The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-09-23
ART OF FRIENDSHIP.
DR. TALMAGE,S SERMON ON MAX.
ING AMI KEEPING FRIENDS.

A God Given Observation-Disclosures Enc.
mics and Ardent Frfends-Cover Up
the Faults and ExtoI the yirtues-The
Hearty Handshake and Its Great
Value.
Copyright, 1898, by American Press
Association.)
The obtaining of good friends, which
most look upon as a matter of happy
accident, DR.. Talmage in this sermon
shows to be a matter of intelligent Sc
lection; text, Proverbs xviii, "a, "a
man that hath friends must show him
self friendly"
About the sacred and divine art Of
making and keeping friends I speak
a subject on which / never heard of
any one preaching-and yet God
thought it of enough Importance to put
it in the middle Of the Bible, these
writings Of Solomon, bounded on one
side by the popular psalm 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 ave any friends at all, but there
10 lloIlllL6 dCCiuClldl dDOuI IL. IlciS
is a law which governs the accretiOn
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 reg
ulation.
Tell me how friendly you are to 9TH
ers, and 1 will tell you how friendly
others are to you. l do not say you
will not have enemies Indeed the hest
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 assail-
ants. The more your enemies abuse
o the better your coadjutors will
think Of you.
OUR BEST FRIENDS.
The best friends we have ever had
appeared at some juncture when we
were especially bombarded. There have
been times liz my life when unjust as
sault multiplied my friends, as near
as / could calculate, about so a min
ute. You are bound to some people
Wy OIL L LIlA iCILllCi Ill llO1
eternity can break and L will warrant
that many of those cords were twist
ed by hands m~alevolent. Human ma
ture was shipwrecked about SO centu-
ries 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 disposition
to take the part of those unfairly dealt
with. When it is thoroughly demon
Strated that some one is being perSe-
cuted, although at the start SANDER
Gus tongues were busy enough, de-
tenders finally gather around as thick
as ~honeybees on a trellis of bruised
honeysuckle.
If when set upon by the furies you
a have grace enough to keep your
mouth shut and preserve your equi-
poise and let others fight your battles,
you will find yourself after awhile with
a whole Gordon of allies. Had not the
world given to Christ on his arrival
at Palestine a 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 it not been for the
heavy and jagged and tortuous cross
Christ would not have been the ad-
L tbAAN AONSN VI PSoPAS NACA
any being who ever touched foot on
either the eastern or western hemis-
phere. Instead therefore of giving up
in despair because you ave enemies
rejoice in the fact that they rally for
you the most helpful and enthusiast
tic admirers. In other words, there is
no Virulence that car hinder my text
from coming true, "A man that ath
friends must show himself friendly
1t is my ambition to project, espe-
cially upon the young, a thought which
may benignly shape their destiny for
the here and the hereafter. Before you
show yourself friendly you must be
friendly. l do not recommend a dram
atized geniality. There is such a thing
as pretending to be en- rapport with
others when we are their dire destruc-
tants and talk against them and wish
them calamity. Judas covered up his
treachery by a resOunding kiss, n
caress may be demoniacal. Better the
NEUROLOGICAL Cerberus, the three head
ed dog of hell, barking at US, tina the
wolf in sleeps clothing, it's brindled
hide covered up by deceptive wool and
it's beautiful howl cadenced into an in
nocent bleating. Disraeli writes of
Lord Manfred, who, after committing
many outrages upon the people, SEEM
ed suddenly to become friendly and in
vited them to a banquet. After most
of the courses of food had been served
he blew a horn, which was in those
times a signal for the servants to
bring on the dessert, but in this case
it was the signal for assassins to en-
ter and slay the guests. His pretend
ed friendliness was a cruel fraud, and
there are now people whose smile is a
falSehood.
OCEANIC TIDES OF GODS GRACE.
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 semb4ance 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 100 horses and pull
ed on the grounded ship and pulled it
to pieces. The of the other
grounded vessel waited till the tides