(1) _By cherishing worthy ideas of God._ We are _dishallowing_ (if I may be allowed to use the word) God’s name when we have unworthy ideas of His nature. We are sinning against this name “Father” when we think of God as harsh, unkind, cruel. Our new theology may have its defects and its dangers, but at any rate it “has hallowed God’s name.” It has made God more beautiful, more tender, more loving and lovable. Do you know I am not surprised that men broke out into revolt against the stern, hard, pitiless theology of a century ago. Theologians were attributing to God conduct that would be branded as hateful in men! Augustine and Calvin have laid the Church under vast obligations, but when Augustine and Calvin talked about little infants being damned, they were dishonouring God’s name, casting a slur upon His character, and sinning against His Fatherhood. There is an old painting in one of the Italian galleries which pictures God as shooting arrows at men, and Jesus catching them before they reached their mark. That picture represents the spirit of much of the old theology. Christ is represented as kind and pitiful, but God is represented as cruel, vengeful, vindictive. Brethren, that is a libel upon God. It is a cruel slander upon God’s character. “God is love.” “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That is the true picture. Refuse to believe in anything that contradicts that. Refuse to believe that God can ever be guilty of what would be accounted base in man. Believe with Whittier, that “Nothing can be good in Him, which evil is in me.” Say with Browning, “Thou, God, art Love. I build my faith on that.” You must cherish lofty, beautiful, gracious thoughts of God if you are to hallow His name. And go on to know the Lord. There are depths of love in God, unrealised as yet by the best of us. I know a valley in South Wales, which outwardly is not much to look at, but in its bosom are buried vast treasures, and men who have digged beneath the surface have found there boundless wealth. The deeper we penetrate into the nature of God, the more loving, the more gracious we shall find Him to be. Therefore, press on to know Him, until you come to feel that God is your passion and your joy, that in earth, in heaven, you want none but Him. By so doing, you will be hallowing God’s name. But God’s name must be hallowed not only in thought, but in life. So I pass on to say that not only can you hallow God’s name by cherishing worthy thoughts of God, but you can hallow God’s name also—