d and oppressed, and our
prayers for the heathen, are pointless and fraudulent, if we are
neglecting the occasions for service lying to our hand. If we do not
love our brethren here, how can we love our brethren elsewhere, except
as a pious sentimentality? And if we do not love those we have seen,
how can we love God whom we have not seen?

This is the highest function of friendship, and is the reason why it
needs thoughtful culture. We should be led to God by the joy of our
lives as well as by the sorrow, by the light as well as by the
darkness, by human intercourse as well as by human loneliness. He is
the Giver of every good gift. We wound His heart of love, when we sin
against love. The more we know of Christ's spirit, and the more we
think of the meaning of God's fathomless grace, the more will we be
convinced that the way to please the Father and to follow the Son is to
cultivate the graces of kindliness and gentleness and tenderness, to
give ourselves to the culture of the heart. Not in the ecclesiastical
arena, not in polemic for a creed, not in self-assertion and
disputings, do we please our Master best, but in the simple service of
love. To seek the good of men is to seek the glory of God. They are
not two things, but one and the same. To be a strong hand in the dark
to another in the time of need, to be a cup of strength to a human soul
in a crisis of weakness, is to know the glory of life. To be a true
friend, saving his faith in man, and making him believe in the
existence of love, is to save his faith in God. And such service is
possible for all. We need not wait for the great occasion and for the
exceptional opportunity. We can never be without our chance, if we are
ready to keep the miracle of love green in our hearts by humble service.

The primal duties shine aloft like stars.
The charities that soothe and heal and bless,
Are scattered at the feet of man like flowers.

[1] _Non simul cuiquam conceditur, amare et sapere_.

[2] Thackeray, _Roundabout Papers_.

[3] Proverbs xvii. 17, R. V. margin.

The Fruits of Friendship

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their
labor. 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. And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a
threefold cord is not quickly broken.--ECCLESIASTES.

O friend, my