Amplification : The old order changed yielding place to new

The old order changed yielding place to new  

This line occurs in the poem "Morte d' Arthur" by Alfred Tennyson, a great Victorian poet of England. The poem deals with the last moments of king Arthur's life. Just before his death, king Arthur says to Bedivere:

The old order changeth yielding place to new,

And God fulfils Himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.

The first line of the quotation has become as forceful as a proverb. It means that change is the law of the universe. Nothing in the universe remains fixed for all time. Billions and billions of galaxies in the universe are moving at a terrific speed, with all its stars and planets. They never remain static. A star is constantly moving; it is constantly changing its place, but a new star appears in the place left vacant by it. This process of change is going on constantly in the universe. This provision of constant change is made  by God. He fulfils his purpose through change.

Time is constantly moving, changing things. What remained yesterday as something does not remain the same thing today. There must have taken place some changes in that. The sun that seems to repeat the same thing every day—its rising in the east and setting in the west. But actually, it does not rise and set in the same places in space. Constant changes are taking place in the sun itself, the change is not visible to the short sight of living beings like the humans. -

As God wills, He causes these changes. Perhaps He wants to fulfil His purpose through change. If things remained in the same conditions, they would have rotten. Even in customs for mankind, if one custom is allowed to remain unchanged, it will corrupt things  that are related to it. Perhaps God wills that they should undergo change so that things may be better for us. Human civilization is  going forward through changes. Things would have rotten if they had not changed with the passage of time; civilization would have come to a standstill if there were no changes. Change is the sign of progress.

[The above interpretation is from the viewpoint of the poet who wrote the line. But we may not agree with him fully; we may have our reservations. Some of us may think that God intended that some things should change, and some other things should remain unchanged. So, things should be according as God has decreed.]