The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-04-26
Genuine Friendship.

! AS all right feeling and action to-.
ward man flows naturally from right
feeling toward God so genuine friend
ship finds it's best and highest fulfill
ment when it flows from supreme de.
Ivotion to God. Friendship is neces-
Isity in mans life. A perfectly sol-
Itary being, whose feelings cling to no
one, and around whom no one clinSs,
is lost. Ordinary friendships are bas-
ed upon the existence of natural az
finities and contrarieties. That simil-
arity of minds Is the basis of friend
ship Is only true in limited sense,
for one is drawn to another not only
by the affinity of common tastes anil
Qualities, but because Of a recognition
and admiration Of qualities that are
lacking in self. We seek to supple
lment the deficiencies of our own life
by taking into ourselves, as far as pos
tsible, the excellencies Of another life,
and friendship is a means to this end.
Jonathan saw in David something that
he needed, and thus he made a frien
| of David
This is not full rationale of friend
ship, nor must we infer that cool
calculation OF personal profit enters
| luCO II. ITOuL plSdouACs WV ~
1.-THE three things that engender friend
ship. do not beget true friendship, for
| If these two cease, friendship ceases
Ia friendship founded upon virtue is
the friendship that Is abiding. The
friendship Of Jonathan and David en-
braced all that enters into ordinary
neutrality-suspicious., love, tender
ness, confidence, fidelity, unsuspicious
1 limo pnI o.
II ous element. Hence the covenant.
"The Lord be. between thee and mo
| forever" ~
In these two we recognize. beside
| the usual essentials of friendship, the
responsive action of common faith
| in God and delight in His service.
, Each saw in the other, as by a higher
spiritual insight, spiritual kinshtp,
and the soul of Jonathan was knit
with the soul of David, and Jonathan
loved him as his own soul" Hence
the sympathy, generosity, fidelity, AMI
consistency which he displayed. He had
discovered in David, by spiritual
discernment, another self, his own
soul dwelling in the body of himself
and David. Such friendship, a
friendship founded upon religion,
spiritual insight, Is unchanging and
iimperishable. Such. my beloved breth-
rem, is the friendship Of all who are
one in Christ, who are every one
members one of another" and who
sees in every other a member Of the
household Of faith.
Triumph Of Religion.
| A religious friendship is a triumph
liant friendship, and will last through
out all life. If the temptation comes,
as it does to- many, to sacrifice
Friendship to private and public inter
ests, real onenesa Of heart with Christ
will permit no Establishment of sin, DO
prospect OF greater worldly distinc-
ton, to break the sacred bond. Not
withstandtng MISREPRESENTATION on
the part of enemies, the urgent claims
upon the part of supposed friends,
kindred, and self-interest, the chris
tian Jonathan like, will delight in his
friend, as Jonathan, Sauls son, de-
lighted much in David" True friend
ship will always stand the test,
"thinketh no evil'' of friend, will do
him no wrong, nor admit the least feel
/ ing Of jealousy or envy. With the re-
Iligious element dominant the wintry