And deep words of Scripture point in that direction. Those parables of
our Lord's: the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son, in their
infinite beauty, whilst they contain a great deal besides this, do
contain this in their several ways; the money, the animal, the man
belong to the woman of the house, to the shepherd, to the father. Each
is 'lost' in a different fashion, but the most clear revelation is
given in the last parable of the three, which explains the other two.
The son was 'lost' when he did not love the father; and he was 'found'
by the father when he returned the yearning of the father's heart.

And so, dear brethren, it ever is; the one thing that knits men to God
is that the silken cord of love let down from Heaven should by our own
hand be wrapped round our own hearts, and then we are united to Him. We
are His and He is ours by the double action of His love manifested by
Him, and His love received by us.

Now there is nothing in all that of favouritism. The declaration that
there are people who have a special relationship to the divine heart
may be so stated as to have a very ugly look, and it often has been so
stated as to be nothing more than self-complacent Pharisaism, which
values a privilege principally because its possession is an insult to
somebody else that has it not.

There has been plenty of Christianity of that sort in the world, but
there is nothing of it in the thoughts of these texts rightly looked
at. There is only this: it cannot but be that men who yield to God and
love Him, and try to live near Him and to do righteousness, are His in
a manner that those who steel themselves against Him and turn away from
Him are not. Whilst all creatures have a place in His heart, and are
flooded with His benefits, and get as much of Him as they can hold, the