indeed, and probably deservedly wretched, is the man who has none.
And every man may learn from this story of Jonathan how to choose
his friends.

I say, to choose. No one is bound to be at the mercy of anybody and
everybody with whom he may come in contact. No one is bound to say,
That man lives next door to me, therefore he must be my friend. We
are bound not to avoid our neighbours. They are put near us by God
in his providence. God intends every one of them, good or bad, to
help in educating us, in giving us experience of life and manners.
We are to learn from them, live with them in peace and charity, and
only avoid them when we find that their company is really doing us
harm, and leading us into sin and folly. But a friend--which is a
much deeper and more sacred word than neighbour--a friend we have
the right and the power to choose; and our wisest plan will be to
copy Jonathan, and choose our friends, not for their usefulness, but
for their goodness; not for their worth to us, but for their worth
in themselves; and to choose, if possible, people superior to
ourselves. If we meet a man better than ourselves, more wise than
ourselves, more learned, more experienced, more delicate-minded,
more high-minded, let us take pains to win his esteem, to gain his
confidence, and to win him as a friend, for the sake of his worth.

Then in our friendship, as in everything else in the world, we shall
find the great law come true, that he that loseth his life shall
save it. He who does not think of himself and his own interest will
be the very man who will really help himself, and further his own
interest the most. For the friend whom we have chosen for his own
worth, will be the one who will be worth most to us. The friend
whom we have loved and admired for his own sake, will be the one who