THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD

Charlotte Mason, from "Savior of the World", volume 1 
"The Holy Infancy"
pages 3-5

I

PROLOGUE TO THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO S. JOHN

INTIMATE, searching, inly witnessing
In every heart of man, behold, the WORD!

We know not whence we came; nor how became:
The WORD was in the beginning, and was God.

We may not know; but may know Him who knows;
For with the Word have all men secret speech.

The Word with the Father was ere time began:
He tells us of the Father all we know.

Whence came the world, and how were all things made ?
All things that be to-day are of the Word.
3


No longer baffled, we, by tortuous quest-
Whether all life proceed from two or many,
Whether our origins be high or low-
Those things concern the manner of our making:
In Him was life; that is enough to know:
How He dispersed the largess of His bounty,
'Twere good indeed to learn; and time will come
When ear to hear the whisper of the Word
Shall wake; a man, learned in the laws of things,
That he heard whispered by the Word, shall tell.
Till then we wait, not knowing whence we came,
But knowing Him from whom all doth proceed.

Nothing of all good things that have been made, 
Picture, or world, or book, without Him came.

Nor knowledge good for man can mankind know, 
But He vouchsafes it; He is all our light.

And every man who comes into the world 
By that true light is lighted, knowing it not.

The light in darkness shone ; darkness nor quench'd
Nor caught the light, but dark in the light remained.

He came unto the world that He had made 
And the world knew not Him, its life and light.
5
He came to His own people, called of Him, 
And they that were His own received Him not.

As many as received Him, they became 
Children of God, believing on His Name.

Our flesh the Word became, and dwelt with us,
And we beheld His glory, as, of God,
The only-begotten Son: we who believed
Knew glory when we saw it, by the signs-
Not of the pomp and majesty of Kings-
But Grace, the touch of God, showed sweet in Him;
And Truth, discerning all things, made Him simple,
his glory saw we-full of grace and truth.