shonour the
Son, while we fancy we are honouring him: we shall rob Christ of
his true glory, to give him a false glory, which he abhors. If we
fancy that he does anything for us without his Father's commands; if
we fancy that he feels anything for us which his Father does not
feel, and has not always felt likewise: then we dishonour him. For
his glory is to be a perfectly good and obedient Son, and we fancy
him--may he forgive us for it!--a self-willed Son. This is Christ's
glory, that though he is equal with his Father, he obeys his Father.
If he were not equal to his Father, there would be less glory in his
obeying him. Take away the mystery of the ever-blessed Trinity, and
you rob Christ of his highest glory, and destroy the most beautiful
thing in heaven, except one. The most beautiful and noble thing of
all in heaven--that (if you will receive it) out of which all other
beautiful and noble things in heaven and earth come, is the Father
for ever saying to the Son, 'Thou art my Son; this day have I
begotten thee. And in thee I am well pleased.' The other most
beautiful thing is the co-equal and co-eternal Son for ever saying
to the Father, 'Father, not my will, but thine be done. I come to
do thy will, O God. Thy law is written in my heart.'

Do you not see it? Oh, my dear friends, I see but a very little of
it. Who am I, that I should comprehend God? And who am I, that I
should be able to make you understand the glory of God, by any dull
words of mine? But God can make you understand it. The Spirit of
God can and will shew you the glory of God. Because he proceedeth
from the Father, he will shew you what the glory of the Father is
like. Because he proceedeth from the Son, he will shew you what the
glory of the Son is like. Because he is consubstantial, co-equal,
and co-eternal with the Father and the Son, he will shew you that
the glory of the Father and the Son is not the glory of mere power;
but a moral and spiritual glory, the glory of having a perfectly
glorious, noble, and beautiful character. And unless he shews you
that, you will never be thoroughly good men. For it is a strange
thing that men are always trying, more or less, to be like God. And
yet, not a strange thing; for it is a sign that we all came from
God, and can get no rest till we are come back to God, because God
calls us all to be his children and be like him. A blessed thing it
is, if we try to be like the true God: but