the remaking of the past.

Our investigations of history leads us, too, to differentiate between
the temporary and the eternal in the realm of thought. We find at a
certain period of history a trend of thought that can largely be
accounted for by the special conditions of life at the time, and which
disappears at a later age. But in addition to this we become aware of
truths that have found a place in the thoughts of various ages and
countries, and we are led to regard these as the eternal
truths--expressions of an eternal ever-present reality. This eternal
present we find to be something independent of time, something that
breaks the barriers between the past, present, and future. "Thought,"
says Eucken, "does not drift along with time; as certainly as it strives
to attain truth it must rise above time, and its treatment must be
timeless." The beliefs of any age are too much coloured by the special
circumstances of that age to express the whole of truth, yet beneath the
beliefs of the ages there is often an underlying truth, and this
underlying truth is the eternal truth, which is not affected by time,
and at the basis of which is the eternal reality.

This eternal truth persisting through a variety of temporary and more or
less correct expressions of it is to be observed in a marked manner in
the moral ideas of mankind. What a variety of ethical doctrines have
been expounded and believed, yet how striking the similarity that
becomes apparent when they are further examined! In practice, the
standard of morality has often been based on mere utility, but it has
taken a higher and more absolute basis in the mind of man. Ideas
concerning morality have generally been nobler than can be accounted for
by environment, and by the subjective life of the individual. Why this
ultimate consistency in the moral aspirations of the ages, why a