IF Jonathan is a pious man as well as a righteous one. He believes the Lord's messages that He has chosen David to be king, and he submits ; seeing that it is just and right, and that
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David is worthy of the honour, though it be to the hurt of him- self and of his children after him. It is the Lord's will ; and he, instead of repining against it, must carry it out as far as he is concerned. Yes; those who are most true to their fellow-men are always those who are true to God ; for the same spirit of God which makes them fear God makes them also love their neighbour.^
^ Love is the only permanent relationship among men, and the permanence is not an accident of it, but is of its very essence. When released from the mere magnetism of sense, instead of ceasing to exist, it only then truly comes into its largest life. If our life were more a life in the spirit, we would be sure that death can be at the worst but the eclipse of friendship. Tennyson felt this truth in his own experience, and expressed it in noble form again and again in In Memoriam —
Sweet human hand and lips and eye, Dear heavenly friend that canst not die;
Strange friend, past, present, and to be;
Loved deeplier, darklier understood;
Behold, I dream a dream of good, And mingle all the world with thee.
Thy voice is on the rolling air;
I hear thee where the waters run;
Thou standest in the rising sun. And in the setting thou art fair.
It is not loss, but a momentary eclipse, and the final issue is a clearer perception of immortal love, and a deeper consciousness of eternal Ufe.^
2. Friendship was one of the noblest features of ancient life, and there are no worthier chapters of classical literature than those which record and discuss it ; but will any thoughtful student of that literature deny that in two important particulars classic friendship tended to failure ? It lacked security against sensual passion on the one hand, and on the other it lacked the moral exaltation which comes from the conviction of personal im- mortality.
*|| Once let friendship be given that is born of God, nor time nor circumstance can change it to a lessening ; it must be mutual growth, increasing trust, widening faith, enduring patience, for- * C. Kingsley. " Hugh Black, Frieiidship, 113.
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giving love, unselfish ambition — an affection built before the Throne, that will bear the test of time and trial.^
^ David Lyall, in The Land o' the Zeal, referring to the long and healthful influence of the old schoolmaster, so dear to the whole countryside, talks in this strain: "God grant, then, that Adam Fairweather be long spared, for on the day that we carry him down the brae to the kirkyard, a sweet savour will be lost to Faulds, which could never be restored." I should be very sorry to quarrel with so sweet a soul, so choice a spirit as David Lyall, Happily there is no cause. Still, I want to propound a doctrine that is to me a source of unfailing comfort. It may be variously stated and illustrated. First, there are those, God increase their number ! whom no man, no army of men, could carry " down the brae to the kirkyard." Next, " a sweet savour " cannot be lost: it abides to cheer, to solace, to sustain. Thus is it with the lamp of friendship : the lamp may be broken, yet the light shines on undimmed. Yes, it shines with even greater lustre when distance separates or death divides. Separation should not interfere with the shining of this lamp. Especially does this hold good of our crowned and glorified friends. I was going to say I had a friend, rather let me say I have a friend, even though he has passed beyond the veil. He is not now in the flesh, but his influence abides, and, as the days roll by, grows in power. In the old days his thoughts inspired, his words charmed, and his actions allured into nobler paths ; but to-day, in the absorbing now, he is still a force in my life. I have not yet seen the sexton that could dig a grave deep enough to bury him. Such an one continues to live, and to yield the sweet aroma of his influence, and so enlarges our indebtedness.*
There is no friend of mine Laid in the grave to sleep; No grave, or green, or heaped afresh, By which I stand and weep.
Who died! What means that word Of men so much abhorred? Caught up in clouds of heaven, to be For ever with the Lord.
Thank God! for all my loved. That out of pain and care Have safely reached the heavenly heights. And stay to meet me there. » AlUn Throckmorton. '' I. 0. Stalberg.
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3. Our Divine Master Himself stands in the historic category of friendship. Nothing less than friendship, in the deep, hallowed, exclusive sense which we are wont to give the word, could authorize, as nothing less could satisfy, the sublimely simple description of himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved," by which, in his Gospel, St. John at once conceals his name and confesses his identity. Our Master also felt drawn to some men more than to others, though He loved all. Of that young ruler who ran to Him with eager impulsiveness to offer allegiance, and yet made the great refusal when the stern conditions of allegiance were disclosed, we read that "Jesus looking upon him loved him " ; and it is on record elsewhere in the Gospel that "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus."