conditions are fulfilled, is omnipotent, but not blind prayer. Blind
prayer is a superstition. Prayer, in its true sense, contains the sane
recognition that while man prays in faith, _God acts by law_. What
that means in the immediate connection we shall see presently.

What, then, is the remedy? It is impossible to doubt that there is a
remedy, and it is equally impossible to believe that it is a secret.
The idea that some few men, by happy chance or happier temperament,
have been given the secret--as if there were some sort of knack or
trick of it--is wholly incredible and wrong. Religion must be for all,
and the way into its loftiest heights must be by a gateway through
which the peoples of the world may pass.

I shall have to lead up to this gateway by a very familiar path. But
as this path is strangely unfrequented where it passes into the
religious sphere, I must ask your forbearance for dwelling for a
moment upon the commonest of commonplaces.


I. EFFECTS REQUIRE CAUSES.

Nothing that happens in the world happens by chance. God is a God of
order. Everything is arranged upon definite principles, and never at
random. The world, even the religious world, is governed by law.
Character is governed by law. Happiness is governed by law. The
Christian experiences are governed by law. Men, forgetting this,
expect Rest, Joy, Peace, Faith to drop into their souls from the air
like snow or rain. But in point of fact they do not do so; and if they
did, they would no less have their origin in previous activities and
be controlled by natural laws. Rain and snow do drop from the air, but