be changed and which might continue as they had
been.

139. Yet it startles us to learn that some of them were living in
gross sensuality, and that the more philosophical defended this on
principle. One member, apparently a person of wealth and position, was
openly living in a connection which would have been a scandal even
among heathens, and, though Paul had indignantly written to have him
excommunicated, the Church had failed to obey, affecting to
misunderstand the order. Others had been allured back to take part in
the feasts in the idol temples, notwithstanding their accompaniments of
drunkenness and revelry. They excused themselves with the plea that
they no longer ate the feast in honor of the gods, but only as an
ordinary meal, and argued that they would have to go out of the world
if they were not sometimes to associate with sinners.

140. It is evident that these abuses belonged to the Gentile section
of the Church. In the Jewish section, on the other hand, there were
strange doubts and scruples about the same subjects. Some, for
instance, revolted with the loose behavior of their Gentile brethren,
had gone to the opposite extreme, denouncing marriage altogether and
raising anxious questions as to whether widows might marry again,
whether a Christian married to a heathen wife ought to put her away,
and other points of the same nature. While some of the Gentile
converts were participating in the idol feasts, some of the Jewish ones
had scruples about buying in the market the meat which had been offered
in sacrifice to idols, and looked with censure on their brethren who
allowed themselves this freedom.

141. These difficulties belonged to the domestic life of the
Christians; but, in their public meetings also, there were grave
irregularities. The very gifts of the Spirit were perverted into
instruments of sin; for those possessed of the more showy gifts, such
as miracles and tongues, were too fond of displaying them, and turned
them into grounds of boasting. This led to confusion and even uproar;
for sometimes two or three of those who spoke with tongues would be
pouring forth their unintelligible utterances at once, so that, as Paul
said, if any stranger had entered their meeting, he would have
concluded that they were all mad. The prophets spoke at wearisome
length, and too many pressed forward to take part in the services.
Paul had sternly to rebuke these extravagances, insisting on the