Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-07

LIED on, ars those recorded in the Holy
Scriptures. The first ones, OF record are
these OF "the soodliest man Of men
since born, and his wife, "the fairest OF
all ker daughters, Eve" And that COM
mon biography has been abbreviated in
our time;
God made man upright. and he.
Would have remained 80. but she:
Notwithstanding Adams early advan-
tages and very religious ways, it is to
or called saint And, If so, no one would
ever have the assurance to adopt him
as patron saint, his paternal and pro-
genitive affections being so widely scat
tered.
Those good men. Enoch and Noah. and
their descendants, away down In history.
have been no better off. Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob and the goodly fellow
ship of the prophets, including Moses
and Aaron, have been allowed to pass
away, not only as merely men, but with
out an S. T. D., a Right Rev, an LIZ D.,
or D. D., or even an obituary or an
epitaph. Only the tracks that they have
left on the sands of time, and the seeds
of truth that they have sown, the words
OF God that they have given forth. tell
that once they lived here on earth. The
x-rays of Biblical truth made manifest
too many defects and signs of original
sin within them to allow them to be
called saints. Certainly David and Solo
mon would allow no man to look them In
the face that would place a halo around
their heads.
The Apostles Paul and Peter most re-
spectfully speak of the early Christians
who >were known for their devotion. low
linesss self-sacriflce as saints. But there
were times and occasions in their common
ministry when it is hardly likely that
either would have magnified or deified
the other above the level of an erring
though dearly beloved brother.
Whether Socrates and Plato and their
brother philosophers, were only nice and
good and kind and lovely in their COM
mon and domestic life is not a historical
fact The elder brother did not have
happy time at home But whether his
peculiarities and philosophic ways may
not have provoked his wife beyond endu-
rance is not known. He was public
man, great talker, and Plato and Keno
phon were his friends and fine writer's.
Poor Xantippe has had no one to defend
her, or tell what queer things the old man
used to do-and how his friends used to
treat her.
AS Judgment books. and ma gnif1ers of
heroes biographies and epic poems are not
worth much. No man was ever hero
to f1isyvalet de chambre; and not all the
great ones of history have been so to
their wives nor the heroines to theiT
husbands. Good husbands and faithful.
loving wives are one thing. Distinguished
men and women are another.
The great service of biography and epic
poetry to mankind has not been to give
us saints and perfect men and
women for our admiration, but to
publish and magnify piety and de-
votion and virtue and good sense
STYLE and make 1t. familiar to genera
ton after generation. Blessed is the man
or woman who has left a memory or
record identified with any excellent vir-
tue or grace, and has eXemplifed, one
or the other by some course of life: or
some good deed. One swallow does not
make the spring. One good act does not
approve a high and excellent character
We are all badly mixed, ana, for the
most part follow a wise or good deed
with folly or meanness. The picture OF
Ajax is a family piece and has its org1-
nal in thousands that we meet every
day and in each one of us. Ind every
mans soul Is an arena on which good and
bad. high and low, spirits contend for the
mastery The best that we can do is to
be watchful to cherish and help and
operate the best in humble dependence
on Him TO whom all hearts are open. all
desires known, and from whom no secrets
are had.