The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-09-23
TALMAGES' SERMON.

~ SSpSs 41.-1n0 o..
tanning Of good friends which most look
upon as a matter of happy accident, DR..
In this sermon shows to he
q matter OF intelligent selection, Text.
Proverbs xviii, "a: "A man that hath
friends must show himself friendly"
About the sacred and divine art of
making and keeping friends 1 speak
a subject on which I never heard Of
anyone preaching-and yet God thought
1t OF enough Importance to put it in
n middle Of the bible, these writings
or 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
q matter of haphazard how many
any friends at all, but there is moth
ing accidental about it. There is a
law which governs the accretion and
dispersion Of friendships. They did
not just happen so" r. more than
the tides just happen 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 l will tell you how friendly
others are to you. I 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 enmity
in doing the right thing. Good men
n women will always have enemies,
because their gccdEess is a perpetual
rebuke to evil; but this antagonism of
Toes will make mere 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 you
coadjutors will think of you.
The bs-t friends we have ever had
appeared at some j%uncture when we
were especially bomharded. There have
been times in my life when unjust as
sault multiplied my friends, as near as
/ could calculate, about fifty a min
ute. You are bound to some people
by many cords that neither time nor
eternity can break, and I will warrant
that many of those cords were twisted
by hands malevolent.
MUST BE FRIENDLY.
1t is my ambition to project espe-
cially upon the young a thought which
may benignly shape their destiny for
the here n the hereafter. Before you
show yourself friendly you must be
friendly. I do not recommend a dra-
matted geniality. There is such a
thing as pretending to be en- rapport
with Others. when we are their dire
destructants, and talk against them,
and wish them calamity. Judas covered
up his treachery by a resounding kiss,
and Caresses may be demoniacal. Bet
ter the NEUROLOGICAL Cerberus, she
three-headed dog of hell, barking at
its brindled hide covered up by decept-
i've wool. and it's deathful bowl ca
denced into an innocent bleating. Dis
raeli writes Of Lord Manfred, who,
after committing many outrages upon
the people, seemed suddenly to become
friendly, and invited them to a ban
quet. 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 enter and slay the guests.
His pretended friendliness was a cruel
fraud; and there are now people whose
smile is a falsehOOd.
You invite me to come to your coun-
try seat and spend a few days. Thank
you. I arrive about noon of a beautf-
full summer day. What do you do? AS
soon as I 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. You
take me to the stalls and kennels where
you keep your fine stock, and here are
the Durham cattle and the Gordon set
ters; and the housekeeping steeds, by
paving and %neighing, the only lam
guage they can speak, asking for har-
ness 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 taxi me
into the music room and show me the
bird cages, the canaries in the bay
window answering the robins in the
tree tops. Thank you! I 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 muse n 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 here's a filthy cellar, and I
guess under hat hedge there must be a
black snake. Come and let us for an
hour or two relegate ourselves with the
nuiSances."
ExTOL THE VIRTUES.
Oh, my frineds, better cover up the
faults and extol the virtues: and this
habit once established Of universal
friendliness will become as easy as it
is for a syringa to God the air with
sweetness, as easy as it will be further
on in the season for a quail to whistle
up from the grass. When we hear
something bad about somebody whom
we always supposed to be good, take
out your lead pencil and say, Let me
see! Before I accept that baleful story
against h a mans character, I will
take off from it rs per cent for the
habit or eXaggeratlOn Whlch belongs to
the man who first old he story; then
I will take off rs per cent for the adj
ditions which the spirit of gossip in
every community has put upon the or
iginal story; then 1 will take off Is per
cent from the fact that the man may
have been put into circumstances of
overpowering temptation. So I have
taken off rs per cent. But I had not
heard his side of the story at all, and
for hat reason I take off the remaining
rs per cent. Excuse me, sir, I don
believe a word of it,"