Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-09-28
SERMONS OF THE DAY,

iStRMUNS UF THE DAY.
Subject: "The Art of Friendship'-Get
Your Heart Right With God and Man
and This Grace VIII Become Easy-Be
an Ezekiel. Not . j eremiah.
TEXT: "a man that hath friends must
show himself friendly. y."-Proverbs xviii, "a.
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 1t of enough impOr-
tance to put 1t 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 a
matter of haphazard how many friends
we have, or whether we have any friends
at all, but there Is nothing accidental about
IT.. There is a law which covers the accre-
tion and dispersion OF friendships. They
did not lust 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 friendly others are
to you do not say you will not have
enemies; indeed, the best way to get ardent
friends is to have ardent enemies IL you
get their unity in doing the right thing
Good men and women will always have
enemies, because their goodness is a per-
petual rebuke 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 enemies
abuse you the better your coadjutors will
think of you.
The best friends we have ever had ap-
peared at some juncture when we wore
especially bombarded. There have been
times in my life when unjust assault multi
piled my friends as near -as 1 could calcu-
late, about fifty minute. You are bound
to some people 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 fifty nine centuries ago.
the captain of that craft, one Adam, and
his first mate running the famous cargo
around on a 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 the dispo-
sitiOn to take the part of those unfairly
dealt with. When it is thoroughly demon
strated that some one is being prosecuted,
although at the start slanderous tongues
were busy enough, defenders finally gather
around as thick as honey bees on trellis
of bruised honeysuckle.
If, when set 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 upon His arrival at Palestine a very
cold shoulder, there would not have been
one-half as many angels chanting glory out
OF the hymn books of the sky, bound in
black lids Of midnight. Had 1t not been
for the heavy and jagged and tortuous
Cross, Christ would not have been the ad-
mired and loved of more people than any
being who ever touched foot on either the
Eastern 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 en-
thusiastic admirer-. In other words, there
is no viruleDce that can hinder my text
from coming true: ga man that hath
friends must show himself friendly"
1t Is my ambition to project especially
upon the young a thought which may be-
ntgnly shape their destiny for the here and
the hereafter. Before you show yourself
friendly you must be friendly do not
recommend u dramatized geniality. There
is such thing as pretending to be en- rap
port with others, when we are their dire
4estructants, and talk against them and
wish them calamity. Judas covered up
his treachery by resounding kiss, and
saresses may be demonieal Better the
dog of he'll barking at US, than the wolf in
sleeps clothing, its brindled hide covered
Up by deceptive wool, and its deathfuI
Aowl cadenced into an innocent bleatiDg
Disraeli writes of Lord Manfred who, after
committing many Outrages upon the peo-
pie, seemed suddenly to become friendly
and invited them to banquet. After
most OF the courses had been served he
blew horn, which was In those times a
signal for the servants to bring on the de-
49, h,rN 1,sn Al
assassins to enter and slay the guests. His
pretended friendliness was 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 rau
aground. The owners Of one got one hun
dred horses, and pulled on the grounded
ship. and pulled it to pieces. The owners
of the other grounded vessel waited
till :he tides came in, and easily foated
the ship out Of all trouble. So we may
pull and haul at our grounded human ma
ture, and try to get 1t into better condi-
tides Of Gods uplifting grace. II, when
under the flash Of the Holy Ghost, we see
our own foibles and defects and depravi-
ties, we will be very lenient, and very
easy with others. We will look into their
characters for things comniendatory and
not damnatory. II you would rub your
own eye little more vigorously you would
find q mote In 1t, the extraction of which
would keep you so busy you would not
have much time to shoulder your broad
axe and go forth to split up the. beam in
your neighbOr's eye. In n Christian spirit
keep on exploring the characters of those
you meet, and 1 am sure you will find
in them fit for a foundation of
You invite me to come to your country
seat and spend few days. Thank you'll l
arrive about noon Of beautiful summer
day. What do you? As soon as l arrive
you take me out under the shadow 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 to the stalls and
kennels where you keep your fine stock.
and here are the Durham cattle ana the
Gordon settlers: and the high-stepping
steeds, by paving and neighing, the only
language they can sp5ak. asking for har-
ness or saddle, and a short turn down the
road. Then we go back to the house, and
you get me in the right light and show 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 robins in
the tree-tops. Thank youi 1 never en-
oyed myself more in the same length of
time. Now, why do we not do so with the
characters of others, and show the bloom
and the music and the bright fountains?
No. We say, "Come along, and let me
show you that mans character. Here is a
frog-pond, and there's a
ilthy cellar, and guess under that hedge
here must be a black snake. Come, and
ct US for an hour or two regale ourselves
With the nuisances."
Oh, my friends. better cover up the
auIts and extol the virtues; and this habit