it is a Dead Charity So is the case with faith This is laid downe verse 15. 16. 17. The second is taken from the impossibility of the manifestation of faith without the fruites of it Faith where ever it is may bee and will be manifested It is with faith as it was with Christ He could not be hid A Faith that can keep house and skulk and lye close is not a right bred Faith vers 18. The third is taken from an Absurdity It were an absurd thing that a Christian should have no better a faith then the devils in Hell have And such a faith may they have vers 19. The fourth is taken from an Adjunct of Privation Because such a faith as is without workes is a Dead Faith How can hee bee a living Christian whose Faith is Dead That is laid downe vers 20. How can a Dead Faith bring a man to life The fifth is taken from a comparison from the lesse Because such a faith cannot Iustifie If not Iustifie then not save If not the lesse then not the greater And this argument he illustrates by two examples of Abraham and Rahab In the example of Abraham there be these things considerable First He layes downe his proposition That Abraham was justified by a working faith vers 21. For that is the meaning of those words and the Apostle by workes understands faith which hath workes as appeares by that vers 18. Thou hast faith it is a naked and empty faith without workes I have workes that is faith which breakes forth and manifests it selfe in workes when therefore the Apostle saies that Abraham was Iustified by workes he meanes that his faith by which hee was justified was not a naked faith empty of workes That hand of faith by which hee laid hold on Christ as it was an apprehending and an applying hand so was it an acting and a working hand Secondly he proves that Abrahams faith by which he was justified was not a faith which did not worke by the offering of his sonne vers 21. Thirdly Hee cals such vaine boasters to a serious consideration of what hee had said Seest thou not how faith c. And two things hee would have them consider 1. That Abrahams faith did worke together with his workes That his workes did flow from the principle of faith and that his faith did concurre unto his workes that they might bee right and pleasing to God for without faith it is impossible to please God Hebrewes 11. 6. 2. That his faith was made perfect by his workes That is by these workes of his it was clearely manifested that his faith was a lively true and perfect faith vers 22. Fourthly Hee concludes that which he had laid downe at first That Abraham was justified not by an idle but by a lively working faith And this conclusion he proves by a testimony of Scripture vers 23. The testimony is taken from Gen. 15. 6. for by the workes of Abraham it appeares that faith of which Moses there spake was not a sloathfull but a working faith And that faith of Abrahams hee sets forth by another consequent that followed upon it besides that which is specified in the Testimony of Scripture for take the words together and Abrahams faith is set forth by two speciall things that followed upon it The first was his Iustification Abraham beleeved and it was imputed unto him for righteousnesse The second was the favour and friendship of God And hee was called the friend of God Hee was called that is hee was and became the friend of God So Matthew 5. 9. Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall bee called the sonnes of God that is they shall be the sons of God From the words then wee may learne this point The great Honour and Happinesse of the Doct. faithfull The Honour of the people of God They have the Honour and the Happinesse to bee Gods friends Abraham was the father of the faithfull and hee is three severall times honoured in Scripture with the Title of Gods friend once here in this Text. Another time 2 Chron. 20. 7. And gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever A third time Isay 41. 8. and that by God himselfe And thou Israel art my servant the seed of Abraham my friend And therefore so often given to Abraham the father of the faithfull that it might haereditarily descend upon all the children of faithfull Abraham That as amongst the German Nobility every sonne beares the title of his fathers Honour so in this case all that are his children are also Heires of his Honourable Title All the children as their father friends of God Therefore not peculiar to Abraham alone but given to others in Scripture also It is given to Moses Exod. 33. 11. And the Lord spake to Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend It is given to the disciples Ioh. 15. 14. 15. Yee are my friends Henceforth I call you friends I have called you friends Not onely I will call you friends but I have called you friends as implying it was usually his manner of compellation to call them by that Name when hee spake to them of which wee have an example Luke 12. 4. And Isay unto you my friends fear not There is an intimate intire and mutuall friendship betweene Christ and the faithfull Hee is their friend They are his friends Hee cheeres them up by that name Cant. 5. 1. Eate O friends Drinke yea drinke aboundantly O beloved They are therefore friends and not onely friends ordinary and common friends but Beloved friends This is not every ones portion to have a share in such Honour and favour Look upon men in their naturall condition and they are strangers to God and God a stranger to them there is no acquaintance betweene God and them They are strangers as from the Life of God Ephes 4. 18. so strangers from the covenants of promise Ephes 2. 12. and strangers to God himselfe for both goe there together strangers from the covenants of promise and without God in the world They are born strangers Psal 58. 3. The wicked are estranged from the wombe And so they live strangers there is no more familiarity and acquaintance betweene God and them then is betweene strangers that never saw or heard each of other God is such a stranger to them that if hee doe offer them any manner of acquaintance they shake him off as a stranger Iob. 20. 14. 15. They say unto God Depart from us for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes what is the Almighty They use him as a stranger they wish him to bee gone they care not for nor desire his acquaintance they desire to bee ridde of him And therefore God carries himselfe as a very stranger to them And as men are not well pleased when strangers are brought into their houses whom they know not who nor what nor whence they are so is God highly displeased when such
that follow the Court. It is the priviledge of the godly that they are set at the Counsell table where the very secret mysteries of the kingdome are disclosed It is something which is spoken Psal 45. 15. They shall enter into the Kings Palace It is somwhat to be Courtiers to bee outwardly members of the Church but yet this is not all the priviledge of the faithfull there is a further matter Cant. 1. 4. The King hath brought me into his Chambers they come not onely into the King Palace but into the Kings Chambers The Kings chamber is the place of greatest secresie 2 King 6. 12. Elisha the Prophet that is in Israel telles the King of Israel the words thou speakest in thy bed-chamber The King hath brought mee into his Chambers he hath revealed and imparted unto me the secrets of his heart made them knowne to mee in his privie chamber So that the priviledge of the godly is that they are not onely of the Court but of the Counsell they doe not onely know the Kings face but the Kings heart and the secrets in his breast Nay the godly are not onely of the Court and the Counsell but they are the choyce and peculiar friends and favourites of God It is sayd of Zabud that he was principal officer and the Kings friend 1 King 4. 5. Hee was Solomons favourite and a favourite is more than a Counsellour and is acquainted with those secrets that every ordinary Counsellour knowes not even with Cabinet secrets All Gods people are Zabuds Gods friends and favourites and therefore God communicates his secrets to them Abraham is here called Gods friend and see how God speakes of him Gen. 18. 17. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I will doe As if he had sayd Abraham is my friend and therefore I may not conceale my minde from him It will not stand with the lawes of friendship to hide my purpose from him Ioh. 15. 15. Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knowes not what his Lord doth but I have called you Friends and so I will use you as friends But how In entertaining communion with you and communicating my secrets unto you For all things that I have heard of my Father I have made knowne unto you See what a priviledge followes being the friends of Christ When friends doe conceale secrets each from other and communicate onely some trifling common things one to another it is a signe of a crazed and a loosened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost ubi supra friendship not of a true entire love but only of an artificiall personated complementall kinde of love onely for fashion sake to hold ends together but true friendship makes a man communicative of his greatest and choycest secrets It had some strength in it which Delilah spake to Samson Iudg. 16. 15. How canst thou say I love thee when thine heart is not with mee that is when thou wilt not disclose the secrets of thine heart to mee as appeares vers 17 18. shee therefore concludes his hart was not with her because he told her not all his heart But now Gods people being his friends the Lords heart is with them and therefore hee telles them all his heart the very deepe secrets of his heart 1. Cor. 2. 7. 12. Eph. 1. 7-9 When once men have God for their friend hee will not bee daintie of his secrets but will communicate them unto them And the more inward and entire the friendship is the greater secrets he wil communicate unto them All his Disciples were his friends and therfore Iohn 15. 15. he made known unto them all things he had heard of his Father But yet there was one Disciple which was the Disciple whom Iesus loved Ioh 13. 23. and he leaned on Iesus bosome Iohn was that Disciple that was his speciall beloved bosome-friend and therefore when Peter desired to know that secret which of them it was that should betray him he beckned to Iohn that hee should aske who it should be of whom he spake Ioh 13. 24. Peter knew he was his bosome-friend and therefore the likelier upon asking to come acquainted with that secret and upon his asking it is revealed to him vers 25. 26. Nay Iohn being the bosome friend of Christ hee did not onely when on earth use him as a friend in communicating speciall secrets to him that not to the rest but after hee was ascended into heaven did still use him as his bosome friend in revealing to him greater secrets and mysteries than to any of the rest To him he revealed all those mysteries and secrets which are comprehended in the booke of the Revelation The Revelation of Iesus Christ c. And hee sent and signified it by his Angell unto his servant Iohn Apoc. 1. 1. But why unto Iohn Why not unto Peter Why not unto some of the rest Because Iohn was the Disciple whom hee loved Iohn had lien in his bosome and therefore being his bosome friend hee should have the honour and the favour to have these bosome secrets imparted unto him Speciall secrets revealed to Iohn because Iohn a speciall friend and favourite yea when men are speciall friends indeed God will whisper in their eares and discover such secrets to them as not to others It is said 1. Sam. 9. 15. That God told Samuel in his eare of Sauls comming a day before hee came A man will whisper in his friends eare and tell him a secret that other shall not know so doth the Lord deale with his friends hee hath his secret whisperings with his Saints and tells them secretly in their eares that which every one shall not know So Christ dealt with Iohn in discovering Iudas to be the traytour he spake it not out but secretly whispered that in his eare which he speakes to him Ioh. 13. 26 The rest of the Disciples heard it not as appears vers 28 29 If Christ had spoken that in the hearing of all the Disciples that he spake to Iohn they might easily have understood our Saviours meaning in his speech to Iudas And so still doth God deale with the godly which were his friends hee secretly reveales that in their eares which neither eye hath seen nor eare hath heard nor hath entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9. Indeed men of the world they beleeve not that a godly man hath any such priviledge as to be acquainted with Gods secrets more than themselves they measure a godly man by themselves and therefore say in this case as Eliphaz spake to Iob in that case Iob. 15. 8 9 11. Hast thou heard the secret of God What knowest thou that we know not What understandest thou that is not in us Is there any secret thing with thee But yet a godly man doth know that a worldly man knowes not he doth understand something that is not in him there is some secret thing with
