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第9章

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the way to get them。  No one will get them without praying; but

that men do not get them by praying is a simple fact。  We have all

prayed; and sincerely prayed; for such experiences as I have named;

prayed; believing that that was the way to get them。  And yet have

we got them?  The test is experience。  I dare not limit prayer;

still less the grace of God。  If you have got them in this way;

it is well。  I am speaking to those; be they few or many; who have

not got them; to ordinary men in ordinary circumstances。  But if we

have not got them; it by no means follows that prayer is useless。

The correct conclusion is only that it is useless; or inadequate

rather; for this particular purpose。  To make prayer the sole

resort; the universal panacea for every spiritual ill; is as radical

a mistake as to prescribe only one medicine for every bodily trouble。

The physician who does the last is a quack; the spiritual advisor

who dies the first is



Grossly ignorant of his profession。



To do nothing but pray is a wrong done to prayer itself; and can

only end in disaster。  It is as if one tried to live only with the

lungs; as if one assimilated only air and neglected solid food。

The lungs are a first essential; the air is a first essential; but

the body has many members; given for different purposes; secreting

different things; and each has a method of nutrition as special to

itself as its own activity。  While prayer; then; is the characteristic

sublimity of the Christian life; it is by no means the only one。

And those who make it the sole alternative; and apply it to purposes

for which it was never meant; are really doing the greatest harm

to prayer itself。  To couple the word 〃inadequate〃 with this might

word is not to dethrone prayer; but to exalt it。



What dethrones prayer



is unanswered prayer。  When men pray for things which do not come

that waypray with sincere belief that prayer; unaided and alone;

will compass what they askthen; not getting what they ask; they

often give up prayer。



This is the natural history of much atheism; not only an atheism of

atheists; but a more terrible atheism of Christians; an unconscious

atheism; whose roots have struck far into many souls whose

last breath would be spent in denying it。  So; I repeat; it is a

mistaken Christianity which allow men to cherish a blind belief in

the omnipotence of prayer。  Prayer; certainly; when the appropriate

conditions are fulfilled; is omnipotent; but not blind prayer。

Blind prayer is 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 secretas if there were some sort

of knack or trick of itis 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 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 effectsrandom

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



The almost universal expectation。



Now what I mainly wish to do is to help you firmly to grasp this

simple principle of Cause and Effect in the spiritual world。  And

instead of applying the principle generally to each of the Christian

experiences in turn; I shall examine its application to one in

some little detail。  The one I shall select is Rest。  And I think

any one who follows the application in this single instance will

be able to apply it for himself to the others。



Take such a sentence as this:  African explorers are subject to

fevers which cause restlessness and delirium。



Note the expression; 〃cause restlessness。〃  RESTLESSNESS HAS A CAUSE。

Clearly; then; any one who wished to get rid of restlessness would

proceed at once to deal with the cause。  If that were not removed;

a doctor might prescribe a hundred things; and all might be taken

in turn; without producing the least effect。  Things are so arranged

in the original planning of the world that certain effects must

follow certain causes; and certain causes must be abolished before

certain effects can be removed。  Certain parts of Africa are

inseparably linked with the physical experience called fever; this

fever is in turn infallibly linked with a mental experience called

restlessness and delirium。  To abolish the mental experience the

radical method would be to abolish the physical experience; and

the way of abolishing the physical experience would be to abolish

Africa; or to cease to go there。



Now this hold good for all other forms of Restlessness。  Every other

form and kind of Restlessness in the world had a definite cause;

and the particular kind of Restlessness can only be removed by

removing the allotted cause。



All this is also true of Rest。  Restlessness has a cause:  must

not REST have a cause?  Necessarily。  If it were a chance world we

would not expect this; but; being a methodical world; it cannot be

otherwise。  Rest; physical rest; moral rest; spiritual rest; every

kind of rest has a cause; as certainly as restlessness。  Now causes

are discriminating。  There is one kind of cause for every particular

effect and no other; and if one particular effect is desired; the

corresponding cause must be set in motion。  It is no use proposing

finely devised schemes; or going through general pious exercises

in the hope that somehow Rest will come。  The Christian life is

not casual; but causal。  All nature is a standing protest against

the absurdity of expecting to secure spiritual effects; or any

effects; without the employment of appropriate causes。  The Great

Teacher

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