The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-07

to be. Whether their sympathies shall be
upon dollars or upon duties, whether they
shall be adequately described as vertebrate
mammals belonging to the catarrhine
family of apes, or as men-men with souls.
sons of the Eternal. and loyal citizens of
the. divine kingdom. depends very much
upon you, young women. Do not. 1 en-
treat you. in this day of all days. miss the
blessed opportunities of friendship.
We make friends and our friends make
us. 1t will always be debated whether the
determining influence in character comes
from heredity or from environment, from
our forefathers or from our friends. 1t is
certain that our friends have great deal
to do with it. The Spaniards say that he
who lives with wolves will learn to howl"
This is the same truth which So Paul puts
in a more sober fashion when he affirms
that "evil communications corrupt good
manners" The two maxims agree in lay
ing the emphasis on evil influences.
A MYSTERY OF LIFE.
1t is one of the mysterious conditions OF
life upon this planet that the bad is often
more persuasive than the good. 1t is not
health which is contagious. but disease.
Flowers and corn do not grow of their own
accord in the garden, but the weeds do. 1t
requires no effort to go down; we have
only to let ourselves go. But to go up
whether we speak of hill, or of a river, or
OF reputation, a fortune. a position,
characterize go up demands an effort.
Perhaps we touch just here in this word
effort the secret of the strength Of evil.
Evil is easy. Temptation does not often
come in this form: do this difficult thing"
1t almost always arrives from just the
opposite quarter of the moral compass: do
this; it Is easy
Thus we may test our friendships. Let us
put no confidence in friends who do not
work, and who do not inspire and encour-
age in us a desire to better ourselves. Let
us distrust all lazy friendships, which give
nothing and demand nothing. Do our
friends call out that which is best in usF
Do they lead us above the level Of our ordi-
nary thought and talk. and challege our
deepest self, and send us away wiser and
stronger? If not, if they demand nothing Of
us but our time, then we may properly
dispense with them.
No earnest person, In these busy days.
has any space in his life for Improbable
friends. 1 do not speak here of evil conf
pany, of those who have irreverent and I'M
clean lips, and minus empty of all things
excellent We know very well what will
befall us If we consort with such as these.
The pitch will certainly defile us. We must
needs be very strong, indeed, If we would
take the hand of one who is running down
hill and not be pulled along with him. We
hon loor 70
howl; everybody knows that. Whoever
falls into this trap is shared with his eyes
open. There is only one condition upon
which we have the right to choose the
companionship of one who is distinctly our
moral inferior, whose influence is bad
rather than good, and that is the purpose
to uplift him. And we need to be sure of
our own strength in that perilous adven-
ture.
THE BEST FRIEND.
And let me say here, as final word.
that not only in this. but in all undertake
ings, we need most Of all the strength and
the help-the friendship. If you will. of
that Friend who is above all friends. We
know little about the twelve apostles; only
three four of them described at any
length in the gospel history. But we
know that there was at least this much
wisdom ana goodness about them, that
they chose for themselves the very best
society in the world They followed a
friend who lacked much which is some
times accounted of value in friendships.
He had no money, no influential position,
no flattering applause of crowds and no
| rewards to give his friends, such as some
friends seek after. But day by day, as
they lived with him and heard his words
Of divine wisdom and saw his look and
deed of divine tenderness and love and
| came to know him they grew in grace and
| in the knowledge and the love of God.
| And thus they were uplifted out of the po-
sition Of obscure men jostling their fellows
| upon the wharves of Capernaum, into the
place of ambassadors of God, charged with
a message to the race of man.
| That Is what friendship did for John and
James and Peter. They chose the best
friend they could find. and. choosing their
| friend they chose their future; they de-
termined the noble direction Of their lives.
And so have millions more since their
time. Can we do better to-uay?