224 CANON W. SAUMAREZ SMITH, B.D. 
evolution of good out of evil which tends in the direction of 
general progress; and that there is much general enjoyment 
of life. 
It must too be specially borne in mind that the inquiry is 
predominantly an ethical one. Buddhism and Epicureanism, 
or Hedonism, may be regarded as representing the opposite 
poles of the search into the true object of life; and it is 
only by some practical approximation to an ideal swmmum 
bonum that we can estimate the full meaning or value of life. 
Both these methods of viewing life lead to pessimism— 
one directly, the other in an indirect way. The former, by 
a universal negation of the happiness of conscious life, is 
blankly pessimist; the latter, by a mistaken affirmation that 
pleasurable sensation is the sole standard of human happi- 
ness, leaves the soul starved and helpless when it comes into 
contact with pain and death. Yet it should not be for- 
gotten that the existence and wide acceptance of Hedonistic 
standards, especially when pleasures like the pleasures of 
culture, of the pursuit of knowledge, and of intellectual 
activity are taken into consideration, point in an opposite 
direction to that of pessimistic philosophy. The inquiry 
into the worth of life, being an ethical one, is concerned 
with personal, subjective, mental conditions, rather than with 
external circumstances. Subjective joys, pleasures, aspira- 
tions, hopes, may outweigh all that seem, to an outside 
observer, to be pains and penalties of life. 
21. But without religion no firm standing-ground for the 
optimist can be reached. An infinite region of mystery 
lies beyond our reach which cannot be fathomed by finite 
science or philosophical speculation. 
The facts that we can reach show that, while pessimistic 
sentiment has a locus standi in the circumstances of human 
life and the things which condition it, pessimism as philo- 
sophy is irrational. On the other hand, the facts show that, 
while optimistic sentiment may sometimes lead to a flimsy 
and superficial estimate of life, optimism, as philosophy, is 
more rational than its opposite. It needs, however, to be 
complemented by religious sentiment and religious truth. 
For that there is a disturbing element which affects human 
nature and human society in a most painful manner is indis- 
putable ; and for this moral disturbance neither science nor 
philosophy can be the cure. 
21. The Christian religion recognises what lies at the basis 
of pessimistic sentiment, and yet enables us to gain a posi- 
tion in which practical optimism is perceived to be a true 
philosophy of hfe. Such optimism is the result of persistent 
