Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	commune_v	delight_n	musical_a	20	3	16.8376	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96435	Abraham's humble intercession for Sodom, and the Lord's gracious concessions in answer thereunto containing sundry meditations upon Gen. XVIII. from ver. XXIII. to the end of the chapter. Wherein many things are spoken of concerning believers drawing near to God, and the efficacy of their prayers; and how they may be princes and prevailers with God, and with what boldness they may come before him, and what ground they may get of him by their prayers, and what sweet communing they have with him. With sundry other things worthy of our most serious thoughts, helping us to be more spiritual and heavenly, which may prepare us for that everlasting communion and fellowship that we hope to arrive at, and come to in a blessed state of glory by Jesus Christ. By Samuel Whiting, Pastor of the Church of Christ at Lyn in N.E. [Three lines of Scripture texts]	Whiting, Samuel, 1597-1679.	1666 (1666)	Wing W2022; ESTC W15363	173,427	374

of that then by suffering us to be familiar with him now But of this I shall speak more when I come to the Vses 4. We are united to him by the Spirit through Faith 1 Cor. 6.17 and Vnion ever takes in Communion and Familiarity with it It is so in all the Vnions that we can name in the world and so it is in this Mystical and Spiritual Vnion between the Lord and us we have sweetest communion and most familiar acquaintance and fellowship with him by being so united to him they that are one flesh as man and wife are are familiar one with another how much more then are they that are joyned to the Lord and so are one spirit 5. We are his chosen ones that he delighted in from all eternity Ephes 1.4 Prov. 8.31 and they that he hath set his Electing love upon he will suffer to be familiar with him they that are our choise ones that we have set our hearts upon we are willing that they should be familiar with us and that in a friendly way they should commune with us now such are we to God and therefore he will suffer us to be familiar with him 6. We are they that he challengeth a propriety in Isa 43.1 Thou art mine we are his every way by right of Creation by right of Redemption by right of Dominion and Soveraignty over us by right of Power over us as the Potter hath over his clay by right of Espousage of us to himself name any right that we can he hath true title to us and interest in us and so reciprocally have we in him Cant. 6.3 I am my beloveds and he is mine now he being ours and we his all these wayes what marvel is it if he suffer us to be familiar and to commune with him Vse 1. for Information 1. We see the great condescendency of the great God that he will stoop so low as to commune with dust and ashes and to suffer us to be familiar with him in communing and speaking in prayer to him Oh the infinite distance that is betwixt the Lord and us we are not able to conceive it much less to express it what 's a drop of a Bucket to the great Ocean what 's a Candle to the Sun what 's a small dust of the ballance to the whole Earth what 's a little spark to a great flaming Fire what 's nothing and less then nothing to him that is all and in all and infinitely above all created Beings these are some Scripture resemblances to set forth and shadow out the infinite distance that is between the great God and all nations Isai 40. that therefore this infinite one should vouchsafe to be familiar with us and to commune with us and to suffer us to be so familiar with him as to speak in Prayer to him and commune with him it is great condescendency in him and that that we may well wonder at that he should so humble himself whence is this to us what can we say in way of admiring at it our words and our thoughts must needs be all swallowed up in consideration of it 2. We see what an holy blush this may put into our faces that we are so little familiar with him in praying to him but keep far from him too often when we have leave and liberty to commune with him there are too many that restrain prayer before God Job 15.4 and when he would admit them into his acquaintance and let them be familiar with him they have to do here and there about this and that and the other outward occasions and so men let go the best blessing of sweet familiarity with the blessed God Might a man be admitted to be familiar with a Prince would he not accept it with all humble gratitude would he decline it Oh how unworthily do we then carry it to the great God that when we may familiarly commune with the Lord we decline his company and minde other matters which are not worth a straw under our feet in comparison of this sweet colloquy and communing with the Lord our God 3. We see that great pride that is in many of the sons of men that scorn to come in company with men of an inferiour rank and with those that are a little under them and will not speak to them doth the great God humble himself to speak to us and commune with us and shall worms despise their fellow worms I tell all such though they be silk-worms yet they be but worms and an earth-worm will prove as good as a sill-worm and it may be better in the day of death and judgement If God stoops low it is not for vain man to lift up himself or look high Will he commune with us and let us commune with him we may well then sloop to commune with those that are some way lower