of his friend." We have learnt by glad experience, that " as ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel." We know that friends are a help, a pleasure, a comfort, a support, a source of happiness here, on earth, in time, while life lasts, during the course of that journey through the world which we are now engaged in making. But, unless I am much mistaken, we do not generally see that friendship is the very end of man's being, and the final aim of man's life. To many, I am sure, it will seem a novel thing, when they are told, 'Your grand work, your chief business, your greatest care must be to make friends.'

Yet so it is. Why did God make us? For what purpose are we sent here? What is man's destiny? There are many answers to questions such as these. If we look upon man as a being endowed with conscience, and capable of knowing good from evil, we shall say that he exists for goodness, and that his duty and work in life is to do the will of God. If we regard him as endowed with feelings which shrink from what is painful, and naturally turn to pleasure, then we shall say, 'The end of man is happiness. He has found his destiny when he has gained eternal bliss.' If we consider his gifts of intellect, and the powers by which his mind can range from earth to heaven, we shall say that he has found perfection when he knows God, and sees Him in the brightness of His essence, as He is." Looking at man upon the several sides of his compound nature, we should say that to do his duty, and to be happy, and to know God, were the ends for which his being was bestowed upon him, and at which he must always aim.

But all these several ends are reached at one and the same moment by making friends. Friendship is the common bond which joins them all in harmony. Love is the wide river in which these several streams combine and flow together till they reach that vast ocean which is God. What is all duty? "Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thine heart;" and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." "Love is the fulfilling of the law," says St. Paul. "This is His commandment, that we should love one another," says St. John. To be good, to do the will of God, is to love, or, which is the same thing, to make friends. Love is the crown of duty, and the glorious conclusion to which conscience leads. And what is happiness? It is found in friendship. It is attained by love. Man is a social being. It is not happy, any more than it is good, for him to be alone. To make one man happy you must have many men with whom he can associate; fellows to whom he can give and from whom he can receive blessing, that, by mutual interchange of goods, and by the glow of common sympathies, the heart may be warmed into complete activity of life, and be enabled to put forth its fullest energies. One of the wisest of the heathen, in his treatise on moral science, determines that happiness is the end of man's being, and that friendship in the life of society is the means by which he must attain it. And Christianity does but gild the same truth with the glow of its most perfect glory when it teaches that the truest good of man is found in charity. What, too, is knowledge ? What is the full perfection of the intelligent faculties of human nature? St. Paul shows us when .he

declares, "Though I understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and have not charity, I am nothing." Love is the perfection of knowledge. Knowledge without love is only as the brightness of the moon. Knowledge with love is as the brilliance of the sun. Now, in time, while love is clouded, while the night of sin is over us,- we know in part only, because we can but partially love; but, then-in eternity, when clouds are gone, and the meridian splendour shines above our heads, then-we may know perfectly, because we may love perfectly, knowing and loving, even as we are known and loved. And St. John confirms the doctrine of his brother Apostle, when he says, "Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love."

So that it comes to this. Love, which is friendship regarded in its most glorious aspect, is the purpose for which man was made, and the end for which man must live. We are made to love man on earth and God in Heaven. That is to say, we are made that we may make friends. We are to make friends out of our brother men. We are to make them love us by loving them, and doing them good. We are not to be selfish; we are not to love ourselves; we are not to seek our own good, our own comfort, our own happiness, our own glory; but we are to seek the good of others; we are to live for others; we are to find our own good in their good. In short, we must make friends.

II. But who shall these friends be? Our best friends will be the poor. This is not what at first we should have looked for. We are informed upon that same authority to which I have referred already, and

which is the highest that can be found, on a matter connected with a knowlege of the world and human nature, that "the poor is hated even of his neighbour, but the rich hath many friends." Even his nearest friends will run from one who is afflicted by the stroke of poverty; but the rich has many lovers, who flock around him ready to divide the spoil. "Every man is a friend to him who giveth gifts;" but the poor man, having but few gifts at his disposal, will find but few persons to hang upon his skirts. At the same time it is a plain and sober truth that, while all friendship is valuable, and no love is to be rejected or unwisely thrown away, the friendship of the poor is tenfold more in value than the friendship of the rich. That, however strange it may appear, is undoubtedly the doctrine of the Holy Scripture, and if it be the doctrine of the Holy Scripture it is certain and unalterable truth.

The reason is that the poor, above all other persons, are the friends of God. God loves the poor. God loves all and cares for all, but there are none for whom He cares so much or whom He loves so deeply as the poor. Let me remind you of certain sayings which clearly prove this. What did our Lord say upon the mount when He pronounced the eight beatitudes?" Blessed are the poor in spirit." The first benediction which He uttered was pronounced on those who were poor in body and poor in soul. We know this to be the true meaning of the blessing, because in Saint Luke's Gospel it is stated absolutely, "Blessed are ye poor." And what did He add? "Their's is the kingdom of Heaven." To them especially belong the goods of Heaven. They lack the goods of earth, but they are

more likely than other persons to seek those goods which are far better. This is the way in which our Lord speaks of poor persons. Does He ever speak in such a way of those who are rich? Does He ever say, 'Blessed are the rich, for their's is the kingdom of Heaven?' Nay. You will find no such words as these in Holy Scripture. But He does say, "Woe unto you that are rich," and "Woe unto you that are full." And why? "For ye have received your consolation." "You have got your goods, you have gained now the goods which you cared for.' The poor as poor are blessed, but the rich as rich are not blessed. Not, of course, that all who are rich are shut by necessity from God's kingdom,-our Lord is very far indeed from teaching that, but it is hard to have riches and not to trust in riches; so hard that many who are rich have also received their comfort, all the comfort that they will ever have, have rested in the goods of earth instead of learning by sorrow here to hunger and thirst for those better goods which may be found hereafter. It is hard to be rich in goods and yet poor in spirit. And, comparatively speaking, it is easy for those who are poor in goods to be rich in heavenly possessions. A love and longing for spiritual comforts and eternal goods comes almost naturally to those who are not so much tempted to find their rest here in earthly treasures. So that poverty is in itself a good for such as we are. Well, this, I think, most clearly shows us that God, in some most special and peculiar manner, is the friend, the patron, and the blesser of those who are poor.

Then consider this. When God became man in what condition did He assume flesh? Was He born among the princes who sat on thrones and were