of the Lord encampeth round about them that feare him and delivereth them A mans enemies become his friends Prov. 16. 7. When a mans waies please the Lord hee maketh even his enemies his deadly profest enemies to bee at peace with him The rest of the creatures become his friends Iob 5. 8. I would seeke unto God I would seeke to be friends with him but what shall be gotten by it Amongst other things that vers 21 22 23. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue neither shalt thou bee afraid of destruction when it comes at destruction and famine shalt thou laugh neither shalt thou bee afraid of the beasts of the earth for thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field shall bee at peace with thee Yea God will make a covenant for his people with the beasts of the fields and with the fowles of Heaven and with the creeping things of the ground Hos 2. 18. Yea all these shall not onely lay aside their enmity but shall be ready to bee serviceable to them When Ahab and Iehosaphat had made a league of friendship each with other see how Iehosaphat speakes to him 1 King 22. 4. I am as thou art my people as thy people my horses as thy horses So when once God and we are in league of friendship hee will say unto us my servants are your servants mine Angels are your Angels mine hosts are your hosts my creatures are your creatures Al things are yours 1 Cor. 3. 21. And all things shall work together for good to them that love God and are his friends If a man be a traytor the Kings enemy every man not onely estranges but sets himselfe against him but let the King but pitch upon a man to make him his friend and favourite how then doth every one seek to him smile upon him happy is he that can ingratiate himself with him and doe any service to him that is the Kings favourite A man that is once the Kings friend shall be sure to want no friends no respect no service Zabud was the Kings friend 1 King 4. 5. and who then would not be a friend to Zabud full glad was hee that could bee Zabuds servant So if once we be Gods friends God will raise us up friends enow Eliphaz his argument was good Iob 22. 21. Acquaint thy selfe now with him and be at peace Get to be Gods friend and one of his inward acquaintance Well suppose we doe vvhat shall we get by it And thereby shall good come unto thee And this good amongst the rest that the creatures shall bee in a league of friendship with thee Indeed some creatures there are that the more we are Gods friends the more they will bee our enemies yea therfore our professed enemies because wee are Gods friends Satan and his sworne servants will bee the more bitter enemies against us because God ownes us for his friends as Esau hated Iacob for the blessing But yet the Angels in Heaven that rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner on earth and that hee becomes friends vvith God all good men and the creatures will be our faithfull friends yea and many times hee vvill make vvicked men doe his people many a friendly turne or at least vvill make their emnity beneficiall and advantagious to them And these be the benefits that Gods people have by having God their friend Come vve now to the uses of this point And they are these The honour and happinesse of being Vse 1 Gods friends being so great and beneficiall withall it should stirre up every man to get this happinesse of being the friends of God Zabud was the Kings friend 1 King 4. 5. Now when people saw how familiar Zabud was with the King what communion was betweene him and Salomon how hee communicated to him his secret counsels how potent he was with him in all suites how close Salomon stood to him upon all occasions how serviceable all the Courtiers and Subjects were to him did they not thinke wee all thinke his condition happy Did they not secretly wish Oh that I were in his case oh that I were as Zabud is that I had the Kings heart the Kings eare the Kings hand as he hath And if they had knowne of any project of any course by which they might have advanced themselves to Zabuds condition would they not speedily have set upon it would they not have strained and tentred their wits to the utmost would they have spared for any cost or paines to have gotten into Zabuds condition Wee now therefore seeing what the happy condition of Gods people is that they are Gods friends and have all those great priviledges thereby how should it stirre up our hearts to looke and labour for this happinesse of being Gods friend And that so much the rather Because God may have and hath many friends at once that are his inward entire familiars not so alwayes amongst men Affection is sometimes so pitcht upon some one that that one engrosses all a mans affections and they are so caried wholly upon some one that there is scarce any roome in the heart left for any other The whole streame of some mens affections is so carried in one channell that there is no over float to any other All their water is little enough to drive one mill Kings use not to have many favourites but pitch upon some one But now it is otherwise with God hee hath many friends and favourites and all his friends are favourites Gods heart and his love is so large that there is roome enough in it for a multitude of favourites at once Because there bee projects and courses to be used that will effect and compasse this for us to make us Gods friends Some policies men have and use to get the friendship and favour of Princes great ones but yet their projects alwayes take not their policies speed not they doe not compasse the thing they desire but for the getting of Gods favour and friendship there be waies to be used that will surely doe the deed and will worke us in to be Gods friends and favorites What then bee those waies by which Quest we may get this honour to have God our friend and to be his friends First the way to get in with God is by Answ 1 faith We are by nature strangers to God nay enemies Col. 1. 21. Now God of his infinite mercy though hee bee the party wronged and offended yet he is pleased thus much to forget himselfe and to stoope thus low as not onely to offer us peace and friendship but hee entreates and beseeches us to bee reconciled and become friends 2 Cor. 5. 20. Now then if wee will believe the Gospell and the words of Reconciliation that 's the chiefe condition that God requires and upon that he will take and owne us for his friends That 's here in the text Abraham was called
the friend of God a great honour but how came Abraham by it Abraham saies the Apostle believed God and he was called the friend of God So that by faith Abraham became Gods friend So Ioh. 16. 27. The father himselfe loveth you God is your friend and takes you for his friends and why so Because ye have believed that I came out from God Christ hath made an attonement and a reconciliation by his blood faith lays hold on that reconciling blood and so God and we become friends Col. 1. 20 21 22 23. You that were enemies hath he now reconciled in the body of his flesh through death If ye continue in the faith Hee that will get in with God must doe these three things 1. He must get in with Gods favorite That is the way to get the Kings friendship yea any ordinary mans friendship If a man honour and regard the favourite and get in with him and bee gracious with him and he will procure a man the Kings favour hee will bring him in with the King it is not possible to have the Kings favour and bee out and at oddes with the favourite So here If we would get in with God and be his friends then get in with his favourite The Lord Iesus Christ is Gods favourite Zech. 13. 7. Hee is called Gods fellow-friend Awake O sword against my shepheard and against the man that is my fellow or my fellow-friend as the word may be translated the Disciple whom Christ loved lay in his bosome Iohn 13 And Christ is in the bosome of his father Ioh. 1. 18. He is his bosome-friend and favourite and as to his bosome-friend communicates all his bosome secrets to him Iohn 5. 20. For the Father loves the Sonne and shewes him all things that himselfe doth Now then get but in with Christ and be gracious with him and then wee shall bee sure to bee friends of God he will presently smile upon us and accept of us for his deere friends Sometimes Gods people after they are made friends doe that which may make God fall out with them and frowne upon them Now when it is so it is Christ that makes us whole againe 1 Iohn 2. 1. If any man sinne we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the Righteous and hee it is that by his Advocation mediates our cause with God and sets us in joynt againe and makes all well againe betweene God and us And as it is hee that doth repaire and heale all breaches betweene God and us after wee be friends so it is that must first bring us into acquaintance and favour with God Christ is Gods fellow-friend and Christ and his people are fellow-friends Cant. 5. 16. The Church calles Christ her fellow-friend This is my beloved and this is my friend or my fellow-friend as some translate it And Cant. 2. 10. Christ calles his Church his fellow-friend Rise up my love or my fellow-friend as some read it It comes from a word that signifies to feed and so signifies such friends as feed together at one the same table that live fellowly and familiarly together Now then the onely way to become Gods friend is to become a fellow-friend with Gods fellow-friend be a fellow-friend with Christ who is Gods fellow-friend and that is done by faith by believing wee become his friends and so the friends of God falling in with his favorite by faith He that would bee Gods friend must have a care to please God Amongst men they that will seek friendship with others must bee carefull to please those whose friendship they seeke Hee that is ambitious of the friendship of his betters must endevour to please them where there is no observance nor care to please there friendship will never close It is so in this case we cannot be Gods friends till we lay to please him If once we can but please him he will be graciously pleased to be our friend please him and hee will make our enemies our friends and therefore he himselfe will be our friend much more Now faith is the way to please him Enoch had this testimony that hee pleased God but without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 5 6. Faith then is that which pleases him and pleases him so much that upon it hee will be friends with us He that will bee Gods friend must bee a childe of Abraham Abraham was called the friend of God and hee that will bee Gods friend must be a sonne of Abraham I will be thy God and the God of thy seed and so I will bee thy friend and the friend of thy seed They must be of Abrahams seed that will bee in the number of Gods friends How come we to bee the seed of Abraham That we see Rom. 4. 16. There is a seed which is of the faith of Abraham which is the father of us all When wee have the faith that was in our father Abraham and when we walke in the steppes of that faith of our Father Abraham Rom. 4. 12. then we are the seed of Abraham look what makes us the seed of Abraham that makes us as Abraham the friends of God and so faith making us Abrahams seed makes us Gods friends We must be Abrahams children the children of Gods friends before wee can be the friends of God Now faith is that by which we come to be the children of Abraham Gal. 3. 7. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham This day is salvation come to this house for so much as hee also is the sonne of Abraham sayd our Saviour of Zacheus so soone as he beleeved he was a sonne of Abraham and so soone as a sonne of Abraham a friend of God By Repentance sinne is that which causes all enmitie between God and us that 's the make-bate between God man The falling out with sinne makes way for falling in with God and upon repentance God will manifest himselfe a friend unto us Ier. 3. 1. Yet returne againe to mee sayth the Lord as if he had sayd Doe but repent and we will be friends and all shal be well againe When two friends are fallen out three things must bee done to make them friends againe 1. First there must be a meeting for if they keep asunder and one decline another and will not come each at other they will never be friends but if they will be friends they must meet So when God and wee are out unlesse he and wee meet we shall never bee friends Now repentance that makes a mans stout and proud heart come down makes him come out to meet God Am. 4. 12. Prepare to meet thy God O Israel Then there is a possibilitie of friendship and reconciliation if by repentance wee goe out to meet the Lord. And when we goe out to meet God God will come forth to meet us and hee will meet us as Esau met Jacob Gen. 33. 3. 4.
