The School of Trial STOKES ANTHONY BENNETT          Trials are sometimes found to be preparatory schools, whose exacting curriculum and rigid discipline make for higher learning and accomplishment. These schools are so equipped as to purge each and every student of his ignorance of Principle, of indifference to Truth, of selfishness, unkindness, stupidity, and carelessness. Trials are under-tests in the study of hard lessons, which examine the learner and prove his highest worth. So uncompromising are their demands that they often seem capable of wholly dethroning one's mental upbuilding, thereby completely overpowering his cherished ideals and rendering, impossible the attainment of any knowledge of real value.          Trials often array themselves as determinative influences in the destinies of mortal man. People of every clime and class are summoned to deal with them, and there is no one who is totally exempt from their presence. Throughout all history mankind have battled against fleshly tribulations. Even the career of the best man that ever walked the earth was beset by trials of the most grievous type. On every hand they loomed up as seemingly colossal barriers to his progress; and like the Master, every man and woman who has been accorded a deserved place of honor in the world of achievement, has been obliged to travel a highway blocked by seemingly insurmountable difficulties.          Christian Science offers no easy road to success. Each seeker after its truth has more or less acquaintance with daily trial. This is especially true of the young student, and for the reason that to reach the summit of Christian achievement to which he aspires, he is forced to resist the pressing claims of material sense, to strive constantly to rise above them, and to "endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." He is obliged to awake from the mortal dream of pain and pleasure in things material, to realize that God, good, is the never-failing strength of man, and that besides Him "there is none else." In the words of Browning, he must forever know that "life means learning to abhor the false and to love the true, day by day."          The writer, in his endeavor to become a loyal student of Christian Science, has been severely disciplined in the school of life, and often have his lessons emphasized that verse in Hebrews which reads, "Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions." So disturbing and unrelenting have these trials been at times, that all has seemed "chaos and old night." But, with face turned upward and with a resolve to stand fearlessly for the right, he began to put into practice the little knowledge of Truth which he had, holding firmly in mind the words of the prophet Nahum, when he said, "The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him." Amid many disappointments, weariness, anxiety, and unrest, the promises of Holy Writ and the illuminations from the Christian Science textbook have never failed to strengthen and comfort him. Bravely facing his trials, they have disappeared, and in their stead have come hope, confidence, perseverance, and rest, — a sweet realization of God's omnipotence and omnipresence as portrayed in the Scriptural passage, "He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time."          As the writer looks back over the past, he notes trial upon trial, supplanted by blessing upon blessing. Having fallen, during numerous testing-times, into the abyss of despair, there have come to his aid that inspiration and upliftment which have given him the purest happiness, a peace which passes all human understanding. For this freedom, which only those who have experienced it can appreciate, he is wholly indebted to the light which has beamed forth from the Bible through Science and Health, and which is indeed "the light of the world." Joying in the allness and goodness of divine Love, he can truly say, in the lines of Celia Thaxter, — What tho' our eyes with tears be wet? The summer never failed us yet. Says Paul: "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." With the exception of Jesus, was there ever any one who had a chance to learn more through trials than Paul? Was a human being ever subjected to more painful and wicked persecution than this apostle? Still, Paul knew full well that his trials were but the effects of an unreal cause, a false sense, — a baseless and base intruder, — and that while for the moment they did afflict sorely, yet in his flesh he should see God. Looking away from matter and its accompaniments, he gazed steadfastly upon Spirit, and realized that ''whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." In his charge to Timothy we notice that mighty valiance, so marked in his every encounter with error, and we see the final reward for well-doing as he says, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."          Touching upon this thought, our revered Leader writes, "Through great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are proofs of God's care" (Science and Health, p. 66). Many hearts today bear grateful witness to the truth of these statements. Many are they who were once overwhelmed with cares and sorrows, but they have been guided, sustained, and made free by the revelation of Truth in Christian Science, and have entered "the secret place of the most High," which shields from every storm and disaster, and brings into experience the holy contentment of Love. By living in unceasing devotion to Him who is our "refuge" and our "fortress," our "shield and buckler," we are enabled to "abide," in blessed tranquillity, "under the shadow of the Almighty,'' and to know, as Mrs. Eddy tells us, that "every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger. The more difficult seems the material condition to be overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our faith and the purer our love" (Ibid., p. 410).          There is in the great West a woman whose cup of hardships was once filled to overflowing. As the mother of seven little children and as the wife of a wayward husband, her lot was most pitiable. Rougher and steeper grew the way, until utter peril faced the struggling heart. Verily was she as one "having no hope;" she had found for herself the barrenness of mortal nature, the cruelty of sensual things, and the mockery of a blind belief. At this point in her story, the love of Christian Science gained an entrance into consciousness, and almost with its first 'appearing' the afflicted family were rescued from the crushing grasp of error. The mother began to pray as she had never prayed before, and in her communion with ever-present, all-powerful good, she "heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."          Thus reassured, and taking new courage, which brought, as it always does, new strength, she commenced to throw off the burdens of sense, and for the first time to understand something of the Scriptural injunction, "Be still, and know that I am God." One by one the clouds were rolled away, until all was bright and promising: The children caught the inspiration of the mother, and responded as only children can. The husband, too, saw the sunlight of redemption reflected by his loving wife, and soon he was on the way to salvation: At last the day of joy unspeakable had come, the hour in which they realized that harmony is real and discord unreal.          Is it at all remarkable that this dear woman, before a church filled with people, should testify that in the overcoming of trials she was led to Truth? and is it at all strange that she should be grateful beyond measure to her who is Truth's apostle in this age, whose "Key to the Scriptures" has so unlocked the treasures of the Bible that this mother can, with a proof in her heart, proclaim the glad tidings of Zion? In her experience we witness a graduation from the preparatory school of trial, and find a noble soul at the threshold of a more complete, more lasting, more practical understanding of the truth of being.          It is surely becoming more and more obvious to the world that man is God's image and likeness, the ideal of divine Love, and that as such he is in possession of the good things which God has provided for all His children. The glorious victory of this mother, and of thousands of other struggling hearts, proves that in the warfare with evil men and women are beginning to recognize their God-given dominion, beginning to assert their God-given rights, and with undaunted confidence to declare with the poet, — Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high, Can keep my own away from me.   "The School of Trial" by Stokes Anthony Bennett The Christian Science Journal, October, 1909

 

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