The Spirit of Adoption
By E. A. Sutherland
A HEART-BROKEN father entered an institution where children were cared for, hoping to find some little one to fill the place made empty by the death of his own child. He and his wife looked through the rooms, and talked with one child after another, but each little one was passed by. Finally they came to an unpromising child. Her brown eyes were crossed, and her skin was rough and unkept; but almost before he knew it, the little one held out her arms to the man, and with tears in her voice, said, "Papa." The strong heart gave way. He clasped the child to his breast, and went home with it. The spirit within that child vibrated in harmony with his spirit of fatherhood, and he knew the child was to be his own. And so Paul tells us that the great Father above, in looking over this world for children to adopt, finds here and there some who have received that spirit of adoption, and they cry out, "Father, Father." It is that spirit that brings them into the family. They take His name. They become heirs, even joint heirs with His only Son. That is the drawing power of Christianity. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."