st say of humour, has he described
the behaviour of a treacherous and self-interested friend! "If thou
wouldest get a friend, prove him first, and be not hasty to credit him:
for some man is a friend for his own occasion, and will not abide in the
day of thy trouble. And there is a friend who, being turned to enmity
and strife, will discover thy reproach." Again, "Some friend is a
companion at the table, and will not continue in the day of thy
affliction: but in thy prosperity he will be as thyself, and will be bold
over thy servants. If thou be brought low, he will be against thee, and
hide himself from thy face." What can be more strong and pointed than
the following verse?--"Separate thyself from thine enemies, and take heed
of thy friends." In the next words he particularises one of those fruits
of friendship which is described at length by the two famous authors
above-mentioned, and falls into a general eulogium of friendship, which
is very just as well as very sublime. "A faithful friend is a strong
defence; and he that hath found such an one hath found a treasure.
Nothing doth countervail a faithful friend, and his excellency is
unvaluable. A faithful friend is the medicine of life; and they that
fear the Lord shall find him. Whose feareth the Lord shall direct his
friendship aright; for as he is, so shall his neighbour, that is his
friend, be also." I do not remember to have met with any saying that has
pleased me more than that of a friend's being the medicine of life, to
express the efficacy of friendship in healing the pains and anguish which
naturally cleave to our existence in this world; and am wonderfully
pleased with the turn in the last sentence, that a virtuous man shall as
a blessing meet with a friend who is as virtuous as himself. There is
another saying in the same author, which would have been very much
admired in a heathen writer: "Forsake not an old friend, for the new is
not comparable to him: a new friend is as new wine; when it is old thou
shalt drink it with pleasure." With what strength of allusion and force
of thought has he described the breaches and violations of
friendship!--"Whoso casteth a stone at the birds, frayeth them away; and
he that upbraideth his friend, breaketh friendship. Though thou drawest
a sword at a friend, yet despair not, for there may be a returning to
favour. If thou hast opened thy mouth against thy friend, fear not, for
there may be a reconciliation: