ng
Simon that he was a rock. Those who knew Peter best must have smiled;
he was more like a jellyfish. But Jesus could see the best that was in
a man. He detected the hidden good even in Peter. He proves His own
goodness by His faith in the good in every man.

Somewhere in every man there is some good. Overlaid it may be by
passion, by habits, by prejudice grown out of wrong and suffering
perchance; but still it is there. Faith in this and sympathy, these
are the golden keys that unlock the doors to where the good lies buried.

The saviours of society have always been those who looked for the best
in it. If you go through life seeking the beast in man, you will find
it, and the chances are it will devour you; if you look for the beauty
that is from above you will find it, and it will bless you. It is just
as necessary to have faith in man as it is to have faith in God. If
men cannot become good, then there is no God in the sense of a power
that makes for goodness. The optimist not only believes in the best,
he creates the better.

Some there are who reluctantly admit that God is a little better than
they are, though that may be due to His circumstances, but they have
never imagined for an instant that any one else is at all good.
Believe that men are wholly bad and they will not disappoint you.
Every man somehow responds to the expectations of others. You had
better damn a man than despair of him. Neither a church nor an
individual can help this world when they have more confidence in the
power of evil to become all pervasive than in the power of the Most
High to make His purposes felt in every heart as truly as He makes His
sun to shine on the just and the unjust. The church first consigns men
to perdition and then wonders why they are reluctant to walk with it
the other way. So long as you have faith in total depravity you will
find some facts to substantiate it.

But there is a better way. Sympathy with men will do more for them
than sermons on their sins. Look for the best in them and you will
find things better than you expected. There are flower beds as well as
garbage heaps in every heart; at least, there are spots where seeds of
the fairest flowers of heaven may be sown.

You do not have to be a fool to have faith in your fellows. You do not
need to take the padlocks off your house; but you do need to take them
off your heart. There may be those whom it would be wrong to trust
with your