Produced by Al Haines Personal Friendships of Jesus BY J. R. MILLER, D. D. AUTHOR OF "SILENT TIMES," "MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE," "THINGS TO LIVE FOR," "BLESSING OF CHEERFULNESS," ETC. One friend in that path shall be, To secure my steps from wrong; One to count night day for me, Patient through the watches long, Serving most with none to see. BROWNING. New York THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY. EIGHTH THOUSAND PREFACE. George MacDonald said in an address, "The longer I live, the more I am assured that the business of life is to understand the Lord Christ." If this be true, whatever sheds even a little light on the character or life of Christ is worth while. Nothing reveals a man's heart better than his friendships. The kind of friend he is, tells the kind of man he is. The personal friendships of Jesus reveal many tender and beautiful things in his character. They show us also what is possible for us in divine friendship; for the heart of Jesus is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever. These chapters are only suggestive, not exhaustive. If they make the way into close personal friendship with Jesus any plainer for those who hunger for such blessed intimacy, that will be reward enough. J. R. M. PHILADELPHIA. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE HUMANHEARTEDNESS OF JESUS II. JESUS AND HIS MOTHER III. JESUS AND HIS FORERUNNER IV. JESUS' CONDITIONS OF FRIENDSHIP V. JESUS CHOOSING HIS FRIENDS VI. JESUS AND THE BELOVED DISCIPLE VII. JESUS AND PETER VIII. JESUS AND THOMAS IX. JESUS' UNREQUITED FRIENDSHIPS X. JESUS AND THE BETHANY SISTERS XI. JESUS COMFORTING HIS FRIENDS XII. JESUS AND HIS SECRET FRIENDS XIII. JESUS' FAREWELL TO HIS FRIENDS XIV. JESUS' FRIENDSHIPS AFTER HE AROSE XV. JESUS AS A FRIEND All I could never be, All men ignored in me, This I was worth to God. BROWNING. But lead me, Man divine, Where'er Thou will'st, only that I may find At the long journey's end Thy image there, And grow more like to it. For art not Thou The human shadow of the infinite Love That made and fills the endless universe? The very Word of Him, the unseen, unknown, Eternal Good that rules the summer flower And all the worlds that people starry space. RICHARD WATSON GILDER. THE FRIENDSHIPS OF JESUS. CHAPTER I. THE HUMANHEARTEDNESS OF JESUS. O God, O kinsman loved, but not enough, O man with eyes majestic after death, Whose feet have toiled along our pathways rough, Whose lips drawn human breath; By that one likeness which is ours and thine, By that one nature which doth hold us kin, By that high heaven where sinless thou dost shine, To draw us sinners in;