The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-09-24
HUMAN FRIENDHIPS.
DR.. Talmage Tells of the Sacred
and Divine Art of Friendship.
Our Hest Friends Appear I'm Our Try
Ing Moments-The Hearty Hand
shake and Value of Kind
Thoughts and Words.

course shows to De a matter OF lntein-
gent selection; text, Proverbs 49,:
pa: "a man that hath friends
must show himself friendly"
About the sacred and divine art of
making and keeping friends speak
subject ON which l never heard of
anyone 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 psalm of David,
and on the other by the writings of
Isaiah, the greatest of the prophets.
Itseems all matter of haphazard how
many friends we may have or whether
we have any friends at all, 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 or
fall or the sun just happens 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 friend
y y -
will not have enemies. Indeed the
best way to get ardent friends is to
/ have ardent enemies, if you get their
enm:ty in doing the right thing. Good
! men and women will always have enc
| mics. because their goodness is per-
petual rebuke to evil, but this an
/ tagonism of foes will make more i'm
| tense the love of your adherents. Your
\ friends will gather closer around you
/ because of the attacks of your assail-
/ ants. The more your enemies abuse
you the better your coadjutors will
/ think of you.
The best friends we have ever had
appeared at some juncture when we
were especially bombarded. There
+! have been times in my life when un-
/ just assault multiplied my friends as
near as l could calculate, about so
minute You are bound to some peo-
pie by many cords that neither time
nor eternity can break, and ! will war
rant that many of those cords were
twisted by hands malevolent. Human
nature was shipwrecked about 80
centuries ago, the captain of that
craft. one 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 shipwreck, and that
IS III. disposition of those TO take the
part of those unfairly dealt with.
When il is thoroughly demonstrated
that some one is being prosecuted. al
-loaCh al the start slanderous tongues
were busy enough. defenders finally
gather around as thick SIS honey
bees On lrellis OF bruised honey
suckle,
Z whe- Sc; upon by the turies you
= ri- have grace enough 20 keep your
-cu-t sh-- AID preserve your eguipoise
t-l = c;Eera 1EA; y5r- battles. YOU
~ 81 yc--ss.: after awhile with q
Tt-.t c.:tr- q allies. Had not the
w.r1 E.re- % C--.s- CT rs arrival at
- 4s---s . 7=-y cad shoulder there
VIZ =; ltvs t=e- czs-la.: a. many
I----s c1s---1c gl.-y ont @: The hymn
t','.i-s g! -t- ssy. ccu-1 i black lids
p. -.- Had i z.t been Tor the
1azrr az .a@gsc AID to-tUous cross
l.rtA; 3, e 90 have been the admired
go .Ts1 .: more people thaE any be-
- 1S1r eTt- touched tcs, Of either the
ezsrer- q western hemisphere. In
,te2s therefore q giving Up il despair
Decs gse sou have enemies rejoice in the
;sct TIA; they rally FOX you the most
Ae.ptu! and enthusiastic admirers. In
c;he- words, there Is no yirulcnce that
car hinder my text from coming true:
"a man that hath friends must show
himself friendly"
Before you begin 10 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 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 100 horses and pulled on the
grounded ship and pulled it TO pieces
The owners of the other grounded yes
sci waited till the tides came in and
easily floated the ship out of all
trouble. So we may pull and haul al
ouI BIOuHucu human nature ana trI
to get it into better condition, but
there is nothing like the oceanic tides
Of Gods uplifting grace. If, when
under the flash of the Holy Ghost, we
see our own foibles and defects and
deprayities, 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 wouldfind mote
In 1t, the extraction of which would
keep you so busy you would not have
much time TO shoulder your broadax
and go forth to split up the beam in
your neighbours eye. In a Christian
spirit keep on exploring the charac-
tcrs Of those you meet, and am sure
you VIII find something in them fiji
for foundation Of friendiness.
Now. supposing that you have by
divine regeneration got right toward
God and humanity, and you start out