On certain parts of the English coast calamitous landslips occur
from time to time. Massive cliffs rise far above the level of
the sea and seem solidly socketed into the earth below. But
these rest, through some geological “fault,” on sharply inclined
planes of clay. The moisture trickling through the cliffs in
course of time tells on the slippery substance below till this
becomes like the greased way down which a ship is launched.
The day comes when the whole cliff, with its hundreds of feet
of buttresses, slides bodily down, crashing to the rocks or
into the water. Our human nature has in it a moral stratum of
irresolution on which it is not safe to build our character. We
must go down to the rock-bed of decision and must rest on the
foundation of conviction that can not be shaken. Let us see to
it that conviction of truth is formed within us. (Text.)
(1451)