Evening journal., 1911-10-07
PESSIMIZING
BY The REV. R. 1. JACKSON

II is q new mama for an old occupa-
tion. Men have pessimized time out
Of mind. Ages ago they declared with
the author Of Ecclesiastes, Vanity Of
Vanities. all is Vanity" What profit
hath man of all his labor wherein he
laboreth under the sun? For all his
days are but sorrows and his travail
Is grief"
The age we live in Ia especially
prolific IN pessimizers There are
the Schopenhauers and Won Hart
msnns who pessimize in terms
Of metaphysics. Existence is misery
and sorrow. Existence is due to.wiIi.
We exist by willing to exist. Therefore
to end existence and with It misery
and sorrow men must suppress the
will to live. Each individual in sup
pressing his personal will to live helps
TO suppress the Universal viii, a con-
summation TO be greatly desired
The philosophical pessimist has de-
olared that If creation as we know it,
life as we possess or undergo II, were
the work of a conscious creator, then
He was the greatest Of all wrong
doors. He must have been an ill-ad-
vised God, who would make no better
sport than TO charge himself with SO
lean and hungry world" Philoso-
phical pessimism assures that an un-
moral impersonal force is the sover-
eign and ultimate srbiter Of human ex-
istenee. and that 1t has done its last
and best with it.
Then there are those who know
nothing Of the speculations Of the
philosophers. Their pessimizing grows
out Of personal practical experience
and observation. They have expert
enced something Of mans inhumanity
TO man. They have been the victims Of
the cruelties Of human greed and lust
They have been harshly dealt with by
the Fates. They have seen the hypo-
crisies Of humanity. They have OBJ
! served how men care for what Is
worthless and evanescent The world
seems TO them 20 grow worse rather
than better. Men seem TO become more
selfish and grasping. No change for
the better seems in sight. Under such
conditions II were better not to bo.
Strains like these are heard today on
every hand. There iSno bright future
on earth for humanity. The drama OF
human life ia to turn out a terrible
tragedy.
This attitude OF mind toward things
springs IN the last analysis from
mems failure TO believe that a per
sonal mighty Moral Will is in control
l OF the world and Is slowly but surely
| lifting IL out OF evil conditions.
The failure to believe in such q
sovereign controller Of things means
the forfeiture OF one OF the most pre-
cious Of all spiritual possessions
namely hope And when there Is nc
hope, no expectation that, do what one
] will, things cannot and will not i'm
prove. then the motive power OF moral
effort is gone. Remember that In
/ pessimizing you are cutting the nerve
OF human endeavor after better con-
! ditions, your own endeavor and your
| fellow mans. Is not this the thing that
| is taking place today? We need a re-
vival Of personal belief in the ability
and willingness Of God to make the
world increasingly better, nay more
a revival of personal belief that this is
what He Is actually doing. Out of such
a revival will come what Is sadly need
ed today, namely strong courageous
endeavor on the part Of every man to
make II better.
Il hold that It becomes no man to
nurse despair,
But in the teeth Of clenched antago-
nisms
To follow up the worthiest till he die. "