Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1898-09-22
TALMAGE'S SERMON
The ART OF FRIENDSHIPS,
SUNDAYS SUBJECT.
ieat' Proverbs, Chapter Is, Verse "a as
ohows "A Man That Hath Friends
Must Show Himself FrIendiy."-T,r,e-
ly Advice.

ABOUT the sacred and divine art Of
making and keeping friends | sneak
a subject on which / never heard nj
anyone preaching-and vet God
thought 1t OF enough Importance to nut
IL IN the middle of the Bible. these
"rltihgs OF Solomon, bounded on one
size by the popular Psalms of David
ana on the other by the writings OF
isaiah the greatest of the prophets.
AZ seems all a matter OF haphazard how
many friends We have, or whether we
nave any friends at all. but there is
nothing accidental about it. There is
a law which governs the accretion
ana dispersion of friendships. They
ala not Just happen So any more
than the tides just happen to rise or
IaIi. 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
VIII not have enemies; indeed, the best
way to get ardent friends is to have
ardent enemies, If you get their en-
nifty in doing the right thing. Good
men and women will always have en-
emies, because their goodness is a per-
petual rebuke to evil; but this antago-
nism OF foes will make more intense
the love OF your adherents. Your
friends will gather closer around you
beca'lse 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 I'M
just assault multiplied my friends, as
near as | could calculate, about fifty
a 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 fifty
nine centuries ago, the captain of that
craft, one Adam, and his first mate
running the famous cargo aground 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
demonstrated that some IN is being
prosecuted, although at the start SIAN
derous tongues were busy enough. de-
tenders finally gather around as thick
as honey bees on a trellis of bruised
h~oneysuckle. 3 8
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 rive:
Thames two vessels ran aground. The
wne OF one got hundred horses.
and pulled on the grounded ship, and
pulled il to pieces. The owners of tho
other grounded vessel waited till the
tides came in, and easily fioated the
ship out OF all trouble. So We may
pull and haul at our grounded human
nature, and try to get into better con-
dition, but there Is nothing like the
oceanic tides OF Gods uplifting grace.
IL when under the flash OF the Holy
Ghost, we see our own foibles and de-
fects and d~epravities, we will be very
lenient, and very easy with others. We
will look into their characters for
things commendatory, and not damna-
tory. II you would rub your own eye
a little more vigorously you would
find a mote in it, 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 ~neighbor's eye. In
a Christian spirit keep on exploring the
characters of those you meet, and l
am sure you will find something in
them 1T for a foundation Of friendli-
ness.
You invite me to come to your coun-
try-seat and spend a few days. ThanK
Won, | arrive about noon of a beautl-
ful summer day. What do you do? As
as | arrive you take me out un-
der 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-liiies.
Won take me 10 the stalls and kennels
where YOU keep your fine stock, and
here are the Durham cattle and the
settlers; and the housekeeping
steeds by paving and neighing, the
onIv they can speak. asking
for harness or saddle, and a short turn
down the road. Then we go back TO
the house. and you get me in the right
Iiobt and show me the Kensetts ana
Tho pierstadts on the wall, and take
me into the MUSHROOM and show me
the bird-cages, the canaries in the bay
window answering the robins IN the
Thank you! ! Y en-
loved myself more in the same length
~ time. Now, why do We not do SO
with the characters of others, and snow
he bloom and the music and the bright