piness and well-being. They come and pass away as
phases of what we must believe is an evolution towards higher things.
But this is the question: Have they who compose this lonely and sombre
procession no claims upon their Maker in the meanwhile?

I do not believe that one human soul will fail of absolute, abundant,
and rich compensation, in those eternal years that are at God's right
hand. I have a word to say about this later, but for the present I may
say that I answer many questions by my conviction that what we call
death does not end all. Columbus is reported to have said: "I must
have another continent to keep the earth's balance true." And I must
have the personal conscious future, which is to right the wrongs of the
ages, if I am to believe and preach the faithfulness of God. But we
must guard against an impatience which is our littleness. In the
immense times of the Almighty, every dark mystery of human being can
move away, and leave the "sky of Providence at last, arching over the
soul with not a cloud to dim its stars." For my present faith I hold
it true with one who trusts--

"That nothing walks with aimless feet,
That not one life shall be destroyed,
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete."

When any man confronts me with the inequalities of our human lot, with
the suffering many have to endure from causes they have not instituted,
and circumstances over which they have no control, I may be, and often
am, obliged to make him a present of much that he has to urge. But
there are two things to be said, on the other side, which I can only
briefly indicate, and ask you to work them out in your own mind.

I affirm as the first of the two, that the good in our life far
outweighs the evil. When all is said, happiness is the rule of our
normal experience, and not misery. We hear much, for example, about
the suffering which is part of the order of the animal creation; how a
stronger beast feeds upon a weaker, and is in turn the prey of another
stronger still. While again we are told that the joys of these myriads
of sentient creatures are immeasurably greater than their pains. They
have pleasure more than sufficient to justify their call into
existence, in spite of the drawbacks to their happiness incident to the
conditions of their existence.

I am satisfied that the latter representation is true of the animal
world, as I am convinced that it is true of the