SERMON XVII. On FRIENDSHIP. SERM. PROVERBS Xxvii. 10. Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, W forsake not. 7HATEVER relates to the behaviour of men in their social character is of great importance in religion. The duties which spring from that character, form many branches of the great law of charity, which is the favourite precept of Christianity. They, therefore, who would separate such duties from a religious spirit, or who at most treat them as only the inferior XVII. ferior parts of it, do a real injury to reli- SERM. gion. They are mistaken friends of piety, who, under the notion of exalting it, place it in a sort of insulated corner, disjoined from the ordinary affairs of the world, and the connections of men with one another. On the contrary, true piety influences them all. It acts as a vivifying spirit, which animates and enlivens, which rectifies and conducts them. It is no less friendly to men than zealous for the honour of God; and by the generous affections which it nourishes, and the beneficent influence which it exerts on the whole of conduct, is fully vindicated from eveny reproach which the infidel would throw upon it. In this view, I am now to discourse, on the nature and duties of virtuous friendship, as closely connected with the true spirit of religion. It is a subject which the inspired philosopher, who is the author of this book of Proverbs, has thought worthy of his repeated notice; and in many passages has bestowed the highest eulogium on friendship among good men. As ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. XVII. SERM. counsel. As iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Make sure of thy friend; for faithful are the wounds of a friend. A friend loveth at all times; and a brother is born for adversity. There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.-Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, it is said in the text, forsake not. I MUST begin the subject, by observing, that there are among mankind friendships of different kinds, or, at least, connections which assume that name. When they are no more than confederacies of bad men, they ought to be called conspiracies rather than friendships. Some bond of common interest, some league against the innocent and unsuspecting, may have united them for a time. But they are held together only by a rope of sand. At bottom they are all rivals, and hostile to one another. Their friendship can subsist no longer than interest cements them. Every one looks with a jealous eye on his supposed friend; and watches the first favourable opportunity to desert, or to betray. Friendships XVIL Friendships too there are of a different SERM kind, and of a more respectable nature, formed by the connection of political parties. It is not, perhaps, on selfish or crooked designs that such friendships are originally founded. Men have been associated together by some public interest, or general cause, or for defence against some real or imagined danger; and connections, thus formed, often draw men into close union, and inspire for a season no small degree of cordial attachment. When upon just and honourable principles this union is founded, it has proved on various occasions, favourable to the cause of liberty and good order among mankind. At the same time, nothing is more ready to be abused than the name of public spirit, and a public cause. It is a name under which private interest is often sheltered, and selfish designs are carried on. The unwary are allured by a specious appearance; and the heat of faction usurps the place of the generous warmth of friendship. It is not of such friendships, whether of the laudable or the suspicious kind, that I am now to discourse; but of private friendships, Y 3 SERM. friendships, which grow neither out of XVII. interested designs, nor party zeal but which flow from that similarity of dispositions, that corresponding harmony of minds, which endears some person to our heart, and makes us take as much part in his circumstances, fortunes, and fate, as if they were our own. The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David; and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Such friendships certainly are not unreal; and, for the honour of human nature, it is to be hoped; are not altogether unfrequent among mankind.-Happy it is, when they take root in our early years; and are engrafted on the ingenuous sensibility of youth. Friendships, then contracted, retain to the last a tenderness and warmth, seldom possessed by friendships that are formed in the riper periods of life. The remembrance of ancient and youthful connections melts every human heart; and the dissolution of them is, perhaps, the most painful feeling to which we are exposed here below.-But at whatever periods of life friendships are formed, as long as they continue sincere and affectionate, they form, undoubtedly, one |