then we are That the Angels that are greater in dignity then we should incamp about us Psal 34.7 and minister to us Heb. 1.14 shews that they are humble ones but that the great God should familiarly commune with and let us commune with him he comes down low to us and therefore it is a shame to us to be proud and lift up our selves above our brethren The King himself is for bidden this Deut. 17.20 4. We see what a mercy of God it is that he will be so familiar as to commune with us and to suffer us to commune with him we are not worthy to come into his presence to put up any request to him to have any thing to do with him to bring any suit before him Ezek. 9.6 unworthy of the least of his mercies Gen. 32.10 that therefore he should be pleased to commune with us and admit us to commune with him it is a wonder of his mercy to us our sins might justly bar us out of his presence and cause him to withdraw himself from us so as that he should not suffer us to speak to him nor to regard any thing that we say in his ears but he is merciful and will not turn away our Prayer nor his mercy from us but will let us familiarly commune with him and himself will commune with us in granting our desires to us 5. We see what delight we should have in the duty of Prayer wherein we talk and commune with God he delights in it himself Prov. 15.8 and why should not we delight in it friends delight to commune one with another Husband and Spouse to talk together if God therefore delight in their holy communing together and looks at it as musick and melody in his eares we should take delight in it Musical Instruments are said to be the delights of the Sons of Men Eccl. 2.8 If Prayer therefore be as a musical Instrument to delight God it is meet we should be delighted with it 6. We see that if there be such sweet communing between God and us here Oh what communing shall we have with

take hold of God Isa 64.7 and they that take hold of one another and take one another by the hand are in a fit posture to commune one with another so here 5. In that when we pray to God we are Princes and Provailers with him Gen. 32.28 with Hos 12.3 4. and that shews that we commune with the Lord in the duty 6. In that when we pray to God we plead with him and that holds out our communing with him They that plead at the Barre before a Judge commune with him so they that plead with God Job said Job 16.21 O that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleadeth for his nightbour and 23.3 4. O that I knew where I might finde him that I might come even to his seat I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments Prayer is pleading and argumenative pleading that way we commune with God But how does it appear that God communes with us in granting our Requests A. 1. In that when he grants our requests he listens to what we say when we pray and answers us and so commines with us so does one man to another and so does God to us 2. In that when he grants us our requests he smiles upon us and accepts our prayers as men do that commune one with another 1 Pet. 2.5 3. In that when he grants our requests he draws near to us Jam. 4.8 as they do that have colloquy and communing one with another 4. In that when he grants our requests he is pleased with us as they are that commune lovingly together one with another See Gen. 33.10 5. In that when he grants our requests he loves our company and fellowship and gives us a pledge of it hereby as they do that commune one with another God and Believers are good company Believers when they pray shew that they love Gods company and God when he grants their requests shews that he loves theirs 6. In that when he grants their requests he declares that he respects and accepts their persons as they do that lovingly converse together and commune one with another Gen. 4.4 Eph. 1.6 Princes will not grant their Petitions whose persons are not in favour with them but when they are accepted and in favour they may have any thing So here Q. 2. What manner of communing is it A. 1. It is a serious communing we are serious with God when we pray to him and do not trifle with him and he is serious with us when he grants us what we sue unto him for he does not word it with us but is very real with us and sayes no more then he will certainly do for us he will fulfil with his hand what he speaks with his mouth 1 Kings 8.24 Even Balaam when guided by a better Spirit then his own could say Num. 23.19 God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good Men may say in word and unsay what they have said in their deed so trifling and vain and false they are but it is not so with God he is serious in what he sayes and will make good all he sayes in a promising way to us If a Kings grant be given out it is for his honour to see it performed Ezra 6.12 I Darius have made a decree let it be done with speed how much more will the Lord be serious with us when he gives out any grants to us 2. It is a sweet and comfortable communing when we pray we sweetly converse with him sweet is thy voice Cant. 2.14 and when he grants our requests he sweetly converseth with us Never was there any sweetness between the dearest relations like that that is between the Lord and us when we pray to him and he grants our requests that we put up to him There is much sweetness between husband and wife between father and childe in their communing together but no sweetness like to that that is betwixt