A26896:57
The Christians converse with God, or, The insufficiency and uncertainty of human friendship and…
The Christians converse with God, or, The insufficiency and uncertainty of human friendship and the improvement of solitude in converse with God with some of the author's breathings after him / by Richard Baxter ...
London: printed for John Salusbury, 1693
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And to be forsaken of your Friends, is not all your affliction; but to be so forsaken is a great aggravation of it. 1. For they use to forsake us in our greatest sufferings and straits, when we have the greatest need of them.
And to be forsaken of your Friends, is not all your affliction; but to be so forsaken is a great aggravation of it. 1. For they use to forsake us in our greatest sufferings and streights, when we have the greatest need of them.
2. They fail us most at a dying hour, when all other worldly comfort faileth: As we must leave our houses, lands and wealth, so must we for the present leave our Friends: And as all the rest are silly comforters, when we have once received our citation to appear before the Lord, so also are our Friends but silly Comforters: They can weep over us, but they cannot with all their care, delay the separating stroke of death, one day or hour.
2. They fail us most at a dying hour, when all other worldly comfort faileth: As we must leave our houses, lands and wealth, so must we for the present leave our Friends: And as all the rest are silly comforters, when we have once received our citation to appear before the Lord, so also are our Friends but silly Comforters: They can weep over us, but they cannot with all their care, delay the separating stroak of death, one day or hour.
Only by their prayers, and holy advice, remembering us of everlasting things, and ⟨p. 35⟩provoking us in the work of preparation, they may prove to us friends indeed. And therefore we must value a holy, heavenly, faithful friend, as one of the greatest Treasures upon Earth. And while we take notice how as men they may forsake us, we must not deny but that as Saints they are precious, and of singular use to us; and Christ useth by them to communicate his mercies; and if any Creatures in the World may be blessings to us, it is holy persons, that have most of God in their hearts and lives.