The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-01-27
LIFE AND THE BIBLE
FROM AN ADDRESS BY GOV. WOO DROw WILSON

The interesting thing u that the bad
passions always lead to their own con-
| fusion. You have to have q good
| memory TO keep on lying. recall
| the cynical advice given w politician
| to his son. Don't worry about the
! lies people tell on yod. They'll take
| care OF themselves But when you
hear me denying Something, you may
know It's so.' Bad passions eat into
! themselves az acids do. They will
! be evident In the faces Of the per-
| sons who harbot them. Their ear
marks are evident In those who are
made timld and afraid. Many OF
those which have ruled the world for
awhile have not kept faith. for they
had no faith I'd keep, and after awhile
they bring about their own dcstruc-
/ ton. II
Truth Must Re Encouraged.
! Nor 10 1t enough to say that truth
| is mighty andswili prevail. The hand
some passions win not triumph II
you sit back as you are doing now.
| They must be encouraged. You must
put on truth as II It were war paint
| You must draw and use 1t as II It
were sword. You must everywhere
and all the time force the contest. II
! the handsome passions are to be In
4
| the majority.
And 1t is to be noticed that the bad
| passions always have machine. But
| 1t is the lesson Of the Scriptures
/ that men, everyday men. Wholesome
men, are capable OF embodying truth
In themselves. of living II In every
act OF their lives.
/ There are those who argue that
| truth Is known because II In beauti-
4 yt,f hat haa nj 10 fhA haaf n nftaa mt 10
| against evil. that II Ii because truth
| II perfectly expressed that 1t liz I'm
mortal. There are those who say
| that the best literature endures be-
cause 1t Ia thought perfectly expressed
Blu, better than that, 1t is necessary
| that great literature shall be true.
All great Literature has its truth. The
only difference between literature and
the Bible is that the Bible is the
complete Interpretation OF truth. II
does not seem To be Jewish. but to
have the warp and woof OF our own
experiences, national and personal
There are In the characters Of the
fsfbLe the same intergrations and dts
| iistegrations. Ahe same growth In
beauty where men obey God. and the
same destruction, far the destruction
does como. when they deny God.
On the campus at Princeton de-
lightfui old gentleman told me one
day that he had discovered the NIL
crobe Of Hyper-Calvinism.
Gracious: hope you haven't 1t
about you said to him.
But he said that it was in the title
chapter OF book he had at home.
have forgotten the words OF this
title, but he said that 1t COMPOUNDED
the will of God with right. denying
- Ill taS..
inta right and wrong. teaching
that God. In the beginning, might
have ordered right what He ordered
To be wrong ard might have called
wrong what He did cali right.
4 To such n person IL In incon-
cNivabie that God has absolute i'm
| mutabtiity and that truth Is AZ un-
changeabic.
1t Ia q striking thing that the
Bible does not display men as right
merely because they have obeycd the
| ten commandments, There are rather
the triamphs OF men who have tried
to approximate what God has reveal
ed as right. The Bible has It's pic
lures OF right and wrong, showing
what men must live for, or die. for
/ they shall surely die, as they did
die when wrong Is done.
Dante In his Inferno did moi liesi-
! tate To put into that inferno gcntle-
I men who were high .,in the public
/ life OF his day, men who though they
lived. were truly I'm that place OK
/ torment ! have met gentlemen. and
you know gentlemen. who are In tor
| fnent. Their faces and their words
show 1t. II is not necessary that they
should go to a place already arranged
fer them. We have seen the men
r. Il rH h. nr-
rangements themselves.
Man gropes about for the light until
he conforms, In some measure, to this
j right. Mhelher he has ever read tho
| revelation or not ! take Ii that We
would have discovered the standard.
as IL h revealed to us in the Old
| Testament. but that We could never
| have found the plan OF salvation cx-
cept by revelation, The golden rule
or living was spoken by Socrates.
His teaching differed from the Chris
tian only because he never saw ths
Christ nor had the vision Of love that
can release the spirit even at the end
when the law OF evil has worked It's
way among the members OF tho body.
The Old Testament shows what We
could have found out In time. but the
New Testament presents the Christ,
whose gracious words Wa never could
have found AAi- There n HcEl.inx
new In Christ. but the exquisite per-
lection OF the form In which he pre-
sented the things we ought to know.
The Bible In not something to which
| we may turn ssida to seek consolA-
ton. nor to which we could resort
in time Of trouble. thing to be helo
with churches and with sermons. It
stands in the center OF the market
place OF our lives and bubbles with
the water OF life. Itself ID the foun-
j tain and only those who have drunk
sTef those waters Gan be rsfroshe6 for
the long Journey.