Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-09-22
DR. TALMAGE TELLS OF THE d.
VINE ART OF FRIENDSHIP.
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE
Our Best Friends, He Declares, Appear
in Our Trying Monents-Tl Q
Hearty Handshake and Value &C
Kind Thoughts and Words.

About the sacred and divine art OF
making and keeping friends speak
q subject on which | never heard OF
anyone preaching and yet God
thought 1t of enough Importance to
put 1t in the middle of the Bible, these
writings Of Solomon, bounded on one
sside by the popular psalm OF David,
and on the other by the writings OF
Isaiah, the greatest of the prophets.
Itseems all matter OF haphazard how
many friends we may have or whether
we have any friends at all, but there
IL nothing accidental about 1t. There
Ia 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 u science, an art, God
given regulation.
Tell me how friendly you are to
others, and | will tell you how friend
.ly others are to you. do not say you
will not have enemies. Indeed the
best way to get ardent friends is to
have ardent enemies, II you get their
enmity In doing the right thing. Good
men and women will always have enc
mics, because their goodness Is per-
petual rebuke to evil, but this an
tngonism of foes will make more In
tense the love Of your adherents. Your
friends will gather closer around you
because of the attacks Of your nssail-
ants. The more your enemies abuse
.ou the better your conductors Will
think OF you.
The best friends we have ever had
appeared at some iuncture when we
were especially bombnrdcd. There
have been times In my life when un-
1ust assault multiplied my friends, MS
nenr as could calculate, about 80
minute. You are bound 10 some pco
Dfe by many cords that neither time
nor eternity can break, and viii war
rant that many Of those cords were
twisted by hands malcyolcnt Human
nature was shipwrcckcd about 80
centuries ago, the captain OF that
craft, one Adam, and his first mate
running the famous cargo aground
on u SING In the river lliddekcl. But
there was Mt least one good trait OF
human nature that wadcd safely
ashore from That shipwrcck, and TINT
u the disposition OF those to take the
part of those unfairly dealt with.
When il IN thoroughly demonstrated
TINT some one Ii being pcrsecutcd, al
though at the start slandcrous tongues
were busy enough, defenders finally
gather around M thick MS honey
bees on trellis OF bruised honey.
suicide.
u when set upon by the furics you
cnn have grace enough to keep your
mouth shut aud preserve your cquipoise
and let others fight your battles, YOU
will find yourself after awhile with n
whole Gordon OF allies, Had not the
world given to Christ on His arrival at
Palestine Il very cold shoulder there
would not have been one half as many
angels chanting glory ont of the hymn
books of the sky bound In black lids
OF midnight. Had il not been for the
heavy and Jagged and tortuous cross
Christ would not have been the admired
and loved of more people than any be
ing who ever touched foot on either the
EASTERN or western hemisphere. In
stead therefore of giving up In despair
because YOU have enemies joice I'm the
fact that they rally for you the most
helpful and enthusiastic admirers. In
other words, there Is no yirulcnce that
Gun hinder my text from coming true:
IA man that hath friends must show
himself friendly"
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 scmhaurc 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 loo horses aud pulled ON the
grounded ship and pulled II to pieces
The owners OF the other grounded YES
sel waited till the tides came In and
easily louted the ship out OF all
trouble, SO we may pull and haul at
our grounded human nature aud try
TO get II into better condition, but
there is nothing like the oceanic tides
OF Gods uplifting grace. IL, when
under the flash Of the Holy Ghost we
see our own foihles and defects and
depravities, 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 n little
more vigorously, you would find Il mote
In 1t. the extraction of which would
keep you 50 busy you would not have
much time to shoulder your hroadaN
and SO forth to split up the beam in
your neighbours eye. In Christian
spirit keep on exploring the charac.
tiers OF those you meet, and am sure
you will find something in them fit
for foundation Of frieudlintss.
Now, supposing that you have by a
divine regeneration got right toward
God and humanity, and you start out
to practice my text: "A man that
hath friends must show himself friend.