The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-07-18
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Discourse of tho Great
Brooklyn Preacher
Subjects "IIOw 10 Make
Fricnds.''

shoto himself friendly" Proverbs xviii, "a
About the sacred and divine art Of making
and keeping friends speak--a subject OF
which never heard Of any one preaching
and yet God thought II of enough Importance
70 put 1t In the middle Of the Bible, thes,
writings Of Solomon bounded on one side by
the popular Psalms Of David and on the othel
by the writings Of Isaiah, the greatest of the
prophets. 1t seems all matter of haphazard
now 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 o.
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
tion: Tell me how friendly you are toothers
and will tell you how friendly others are to
you. l do not say you win not have enc
mics; indeed, the best way to get ardent
friends is to have ardent enemies II you got
their enmity In doing the right thing. Good
men and women will always have enemies be-
cause their goodness is perpetual rebuke "a
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
coad1utors will think of you. The best friends
we ever had appeared at some juncturs when
we We're especially bombarded. There have
been times in my life when unjust assault
multiplied my friends, as near as I could
calculate, about fifty minute. You are
Dound to Sonic people by many cords that
neither time nor eternity can break. and
VIII warrant that many of those cords were
swisted by hands malevolent. Human M
lure wes shipwrecked about fifty-nine cen,
turles ago, the Captain Of that craft one
| Adam, and his first mate, running the ia
aground st,u. t,,<
hiddekei; but there was Mt 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
1ealt with. When 1t Is thoroughly demon.
strated that some one is being perse.
cuted, although at the start slanderous
tongues We're busy enough. defenders
finally gathered around as thick as honey bees
on trellis of bruised honeysuckle. If, when
set upon by the furieS, you can have grace
enough 70 Keep your mouth shut, and pre-.
serve your equipoise, and let others fight
your battles, you will find yourself after a
while with whole Gordon of allies. Had
not the world given TO Christ on His arrival
AZ Palestine very cold shoulder, there
o Mould not nave 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-
BUS cross, Christ would not have been the adj
mired and loved of more people than any he
ing who ever touched foot on either the east
srn or western hemisphere. Instead, there.
fore of giving up in despair because YOU
nave enemies, rejoice In the fact that they
rally for you the most helpful and enthusiast
dc admirers. lii other words there is no
slrulence, human or diabolic, that Can hinder
my text from coming true: "a man that
hath friends must show himself friendly"
IL Is my ambition to project, especially
lpon the young, a thought which may be-
ngniy shape their destiny for the here and
re hereafter Before you show. yourself
friendly you must be friendly. donot REQ.
mmend q dramatized genfality. There ID
mch thing as pretending to be en- rapport
with others when we are their dire destr.uct-
ants, and talk against them and wish them
,alamty. Judas covered up his treachery
BY resounding kiss, and caresses may be de-
noniacal: Better the NEUROLOGICAL Cerbe-
rus, the three-headed dog of hell, barking at
Is 5han the wolf IN sleeps clothing, its
Orindled hide covered up by deceptive wool.
Ind its beautiful howl cadenced into an inno.
ent bleating. Disraeli writes of Lord
Manfred, who, after committing many
yutrages upon the people, seemed suddenly
70 become friendly, and invited them to
banquet. After most of the courses of food
aad been served he blew horn, which was in
nose times signal for the servants to bring
sal for assassins to enter and STAY the guests.
dis pretended friendliness was cruel fraud,
tnd there ere DOW people whose smile Is q
alsehood. Before you begin to show YOUR
eH friendly you must be friendly. Get your
leart right with God and man and this grace
Vii become easy. You may by your own
resolution get your nature into semblance
!ublimely lift you into It. Sailing on the
River Thames two vessels ran aground. The
,wners of one got one hundred horses and
pulled on the grounded ship and pulled
: to pieces The owners Of the other
grounded vessel waited till the tides
ame In and easily floated 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 Ike |
Fhe oceanic tides of Gods uplifting gracs I'd
eaoist us into this kindness I am eulogizing. |
II when under the flash of the Holy Ghost |
we see our own foibles and defects and de-
Pravities, we will be very lenient and very |
easy with others. We will look into their
characters for things commendatory and not |
aamnatory. II you would rub your own |
sye little more vigorously you would find a |
mote in 1t, the extraction of which would |
Keep you SO busy you would not have much |
anne 10 shoulder your broadax and 90
Eorth to split up the beam in your neigh
DORIS eye. In Christian spirit keep on |
exploring ths characters Of those you |
meet, aud l am sure you will fhd |
.omething In them delightful and fit for a |
foundation of friendliness. You invite me
days. Thank you'll arrive about noon of |
beautiful summer day. What do you do |
As soon as arrive you take me out under |
we shadow OF the great elms. You take me |
down to the artificial lake, the spotted trout |
coating in and out among the white pillars of
Ihe pond lilies. You take me to the stalls and |
kennels where you keep your fine stock. and |
mere are the Durham CATTLE and the Gordon |
setters and the high stepping ste eds by paw.
ing and neighing, the only language they can
speak, asking for harness or saddle, and a
short turn down the road Then we go back
% the house and you get me In the right |
light and show me the Kensetts
and the Bierstadts on the wall,
Ind take me into the music room, and show
me the bird cages the canaries In the bay
window answering the robins in the tree tops.
Thank you'll never enjoyed myself more IL
1ne same length of time Now, why do we
not do that way In regard to the characters
or others, and show the bloom and the music
and the bright fountains2 No. We say
come along and let me show you that mans
Here is a green scummed frog
pond, and theresa filthy cellar, and guess
under that hedge there must be black snake
Come, and let us for an hour or two regale
ourselves with the nuisances. Oh, my friends,
better cover up the faults and extoi
The virtues, and this habit once
,suapnsneu or UNIVERSAL rr1endnness wild
become as easy as it is this morning for
'yringa to flood the air with sweetness, as
,asy as it will be further on in tn 9 season
Tor quail to whistle up from tn
grass. When we hear something bad about
whom we always supposed to be
good, take out your lead pencil and say: 'sLet
me seel Before l accept that balefu story
against that mans character / will take of
rom 1t twenty-five per cent, for the habit Of
sxaggeration which belongs to the man who
1rst told the story; then 1 will take off
twenty-five per cent. for the additions which
he spirit of gossip in every community has
put upon the original story. Then will
AXE Oft twenty-five per cent. from the fact
that the man may have been put into or
,rmstances OF empowering temptation. So
have taken off seventy-five per cent. Bu
have not heard his side of the story at all
md for that reason I take off the remaining
twenty-five per cent" Excuse me- sir, don't
believe word Of 1t.
But here comes In defective maxim, q
'ften quoted: "Where there Is so much
moke there must be some fire." Look at al |
ne smoke for years around Jenner, the intro I
iucer Of vaccination; and the smoke around I
Columbus, the discoverer; and the smoks ,
lround Martin Luther and Savonarola and I