Character and Conduct – 20 March – Pessimism

THE next thing to speak of is a tendency in the world which is the very opposite of that of which we have spoken, but which is equally characteristic of a time when a new life and spirit is on the verge of taking its form.   As part of the fight of faith is to support and direct the first, so part of that battle is to weaken and oppose the doctrine that the world is going from bad to worse, that there is no regeneration for it, and that there ought to be none.   On this doctrine I have frequently spoken, but I do not hesitate to speak of it again.   It is the fashion to praise it;  it deserves no praise, it is detestable.   This is a favourite doctrine of the comfortable classes who are idle and luxurious or merely fantastic, and of a certain type of scientific men, both of whom are profoundly ignorant of the working world and of the poor, who hate this doctrine and despise it.   The sufferings of the poor and the oppressed are used as an argument in its favour, but, curiously enough, you scarcely ever find it held by the poor and the oppressed;- on the contrary, these are the creators and builders of Utopias;  out of this class grow those who prophesy a golden year.   Those who have most reason to despair never despair.

The Gospel of Joy, STOPFORD BROOKE.

OF all bad habits despondency is among the least respectable, and there is no one quite so tiresome as the sad-visaged Christian who is oppressed by the wickedness and hopelessness of the world.

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