--_Francis Thompson, in "The Hound of Heaven_."

"These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name."--_John xx.
31_.




I

John's Story



The Heart-strings of God.


There's a tense tugging at the heart of God. The heart-strings of God
are tight, as tight as tight can be. For there's a tender heart that's
easily tugged at one end, and an insistent tugging at the other. The
tugging never ceases. The strings never slack. They give no signs of
easing or getting loose.

It's the tug of man's sore need at the down-end, the man-end, of the
strings. And it's the sore tug of grief over the way things are going on
down here with men, at the other end, the up-end, the heart-end, of the
strings. It's the tense pull-up of a love that grows stronger with the
growth of man's misunderstanding.