s and by those in lowest scale socially, and
by the moral outcasts. Intense Hebrews, Roman officials of high rank,
half-breed Samaritans, and men of outside nations group themselves
together by their full acceptance of Jesus.

He was listened to, doubted, questioned, discussed, thought over, _and
then accepted._ And He was accepted with a faith and with a love that
counted not suffering nor sacrifice for the sake of Him whom they
believed and trusted and loved. John makes this clear, rejected _and_
accepted.

Jesus divided the crowds. Down the road He comes, with quiet strength,
witnessing to the great simple truth of the Father's pure strong wooing
love. And the crowd looks and listens and--_divides_. Some reject;
clearly they are a minority, but entrenched in a position of power that
proves quite sufficient for their purpose. Though it took all the power
at their command to carry out their purpose.

Others accept. These are the crowds, the majority. Some don't
understand. Their motives are selfish or mixed, like some other folks'
motives. Some are played upon by the cunning of the leaders and swung
away. But there remain the thoughtful ones whose faith goes from
weakness to strength; it grows from more to yet more. It mellows from a
true simple faith to a deepened, seasoned, sorely-tested,
surely-toughened faith that loves, loves clear down to the roots, and
endures gladly. This is the simple warp-thread into which John's very
simple story of Jesus is woven.

Spelling God.

_I_ want to give you _a bunch of keys_, as we start into these homely
talks in John's Gospel. They are simple keys. Any one can use them. They
fit easily and smoothly into every lock, the lock of your life, the lock
of any circumstance, any sore problem that may come up to baffle all
your efforts. They bring treasures within easy reach. They open up the
way into all you need. There is a key to God, a key to the Book of God,
and then there are three keys to this little John book.

_The key to God_ is in one little word. It has two spellings, sometimes
with four letters, sometimes with five, and both correct spellings. The
four-lettered spelling is for all the world. The five-lettered spelling
is chiefly used in the western half of the earth, and along certain
lines and in certain spots here and there in the eastern half where the
word is known.

That first spelling is l-o-v-e. God is love. Love is of God. _God is
always controlled by