y and of more imperative command to 'behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us.'

II. Look next at the sonship which is the purpose of His given Love.

It has often been noticed that the Apostle John uses for that expression
'the sons of God,' another word from that which his brother Paul uses.
John's phrase would perhaps be a little more accurately translated
'children of God,' whilst Paul, on the other hand, very seldom says
'children,' but almost always says 'sons.' Of course the children are
sons and the sons are children, but still, the slight distinction of
phrase is characteristic of the men, and of the different points of view
from which they speak about the same thing. John's word lays stress on
the children's kindred nature with their father and on their immature
condition.

But without dwelling on that, let us consider this great gift and
dignity of being children of God, which is the object that God has in
view in all the lavish bestowment of His goodness upon us.

That end is not reached by God's making us men. Over and above that He
has to send this great gift of His love, in order that the men whom He
has made may become His sons. If you take the context here you will see
very clearly that the writer draws a broad distinction between 'the sons
of God' and 'the world' of men who do not comprehend them, and so far
from being themselves sons, do not even know God's sons when they see
them. And there is a deeper and solemner word still in the context. John
thinks that men (within the range of light and revelation, at all
events) are divided into two families--'the children of God and the
children of the devil.' There _are_ two families amongst men.

Thank God, the prodigal son in his rags amongst the swine, and lying by
the swine-troughs in his filth and his husks, and his fever, _is_ a son!
No doubt about that! He has these three elements and marks of sonship
that no man ever gets rid of: he is of a divine origin, he has a divine
likeness in that he has got mind and will and spirit, and he is the
object of a divine love.

The doctrine of the New Testament about the Fatherhood of God and the
sonship of man does not in the slightest degree interfere with these
three great truths, that all men, though the features of the common
humanity may be almost battered out of recognition in them, are all
children of God because He made them; that they are children of God
because still there lives