Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-09-17
open. Christ said, II am the door. :"
And he is Il wide door, high door, a
palace door, cn always open door.
M ora IN Crv To


palace door, an always open door.
No Ono 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 abb
sent divine sympathy is always accessi-
BILE. Give God Jour love and get his
love, your service and secure his help,
your repentance and have his pardon.
God q friend: Why, that means all
your wounds medicated, 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 q 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 Oh the same day next
door had been for a year or two failing
in health, and for the last three months
had suffered from disease that made
the nights sleepless 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 tho door at the first touch of
your knuckle. Give your friendship to
God and have God s friendship for you,
and even the worst accident will be a
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, 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 a
believing soul Yet, after all l have
said, feel 1 have only done what
James Marshall, the miner, did in 1S4S
in California, before its gold mines
were known. lie reached in and put
upon the table Of his employer, Captain
Suffer, thimbleful of gold dust.
"Where did you get that?" said his en-
ployer. The reply was, II got it this
morning from mill race from which
the water had been drawn off. +" But
that gold dust, which could have been
taken up between the finger and the
thumb, was the prophecy and specimen
that revealed California's wealth to all
nations. And today have only put be-
fore you u specimen Of the value of di-
vine friendship, only thimbleful Of
mines inexhaustible and infinite, though
all time and all eternity go on with the
exploration.