Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	david_n	jonathan_n	saul_n	1,059	5	10.1589	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60352	A sermon preach'd at Crosby-Square, Jan. 8, 1692 upon the funeral of that faithful servant of Christ, Mr. John Reynolds, who died in the Lord the preceding 25 Decemb. / by Samuel Slater ...	Slater, Samuel, d. 1704.	1693 (1693)	Wing S3972; ESTC R37561	27,157	38

his own confusion and to the confusion of his Mothers nakedness As if he should have said Thou dost by this means expose thy self and thy Mother to reproach none will look upon thee as my Son but a Bastard and of some mean and base Original Fourthy Ionathan was true and immoveably faithful to the interest of David He was a cordial and sincere Friend as did appear by his stedfastness As he was united to him in Affection so he would bind himself to him yet faster by a Covenant As in the 1 Sam. 18. 3. Ionathan and David made a Covenant and they did again renew it in the 20 ch 12 13 14 15 and 16 Verses Thus he added Obligation to Obligation as if he thought he could never lay bonds enough upon himself nor give unto David sufficient assurance of his Sincerity and Faithfulness and that never dying Friendship and Kindness which he had with and for him He so loved David that he feared himself and was jealous of his own Heart lest it should afterward prove false and treacherous and therefore he would bind it to its good Behaviour Fifthly Such was the Love of Ionathan to David that it put him upon being his Advocate Oh how ready and forward was he at every turn to appear on his behalf and plead his Cause with his angry Father tho' he knew him to be very jealous of him and desperately enraged and set against him and could not but foresee that his standing up on his behalf would certainly bring his Fathers Displeasure Frown and Indignation upon himself yet he was resolved to act the part of a Friend and Brother to the utmost and put his Life in his hand and speak rather than by a timerous silence be wanting unto David We find in the 1 Sam. 19. 1. that Saul spake to Ionathan his Son and to all his Servants that they should kill David He gave them Command and Commission to do it but notwithstanding this we read in the 4th Verse of the same Chapter that Ionathan spake good of David unto Saul his Father and said unto him Let not the King sin against his Servant even against David because he hath not sinned against thee and because his works have been to thee-ward very good It was an argument of dear Love and a brave Spirit to speak so to his Father at such a time And he did the like again in the 1 Sam. 20. 31 32. As long saith Saul as the Son of Iesse liveth upon the ground thou shalt not be established nor thy Kingdom wherefore now send and fetch him to me for he shall surely dye What now this went to Ionathans Heart it was as a Sword in his Bones the Fire burned Then spake he with his tongue and said unto his Father wherefore shall he be slain what hath he done i. e. What Evil hath he done what one thing hath he done for which he deserves to dye And it is said ver 34. He did eat no meat the second day of the month for he was grieved for David He could not but think of David's Case and when he did think of it it could not be without great sadness Sixthly I shall add but this one thing further Ionathan was unto his David a ready and faithful Counsellor Ready to give him timely notice of any danger that threatned him and to acquaint him with the true state of things and how matters went as to him and to afford him the best Advice he could for the steering of his Course and preservation of himself in so critical a time Thus in the 1 Sam. 19. 2. When Saul had declar'd his Will to have him butcher'd Ionathan told him My Father seeketh to kill thee and thereupon directed him what to do I pray thee take heed to thy self until the morrow and abide in a secret place and hide thy self And again afterward in the 20th Chapter by the Arrows which he shot and the words which he spake to the Lad he gave him to understand how exceeding hazardous his continuance thereabout would be and how necessary it was for him to provide for his own Security as well as he could and with all possible speed Make speed haste stay not Shall we now take all these six Particulars and bind them up togegether thus Since Ionathan was in so near a Relation to David as his Brother and did bear him such a sincere and entire Affection could freely wave his own Interest and lay it at the foot of David continued so faithful to him and at all times ready to plead for him and carefull to give him the best Advice and counsel that he could he must needs be very pleasant exceeding desireable and delightful he was very loving and therefore very lovely But alas David was not always to have his Ionathan the knot is soon untied that had united and coupled this excellent pair Ionathan hath breath'd his last his Soul hath made it's escape out of his wounded Body and taken its flight into the other World He is slain in his high places and that brought David into distress and it brings me to the second thing which I promised to enquire into viz. What was there in the Case that David should be so distressed What Reason was there that so Good a Man should be in such a plunge Time was when we found him at Ziklag 1 Sam. 30. which was burnt by the Amalekites the Wives and Sons and Daughters were taken Captives and the People spake of stoning him and then he pluck'd up a brave Spirit and encouraged himself in the Lord God How then comes it to pass that upon this Occasion tho' sad enough he cryeth out of his being distressed I shall give you my Answer in these three things First I do not think he was brought into Distress by any Fears or dark Apprehensions concerning the Eternal State into which Jonathan was now enter'd Surely he did not question but he was now in the Bosom of Divine Love though he had fallen by the Cruel hand of a barbarous Enemy for he was a good Man whosoever reads the Story of his Life and considers his Spirit and Carriage will find therein sufficient reason to conclude him not only truly gracious but a Person of an excellent and more than ordinary Spirit and from thence gather whatever was his Exit out of this World He had an entrance ministred to him abundantly into the glorious Kingdom of his God and Saviour His dying upon the Mountains of Gilboa could not at all hinder his direct speedy and joyfull ascent to the Mountains of Myrrhe and Beds of Spices where he shall take a sweet and undisturbed repose to all everlasting He had indeed his Head not incircled with a Crown but laid in the Dust and so the earthly Throne was left for David to fill but he was advanced to one much above it a Throne of Glory in Heaven I do not in the least doubt that David was abundantly

