Read "Thomas Wingfold. Volume II" by George MacDonald online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
It often seems to those in earnest about the right as if all things / conspired to prevent their progress. This of course is but an / appearance, arising in part from this, that the pilgrim must be / headed back from the side paths into which he is constantly / wandering. To Wingfold, however, it seemed that all things fell in / to further his quest, which will not be so surprising if we remember / that his was no intermittent repentant seeking, but the struggle of / his whole energy. And there are those who, in their very first / seeking of it, are nearer to the kingdom of heaven than many who / have for years believed themselves of it.
In the former there is more of the mind of Jesus, and when he calls / them they recognize him at once and go after him; while the others / examine him from head to foot, and, finding him not sufficiently / like the Jesus of their conception, turn their backs, and go to / church, or chapel, or chamber, to kneel before a vague form mingled / of tradition and fancy. But the first shall be last, and the last / first; and there are from whom, be it penny or be it pound, what / they have must be taken away because with them it lies useless.