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"Yes, education is certainly necessary; but the most ignorant being who has laid hold on the Rock of Ages, who has received the spirit of adoption whereby he can cry, 'Abba, Father! has a means of elevation and refinement beyond all that books and art can teach," cried Bertie, with more warmth than he usually allowed himself to show. "You believe that? I cannot say I do.
Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. The noblest prayer is 'Abba, Father. II. The loftiness and perfectness of that divine Name. 'In heaven. Not fact, but symbol, to express His exaltation above the earth, and so suggesting all ideas of remoteness from creatures, from earth's limitations and conditions, changes and imperfection, and showing the gulf between man and God.
For as many as are guided by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye have received a Spirit of adoption, by which we cry, Abba, Father. The same spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
So help me now." The Spirit intercedes for us not in many words or long prayers, but with groanings, with little sounds like "Abba." Small as this word is, it says ever so much. It says: "My Father, I am in great trouble and you seem so far away. But I know I am your child, because you are my Father for Christ's sake. I am loved by you because of the Beloved."
The apostle here uses a Syrian and Greek word, saying, Abba, Pater. This word Abba, in the Syrian tongue, signifies a father, by which name the heads of monasteries are still called; and by the same name, hermits in times past, being holy men, called their presidents: at last, by use, it was also made a Latin word.
But because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father! Therefore thou art no more a slave, but a son, and if a son, an heir also of God through Christ. But at that time when ye knew not God, ye served those who by nature are not gods.
It is there "God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself;" and there, realizing the efficacy of atoning blood, and weeping over the follies and criminality of past rebellion, the penitent exclaims, "Abba, Father!" Thus God and man are united.
From Khartoum to Fashoda he acquired a great reputation for sanctity. Religious devotees gathered around him and followed him to his retreat upon the island of Abba. There he, in May 1881, first announced his claims as the true Mahdi. His barefaced assertions of special divine command and guidance found credulous believers.
And He answered with a main cry: Abba! Adonai! And they beheld Him even Him, ben Bloom Elijah, amid clouds of angels ascend to the glory of the brightness at an angle of fortyfive degrees over Donohoe's in Little Green street like a shot off a shovel. The summer evening had begun to fold the world in its mysterious embrace.
Is it not proof this complaint of my heart at the word Adoption? Is it not the spirit of the child, crying out, "Abba, Father"? 'Yes; but that is the spirit of adoption; the text says so. 'Away with your adoption! I could not even be adopted if I were not such as the adoption could reach that is, of the nature of God. Much as he may love him, can a man adopt a dog?
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