If we long to be back in those so-called devout ages of
faith, we long for an age in which witches and heretics were burned
alive; if we long after the chivalrous loyalty of the old Cavaliers,
we long for an age in which stage-plays were represented, even before
a virtuous monarch like Charles I., which the lowest of our playgoers
would not now tolerate. When we long for anything that is past, we
long, it may be, for a little good which we seem to have lost; but we
long also for real and fearful evil, which, thanks be to God, we have
lost likewise. We are not, indeed, to fancy this age perfect, and
boast, like some, of the glorious nineteenth century. We are to keep
our eyes open to all its sins and defects, that we may amend them.
And we are to remember, in fear and trembling, that to us much is
given, and of us much is required. But we are to thank God that our
lot is cast in an age which, on the whole, is better than any age
whatsoever that has gone before it, and to do our best that the age
which is coming may be better even than this.
We are neither to regret the past, nor rest satisfied in the present;
but, like St. Paul, forgetting those things that are behind us, and
reaching onward to those things that are before us, press forward,
each and all, to the prize of our high calling in Jesus Christ.
And as with nations and empires, so with our own private lives.
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