The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1889-07-11
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Art of Making Friends Dis
coursed Upon.
The Best Way to Get Ardent Friends IL to
Have Ardent Enemies ~ Your Ene-
mics Have Been Acquired
I'm Doing Right.

friendly.-i'rov. xviii, e.
About the sacred and divine art OF max
ing and keeping friends ! speak-a sub
ject 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. 1t seems all matter of hap
hazard how many friends we have, or
whether we have any friends at all, but
there is nothing accidental about 1t. 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.
1t is a science, an art, a God given
regulation. Tell me how friendly you
are to others, and l will tell you how
friendly others are to you. do not say
you will not have nemies-iudeed, the
best way TO get ardent friends is to have
ardent enemies, if you got their enmity in
doing the right thing. Good men and
women will always have enemies, be-
cause their goodness is a perpetual re-
buke 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 enc
mics abuse you the better your coad-
tutors will think of you. The best friends
we ever had appeared at some juncturo
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 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 centuries
ago-the captain OF that craft Zone
Adam) and his first mate running the
famous cargo aground on q snag in the
River Hiddekel; but there was at least
one good trait of human nature that
waded safely ashore from that ship
wreck, 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 slanderous tongues were
busy enough, defenders finally gather
around as thick as bees on a trellis
upon 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 Gordon of allies.
Had not the world given to Christ on His
arrival at Palestine very cold shoulder
there would not have been One-half as
many angels chanting glory out of the
he Of hn clY n ony
lids Of midnight. Had it not been for the
heavy and jagged and tortuous cross,
Christ would not have been the admired
and loved of more people than any being
who ever touched foot on either the east
ern 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
enthusiastic admirers. In other words,
there is no virulence, human or diabOlic,
that can hinder my text from coming
true: "a man that hath friends must
show himself friendly"
1t is my ambition to project especially
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 a dramatized geniality.
There is such thing as pretending to be
en- rapport with others when we are their
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 brindled
hide covered up by deceitful WOOL and its
beautiful howl cadenced into an innocent
bleating. Disraeli writes of Lord Man
fred, who, after committing many out
RACES upon the people, seemed suddenly
to become friendly, and invited them to a
banquet After most of the courses of
food had been served he blew a 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 Stay the guests. His pre-.
tended frlendliness was a cruel fraud;
and there are now people whose smile is
a falsehood. 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 semblance of this virtue
but the grace of God can sublimely lift
you into it.
Sailing on the river Thames two vessels
ran aground. The owners Of one got a
hundred horses and pulled on the ground
ed ship, and pulled it to pieces. The
owners of theother grounded vessel wait
ed till the tides come in and easily foated
the ship out of all trouble. So, we may
pull and haul at our grounded human
nature, and try to get it into better condi-
ton; but there is nothing like the oceanic
tides of Gods uplifting grace to hoist us
into this kindness | am eulOgizing. If
when under the fash 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 little more vigorously you
would find a mote III il, 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 eye. In Chris
tian spirit keep on exploring the charac-
tiers of those you meet, and am sure you
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!
! arrive about noon of beautiful sum
mer day. What do you do: AS soon as
i arrive you take me out under the shad-
ow OF the great elms. You take me
down to the artificial lake, the spotted
trout floating in and out among the white
pillars of the pond lilies. You take me
10 the stalls and kennels where you keep
your fine stock, and here are the Durham