the Lord and us when we pray to him and he grants our requests to us Our prayers are sweet Odours Rev. 5.8 and his grants are so many sweet smiles of his face and so many sweet kisses of his mouth and so many amiable and sweet glances and casts of his eye towards us or so many sweet words of his mouth that like sweet wine chear our hearts 3. It is an holy communing if ever we be holy it is so with us when we pray to the Lord we lift up holy hands to him 1 Tim. 2.8 and holy hearts 1 Sam. 4.8 holiness becomes us at all times but then more especially when we pray to the holy One and when the Lord grants our requests as he is alwayes holy so he remembers his holy promise to us and that holy Covenant that he hath made with us and so our mutual communing is an holy communing When two gratious ones are speaking and communing together Oh what holy breathings are there uttered forth between them their speeches are seasoned with holiness and argue holy hearts but when God and we commune together there is no holiness like that an holy God and an holy Soul breathe out much holiness in communing one with another 4. It is a friendly communing we are friends to God if believers Jam. 2.23 and when we pray in faith we friendly commune with him and God is a friend to us and when he grants our requests he does like a friend to us and in a friendly manner does commune with us There is no friendship on earth in all the communings that are between men and men comparable to that friendly communing that is between God and us when we pray to him and when he grants our desires to us Great hath been that friendship that hath been between some men as both sacred and heathen stories tell us and their communings together have been very friendly Jonathan and David were very friendly 2 Sam. 1.26 1 Sam. 23.16 20.41 So Heathen Authors tell us of Damon and Pithias of Pilades and Orestes that have been great friends and been full of love one to another but no friendship like to that that is between the Lord and the believing Soul no friendly communings like theirs when the soul is in a praying frame and when the Lord grants the desires of such a soul 5. It is an humble communing when we pray we humble and lay our selves low before God as Abraham did that looked at himself as vile dust and ashes humility does alwayes become us but never more then when we pray to the high God we never behave our selves so humbly as when we speak to such a Prince as he is and when God grants our requests he humbleth himself in condescending to look at such vile worms as we are and to have respect to the petitions that we put up to

him God humbleth himself when he beholds the things that are done in Heaven when he looks at what the Angels and blessed Souls do for him in praising and yielding obedience to him but when he beholds what is done upon Earth by such as we are and accepts our prayers and grants us what we petition for Oh how low does he stoop and how does he humble himself that we may commune with him and he vouchsafes thus to commune with us and to be so familiar with us we may well say Who is a God like our God Psal 113.5 6. to be sure what ever our failings be and how short soever we fall of humbling our selves before him he exceedingly humbleth himself and condescends and comes very low to us 6. It is a gracious communing when we pray we utter gracious words grace is in our lips and grace bubbles from the fountain of our hearts as we sing with grace in our hearts Col. 3.16 so when we pray we pray with grace from our hearts and hence it is that these two are coupled together Zech. 12.10 a spirit of grace and of supplication The same spirit that is a spirit of supplication is a spirit of grace in us But when the Lord hears us and grants our requests and that way communes with us Oh how gracious is he to us Exod. 22.27 There are gracious communings between man and man sometimes so as that they are in heaven together upon earth but there are no such gracious communings as is between the Lord and us when we pray and he grants 7. It is a glorious communing Oh the divine lustre that is in our faces sometimes when we have been at Prayer Oh the glorious beauty that is then seen in our very countenances look as it was with Christ himself so it was with us it is said of him Luk. 9.29 as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was altered there was great glory seen upon it so it is with us sometimes when we pray there is a kind of heavenly glory sparkles in our faces and when he grants our requests and commun●s that way with us Oh how glorious is he in his grace and mercy to us how gloriously does he dispense himself to us it is a glorious communing he glorifies himself and puts glory upon us thereby Q. 3. Why will God be so familiar with us and suffer us to be so familiar with him A. First From the Lord. 1. He is Love 1 Joh. 4.8 and they that are most loving will be most familiar with them that they love Now God being originally primarily eminently transcendently essentially everlastingly love to his believing ones hence it is that he is so familiar with them as to commune in so friendly a way with them Love is ever the efficient procreant and conserving cause of familiarity between man and man and Gods love is that that makes him so familiar as to commune with us 2. He is abundant in goodness Exod. 34.6 and the more a man abounds in goodness the more familiar he will be to those that are dear to him he will commune with them and make himself very familiar with them and so it is with the Lord his abundant goodness makes him have sweet familiarity so as to commune with us though we be sinful dust and ashes 3. He is such an one as humbleth himself in an unparallel'd way Psal 113.5 6. and humble ones are very familiar with those they delight in Proud persons scorn to be familiar with their inferiours but humble ones will come low this way they will take their inferiours by the hand and talk commune familiarly with them how much more will God do it who does so humble himself that none may be compared to him therein 4. He is a Father in Christ Jesus to us and therefore will be familiar with us Fathers are familiar with their children will speak familiarly and commune with them and grant their desires so will the Lord familiarly commune with us and grant us our desires that we ask of him 1 Joh. 5.14 15. there 's no father on earth that will be so familiar with his children as he will be with us though there be such an infinite distance between him and us 5. He is an Husband to us Isa 54.5 and there 's no greater familiarity in the world then is between husband wife how much more then between the Lord and us he will vouchsafe to commune with us in giving in all we desire of him Esthers hushand which was a great Monarch so sweetly familiarly conversed with her that shee might have any thing that shee desired of him Esth 5.3 and what then may not we expect from the Lord that doth more familiarly commune thus with us then any husband in the world that is most dear to his spouse 6. He is our friend Cant. 5.19 and therefore is so sweetly familiar with us A friend will be very familiar so will the Lord be and give us all we sue unto him for Friendship carries familiarity ever along with it A friend is as dear as a mans own soul and lies next the soul and will be familiar whoever is not such a friend is the Lord he will be familiar with us and though he will be reserved to others and carry himself as a stranger to them yet he will be very familiar with his own But in the second place Why will he suffer us to be so familiar with him Ans 1. We are those that are a people near to him Psal 148.14 and though sometimes we were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ Ephes 2.13 and will he not suffer us that are so nigh him to be familiar with him he will surely let us commune in a familiar and friendly way with him They that are near the King as they of the Council and Bed-chamber be they may speak familiarly to him and bring their Petitions before him so may we that are so nigh to the Lord. 2. We that are believers are they that finde favour in his eyes and to whom he holds out the golden scepter of his grace as that Kingd did to Esther Esth 5.2 and therefore may draw near and touch the top of the Scepter as she did and make our Petitions boldly and familiarly to him They that are in favour with a Prince may be familiar with him and He of his Princely grace will suffer them so to be how much more may we that are in favour with God who is infinitely above all the gracious Princes in the earth for grace and favour 3. We are they that he will admit to greatest and sweetest familiarity in another world that he will lay us in his everlasting arms and put us in his bosome no familiarity will be like that when we shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 and see his face and be transformed into his image 1 Joh. 3.2 Now God would give us a pledge

him in a state of glory in another World that will be a delightful communing indeed If God take pleasure in our Prayers here O what pleasure will he have in our praises there here what we do in this duty is imperfect service and hath many blemishes and spots cleaving to it but there all imperfections shall be done away and our praises and obedience shall be in its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and perfection and what sweet communings we shall have with our God we as yet cannot tell for 1 Joh. 3.2 Yet it doth not appear what we shall be our familiarity with God will then be at the highest when we shall be put in his bosom and lie near his heart and be clasped in his everlasting arms to all eternity Then then our familiarity will be increased with him and his with us friends by being long together here finde their friendship and familiarity to grow husband and wife that have been in that relation many years how is their sweet familiarity angmented and raised up to the highest pitch the like I might say of other friends Oh but how exceeding great then will the familiarity of the blessed God be to us and ours to him when he and we shall be together to all eternity death parts the dearest relations here and puts an end to their sweetest communings together and breaks off their sweetest discourse and familiarity that they have had one with another but that familiarity that will be between God and us in a state of glory will never be broken off but after millions and myriads of years be gone will hold out and continue for ever and ever Happy they that come to this thrice happy they that come to the enjoyment of it There are some dear ones that live long together as it is said of Aquila and Priscilla that they lived very long together and some in the old World among the Patriarks some of which lived almost a thousand years and these must needs have familiarity long