Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-14
Christian Endeavor Hour

Conducted by Grace Livingston Hill-Lutz
For Sunday. July 10. 1906.
Topic How Can Be True Friend? Proverbs
1vii:lI, xviii:24, xxvii:9, IT, 10; Ecclesiastes
v:9, TO-
Proverbs xvii:17-A friend loveth at all
times. and a brother Is born for adversely.
Proverbs. xviii:24-A man that hath
friends must show himself friendly; and
there is a friend that sticketh closer than
a brother
Proverbs, xxvii:9-Ointment and perfume
rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness OF
mans friend by hearty counsel.
II. Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharp
eneth the countenance of his friend
10. AS in water face answereth to face,
so the heart of man to man
Ecclesiastes, iv:9-Two are better than
one. because they have good reward for
their labor.
TO- For If they fall, the one will lift up
his fellow: but woe to him that Is alone
when he falleth, for he hath not another
to help him up.
The Lesson.
IT have no friends any more" said a
young school girl sadly. Il keep to myself -
intimate! said friend. We were but
found she was talking. about me behind
my back and gave her up, and now
trust
There is great deal of such false friend
ship in the world-friends of convenience.
friends OF circumstance, friends of the
moment. This young girl had turned the
friendly side of her nature to bitterness be-
cause one friend had proved false. OF
course, that was wrong. but in choosing a
friend. or in being a friend. it would be
well to apply this first test in our Scripture
lesson. "A friend loveth at all times If
you have determined to be friend to some
one, put 1t to yourself whether you can pe
as much to them If they are poor or sick
or frtendless under some kind of cloud,
as you are willing to be now.
Namertes was once asked If there were
any way to try whether a man had any
real friends or not, and he replied: "Ad
versity."
The duty of friendliness is one often for
gotten especially among Christians. They
have their select circle of intimates, and
that is sufficient for them. 1t is hard to
find girl In a Christian Endeavor Society,
with a little social standing and culture,
who Is willing to show a true friendliness
to another girl who is in a social circle dis
pleasantness connected with trying to do
it. The girl in the lower circle may pre-
sumo upon the friendltness and become
embarrassing at times, 1t is true. out
bold intention. That is hard to bear, of
course, and might cause the girl of culture
much modification. to be hailed, for In
stance-as one dear Christian girl l know
once was-in a trolley car, in loud voice
by girl TO whom she had been kind, and
invited to her home to tea one evening to
make a pleasant little hour for her in her
otherwise dreary life. The cultured girl was
At, IA crl,-
elusive firm: the other girl sewed on but
tons in a shirt factory.
''Hallo." said the factory girl in clear,
high tones. half way down the aisle of the
crowded ear. where they both stood hang
ing TO straps, as the car swayed down Mar
ket street. "Halloo, Miss k. Do you
work down in this part of town." Two or
three of Miss ks distant acquaintance
looked up in surprise, and the color would
steal into the brave girls cheeks, but she
bore II like a heroine. and did not give up
her friendship with the other girl, despite
the long conversation held in public, in the
course of which the factory girl announced
loudly: II work on onder clio es." Perhaps
in heaven the factory girl will know how
much it cost Miss K. to be her true friend
and to keep on helping her in many little
ways. until now her world of interest, and
culture. and opportunities for good in every
way has widened immensely. She appre-
ciates Miss K. but on this earth probably
she Will never be able to understand how
those two girls had in common, but for
Chrst's sake Miss X. became a true friend
to that~girl. 1t is possible to be friend to
one. who is not congenial
Then there are other Christians who
complain that they cannot make friends be-
cause others are exclusive and do not wish
to be friendly. The question Is. have they
ever tried? Have they put aside their own
pride and shown a little sweet kindliness
instead of hold-off1shness? Loving ways
and gentleness and friendly word. even
from a humble person to a proud one. can
not fan to win Its. way in time "a man
that hath friends must show himself
friendly"
AS If to comfort the lonely ones comes
that sweet word; There is a friend that
stieketh closer than a brother"
Hugh Black says: I'VE have some train
ing in the love of friends, as If only to
prove to US that without love we cannot
live. All our intimacies are but broken
lights of the love of God. They are meth
DDS OF preparation for the great commu-
nion.''
1t might be interesting and helpful to nut
our friendships to that test, and see II they
are preparing US for communion with God.
Hugh Black again calls friendship the
miracle of the death Of self. He says:
we cannot truly know anything without
sympathy, without getting out of self and
entering into others. F.. Many of the
chambers OF the house of life are forever
locked TO us, until love gives us the key
Men set out to note and coliate and
make perhaps a scientific study of slum-
dom, without genuine interest in the lives
they see and therefore without true In
sight into them They miss the inward
ness which love supplies. To love one
soul for it's beauty and grace and truth is
to open the way to appreciate all beautiful
and true and gracious souls, and to recog-
ni7e spiritual beauty wherever It is seen.
If we wonder what another man sees
In his friend, 1t should be the wonder of
humility, not the supercilious wonder OF
pride. He sees something which we are
not permitted to witness. Beneath and
amongst what looks only like worthless
Stag there may glitter the pure gold of a
fair character. That anybody In the world
should be got to love US, and to see in us
not what colder eyes see. not even what
we are. but what we may be, should OF
itself make us humble and gentle in our
criticism Of others friendships"
Aristotle defines friendship as one soul
abiding in two bodies
Don't ffatter yourself that friendship
authorizes you to say disagreeable things
to your intimates On the contrary, the
nearer you come into relation with q per-
son the more necessary do tact and court
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