FEBRUARY 14.
He does not say, ye are the subjects of my love, but, " Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." You may love an animal, a slave, an enemy, but neither of these can be your friend, for friendship implies and requires what their condition does not admit. It is a remarkable expression that Moses employs, when he says, "If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the Wife of thy bosom, or thy FRIEND who is as thine OWN SOUL" It seems to place a friend above all the relations of kindred; and Solomon does not scruple to say, "There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Friendship has always been deemed essential to the happiness of human beings, and, indeed, to their very honor; for it would be thought as disgraceful, as it is disconsolate, not to have a friend. No peculiarity of condition, or elevation of rank, sets a man above the attraction and utility of friendship. Kings have laid aside their royalties to indulge in it, and Alexander would have found a conquered world a kind of desert without an Ephestion.
It is needless to enlarge on the excellency and value of this blessing. Who is not ready to acknowledge that friendship is the delight of youth, the pillar of age, the bloom of prosperity, the charm of solitude, the solace of adversity, the best benefactor and comforter in this vale of tears? But the question is, where a friend is to be found? It will be allowed that many who wear the name are unworthy of the title, and that even those who are sincere in their professions, may be chargeable with infirmities. Yet even Human friendship is not an utopian good. He who says, all men are liars, says it in his haste, or from a heart that judges of others by itself. They who complain most are commonly the most complained of. There is real friendship to be found on earth; but there is better in heaven. And in our text we have the advantage in the highest of all examples. In others we may have the truth, and even the eminence of friendship, but in the Lord Jesus we have the perfection, the divinity of it.
But what is necessary to our claiming it? Ye are my friends, says he, "if ye do whatsoever I command you." By this He shows us, that though he is the friend, He is also the lawgiver. Under whatever character he reveals himself, we are never to lose sight of the Sovereign. His goodness is to display his greatness, not to weaken it. He is the Prince as well as the Saviour. He "commands" his friends. And nothing less than obedience to his will is required of us. It is not enough to read it and hear it, and know it and talk of it, and profess it, we must "do" it.
And our obedience must be impartial; we must do "whatsoever" He commands us. Obedience may be sincere without being perfect in the degree, but it cannot be sincere without being universal in the principle and disposition. For if I do some things which He enjoins me, and not others, it follows, that what I do, I do from some other motive than his authority, for this would lend me to observe all he enjoins. True obedience will not suffer me to select, any more than to dictate; its only inquiry is, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" He who commands me to enter his gates with thanksgiving, tells me also to enter my closet. He who forbids me to steal, tells me to speak evil of no man. Can I say, with David, "I esteem all thy commandments concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way?"
With regard to the connection, however, between this friendship and this obedience, let it not be supposed that it is a meritorious one, as if the practice deserved the privilege. This is impossible, and the notion subverts the gospel of Christ. Yet it is a certain connection. and as certain, both in its exclusion and inclusion, as the nature of things and the word of truth can make it. And it is an encouraging connection. Had the requisition turned on worldly honor, or wealth. or genius, or science, many must have despaired. But the essential is not derived from condition, but conduct. It is therefore within the reach of the poor as well as of the rich, and of the illiterate as well as the learned. All may be great in the sight of the Lord, and he is the greatest, whatever be his circumstances in life, who best obeys his Lord and Saviour. Mary was blessed in being his mother, but this was a privilege necessarily confined to one individual. He, therefore, when he heard the exclamation of the woman, Blessed be the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked, instantly mentions a way to a higher privilege, and which lies open to every one, "Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."
Pray, therefore, "O that my feet were directed to keep thy precepts!" "Many will intreat the favor of the prince, and every one is a friend to him that giveth gifts." But when you seek the regards of the great, what base compliances are often necessary to please them. and you are never sure of succeeding: and when you succeed, what have you gained? But His work is honorable and glorious. If you seek. you are sure to find. And whoso findeth him, findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. however unobserved or neglected among men you may be, no one can pass your door, and say, " There dwells a friendless person."
Lord Brooks was so charmed with that rare and accomplished personae, Sir Philip Sydney, that he would have no other inscription on his tomb than this, " Here lies the friend of Sir Philip Sydney."
Ah, says the Christian, 1 envy not those whose sepulchre will be adorned with the trophies of war. the pride of heraldry, or the renown of science. Let my humble grave tell, and tell truly, " Here lies the friend of Christ."
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