Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1889-07-05

Value of Noble Friends.
BROOKLYN, June 9O-At the Tabernacle
this morning, after the pastor the Rev. T.
DE Witt Taimage, D. D., had made an expo
sition Of a passage of Scripture, the congre-
cation, led by cornet and organ, sang the
hymn beginning:
Now have found a friend.
! Jesus is mine
DIR. Talmage's subject was "How to Make
/ Friends" and his text Proverbs xviii, q; "a
man that hath friends must show himself
friendly He said:
| About the sacred and divine art Of making
and keeping friends / speak-a subject on
which never heard Of any one preaching
and yet God thought it of enough Importance
to put it In the middle Of the Bible, these
writings Of Solomon, bounded on one side by
the popular Psalms of David and on the other
BY the writings of Isaiah, the greatest of the
prophets. It seems all a matter of haphazard
/ how many friends we have, or whether we
have any friends at all; but there is nothing
accidental about it. There is a law which
governs the accretion and dispersion Of
friendships. They did not Just happen so, +"
any more than the tides just happen to rise
or fall, or the sun just happens to rise or set.
It is a science, an art, q God given regular
ton Tell me how friendly you are to others
and ! viii tell you how friendly others are
TO you. 1 do not say you will not have
enemies; indeed the best way TO get ardent
friends is to have ardent enemies If you got
their entity in doing the right thing. Good
men and women will alwayshave enemies be-
cause their goodness is perpetual rebuke to
evil; but this antagonism Of foes will make
more intense the love Of your adherents.
Your friends will gather closer around you
because of the attacks of your assailants. The
more your enemies abuse you, the better your
coadiutors will think of you. The best friends
we ever had appeared at some juncture when
we were especially bombarded. There have
been times In my life when unjust assault
multiplied my friends, as near as l could
calculate. about fifty a minute. You
are bound to some people by many cords
that neither time nor eternity can break,
and will warrant that many of those cords
were twisted by hands malevolent Human
nature was shipwrecked about fifty-nine CEN
| turtles ago, the captain Of that craft one Adam,
and his first mate, running the famous cargo
aground on a snag In the River Hiddekel but
there was at least one good trait Of human
nature that waded safely ashore from that
shipwreck, and that is the disposition to take
the part of those unfairly dealt with. When
/ It is thoroughly demonstrated that some one
is being prosecuted, although at the start Sian
derous tongues were busy enough, defenders
finally gather around as thick as honey bees
on trellis of bruised honeysuckle. If, when
set upon by the furies, you can have grace
enough to keep your mouth shut, and pre-
serve your equipoise, and let others fight
your battles, you will find yourself after a
while with a whole Gordon Of allies Had
not the world given to Christ on his arrival
at Palestine a very cold shoulder, there
would not have been one-half as many angels
chanting glory out Of the hymn books of the
sky bound In black lids Of midnight. Had it
not been for the heavy and jagged and tortur-
Gus cross, Christ would not have been the ad-
mired and loved of more people than any
being who ever touched foot on either the
eastern or western hemisphere. Instead,
therefore, of giving up in despair because
you have enemies, rejoice in the fact that they
rally for you the most helpful and enthusi
astic admirers. In other words, there Is no
virulence, human or diabolic, that can hin
! der my text from coming true: "A man that
hath friends must show himself friendly"
/ YOUR FRIENDSHIP MUST NOT BE PRETENsE
| 1t is my ambition to project, especially
upon the young, a thought which may be-
nignly shape their destiny for the hero and
the hereafter. Before you show yourself
friendly you must be friendly. do not rec
Ommend dramatized geniality There is
such a thing as pretending to be en- rapport
| with others when we are their dire destruct-
ants, and talk against them and wish them
calamity. Judas covered up his treachery
by a resounding kiss and careSses may be de
moniacal Better the NEUROLOGICAL Cerbe-
| rus, the three headed dog of hell, barking at
US, than the wolf in sleeps clothing, its
| brindled hide covered up by deceptive wool,
| and its deathful howl cadenced into an inno-
cent bleating. Disraeli writes of Lord
| Manfred, who, after committing many
outrages upon the people, seemed suddenly
to become friendly, and invited them to
banquet After most Of the courses of food
had been served he blew horn. which was In
| those times a signal for the servants to bring
/ ON the dessert but in this case it was the sig
( nal for assassins to enter and slay the guests.
! His pretended friendliness was a cruel fraud,
and there are now people whose smile is a
| falsehood. Before you begin to show your
self friendly you must be friendly. Get your
heart right with God and man and this grace
viii become easy. You may by your own
resolution get your nature into a semblance
. OF LulS NnLuef buA NuO 6AaCo VI Oo0 SAl
| sublimely lift you into it. Sailing on the
! River Thames two vessels ran aground. The
owners of one got one hundred horses and
/ pulled on the grounded ship and pulled
/ it to pieces. The owners Of the other
| grounded vessel waited till the tides
/ came in and easily 1oated the ship out Of all
trouble. So, We may pull and haul at our
| grounded human nature. and try TO get into
better condition; but there is nothing like
the oceanic tides Of Gods uplifting grace to
hoist US into this kiRdliness am eulogizing.
| II when under the fash Of the Holy Ghost
we see our own foibles aud defects and de-
! pravlties, we viii be very lenient and very
easy with others. We VIII look into their
characters Tor things commendatory and not
damnatory. Il you would rub your own
eye httla more vigorously you would find a
mote In it, the extraction Of which would
keep you so-busy you would not have much
time 10 shoulder your broadax and go
forth to split up the beam In your neigh
boris eye In Christian spirit keep on
exploring the characters Of those you
meet, and am sure you will find
something in them delightful and flt for a
foundation q friendliness. You invite Eae
to come to your country seat and spend a few
days. Thank you'll / arrive about noon Of a
lbaautiful summer day What do YOU dol