Evening star., 1915-03-06

I'm the child Of a King.
The child Of a King.
With Jesus my Savior,
I'm the child Of a King.
Sonship to God is the very h1ghest
privilege Of the Christian. ana OF az
the promises that bring him hope ana
confidence and joy no others mean SO
much. Christ gave the world a new
conception Of deity when He began his
prayer with "Our Father.
The thought that God is our faoner
and we his children, points to such an
intimacy Of fellowship with Co., anu
a relationship SO purely personal, tnat
II transforms our lives when we come
into possession Of our birthright as
sons of Cod And as the promise OF
sonship to God is. like all other prom
ises. of no value except as 1t be 1ui-
filled. so we come into our birthrfgnt
as Gods own sons only as we prove
this promise individually for ourselves.
In the time Of Christ the family and
the home life were more popular IN
stitutions than they are nowadays,
esnecially in our cities. The family
was a greater factor socially, eco
nomically and civilly than at present,
for the tendency Of our modern city
,,fe seems to be toward recognizing
tho Individual unit more and the family
unit less.
In the time of Christ and Paul, to oe
sons and daughters of great nome
meant a permanent dwelling place, q
seat at an ever bounteous table. oeh-
mite rights of inheritance. and strong
duties of obedience and conformity to
the family ideals. When Paul wrote 70
rbe church in Corintb he took the
nromises of God as found in Hosea and
Isaiah that II will receive you, and
will be to you a Father. and ye shaii
be to me sons and daughters. ana 1e-
clared that this intimate 1amiiy reia.
ttonsbip of father and son applied, not
to the Jews alone. as the Jews them-
selves had always believed. but TO all
GentiIes as well as Jews:
Time and again Christ used the
family relationship OF father fl @ ana snd snd
what their attitude should be TOWARD
Him. and though this conception was
IA new thought to Paul. he, TOO. oWei1
on it continually in his writings. we
children" he cried. heirs Of God, joint
heirs with Jesus Christ There could
hardly be a more wonderful thought
no., a more SOLDERING.
In his letter to the church in Galatla.
Paul said: For ye are all sons OF God
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flying the only method by which men
can be adopted into Gods family. The
children in an orphanage may have
their physical and mental requirements
provided for, but there is something
lacking in their lives, and no institu-
tion can supply it,
A Door home with good father and
mother in it is better for the child
than the best institution. Many Chris
tians are like the children in the or
phanage. they are institutional. they
have not been adopted and received
into the family life as Gods children
through faith" and they are depend
ing on sermons, music, church work
and the like. failing to realize that
richer meaning of being at home with
their Father, God.
For as many as are led by the spirit
of God, these are the sons of God. The
spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God .
Paul here gives US the test by which
we may realize our sonship to God
and it Is quite like a test of family
resemblance. 1t might be hard for us
to explain to another just how we
know we are sons of God, but in our
heart of hearts we are just as sure as
sure can be, and SO with family resem-
blance. we may find it hard to explain
what the points of similarity are, but