The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-01-14

Memory, Work, and Anticipation

va. " ASoNhVu Oduualy ttllb 1OON'J
Brethren, count not myself to have appre-
things which are behind, and reaching torth
unto those things which are before, l press TO-
ward the mark.-Phil. iii 10, IA.
We are conscious of very different emo
tons when we pass from the known 10
the unknown in the journey OF life
When we complete a work IN which we
have been interested and which has taxed
our strength to the utmost, to commence
another. hitherto uninterrupted, only sure
of this that it will be an arduous one; or
when we leave a home endeared to us by
pleasant associations to enter upon an
other where all our surroundings and eX-
periences must be changed, these transi
lions awaken feelings of a widely varying
character The pensive, retrospective
thoughts suggested by evening, differ
greatly from those which catch the fresh
ness Of the dew, the Frightening light,
and the invigorating air of morning So
too the most inconsiderate cannot but re-
cognize the contrast between the emotions
awakened by the dying year-season ''for
memory and tears and those which
spring up tohail the New Year, when hope
celebrates its birth and tells fattering
tale of coming joys.
There are times then which are appro-
pirate both to memory and to anticipa-
tion-times when it is greatly wise to
talk with our past hours" and times when
forgetting the things which are behind
we should "reach forth toward those
which are before"
The Apostle tells us in the text that
this was his resolution. Then he reverses
what is common in the lives of old men
With advancing years the tendency is to
live more and more in the past. Youth
is the season for hope, for enterprise, and
active endeavor; old age for retrospect
ton, rest and patient waiting This is
natural for many reasons. One is that
the longer men live and the larger the
experience they have of what the world
can do for them, the less they expect
from it. They find that so many of their
earl y anticipations were never realized,
and, sadder still, that when the looked
for success and pleasures came, they did
not bring the satisfaction which was
promised. Then too having outlived the
companions of his youth and having pass
ed the period when new ties are readily
formed, how natural isit that the old man
should seek his solace in the recollections
of the past, especially as it is one Of the
tenderest offices of memory to soften all
that is painful in the review, so that in
looking back upon his former life all of
its more trying scenes seem to have faded,
while the golden haze through which he
looks magnifes and brightens what was
dearest and best
But the Apostles view of life was not
that of the wording. He knew that if
the experience of all that earth had to Of
fer led to disappointment, it was lust the
reverse with the experience of the prom
Uses Of God. He knew that they would
be fulfilled, whatever else might fail, and
that the expected good would not only
come, but THAT it would bring with it a
satisfaction even greater than was antici-
pated. And however fair the memories
of youth, Paul knew that his golden age
lay in the future, so that he could say,
forgetting the things that are behind
and reaching forth unto those things
which are before, I press toward the
mark. Still we must not mistake his
meaning or eXaggerate the import Of ins
words, as we are always in danger of do
ing when we try to interpret so intense
and eplgrammatic a writer.
He could not have meant that he lit
orally forgot the past, for had he done
so both present and future would have
been alike useless to him. The past is
the sculptor, the ten thousand touches
Of whose chisel has given to our present
lives the shapes they wear; it is the pain
ter too that has colored these forms with
every tint and hue they bear. All the in
Auences that have made our actual
characters what they now are came out
of the past, just as the seed sown in ear
Her seasons, with their sunshine andrain
make the subsequent harvest. Were we
to forget past knowledge ours would be
the ignorance of infancy; if past expe-
riences were obliterated, our imbecility
would be that of idotcy If history is
philosophy teaching by example, the
erasure Of the remembrance Of the events
of our own history would strip both
philosophy and religion of the power to
teach at all
Moreover it is fair to interpret an
author by his own writings, and we have
only to glance at those of the great Apos-
tie to see how wildly he remembered
the things that were behind" Never
did he forget the days when he was q