So from the stuff of each new day
The loving hand of Time shall make
Garments of joy and peace for all,
And human hearts shall cease to ache.
M. J. SAVAGE.
(2) The power all have to do good. There are some who think they can only serve God and man in a direct and premeditated way, by taking up some branch of Christian work and devoting themselves to it; and if they have no gift in any special direction, they think they are outside of the vineyard altogether. But it is not so. The sphere of quiet and unassuming Christian life is open to all. It is impossible to measure the extent of our influence. Its
Echoes roll from soul to soul,
And grow for ever and for ever.
Like those of the Alpine horn in the solitudes of the mountains, long after the voice that caused them has ceased, they reverberate far and wide. No man lives to himself. He could not do so if he would. (3) The secret of good influence is to be influenced for good ourselves. Our lamp must be first lit if it is to shine, and we must ourselves be personally influenced by coming to the great source of spiritual power. If Christ is in a man, then, wherever he may be, there will radiate from him influences that can only be for good. Out of the life that is in him "will flow rivers of living water."
Thou must be true thyself
If thou the truth wouldst teach.
Thy soul must overflow if thou
Another soul wouldst reach.
It needs the overflowing heart
To give the lips full speech.
Think truly, and thy thought
Shall the world's famine feed.
Speak truly, and thy word
Shall be a fruitful seed.
Live truly, and thy life shall be
A great and noble creed.
CHAPTER IV.
FRIENDS.
By friends we mean those whom we admit to the inner circle of our acquaintance.—All of us know many people. We are bound to do so; to meet with men of all classes, sects, beliefs, opinions. But with most of us there are a few persons who stand to us in a different relation from the rest. We are intimate with them. We take pleasure in their company; we tell them our thoughts: we speak to them of things we would not speak of to others; we confide in them, and in joy and in sorrow it is to them we go. It is of this inner circle, and of those we ought to admit to it, that we have now to speak.
Friendship has been regarded in all ages as one of the most important relationships of life.—Cicero, who dedicates an essay to it says that "it is the only thing on the importance of which mankind are agreed." It has been defined by Addison, the great English writer, as "a strong habitual inclination in two persons to promote the good and happiness of each other." It has been termed by another "the golden thread that ties the hearts of the world." "A faithful friend" has been called "the medicine of life." Ambrose, one of the Christian Fathers, says, "It is the solace of this life to have one to whom you can open your heart, and tell your secrets; to win to yourself a faithful man, who will rejoice with you in sunshine, and weep in showers. It is easy and common to say, 'I am wholly thine,' but to find it true is as rare." And Jeremy Taylor, the great preacher, calls friendship "the ease of our passions, the discharge of our oppressions, the sanctuary to our calamities, the counsellor of our doubts, the charity of our minds, the emission of our thoughts, the exercise and improvement of what we meditate." The great preachers, philosophers and poets of all time have dwelt on the importance and sweetness of friendship. The In Memoriam of Tennyson is a glorification of this relationship.
The highest of all examples of friendship is to be found in Christ.—"His behaviour in this beautiful relationship is the very mirror in which all true friendship must see and mirror itself." [1] In His life we see the blessings of companionship in good. "He loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." He had intimate friends in His group of disciples. Peter and James and John stood to Him in this relation. They were taken by Him into scenes which the rest of the disciples did not behold. They knew a friendship with Him unenjoyed by the others. And of that inner circle there was one to whom the soul of Jesus clung with peculiar tenderness—the beloved disciple. Human friendship has been consecrated for us all by this example of Christ. He offers himself to every one of us as a friend: "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you."