Sacrament when a man comes to the Sacrament to the Lords Table it is good then being Gods friend Whosoever comes to the Sacrament and hath not first made himselfe Gods friend is like to meete with a very cold welcome When a man comes to the Sacrament he comes to the Lords Table God will bid none welcome to his Table but his very friends The Sacrament is a feast and it is a feast that God makes only for his friends and if a man thrust in that is none of his friends his welcome is like to be thereafter If a man make a feast it is for his friends no man will invite much lesse welcome his enemies to his table If a mans enemy should bee so impudent as to thrust in at a feast to his table a man could not but lowre upon him and give him sowre lookes if not sowre words a man would be starke sicke of him to see him at his table And doe wee thinke that God will smile upon and cheere up his enemies at his Table Indeed amongst men if a stranger comes to a mans table that hath relation to some friend from whom or with whom hee comes we will in civility give him courteous entertainement but if hee bee a meere stranger that comes wee know not whence and goes we know not whither we will not be forward to entertaine such an one but if an enemy we cannot brook his presence nor the sight of him And though wee will welcome strangers for our friends sake yet so will not God every man must come to Gods Table by vertue of his owne interest in God If a man come a stranger to the Lords Table God will looke upon him as a stranger and if a man come as an enemy God will looke as an enemy upon him Who would goe to another mans table if the good man will not welcome him and bid him eate and fall to and what should a man doe at the Lords Table if God will not bid him welcome and cheare him up and bid him eate But now at such a time when a man goes to the Lords table it is good being Gods friend Gods friends shall be sure to be bid heartily welcome and they shall bee sure to finde friendly welcome indeed Take eate saies Christ I but who be they that bee called upon to eate That we see Cant. 5. 2. Eate O friends and drinke yea drinke abundantly O beloved There was one Math. 22. that came in to that supper without his wedding-garment and what was his welcome friend how camest thou in hither Indeed he is called by the name of friend because happily hee would needs seeme to bee so or else it is onely used as a word of course as we use to speak to a stranger and say My friend but yet though he had a friends title he had but a foes welcome And such welcome must they looke for that being not Gods friends will bee impudently thrusting into the Lords Table Oh happy man whom Christ shall cheere up in the Sacrament and bid him eate and drinke and tell him that hee is heartily welcome to him Would wee then have this happinesse looke to it then and labour for it to be of the number of his friends Christs friends and onely they are and shall bee welcome to him A man is not fit to goe to the Sacrament if he be not friends with his neighbour and before hee come he must seeke to be friends Math. 5. 23 24. And therefore much more concernes it men to bee Gods friends to be in termes of friendship with God before they come to the Sacrament Secondly in a Time of common calamity in a time of feare and distresse Providence may cast a man into such times as those Luke 21. 25 26. Vpon the earth distresse of nations with perplexity mens hearts failing them for feare and for looking after those things which are comming upon the earth When such a time shall come that mens hearts shall faile them for feare how happy shall they bee that shall have a friend in Heaven that shall not faile them when their owne hearts faile them At such a time what will a friend in Heaven be worth to a man in such a case The saying is that a friend at Court is better then a penny in a mans purse To be sure at such a time a friend in heaven and to have God in Heaven to be our friend is better then all the money in a mans bags When such times of distresse and calamity come God still exempts some from common calamities Luke 21. 36. Watch yee therefore and pray alwaies that yee may bee accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to passe Therefore when those things should come to passe there should be some that should be counted worthy to escape them And who are they likely to be Surely none likelier then Gods friends If God will hide and exempt any he will doe it for his friends Abraham was called the friend of God God tels Abraham of a sore calamity that should befall his posterity Gen. 15. 13. Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a strangers in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them foure hundred yeares But how then will God deale with Abraham his friend vers 15. Thou shalt goe to thy fathers in peace thou shalt be buried in a good old age Thou art my friend and therefore I will take an order to hide thee that thine eyes shall not see that calamity When Israel destroyed Iericho and put all to the sword Iosh 6. 25. yet Ioshua saved Rahab the harlot alive and all her family And what was the reason that he exempted her and hers from the common calamity Because she was Israels friend and shewed her selfe a faithfull friend to them in the businesse of the spies So when God brings a generall calamity upon a place and a people he looks out in such a place who are his friends and takes order for their safety and exemption of them from the common danger A man that hath friends must shew himselfe friendly Prov. 17. 17. And herein the Lord shewes himselfe friendly in taking speciall care for the safety of his friends in the cases of common danger The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower Prov. 18. 10. And they that get into that Tower they are safe what ever comes And who be they that have admission into that Tower The righteous runne into it and are safe The Righteous are Gods friends and the gate of that Tower stands open to Gods friends God provides a Tower and a place of refuge for his friends None can looke for admission into that Tower but such as are the friends of God In a time of danger how great a priviledge is it to have the liberty of entrance into that Tower As wee prize that so prize this priviledge of being the friends of God A
third time is the Time of death When death comes that turnes a man out of house and home that takes a man from all his friends then hee must leave all his friends hee hath in this world Oh how happy is that man that when all his friends must leave him and hee leave them hath the Lord God for his friend It is a sad thing to part with all a mans friends at his death and to goe utterly friendlesse out of the world but that 's the happy condition of such as are Gods friends when all their friends must leave them then will God sticke closest to them and that which parts a man and his dearest friends in the world shall joyne them and their best friend together Death parts not God and his friends it doth but bring them home to their friends house I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Philip. 1. Death makes a dissolution of soule and body but this dissolution makes way for a blessed union with Christ All things are yours saith the Apostle death is yours 1 Cor. 3. 21 22. Death theirs what priviledge is that is not death any mans no. Wicked men death is not theirs but they are deaths Let death seaze upon them Psal 55 15. Death feeds upon them Psal 49. 14. But for godly men that are Gods friends death is theirs theirs to doe them service theirs to doe them the best good turne that was ever done them to open the doore into their best friends house to bring them to the presence of their friend after whose society so long they have longed for they that have lived Gods friends shall die Gods friends and God will be their friend in at and after their death for ever So happy it is to have God and Christ our friends And therefore as our Saviour speakes in that case Luk. 16. 9. And I say unto you make to your selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousnesse that when you faile they may receive you into everlasting habitations So in this case I say unto you make to your selves friends of the God of Heaven and the Lord Christ his Sonne that when ye faile and all your friends in the world faile and death shall part you from all other friends and shall turne you out of house and home they may receive you into everlasting habitations All this considered be wee awaked and stirred up to make God our friend God having honoured us so highly as to make us his friends let it be our care Vse 2 to take heed of all such things as may any way craze or crush friendship with God bee carefull to maintaine friendship with God and doe that which may continue and keepe us his friends And that stands in these things First In making worthy of Gods acquaintance and friendship A man that is entertained into the friendship and familiarity of men of ranke and quality they being pleased to honour him with their friendship he will be wondrous careful to carry himselfe suitably If hee carry himselfe basely men of fashion will discarde him and shake him off as a fellow unworthy of their friendship because the dishonour of his courses will reflect upon them his friends How carefull thinke wee was Zabud to carry himselfe nobly honourably and fairely that so Salomon might not have any impeachment by him If Zabud being Salomons friend should have gone to hedging and ditching to plough and cart specially if hee had beene an haunter of ale-houses a drunkard a pot-companion would Salomon still have entertained him into his friendship would he not rather being ashamed of him have cast him off Therefore questionlesse Zabud was very carefull to carry himselfe worthy of the honour of the Kings friendship and to doe nothing that might misbeseeme and unbecome the man that was the Kings friend Thus must it be with us if Gods friends If God have honoured us so much as to make us his friends then be wee carefull to keepe in with God and to walke so worthy of this honour as that God disclaime us not What Gods friends and bee debaucht drunkards Gods friends and prophane ones Gods friends and uncleane persons suite such carriages with such an honour God is not ashamed to be called their God Heb. 11. 16. and to bee called their friend but if they had beene such kinde of persons as those hee would have beene ashamed of them This is the next way to make God ashamed of us and utterly to cast us off for being his friends God will owne no such for his friends yea there is nothing that more dishonours God and moves him more to displeasure then this when such as professe themselves his friends shall walke so basely as that he suffers by it If a man have a friend that hee makes much of that is of his inward acquaintance and hee behave himselfe basely and dishonestly doe not that mans enemies lay his friend in his dish and twit him with him and say This is your friend the man that you are so familiar and inward withall And thus is God dishonoured when men shall take occasion by the evill lives of such as professe themselves Gods friends to say oh these bee the men that bee Gods friends these forsooth be the Lords favourites And when God suffers such dishonour by us what can wee looke for but to lose his friendship how can wee hold in with him and thinke hee should owne us for his friends when wee cause dirt to be flung into his face Gods friends must bee of another manner of carriage then so Abraham was called the friend of God That was Abrahams honour and what must Abrahams carriage then be See Gen. 17. 1. I am the Almighty God and I have called thee my friend walke before me and be thou perfect or upright and sincere I have honoured thee to bee my friend doe thou honour me who am thy friend Secondly Have a care to deale seriously and in good earnest with God in being friends with him and loving him as a friend should be loved Hearty love and friendship will maintaine hearty love and friendship There must be an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 betweene friends a reciprocation of affection a counter-loving betweene friends that must keepe them knit together That is the Soder the Caement the Glue that holds friends fast together Prov. 18. 24. He that hath friends ought to shew himselfe friendly namely if he meane to keepe his friends Hee must answer love with love hee must retribute love for love meete love with love A friend should be loved with a friends love A friends love is hearty and durable First it is hearty It is not in cringes congies phrases courtship and complementall formalities It is serious and hearty Deut. 13. 6. If thy friend which is as thine owne soule Therefore a mans friend is as his owne soule Prov. 18. 24. A friend is neerer then a brother 1 Sam. 18. 1.
