218 CANON W. SAUMAREZ SMITH, B.D. 
Shaftesbury, who thought that ‘ good-humour was not only 
the best security against enthusiasm, but the best foundation 
of piety and true religion ;’? the complacent optimism re- 
presented in Pope’s Hssay on Man; the emotional optimism 
of Rousseau, were all provocative of such counter-statements, 
and needed the correction thus supplied. These optimists 
failed to recognise sufficiently the existence and operation of 
evil in the world; and I think we may safely say that none . 
of the three mentioned were ‘‘ religious’ enough to see the 
true solution of the controversy between the optimistic and 
the pessimistic views of life. They were one-sided theorists, 
and neglected to consider the facts which told against their 
rose-coloured schemes. ‘The pessimist is unfair in refusing 
to take note of the tendencies to good which exhibit them- 
selves in nature and human nature. The “theoretical” 
optimist, on the other hand, does not fairly confront the 
darker side of the problem, and becomes an unsafe guide, 
because he is a partial judge. ‘To concede that all is bad, 
and that life is a hopeless illusion, is to fly in the face of a 
great many patent facts, both in individual life and in the 
history of the human race. To argue, on the contrary, that 
all is good, and that what we call evil is only imperfection, 
and may be put out of account in our estimate of the progress 
of the race, is also against the facts which we are bound to 
consider. 
10. But the concession that all is not good, and 
that there are mysteries of pain and eyil, which must 
prevent us from the dogmatic assertion — “ One thing 
is clear, whatever is, ws right,’—will not prevent the 
“practical”? optimist from arguing that ‘‘ whatever is, 
is” on the road “to right.’ Do the facts, taken all 
together, allow us to admit that evil is an absolute and irre- 
mediable anomaly in the affairs of men? What is the 
universal tendency of things? Is it good or bad? These 
are inquiries in reference to which we may hope to attain 
practical information and guidance, even where we may not 
acquire complete knowledge. But, primarily, we must 
~ neither deny nor with a light heart attenuate, the fact that 
what is for us evil exists and operates. A dissonance and dis- 
cord make themselves felt which forbid the assertion that the 
present condition of things is “the best possible,” or as 
good as it might be, if circumstances were different; and 
this disturbing element in our contemplation of the world 
and of life demands investigation. 
The existence of this disturbance is indisputable, and must 
be examined by every truth-seeker who wishes either to 
