ther than lose him. We must give and forgive; live and
let live. If our friend have faults, we must bear with them. We
must hope all things, believe all things, endure all things, rather
than lose that most precious of all earthly possessions--a trusty
friend.

And a friend, once won, need never be lost, if we will only be
trusty and true ourselves. Friends may part--not merely in body,
but in spirit, for a while. In the bustle of business and the
accidents of life they may lose sight of each other for years; and
more--they may begin to differ in their success in life, in their
opinions, in their habits, and there may be, for a time, coldness
and estrangement between them; but not for ever, if each will be but
trusty and true.

For then, according to the beautiful figure of the poet, they will
be like two ships who set sail at morning from the same port, and
ere nightfall lose sight of each other, and go each on its own
course, and at its own pace, for many days, through many storms and
seas; and yet meet again, and find themselves lying side by side in
the same haven, when their long voyage is past.

And if not, my friends; if they never meet; if one shall founder and
sink upon the seas, or even change his course, and fly shamefully
home again: still, is there not a Friend of friends who cannot
change, but is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever?

What says the noble hymn:--

'When gathering clouds around I view,
And days are dark and friends are few,
On him I lean, who, not in vain,
Experienced every human pain:
He sees my griefs, allays my fears,
And counts and treasures up my tears.'

Passing the love of woman was his love, indeed; and of him Jonathan
was but such a type, as the light in the dewdrop is the type of the
sun in heaven.

He himself said--and what he said, that he fulfilled--'Greater love
hath no man than this--that a man lay down his life for his
friends.'

In treachery and desertion; in widowhood and childlessness; in the
hour of death, and in the day of judgment, when each soul must stand
alone before its God, one Friend remains, and that the best of all.

{285} From a charter quoted by Ingulf--and very probably a spurious
one.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAVID***

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