Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-09-17
EXTOL THE VIRTUES.
AND COVER THE FAULTS, SAYS REV.
DR.. TALMAGE.


A Great Sermon on the Art OF Friendship.
Tho aIan That Hath Friends Must Show
Himself Friendly-Five Sermons III Ev-
cry Healthy HnnlsIal1e.
copyright, $685. by American Press Asso-
clati0n.l
WASHINGTON, Sept. 11.-The obtain
ing of good friends, which most look
upon as matter of happy accident, DR..
Talmage in this sermon shows to be
matter Of Intelligent selection; text,
Proverbs xviii, 24, GA man that hath
friends must show himself friendly.
About the sacred and divine art OF
making and keeping friends speak-a
subject on which never heard of any
one preaching-and yet God thought it
of enough. Importance to put it in the
middle Of tho Bible, these writings OF
Solomon, bounded OH one side by tho
popular psalms of David and Oh the
other by the writings of Isaiah, tho
greatest of the prophets. 1t seems all
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 law which governs
the accretion and dispersion of friend
ships. They did not lust happen SO"
any moro than the tides just happen to
rise or fall, or the sun just happens to
rise or set. 1t is a science, an art,
God given regulation.
Tell mo how friendly you are to 9TH
ers, and will tell you how friendly
others are to You. l do not say yon
will not have enemies. Indeed, the best
way to get ardent friends is to have ar
dent enemies if you get their enmity III
doing tho right thing. Good men and
women will always have enemies, be-
cause their goodness is perpetual re-.
buko to evil, but this antagonism of
foes will make more intense the love of
your adherents. Your friends will gath
or closer around you because of the at
tacks of your assailants. Theme your
enemies abuse You tho better your coad-
tutors will think ct vou.
Unjust Assault Ma::iplics rrlends.
The best friends we la, ever had APP
peared at scme jrroture when we were
especially tcntardod. There have been
times in my life when unjust assault
multiplied lily friends, rs near as |
could calculate, ahoi.t 90 Il minute.
You are bound to some people BY manly
cords that neither time nor eternity can
break, and l will warrant that many of
those cords wore twisted by hands ma
levolent. Human nature was shipwreck-
ed about 50 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 ct least one good trait of hui
man nature that waded safely ashore
from that shipwreck, and that is the
disposition to take the part OF those un-
fairly dealt with When it is thorough
" demonstrated that some one is being
prosecuted, although at the start SIAN
derous tongues were busy enough, de-
tenders finally gather around as thick
as honeybees 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
whole Gordon of allies. Had not tho
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 hymn
books of the sky, bound in black lids of
midnight. Haditn 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
eastern or western hemisphere. Instead,
therefore, of giving up in despair be-
cause you have enemies, rejoice in the
fact that they rally for you the most
helpful and enthustiastic admirers. In
other words, there is no virulence that
can hinder my text from coming true,
ga man that hath friends must show
himself friendly"
1t is my ambition to project especial
ly upon the young thought which
may benignly shape their destiny for
the here and the hereafter. Before you
show yourself friendly you must be
friendly. I do not recommend DRAM
atized geniality. There is such thing
as pretending to be en- rapport with 9th
ers when we are their dire destructants
and talk against them and wish them
calamity. Judas covered up his treach-
cry by resounding kiss, and caresses
may be demoniacal. Better the mytho-
logical Cerberus, the three headed dog
of hell, barking at us, than the wolf
in sleeps clothing, its brindled hide
covered up by deceptive wool and its
deathful howl cadenced into an inno-
cent bleating Disraeli writes of Lord
Manfred, who, after committing many
outrages upon the people, seemed sud
denly to become friendly and invited
them to banquet. After most of the
courses of food had been served he blew
q horn, which was in those times sig
nal for the servants to bring on the des-
sert, but in this case it was tho signal
for assassins to enter and Stay the
guests. His pretended friendliness was
a cruel fraud, and there are now people
whose smile is falsehood.
One Must Be Friendly.
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 in
to 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 foated the ship out of all trou-
ble So we may pull and haul at our
grounded human nature and try to get
it into better condition, but there is
,otI,;,,o lilo tho ornonic tjdpS of God S