epistle of which the first chapter contains as dark and searching an
indictment of our nature as the mind of man has ever drawn. Let me
rehearse the appalling catalog that the radiance of the apostle's
optimism may appear the more abounding: "Senseless hearts," "fools,"
"uncleanness," "vile passions," "reprobate minds," "unrighteousness,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife,
deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent,
haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, without understanding,
covenant breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful." With
fearless severity the apostle leads us through the black realms of
midnight and eclipse. And yet in the subsequent reaches of the great
argument, of which these dark regions form the preface, there emerges
the clear, calm, steady light of my optimistic text. I say it is not
the buoyancy of ignorance. It is not the flippant, light-hearted
expectancy of a man who knows nothing about the secret places of the
night. The counselor is a man who has steadily gazed at light at
its worst, who has digged through the outer walls of convention and
respectability, who has pushed his way into the secret chambers and
closets of life, who has dragged out the slimy sins which were lurking
in their holes, and named them after their kind--it is this man who
when he has surveyed the dimensions of evil and misery and contempt,
merges his dark indictment in a cheery and expansive dawn, in an
optimistic evangel, in which he counsels his fellow-disciples to
maintain the confident attitude of a rejoicing hope.

Now, what are the secrets of this courageous and energetic optimism?
Perhaps, if we explore the life of this great apostle, and seek to
discover its springs, we may find the clue to his abounding hope.
Roaming then through the entire records of his life and teachings,
do we discover any significant emphasis? Preeminent above all other