The Axe at the Root.
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"And even now is the axe laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."—Matt. iii: 10.
Some one has said: "I know no way of judging the future but by the past." I do not now recall the name of the man who first gave currency to that expression, but I am inclined to think it was one of the men to whom we are indebted for the inauguration of this American republic. At any rate, it was a man with his face toward the future. And it suggests two important truths. The right attitude of a man is toward the future. Every real problem and every worthy task with which men have to do has relation to the future. And that is very natural, because life is not stationary. It is in motion. It is motion. It is in process of expansion. It involves the necessity of constant change of environment. A seed manifests the first sign of life when it breaks open its shell and establishes for itself a larger environment. And from that time forward until it dies its life is marked by continuous change of environment. It lives for and toward the future. Only
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