when yee are in distresse And such answers our misgiving hearts will tell us we may expect when wee are enemies to God But when once we are Gods friends then wee may boldly goe to him and make our minds knowne to him Heb. 4. 16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that wee may obteine mercy and finde grace to helpe in the time of neede Gods people therefore may not onely goe but goe boldly to the throne of Grace But whence comes it that they may doe it Even from hence because they are the Lords friends It is the priviledge of Gods friends that they may goe boldly into his presence Ephes 3. 12. In whom wee have boldnesse and accesse with confidence by the faith of him In Christ wee have this boldnesse because in and by him wee come to bee the friends of God It is a bold part for a man to goe to his neighbour at midnight when he is in his bed the doors shut to and to disturb and raise him then out of his bed Lu 11. 5. 8. but yet this excuses all hee is his friend to whom he goes which of you shal have a friend shal go unto him at midnight and shall say friend lend mee three loaves It is a bold part for a man in his Iourney to come at midnight to a friends house and yet he to whom hee comes blames him not but goes out at that time to make provision for him and this makes him swallow all Luke 11. 6. For a friend of mine in his journey is come unto mee It was the friendship that was betweene them that makes the traveller so bold as to come at that time of night and put him to such trouble Friends may make bold one with another And it is the happinesse of Gods people being his friends that they make holily bold with God Their comming to him is never troublesome The third benefit by having God their friend is Assurance and certainety of speede in all their lawfull and convenient suites and prayers they make to God To bee bold and not to bee welcome is to little purpose but to be bold and welcome both that is a great matter Gods people cannot be so bold as welcome as one friend uses to say to another It will not stand with Humanity and with the lawes of friendship for a man to deny his friend any thing a man knowes not how to say his friend nay friends whilest they aske they command And when a friend askes his friends answers you may command mee any thing And therefore when God bids his people aske of him he as one that speakes in a friends language to shew as the power and force of prayer so also the force and power of friendship bids them also command him Isa 45. 11. Aske of mee and concerning the worke of mine bands command yee mee for friends petitions are commands God once being a mans friend his petitions being rightly qualified hee may be sure God cannot say his friend nay but hee will doe for him what ever his hearts desire is After Ionathans soule was knit to David and that hee loved him as his owne soule and had made him his choyce and deere friend see how hee speakes to David 1 Sam. 20. 4. Whatsoever thy soule desires I will doe it for thee or say what is thy minde or what thy soule speakes or thinkes and I will doe it for thee And so afterward David to Barzillai when hee had showne himselfe so true a friend unto him 2 Sam. 19. 38. Whatsoever thou shalt require of mee that will I doe for thee such a prevalent power hath a friend in his suites and desires to his friend that as Zedekias said to the princes Ier. 38. 5. The king can deny you nothing so one friend can deny another nothing Zabud 1 King 4. 5. was the kings friend how could then the king deny him any thing It is the priviledge of the kings friend to have the kings eare The kings eare and the kings hand are both open to the kings friend and favourite If Zabud be Salomons friend Salomon can deny him nothing If a friend aske though he seeme to aske unreasonable and unseasonable things yet such is the commanding power of friendship that a man is necessitated to gratifie him That same Lu. 11. 9. And I say unto you ask and it shall be given you seeke and ye shall find c. is but an inference upon all that which is laid down in the foure former verses in which hee presses to prayer upon the ground of assurance to speed As if hee had said pray and yee shall bee sure to speed But why shall we be sure because God is our friend Amongst men friends prevaile with their friends and therefore God being your friend you shall bee sure also to prevaile with him He takes his argument from a comparison of the lesse to the greater and there bee divers arguments couched in those words to assure men of speed in their prayers they being Gods friends The first is this If so be that a man will not deny his friend asking a petition or making a request unto him then much lesse will God deny his people who are his friends They are the Lords deere friends therefore shall they bee sure to speede The second argument is this If a friend comming to his friend at an unseasonable time even at midnight vers 5. when it must needs bee a trouble to him when his children are at rest and the doore shut vers 7. yet for all this prevailes with his friend and speeds in his suite How much more then will God grant the suits which his friends make to him to whom no time is unseasonable All times to God are seasonable hee is as ready at one time as at another God is ready at all times and hours His court of audience is alwaies open His doores shut at no time It is not with God as with men To men a time of petitioning may bee unseasonable because it may be First a time of his owne necessary reliefe and refreshment A man may bee at his necessary repast a man may bee in his bed at his rest and sleepe Secondly Hee may want power at some time to doe that which is desired Thirdly Hee may have businesse and occasions of his owne his owne imployments may necessarily wholly take him up Fourthly Hee may bee taken up with helping some other friend he cannot doe for all at once And therefore a man may come and desire his friends helpe unseasonably but it is not so with God All times are seasonable with him David will pray thrice a day Psal 55. 17. If David will be so oft at leasure to pray God will bee as oft at leasure to heare With my soule I have desired thee in the night Isa 26. 9. yea David will pray at midnight Psal 119. 62. To come in the night specially at midnight is unseasonable to
