8
THE RICHES OF CHRIST.
need nor Hand in fear of them, according to that of Iſaiah xiv. 2. ' Fear not, ‘for I have redeemed thee;' but as we are taught in the next words, we ſhould all the days of our life worſhip him without fear; and when at any time we have grieved ſo good and gracious a God, by ſinning againſt him, remembrance of our redemption ſhould encourage us to return unto him, ſeeing he, as our Saviour, hath redeemed and bought us with ſo great a price, therefore, we ought to acknowledge him to be our Lord, in right of redemption, and ourſelves not to be our own, but his ſervants; for, therefore, Chriſt died and roſe again to life, that he might be the Lord of the quick and the dead, Rom. xiv. 16. And, if we acknowledge him to be our Lord, we muſt be careful to do his will, or elſe we in vain do call him ſo, as did thoſe he reproved, &c. ‘ Why do ye call me Lord, and do not the things that I command you ?’ Luke vi. 4. Chriſt died for all, that thoſe who live, ſhould not henceforth live to themſelves, but to him that died for them, and roſe again, 1 Cor. iv. 5.
This conſideration cauſed the primitive Chliſtians to ſeal their teſtimonies
