The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-08-07
HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS.
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage, D. D.
The Divine Art of Making and Keeping
Friends - He That Would Have
:: Them Must First Show Himself
Friendly.

The Divine Art of Making and Keeping
Friends - He That Would Have
= Them Must First Show Himself
Friendly.
Dr. Talmage in 9 recent sermon took foc
his subject Glow to Make Friends" and his
text was 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 anyone preaching
and yet God thought it of enough import
ance 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. 1t seems I'll q
matter of haphazard how many frieuds we
have, or whether we have any friends atall,
but there is nothing accidental about it.
There is law which governs the accretion
and dispersion Of friendships. They did not
'just happen So" any more than the tides
Just happen to rise and fall, or the sun just
happen to rise or set. 1t is science, an
art, God given regulation. Tell me how
friendly you are to others, and will tell
you how friendly others are to you. l 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 en-
nifty in doing the right thing. Good men
and women will always have enemies, be-
cause their goodness is a perpetual re5uke
TO evil; but this antasonism Of foes will
make more intense the love of your adher-
ents. Your friends will gather closer
around you because Of the attacks OF
your assaiants. The more your enc
mics abuse you, the better yeur Co
adiutors will think Of you. The
best friends we ever had appeared ut
some iuncture when we were especially
bombarded There have been times in my
life when unjust assault multiplied my
friends, as near as could calculate, about
fifty minute. You are bound to some peo-
pie by many cords that neither time nor
eternity can br eak, and Will warrant that
many Of those cords were twisted by hands
malevolent. Human nature was ship
wrecked about fifty nine centuries ago, the
captain OF that craft, one Adam, and his first
mate, running the famous cargo aground on
snag in the river Hiddekel; but there was
at least one good trait of human nature that
and that is the disposition to take the part
of those unfairly dealt with. When it is
thoroughly demonstrated that some one is
being persecuted, although at the start slam
derous tongues were busy enough, defend
ers fin ally gathered around as thick as honey
bees on q trellis Of bruised honeysuckles.
If, when set upon by the furies, you can
have grace enough to keep your mouth shut,
oo,,Sypco onS lpt others
fight your battles, you will find yourself
after while with a whole Gordon OF allies.
Had not the world given to Christ on his ar
rival at Palestine a very cold shoulder there
would othave been on' lalfas many angels
chanting glory out of the hymn books of the
sky bound in black lids Of midnight. E i
it not been for the heavy and iesseisad |
-fsssts,s,s uaasaeapG GTrssewoufd not have been |
the loved Of more people than
ans tef6g who ever touched foot on either |
-ne eastern or western hemisphere. Instead, |
therefore, of giving up in despair because
you have enemies, rejoice in the fact that I
they rally for you the most helpful and en-
thusiastic admirers. In other words there is |
no virulence, human or .diabohc, that can /
hinder my text from coming true: "a man !;
that hath friends must show himself friend |
ly.n
It is my ambition to project especially |
upon the younga thought which may be-
nignly shape their destiny for the here and
the hereafter. Before you show yourself |
friendly, you must be friendly. I do not
recommend dramatized geniality. There
is such thing as pretending to be en- rap
port with others when we are their dire de-
structants, and talk against them and wish
T. 1oc
treachery by a resounding kiss, and caresses
may be denonical Better the NEUROLOGICAL
Ceberus, the three headed dog OF he'll, bark
ing at US, than the wolf.in sleeps clothing,
its brindle hide covered up by deceptive !
wool, and its deathful howl cadenced into
an innocent bleating. Disraei 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 signal for assassins to enter and slay
the guests. His pretended friendliness was
a cruel fraud; and there are now people
whose smile is falsehood. Before you be-
gin to show yourself 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 this virtue,
but the grace of God can subimely lift yon
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
1Nxb., 4 Nd oocS1S ND<
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 oc eanic tide of Gods up
lifting grace to hoist US into this kindness
am eulogiz;ng. If when under the fash Of
the Holy Ghost we see cur own foibles and
defects and depravitiss, we will be very
lenient and very easy with others. Wewill
look into their characsers for things COM
mandatory and not asnnatory. If you
would rub your own eye u little more yigo-
;rously you would find q mote in it, the ex'
traction of which would keep you so busy
that Won would not have much time to
shoulder your broa6aX and so forth to split
up the beam in,your neighbor's eye. In
Chris tian spirit keep on exploring the char
act ers Of those you meet, and am sureyou
will find something in them delightful and
fit for a foundation of friendliness. You
invite me to come to your country seat and
spend few days. Thank you! 1arrive
about noon Of beautiful summer day.
What do you do! AS soon as I arrive you
take me out under the shadow OF the green
etms. You take me down the artificial lake,
the spotted trout floating in and out among
the white pillars of the pond lilies. You
take me to the stalls and kennels Wnere you
keep your fine stock, an6 here are the Our-
ham cattle, and the Gordon s',tsers, anu inc
NIGH stepping steeds by paving and neigh
ing. the only language they can speak, ask
ING for harness or saddle, ana short turn
down the road Then we go back to the
house, and you get me in the right light and
snow me the Kensetts and the Bierstadts
ON the wall, and take me into the music
room, and show me the bird cages, the
canaries in the bay window answering the