satisfi'd about the happy Exchange Ionathan had made and the goodness of that Condition in which he now was that if he might return again to be as he was before he would not nor leave the clear Vision and immediate Communion with the Son and Lord of David for a fresh and further Enjoyment of David himself Instead of making a descent to this lower dirty and troublesom World he would choose to continue where he now is and take some delight in the thoughts of Davids coming to him as soon as he had served his Generation according to the Will of God and finished the Work given him to do But Secondly I judge him brought into this distress by a reflection upon the manner of Ionathans Death That he did not Die in a Natural way but was cut off in his prime and flourishing Age by a violent stroke and that which was Gall in the Cup given by the hand of the Uncircumcised it pained him at the very Heart to think that that brave Prince who had been so eminently valiant and prosperous in fighting the Battels of Israel whose Bow turned not back from the blood of the slain nor from the fat of the mighty had now fallen a Sacrifice to their Fury and was become the Object of their boasting and triumph Hence it is that he did as in an Agony cry out in the 20th Verse of this Chapter Tell it not in Gath publish it not in Askelon Conceal it from them if it be possible conceal it from them lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoyce lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph Poor Soul he knew not how to bear up under the thoughts of this that those desperate Enemies to his God and People should rejoyce in the fall of his beloved Ionathan and with their unhallowed feet trample and dance upon his precious Dust. But then Thirdly That which encreased his Distress and did yet much more straiten him was the Consideration of his own Loss We all know that cordial Friends of good humour are the great Comfort of our Lives Suppose a man hath a great confluence of mundane Delights Waters of a full Cup wrung out to him more indeed than Heart could wish yet would he be miserable in the midst thereof if he were Friendless God did not think it good for Man to be alone tho' in a Paradise He enjoyeth himself pitifully that hath not a Friend to enjoy The Sacred Scripture speaking of a Friend adds this Expression 13 Deuter. 6. Who is as thine own Soul i. e. as near and dear to thee as thy self he is an alter Ego another self a second self So that when an intimate entire Friend is taken away by Death a Man is almost torn in pieces and loseth a very considerable part of himself The wisest of Men tells us in the 17 Proverbs 17. A Friend loveth at all times and a Brother is born for adversity This was verified in Ionathan he was such a Brother endearing David in the clearest Sunshine and under the blackest Clouds in fair Weather and soul in Halcion days and most tempestuous blustering Storms being always the same whatever Changes were to be found abroad he being tryed by Adversity was found faithful When his Father was his implacable Enemy he was his fast Friend Saul could not be more resolved to ruine him than Ionathan was studious of saving him He stuck to David and would not leave him any more than Ruth would her afflicted Mother-in-law Naomi who spake thus to her 1 Ruth 17. Where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried the Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me His Fathers Enmity and Hatred of David could not part them if for that he did not love him the better for certain he pityed him the more His Fathers Displeasure and Indignation against him for loving of David could not part them But Death came it may be unexpectedly and by way of surprize and did that which nothing else could do it parted them and now whatever Friends David still had about him he had lost the best He had not his Ionathan among all the rest he could not find one like Ionathan and therefore when he thought of it yea dwelt in his thoughts upon it as he could not choose but do he found himself wounded and in pain so that he could not forbear crying out in our Text I am distressed for thee my Brother So we are got to the third and last thing which I said was to be enquired into viz. The import of the word What may we look upon as the meaning of David when he saith He was distressed I shall give you my Thoughts of it in these two things By this word he intimates 1. The greatness of the Loss he sustained 2. The intimate sense he had of it First By saying he was distressed he signifieth the greatness of the Loss the soreness of the Affliction It lay heavy upon him being no common stroke no ordinary blow not the blasting of a sorry Gourd but withering a Plant of Renown a principal Stud was faln This was such a loss as every one could not meet with none but a David could lose so lose his Ionathan It must be granted his Death was a publick Loss all Good Men had a share in it but his own was more than double His Brethren had a Loss let their Eyes be fountains of Tears his Family had a Loss let them put on Sackbloth and be cloathed in Mourning all Israel hath had a Loss let them hang their Harps upon the Willows but their Loss put them all together is not comparable to mine mine is by far the greatest I have lost my Right Hand I have lost my Companion my Counsellor my Comforter My Loss is such as that it cannot be made up to me by any Man upon Earth but only by a God in Heaven from whom came all that sweetness that I found in Ionathan and in whom there is infinitely more Secondly By saying he was distressed he giveth us to understand the deepness and intimacy of that sense which he had of this his Loss He felt it for it went to the quick and struck him to the very Heart this was such a blow as he did not well know how to bear he was troubled at it and bowed down greatly feeble and sore broken so that he was scarce able to outlive it therefore here he draws up the Flood-gates spends the strength of his Sorrow pours out his last and heaviest groan We may conceive him speaking thus to himself I easily yield some Sorrow to be due to Saul as bad as he was because Israels King chosen and appointed of God one that had been anointed with Oyl yet I can bear with his Death for tho' he was King and my Father-in-law yet he was my irreconcileable Enemy who hated me with a cruel hatred and hunted me as a Partridge upon the