The Penn's Grove record., 1905-08-18
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. J. D. BURRELL,
Subject: The Friend of God.

0ANN " 10 ny IN past
He stands before us in singular dig
nifty, serenity and power, and his su-
preme quality was that he was the
friend of God.
The phrase is peculiar. 1t is not said
that God was his friend. but that he
was Gods friend. There is a differ
nee We accept the friendship of
God as a matter of course. like the air
we breathe. But the thought that man
may be a friend to God scarcely comes
to us at all.
There is something deeply touching
about that thought. For we usually
look upon God as sufficient unto Him
self. Yet in this other respect we see
Him longing for friends. That desire
is common among men, for there are
many lonesome, misunderstood, hungry
for a friendly word of appreciation.
Now think of God also as misunder-
stood, grieved by neglect, yearning to
be loved. Then think of Abraham as
giving God his heart. You see how
much it meant to God that Abraham
was his friend.
One is led to be the friend of another
by liking him. The reason why we
like him may be inexplicable to our
selves, for there is no accounting for
tastes. All fruits are the gifts of God
to men, yet some we enjoy and others
we reject, All people are children of
God, and we can love every one of
them in a disinterested and fraternal
way. But this does not interfere with
our liking some better than others.
Even our Saviour felt this human ten
dency and was drawn by it to a spe-
cial intimacy with the apostle John.
l suppose there never was a person
about whom people differed more than
Charles Lamb. Some could not endure
his perpetual raillery, his bad puns
his stammer. Others knew him to be
n of the rarest spirits, subtle in in
t%ellect. exquisite in taste and grandly
unselish.
Now that liking which makes friend
ship between man and man makes it
between man and God. We can pic
ture Abraham at the close of the day,
when the tents had been pitched and
the evening meal eaten. going apart
from the camp for a little space that
he might open his soul to God. We
can imagine David at night time while
the city slept, mounting to the roof of
the palace and beneath the canopy of
stars communing with the Most High.
We can see Christ escaping from the
crowds that thronged His steps and
eagerly hiding for a brief time in the
seclusion of some mountain top that
He might be alone with His Father.
1t was because all three of these liked
God.
1t is a question worth asking wheth-
er we like God. / do not say reverence
and honor, l do not say submit to and
obey. Do we like God? 1t is a pecu-
liar question. Perhaps asking it makes
us wonder whether our appreciation of
God does not lack something of the
warm throb of life.
Friendship also involves similarity
of tastes. In fact, most of our friend
ships come about through our being
brought together in the pursuit of some
common interest, by In ocean voyage,
a golf club, a board of directors. a
Sunday-school class, for example. Peo-
pie whose chief interests differ are not
likely to become friends; Emerson and
Boss Tweed, for example.
There is no better field for studying
the laws of friendship than a college.
Young men or ONE who have known
each other pleasantly enter in the same
class, go together for q time, then
gradually, without any i'll feeling what
ever draw apart in order to form other
combinations. This shifting is gener-
ally due to the dominating power of
some common interest-French, boat
ing, editing a paper together, member
ship in the same fraternity and the
like.
Hfhn CO n nrsnatn1n holds fpIIa in fhn
friendship between nan and God. 1t
is brought about by similarity Of tastes
and interests. Supreme in God is the
sense of order, whose moral side is
righteousness. How can He have any
friendship with q man who lacks this
sense of order? Who does not mind
being a glutton or a drunkard or i'm
pure, or telling a lie or taking what is
not his? As Paul says. what fellow
ship hath righteousness with upright
eousness?' And another characters
tic of God is His spirit of charity. But
suppose a man is Indifferent, hard and
selfish, prone to cherish grudges and to
do un~kindnesses, how is friendship
possible between him and God? HE
that Ioveth not his brother whom he
hath seen, how can he love God whom
he hath not seen?'
1t is important, then, for us to ask if
we like what God likes, if we value
highly. as He does, the soul, the spirit
ual life, a character of purity and good
ness. These are the foundations of
friendship between heaven and earth.
Again, part of friendship is loyalty.
But loyalty how far? Through bad re-
port as we'll as through good report?
Assuredly. The friendship that Will
not endure strain is of little worth.
Twenty years ago a young man was
swept away by the excitement of gam
bling in Wall Street, and misused the
funds of the bank of which he wap
president. The deficit of millions was
made good. But, of course, the dis
grace was there. Yet to-day he has
standing in a certain small social cir
Gle. His friends, you see, realized that
the man was not really vicious at heart
and stood by him to help him make a
new life. How many a man, who in
fact has done no wrong, but who has
had some idle gossip raised about him,
has found himself deserted in q minute
by those he counted upon as his
friends. There is no social tragedy
more pitiful than this, and also zone
more discreditable to human nature.
To be a friend to God means to be
loyal to Him through storm as we'll as
through sunshine. in the day not only
of prosperity, but also in that of adj
versity, when the skeptic says, IF God
is good and is your friend, how can He
permit this trouble to fall upon your
Then when suspicion is raised about
God. many who have called themselves
His friends fall away from Him. The
true friend is he who stands by God
when strange and cruel things happen
that cannot be explained, who MAIN
tains confidence in the divine goodness
when others deny it, who defends
Gods name when others impugn it.
who a Y with Job. though He Stay
me, yet will l trust Him. God will
never forget s%tanchness like that.
Generosity is one Of the lovely traits
of true friendship. 1t comes out in
feeling, in conduct and in special tok-