to strengthen you and at last to right you in all your wrongs And so when the Lord would comfort and encourage his people against the feare of their adversaries and their wrongs and when hee would terrifie the enemies of his Church he doth both upon this very ground that he is his peoples friend and they his See Isai 41. 10 11 12 13. what encouragements unto his people not to feare and what terrour to their enemies and see upon what ground vers 8. But thou Israel art my servant Iacob whom I have chosen the seed of Abraham my friend And therefore feare not you are the seed of my friend and therefore I will helpe you assist you and protect you and take your part against your enemies and will be severely revenged upon all such as oppose you and oppresse you Such an advantage there is in being the seed of Gods friend And therefore Iehosaphat when hee was in feare and danger pleads with God by this very argument 2 Chr. 20. 7. Thou gavest this land to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever Thou gavest this land to thy friend and to his heires now therefore Lord maintaine the cause of thy friend and the title of thy friend If a man see his friend wronged and others offering injuriously to thrust him out of his possession and inheritance it concernes a friend to maintaine his friends right to the utmost therefore saies Iehoshaphat Lord stand for thy friend take thy friends part and maintaine thy friends right If a man see his friend wronged and others offering to thrust him out of his possession and inheritance it concernes a friend to maintaine the right of his friend and his heires to the utmost therefore Lord stand to thy friend and maintaine the possession thou gavest to thy friend And surely herein the Lord failes not but hee stands close to his friends Indeed men doe not alwaies stand close to their friends Psal 38. 12. My lovers and my friends stand aloofe from my sore and my kinsmen stand afarre of The Samaritans when it went well with the Jewes would claime kindred of them and professe great friendship to them but when things went crosse with them and they were in streights then they would have nothing to doe with them But it is not so with the Lord hee is not such a friend The rich hath many friends Prov. 14 10. and Prov. 19. 7. All the brethren of the poore doe hate him how much more doe his friends goe farre from him hee pursues them with words yet they are wanting to him That is indeed the common course of the world but the Lord hee is like that true friend Prov. 17. 17. A friend loves at all times yea God loves at no time more then when his people are most friendlesse And I say unto you my friends feare not Luke 12. 4. why doth hee call them friends then more then at other times why friends now he speaks of persecution Certainely to shew that hee will never bee a greater friend and that hee will never shew himselfe more a friend unto them then when men shall shew most malice and enmity against them He shewes greatest friendship when men shew greatest enmity Christ will stand by his friends in their greatest pleasures The Apostle Iohn was the beloved Disciple whom Christ made his speciall friend And John carried himselfe to him as a faithfull friend againe when Christ vvas in the high Priests hall Iohn was with him there and when Christ hung upon the Crosse Iohn stood by him there Iohn 19. 26 the Disciple standing by whom Iesus loved He shewed himselfe a friend to Christ that would not forsake him then but would bee with him and stand by him to the last Just such a friend doth Christ shew himselfe to his people he will not forsake them in their troubles and leave them in their extremities but he will stand by them to the last hee will stand by them at the barre hee will stand by them even on their crosses when they hang there hee will stand by them when they stand at the stake The Martyrs found this true they ever found God most friendly when their enemies used them most currishly what made them so cheerefull and comfortable in their solitude when kept from all company God their friend hee visited them and kept them company in their prisons hee did with them as with Ioseph Gen. 39. 20 21. Iosephs master took him put him in prison and hee was there in prison but the Lord was with Ioseph and shewed him mercy God was with Ioseph in the prison with Ioseph what a true friend was Onesiphorus to Paul that he sought out Paul and came to him in prison and oft refreshed him It was a true and kinde friends part indeed that hee did 2 Tim. 1. 16 17. So kinde a friend is God to his servants he finds them out in their prisons comes to them visits them oft refreshes them oft Their prisons were nasty stinking places how was it that they were able to abide them See the reason Prov. 27. 9. Oyntment and perfume rejoyce the heart so doth the sweetnesse of a friend The sweetnesse of this friend that visited them kept them company and refreshed them in their prisons and dungeons made their prisons and dungeons sweet made them Paradises and delectable hortyardes as Algerius Act. Mo. that Italian Martyr calles the leonine prison from whence hee wrote that comfortable letter of his The sweetnesse of such a friend perfumes prisons and dungeons and overcomes the nastinesse and noysomnesse of them If God bee with us who can be against us if God bee our friend who shall be our foe or what matters it who bee our foe this is one of the benefits and great priviledges wee have by being the friends of God The fift benefit the godly have by having God their friend is friendship with and service of all the creatures Whiles wee are Gods enemies wee have all the creatures for our enemies the Angels are our enemies Psal 35. 5 6. Let the Angell of the Lord chase them let the Angell of the Lord persecute them Men even such as in neerest bonds to us are bitter enemies to us Tit. 3. 3. Living in malice and envy hatefull and hating one another Our owne hearts and consciences are at enmity with us never quiet but ever pinching and vexing us nothing but clamouring and brawling against us There is no peace to the wicked saith my God Isai 57. 21. yea the beasts of the field are enemies to us Levit. 26. 22. If you walke contrary unto mee I will send wild beasts amongst you which shall rob you of your children If you bee enemies to mee I will make the beasts enemies to you But when once wee are friends vvith God and hee is become our friend then all his servants become both friends and servants unto us The Angels become our friends Psal 34. 7. The Angell
Ionathans soule was knit to the soule of David and he loved him as his owne soule Such love as this is knitting and sodering love and when a friend is loved thus hee will hold friendship with us But if a man seriously and in good earnest offer friendship to another and hee sees no returne no reflexion of love and like affection onely some outward faire carriages some respective formalities some formall visits and invitations but the mans heart closes not with him hee will happily for some respects hold faire but yet he makes him but a friend for his credit but will have another for his counsell and secrecies Here such a man though he earnestly desired friendship yet finding not that knitting love that should bee betweene friends he gives over to woo a friend that at best will bee but a friend with his reserved distances and so lets his friendly affection die and gradually quench and goe out If he must be onely a friend for a turne to put some credit and respect upon another or to accommodate him onely with some conveniences but the heart of the man holds off and goes another way such a man hath in such a case the wisedome to have done and let such an one goe Secondly a friendly love is a durable continuing love Prov. 17. 17. A friend loves at all times Not for a time till hee hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot Rhetor. 2. Amicitia quae desinere potuit nunquam vera suit Senec. his fill and his glut and then falls off and gives up but at all times Prov. 27. 10. Thine owne friend and thy fathers friend forsake thou not If a man have chosen a friend upon whom hee sets his heart and hee perceives his friends affections to slake to chill and at last to fall quite off this unglues and dissolves the joynt of friendship Now thus it is in this case God hath made us his friends and therefore hee must have a friends love from us we must shew our selves friendly to him First our love to him must be an hearty love Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart with all thy soule Luk. 10 27. This will keepe us in Gods friendship and keep him our friend But if wee complement with God and hold faire with him in the outward performance of the duties of his worship wil pray will come to Church and heare and receive Sacraments and will professe our selves the friends of God because it would otherwise turne to our discredit and disgrace to be out with or strangers to him If wee make him our friend onely for our ends to serve a turne upon him have him our friend for our credit respect profit but yet make him not our friend for our counsels and comforts but will have the world our profits our pleasures for our choyce friends and our hearts close and goe with them God will doe in this case as any wise man would doe Any man so used can have the wit to see how the world goes and can returne complement for complement but never put such an one into the catalogue of his friends neither will hee let out his heart and affections to such an one nor have hearty and intire communion with such as with familiar friends And so will the Lord doe if men complement with him if hee be not unto them as their owne soule if mens hearts bee not knit unto him so as to love him as their owne soules hee sees that their love is not hearty and serious he will shake them off and keepe aloofe and keep distance as well as they do they shall never have Abrabams honour to bee called the friends of God Those the Prophet speakes of Isai 58. 2. and Ezek. 33. 31 32. They heare thy words but they will not doe them for with their mouth they shew much love but their hearts goe after their covetousnesse those were pretenders of friendship but God saw them to be formall complementers and hee kept his heart as far from them as they kept theirs from him Secondly our love to God it must bee durable wee must love him for ever Thine owne friend and thy fathers friend forsake thou not He is our friend and the friend of our father Abraham he must bee loved at all times hee must never bee forsaken If we once let fall our affections to God and let the stream of them runne another way he will have done with us and wee loose a friend of him We see it is so with friends amongst men if a man have had ever so deere a friend in the sweetenesse of whose society hee hath beene much delighted and their hearts have beene close knit yet if hee see his friend beginne to bee remisse and that hee sits loose and communion is entertained with another with the neglect and a slighting dis-regard of the first yea with an exclusion of him what followes but a slaking of his affections thus slighted excluded and neglected In like manner if God sees our affections cooling and slaking and new acquaintances taken up and wee and our new friend never well but when together and closely together and himselfe scarce minded or looked after God will in such a case casheere us and out us hee will have nothing to doe with such slippery leviculous and fickle fancied friends We shall goe for him as good lost as kept If therefore we would keep in with God and hold friends with him love him with a friends love with an hearty and a lasting durable affection Thirdly Have a care to make much of Gods friends Be a true and hearty friend to all Gods friends A man that either is or meanes seriously to be and continue another mans friend will bee kinde and friendly to all his friends and will make those his friends whom hee sees to affect for his choyce friends Great was the friendship that was betweene David and Ionathan And Ionathan being Davids friend David shewes a great deale of kindnesse unto Mephibosheth for Ionathans sake On the other side this is that which will separate very friends or as Salomon speakes in that case chiefe friends Prov. 16. 28. When a man shall slight and set light by his friends friends especially if hee shall oppose and hate those whom hee cordially affects We will not wee cannot close kindly with those that slight our dearest friends though they seeme to desire our friendship ever so much it is a provocation to enmity and cannot but breed ill blood Now thus it is here all Gods people are his friends if we would hold in and maintaine friendship with God we must be friends kinde and cordial friends to them Many talke of being Gods friends and yet are but backe-friends unto and slighters of his friends they looke coyly and strangely upon them cannot afford them a good word doe scorne and abuse them and yet they will needs goe for Gods friends But how can this be Iudge by
