The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1898-09-16

My f~our-year-old child got hurt aud
did not cry until hours after. when her
mother came home, and then she burst
into weeping, and some OF the domes-
ties. not understanding human nature.
before?" She answered: There was
no one to. cry to-" Now, | have to tell
you that while human sympathy may
be absent, Divine sympathy is always
accessible. Give God your love, ind
get his love; your service, secure
his help; your repentance, and have
his pardon. God a friend? Why. that
means all your wounds medicated. all
your sorrows soothed. and IL some sud
den catastrophe should hurl you out OF
earth it would only hurl you into
heaven.
II God is your friend, you cannot go
out of the world too quickly or sud
denly. so far as your own happiness is
concerned. There were two Christians
who entered heaven; the one was
standing at a window in perfect health.
watching a shower, and the lightning
instantly slew him; but the lightning
did not flash down the sky as swiftly
as his spirit flashed upward. The Chris
tian man who died on the same day
next door had been for a year or two
failing in health, and for the last
three months had suffered from a dis
ease that a made the nights sleep
less and the days an anguish. Do you
not really think that the case of the
nnn uThn ur.nN sDrta-f1, ,,yan do
sirable than the one who entered the
shining gate through a long lane or
insomnia and congestion? In the n
case 1T was like your standing YEARLY
at a door, knocking and waiting, and
wondering If it will ever open. and
knocking and waiting again, while in
the other case it was a swinging open
of the door at the first touch of your
knuckle. Give yOur friendship to God.
and have Gods friendship for you. and
even the worst accident will be a vic
tory.
How refreshing q human friendship;
and true friends, what priceless treas
ureS! When sickness comes, and trOu-
bic comes, and death comes, we seN1
for our friends first of all, and their
appearance in our doorway in any
crisis is reinforcement. and when they
have entered, we say: Now IL is all
right" Oh, what would We do with
out personal friends, business friends.
family friends? But we want some-
thing mightier than human friendship
in the great ~exigencies. When Jona-
han Edwards. in his final hour, had
given the last goodbye to all his
earthly friends, he turned on his pill
low and closed his eyes, confidently
saying; Now where is Jesus of Naz-
areth, my true and n~eyor-failinS
Friend?" Yes, 1 admire human friend
ship as seen in the case of David and
Jonathan. of Paul and Cnesiphorus, OF
Herder and Goethe, of Goldsmith and
Reynolds. of Beaumont and Fletcher.
of COwley and Harvey. of Erasmus
and Thomas More, of Lessing and
MendelssOhn, OF Lady Churchill aud
Princess Anne, of Orestes and Py,adas,
each requesting that himself might
take the point Of the dagger, SO the
other might be spared; Of Epamin-
ondas and Pelopidas, who locked their
ollSiuS i'll DdlJlS, uSteIiilHcu 10 GIC JO-
gether; but the graIdest. the might
lest, the tenderest friendship in all the
universe is the friendship between
Jesus Christ and a believing soul. Yet.
after all l have said, | feel | have
only done what James Marshall, the
miner. did in 1913 in California, be
fore its gold mines were known. He
reached in and Lut upon the table OF
his employer, Captain Suffer, a Thin
bleful of gold dust. Where did you
get that?" said his employer. The re-
ply was: 81 got it this morning from
a mill race from which the water had
been drawn OH" But that gold dust,
which could have been taken up be-
tween the finger and the thumb, was
the prophecy and specimen that re
yealed Caiifornia's wealth to all ma
lions. And today l have only put be-
fore you a specimen Of the value of
divine friendship, only a thimblefui
OF mines i~nexhaustible and Infinite.
though all time and all eternity 90 III
with the exploration.