Psalm 55:14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in company. I. IN THE TEDIOUS HOURS OF ABSENCE, HOW POWERFUL IS THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION TO CALM THE ANXIETIES, AND KEEP ALIVE THE SYMPATHIES, OF FRIENDSHIP. — Friends who have a lively faith, a firm confidence in an omnipresent God, need never consider themselves as separate or far distant from each other. Mountains may intervene, oceans may roll between them; one may dwell on the bosom of the boundless deep, the other far inland, in the valley amongst the hills; yet are they not apart; they have a bond of union of which the world thinks not; they are, and feel themselves, united in Him "who is never far from any one of us," but "in whom," at every instant of time, "we live, and move, and have our being." God is with them as their common father, benefactor, and friend, II. RELIGION WILL HAVE POWER TO CONSOLE US WHEN OBLIGED TO WITNESS THE TEMPORAL SUFFERINGS OF THOSE WHOM WE LOVE. Who is there that does not grieve to trace the expression of pain or sorrow in the countenance of a friend, especially when he feels himself unable to remove the source from which it springs? A friend is cast down in the world, and we possess not the means of raising him; he is tortured by disease, to which we can bring no relief; these, indeed, are severe trials, yet religion will teach us how to bear and to improve them. It is from her we learn that the Father of our race doth "never willingly afflict or grieve His children " — that "He chastens them not for His own pleasure, but for their profit, that they may be made partakers of His holiness." These, surely, are consolatory words to him who is called to witness the sufferings of a friend; words that may serve at once to console his own mind, and to suggest to him the best topics of consolation. III. RELIGION WILL BRING CONSOLATION TO US, WHEN SUFFERING UNDER A PAINFUL SENSE OF THE MORAL IMPERFECTIONS OF OUR FRIENDS. She will carry our view forward to that blessed country where sin and sorrow shall be no more, where the great enemy shall cease from troubling, and the good man, freed from the assaults of temptation, shall be at rest. Then shall the good qualities of the virtuous friend shine forth with unclouded lustre, and the attachment formed on earth be continued in heaven, unalloyed by sorrow and undisturbed by sin. IV. EVEN TO HIM WHO MOURNS THE UTTER MORAL DEGRADATION AND CONSEQUENT ESTRANGEMENT OF A FRIEND, RELIGION WILL BRING SOME COMFORT. She will soothe him with the consciousness of having done everything to prevent a catastrophe so mournful. She will provide him with a sure refuge in that Friend who cannot become unworthy of him, and will not desert him. (A. R. Beard.) Parallel Verses KJV: We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.WEB: We took sweet fellowship together. We walked in God's house with company. |
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