persons are brought into his house and that because they be strangers Ezek. 44. 7. Yee have brought into my Sanctuary strangers uncircumcised in heart God had as lieve have their roome as their company as we use to say of meere strangers to us Such is the condition of men by nature But contrarily of the faithfull it may be said as Ephes 2. 19. Now therefore yee are no more forrayners and strangers What are they then not onely as their fellowes But fellow citizens c. But they are more they are the friends and acquaintance the beloved friends and favourites of God Nay look upon men in the state of nature and they are in a worse condition then strangers It is condition bad enough to bee strangers to have no acquaintance with God but it is worse to bee Gods enemies to have God our enemy and to be enemies to him And that is the case of a man in his naturall condition God and hee are enemies Therefore the Apostle instances in both Colos 1. 21. You that were alienated and enemies you were strangers but that 's not All yee were worse you were enemies to God you hated God and God hated you you opposed God and God opposed you there were hostile affections dispositions and carriages betweene God and you such was your naturall condition And that is the misery of naturall men they are Gods enemies but this is the honour and happinesse of the godly that they are the friends of God There is no relation betweene God and his but there is honour happinesse in it Sometimes they are called his people and he their God To be Gods people and subjects is an honourable and happy thing Psal 144. 15. Happy is that people whose God is the Lord. It is an happy thing to be Gods people For they are a people nigh unto him Psal 148. 14. Sometimes they are called the servants of God It is an honourable and happy thing to be Gods servants Happy are thy servants saies the Queene of Sheba of Salomons servants 1 King 10. 8. And if an happinesse in being Salomons how much more in being Gods servants David seemes to count it more honour to write himselfe The servant of the Lord than the King of Israel The 36. Psalme hath this Title A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord I finde not any Psalme with that Title A Psalme of David the King of Israel Now if such an honour and happinesse to bee the servants of the Lord nay if such an happinesse and honour to be the people and subjects of the Lord which is not so neare and close a relation as to bee his servants for to bee the Kings servant is more than to be his subject how great honour and happinesse is it then to be the friends and favourites of the King and God of Heaven The which happinesse and honour that it may the better appeare consider the benefites and priviledges that follow thereupon They are these First Communion with God and Christ All friendship stands in Communion there is a great deale of sweetnesse and excellent contentment in a friend by reason of communion Prov. 27. 9. Oyntment and perfume rejoyce the heart so doth the sweetnesse of a mans friend by heartie counsell The communion that is between friends is an Oyntment and a Perfume that rejoyces the heart And when a man findes a true friend hee findes hony Prov. 25. 16. Hast thou found honey that is hast thou found a friend But why sayes he Hast thou found honey Because of the sweetnesse that is in communion with a friend What is sweeter than honey Judg. 14. 18. Nothing sweeter than honey to a mans taste and nothing sweeter than a perfume to a mans smell and a friend hath the sweetnesse of both of Honey and a Perfume Now the godly having God for their friend they have communion with him sweet communion with him such sweetnesse in their communion with this their friend as is above the sweetnesse of honey such as rejoyces the heart above all oyntment and perfume Looke what communion is between heartie and entire friends such there is in all poynts between God and the faithfull by vertue of their friendship between God and them Communion between friends stands commonly in these things In Communication of their secrets mutually each to other A man will let his friend know his greatest secrets wil make knowne his minde to him in his most secret secrets Indeed to a stranger with whom a man hath little or no familiaritie and friendship or to one from whom his heart is alienated and estranged a man will not communicate his secrets no not common and triviall matters that are but matters of ordinary course But where there is friendship and inward intirenesse there the bosome secrets are disclosed and imparted the very secret cabinet is unlockt and set open for a friend to look into friends have all things common common secrets Iob. 19. 19. All my inward friends abhorred me The words are All the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Ephes hom 9. men of my secret that is my speciall friends to whom I communicated my secrets A friend is another selfe Now a man cannot conceale any secret from himselfe and therefore not from his friend And therefore when David would describe that communion which was between him and his friend he sets it out by this Psalm 41. 9. Mine owne familiar friend in whom I trusted A man will trust his friend with his bosome secrets Thus is it betweene God and the faithfull being once his friends he will have sweet communion with them in revealing disclosing and manifesting his secrets unto them Psalm 25. 14. The secret of the Lord is with those that feare him Prov. 3. 32. His secret is with the righteous 1 Cor. 2. 16. Wee have that is we know the minde of Christ Luke 8. 10. Vnto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdome of God the very Arcana Imperii and upon this ground it is given because friends of God It is some favour and priviledge to bee of the Kings Court but it is a farre greater to bee of the Kings Counsell Courtiers they know somewhat more than those that live in the remote parts of the land they know the Kings person his common courses and actions better than forraigners in other countries and better than countrey people doe that dwell farre off in the same kingdome who doe not belong unto nor follow the Court but what is that to what a privie Counsellour knowes The king acquaints them with speciall secrets with the mysteries of state They that are his Privie Counsellours they know his mind they are not onely of the Court but of the Counsell also Hypocrites and carnall persons that live in the Church and under the ministery they doe know many truths that Heathens and such as live not under the meanes know not but yet they are but of the common sort
great delight in communion of this kinde Psalm 55. 24. We walked together wee had a great deale of chat and friendly talke together Can two walke together except they be agreed Am. 3. and so can two bee agreed and knit together in the bonds of love and friendship but they will walke together It is that which exercises and increases love and friendship And thus doth God vouchsafe cōmunion with the godly being his friends He will as a friend come walke and talke with them Hee takes turnes with them in his walkes and galleries Cant. 1. 17. Our galleries are of firre yea as one friend fallen in company with another is so tyed that hee knowes not how to part and come away so Cant. 7. 5. The king is held tyed or bound in the galleries as if the Lord were loath to leave those walkes in his ordinances in which he converses with his people Hee cals out his friends to take a walke with him Cant. 7. 11. Come my beloved let us goe forth into the fields let us get up early into the vine yards let us see if the vine flourish Come let us walke out together into the fields let us have a walke into the vineyards And as they commune with the Lord in the secret of their soules so God doth commune with them by his spirit he hath his sweet and secret conferences and Colloquies with them Gen. 17. 22. The Lord left off talking with Abraham Gen. 18. 33. And the Lord went his way as soone as hee had left communing with Abraham Exod. 31. 18. And he gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communing with him two Tables of Testimony And see in what a familiar manner the Lord used to talke with Moses Exo. 33. 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speakes unto his friend And though no man may come neere to Moses in that speciall priviledge of familiarity yet in that measure and proportion the Lord vouchsafes unto all his Saints these familiar and friendly conferences in a speciall manner Fifthly communion between friends stands in mutuall friendly visitations One friend will visit another and where there is an entire friendship indeed there will bee an entercourse of frequent visits each of other Mary went to Elizabeth to visit her at her house in the hill country And so God hath his times when hee makes his visits with his people Ioh. 14. 23. Wee will come unto him Psal 106. 4. Remember me O Lord with the favour thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation As if hee had said Lord remember me to be one of thy friends and vouchsafe me some such gracious friendly visits as thou usest to afford to thy friends and favourites Hee shewes his friends hearts by his visitations sheds his love into their hearts by the Holy Ghost gives them sweet assurances of his favour filles their hearts with peace hee comes and brings them the hidden manna and the white stone brings his friendly tokens with him Sixthly Communion betweene friends stands in mutuall feasting and banqueting each with other Friends will invite each other will call their friends to their tables and will goe to their friends tables Psal 41. 9. My familiar friend that eate of my bread He therefore used to have his familiar friend at his table and to feast him with his good cheere So God deales with his people and holds communion with them of this kinde Apoc. 3. 20. If any man will open unto mee I will come in unto him and I will suppe with him and hee with mee Canticles 5. 2. Eate O Friends and drinke abundantly O beloved Looke what sweete communion friends have together in mutuall feastings each of other such sweet spirituall communion vouchsafes the Lord to his people Lastly there is yet another expression of that communion that is betweene friends That which was betweene David and Jonathan 1 Sam. 20. 41. And they kissed one another and 2 Sam. 19. 39. David kissed Barzillai So of ancient friends used to expresse their friendly love each to other And thus doth God expresse his communion with his people as they kisse the Sonne Psal 2. and Cant. 8. 1. When I should finde thee without I would kisse thee so doth the Lord kisse them as his friends Cant. 1. 1. Let him kisse mee with the kisses of his mouth That 's a great Honour and Happinesse It is an honour and a favour to kisse the kings hand but when once wee are the friends of Christ the friends of God he gives us not his hand but his lips his mouth to kisse And thus in those things the godly have commnnion with God and this communion they have by being his friends and this is the first benefit wee have by having him our friend The second benefit by having God their friend is Boldnesse and Familiarity of Accesse to God in all our wants and necessities When God is once our friend wee may with an holy boldnesse and familiarity come into his presence and make knowne our wants unto him when God is a mans enemy or when God is but a stranger to a man hee cannot bee so bold with him It is the rule wee live by amongst men If a man bee our enemy though wee stand in need of him and hee might be beneficiall to us yet we will not wee cannot have the face to bee so bold and familiar with him as to acquaint him with our necessities because being our enemy wee conceive hee will but despise us and bee glad of an occasion that hee may looke darkely and angrily upon us Nay if a man bee but a stranger unto us though there be no unkindnesse or quarrell betweene us wee cannot indure to make bold with him If wee bee put upon it our plea is Alas hee is a meere stranger to me hee is one with whom I have very slender or no acquaintance at all hee will wonder I should make so bold with him But now if a man have a speciall friend with whom hee is inwardly well acquainted if he want his helpe his counsell his good word to speake for him hee can without any adoe make bold with him A man we use to say may be bold with his friends And who should a man make bold with but with his friends The case is so here whilest God is our enemy or a stranger unto us we cannot have the face or the heart to goe to him in our wants and to make our cases knowne unto him we thinke that hee may well give us such answer as Isaac gave to Abimelech and the rest that came with him Gen. 26. 27. Wherefore come yee to mee seeing ye hate me what meane you to come to mee who am your enemy who am at the easiest a stranger to you in whom you have no manner of Interest Did yee not hate me saies Iephthah to them Iudges 11. 7. And why are yee come unto me now
when yee are in distresse And such answers our misgiving hearts will tell us we may expect when wee are enemies to God But when once we are Gods friends then wee may boldly goe to him and make our minds knowne to him Heb. 4. 16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that wee may obteine mercy and finde grace to helpe in the time of neede Gods people therefore may not onely goe but goe boldly to the throne of Grace But whence comes it that they may doe it Even from hence because they are the Lords friends It is the priviledge of Gods friends that they may goe boldly into his presence Ephes 3. 12. In whom wee have boldnesse and accesse with confidence by the faith of him In Christ wee have this boldnesse because in and by him wee come to bee the friends of God It is a bold part for a man to goe to his neighbour at midnight when he is in his bed the doors shut to and to disturb and raise him then out of his bed Lu 11. 5. 8. but yet this excuses all hee is his friend to whom he goes which of you shal have a friend shal go unto him at midnight and shall say friend lend mee three loaves It is a bold part for a man in his Iourney to come at midnight to a friends house and yet he to whom hee comes blames him not but goes out at that time to make provision for him and this makes him swallow all Luke 11. 6. For a friend of mine in his journey is come unto mee It was the friendship that was betweene them that makes the traveller so bold as to come at that time of night and put him to such trouble Friends may make bold one with another And it is the happinesse of Gods people being his friends that they make holily bold with God Their comming to him is never troublesome The third benefit by having God their friend is Assurance and certainety of speede in all their lawfull and convenient suites and prayers they make to God To bee bold and not to bee welcome is to little purpose but to be bold and welcome both that is a great matter Gods people cannot be so bold as welcome as one friend uses to say to another It will not stand with Humanity and with the lawes of friendship for a man to deny his friend any thing a man knowes not how to say his friend nay friends whilest they aske they command And when a friend askes his friends answers you may command mee any thing And therefore when God bids his people aske of him he as one that speakes in a friends language to shew as the power and force of prayer so also the force and power of friendship bids them also command him Isa 45. 