sonliness

In this was evidenced beyond all controversy the divine sonliness of the ever pious Jesus.

1859 August, “The Piety of Jesus”, in The Christian Advocate: A Monthly Magazine to Plead for an Unqualified Return to the Faith Once for All Delivered to the Saints, volume III, number 8, Edinburgh: J. Menzies; London: Houlston and Wright; Glasgow: J. Brown; Manchester: W. Bremner, page 144

May like obedience, confidence, / Truth, sonliness, and heart, / Constellate here, and radiate hence! / Semblance and chill depart!

1883, Brotherhood, Fellowship, and Acting Together. Further Practical Reflections in Rhyme., London: Elliot Stock; Edinburgh: MacNiven & Wallace, page 12

Know that He never forgets His children—never says, “My son has made his bed, let him lie on it.” His Fatherhood is infinite. And see how that brings out the sonliness.

1897, William Tatlock, The Revelation of God in Christ and Other Sermons, Preached at St. John’s Church, Stamford, Connecticut, New York, N.Y.: James Pott & Co., page 183

6. because ye are sons; i.e. God, having given you the position of sons, also gives you the spirit of sonliness.

1925 August, A[lfred] W[alter] F[rank] Blunt, The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians in the Revised Version, Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, page 112

My mother was a fair-to-see, clever, feeling-rich, spirit-lit being—a kind of oversoul [genius]. I worshipped her for her high how-ths ((qualities)), for the fun it was to live with her. As a fellow-Australian, as a fellow-agin-the-law-man, as a fellow-art-man, I always took her side, in my own heart. This had nothing to do with love, or sonliness.

a. 1961, Percy Grainger, Self-Portrait of Percy Grainger, Oxford University Press, published 2006, page 147