their own existence was
purposeless?

The Westminster Confession affirms that the true end of man is "To
glorify God and to enjoy him for ever." A splendid saying! But might
not God be better glorified, and more fully enjoyed, if the particular
soul inhabiting my own body, with all its errors and defects, had not
been suffered to appear upon the scene? Might not another soul, sent
into the universe instead of mine, have played that part infinitely
better than I can ever hope to do? Why, then, among the host of
possibilities, did the lot fall upon _me_? Why _me_? Why _you_?

Why should God need to be glorified, or enjoyed, by you, by me, by
anyone? Why should he need anything? If, as some affirm, the universe
is the dwelling-place of the All Perfect, what reason can be given for
the existence, side by side with that All Perfect one, or within him,
of a multitude of imperfect images of his Perfection--like you and me?
In the presence of One who has all purposes already fulfilled in
himself what purpose can be served by our introduction into the scheme
of things? If you and I, and all such, were to be blotted out
forthwith and the All Perfect left in sole possession of the universe,
where would be the loss? You and I are apparently superfluous.

Philosophers, both ancient and modern, have addressed themselves to
this problem, not altogether, I think, without success, and yet not
quite successfully. Their arguments have not removed but greatly
deepened the mystery of our existence, bringing it to a critical point
where we must either accept it or run away from life and its perils--to
the point, in fact, where we must choose between life and death. If we
choose life we accept the risk that its burden may prove too heavy for
us. If death, we escape the perils of life but forfeit our share in
its victories.

The former is the heroic choice; the latter the cowardly. As Carlyle
was never tired of repeating, the ultimate question which every man has
to face and answer for himself is this: "Wilt thou be a hero or a
coward?" No philosophy can relieve us from the responsibility of
having to make that choice. All that philosophy can do, and it is a
great thing to accomplish even this, is to bring us to the point where
we see that the choice has to be made. This it does by forcing us to
raise the question: "Why am I here? For what end have I been sent into
the world?"

But let us inquire more closely what philo