dresses them: "What I say, say you also in like man"ner: I renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his 66 service, and all his angels, and all his pomp.". He says these words thrice, and they all respond. Then he interrogates them, saying; "Have you renounced "Satan?" to which they reply, We have renounced "Stand with trem "him." Immediately he rejoins, 66 66 bling. What I say, do you also say: And I am joined with Christ," &c. He says these words also thrice, while they all respond. He next asks them this question thrice: "Are you joined with Christ?" And when they have replied, "We are joined," he makes a short prayer, and then subjoins the following admonition: "Behold you have renounced the devil, and are joined with Christ. The records are completed, and "Christ confirms them in heaven. Be faithful to your engagements. Preserve these records for yourselves, "for they are to be publicly produced in the day of judgment," &c.* 66 66 66 How pious, solemn, and devout this ancient observance! Would to God that we never forgot the day in which we were devoted to the service of Christ, whilst his name was invocated over us! Would that we never forgot that sacred obligation which is sealed by baptism! It is useful, however, by some affecting form of speech, to press these things again and again upon the minds of those who have been initiated into Christ, and have called him Lord. And for that pose we now make use of this form in conversing with our young people. pur XVII. Further, it behoves the man who makes an honest profession of Christ as his Lord, to submit to * Vide Fehlavii nolas ad Christophorum Angelum, p, 482, &c. his will with the greatest alacrity. Without contradiction, and without murmuring, he must acquiesce alike in his commanding and disposing will; that he may cheerfully perform the duties required, and patiently suffer the evils inflicted. It is reasonable that the will of the servant be in all things conformed to the will of his Lord, and, so to speak, absorbed in it, so that from the heart he may say, "Not my will, but thine be done." Even the heathen, that knew not Christ Jesus, the Lord that bought us, saw from the dim light of nature, that this is a debt which they owe to God. Epictetus divinely says; "Will thou nothing but what God "wills." * 66 XVIII. Let us speak first of his COMMANDING will. As many as call Christ Lord, and do not at the same time obey his precepts because they are his, make, without doubt, a false and hypocritical profession. Why "call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which "I say?" If the authority of a centurion over his soldiers and his servant is such, that they go and come at his pleasure, and promptly obey his orders, how much greater the authority over his people, which belongs to Jesus, our supreme Commander and Lord! "The life "of every man," said Epictetus,† "is a military ser"vice,-both long and diversified. Thou must act the part of a soldier, and perform without reserve what"ever thy Commander may require, even anticipating, "if possible, his will." But Epictetus was ignorant of Christ, the Commander in the Christian warfare. Thou knowest him, and therefore it becomes thee to say with Paul; "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" 66 * Μηδειν άλλο θελε, 'η & ὁ θεος θέλει. Apud Arrian. lib. ii. cap. 17. + Apud Arrianum, lib. iii. cap. 24. 4 Luke vi. 46. I Mat. viii. 9. • Acts ix. 6. waiting only the intimation of his will, and obeying with alacrity and promptitude all and each of his commands, how ungrateful soever they may appear to the flesh, and how different soever from the dictates of disordered reason—although he should command thee to go even to inevitable death. If the heroes of David, on hearing the king express his ardent wish that one would give him water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which was before the gate, broke through the host of the Philistines, drew water out of that well, and brought it to David, what service that we know to be well pleasing to our Lord, should appear to us arduous! A Socrates could say to God; "Whatever 66 place or rank thou mayest assign me, I would die a "thousand deaths rather than abandon it."* And shall not we say with Paul; "None of these things "move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so "that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus?"u 66 XIX. Nor is it enough to do those things which Christ hath commanded us, unless we do them, also, because he hath commanded them. The formal nature of obedience consists in this, that we recognise and submit to the authority of Christ. In all Christ's precepts, indeed, there is the highest equity, pleasantness, and utility, which we are bound to consider and admire, and which ought to make those precepts themselves amiable in our esteem. But his sovereign lordship over us will only appear, when the mere will of Him who commands, stands in the place of every reason; even though, as often happens, owing to the blindness of our minds, we should discern nothing in the command, either * Arrian. lib. iii. cap. 24. t 2 Sam. xxiii. 15, 16. u Acts xx. 24. 66 equitable, or pleasant, or useful. Hence such expressions as the following are frequently annexed to the precepts of Scripture: "I am the LORD;" "Have not 66 I commanded thee ?"w" In order to obviate our dif"ficulties," says Tertullian, with his usual energy, we "inculcate this one thing, that what God commands " is good, and the best that can be done. I esteem it daring presumption to question the excellence of a "Divine command; for we ought to obey it, not merely because it is good, but because it is the command "of God. The majesty of the Divine authority should 66 66 66 operate as the chief inducement to obedience. The "authority of Him who commands deserves considera tion, prior to the advantage of him that serves." * This reasoning of Tertullian is strongly confirmed by Chrysostome in the following words; "When God "commands, it is not our part to inquire curiously into "the nature of the things prescribed, but merely to obey." And again," God hath commanded; make "no farther inquiry." In the passage whence these words are quoted, you will find a copious illustration of this topic; and the whole deserves a perusal. 66 † xx. It is incumbent on every one who duly acknowledges the lordship of Christ, to submit himself also in the same spirit to his DISPOSING will. If he is Lord, and if we are his property, who can hinder him from doing what he will with his own ?x "Nay but, Oman, "who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast "thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power *De Pœnit. cap. iv. + Orat. ii. adversus Judæos. ▾ Lev. xviii. 2, 4, 5, 6, &c. w Josh. i. 9. * Mat. xx. 15. 66 "over the clay?" We have noble examples of this submission in Aaron, in Eli,a in David,b in Hezekiah. It becomes all to discover the same temper. To contend with the providence of God, is equally vain and criminal. It is vain, for he leads the willing, and drags the refractory. "I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from "thee,”-none of thy thoughts can be frustrated; or, no thought is too hard for thee,-there is no thought which thou canst not overcome, or which does not strive with thee in vain. It is criminal; for reason says, that it becomes thee to yield to the Lord, and not the Lord to thee; and that it is better thou shouldst be involved in total ruin than that even the least part of his most holy will should fail to be accomplished. Our Lord is at once righteous,e "excellent in judgment, and in "plenty of justice, so that he will not afflict;"f-and wise, knowing infinitely better than we ourselves what is conducive to our interest;-and good, attending more carefully than we to the preservation, the honour, and the improvement of his property, and overruling all events for the benefit of his people, not excepting those which are apparently the most destructive. The man who is not firmly persuaded, that it will be better for him that things proceed according to the will of the Lord Jesus, than according to his own inclination, throws a most unjust aspersion upon the government of Christ. XXI. It is truly base and disgraceful, if faith does |