The solution of the divinest mystery is not attainable by turning at once to the Father, as if demanding a solution before we realise the full force of our problem. When, granted intimate knowledge of the waywardness of the human heart, we can look upon the passions and contests of men and still see the love of God fulfilled, then indeed shall we be able to love both God and man in high degree. If God is love, His productive heart is profoundly involved in these questions. Possibly we have not taken into full account the far-reaching means to the high end to be attained through our sufferings. Possibly we have held an arbitrary, exclusive idea of love, instead of looking for its law even in the despised things of life.

We may well begin by more generously accepting the entire human cosmos, in search of a larger view of love as a universal power. Whatever love may appear to be, however transcendent, it is plain that men have always been deeply influenced by the theories of love that have prevailed. So long as this is the case it will be possible to further the cause of love by propounding a better view.

To say this is not, however, to be unmindful of the fact that there is an element which surpasses even the most appreciative description. Love is as rich, as mysterious as life itself; and we all know how life eludes us, now drawing from us expressions of bitter discontent, now eliciting our