{"id":19551,"date":"2023-08-17T00:55:47","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T00:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/?p=19551"},"modified":"2023-08-17T00:55:47","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T00:55:47","slug":"letter-8-to-abiah-on-adoption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/2023\/08\/letter-8-to-abiah-on-adoption\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter 8: To Abiah\u2014On Adoption"},"content":{"rendered":"

My dear Abiah,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When the objects of Jehovah\u2019s electing love receive the adoption of sons, and are introduced to the family of God, it is impossible to describe the blessedness of their experience, or to delineate the extent of their privileges. I trust you have shared in that mercy; and I am solicitous that you should be conscious of its value and importance; let me therefore entreat you to read this epistle with fervent prayer, that the brief outline it contains of this most valuable privilege may be clearly understood and rendered very useful to your soul.<\/p>\n

The adoption of a sinner into the family of God is an act of his own sovereign love pursuant to the election of grace, in which Jehovah regards the sinner as a beloved child, and having enrolled his name as a part of his family, exercises paternal kindness toward him and intro\u00adduces him to all the privileges of the sons God; so that he who was \u201cby nature a child of wrath even as others,” is by adopting grace, a child of God through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

This unspeakable mercy flows from \u201cthe good pleasure of his will,” who exercises absolute sovereignty over all worlds; hence we find sinners of every age, nation and character, made the subjects of this grace, who could have nothing to recommend them but guilt and rebellion nor should any sinner despair of sharing in the blessedness of this holy family, who is made willing to conform to its discipline, and accept its privileges; may even this wil\u00adlingness is an evidence of adoption; and God has promised that he will be a Father to such, and that they shall be his sons and daughters. 2 Cor. 6:18.<\/p>\n

From such a Father much may be expected, and to such a Father much is due; it is therefore very important to receive and cherish the spirit of adoption, that our intercourse with God, and our conduct toward him, may be consistent with our high character as his children. This endearing relation should be kept in view under all circumstances, it would then produce the happiest effect in the experience. Can you, my dear Abiah, approach the Most High as your Father? Then with what sweet familiarity do you tell him the secrets of your heart\u2014 with what sacred confidence do you ask him to fulfil his promises\u2014 and with what holy affection do you cling to his perfections.<\/p>\n

In times of danger when attacked by foes, with the simplicity of a child you run eagerly to your Father, and give vent to your sorrow feeling assured of his protection, while he with paternal affection, says \u201cI will contend with them that contend with thee,\u201d adding, a godlike \u201cfear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness,\u201d Isaiah 41:10. So that your safety does not depend on your courage or prudence, but on your Father\u2019s kindness and power, whose love to you as his child, engages all his perfections on your behalf.<\/p>\n

Moreover the spirit of adoption dictates unreserved dependence on the Father for the supply of every want: whence then arise all those distressing anxieties which intrude upon your most sacred hours, and mar your choicest enjoyments? Is your Father’s wealth all ex\u00adpended? Is your Father\u2019s affection abated or lost? Has he ever said you nay, in any of your spiritual applica\u00adtions? Has he not said, \u201cask, and ye shall receive?\u201d Nay has he not added, I will withhold no good thing from you? Go then, my dear Abiah, and ask your Father for all you need, remembering that \u201cevery good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is the province of your Father to feed\u2014 clothe\u2014 instruct\u2014 and correct you, all which you may expect at his hands: for although the family is immensely large, every child is amply provided for, and no one neglected or overlooked: the Father delights in his children, and Jesus is not ashamed to call them brethren; an eternal inheritance is provided for them, and the Holy Spirit stands engaged to qualify them for the enjoyment of it and bring them to it.<\/p>\n

As children, they are \u201cheirs of God through Jesus Christ,\u201d \u201cfellow heirs of the grace of life;\u201d yea \u201cjoint heirs with Christ,\u201d to all that the covenant love of the Father has provided; but while in a state of minority, their Father has promised to give them daily bread, which they are to receive daily at his hand, waiting till they come of age to be put in possession of their everlasting inheritance.<\/p>\n

Adoption is a blessing extending from everlasting to everlasting, a decree which cannot be revoked; many of the children of God are indeed very perverse and ungrateful, but all this their Father knew before he adopted them; hence he chastens those whom he loves, and scourges every son whom he receives, but never abandons them. Satan shall never have to say of a sinner in torment, this is a wretch turned out of the family of God! no, the Father will not cut off an heir of glory from his inheritance, nor suffer his most rebellious children to ruin themselves. John 10:28,29.<\/p>\n

This security arises from the nature and antiquity of adoption, as an act of the divine mind, which is distinct from the reception of the spirit of adoption into the sinner’s heart. The whole family of God were adopted in Christ, when he was chosen as their covenant head, and then God the Father considered them his own children, registered their names on high as such, and prepared a kingdom for them before the foundation of the world.<\/p>\n

Hence their reception of the spirit of adoption is said to be owing to this eternal relation, “because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts,\u201d Galatians 4:6.<\/p>\n

The spirit of adoption is the witness, not the cause of our being the children of God, and surely my dear Abiah, you will derive unspeakable comfort from this view of the subject, if you feel but one spark of filial affection to God glowing in your soul; and connect with it the sweet thought that it is your Father\u2019s love shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost, you will then come to the delightful conclusion, that the Father has from all eternity adopted you into his family, and has in the fulness of time, made it known to you by causing you to receive the adoption of sons.<\/p>\n

