The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-02-15
For the Central Presbyterian.
ooh! You are a Pessimist 7"
BY REV. R. L. DABNEY, D. D.

Mankind loves to cheat itself. When
there is an unpleasant truth or duty to
be faced, and it knows or suspects that
there is no honest evasion therefrom !;
then it Graves a cheat which it may use
as blind with itself while resisting
that truth or duty. The 'handiest' of
these cheats is catchaOord.' 1t comes so
easy. 1t passes for quintessence of
argument preserved in wit. ANY fool
can utter it, whether he has any wit, or
understands the argument, or not. Thus
any admonition pointing to evil conse-
quences, we used to call "jeremiad. I"
The admonisher was "blue." Now
when a man is making up his mind to
eat his own solemnly avowed princi-
pies, the friend who reminds him of
them is, Bourbon" ("Learns moth
ing, and forgets nothing" because
forsooth, he hasn't learned inconsistency
and forgotten morality) But the ne
PttS-atltrG of this wit-wisdom, which has
come latest from Boston, is to silence the
man who says that crime tends to
calamity, by crying cob, you are
Pessimist" That is a sufficient reply
to the most profound historical argu-
ment in the world
We wonder how many of the people
who use this gibe know where it comes
from? There is a school Of thought
known as Pessimism, in Germany. Its
title seems to have been suggested by
contrast to the name of the "Optimists. .
This school, arguing from the wisdom,
benehcence, and power of the God who
made and governs the world, inferred
haf ,ho+
perience or observe, we must believe this
the best possible world" because it is
just the world a sovereign God chooses
to have; and he is too wise and good to
prefer any but the best possible. Now,
the opposite school, having adopted the
destructive idealism which blots out a
personal God, has concluded that the
course of events is absolutely controlled
by blind, eternal necessity, which gives
us the worst possible world; that the
tendency of this matamaLiSn1uS which
governs all remorselessly, is to the de-
struction of the good and the happy, and
the diffusion of the greatest aggregate of
pain and wrong.
Hence it is obvious that the gibe is
usually lie; and the thoughtful man
gibed at is exactly the opposite of real
pessimist. The true pessimist is an
atheist; the subject of the fling is
usually a devout, anxious Christian
The pessimist believes that things, -
not be be- made any b Ret5toc~ The other de- e.
h!H u % make things better, and urges his
warning solely with this end. The
Possimist is malignant; processes to have
no hope for himself, and glories in his
desperation of the welfare of all others
the other is benevolent, and warns his
fellows because he has both hope and
love for them. The pessimist holds that
all is for the aOor8t The other thinks
some things are III, or are aOoyse than he
wishes them: and says so that they NAV
not go on to the aOorSt.
The fling thinks itself witty; while in
fact it Is simply unprincipled. The eau
ton against the evils in the future always
aims at the benevolent end Of stunning
the evil by reforming the sins which
provoke it. The motive of the gibe.
stated In plain English, would be: 1--WE
love the sins, and therefore are not will
ing to reform them and we don't care
who is hurt by the mischievous con-
quences: and we want pretext for the
SAAiCJ W CO'Fi 'uI real uOJlV6. 90 let
us cry, Pesslmist" What is all this.
but satanic selfshness?
But there is such thing as taking an
over-gloomy view of events? Yes. Is
there not wrong in it? Yes. But it is
far less wrong than the habit of taking
the overwhelming view of the future,
especially when this is prompted by the
desire to shirk duty and effort. This is
a bad world now Many and potent
sources Of harm are at work in it. Evils
must be recognized in order to be
obviated or cured. He who resolves that
the evils of society shall not be looked in
the face, thereby resolves that, so far as
he is concerned, they shall not be re-
moved. 1t is the Aatterer Of the times
not the cynic, who is the true malignant.
The objects Of this gibe have the con-
ISOLATION Of being in remarkably good
company. General Lee was 'fpes-
simist, when he warned the people that
unless they were more faithful to their
country, they would be subiugated. But
they are subjugatedl Mr.. Jefferson was
q "pessimist," when he said that the
voice Of sectional controversy was " a
fire-bell in the night" But sectionalism
destroyed the government. Mr.. Cal
houn was " q pessimist, when be warned