The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-09-21

his aclc: yQl}c ltpaataiiTG li:1 i'aVf ElS
paiytcn, Gqa s nie"a1 Why, that
means sSt ycur wounds mtlicated; all
your sor;aws so3.hed, and If come Sid
den catastrophe should hurl YOU oHt Of
earth it would onIy hn'rl YOU out into
heaven.
IfGod is Your friend, you cannot 20
cut of the world too quickly or sud
denly. so far as Your own happiness is
concerned. There We're two Christians
who entered heaven. The one was
standing at 4 window in perfect health.
watching shower, and the lightning
instantly slew him. but the lightning
did not flash down the sky as swiftly as
his spirit flashed upward. The Chris
tian man who died on the same day
next door had been for Il Year or two
failing in health, and for the last three
months had suffered from disease that
made tbs nights s!eeplesS and the days
an anguish. Do You not really think
that the case Of the one who went In
stantly was more desirable than the one
who entered the shining gate through a
long lane Of insomnia and congestion?
II the one case 1t was ike your stand
ing YEARLY at a door knocking ana
waiting and wondering If it will ever
open. and knocking and waiting again,
while in the other case it was swing
ing open of the door at the first touch
of your knuckle. Give Your friendship
to God. and have Gods friendship for
YOU. and even the worst accident will
be a victory.
How refreshing is human friendship.
and true friends, what priceless treas
u1cs 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 exigcn
cies. 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. conf
IDENTIFY saying, Now where is Jesus
of Nazareth, my true and never failing
Friend?" Yes, l admire human friend
ship as seen in the case of David and
Jonathan, of Paul and Onesiphorus, Of
Herder and Goethe, of Goldsmith and
Reynolds, of Ceaumont and Fletcher
Of Cowley and Harvey, of Erasmus and
Thomas Moore, Of Lessing 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
grandcst, the mightiest, the tenderest
friendship in all the universe is the
friendship between Jesus Christ and a
believing soul, yet after all | have said
I feel l have only done what James
Marshall, the miner, did in lS4S in
California, before its gold mines were
known. He reached in and put upon
the table of his employer, Captain SUIT
ter, a thimbleful Of gold dust. Where
did you get that?" said his employer.
The reply vas, Il 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 reveal
ed CALIFORNIA; wealth to all nations,
and today have only put before you a
specimen of the value Of divine friend
ship, only thimbleful of mines mex
haustible and infinite, though all time
and all eternity 50 on with the explo-