Discipleship. 239
actions,notonlymustweknowtheactor'spast,
inwhichtherootsof theactionsarestruck,but
we must knowthe immediate past,thatwhich
immediatelyprecededtheaction. Sometimesa
wrongaction isdone,but it hasbeenpreceded
bya desperate struggle,in which every ounce
ofstrengthhasbeenputforth inresistance,and
only after complete exhaustion has the actionsupervened. From outside we see only the
failure,notthestruggle. But the strugglerhas
profitedbytheeffortsthatprecededthefailure
;
he is the stronger, the nobler,the better, and
hasdevelopedtheforceswhichwillenablehim
toovercomethedifficultywhen itnextpresents
itself, perchanceevenwithoutastruggle. Inthe
eyesofThosewhoseethewhole,andnotonly
afragment,thatmancondemned byhisfellows
asfallen hasreallyrisen,forhehaswonasthe
fruit of his combat the strengthwhich assures
himofvictory.
Thisdisciplestandsontheprobationarypath;
he is a candidate for initiation. He comes
underconditions different from those that sur-
roundmenintheouterworld; heisrecognised
aspledgedtotheserviceofLight,andhenceis
alsorecognisedasanopponentof the powerof
Darkness. Hisjoyswill be keener,his suffer-
ings sharper, than those experienced without.