The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-09-22
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. ED. M. PARRoTT, JR.
Theme: Friendliness.

DlOOhlyu, ~. 1-lAS 1SCf. In
ward M. Parrot, Jr., of Lake George,
N. Y, occupied the pulpit in Holy
Trinity P. E. Church, Sunday morn
ing. The subject Of his discourse
was "Friendliness," and for a text
he took the passage of Scripture,
Deuteronomy 1927: THE eternal
God is thy refuge, and underneath
are the everlasting arms" He said:
There is IN instinct in humanity,
which may almost be called uni
versal, toward friendliness. We
have a tendency from III earliest
recollection to make friends with
something or somebody; oftentimes
with things. 1t may be a doll, a toy,
a post by the wayside, or a chicken
coop. We find in that thing a GER
tain kind of LONELINESS. There is q
tendency all the time in US toward
becoming friendly with our. surround
ings that answers to a yearning in
our hearts and which makes us feel
that the world in which we live Is
lovable, and for US a home; and it
Is one of the evidences of the knowl-
edge which God has meant us to at
tain here. He has meant US to feel
ShoI 1ilChoAy lOSibh6 to"olo Jul
roundings; to have it as a part of
u education and part of our pre-
paration for whatever of life there
may be in store for US when we have
passed into the more glorious radi-
ance of knowledge of God. AS this
Is true Of things, 1t is even more true
of faces and people. For the faces
we see, although we know but little
of the personality behind them we
get to have a certain friendliness;
and when we have gone by-say,
the same apple woman-often, and
seen the face, we have acquired a
sort of a%ffectionate interest in the
welfare of this and that person; and
it is only when some change comes
that we realize how strong has been
the influence Of the personalities Of
whom we know very little.
Again, as this is true of things
and persons whom we do not know,
it is all the more true of God, of
whom, though we think we know q
great deal, we know little, and with
whom we may have had sweet inter-
course, but yet have not attained to
anything like intimacy, and as this
is so of things and people and of
God, it is surely to be part of that
life which we are to live forever, and
the eternal God is showing US a path
by which We may attain immeasur-
able love.
The problem before US is whether
we can carry this friendliness all
through life. We know what It Is,
but to many the past is only a mem
DRY, and to-day we are not being as
friendly rs we would like to be.
The universe now is such a big place.
Our childhood world, when this
feeling of friendliness became strong,
was a large world, but by and by we
outgrow the toy and the chicken coop
and there comes the difficult prob
lem of how to become friendly with
things afterwards. It is not so
easy to become friendly with the
Office desk, and, moreover, the
population Of the country Is constant
ly bringing to us a greater difficulty
in understanding what it Is to love
mankind. When we are young
among U friends, we come to- un-
derstand what God means by "love
all men," but when we see all classes
Of men coming here and jostling us
and pushing u.s., 1t Is harder for US
to realize that we are to keep upon
a friendly relationship with all, and
we have not fathomed the meaning
of the brotherhood of a But
when we do realize the greatness Of
the demand OF human sympathy, We
see that, as Briefly tells US, the uni
verse Is much vaster than u fathers
thought it. We find that the sun
and moon and the light were not ap-
pointed for our sole benefit. We
have discovered that we are an in
finitesimal speck In the universe
amidst vast consultations, and that
our sun Is only one of many and our
planet a tiny n in the immensely
Of space. We have learned that the
way to discover the distance of dis
tant stars Is to measure the time
which it takes for the light to travel.
We move 100000 Of miles be-
tween January and June, but the
stars do not change their position to
us by a hairs breadth, and so we see
how small we are in the whole
heavens. When the microscope has
brought US q great realization Of the
life about US, of the vast interests
conveying all around us.
When we discover these things we
see that this universe is far greater
than men Of a generation ago ever
dreamed.
Are we, then, less friendly? Have
we moved God afar off, and cannot
think of Him as sitting intent upon
us and our prayers, but as all the
time doing something to carry out
and maintain these magnificent
powers and forces all around us?
Are we less friendly when we think
of the ~vastness Of our surroundings?
l think If we go along certain lines
of thought we shall not lose our
friendliness.
Let us try to maintain the open
heart of childhood and keep In our
selves that friendliness that may be
in danger Of escaping. The first
thing is this: that friendly relation
ship does not consist Of anything in
trinsic. It consists in the first place
in the human heart. We are friend
ly because God made US friendly,
and If that is so, what do things
matter? If things pass away as long
as we have the spring in ourselves
the water will bubble forth.
The thing is to look to the thing
inside ourselves and not to the thing
outside.
As that is 80 1t Is true also that
this friendliness can never disappear
really as long as man lives, and if
we have lost any Of it, it is because,
to some extent, we have ceased to
live. It is possible to have some.