Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-09-29
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

Subject: "The Art of Frlendship''-Get
Your Heart Right With God and Man
and This Grace Will Become Easy-Be
an Ezekiel, Not a j eremiah.
TEXT: "a man that hath frieLds must
show himself friendly. Proverbs xviii, "a.
About the sacred and divine art ofInaking
and keeping friends I speak-a subject on
which never heard Of anyone preaching
and yet God thought it 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 CT haphazard how many friends
we have, or whether we have any friends
at all, but there is nothing accidental about
it. There Is q law which covers the accre-
tion 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 a
science, an art, a Godgiven regulation.
Tell me how friendly you are to others,
and will tell you how friendly others are
to you. 1 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 ermity in doing the right thing.
Good men and women will always have
enemies, because their goodness Is q 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 were
especially bombarded. There have been
times in my life when unjust assault multi
piled my friends as near as could calcu-
LAO Oh aft,, IN V.N,, n hn, md
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 snag in the river Hiddekel;
but there was al 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 sanderous tongues
were busy enough, defenders finally gather
around as thick as honey bees on trellis
of bruised honevsuckle.
If, when set upon by the furles, 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 the world given to
Christ upon His arrival ut 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. 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,
tharafOra dacnnir II Ia
you have enemies. rejoice in the fact that
they rally for you the most helpful and en-
thusastic admirers. In other words, there
is no virulence that can hinder my text
from coming true: "A man that hath
friends must show himself friendly"
1t is my ambition to project especially
upon the young thought which may be-
nignly shape their destiny for the here and
the hereafter. Before you show yourself
friendly you must be friendly. do not
recommend a dramatized ,geniality. There
Is such thing as pretending to be en- rap
port with others, when we are their dire
destructants, and talk against them and
wish them calamity. Judas covered up
his treachery by resounding kiss, and
caresses may be demonieal. Better the
NEUROLOGICAL Cerberus, the three-headed
dog OIL 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 innocent bleating.
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-
sert, but in this case it was the signal for
assassins to enter and slay the guests. His
pretended friendliness was cruel fraud:
and there are now people whose smile is
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
semblance Of this virtue, but the grace OF
GSd can sublimely lift you into 1t. Sailing
on the River Thames two vessels ran
aground. The owners of one got one hun
dred horses, and pulled on the grounded
ship. and pulled it to pieces. The owners
till the tides came In, and easily floated
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-
tion; 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 depravi-
ties, We will be very lenient, and very
easy with others. We will look into their
characters for things commendatory, and
not damnatory. Ii you would rub your
own eye little more vigorously you would
find u mote in it, the extraction of which
would keep you SO busy you would not
have much time to shoulder your broad
axe and 60 forth to split up the beam In
your neighbor's eye. In Christian spirit
keep on exploring the characters Of those
you meet, and I am sure you will find
something in them tit for foundation OF
friendliness.
You invite me to come to your country
seat and spend few days. Thank you! 1
Rrrtve about noon of a beautiful summer
day. What do you? As soon as 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. Youtake 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 speak, asking for har-
ness or saddle, and 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
wQ toI int he