The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-05-15
FAILURE IS PORTION
OF THOSE WHO FEAR
Living without Fear L. Theme OF
Inspiring Sermon BY DIR. Smoot,
In Centenary Church.
LACK OF LOVE BASIS OF FEAR.
Absence of Perfect -onfdencc In God
An Offense to- the Almighty--Fear
of Evil Grows Less with strength
Through Love Of God. -----

Text: 1 John: 4:1s-"There is no
fear in love; but perfect love casteth
our fear: because fear hath torment
At Centenary Church on Sunday
evening, the pastor, Rev. Dr.. T. A.
Smoot, preached on the subject, "Liv-
ing without Fear" He said in part:
The fear or Cod Ia profound rewer-
ence and regard for Him and Is care
fully to he distinguished from this
fear spoken of by St. John. The fear
of which he speaks is not Of God, but
rather of evil. of harm. The fear OF
evil grows less witt the love of God,
which brings strength and hope TO tho
Christian. The fear of loving
Heavenly Father, In it's true Inter-
probation. causes His children, ',e-
cause of their love for Him, to de-
sire never to offend Him. No true
child of God ever fears that this
Heavenly Father desires TO hurt him,
on the other hand he realizes that the
fatherly protection belongs, by in
heritance, to the child. Your own
child fears lest he may wound your
feelings. dispiease you. but he does not
fear that you will hurt or destroy him,
knowing that your great desire is to
enab bile him to make out of his life
the most possible.
The apostle tells lis there Is no
place for fear in love, that perfect
love casteth out fear and it Is true
that the man who has good, whole-
some attitude Of mind toward tho
physical univerS, has no fear OF the
final issues of life, I accept the uni
verse said Margaret Fuller, with
resignation. although she was skep-
teal 'Humph she better had was
the, calm comment of Thomas Car
lyle. But this mere acceptance of the
universe in the spirit Of Margaret Full
Ter ia not in keeping with the spirit
of the text She merely bowed In
submission to the inevitable. but the
child of God gratefully accepts the
universe. because He is a part of 1t
and has ownership in it. All things
are yours, and we are Christ's ~nd
Christ is Gods. declares Paul by
which he means that there Is real
ownership and real partnership on
the part OF God and man In the great
world in which we live Why. then.
should fear my world. or the uni
verse. or the God who Is voluntarily
giving me share in II? why should
l cringe before Him as though He
were an enemy? Rather let me bow
before Him in loving obedience and
filai devotion Like as father
pitieth his children. so the Lord
pitieth them that fear Him
n HiLnt To BE Fearless.
According to tn, foregoing state-
ment, We have a right to be fearless
amid all of the forces of the universe.
come what niay-sterms, earthquakes
or what not Though He slay me, yet
will trust Him s;.ys the old servant
of God, Death is. by no means. the
, worst thing thai can happen. Often
II Is the best. The whole universe
belongs to me and will never hurt me.
- S-l- L. Frt~,
attitude toward 1.-THE unwholesome
attitude says: I know that ! am going
to be sick or die, or have misfortune.
| What | eat will hurt me; what I drink
will poison me: what / breathe will
bring upon me disease, Such an at
titude courts sickness and Ill health.
| The hypochondriac had Is we'll to be
sick as to imagine II,
Doubts and fears have their origin.
largely. in mental attitude. The boy
says, 7 cannot learn And he can't.
Another says. I cannot speak in pub
lie and, of course. he fails. Another
says. I fear to pray in the prayer SER
vice and his voice falters. This at
titude invites fear. For the student
to say that he cannot learn is to pave
the way to mental atrophy Hates.
dislikes animosities. are all negative
and build up around them negative
influences and forces. True love is
positive. and with o. en-minded frank
ness meets humanity in the rose gar
dens of God, and aCcords to brother
man the possession of high and noble
qualities. If you want men to achieve
great and good ends. have faith in
them and 1t will go long way toward
re- enforcing them for that purpose.
Likewise. faith in ourselves and In our
destiny; in our ability to do and TO
perform, does much toward the ac-
complishment of life's tasks. If we
look upon the mystery of truth in the
la boratory as being doubtful of un-
! foldment We certainly cannot put very
much zest into the pursuit of truth.
But If We love truth for her own sake.
feel that she is or friend. we shall
find her all along the course of our
Investigations and discoveries, gladly
awaiting our acquaintance.
Confidence la Unafraid.
at is possible for you to fail
steadily. because you are afraid The
one excuse that the delinquent TALENT
holder gave TO his returning lord was.
i was afraid But that was not ac-
copied as a good excuse. OF course he
I failed. and any man will fail who liz
so afraid of failure as to become