Chapter 9

Tests

A READER in South Africa asks: ‘’Why do those who set out to live the life of the Spirit meet, before long, with such setbacks and discouragements? It seems unfair that those who make no effort to live a higher life are not opposed in this way, while those who try to do good and be good have to meet and overcome tests and trials.”

This has always been the case. There is only one Path really, although each seeker of the Kingdom may think that he is travelling a different one. For instance, the modern seeker, calling himself New Thought, Divine Science, or what not, may think that he is following a different and—let us whisper it!—superior path to that travelled by, say, John Bunyan, but he is not. It is the same Path, and, in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress you will find a description of all the difficulties and tests that the soul has to meet, written in some of the most charming and beautiful English that has ever been penned. And John Bunyan was an uneducated tinker! Which proves that he was inspired by the Spirit when he wrote his immortal work.

Because there is only one Path, along which all must travel, saviour, master, initiate, saint, and ordinary people such as we, all seekers of the Kingdom of God are subject to the same laws. The most ‘’modern’’ thinker has to pass through precisely the same experiences as did those of old. By no amount of thought-power can anyone avoid a single test or experience; but, by his steadfastness, he can overcome where others of weaker resolve would fail.

When we first set out on the Path, having decided with a glad heart to give our whole lives to God, and to make the search for the Kingdom our principal aim, we go along very swimmingly for a time. We are intensely happy and lifted up. It seems so easy, too, tripping light-heartedly along the Path in this way, without a cloud in the sky, rejoicing in the freedom and liberty of the Spirit. Old temptations seem to be left behind forever; weaknesses appear to be overcome once and for all; while delightful spiritual influences seem to be attending our way. We sing with a glad heart the early part of the twenty-third Psalm, but cannot understand the verse referring to the valley of the shadow.

But, after a time, we come to our first hurdle. It is not going to be such an easy thing as we imagined. The hurdle appears to be too high for any human being to jump, or even climb, over. Here is a setback—no thoroughfare! If we try to find a path round the obstacle we become landed in much greater difficulties. Evidently there is no way round; either we must overcome the difficulty or go back to the place from which we have come. Which is it to be? To go on, even if it be possible, seems to lead to nothing but trouble, difficulty, darkness, and danger. Looking back we can see the alluring lights of the City from which we came—the City of Destruction. In the distance we can hear sounds of revelry and the banging of doors. Here we are, out in the darkness of the cold night with an apparently insuperable barrier in front of us, and beyond that—what? What is the use of trying to go on? Why not go back and be comfortable instead of suffering in this unpleasant way? WHICH IS IT TO BE?

This is the first test. You all know the result. Those who are not in earnest, who are not fired by a resolve that no opposition can conquer, and a desire for the Kingdom that no discouragement can quench, go back from whence they came. They have proved their unsuitability for the stern life of spiritual attainment, that they are not fit to scale the heights of God. For such let the incense of our prayers ascend, for they need all the help that we can give. But those who are in earnest, those whose whole desire is fixed upon God, who will not falter, who refuse to go back, and who are prepared to die in their tracks, if necessary, rather than give up the quest, these are the ones who go forward. Nothing can stop them, for there is no power in heaven or hell that can stop a soul aflame with the desire to find the Kingdom and to see God. When the test is completed, and the steadfastness of the aspiring soul proved, the obstacle melts away and the victorious march is resumed.

And so we go on. Before each step forward there is the time