Above Life's Turmoil

is a stage of continual fighting, of fall¬ ing and rising, of sinning and repent¬ ing, for the man, still loving, and reluctant to leave, the gratifications in which he has so long lived, yet also aspires to the purity and excellence of the spiritual state, and he is continu¬ ally mortified by an undecided choice.

Urged on by the divine life within him, this stage becomes at last one of deep anguish and suffering, and then the soul is ushered into the third stage, that of knowledge^ in which the man rises above both sin and tempta¬ tion, and enters into peace.

Temptation, like contentment in sin, is not a lasting condition, as the ma¬ jority of people suppose; it is a pass¬ ing phase, an experience through which the soul must pass ; but as' to whether Sbc tBflcs of tCemiYtation 93 a man will pass through that condi¬ tion in this present life, and realise holiness and heavenly rest here and now, will depend entirely upon the strength of his intellectual and spirit¬ ual exertions, and upon the intensity and ardour with which he searches for Truth.

Temptation, with all its attendant torments, can be overcome here and now, but it can only be overcome by knowledge. It is a condition of dark¬ ness, or of semi-darkness. The fully enlightened soul is proof against all temptation.

When a man fully derstands the source, nature, and mean¬ ing of temptation, in that hour he will conquer it, and wfll rest from his long travail; but whilst he remains in ig¬ norance, attention to religious observ¬ ance, and much praying and reading *4 above %U€^B StttmofI of Scripture will fail to bring him peace.

If a man goes out to conquer an enemy, knowing nothing of his enemy’s strength, tactics, or place of ambnsh, he will not only ignominiously fail, but will speedily fall into the hands of the enemy. He who would over¬ come his enemy the tempter, must discover his stronghold and place of concealment, and must also find out the unguarded gates in his own fort¬ ress where his enemy effects so easy an entrance.