is done by God. Causes and effects are eternal arrangements, set
in the constitution of the world; fixed beyond man's ordering.
What man can do is to place himself in the midst of a chain of
sequences. Thus he can get things to grow. But the power is the
Spirit of God.

What more need I add but this--test the method by experiment. Do
not imagine that you have got these things because you know how to
get them. As well try to feed upon a cookery book. But I think
I can promise that if you try in this simple and natural way, you
will not fail. Spend the time you have spent in sighing for fruits
in fulfilling the conditions of their growth. The fruits will come,
must come. We have hitherto paid immense attention to EFFECTS, to
the mere experiences themselves; we have described them, extolled
them, advised them, prayed for them--done everything but find out
what CAUSED them. Henceforth

Let us deal with causes.

"To be," says Lotze, "is to be in relations." About every other
method of living the Christian life there is an uncertainty. About
every other method of acquiring the Christian experiences there is
a "perhaps." But in so far as this method is the way of nature,
it cannot fail. Its guarantee is the laws of the universe--and
these are "the Hands of the Living God."

The true vine.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that