Travelling Much More Difficult Than Looking at Maps

“When we look at tow7is 071 a 77iap we thi7ik the way to ihe7n easy, as if our foot were as 7ii77ible as our thoughts; but we are soo?t discouraged a7id tired, whe7i we 77ieet with dangerous a7id craggy passages, a7td co77ie to learn the differ e7tce between gla7ici7ig at the way and serious e7tdeavours to traverse it. So 17i 77iatters of religion, he that ejideavours to bri7ig Christ a7id his soul together, befo7-e he hath do7ie, will be forced to sit dow7i a7id cry. Lord, help 77ie/” He means that faith is no such child’s play as some dream: it appears easy enough, and yet when the awakened soul comes to seek the Lord in earnest, it finds out its own insufficiency. It is well when this discovery comes speedily, and is clearly made, so that the heart early in the morningcasts itself on God for everything, and docs not waste the day in searching for water in its own broken cisterns. We need as much to look to Christ for faith as by faith.

Our author also sets forth the difference between theory and experience. Grace in the book is one thing, and grace in the heart is another. To build on paper by drawing elaborate plans has been the amusement of many a fool who could not lay one brick upon another. We must beware of resting in mere words and confiding in head knowledge, and we must come to soHd, substantial facts. A man may dream that he is among the stars, and may suddenly wake to find that he has battered his face against the post of his bed: dreaming, doting, and theorizing are poor substitutes for “real” experience of divine things.