WHAT condescension and kindness and grace are here ; for these must be the principles of this friendship, whether we consider his greatness, or our meanness and unworthiness. Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Yet he is mindful of us ; he does visit us, yea, he calls us his FRIENDS. And names and things, professions and realities, are the same with him. If he calls us friends, He will treat us accordingly, and we may expect from him whatever the most perfect friendship can insure.
For instance, he will honor us with his confidence, the very thing he here mentions : " Henceforth I call you not servants ; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth : but I have called you friends ; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." A servant is intrusted, not with secrets, but orders, and he is seldom informed of the reasons even of these. Turning him into a confidant, is one of the ways to exemplify Solomon's observation: "He that delicately bringeth up a servant, shall have him for his son at length," and he will take greater liberties than a child. There is, indeed, respect due to a servant, but it is respect of another kind. We do not like a master or mistress who disdains speaking to a domestic, unless in the language of menace or authority ; but good sense will find out a happy medium between distance and fondness, between haughtiness and a familiarity that inspires no deference. But unreserved confidence is for friends ; nothing is concealed between them. Abraham is called the friend of God; and says God, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" How did our Lord unbosom himself to his disciples. To you, said he, is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. When He was alone, He expounded all things unto them; He manifested himself to them, and not unto the world. And so now, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and He will show them his covenant.
If He calls us friends, He will give us freedom of access to him. The distance and ceremonies which may be necessary to regulate the approach of others, are laid aside with a friend ; the heart, the arms, the house, are all open to him. And does the Lord keep us at a distance? All his language is invitation : Come unto me." He allows us to come even to his seat, and to enter into the secret of his pavilion. He permits us at all times to spread our most minute affairs before him, yea, he indulges us to live in his house, to sit at his table, to walk with him, to lean upon his bosom. Such honor have all his saints.
If he calls us friends, He will reprove us. Whenever friendship is founded on proper principle, reproof will be one of its chief duties, and privileges too. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. So David valued them : " Let the righteous smite me ; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head : for, yet my prayers also shall be in their calamities." Moses makes the omission the proof of hatred : " Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart : thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him." But the Saviour will never incur this reproach : As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten."
If he calls us friends, he will counsel us. There are passages in the life of every man sufficient to confound a single understanding. But how pleasing is it, in doubts and perplexities, to fetch in aid from the judgment or experience of another, and who is concerned for our welfare. But He is "The Counsellor." " Counsel," says He, "is mine, and sound wisdom." He is a light to them that sit in darkness. He is a dissolver of doubts. The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way, and they that follow it will find it to be pleasantness and peace.
If He calls us friends, He will sympathize with us. There is no true friendship, unless we make the pleasures and the pairs of our connections our own, rejoicing when they rejoice, and weeping when they weep. "To him that is afflicted, pity should be showed from his friend." The natural language of the sufferer is, "Pity me, pity me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God Hath touched me." Hence the complaint of the Saviour, "I looked for some to take pity, and there was none ; and for comforter, but I found none; " for even all the disciples forsook him and fled. But He will never inflict what He endured. In all our afflictions He is afflicted. To exemplify this, He assumed our nature ; He became a man, to be a friend. "For in that He himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is also able to succor those that are tempted. And therefore, though he is passed into the heavens, we have not a high-priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmity; yea, "He that toucheth there, toucheth the apple of his eye."
If He calls us friends, He will afford us assistance and succor. And this is the grand test of friendship. A friend loveth at all times, but is born for adversity ; and He has forfeited all claim to the character, who says, in the hour of application, Go in peace; be ye warmed, and be ye filled; while he gives not the things that are needful. Yet how often is this the case. How often are the words of Solomon verified, " Confidence in an unfaithful man in the tune of trouble, is like a broken tooth, or a foot out of joint." Many are very friendly when you want not their aid, especially while you are imparting, instead of receiving. You are their garden ; they walk in it in summer, but abandon it in winter-then it has no flowers or fruits. You are their scaffold ; they build with you, but when the work is done, they take you down and lay you aside. But though the Saviour will never leave us nor forsake us, he has emphatically said, I will be with you in trouble. And his people have always found him a present help, when every other resource has failed. Some may really feel for us, but be unable to help us. But nothing is too bard for the Lord. Even in death he will be the strength of our heart, and our portion for ever.
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