us while he was still living. So there was
a sheltering from personal embarrassment.

He came to his own and his own received him not. _He_--Jesus came to
_His_ own and they that were His own received Him not. Aye, there's more
to add: He _comes_ to His own--you and me--to-day. And His own--

You and I must finish that sentence, each in his own way. And we will;
and we do. We may copy out in our lives just what these men of old did
as told by John. Some of us do. We _may_ do some fine revision work on
the text of John's version as we translate it now into the experience of
our own hearts, and into the life of our own lives. That's the only way
to understand the next sentence about being taken into the family of God
and sharing the fullness of life that is common there.

And this bit that is put down here is only a bit of copy work. _These
things_ are talked and written only that we may be given a lift into
closer touch of heart and life with the Christ, the Son of God, and the
Brother and Saviour of men.

II

The Wooing Lover

_Who it Was that Came_

"But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat--and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet--
_'All things betray thee, who betrayest Me'_"

--"_The Hound of Heaven._"

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any
man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in
to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

--_Rev. iii. 20._

II

The Wooing Lover

(John i. 1-18.)

In His Own Image.

Love gives. It gives freely and without stint, yet always thoughtfully.
It gives itself out, its very life. This is its life, to give its life.
It lives most by giving most. So it comes into fullness of life.

So it _gets_. A thing of life, in its own image, comes walking eagerly
with outstretched arms to its embrace. It gives that it may get. Yet the
giving is the greater. It brings most joy.

This is the very essence of life, this giving creating spirit. It is
everywhere, in lower life and higher and highest, wherever the touch of
God has come. The sun gives itself out in life and light and warmth. And
out to greet it comes a bit of itself--the fine form and sweet fragrance
of the rose, the tender blade of grass, the unfolding green of the leaf,
the wealth of the soil, the song of the bird and the grateful a