There are moments, during our present state of existence, when man loses faith in the world. Men cling to the visionary, while the battle of life goes on, with little else to feed upon, — little outside of that which the world offers as a reward for the struggle of years. When man suddenly discovers that the world fades, that it is transient, it is also disclosed to him that nothing can cause the brilliancy to return, and that the day of disappointment has surely come.
By reflecting upon this state of things, despair soon overtakes man, and he joins sides with the pessimist, saying: Man is here without his consent, swamped in the overwhelming conditions which surround him. Then skepticism cries: "The world is an unpardonable blunder; for man is like a bubble of the ocean, coming to the surface for a moment, and then gone forever, swallowed in the immensity that gave him birth."
With these thoughts crowding into man's life, and filling him with dismay, smothering what little he may possess of the reflection of God, — with none to answer the appeal of his heart, — he looks longingly to the philosopher and scientist. When they in their turn shake their heads, no wonder man says, with the atheist, "There is no God." Yet man feels that somewhere or somehow there must be a way out of the difficulty, that the pathway must sometime be made clear.
