples with the reason of it; and that reason was,
because it was for their good: whereupon he inferreth, 1. That we should
avoid Hophni's _non vult enim_, and make our _vult_ our _enim_, 1 Sam. ii.
15; that is, that we should not give our will for a reason, but a reason
for our will; 2. That we should not, with the Corinthians, stand upon
_licet_,--it is