If further evidence were necessary for your decision, respecting your interest in this high privilege, I might remind you of the family likeness, which is genuine spirituality\u2014 the family distinction, which is separated from the world\u2014 and the family diet, which is bread of life sent down from heaven, may I not appeal to your heart that you do sigh for an increase of spirituality\u2014 that you do not feel happy in any company except that of the saints\u2014 and that nothing can satisfy the cravings of your soul but living upon Jesus? Be assured my beloved friend, that these sensations exist no where but in the heart of a child of God, yet many in whom they are found cannot claim their sonship, through the power of unbelief; nor can any thing but the mighty operation of the Holy Spirit, remove the spirit of bondage, and teach the soul to cry Abba, Father. I never knew a child capable of saying \u201c father\u201d as soon as born, nevertheless it is almost the first thing a child is taught to say; this is the plan of the Lord’s teaching, \u201cwhen ye pray say, OUR FATHER,\u201d and when the spirit of adoption is fully re\u00adceived, the child of God looks up to Jehovah and exclaims, \u201cdoubtless thou art my Father,\u201d\u2014 he looks into the table and regards it as his Father\u2019s letter\u2014 he hears the gospel preached and receives it as a message from his Father\u2014 he goes into his closet to tell his Father his wants, and gain access to his Father\u2019s heart\u2014 and looking forward to heaven, he exclaims \u201cit is my Father\u2019s habitation, and shall be my eternal home.\u201d<\/p>\n

How safely my dear Abiah, may you leave every difficulty in your Father\u2019s hand, both in providence and grace, without perplexing your mind with the events of futurity; unless like some unruly self-willed children, you think you know better, and can do better than your Father, which is conduct so presumptuous and ungrateful, that I am willing to hope you tremble at the mention of it.<\/p>\n

Before I close this short sketch of adopting grace, I must take the liberty of pressing upon your attention, the high dignity which it confers and the infinite obligations under which it lays you. Forget not that you are the King’s son\u2014 that the whole redeemed family in heaven and earth are your kindred\u2014 and that the whole revenue of grace and glory are your portion. Never submit to the contemptible littleness of party spirit; but with noble affection, call every man your brother whom God owns as his child. Never stoop to the maxims or trim to the spirit of the world; it is another family, yea an opposite family, and the less intimacy you have with it the better your Father will be pleased, and the more ex\u00adtensive will be your spiritual prosperity.<\/p>\n

Your Father\u2019s honor\u2014 your Father\u2019s interest\u2014 and your Father\u2019s will, should engage your constant attention, employ all your energies and regulate all your conduct; and in proportion as the spirit of adoption influences your heart, these things will constitute the conspicuous traits of your life; for I know of no incentive to the per\u00adformance of duties so powerful as my Father\u2019s love, my Father\u2019s promise, and my Father\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeloved; now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be;\u201d but, the spirit of adoption teaches us to expect, all that our Father\u2019s love can dictate, and all that our Father\u2019s hand can bestow for our present good and eternal happiness.<\/p>\n

That you my dear Abiah, may be enabled to cultivate much intimacy with our heavenly Father, in the name and person of our divine elder Brother, by the teaching of our holy Preceptor.<\/p>\n

\u200bIs the prayer of<\/p>\n

Your affectionate brother,<\/p>\n

\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bJ. I.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, wond\u2019rous love! the great Jehovah deigns<\/p>\n

To call a worm his child !\u2014 look up my soul,<\/p>\n

And claim this sweet relation to the Lord:<\/p>\n

MY FATHER! how it moves heart to love!<\/p>\n

And shall I come before him like a slave?<\/p>\n

Or rude and thoughtless to his presence rush?<\/p>\n

Forbid it Lord! Let holy confidence,<\/p>\n

Unfeigned love, a fix\u2019d assurance and a solid peace<\/p>\n

Unite with solemn awe and filial fear,<\/p>\n

In all my secret intercourse with thee.<\/p>\n

Whence rise my fears? why is my soul cast down?<\/p>\n

The foes\u2014 the fiends\u2014 the sins I often dread,<\/p>\n

MY FATHER\u00a0 <\/span>holds in chains, and will control:<\/p>\n

I have his grace\u2014 I shall have glory too,<\/p>\n

Because he is MY FATHER, and MY GOD!!!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My dear Abiah,\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the objects of Jehovah\u2019s electing love receive the adoption of sons, and are introduced to the family of God, it is impossible to describe the blessedness of their experience, or to delineate the extent of their privileges. I trust you have shared in that mercy; and I am solicitous that you should be conscious of its value and importance; let me therefore entreat you to read this epistle with fervent prayer, that the brief outline it contains of this most valuable privilege may be clearly understood and rendered very useful to your soul.<\/p>\n

The adoption of a sinner into the family of God is an act of his own sovereign love pursuant to the election of grace, in which Jehovah regards the sinner as a beloved child, and having enrolled his name as a part of his family, exercises paternal kindness toward him and intro\u00adduces him to all the privileges of the sons God; so that he who was \u201cby nature a child of wrath even as others,” is by adopting grace, a child of God through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":17469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1299],"tags":[1229],"class_list":["post-19551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jazer-assistance-for-the-weak-in-faith","tag-justification"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19551"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19553,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19551\/revisions\/19553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}