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. {65} 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.] {66} Can any one who listens to these words be so destitute of intelligence and faith as to entertain the idea, for a moment, that God created us and became man and died for us, only to leave us at liberty to live as we please, and to sin as much and as often as we like? No; says the Apostle Paul, "_Christ died for all._" And why? Listen, faithless Christian: "_That they also who live may not live to themselves, but to Him who died for them, and rose again._" [Footnote 26] [Footnote 26: 1 Cor. v., 15.] [Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is 2 Cor. v., 15.]