reach up, and get them. And if used faithfully and simply they will be
found to unlock every page and line and difficult question.

_The back-door key_ hangs right at the back door. It is the very last
verse of chapter twenty. That really was the last chapter at first. The
thought of the book comes to a close there. The story is complete. Then
the Holy Spirit led John to add a little, a second last-chapter, an
added touch for good measure. Love is never content. It is always adding
more.

Here is the key: "_these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life through
His name_." This was John's whole thought in telling the Jesus-story.
The practical gripped him wholly and hard. This is the thing that guides
his selection of incidents. This purpose shapes the shape of the book.
It explains everything told, and just why it is told in just the way it
is told.

John lets Jesus walk before our eyes fresh from His Father's presence.
The mere fact of His presence, the winsomeness of His personality, the
clearness of His teaching, the power of His actions, the uncompromising
purity of His character amidst sin-stained crowds and sin-dirtied
surroundings, the unflinching rigidity of His ideals, the persuasiveness
of His very manner and tone of speech, the patience and gentleness, the
rugged granite strength, the mother tenderness, above all the
willingness to suffer so terribly,--all this is a plea, a tremendous
overpowering plea, all the stronger because presented so simply and
briefly. Jesus is a Lover and this is His wooing.

And John's one thought in writing is the same as the one thought in the