man not so to God Morning evening noone night midnight any time is a seasonable time with God Come when you will Gods doore and Gods eare is alwayes open What assurance of speed gives this to those that be Gods friends A man will helpe his friend at midnight when hee is in bed he will rise to pleasure him though he come unseasonably and will not God therefore much more helpe his friends that can never come unseasonably to him we may not imagine that men can bee more kinde and friendly to their friends then God is unto his The third argument is this If a friend will give unto him or for his use with whom he hath no familiarity or acquaintance as here the friend in bed gives to his friend at the doore three loaves not for his owne use but for his friends that is come unto him a meere stranger to him then how much more will God give unto his people who are his friends that which they aske for their owne necessity The friend here in bed might have answered his friend at the doore thus if thou thy selfe or any of thy children had wanted bread I would not have denyed to have given thee what thou askest but in as much as thou askest for one that is unknown to me take it not ill that I doe not gratifie thee in this thing that thou desirest But yet wee see here is no such answer Such is the power of friendship that it bindes a man to doe for his friends friend though a stranger to him And if it binde a man to doe for his friends friend how much more for a friend himselfe And if humane friendship be thus obligatory that it will make a man doe for a stranger for a friends sake then how much more is that divine love of God powerfull to make him doe for his people they being his friends God loves not his friends lesse then a man loves his The fourth argument is this If a friend bee content to give those loaves to his friend which yet hee cannot give unto him without disquieting and troubling of himselfe and his but though hee be in bed with his children though the doore be shut yet for all that he rises and gives him what he needs though with so much trouble to him if I say a friend will doe this for his friend which hee cannot doe without so much trouble then how much more will God grant the petitions of his people which are his friends who can without any the least trouble that is performe what they desire of him will a friend amongst men helpe his friend though it be to his owne trouble and the trouble of his then how can it stand with Gods love to his friends not to helpe them when hee can helpe them without any trouble at all shall friendship betweene man and man be more prevalent then friendship betweene God and his friends God is not troubled with sleepe He that keepes Israel neither slumbers nor sleepes Psal 121. 4. And all that waite upon him in heaven are waking they cannot be disquieted the gates and doores of heaven are never shut it is no trouble at all therefore to God to helpe Suppose it were a trouble to God to gratifie his people in their prayers yet why should not hee doe as much for his friends as one friend amongst men will doe for another A friend will helpe his friend though it be to his trouble and therefore though it were with trouble to the Lord why should it bee thought that hee will not helpe his friends And if hee would heare them and helpe them and doe for them that they aske though it were to his trouble then how much more may they bee assured that hee will give them what they aske when it is no trouble at all to him If a man should desire his friend that hee might fetch water at his pond and hee should deny him would not all men condemne him that he should refuse to gratifie him in that which might bee done with so little trouble to him Now the Lord hee can doe the greatest and the hardest things wee aske with more ease then man can doe the easiest wee cannot with that ease say to a friend take that Deus omnia creavit facilimo opere Dicendo scilicet ut non plus negoâ—â— deo sit in creatione quam nobis in appellatione Luther in Genes 1. thou askest that God can give the greatest thing we aske God without any trouble at all can give the greatest thing wee aske In the creation of the world God said let there be light and there was light He created the world by his word Hee said To shew the easinesse of the creation to him It was no more to him to make the world than it is to us to speake a word Nay with more ease than we can speake did God make the world for we cannot speake without the help of God In him wee live move and have our being Act. 17. But he is Independent All-sufficient in and of himselfe needing no help or assistance from any other and therefore easier for him to make the world than for us to speake And if God with such ease created the world then with how much ease can hee make good our petitions Even just with the same ease Luk. 7. 7. Onely say the word and my servant shall be healed What an easie thing is it for God to speake a word If therefore a friend will doe for his friend though with his verie great trouble disease molestation and disquiet then surely God being our friend will not deny us what we aske in as much as he can do it with as little trouble as the speaking of a word It is little he will doe for his friend that will not so much as say a word for him Certainely God will both speake and doe for his friends The fifth Argument is this If a friend that at first refuses his friend and puts him off with excuses Trouble mee not c. yet after is by his friend overcome how much more will God who invites us calles upon us to seeke him and promises to heare us when wee pray shall a denying friend bee overcome and shall not a promising God be prevailed withall It were strange if God bound by his promise should not be more prevailed withall by his friends then a man that hath made no promise but a flat denyall And marke upon what ground the denying friend is prevailed withall vers 8 I say unto you though he will not that is if he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet c. That implies that our Saviour made account that that was a speciall motive to worke upon him because he was his friend and that that vvere enough to make him grant his desire it is troublesome it is unseasonable c. but yet I must yeeld it is my friend that askes In
