The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-09-16

Christ badly all our lives and expect
him to treat us lovingly. l was read
ing of sea fight in which Lord Nelson
captured French officer, and when the
French officer offered Lord Nelson his
hand Nelson replied, First give me
your sword and then give me your
hand" Surrender of our resistance to
God must precede Gods proffer of par
don to us. Repentance before forgive
ness. You must give up your rebellious
sword before you can get a grasp of the
Divine hand.
Oh, what a glorious state of things
to have the friendship of God Why,
we could afford to have all the world
against us and all other worlds against
us if we had God for us. He could in a
minute blot out this universe, and in
another minute make a better universe.
l have no idea that God tried hard
when he made all things. The most
brilliant thing known to us is light,
and for the creation of that he only
used word Of command. AS out of a
flint frontiersman strikes a spark, SO
out of one word God struck the noon
day sun. For the making of the present
universe l do not read that God lifted
so much as finger. The Bible fire.
quently speaks of Cod hand and God s
arm and Gods shoulder and Gods foot.
Then suppose he should put hand and
arm and shoulder and foot to utmost
tension, what could he not make? That
God of such demonstrated and undem-
onstrated strength you may have for
your present and everlasting friend, not
a stately and reticent friend, hard to
get at, but as approachable as a coun-
try mansion on a summer day, when
all the doors and windows are wide
open. Christ said, 81 am the door. :"
And he is wide door, a high door, a
palace door, an always open door.
No One to Cry To.
My 4-year-old child got hurt and did
not cry until hours after, when her
mother came home, and then she burst
into weeping, and some of the domes-
tics, not understanding human nature,
said to her, "Why did you not cry be-
fore?" She answered, "There was no
one to cry to-" Now, I have to tell you
that while human sympathy may be alb
sent divine sympathy is always acoessi-
BILE. Give God your love and get his
love, your service and secure his help,
your repentance and have his pardon.
God a friend; Why, that means all
your wounds indicated, all your sor-
rows soothed, and if some sudden catas-
trophe should hurl you out of earth it
would only hurl you into heaven.
If God is your friend, you cannot go
out of the world too quickly or sudden
ly so far as your own happiness is con-
cerned. There were two Christians who
entered heaven. The one was standing
at window in perfect health, watch
ing shower, and the lightning in
stantly slew him, but the lightning did
not flash down the sky as swiftly as his
spirit flashed upward. The Christian
man who died on the same day next
door had been for year or two failing
in health, and for the last three months
had suffered from disease that made
the nights sIeepless and the days an
anguish. Do you not really think that
the case of the one who went instantly
was more desirable than the one who
entered the shining gate through long
lane of insomnia and congestion? In
the one case it was like your standing
YEARLY at door, knocking and wait
ing 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
victory.
Value of Divine Friendship.
How refreshing is human friendship,
and true friends, what priceless treas
ures When sickness comes and trouble
comes and death comes, we send for our
friends first of all, and their appearance
in our doorway in any crisis is re-en-
forcement, and when they have enter
ed we say "Now it is all right ~ Oh,
what would we do without personal
friends, business friends, family friends?
But we want something mightier
than human friendship in the great
exigencies. When Jonathan Edwards,
in his final hour, had given the last
goodby to all his earthly friends, he
turned on his pillow and closed his
eyes, confidently saying, "Now where
is Jesus of Nazareth, my true and never
failing Friend?" Yes, l admire human
friendship as seen in the case of David
and Jonathan, of Paul and Onesiphorus,
of Herder and Goethe, of Goldsmith
and Reynolds, of Beaumont and Fletch-
er, of Crowley and Harvey, of Erasmus
and Thomas More, of Leasing and Men
delssohn, of Lady Churchill and Prin-
cess Anne, of Orestes and Pylades, each
requesting that himself might take the
point of the dagger, so the other might
be spared; of Epaminondas and Pelopi
das, who locked their shields in battle,
determined to die together, but the
grandest, the mightiest, the tenderest
friendship in all the universe is the
friendship between Jesus Christ and
believing soul. Yet, after all have
said, 1 feel l have only done what
James Marshall, the miner, did in 1S4S
in California, before its gold mines