XXVI

PAST AND PRESENT

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.-ECCLESIASTES Vii. 10.

THE actual connection of these words of our text is quite in keeping with the tone and temper of the writer of this Book. He does not mean, at least as the chief purpose of this rebuke, to glorify the present with its opportunities and possibilities at the expense of the past. It would hardly be in accordance with the prevailing pessimism of the writer to strike here a hopeful and inspiring note. He is sick with life, and out of tune with the airy hopes of youth and its golden dream that the world is a fairer, sweeter place than it was in bygone days. We would not expect this bright, cheerful philosophy from the man whose verdict on all earthly things is Vanity of vanities; and we do not get it. The whole trend of his teaching is that life is illusive, and a man should not build his hopes too high, and look for permanence in any source of joy. Rather he advises moderation,

to take things calmly, and make the most of life. To be over-sanguine is to court disappointment: to be over-righteous is to destroy happiness: to be over-evil is to be broken by inexorable law. Moderation is the great secret.

So here, he deprecates anger, and hastiness of spirit. It is foolish to be angry, and patience is better than pride. Seneca said, "Anger is like rain: it breaks itself on what it falls." All worldly wisdom preaches this, whatever it practises. You don't do any good and you only hurt yourself by losing your temper and getting over-excited about anything. It is a mark of folly to be hasty of spirit: "Anger resteth in the bosom of fools." Even to be angry about symptoms of the present and by comparison magnify the past, and ask petulantly, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? the wise man will not do that. "Thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this." The wise man of this creed takes things as they are, and does not fret himself with repining about good times gone, and with discontent about the present, and gloomy views about the future. He makes the most of what cannot be helped. He cultivates a cheerful pleasant temperament. Not that he deceives himself with utopian dreams that the world is improving and will soon be

a paradise—he only just wants peace to enjoy what good there is, and won't let the present be lost by a barren worship of the past. The truth of this attitude (what truth there is in it), and the danger of it, are both too obvious for us to spend time enlarging on them. But we can see how, from this standpoint of somewhat cynical worldly-wisdom, the writer should exclaim, "Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these?"

In any case, for higher and larger reasons than the writer's, the advice is good, and is applicable to us; for it touches on a temptation which robs life of its full power. It is a common infirmity of old age, but it is not confined to age, to disparage the present and to glorify the past. Especially in times of trial this is so when the present is a wail it is natural to think that the past was a hallelujah. In reviewing times that are gone memory has a hallowing, softening power. It is a merciful provision of our nature which makes us forget the pains and sorrows of the past, and when we do remember them sets them in a soft and tender light, letting us see some of the good which has come from them. And as the sorrows of the past seem diminished by distance, by a strange reversion the joys loom larger and finer. To a reflective mind the pleasures of memory are sweeter

than the pleasures of possession, or even the pleasures of anticipation. Of course it is largely a matter of temperament, but this must be the experience of many. In looking back on a journey we forget the many discomforts and little annoyances which marred perfect pleasure, or if we remember them it is to laugh at them and see the humorous side they had; and fond memory glorifies the great sights enjoyed. I am quite sure that the Matterhorn was not to me as grand, or Florence as fair, as I now picture them; and am content to have it so. With the journey of our life the same is true. We paint our pictures with what perspective we please, and put ungainly things far in the background, or leave them out altogether. We look at the sorrows of the past through an inverted telescope which sends them further away and diminishes their size: we look at the joys through the magnifying end.

And this tendency seen in our everyday life is also reflected on a larger scale in history. All old institutions gain allies for their continued existence in sentiment, and respect for what has displayed the quality of permanence. We judge of the past by what has come down to us of the past; and make unfavourable comparison of the present with it. We imagine all ancient architecture to be as the relics

that survive in magnificent cathedrals and abbeys and castles. We think of them all as belonging to the same period; and in our comparisons contrast the present point of time practically with all time. We forget among other things the greatly extended sphere for human activity now; and we forget that with the treasures of the past which we possess time has weeded out much that was inferior. In art and literature, as well as in architecture, the same unfair comparison is unconsciously made between what is produced now and what has been produced throughout all the ages. We ask almost indignantly where we have a philosopher like Aristotle, a poet like Homer, a dramatist like Shakespeare, a scientist like Newton, an artist like Raphael, a sculptor like Michael Angelo; forgetting that you can hardly get another from all history to make a pair with any one of these. To be quite just, before you can say that the former times were better than these, you must fix on one particular time, and you must take the whole of it, every branch of knowledge, every sphere of activity, every condition of life; and then, if you can, you must draw your completed contrast.

If by the former time you mean some earlier period of your own life, are you taking into account all the facts, and not allowing prejudice or the nar