11. Aske of mee and concerning the worke of mine bands command yee mee for friends petitions are commands God once being a mans friend his petitions being rightly qualified hee may be sure God cannot say his friend nay but hee will doe for him what ever his hearts desire is After Ionathans soule was knit to David and that hee loved him as his owne soule and had made him his choyce and deere friend see how hee speakes to David 1 Sam. 20. 4. Whatsoever thy soule desires I will doe it for thee or say what is thy minde or what thy soule speakes or thinkes and I will doe it for thee And so afterward David to Barzillai when hee had showne himselfe so true a friend unto him 2 Sam. 19. 38. Whatsoever thou shalt require of mee that will I doe for thee such a prevalent power hath a friend in his suites and desires to his friend that as Zedekias said to the princes Ier. 38. 5. The king can deny you nothing so one friend can deny another nothing Zabud 1 King 4. 5. was the kings friend how could then the king deny him any thing It is the priviledge of the kings friend to have the kings eare The kings eare and the kings hand are both open to the kings friend and favourite If Zabud be Salomons friend Salomon can deny him nothing If a friend aske though he seeme to aske unreasonable and unseasonable things yet such is the commanding power of friendship that a man is necessitated to gratifie him That same Lu. 11. 9. And I say unto you ask and it shall be given you seeke and ye shall find c. is but an inference upon all that which is laid down in the foure former verses in which hee presses to prayer upon the ground of assurance to speed As if hee had said pray and yee shall bee sure to speed But why shall we be sure because God is our friend Amongst men friends prevaile with their friends and therefore God being your friend you shall bee sure also to prevaile with him He takes his argument from a comparison of the lesse to the greater and there bee divers arguments couched in those words to assure men of speed in their prayers they being Gods friends The first is this If so be that a man will not deny his friend asking a petition or making a request unto him then much lesse will God deny his people who are his friends They are the Lords deere friends therefore shall they bee sure to speede The second argument is this If a friend comming to his friend at an unseasonable time even at midnight vers 5. when it must needs bee a trouble to him when his children are at rest and the doore shut vers 7. yet for all this prevailes with his friend and speeds in his suite How much more then will God grant the suits which his friends make to him to whom no time is unseasonable All times to God are seasonable hee is as ready at one time as at another God is ready at all times and hours His court of audience is alwaies open His doores shut at no time It is not with God as with men To men a time of petitioning may bee unseasonable because it may be First a time of his owne necessary reliefe and refreshment A man may bee at his necessary repast a man may bee in his bed at his rest and sleepe Secondly Hee may want power at some time to doe that which is desired Thirdly Hee may have businesse and occasions of his owne his owne imployments may necessarily wholly take him up Fourthly Hee may bee taken up with helping some other friend he cannot doe for all at once And therefore a man may come and desire his friends helpe unseasonably but it is not so with God All times are seasonable with him David will pray thrice a day Psal 55. 17. If David will be so oft at leasure to pray God will bee as oft at leasure to heare With my soule I have desired thee in the night Isa 26. 9. yea David will pray at midnight Psal 119. 62. To come in the night specially at midnight is unseasonable to
man not so to God Morning evening noone night midnight any time is a seasonable time with God Come when you will Gods doore and Gods eare is alwayes open What assurance of speed gives this to those that be Gods friends A man will helpe his friend at midnight when hee is in bed he will rise to pleasure him though he come unseasonably and will not God therefore much more helpe his friends that can never come unseasonably to him we may not imagine that men can bee more kinde and friendly to their friends then God is unto his The third argument is this If a friend will give unto him or for his use with whom he hath no familiarity or acquaintance as here the friend in bed gives to his friend at the doore three loaves not for his owne use but for his friends that is come unto him a meere stranger to him then how much more will God give unto his people who are his friends that which they aske for their owne necessity The friend here in bed might have answered his friend at the doore thus if thou thy selfe or any of thy children had wanted bread I would not have denyed to have given thee what thou askest but in as much as thou askest for one that is unknown to me take it not ill that I doe not gratifie thee in this thing that thou desirest But yet wee see here is no such answer Such is the power of friendship that it bindes a man to doe for his friends friend though a stranger to him And if it binde a man to doe for his friends friend how much more for a friend himselfe And if humane friendship be thus obligatory that it will make a man doe for a stranger for a friends sake then how much more is that divine love of God powerfull to make him doe for his people they being his friends God loves not his friends lesse then a man loves his The fourth argument is this If a friend bee content to give those loaves to his friend which yet hee cannot give unto him without disquieting and troubling of himselfe and his but though hee be in bed with his children though the doore be shut yet for all that he rises and gives him what he needs though with so much trouble to him if I say a friend will doe this for his friend which hee cannot doe without so much trouble then how much more will God grant the petitions of his people which are his friends who can without any the least trouble that is performe what they desire of him will a friend amongst men helpe his friend though it be to his owne trouble and the trouble of his then how can it stand with Gods love to his friends not to helpe them when hee can helpe them without any trouble at all shall friendship betweene man and man be more prevalent then friendship betweene God and his friends God is not troubled with sleepe He that keepes Israel neither slumbers nor sleepes Psal 121. 4. And all that waite upon him in heaven are waking they cannot be disquieted the gates and doores of heaven are never shut it is no trouble at all therefore to God to helpe Suppose it were a trouble to God to gratifie his people in their prayers yet why should not hee doe as much for his friends as one friend amongst men will doe for another A friend will helpe his friend though it be to his trouble and therefore though it were with trouble to the Lord why should it bee thought that hee will not helpe his friends And if hee would heare them and helpe them and doe for them that they aske though it were to his trouble then how much more may they bee assured that hee will give them what they aske when it is no trouble at all to him If a man should desire his friend that hee might fetch water at his pond and hee should deny him would not all men condemne him that he should refuse to gratifie him in that which might bee done with so little trouble to him Now the Lord hee can doe the greatest and the hardest things wee aske with more ease then man can doe the easiest wee cannot with that ease say to a friend take that Deus omnia creavit facilimo opere Dicendo scilicet ut non plus negoâ—â— deo sit in creatione quam nobis in appellatione Luther in Genes 1. thou askest that God can give the greatest thing we aske God without any trouble at all can give the greatest thing wee aske In the creation of the world God said let there be light and there was light He created the world by his word Hee said To shew the easinesse of the creation to him It was no more to him to make the world than it is to us to speake a word Nay with more ease than we can speake did God make the world for we cannot speake without the help of God In him wee live move and have our being Act. 17. But he is Independent All-sufficient in and of himselfe needing no help or assistance from any other and therefore easier for him to make the world than for us to speake And if God with such ease created the world then with how much ease can hee make good our petitions Even just with the same ease Luk. 7. 7. Onely say the word and my servant shall be healed What an easie thing is it for God to speake a word If therefore a friend will doe for his friend though with his verie great trouble disease molestation and disquiet then surely God being our friend will not deny us what we aske in as much as he can do it with as little trouble as the speaking of a word It is little he will doe for his friend that will not so much as say a word for him Certainely God will both speake and doe for his friends The fifth Argument is this If a friend that at first refuses his friend and puts him off with excuses Trouble mee not c. yet after is by his friend overcome how much more will God who invites us calles upon us to seeke him and promises to heare us when wee pray shall a denying friend bee overcome and shall not a promising God be prevailed withall It were strange if God bound by his promise should not be more prevailed withall by his friends then a man that hath made no promise but a flat denyall And marke upon what ground the denying friend is prevailed withall vers 8 I say unto you though he will not that is if he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet c. That implies that our Saviour made account that that was a speciall motive to worke upon him because he was his friend and that that vvere enough to make him grant his desire it is troublesome it is unseasonable c. but yet I must yeeld it is my friend that askes In
all vvhich passage vve see how many strong reasons our Saviour brings to assure us that God vvill grant our desires and they are grounded upon this that vve are the friends of God This is therefore the great priviledge and benefit of being Gods friends that they shall be sure to speed with God when they seeke to him Indeed many times in cases of necessity a man shall finde but poore helpe from his friends Prov. 19. 7. All the brethren of the poore doe hate him how much more doe his friends goe farre from him hee pursues them with words yet they are wanting unto him But it is not so with God he ownes and agnizes his friends in their necessities he vvill not be wanting to his friends Doe but see vvhat Christ hath done for his friends Iohn 15. 13. greater love hath no man then this that a man lay downe his life for his friends Did not Christ make dainty of his blood of his life for his friends and shall vve thinke that he will be straight handed or streight hearted to them in smaller matters That friend that vvill lay downe his life for his friends will he deny his friends his purse vvill he deny them three loaves no such matter They shall be vvelcome though they come at midnight So happy a thing it is to have God for a friend It is an happy thing vvhen a man hath a faithfull friend to whom he may breake his minde when his heart is troubled It is an ease to disburdon ones mind into the bosome of a friend though he cannot helpe us and give us remedy against our griefe How much more then is it an happinesse to have God for our friend into whose bosome we may disburdē our minds in prayer when he is such a friend as will make good the prayers of his people and helpe them in their needs How many prayers doe many make to God how many petitions put they up and yet speed not How many begge three loaves and yet get not one and what 's the reason they have not God their friend they are none of Gods friends and therefore their speed is suitable The fourth benefit the godly have by having God for their friend is defence and protection in all cases of wrong injury and oppression at least pitty and compassion and a fellow-feeling with them in their troubles yea such a pitty and compassion as will stirre up God to stand to them and by them in all their afflictions so it is with friends amongst men If a man see his friend in misery and trouble his heart earnes towards him and his soule bleeds within him and all his thoughts and wits Adversas vero res ferre difficile esset sine eo qui illas graviùs etiā quam tu ferret Cicer. in Lelio are vvorking to take a course for his help and reliefe See how Iob speakes Iob 19. 21. Have pitty vpon me have pity upon me O ye my freinds But vvhy should he call upon his friends to pitty him see the reason Iob 6. 14. To him that is afflicted pity should bee shewed from his friend It is a friends part and duty to be compassionate to his friend in his extremity and when friends doe not so it is a signe that they forsake the feare of the Almighty as there Iob speakes We see when Iobs three friends heard of all the evill that was come upon him they come every one from his owne place for they had made an appointment together to come to mourne with him and to comfort him Iob 2. 11. That was a friendly part so should friends doe and so will friends doe Prov. 18. 24. There is a friend that stickes closer than a brother And therefore well might Iob complaine of it as a strange case Iob 19. 19. All mine inward friends abhor me and Iob 16. 