Their testimony was not only in sound and words: their lives testified to the truth which they preached. They suffered persecution, poverty, imprisonment, and sealed their testimony to the truth with their blood, by willingly laying down their lives for it. These disciples were true to Christ. Their testimony was faithful, loyal, heroic. We, too, are disciples of Christ, and have our testimony to give; and I propose to show in the first place, what are our obligations to give this testimony of Christ; and in the second place, who are those who fail in their obligations to give this testimony.
What are our obligations to give testimony of Christ? There are many Christians who seem to think that they are at liberty to choose what course of life they please, that they can live as they like; that whether they attend to their religious duties or neglect them, whether they are patterns of Christian virtue or scandals to their faith, is nobody's business.
This opinion is false, most false, because all Christians are under a lasting obligation to Christ to lead a Christian life.
Christ is our Lord and Master, and as such has a complete right of control over all our actions. There can be no dispute about this. "You call me Master and Lord." says he; "You say well, for so I am." [Footnote 24]
[Footnote 24: 1 John xiii., 13.]
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is John xiii., 13. (Gospel, not epistle.)]
Christ is not only our Master and Lord, but also our Creator, "for by Him all things were made that are made." His dominion over us is therefore absolute and supreme. In His presence we are simply subjects, and have only duties to fulfil.
Christ as Man has the full right of purchase over us. He can claim of us all our actions, for he redeemed us from the captivity and slavery of sin. "Knowing that you were not redeemed," says the Apostle Peter to the faithful, "with corruptible gold or silver from your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ." [Footnote 25]
[Footnote 25: 1 Peter i., 18, 19.]