Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-07-11

Christ said: 81 am the door" And He Is q
wide door, high door, a palace door, an
always open door. Ny four-year-old child
got hurt, and did not cry until hours after
when her mother came home, and then she
burst into weeping, and some Of the domes-
tics not understanding human nature, said
to her; ''Why, did you not cry beforep She
answered: There was no one to cry to-"
Now have to tell you that while human
sympathy may be absent, divine sympathy
is always accessible. Give God your
love and get His love; your service
and secure His help; your repentance
and have His pardon. God friend? Why,
that means all your wounds medicated, all
your sorrows soothed, and il some sudden ca
tastrophe should hurl you out of earth it would
only hurl you into heaven. II God is your
friend, you cannot get out of the world too
quickly or suddenly, so far as your own hap
pineSs is concerned. There were two Chris
tians last Tuesday who entered heaven; the
one was standing at a window in perfect
health watching the shower, and the light
ming instantly slew him; but the lightning
did not flash down the sky as swiftly as his
spirit flashed upward. The Christian man
who died on the same day next door had
been for a year or two failing In health, and
for the last three months had suffered from q
disease that made the nights sleepless and the
days an anguish. Do you not really think
that the case of the one who went instantly
was more desirable than the one who entered
the shining gate through a long
lane of insomnia and congestions In
the one ease, it was like your standing
wearily at a door, knocking and waiting, and
wondering if it viii ever open, and knocking
and waiting again; while in the other case,
it was a swinging open of the door at the
first touch Of your lnuckle. Give your
friendship to God, and have Gods friendship
for you, and even the worst accident will be
a victory.
How refreshing is human friendship. and
true friends, what priceless TREASURED When
sickness comes, and trouble comes, and death
comes, we send for our friends first of all
and their appearance in our doorway in any
crisis is reinforcement, and when thew have
entered we say: "Now it is all righth oh,
what would we do without friends, personal
friends, business friends, family friends? But
we want something mightier than human
friendship in the great exigencies. When
Jonathan Edwards in his final hour had given
the last good-by to all his earthly friends,
he turned on his pillow and closed his eyes
confidently saying: "Now where is Jesus
Of Nazareth, my true and never failing
friend?' Yes, admire human friendship as
seen in the case Of David and Jonathan, of
Paul and Onesiphorus, of Herder and Goethe,
of Goldsmith an Reynolds of Beaumont and
rIeLcner, OIL COWley ana harvey, OF EraS-
mus and Thomas More, of Lessing and Men
delssohn, of Lady Churchill and Princess
Anne. Of Orestes and Pylades each re-
questing that himself might take the point Of
the dagger so the other might be spared; of
Epaminondas and Pelopidas who locked
their shields in battle determined to die to-
gether; but the grandest, the mightiest, the
tenderest friendship in all the universe
is the friendship between Jesus Christ
and believing soul. Yet after all
I have said I feel I have only done
what James Marshall the miner, did
in 1s4s, in California, before its gold mines
were known. He reached In and put
upon the table of his employer, Captain Sut-
ton, a thimbleful of gold dust 'FWhere did you
get thatT said his employer. The reply was:
II got it this morning from mill race,
from which the water had been drawn off. :"
But that gold dust, which could have been
taken up between the finger and the thumb,
was the prophecy and specimen that revealed
California's wealth to all nations. And to-day
I have only put before you a specimen of the
value of divine friendship, only thimbleful
of mines inexhaustible and infinite, though
all time and all eternity go on with the ex-
ploration.