The Yale expositor., 1898-09-16
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE ART OF FRIENDSHIP"
SUNDAYS SUBJECT.
Text, Proverbs, Chapter Is, Verse "a, as
Follows: "A Man That Hath Friends
Must show Himself FrieudIy."-Time-
ly Advice.

anyone preacnlnS-and yet Gou
thought it Of enough Importance 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 of haphazard how
many friends we have, or whether we
have any friends at all, but there is
nothing accidental about it. There is
a law which governs the accretlon
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 God
given regulation.
Tell me how friendly you are to
others, and l will tell you how friendly
others are to you. l do not say you
will 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
because Of the attacks of your assall-
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 l could calculate. about fifty
a minute. You are bound to some peo-
pie by many cords that neither time
nor eternity can break, and I will war
rant that many Of those cords were
twisted by hands malevolent. Human
nature was shipwrecked about nifty
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 Hlddekel; 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 one is being
prosecuted, although at the start SLAM
derous tongues were busy enough, de-
tenders finally gather around as thick
as honey bees on a trellis OF bruised
honeysuckle.
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 river
Thames two vessels ran aground. The
owners of one got one hundred horses,
and pulled on the grounded ship, and
pulled it to pieces. The owners OF tho
other grounded vessel waited till the
tides came in. and easily foated 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
If, when under the flash OF the Holy
Ghost, we see our own foibles and de-
fects and depravities, 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 neighbours eye. In
a Christian spirit keep on exploring the
characters of those you meet, and
am sure you will find something in
them fit for foundation Of friendli-
ness.
You invite me to come to your coun-
try-seat and spend few days. Thank
you! / arrive about noon of beauti-
full summer day. What do you do? AS
soon 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-lilies.
You take me to the stalls and kennels
where you keep your fine stock, and
here are the Durham cattle and the
Gordon settlers; and the housekeeping
steeds, by paving and neighing, the
only language 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
light, and show me the Kensetts and
the Bierstadts on the wall, and take
me into the MUSHROOM and show me
the bird-cages, the canarles in the bay
window answering the robins in the
tree-tops. Thank you! l never en-
joyed myself more in the same length
Of time Now, why do we not do so
with the characters of others, and show
the bloom and the music and the bright
fountains? No. We say, Come along,
and let me show you that mans char
acter. Here is a green scummed frog
pond, and there's a filthy cellar, and
punss under that hedge there must be