ms forced upon us by circumstances
than to exercise control over the circumstances, and make them bend to
God's holy will. It is a great deal easier to take counsel of
inclination, and to put the reins in the hands of impulses, passions,
desires, tastes, or even habits, than it is, at each fresh moment, to
seek for fresh impulses from a fresh illumination from the ancient and
yet ever fresh truth. The old kings of France used to be kept with all
royal state in the palace, but they were not allowed to do anything. And
there was a rough, unworshipped man that stood by their side, and who
was the real ruler of the realm. That is what a great many professing
Christians do with their creeds. They instal them in some inner chamber
that they very seldom visit, and leave them there, in dignified
idleness, and the real working ruler of their lives is found elsewhere.
Let us see to it, brethren, that all our thoughts are incarnated in our
deeds, and that all our deeds are brought into immediate connection with
the great principles of God's word. Live by that law, and we live at
liberty.

And, then, remember that this translating of creed into conduct is the
only condition of growing illumination. When we act upon a belief, the
belief grows. That is the source of a great deal of stupid obstinacy in
this world, because men have been so long accustomed to go upon certain
principles that it seems incredible to them but that these principles
should be true. But that, too, is at the bottom of a great deal of
intelligent and noble firmness of adherence to the true. A man who has
tested a principle because he has lived upon it has confidence in it
that nobody else can have.

Projectors may have beautiful specifications with attractive pictures of
their new inventions; they look very well upon paper, but we must see
them working before we are sure of their worth. And so, here is this
great body of Divine truth, which assumes to be sufficient for guidance,
for conduct, for comfort, for life. Live upon it, and thereby your grasp
of it and your confidence in it will be immensely increased. And no man
has a right to say 'I have rejected Christianity as untrue,' unless he
has put it to the test by living upon it; and if he has, he will never
say it. A Swiss traveller goes into a shop and buys a brand-new
alpenstock. Does he lean upon it with as much confidence as another man
does, who has one with the names of all the mountains that it has he