The Washington herald., 1907-08-24
THE OPTIMIST.

one Of the great needs IN a hopeful
outlook on life, without which the
best work Of which a man Is capable Is
not possible, Is faith The mistake is
too often made Of regarding faith as
merely a passive force. whereas in real
ity faith is mind at it's best, its bravest,
its nercest AS Dr.. Parkhurst once said;
Faith is thought become poetry, and
absorbing into itself the souls great
passions. Faith is intellect carried up
TO its transngurement Faith IS the
heroism Of intellect
Without fass::AA q man cen do nothing
with II he can accomplish his highest
destiny But il must be used! To get
all there IS out of life one must have
faith in the ultimate deeency OF things;
one must believe that this gray old world
Of ours is not rolling aimlessly Through
space. its myriads of people living for
a day and dying TO no purpose One
must know In his heart that we, no mat
ter how insignificant our station, are
put here to add TO the general sum Of
goodness. of loving kindness, Of honesty,
OF charity OF spirit: and by our work.
and no less than by our faith. TO help
the world on its way.
Hannah More expressed something OF
this thought when she wrote:
IF faith produce no works. I see
That faith is not living tree.
Thus faith and MOTIFS together grow
No separate life they e'er can know
They're soul and body. hand and heart
What God hath Joined. let no msn part.
To get through this life with colors
flying. and without being utterly dis
mayed By the thought Of the many be-
fore us who have gone down In bitter
defeat. needs the courage which faith
alone can give. Whatever enlarges hope
will exslt courage. and nothing caR 20
enlarge hope as abiding and constant
faith
Faith" says Theodore Parker, gives
q man c0urage-I mean the higher moral
courage which can look danger in the
face unawed and undismayed; the courage
that can encounter loss Of ease, OF wealth
Of friends, Of your own good name; the
courage that can face a world Of bowling
and Of sc0sn-aye. Of loathing and ei
hate; can see all this with a smile. and
suffering It all, can still toll on. con-
sclous of the result, yet fearless still"
The right sort Of faith, II one mas
carry II in his heart as a constant com
panion, VIII aid a man over many q
tight place. Things may all go wrong
to-day, but faith will help Us TO loOh
optimistieally toward the tomorrow; e
say with Pope:
For modes Of faith let gTscolsss zealots fight;
his can't be wrong whose life IS IN the right.
Il Is not necessary that faith. TO be
OF an abiding help to man. should b'
faith in this or that creed or dogma. Il
needs only that faith should enable Us
70 fix our eyes on the distant star anc
know that toward higher ideals and no
bier goals than man has dreamed we ar.
all faring at the last
We need 20 know shat We are moving
upward; forward into the light. and
that our own puny little endeaver il
/ helping the great movement BY so much
And that leads US 10 the true spirit
and meaning Of optimism: TO hei1, ao
70 hinder; to lift, not TO drag down; (,
work. not 10 idle. II IS 20 this peace
/ ful and happy vale that faith points IN,
way-those steps Of faith which, al
Teunyson says, are:
The great worlds altar-stairs.
That slope through darkness up 20 God.