together but this is nothing to what the Saints shall enjoy in glory for there will be no end nor period put to that but it shall be everlasting Our familiarity in the length of it here is not so much as a drop to the Ocean of Eternity Vse 2. for Terrour to all those that are Vnbelievers they have no familiarity with God nor he with them they commune not with him in praying to him nor he with them in granting their desires to them They have familiarity with their lusts and with the world and the things of the world and with Satan the god of the world and with the lewd companions of the world these they commune with but have no communing with God Their company that they shall have another day will be sad company Devils and Damned ones will be their companions and what communings they will have in Hell together if they repent not they had need consider of Vse 3. for Humiliation to the Saints that have too little familiarity with the Lord and do not so often commune with him as they ought and might Many a fair opportunity they have to meet with God and he with them and to have sweetest colloquies and communings together but other things step in and take up such mens time that they should have with God and their thoughts are busied too much about the matters of this life and so though they do not wholly lose their acquaintance with him yet they have not so much familiarity with him as they might have from day to day their communings are neither so frequent nor so sweet as they might be did they not minde other things too much Let it shame all such for there 's no familiarity like his when men have tried it they shall finde that one dayes familiarity with God will be better then a thousand with either the men or the things of the World Vse 4. for Exhortation 1. To be much in communing with God here and in holding up familiarity with him that he may be familiar with us and commune with us in his grants as we do with him in our suits We can never finde such a friend to open our hearts to to unbosome our Souls to to tell our wants and ailes to to make known our pressures afflictions calamities perplexities of spirit discouragements and temptations to as he is there 's no friend on earth that will so pity us relieve us succour and sustain us commiserate and sympathize with us be afflicted in all our afflictions as he will Good therefore it is for us to pour out our hearts before him to shew him all our troubles to discover all our wants weaknesses to confess all our infirmities deformities out-strayings and out-lyings from him and to tell him of all that does pinch us and press us and lye hard upon us and to intreat him to bring in relief to us in his own time Such communings we should have with God and such familiarity with him would make our worst condition happy to us It 's said of the Emperour Charles the Fifth That he spake more to God then to men 2. To long after those sweet communings that we shall have in heaven and that familiar converse that we shall have with him in another world We have through grace a little of his company here and he communes familiarly with us and we with him some smiles of his face and intimations of his favour some tokens of his friendship some sweet imbraces some peepings into the Holy of Holies some fruits of the delights of Paradise he gives us by our acquaintance with him and his with us some tastes of heavens sweets we have in our holy communings together now but when we come in glory then our familiarity will be in the altitude and sublimity of it we shall lye continually between his breasts we shall have his heart open to us and all his bosome-love and bosome-secrets revealed to us we shall be brought into the Kings pallace sit at his Table be taken into the bed of love enjoy marriage-fellowship partake in everlasting communion with the blessed God and have our fill of his presence and favour and be as familiar as one dear friend is with another What longings and breathings then should we have after this blessed estate and how long should we think it to be before the day of God come how should we say as Sisera's Mother Why is his charret so long in coming why tarry the wheels of his charret we should earnestly long after that day wherein so much familiarity is to be had with him We desire acquaintance with some that we take to be our friends and say to this and that man Sir I desire further acquaintance with you and we would be more familiar with such Oh what desires should we then have after further acquaintance and familiarity with the blessed God in a blessed state of glory we can never breathe enough in

men He was a devout man indeed in his way of a Papist but whether the report be true or no I leave that sit fides penes authorem onely I may make this use of it That there are some in the world that are so familiar with God that they do indeed speak more words to Him then they do to men and they may have comfort in it 2. To those that are deprived of their yoke-fellows Husbands have been taken from their Wives and Wives from their Husbands that they have had sweetest and dearest familiarity with though these be gone and death hath broken the knot of amity and sweet communing that they had one with another while they were together yet they that are left alive may still commune with the Lord and he with them and that is better to them then all the conversings and communings then ever they had when they were together