20. my friends are my scorners Your friend will not only have compassion but if it be in his power he will stand to and by his friend to maintaine his cause and his right against all such as would wrong and abuse him A mans blood rises when hee heares or sees his friend wronged and many a man loses his life in his friends quarrell Marke how David speakes to Abiathar 1 Sam. 22 23. Abide thou with mee feare not hee that takes thy life shall take my life also as some Translations have it And thus is it with the people of God being his friends God will have compassion upon them in all their afflictions his friendly heart will have a fellowfeeling with them in all their miseries Isay 63. 10. Hee was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them but before that hee vvas their friend till by their sinnes they made him their enemy And vvhen he was their friend then it was otherwise ver 9. in all their affliction he was afflicted God as a friend sympathized with them in their sorrowes yea and hee will friendly stand to them by them in all their vvrongs he is a friend that sticks closer then a brother When Paul vvas imprisoned Acts 23. 11. The Lord stood by him and said feare not The Lord as a friend came to him in prison as a friend encouraged him and animated him therein making good Salomons proverb Prov. 27. 17. Iron sharpens Iron so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend When a man is dejected disconsolate and sad of countenance if his friend come to him and comfort and cheere him with words of consolation it refreshes his spirit and puts such life into him as makes his countenance lightsome Thus the Lord as a good friend comes to Paul in prison and cheares his spirit and sharpens his countenance It was no friendly part of those 2 Tim. 4. 16. At my first answere no man stood Paravit animum adversus vinculalaturum opem Cum primum crepuerit catena discedet Senec. ep 9. with me but all men forsooke me Those that profest themselves Pauls great friends durst not owne him when he was convented before Nero there his friends failed him but yet vers 17. The Lord stood with me and strengthned me God shewed himselfe a faithfull friend to Paul hee did goe to the barre with Paul and stood with him there and strengthened him there And to this purpose is that worth the noting that when our Saviour was to hearten and encourage his Disciples against the feare of persecutions he calls them by the name of friends Luke 12. 4. And I say unto you my friends bee not afraid of them that kill the body c. As if he should have said you shall meete with a great deale of hard measure in the world you shall be persecuted to the very death but yet be not afraid of these persecutors And why not afrayd I say unto you my friends be not afraid You are my friends and therefore I will not be wanting unto you I will stand by you either to deliver you or
desires another mans friendship must bee often in his company must have converse with him and frequent conference with him It was a neere bond of love and friendship that was betweene David and Ionathan 1 Sam. 18. 1. The soule of Ionathan was knit with the soule of David and Ionathan loved him as his owne soule But how and upon what grew this friendship how came Ionathan so to affect David see the beginning of the verse And it came to passe that as David had made an end of speaking unto Saul Hee was in Davids company he heares him speake and sees a sweet spirit in him and thereupon hee is wonderfully taken with him If David had not beene in Ionathans presence and company if Ionathan had not seene him and heard him speake hee had never been so taken with him as to make him his choyce and deare friend but now when hee is in Ionathans company and there speakes in his audience it came to passe that as hee had made an end of speaking that the soule of Ionathan was knit unto the soule of David In that converse that Ionathan had with David was his heart knit to him It is so here in prayer a man converses with God hath conferences and soliloquies with him and so by the often frequenting of Gods company and conversing with him he growes into acquaintance with him See how Christ speakes to his Church Cant. 2. 14. Let mee see thy countenance let me heare thy voyce for sweet is thy voyce and thy countenance comely A praying countenance is comely in Christs eye and a praying voyce is sweet in his eare And as he desires to see that countenance Let mee see thy countenance and as hee desires to heare that voyce Let mee heare thy voyce so when he doth heare that sweet voyce and see that comely countenance hee is wonderfully taken with it falles exceedingly in love with it Cant. 4. 9. Thou hast ravished mine heart my sister my Spouse thou hast ravished mine heart with one of thine eyes Thou hast wounded mine heart or thou hast taken my heart out of me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeke hath it Thou hast unhearted me as a friends heart lives Bene quidam dixit de amico suo dimidium animae meae Nam ego sensi animam meam animam illius unam fuisse animam in duobus corporibus ideo mihi horrori erat vita quia nolebam dimidius vivere ideo forte mori metuebam ne totus ille morreretur quē multum amaveram August Confess lib. 4. cap. 6. in his friends bosome it is gone from himselfe unto his friend Thou hast taken away mine heart from mee with one of thine eyes If one eye did it what would both have done All serves to shew how Christs heart is wonne in prayer that looke as soone as David had made an end of speaking Ionathans heart went out of himselfe and his soule was knit with the soule of David so after a faithfull soule hath done speaking in prayer Christs soule is knit to his soule and such converse makes Christ love a man as his owne soule Nothing more knits and rivets the heart of Christ and a Christian together in a league of sweet acquaintance then conversing with him in the duty of prayer In this duty God and his people take acquaintance one of another and grow into a familiarity each with other See Zech. 13. 9. I will say it is my people and they shall say The Lord is my God I will take acquaintance with them and they shall take acquaintance with mee I will owne them and they shall owne me and there shall be a mutuall stipulation of friendship and familiarity betweene us Well but when shall this be done marke the words immediately going before They shall call upon my Name and I will say c. This entercourse of kindnesse and familiarity shall bee in and upon the duety of prayer In and upon that shall there bee these mutuall friendly passages and owning each of other Yea if at any time we doe that which may cause God to fall out with us and to looke strange upon us yet prayer is a speciall meanes to worke us in with God againe and a godly man prayes himselfe friends with God The Apostle Peter hee advises married couples to love each other and to live together in conjugall friendship that their prayers may not bee interrupted 1 Pet. 3. 7. And so a man may wish them to pray together that their loves bee not interrupted As love will keepe prayers from interruption so prayers will keepe love from interruption As it is true keepe friends that you may pray love that you may pray so it is true pray that you may keepe friends pray that you may love Prayer is that which will keepe them friends But sometimes it may be there may be some breach betweene man and wife It is possible there may be some interruption of their love there may bee a rupture in conjugall friendship What is to be done then let both goe together to God in prayer and hee will set all in joynt and send them from him better friends then ever Prayer will make up such rupture againe So is it in this case Prayer will prevent an interruption of our friendship with God or if we do that which may cause a rupture yet if we doe but goe to the Lord in prayer and seeke earnestly to him in that duty hee will at last bee friends with us againe and send us better friends from him then before Prayer will pervert and will heale ruptures in this blessed friendship Thus now wee see how we may come to get this honour and happinesse of being Gods friends and therefore now let us seriously set upon this course and make triall of these conclusions I pray thee saies Eliphaz acquaint thy selfe with him and be at peace with him thereby shall good come to thee Iob 22. 21. All this good of communing with God of boldnesse with him of speeding in the petitions of defence and assistance in time of troubles of peace and friendship with the creatures all this good shall come to thee upon friendship with God So much good how ambitious should it make us of this honour of being Gods friends How many waste their very estates out of a desire to have the friendship and favour of the great ones of the earth and yet hardly get or more hardly keepe it when they have done Many a man is undone with the friendship of great ones and loose by it and many times bring their houses to ruine by it but this friendship is for good there is gaine by it never did or shall any man loose by it by having God for his friend There be three times in speciall that a man shall finde it to stand him in stead to have God for his friend and to be in the number of his friends First at the Time of the
your selves Let a man make a common practise of wronging and abusing your friends and will you count such your friends and will you hold friendship with them Nay though you have counted them your friends before yet upon such carriage you will let fall affection to them Christ calles his Spouse his fellow-friend Cant. 2. 10. now lay the case there A mans wife is his deerest friend Is there any man so witlesse and so silly to hold friendship with any though professing ever so great a desire of it so long as hee sees such to slight his wife and to dis-regard her or to use her as an enemy well then and thinke yee that Christ will ever have or hold any friendship with you so long as you abuse and scorne his best and deerest fellow-friend his Spouse Thinke that Christ is as true to his as we are or can be to our friends Fourthly Have a care and take heed of comportment with his enemies As friends Eadem velle eadem nolle firma Amicitia est Hieronym ad Ruffin Eadem cupere eadem odisse eadem metuere homines in unum cogunt Salust that will hold in must have common friends so they must have common enemies Wee our selves will not take him for our friend that is entire and inwardly familiar with our profest adversaries we will not have communion with him that hath communion and correspondence with our enemies Friends communicate their secrets to their friends and how shall a man trust him with his secrets who being a friend to his enemy will communicate them to him againe Zabud was Salamons friend Salomon had three speciall enemies Hadad Rezon and Ieroboam 1 King 11. And this last Salomon sought to kill now if Zabud went to hold in with Salomon it had beene no wisedome in the world for him to hold intelligence or correspondency with any of these it had beene enough to have lost Salomons friendship for ever But Zabud being Salomons friend his wisest course was to be a profest enemy to all these if hee were then living at that time Let a man set ever so good a face upon it and make ever so deepe protestations of love yet if hee close and knit with our professed enemies wee can have the wit not to trust him nor to judge him any of our trusty friends It is so in this case If wee hold comportment and entirenesse with Gods enemies hee will soone have done with us and leave us to our new acquaintances hee will shake us off hee will trust us for none of his friends Take heed of closing with Gods enemies whether they be persons or things Take heed of closing in friendship and falling into familiarity with wicked persons We know how Iehu pincht Iehoshaphat 2 Chron. 19. 2. when hee made a league of friendship with Ahab Wouldst thou helpe the wicked and love them that hate the Lord As if he had said what Thou Gods friend and close with Gods enemies The Iewes malignantly charged our Saviour that hee was a friend of Publieanes and sinners because hee tooke occasion by common converse with them to doe them good but otherwise he was no friend to them in their sinfull courses he delighted not in friendship and familiar society with their persons Now if hee had so beene a friend to Publicanes and sinners they had had some thing justly against him If we be Gods friends we must in this sense take heed of being friends to Publicans and sinners of being entire friends and companions of sinfull and ungodly persons Wee know how the Jewes dasht Pilates good intentions towards Christ when hee would have stood his friend to let him goe free Iohn 19. 12. If thou let this man goe thou art not Caesars friend and we see how it wrought with him vers 13. When Pilate heard that saying he brought Iesus forth and sate downe in the Iudgement-seate c. Rather then hee will give the least suspition that hee was not Caesars friend hee will not bee Christs friend If thou bee his friend thou art none of Caesars friend It is so here also If thou be a friend of wicked and ungodly ones thou art none of Gods friend he will renounce thee for being any of his friends If thou wilt be Gods friend thou must make Gods enemies thine Thou must doe as David Psal 139 21 22. Doe not I hate them O Lord that hate thee and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies As if he had said Lord thou hast honoured mee to be one of thy friends and therefore I have made thine enemies mine Take heed also of friendship with wicked things Every lust is an enemy to God The misorder of the flesh is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. Hee saies not it is an enemy but it is enmity it selfe And if the wisdome of the flesh bee enmity against God what is the folly of it Every lust is an enemy to God and enmity to God An enemy may bee reconciled but enmity cannot bee reconciled If therefore wee close with our lusts and make them our friends it will utterly cracke friendship betweene God and us If wee hold friendship with them wee loose it with God See how the Apostle speakes Iam. 4. 4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will bee a friend of the world is the enemy of God Love of the world is adultery An adulterer that sets his heart upon an harlot and makes her his friend cannot bee a friend to his wife because there is aviolation of conjugall love friendship Any lust carnall or worldly fostered and made a friend and a favourite lust will make us turne enemies to God Take heed therefore how wee suffer our hearts to cleave to any lust friendship with our lusts and friendship with God will not stand together but if wee be friends to the one wee must be enemies to the other Fiftly Take heed of too much absence from God and of discontinuance of acquaintance converse and familiarity with him Some things doe dissecare amicitiam choppe friendship asunder and some things doe dissuere unsow and unrip it Now long absence from friends and discontinuance of converse and familiarity and letting fall the performance of friendly offices though these choppe not friendship a sunder yet they doe by degrees unrip it And though there bee no quarrell or unkindnesse yet meere absence when it is overlong and meere discontinuance of friendly visits colloquies and the like entercourse of kindnesse will abate and slake affections and by degrees let them die An over-long absence of friends each from other and silence or letting fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist cib lib. 8. cap. 5. such salutations friendly compellations and conferences that use to be betweene friends are things as the Philosopher observes that dissolve friendship
