'rock' crumbles into sand. Else why this restless change, why this
disquiet, why the constant repetition, generation after generation, of
the old, old wail, 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity'? Why does every
heart say Amen to the poet and the dramatist singing of 'the fever and
the fret,' the tragic fare of man's life?

Our appeal is not to men in the flush of excitement, but to them in
their hours of solitary sane reflection. It is from 'Philip drunk to
Philip sober.' We each have material for judging in our own case, and
in the cases of some others. The experiment of living with other
'rocks' than God has been tried for millenniums now. What has been the
issue? You know what Christianity claims that it can do to make a life
stable and safe. Do you know anything else that can? You know what
Christian men will calmly say that they have found. Can you say as
much? Let us hear some dying testimonies. Hearken to Jacob: 'The God
which hath fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which
redeemed me from all evil.' Hearken to Moses: 'The Rock, His work is
perfect, for all His ways are judgment, a God of faithfulness and
without iniquity, just and right is He.' Hearken to Joshua: 'Not one
good thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God
spake.' Hearken to David: 'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not
want .... Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life.' Hearken to Paul: 'The Lord stood by me and strengthened me, and
I was delivered ... the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and
will save me unto His heavenly kingdom.' What man who has chosen to
take refuge or build on men and creatures can look backward and forward
in such fashion?

III. Every man's own nature tells him that God is his true Rock.