all vvhich passage vve see how many strong reasons our Saviour brings to assure us that God vvill grant our desires and they are grounded upon this that vve are the friends of God This is therefore the great priviledge and benefit of being Gods friends that they shall be sure to speed with God when they seeke to him Indeed many times in cases of necessity a man shall finde but poore helpe from his friends Prov. 19. 7. All the brethren of the poore doe hate him how much more doe his friends goe farre from him hee pursues them with words yet they are wanting unto him But it is not so with God he ownes and agnizes his friends in their necessities he vvill not be wanting to his friends Doe but see vvhat Christ hath done for his friends Iohn 15. 13. greater love hath no man then this that a man lay downe his life for his friends Did not Christ make dainty of his blood of his life for his friends and shall vve thinke that he will be straight handed or streight hearted to them in smaller matters That friend that vvill lay downe his life for his friends will he deny his friends his purse vvill he deny them three loaves no such matter They shall be vvelcome though they come at midnight So happy a thing it is to have God for a friend It is an happy thing vvhen a man hath a faithfull friend to whom he may breake his minde when his heart is troubled It is an ease to disburdon ones mind into the bosome of a friend though he cannot helpe us and give us remedy against our griefe How much more then is it an happinesse to have God for our friend into whose bosome we may disburdē our minds in prayer when he is such a friend as will make good the prayers of his people and helpe them in their needs How many prayers doe many make to God how many petitions put they up and yet speed not How many begge three loaves and yet get not one and what 's the reason they have not God their friend they are none of Gods friends and therefore their speed is suitable The fourth benefit the godly have by having God for their friend is defence and protection in all cases of wrong injury and oppression at least pitty and compassion and a fellow-feeling with them in their troubles yea such a pitty and compassion as will stirre up God to stand to them and by them in all their afflictions so it is with friends amongst men If a man see his friend in misery and trouble his heart earnes towards him and his soule bleeds within him and all his thoughts and wits Adversas vero res ferre difficile esset sine eo qui illas graviùs etiā quam tu ferret Cicer. in Lelio are vvorking to take a course for his help and reliefe See how Iob speakes Iob 19. 21. Have pitty vpon me have pity upon me O ye my freinds But vvhy should he call upon his friends to pitty him see the reason Iob 6. 14. To him that is afflicted pity should bee shewed from his friend It is a friends part and duty to be compassionate to his friend in his extremity and when friends doe not so it is a signe that they forsake the feare of the Almighty as there Iob speakes We see when Iobs three friends heard of all the evill that was come upon him they come every one from his owne place for they had made an appointment together to come to mourne with him and to comfort him Iob 2. 11. That was a friendly part so should friends doe and so will friends doe Prov. 18. 24. There is a friend that stickes closer than a brother And therefore well might Iob complaine of it as a strange case Iob 19. 19. All mine inward friends abhor me and Iob 16. 20. my friends are my scorners Your friend will not only have compassion but if it be in his power he will stand to and by his friend to maintaine his cause and his right against all such as would wrong and abuse him A mans blood rises when hee heares or sees his friend wronged and many a man loses his life in his friends quarrell Marke how David speakes to Abiathar 1 Sam. 22 23. Abide thou with mee feare not hee that takes thy life shall take my life also as some Translations have it And thus is it with the people of God being his friends God will have compassion upon them in all their afflictions his friendly heart will have a fellowfeeling with them in all their miseries Isay 63. 10. Hee was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them but before that hee vvas their friend till by their sinnes they made him their enemy And vvhen he was their friend then it was otherwise ver 9. in all their affliction he was afflicted God as a friend sympathized with them in their sorrowes yea and hee will friendly stand to them by them in all their vvrongs he is a friend that sticks closer then a brother When Paul vvas imprisoned Acts 23. 11. The Lord stood by him and said feare not The Lord as a friend came to him in prison as a friend encouraged him and animated him therein making good Salomons proverb Prov. 27. 17. Iron sharpens Iron so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend When a man is dejected disconsolate and sad of countenance if his friend come to him and comfort and cheere him with words of consolation it refreshes his spirit and puts such life into him as makes his countenance lightsome Thus the Lord as a good friend comes to Paul in prison and cheares his spirit and sharpens his countenance It was no friendly part of those 2 Tim. 4. 16. At my first answere no man stood Paravit animum adversus vinculalaturum opem Cum primum crepuerit catena discedet Senec. ep 9. with me but all men forsooke me Those that profest themselves Pauls great friends durst not owne him when he was convented before Nero there his friends failed him but yet vers 17. The Lord stood with me and strengthned me God shewed himselfe a faithfull friend to Paul hee did goe to the barre with Paul and stood with him there and strengthened him there And to this purpose is that worth the noting that when our Saviour was to hearten and encourage his Disciples against the feare of persecutions he calls them by the name of friends Luke 12. 4. And I say unto you my friends bee not afraid of them that kill the body c. As if he should have said you shall meete with a great deale of hard measure in the world you shall be persecuted to the very death but yet be not afraid of these persecutors And why not afrayd I say unto you my friends be not afraid You are my friends and therefore I will not be wanting unto you I will stand by you either to deliver you or