And all this shall take place (this is the special emphasis of the prospect here) with a solemn individuality of enquiry. "_Every one of us--for himself_--shall give account." We reflected, a little above, on the true place of"individualism" in the life of grace. We see here that there will indeed be a place for it in the experiences of eternity. The scrutiny of "the tribunal" will concern not the Society, the Organism, the total, but the member, the man. Each will stand in a solemn solitude there, before his divine Examiner. What _he_ was, as the Lord's member, that will be the question. What _he_ shall be, as such, in the functions of the endless state, that will be the result. Let us not be troubled over that prospect with the trouble of the worldling, as if we did not know Him who will scrutinize us, and did not love Him. Around the thought of His "tribunal," in that aspect, there are cast no exterminating terrors. But it is a prospect fit to make grave and full of purpose the life which yet "is hid with Christ in God," and which is life indeed through grace. It is a deep reminder that the beloved Saviour is also, and in no figure of speech, but in an eternal earnest, THE MASTER too. We would not have Him not to be this. He would not be all He is to us as Saviour, were He not this also, and for ever. St Paul hastens to further appeals, after this solemn forecast. And now all his stress is laid on the duty of the "strong" to use their "strength" not for self-assertion, not for even spiritual selfishness, but all for Christ, all for others, all in love. [Sidenote: Ver. 13.] =No more therefore let us judge one another; but judge,= decide, =this rather--not to set stumblingblock for our (τῷ) brother, or trap.= [Sidenote: Ver. 14.] =I know=--he instances his own experience and principle--=and am sure, in the Lord Jesus,= as one who is in union and communion with Him, seeing truth and life from that view-point, =that nothing,= nothing of the sort in question, no food, no time, =is "unclean" of itself;= literally, "_by means of itself_," by any _inherent_ mischief; =only, to the man who counts anything "unclean," to him it is unclean.= And therefore you, because you are not his conscience, must not tamper with his conscience. It is, in this case, mistaken; mistaken to his own loss, and to the loss of the Church. Yes, but what it wants is not your compulsion, but the Lord's light. If you can do so, bring that light to bear, in a testimony made impressive by holy love and unselfish considerateness. But dare not, for Christ's sake, compel a conscience. For conscience means the man's best actual sight of the law of right and wrong. It may be a dim and distorted sight; but it is his best at this moment. He cannot violate it without sin, nor can you bid him do so without yourself sinning. Conscience may not always see aright. But to transgress conscience is always wrong.