TEACHERS at swimming schools have a way of testing the courage of pupils, and at the same time of stimulating their confidence in the sustaining strength of what on the surface appears to be only a yielding flux of negative consistency, by sending them out on the springboard as soon as they have mastered the first lessons. The more courageous may then be observed to accept the ordeal with natural abandon, satisfied that the sagacity of the instructor would demand no effort beyond reason; others again will walk to the end of the board with no less display of valor, but at the crucial moment their attitude may suddenly change and show signs of incongruous fear, and neither persuasion nor example can induce them to act up to their professions made so bravely but a minute before.
Of the human tendency to evade the supreme test of faith the apostle says in Hebrews, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin," and he lays emphasis upon the example of Jesus as the author and "finisher" of our faith. The Scriptures abound in exhortations to implicit faith, and religious and secular teachers of all periods dwell upon the fact that without it nothing worth while can be accomplished; but it remained for the divine inspiration of Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, to bless humanity with a regular scientific course of instruction, whereby all may learn to cultivate this heavenly gift and become proficient therein, as one may in the pursuit of worldly studies, subject only to individual preparation, perception, and obedience to rules. The privilege of properly "finishing" a demonstration is thus brought within reach of every sincere student, and it may not infrequently be noted that cases under treatment are apt to be shortened or prolonged according to the spirit in which the challenge of faith is accepted and met.
When the children of Israel rebelled in the wilderness of Paran, afraid to enter into the promised land regardless of all the manifestations of divine presence and power they had been privileged to witness, was it not as in the case of the springboard? That Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb, remained faithful throughout, did not exempt them from participation in the long and weary years of exile which followed; neither did the stanch fidelity of the leaders spare the murmuring multitude a single one of the dire consequences of their skepticism. Again, at the siege of Jericho it was not Joshua's task to go alone through the symbolic acts of the demonstration, but inasmuch as all the people stood in line to enjoy the benefit, all were commanded to do their part; each one had to "finish" the test of faith for himself and thereby for the community.