Every act of love and expression of friendship encreases and setles friendly love Lay a side mutuall visitations and conferences and without a quarrell friendship will decay And hence is the proverbe of Amicitia Academica university friendship that holds onely for a time Schollers in the University are many times great acquaintance very familiar loving friends but afterwards when they come to bee disperst abroad into remote parts each from other the grow strangers one to another because being farre and long absent one from another and entercourse of friendship ceasing in mutuall visits walkings and talkings together their acquaintance dies The case is the same here Absence from God disuse and discontinuance of communion with him not frequenting Gods company and the not often resorting to him and speaking to him will let our acquaintance fall with him will dissolve our friendship with him It must bee our care then to maintaine our friendship and acquaintance with him by our frequent communion and converse with him by often and daily visiting of him bee often at his house bee frequent in praying hearing reading and meditation be frequent in thy soliloquies with him God meets those that remember him in his waies Isai 64. 5. That is in his ordinances which are the waies in which God walkes and is to bee met with Visit those waies and walks and there often meete with God the more this is done the better and firmer friends shall God and we be and the more disuse and discontinuance of those things the lesse friendship Many would bee in the number of Gods friends and yet seldome are at his house and seldome in private with him seldome visit him except it be at a pinch when they know not how to shift it Alasse this will not goe nor serve the turne amongst men If one professe great and more then ordinary friendship to another and yet never speakes to him but when hee meetes him at the Church or at market never comes at his house never visits him sits with him nor hath any private conference with him no man will judge such a man a friend A good quiet peaceable neighbour may hee be but not an intire friend If wee would maintaine acquaintance with God wee must come often to him and bee often in private with him and the more the better True it is that there is a wisedome and discretion to be used amongst friends amongst men Though a man have a good friend that loves him deerely yet a man may bee troublesome to him and burthensome to him by comming too often to him A man may have his fill even of a good friend indeed Rom. 15. 24. If I be somewhat filled with your company Indeed Honey is sweet and the company of a friend sweet but if a wisedome be not used a man may bee so filled with honey that hee may surfeit with it his stomacke may bee so overcharged with it that it may grow loathsome And to this end is Salomons counsell usefull Prov. 25. 16 17. Hast thou found honey eate so much as is sufficient for thee that is hast thou found a good friend doe not cloy and over-cloy him with thy society least hee grow weary of thee Withdraw thy feote from thy neighbours house or let thy foote be seldome that is not over-often in thy neighbours house least he grow weary of thee or least he be full of thee and so hate thee A man may loose his friend as by too much absence so by too much presence But now it is not thus with God wee cannot visit him so often nor come so frequently to him as to cloy him or to bee cloyed with him The oftner we come to him and be with him the welcommer shall we be and the sweeter will this honey grow Eate this honey as often and as much as God bids us eate of it and we shall never surfeit it shall grow loathsome on neither side Sixtly Take heed of treachery against God and playing false with him There is nothing so disunites and disjoynts friends as that does There is nothing so cuts a friend to the heart as that and so soone cuts asunder the bonds of friendship Psal 55. 12 13. For it was not an enemy that reproached mee then I could have borne it c. But it was thou a man mine equall my guide and mine acquaintance And Psal 41. 9. Yea mine owne familiar friend in whom I trusted which did eate of my bread hath lift up his heele against me Obad. 7. They that have eate thy bread the men of thy bread have layd a wound under thee There is a great deale of wisedome and canonicall Truth in that Apocryphall passage Ecclus. 22. 21 22. Though thou drewest a sword at thy friend yet dispaire not for there may bee a returning to favour if thou hast opened thy mouth against thy friend feare not for there may bee a reconciliation except for upbrayding or pride or disclosing of secrets or a treacherous wound for for these things every friend will depart When out of ficklenesse of spirit a new friend is chosen and that not onely with the desertion of the old but besides there is a great deale of treachery and underhand false dealing with a spice of malignity this will unsoder the closest friends this will separate very friends indeed So here Gods best friends may have and often have their faylings upon which God many times may give them some round language and may make him fall out with them but yet for all that he will keepe friends with them still But if men begin once to fall off from God and shall choose some other new friend so as an imputation is cast upon God as if the new choyce were better and errours and false religions are so embraced as that there is an undermining of the truth with some tacke of malignity this is treachery this is a treacherous wound Ierem. 3. 20. Surely as a wife treacherously departes from her husband or as the originall hath it from her friend so have ye dealt treacherously with me O house of Israel saith the Lord. This the Lord cannot digest Seldome doe wee see such ever recover friendship with God againe Apostasie is treachery and it is that which God takes so unkindly and layes it so to heart as he knowes not how to swallow it It is that wee see amongst men that makes an incurable rupture of friendship Seventhly Take heed of doing that which thou knowest will vex anger and provoke the Lord. That 's the next way to loose any mans friendship If I know the doing of such a thing will vexe and provoke a friend and yet vext let him be I am resolved I will doe it this will shatter friends asunder friendship cannot hold in such a case This is a dissecation a chopping and cutting of friendship asunder So when wee know that such a thing will vexe and anger God whose friends wee say wee are and yet
will doe it this will soone sunder God and us and of a friend will make him turne our enemy Isai 63. 10. But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them How many are there that will needs bee of Gods friends and take themselves to bee wronged to bee otherwise conceived of and yet use him most unfriendly sticke not to doe that which they know will deepely displease him How many say that they be Gods friends and yet wound and stabbe and teare God in pieces by their horrid oathes To such may it bee said as Absalom spake to Hushai 2 Sam. 16. 17. Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend Is this friendly dealing to stabbe thy friend He that will stabbe a friend doth he not stab and wound friendship God is wounded stabbed and pierced by mens oathes and blasphemies as it is said of the blasphemer Levit. 24. That hee pierced God And how comes God by these wounds who gives him these stabbes Surely the Lord may take up those words Zech. 13. 6. These bee the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends Now was it not enough that Christ was wounded for our transgressions Isai 53. but that men will professe themselves his friends and yet wound him with their transgressions and their piercing blasphemies I will not nor dare not say that such as these are Gods friends but yet even such as doe thus doe say of themselves that they are his friends And what you Gods friends and prophane and blaspheme Gods Name you Gods friends nay the divels rather But suppose you were his friends could it be possible that your friendship should hold when his blessed Name is so horribly abused by you No such matter but a friend so used by doing that you know will vexe him wonder not at it blame him not to see him prove your bitter enemy It is a point of great comfort to Gods Vse 3 people No men many times so friendlesse as they none more enemies none fewer friends But what ever friends they want on earth they have a great and a good friend in Heaven No reason then to be disconsolate in the want of worldly friends Why weepest thou saies Elkanah to Hannah am not I better to thee then ten sonnes why art thou sad in the want of friends in the world Is not God thy friend and is not hee better to thee then all the friends in the world As hee hath no friends that hath not God for his friend so he wants not friends that hath the Lord his friend he is the best be friended man in the world It is matter of terrour to all their enemies Vse 4 that wrong and abuse them Wot yee well what you doe Know yee not whose friends they are Thinke you that their friend will put up their wrongs Men are very shy of abusing and wronging such as they know have great and potent friends Oh say men if hee had not such great friends I would make him smart but such a great man is his great friend and if I should stirre against him I should bee crusht and therefore I were as good sit still there is no medling with him but I shall pull his friends upon me Such wisdome would not doe amisse in this case If thou let this man goe thou art not Caesars friend say they to Pilat That was false he could not have shewed himselfe a better friend to Caesar then in being a friend to Christ And the better friend to Christ the better friend to Caesar And the better friend Pilat had beene to Christ the better friend he had beene to himselfe had found Caesar also the better friend to himselfe He gave Christ into their hands for feare Caesar should not be his friend yet for this act by Gods justice he after lost Caesar for being his friend If thou let him goe thou art not Caesars friend Nay if thou doe not let him goe thou art not Gods friend Nay much more should Pilat have feared to have wronged him being Gods friend If thou wrong him Pilat puttest him to death thou puttest to death the deere friend of God Have thou nothing to doe with that just man saies his wife in her message to him on the bench And surely upon this very ground it had bin wisdome for him to have done nothing against him because hee was Gods friend It is not safe to provoke God by the abuse of his friends God will make such smart as wrong his friends That same passage is worth our marking Numb 12. 8. With Moses will I speake mouth to mouth that is face to face as a man speakes with his friend Exod. 33. 11. Wherefore then were yee not afraid to speake against my servant Moses As if he had sayd you know Moses is one of my familiar friends and why then were you not afraid to speake against my friend Doe yee thinke I will suffer my friend to bee abused doe yee thinke that I will not see my friend righted Certainely I will make you know what it is to speak against my friend And we see what Miriam got by it in the story vers 12. Let her not bee as one dead of whom the flesh is halfe consumed when hee comes out of his mothers wombe That was it she got by speaking against Moses the friend of God And if so dangerous but to speake against Gods friends what is it then to persecute to shed the blood take away the life of Gods friends Gods people are his friends and therfore let their enemies take heed how they wrong them That wil be the plague of such as are enemies to Gods friends that is threatned against the enemies of Ierusalem Zech. 14. 12. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet and their eyes shall consume away in their holes and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth God will rot those hands those eyes those tongues that shall abuse themselves in the abuse of his friends So dangerous it is to bee enemies to Gods friends FINIS THE RIGHTEOVS MANS CONVERSATION OR A life in Heaven Handled upon Phil. 3. 20. Published By Ier. Dike Minister of Epping MATT. 24. 28. Wheresoever the carcase is there will the Eagles be gathered together Prosper Sent. Duas in toto mundo civitates faciunt duo amores Hierusalem facit amor dei Babyloniam amor saeculi Interroget ergo se quisque quid amet inveniet unde sit civis LONDON Printed by E. G. for I. Rothwell and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Sunne in S. Pauls Church-yard 1639. THE RIGHTEOVS MANS CONVERSATION PHILIP 3. 20. But our conversation is in Heaven THe Apostle in the words before-going gave the Philippians a speciall item and a caveat to take heed of following many false brethren that lived amongst them outwardly professing the same Gospell with