The Penn's Grove record., 1915-11-26
The TESTS or life
Gods Provision That Permits
the Survival of Those Spirit
uaIIy Vigorous.

There is no process with which the
present age is more familiar than the
process of testing. Great mills and
factories nave their testing labora-
tories in which all the materials used
in the factory are tested. Firms will
not put their names or trademarks
upon articles which have not come
up to a certain standard, and it is by
a careful system of testing and inspec-
ton that the standard is applied.
Specimens of armor plate are tested
before the rest of the consignment is
placed upon the battleship. Speci-
mems of the sand and cement are
tested before the concrete is mixed
for the foundation of the great build
ings. Safety and profit depend on
having and employing articles whose
merit and durability are tested.
In proportion as an article is valu-
able, or in proportion TO the i'm
portance of the service the article is
to render, the test increases in rigid
ness and severity. The glass which
is to be used in the great lens of
some telescope is inspected with in
finitely more care than the glass that
is to be used for a window pane. The
bridge over which a few foot passen-
gers are expected to cross may be
very specifically tested, but no train
is permitted to pass over the new rail-
road bridge until it has been tried by
a weight far in excess of any train
that will use that bridge.
Sorting Fit From Unfit.
There are tests in the educational
life as we'll as in industrial and COM
mercial life. Examinations are held
in the schools, not merely to compel
the students to review the course, or
to have some basis on which to
grade them in their classes. Those
tests are as much for the sake of the
institution as for the sake of the in
dividual. For if any institution gets
the name of graduating those who
know little or nothing, those who
cannot fill the positions which they
attempt to hold, it's diplomas become
worthless, and no n is attracted to
that. institution. If inferior men are
admitted to the bar, or to the practice
Of medicine, public confidence in all
attorneys and physicians will be lost
There must be tests which will try a
mans mental worth.
Men who practice and approve OF
such tests, because they see the ad-
vantage of them, cannot be surprised
that God should make a frequent prac'
tice of testing men. And it is not meL
only that God tests. The forest is
tested by the storm. The weaklings
among the trees are OCCUPYING space
that might be better employed. From
such weaklings only a race of weak
lings could spring. By the storm the
weak are separated from the strong
and the forest is given as a posses
sion to the strong. In the life of the
lower animals there are two laws
which science has discovered: The
struggle for existence and the u
vival of the ittest. 1t seems like g
cruel and bloody arrangement, but ii
is process of testing in which only the
stronger and better survive.
Mar Most Severely rested.
But there is no creature so severely
tested as man. Disease tests his
physical strength and endurance. The
strenuousness of life gives prominence
only to those of large mental capacity
So also there are rigid tests of a
mans spiritual attainments. The ques.
ton of Gods permitting evil to en-
ter the world and bring so much of q
curse may be partially answered
here. Evil tests and permits to sur.
vive those of vigorous spiritual life.
By causing them to enter into this
struggle with evil the noble qualities
of soul are revealed and developed
and i n the end God will have a better
race than could be developed in any
other way. To no man could God
say, We'll done, good and faithful
servant, enter into the joy of thy
Lord" unless that mans goodness
and faith had been made evident I'M
der testing.
Nor need anyone be troubled by the
fact that the saint sometimes has
more to contend with than other men.
If tests increase in severity in pro-
portion to the value of the article, or
the Importance of it's service, then the
saint must expect to endure more
than others. Trials are a compliment,
If they are seen in that light. They
are a proof that God expects great
things of us, that he has an important
position waiting for US.