failing them. In almost all these cases religion had been simply passed
by as a thing hardly relevant to real life, and it has been plain
beyond all question that the trouble in the sphere of marriage could
not be mended till something had happened to the persons concerned--in
other words, till they had learnt to seek and use the help of God. And
often they know it for themselves. "I think what I really need is God,"
said one very troubled wife to me a few years ago. But she had begun
with a long and moving story about her marriage. She indeed went on to
ask how God can be found, and it may be that some of my readers will at
once want to ask that question, I cannot attempt to deal with it here
and now. The first great step towards finding Him is to realize that we
need Him, and so to begin to seek Him. And for the rest I can only add
that thousands upon thousands have proved in life the truth of what
Jesus claimed when He announced "I am the Way." I have written this
book largely because I have with reason and out of experience so great
a faith in the possibilities of the love that is consummated in
marriage that I would fain testify to others concerning it. But I would
none the less like to warn any man or any woman lest he or she should
imagine that by human love alone life's problem can be solved. Without
God we fail in life, and the bitterest part of the failure for many is
that even that beautiful and delicate thing marriage fails with the
rest. "We are restless till we rest in Thee," and two restless hearts
cannot be happy hearts even though they be joined together in the bonds
of love.





CHAPTER XII