1 Chronicles 4:22

"Handfuls of Purpose,"

For All Gleaners

"And these are ancient things." 1 Chronicles 4:22 .

A thing is not valuable simply because it is ancient; nor is antiquity any reason why a thing should be undervalued or destroyed. All the greatest things are in reality ancient. They are not ancient in form, they are ancient in spirit. Jesus Christ was slain from before the foundation of the world: the Spirit of God is from the beginning: God himself is from everlasting to everlasting. Whatever had a begin-ing will have an end, but for the intervening and all-determining will of God. Only the eternal past can be the eternal future. Men should think much before destroying that which is ancient, if the antiquity has been associated with any measure of usefulness. On the other hand, men should be careful not to allow love of antiquity to degenerate into superstition. True conservatism is the preservation of that which ought not to be destroyed. False conservatism concerns itself about the preservation of frameworks; true conservatism is anxious only for the perpetuation of spirit and meaning and purpose known to be really good. All Christians are conservatives in the highest sense. A man must not be allowed to appropriate the name conservative simply because he would keep a wall standing that is already tottering; he is the real conservative who rectifies the perpendicular, and who rests the wall upon solid foundations; and he is a still larger and deeper conservative who removes the wall altogether if it stand in the way of natural development and healthy progress. Think of all our things that are ancient, and esteem them with highest regard; as, for example, the Bible, as an ancient book; liberty, as an ancient right; love of knowledge, as a divinely given charter; love of freedom, as a birthright: there are responsibilities and honours, dignities and functions, that we ought not to change; they were in the world before us, and they will be in the world after us; we should simply magnify them, and fill them with the highest meaning; and so allow them to pass on with added virtue and attractiveness to the generations that are to come. Old age cannot be bought. Men can soon make a ladder but no man can make a tree. We cannot hasten very perceptibly the growth of a forest; we can build a wall quickly, but time is required to jewel it with green moss. In character the element of time must enter largely, or the character will seldom pass the point of mere notoriety and corresponding admiration. When the character has stood twenty years, thirty, forty, and fifty years men begin to believe in it, and to accord it a well-merited honour. In malice let us be children; in understanding let us be men.