Samuel Shellabarger USA Broadcast during the 1950s

Regard the Past

What is belief? We have opinions about many things. But I am assuming that we are here concerned with a central faith, a way of thinking, which is the focal point and mainspring of everything else. Such a trend of thought, I suppose, is inborn rather than acquired. At least that is the case with me. As I look back over sixty years, I can see that the experiences of life have strengthened and enriched but have not substantially altered my original bent, which, at first unconscious, has since developed into a fundamental belief. This, to express it simply, is reverence for the past, an active memory of what time has revealed as valuable and permanent it the traditions which are our roots and from which we can free ourselves only at the risk of futility. Such a regard for the past does not oppose progress, but it values evolution rather than revolution. To look forward wisely, we must look back. Central in this belief of mine and, of course, permeating all of it, is the Christian religion. By this, in a few words, I mean the recognition of mans helplessness collectively or individually to suffice unto himself-his dependence on God-and the divine love which has made possible a supernatural life to those who seek it. This seems to me without question the chief legacy of the ages. Together with the ethics and the arts which it has inspired, it represents humanitys highest attainment. And if, in

the course of time, it has drawn into itself certain other, originally non-Christian elements, it is all the richer and more universal because of them. But reverence for the past includes more than religious faith, though it is the genius of Christianity to support and color all traditions that dignify man. From the crucible of the ages, as a residue of human experience, has emerged the recognition of certain values that bear upon every phase of life. It seems to me that the value of order and self-discipline is perhaps the chief of these in its effect upon the concepts of law, freedom, justice, manners, education, and the arts. The values of patience, fortitude, honor, and modesty belong also to our inheritance. I believe in the supreme importance of this tradition. Man cannot improvise the laws of his nature. He can only rediscover in the end what has been discovered long ago. Thus, to conclude, I find my opinions on every subject and, indeed, the process of daily living, conditioned by an awareness of the past. It is the mainspring of my thought and action, the source of a philosophy, partly instinctive but also consciously accepted, which has become the guide and rationale of my life. SAMUEL SHELLARARGER, who died in March 1954, was the author of a succession of historical novels which couple profound research and authentic detail with swift-moving action. As a result his books reached the best-seller list with remarkable

frequency, most recently his Lord Vanity. Dr. Shellabarger was also an educator, and this was his first career. Princeton gave him his A.B. and Harvard his Ph.D., and he served as assistant professor of English at Princeton for some years. Later he became headmaster of the Columbus (Ohio) School for Girls. Dr. Shellabarger wrote a biography of Lord Chesterfield, and his several historical novels include Captain from Castile, Prince of Foxes and The King`s Cavalier-together selling more than 4,500,000 copses. He also wrote mysteries, and additional historical fiction under the name of Peter Loring. His home was in Princeton. http://thisibelieve.org/essay/16982/