one with another God and they are better company then ever Husband and Wife were as long as God is not gone though Husband and Wife be gone all is well There may be all and above all taken out of the Fountain when such Cisterns are crack'd and broken My wife is gone may the Husband say but my God remains with me My Husband is gone may the Wife say but my Maker which is my Husband Isa 54.5 does still abide with me I can no more speak to my Husband nor commune sweetly with him as I was wont to do he is gone but my God is alive and lives for ever so long as I live I may commune with him and he will vouchsafe of his grace to commune with me And is not this comfort that I may drink Fountain-water when the brooks are dried up 3. To those that are deprived of other Relations Parents may have their Children taken away from them and Children may lose their Parents Brethren may be taken from Brethren and Sisters may be removed by death from Sisters and one Friend from another which is as dear as a mans own Soul and all that intimacy and sweetest communing that they had together may be dissolved and all their dear embraces and loving converses and commerces may be put an end unto but here 's comfort though the Parent may say I have lost my Childe yet my God is where he was he abides by me though the Childe may say My Parent is taken away from me yet my God forsakes me not though I cannot speak any more to these yet I bless the Lord I can speak to him daily open my heart to him put up my suits into his bosome commune with him in my most retired Closet and have him communing with me night and day So though a Friend may say I have lost the best acquaintance I have in this world my dearest Jewel among men is plucked out of my bosome my friend that I loved as my own soul is suddenly snatched away from me yet thanks be to God he continues with me though my dear friend and I shall never change a word more in this world though we that were so intimate and full of love together that we often had our walks together and imparted to one another our very souls in communing each with other yet now I and he must never do it more never have an hours discourse nor a minutes time together more yet for ever be the Name of the Lord exalted I have him as a friend to repair to at all times and while I live I can go and commune with him This is sweetest comfort in the parting of such dear Relations the knot of familiarity between God and them is never broken though all others snap asunder 4. To those Believers that are deprived of the Ordinances and shut out from enjoying the fellowship of them as David and others have been This is indeed one of the worst afflictions that can befall us in this world which made David so pant Psal 42.1 and faint and long for the presence of God in the enjoyment of them and to envy the very Sparrow and Swallow that made their Nests so near Gods Altars and himself was so farre from them Psa 8● 2 3. yet here is comfort though we be deprived of these and be driven where they are not to be enjoyed yet if God in such a case be a little Sanctuary as he hath promised Ezek. 11.16 and if he refuse not to commune with us nor to let us commune with him he can be in stead of all Ordinances and above them all and can speak to us some other way if not in publick yet in a more private way as he did to those godly Jews in Babylon when they met in the Clefts of the Rocks and in the secret places of the stairs and there had sweet Communion with him and he with them Phinehas his wife bewailed the taking of the Ark and said The glory is departed from Israel for the Ark of God is taken 1 Sam. 4.22 she might well have said so if God had been gone too but she doted too much upon the Means and so may we If God himself be not gone though Publick means should fail for a time yet God can tell yet how to commune with us and let us commune with him and that is Comfort Positive comforts from hence 1. IF when we pray and the Lord grant our desires we commune with him and he with us we are very familiar with him and he with us then surely Believers are in highest esteem with the Lord for the greatest men upon earth if they be not such cannot have this priviledge granted to them Kings have their prerogatives and they stand much upon them but no King on earth if he walk not in the steps of Abrahams faith can have this royal prerogative to commune with the Lord or to have the Lord to commune with him Psal 94.20 this is peculiar to true believers that they may have this fellowship with the Lord and the Lord with them that they may sweetly commune one with another Great is the esteem that such have with the great God that he will vouchsafe to speak with them and let them be so familiar with him as to speak with him It 's comfort that though we be thus low as we are yet we are in high esteem with him 2. That it is no matter though some men will not speak to us nor suffer us to speak to them God does both he graciously will commune with us and will not disdain that we should familiarly commune with him if dust and ashes will have no familiarity with their fellow-dust and ashes it is well for us that the great God does not refuse to be familiar with us though we be but as Abraham stiled himself dust and ashes If man contemn and God honour what need we care for such contempt If a shrub lift up himself and the highest Cedar stoop to such as we are as it should be marvellous in our eyes