ons. Life without friendship would be
empty and lonely. Love is indeed the greatest thing. Nothing else in
all the world will fill and satisfy the heart. Even earth's
friendships are priceless. Yet the best and truest of them are only
fragments of the perfect friendship. They bring us only little cupfuls
of blessing. Their gentleness is marred by human infirmity, and
sometimes turns to harshness. Their helpfulness at best is impulsive
and uncertain, and ofttimes is inopportune and ill-timed.

But the friendship of Jesus is perfect. Its touch is always gentle and
full of healing. Its helpfulness is always wise. Its tenderness is
like the warmth of a heavenly summer, brooding over the life which
accepts it. All the love of God pours forth in the friendship of
Jesus. To be his beloved is to be held in the clasp of the everlasting
arms. "I and my Father are one," said Jesus; his friendship,
therefore, is the friendship of the Father. Those who accept it in
truth find their lives flooded with a wealth of blessing.

Creeds have their place in the Christian life; their articles are the
great framework of truth about which the fabric rises and from which it
receives its strength. Worship is important, if it is vitalized by
faith and the Holy Spirit. Rites have their sacred value as the
channels through which divine grace is communicated. But that which is
vital in all spiritual life is the friendship of Jesus, coming to us in
whatever form it may. To know the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge is living religion. Creeds and services and rites and
sacraments bring blessing to us only as they interpret to us this love,
and draw us into closer personal relations with Christ.

"Behold him now where he comes!
Not the Christ of our subtile creeds,
But the light of our hearts, of our homes,
Of our hopes, our prayers, our needs,
The brother of want and blame,
The lover of women and men."

The friendship of Jesus takes our poor earthly lives, and lifts them up
out of the dust into beauty and blessedness. It changes everything for
us. It makes us children of God in a real and living sense. It brings
us into fellowship with all that is holy and true. It kindles in us a
friendship for Christ, turning all the tides of our life into new and
holy channels. It thus transforms us into the likeness of our Friend,
whose we are, and whom we serve.

Thus Jesus is saving the world by renewing men