he measure in which you give yourselves up to Him, you will be set
at liberty from the worst of all slaveries, that is the slavery of
your own will and your own weakness, and your own tastes and fancies.
You will be set at liberty from dependence upon men, from thinking
about their opinion. You will be set at liberty from your dependence
upon externals, from feeling as if you could not live unless you had
this, that, or the other person or thing. You will be emancipated
from fears and hopes which torture the men who strike their roots no
deeper than this visible film of time which floats upon the surface
of the great, invisible abyss of Eternity. If you have Christ for
your Master you will be the masters of the world, and of time and
sense and men and all besides; and so, being triumphed over by Him,
you will share in His triumph.

And again, we may illustrate the same principle in yet another way.
Such absolute and entire submission of will and love as I have been
speaking about is the highest honour of a man. It was a degradation
to be dragged at the chariot-wheels of conquering general, emperor,
or consul--it broke the heart of many a barbarian king, and led some
of them to suicide rather than face the degradation. It is a
degradation to submit ourselves, even as much as many of us do, to
the domination of human authorities, or to depend upon men as much as
many of us do for our completeness and our satisfaction. But it is
the highest ennobling of humanity that it shall lay itself down at
Christ's feet, and let Him put His foot upon its neck. It is the
exaltation of human nature to submit to Christ. The true nobility are
those that 'come over with the Conqueror.' When we yield ourselves to
Him, and let Him be our King, then the patent of nobility is given to
us, and we are lifted in the scale of being. All our powers and
faculties are heightened in their exercise, and made more blessed in
their employment, because we have bowed ourselves to His control. And
so to be triumphed over by Christ is to triumph with Christ.

And the same thought may be yet further illustrated. That submission
which I have been speaking about so unites us to our Lord that we
share in all that belongs to Him and thus partake in His triumph. If
in will and heart we have yielded ourselves to Him, he that is thus
joined to the Lord is one spirit, and all 'mine is Thine, and all
Thine is mine.' He is the Heir of all things, and all things of whi