But if you believe that Jesus is a perfect Son, all that you would wish your son to be to you, and millions of times more; and if you believe that that very thing is Christ’s glory; that his glory consists in being a perfect Son, perfectly obedient, having no will or wish but his Father’s; then will you, by thus seeing Christ in spirit and in truth, see how beautiful and noble it is to be good sons; and you will long to try to be good sons:  and what you long for, and try for, you will surely be, in God’s good time; for he has promised,—­’Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness:  for they shall be filled.’  And all through believing the Athanasian Creed?  All?  Yes, all.

But will not the Holy Spirit teach us, without the Athanasian Creed?

The Holy Spirit will teach us.  Must teach us, if we are really to learn one word of all this in spirit and in truth.  But whether the Holy Spirit does teach us, will depend, I fear, very much upon whether we pray for him; and whether we pray for him aright will depend on whether we know who he is, and what he is like; and that, again, the Athanasian Creed will tell us.

Now, go home with God’s blessing.  Remember that such as the Son is, such is the Father, and such is the Holy Ghost.  Pray to be made good fathers, after the likeness of The Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and earth is named; good sons, after the likeness of God The Son; and good and holy spirits, after the likeness of The Holy Spirit; and you will be such at last, in God’s good time, as far as man can become like God; for you will be praying for the Holy Spirit himself, and he will hear you, and come to you, and abide with you, and all will be well.

SERMON XXII.  THE TORMENT OF FEAR

(First Sunday after Trinity.)

1 John iv. 16, 18.  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.  God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment:  because as he is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:  because fear hath torment.  He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

The text tells us how to get one of the greatest blessings; a blessing which all long for, but all do not find; and that is a happy death.  All wish to die happily; even bad men.  Like Balaam when he was committing a great sin, they can say, ’Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.’  But meanwhile, like Balaam, they find it too hard to live the life of the righteous, which is the only way to die the death of the righteous.  But something within them (if false preachers will but leave them alone) tells them that they will not succeed.  Reason and common sense tell them so:  for how can a man expect to get to a place without travelling