he immediately subjoins, Meat is for the Belly, and the Belly for Meat.  Intimating, that in a Case of Necessity, and for a Season, a Man may eat any Thing, unless Charity towards his Neighbour shall dissuade it:  But that Uncleanness is in all Persons, and at all Times to be detested.  It is Matter of Necessity that we eat, but that Necessity shall be taken away at the Resurrection of the Dead.  But if we are lustful, that proceeds from Wickedness.  But there is another Scruple that I can’t tell how to solve, or how to reconcile to that Passage:  But I will not be brought under the Power of any.  For he says, he has the Power of all Things, and yet he will not be brought under the Power of any one.  If he may be said to be under another Man’s Power, that abstains for Fear of offending, it is what he speaks of himself in the ninth Chapter, For though I be free from all Men, yet have made myself Servant to all, that I may gain all. St. Ambrose stumbling, I suppose, at this Scruple, takes this to be the Apostle’s genuine Sense for the better Understanding of what he says in the 9th Chapter, where he claims to himself the Power of doing that which the rest of the Apostles (either true or false) did, of receiving a Maintenance from them to whom he preach’d the Gospel.  But he forbore this, although he might have done it, as a Thing expedient among the Corinthians, whom he reprov’d for so many and enormous Iniquities.  And moreover, he that receives, is in some Degree in the Power of him from whom he receives, and suffers some Kind of Abatement in his Authority.  For he that takes, cannot so freely reprove his Benefactor; and he that gives will not so easily take a Reprehension from him that he has obliged.  And in this did the Apostle Paul abstain from that which was lawful, for the Credit of his apostolical Liberty, which in this Case he would not have to be rendered obnoxious to any one, that he might with the greater Freedom and Authority reprehend their Vices.  Indeed, I like this Explication of St. Ambrose very well.  But yet, if any Body had rather apply this Passage to Meats, St. Paul’s, Saying, but I will not be brought under the Power of any, may be taken in this Sense:  Although I may sometimes abstain from Meats offered to Idols, or forbidden by the Mosaical Law, out of Regard to the Salvation of my Brothers Souls, and the Furtherance of the Gospel; yet my Mind is free, well knowing that it is lawful to eat all Manner of Meats, according to the Necessity of the Body.  But there were some false Apostles, who went about to persuade them, that some Meats, were in themselves, by their own Nature unclean, and were to be forborn, not upon Occasion only, but at all Times; and that as strict as Adultery or Murder.  Now those that were thus misled, were reduced under another’s Power, and fell from their Gospel Liberty. Theophylact (as I remember) is the only Man that advances an Opinion different from all these. It is lawful, says he, to eat all Sorts of Meats; but it is not expedient to eat to Excess; for from Luxury comes Lust. There is no Impiety, indeed, in this Sense; but it does not seem to me to be the genuine Sense of the Place.  I have acquainted you with my Scruples, it will become your Charity to set me to Rights.