problem, and in the hope that it may help some who are "seeking Rest and
finding none" to a firmer footing on one great, solid, simple
principle which underlies not the Christian experiences alone, but all
experiences, and all life.

What Christian experience wants is _thread_, a vertebral column, method.
It is impossible to believe that there is no remedy for its unevenness
and dishevelment, or that the remedy is a secret. The idea, also, 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. Religion must ripen its fruit for every temperament;
and the way even into its highest heights must be by a gateway through
which the peoples of the world may pass.

I shall try to lead up to this gateway by a very familiar path. But as
that path is strangely unfrequented, and even unknown, where it passes
into the religious sphere, I must dwell for a moment on the commonest of
commonplaces.




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