The only reason why we
cannot see the future as plainly as the past, is because we know too
little of the actual past and actual present; these things are too great
for us, otherwise the future, in its minutest details, would lie spread
out before our eyes, and we should lose our sense of time present by
reason of the clearness with which we should see the past and future;
perhaps we should not be even able to distinguish time at all; but that
is foreign. What we do know is, that the more the past and present are
known, the more the future can be predicted; and that no one dreams of
doubting the fixity of the future in cases where he is fully cognisant of
both past and present, and has had experience of the consequences that
followed from such a past and such a present on previous occasions. He
perfectly well knows what will happen, and will stake his whole fortune
thereon.
"And this is a great blessing; for it is the foundation on which morality
and science are built. The assurance that the future is no arbitrary and
changeable thing, but that like futures will invariably follow like
presents, is the groundwork on which we lay all our plans--the faith on
which we do every conscious action of our lives.
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