Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-07-11
MAKING FRIENDS.
Dr.. Talmage on the Friendships of
This Life.
The Importance of Treating Others Prop
erly-TakiDg Part With the Abused
Friendship Begets Friendship
God the Truest Friend.

In q recent sermon at Brooklyn upon
the subject: How to Make Friends" Rev.
I. Dewitt Talmage took his text from
Proverbs xviii. "a: "a man that hath
friends must show himself friendly" He
said:
About the sacred and divine art of max
ing and keeping friends l speak-a subject
On which never heard of any one preach
ing-aud yet God thought it of enough
Importance to put it III the middle of the
Bible, these writings of Solomon, bounded
On one side by the popular Psalms OF
David and OH the other by the writings of
Isaiah, the greatest o; the prophets. 1t
! seems all a matter o; haphaZard how
! many friends We have. or whether we
have any friends a l. but there is moth
ing acci lental about il. There is a law
which governs the accret.on and disper-
sion 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 ris. or set. It IS 4 science, an
| art, God given regulation. Tell me how
! friendly you are to others and 1 will tell
you how friendly others are to you. l do
not say that you will not have enemies;
indeed, the best way to get ardent
friends is to have ardent enemies, if
you got their enmitv in doing the right
| thing. Good men and women will always
have enemies because their goodness is a
perpetual rebuke TO evil; but This antagon-
! ism 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.
Human nature was shipwrecked about
| fifty-nine centuries ago, the captain of
that craft, one Adam. and his first mae
running the famous cargo aground on a
snag in the river Hiddekel; Tut there was
at least one good trait of human nature
| that waded ashore from that Shipwreck,
and that is the disposition to take the part
/ of those unfairly dealt with. When it is
| thoroughly demonstrated that soma one is
! being prosecuted, although at the start
| slanderous tongues were busy enough,
| defenders finrily gather around as thick
as honey bees on a trellis of bruised honey
suckle. II. when set uTon by the furies,
! you can have grace enough to keep your
mouth shut, and preserve your eQuipoise
| and let others fight your battles, you will
find yourself after awhile with a whole
Nordon of all eS. Had not the world given
Christ on His arrival at Palestine a
very cold shoulder there would not have
been one-half "a 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
torturOus cross ClriSt woult not have
been the admire and loved of more peo-
pie than any being VINO ever touched foot
on either the Eastern or Western hemi-
sphere. Instead, therefore, of giving up
in despair because you have enemies, re-
joice in the fact that they rally for you
he most helpful and enthusiastic adj
mirers. In other wOrls, there is no viru-
ience, human or diabolic. that can hinder
my text IRON coming true: "A man that
hath friends must show him elffriendly."
1t is my ambition to project espec' ally
upon the young a thought which may be-
nignly shape their destiny for the here
and the hereafter. Before you show your
self friendly you must be friendly. l do
not recommend dramatiBsd geniaity
There is such thing as pretending to be
en- rapport with others when we are tn cir
dire destructants and talk against them
and wish them calamity. Judas covered
up his treachery by resOunding
kiss, and caresseS may be demoniacaL
Better the NEUROLOGICAL Cerberus, the
three-headed dog of hell barking at US
than the wolf in sleeps clothing, its
brir died hide covered up by deceptive
wool and its beautiful howl cadensed into
i innocent bleating.
Before you begin to show yourself
friendly you must be friendly. Get your
heart right with God and man and this
grace will become easy. You may by
your own resolution get your nature into
a semhlance of this virtue, but the grace
of God can sublimeIv lift you into it.
Sailing on the river Thames two vessels
ran aground. The owners of one got 100
Iorses 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 floated the ship out of
all trouble. So. we may pull and haul at
our grounded human nature, and try to
get it into better condition; but there is
nothing like the oceanic tides of Gods up
lifting grace to hoist us into this kindness
l am eulogizing. II when under the flash
of the Holy Ghost we see our own foibles
and defects and depravities. we will be
very lenient and very easy with others.
We will look into their characters for
things commendatory and not damnatOry.
If you would rub your own eye a little
more vigorously you would find mote in
it, the extraction Of which would keep you
so busy you would not have much time to
shoulder your broadaXe and go forth to split
up the beam in your neighbours eve. In a
Christian spirit keep On exploring the
character of those you meet and l am sure
you will find something in them delight
tut and fit for a foundation of friendlness.
Oh, my friends. better cover NJ the faults
and extol the virtues, and this habit once
e..
become as easy as it is this morning for
syringa to food the air with sweetness, as
easy as it will be further on in the season
for quail to whistle Up from the grass.
When we hear something bad about
somebody whom we always supposed to
be good, take out your lead pencil and
say: Let me see. Before l accept that
baleful story against thst mans character,
l will take off from it twenty-five per
cent. for the habit of axaggeration which
belongs to the man WHO first told the story;
then will take off twenty-five per cent.
for the additions which the spirit of gossip
in every community has put upon the
original story: then Twill take off twenty
five per cent. from the fact that the man
may have been put into circumstances of
overpowering temptation. So 1 have
TAKEN OH seventy live PEI cent. OuI
have not heard his side of the story at
all, and for that reason l take off the re-
naming twenty five per cent" Excuse
me, sir l don't believe a word of it
But here comes in defective maxim so
often quoted: Where there is smoke
there must be some fire" Look at all the
smoke for years around Jenner. the intro
Queer of vaccination, and the smoke
around Columbus, The discoverer and the
smoke around Martin Luther and Savona-
roIa ap6 GaIiFaO ard PauI and John end