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
not without a long previous history. They are the mature effects of
former causes. Equally so are Rest and Peace and Joy. They, too, have
each a previous history. Storms and winds and calms are not accidents,
but brought about by antecedent circumstances. Rest and Peace are but
calms in man's inward nature, and arise through causes as definite and
as inevitable.
Realize it thoroughly; it is a methodical, not an accidental world. If
a housewife turns out a good cake, it is the result of a sound
receipt, carefully applied. She cannot mix the assigned ingredients
and fire them for the appropriate time without producing the result.
It is not she who has made the cake; it is nature. She brings related
things together; sets causes at work; these causes bring about the
result. She is not a creator, but an intermediary. She does not expect
random causes to produce specific effects--random ingredients would
only produce random cakes. So it is in the making of Christian
experiences. Certain lines are followed; certain effects are the
result. These effects cannot but be the result. But the result can
never take place without the previous cause. To expect results without
antecedents is to expect cakes without ingredients. That impossibility
is precisely