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
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
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
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
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.
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
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