THE PROBLEM OF FAITH 24 1 



always and everywhere makes for blessing can- 

 not be false. We conclude, therefore, that the 

 strongest and only sufficient counter influence to 

 the pessimism which logically results from a one- 

 sided study of this subject is derived from the 

 religion of Christ. The ideas of God and of salva- 

 tion — the possibility of escape from vicious lega- 

 cies — and of immortality, were taught not for 

 the first time by Jesus Christ, but it was He who 

 gave them sufficient sanction for the credence 

 of thoughtful men, and made them truths rather 

 than theories in the world ; and it is His teach- 

 ing regarding them which is now, as it has been 

 for eighteen centuries, the surest antidote to the 

 depression which must be felt when we face the 

 awful mysteries by which we are surrounded. 



R 



