and stricter our connections with him are, the greater lustre is reflected upon us. God reminded the Jewish church of the infinite advantage derived to it from its intimate relation to him. 'Since thou wast precious in my sight, and I loved thee -thou hast been honourable,-therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life.'* The fate of nations shall subserve thy interest and benefit. Upon this account it is that the righteous are the excellent of the earth, and more excellent than their neighbours, they go through the world in better company,-in a higher walk of life. The honour of heaven itself is exhibited under the idea of divine converse and friendship, 'thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy.' + Paul meant to magnify both his conduct and himself when he said, 'the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God. ‡ Faith and Friendship with God and the Redeemer, will give splendour to our characters. All ye that have a passion for honour then, come and seek it here. Let ambition make Let ambition make you religious, your ambition will never have so just or so ample a province to exert itself in, as religion affords. Where is the wise man? We may ask this ironically, while we see men endeavouring to aggrandize themselves by every connection but Friendship with their Maker. A certain nobleman * Isaiah xliii. 4. + Revelation iii. 4. #Galatians ii. 20. of our own country, * was so charmed with the fine temper and genius, of that rare and accomplished person Sir Phillip Sydney, that he would have no other inscription on his tomb than, 'Here lies Sir Phillip Sidney's friend.' Let my tomb tell and tell truly, that a Friend of God lies in it,— and this will be more than if it was adorned with all the trophies of war, or emblems of science. How honourable! To live in this world and be admitted as visitants to a better! How honourable! when in point of our real and pleasing intercourse with Deity, that may be said unto us,-'ye are come to God the judge of all.' + And when, in virtue of a raised and heavenly frame of mind, we are (according to St. Paul's manner of expressing himself), actually raised up from the dead, and made to sit together in heavenly places,' ‡ this is in a certain sense true, when our earthly places and stations are dignified with heavenly connexions and affections. The soul that is habituated to divine converse, that soul possesses the highest honours,-it possesses its own high and appropriate honours and shines by a reflection of the glorious excellences of its Maker. IV.—The pleasure as well as honour there is in Friendship with God, is a further reason for our desiring to enter into it and be established in it. Solomon describes the exhilirating influence of friendship thus, iron sharpeneth iron, so a + Hebrews xii. 23. F 2 + Ephesians ii. 6. * man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend, removes the furrows from his brow, and the sadness from his heart. Agreeably to this declaration of the reviving effect of friendship, we read of the light of God's countenance lifted up upon his servants, and of their faces being lightened thereby, all impressions of sorrow, fear and shame, instantly forsaking them. The apostle John speaks with apparent rapture,' we have known and believed the love which God hath to us.' Most certainly our pleasure and satisfaction will increase in proportion to the degree in which we are conscious that the divine affection of love prevails in us towards God, or see cause for believing that God bears that affection towards us. Peace and joy constitute two-thirds of God's kingdom within us: that kingdom by the laws of which he rules us, and in which we yield ourselves to him as his subjects and Friends; and must not a most happy inward state be the result of all? The Friends of God are commanded to rejoice in the Lord, and that always, § and is not allowed and perpetual joy a great matter, and a great recommendation of any character or state in which it is to be found? But I enlarge not on this head having already spoken of delight in God both as belonging to Friendship with him and arising from it. V. We should be Friends of God, because we in gratitude owe him our Friendship. Should * Proverbs xxvii. 17. + Psalm iv. 6. xxxiv. 5. Philip iv. 4. " * his glory shine before us unregarded, and his goodness pass by us unheeded? Transcient and infrequent favours are often forgot, but surely incessant beneficence should have irresistible power and subdue all before it. 'A gift hath grace in the sight of every man. 'A man's gift maketh room for him.' + And do we want this incitement to our making the great God lovely in our eyes, and giving him a place in our hearts? Or shall the immense and unlimited bounty of God, fail of those returns which the scanty and partial favours of men usually command? The bands of love are called 'the bands of a man,' —human nature being generally drawn by them, and consentingly held in them and shall these bands lose their power when God would detain us in them, shall his son shine around us in strength and glory, and not kindle in our hearts the spark of Friendship to him, of whose benignity he is the minister, and of whose brightness he is the inexpressive image? Shall showers of mercy, abundant and numerous as those which water the earth, fall upon us, and yet leave us unfruitful in this most reasonable and most natural affection? Let every grateful sentiment and feeling rise and forbid it. How justly may God stop the communication of such blessings from himself to us, as cannot lead us up to him! How justly discontinue that bounty which gives him no interest in us, or hold * Proverbs xvii. 8. upon us. VI.-Friendship with God is absolutely necessary to us, and this is a very urgent motive to the cultivation of it,' they that are far from him shall perish.' * We may be in friendship with earth and in league with hell; but in his favour is life.' + Should not poor creatures who have a property in nothing that their happiness depends upon, seek a friendship with him who has all things at his disposal? Should not he have our hearts, in whose hands our breath is? Why man thou art under a sentence, thou art under his sentence, and wilt thou not make him thy Friend? O do it immediately; remember while he is soliciting thy friendship he can open the doors of the other world upon thee,-call thee into his presence and punish thee for thine enmity, consider the danger of delay, and acquaint thyself now with him, and be at peace, that good may come unto thee. We cannot have all that we want in any mortal friend, no nor in all of them put together, their vigilance cannot always secure us,-nor their kindness in all cases supply us. But it is the transcendent attribute of him, that keepeth Israel, that 'he neither slumbers nor sleeps; '‡ and the treasury of his goodness will answer every demand, that poverty, pain, sickness, or fear can make upon it. Hear how St. Paul magnifies the sufficiency of divine liberality, my God shall supply all your need according to his glorious riches by * Psalm 1xxiii. 27. Psalm cxxi. 4. + Psalm xxx. 5. |