274 THE WHENOE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN 



cherishing the good that falls in our way and bearing 

 the evil in and around us, with stout heart set on di- 

 minishing it. So far we all may strive in one faith 

 toward one hope : 



" ' It may be tliat the gulfs will wash us down, 

 It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles. 



. . . " but something ere the end, 

 Some work of noble note may yet be done.' " 



We must be strong and of a very good courage. 

 While the avoidance of pain and discomfort, or even 

 happiness, cannot be the proper end of Ufe, it is not a 

 world of misery or an essentially and hopelessly evil 

 world. There is plenty of misery in the world, and we 

 cannot deny it. Neither can we deny that God has put 

 us in the world to relieve misery, and that until we have 

 made every effort and strained every nerve as we have 

 never yet done, we, and not God, are largely respon- 

 sible for it. But behind misery stand selfishness and 

 sin as its cause. And here we must not parley but 

 fight. And the hosts of evil are organized and mighty. 

 " The sons of this world are for their own generation 

 wiser than the sons of light." And we shall never 

 overcome them by adopting their means. But we can 

 and shall surely overcome. For he that is with us is 

 more than they that be with them. " The skirmishes 

 are frequently disastrous to us^ but the great battles 

 all go one way." And we long for the glory of " him 

 that overcometh." But the victor's song can come only 

 after the battle, and be sung only by those who have 

 overcome. And we would not have it otherwise if we 



