§ 1. The true value of a friend, and the fault of over-pri∣zing him.
THou hast lost thy friend; Thy sorrow is just; the earth hath nothing more pre∣cious then that which thou hast parted with: For what is a friend, but a mans selfe
The balm of Gilead, or, Comforts for the distressed, both morall and divine most fit for these woful times / by Jos. Hall.
About this Item
- Title
- The balm of Gilead, or, Comforts for the distressed, both morall and divine most fit for these woful times / by Jos. Hall.
- Author
- Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656.
- Publication
- London :: Printed by Thomas Newcomb, and are to be sold by John Holden ...,
- 1650.
- Rights/Permissions
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To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
- Subject terms
- Devotional exercises.
- Cite this Item
-
"The balm of Gilead, or, Comforts for the distressed, both morall and divine most fit for these woful times / by Jos. Hall." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A45113.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 1, 2024.
Pages
Page 181
in another skin, a soul divi∣ded into two bodies, both which are animated by the same spirit: It is somewhat worse with thee therefore, then with a palsied man, whose one halfe is stricken with a dead kinde of num∣nesse, he hath lost but the use of one side of his body, thou the one halfe of thy soul. Or may I not with better war∣rant say that a true friend hath as it were, two soules in one body, his own, and his friends? Sure I am, so it was with Jonathan and David; The soule of Jonathan was knit with the soule of David, and Io∣nathan loved him as his owne soul: Still the more goodnesse, the stronger union; Meer na∣ture can never be so fast a ce∣ment
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of soules, as grace; for here the union is wrought by a better spirit then our owne, even that blessed spirit who styles himselfe by the name of Love; By how much grea∣ter thine affection was, so much heavie•• is thy losse. But let mee tell thee, I feare thou art too much accessary to thine owne affliction: Didst thou look for this losse? Did thy heart say, What if we should part? Didst thou not over-enjoy this blessing whilest thou hadst it? Sure¦ly, these are no small disad∣vantages; As every other evill, so this especially is ag∣gravated by our unexpectati∣on; neither hadst thou been so oppressed with this sor∣row, if thou hadst fore-seene
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it, and met it on the way: It is our weak inconsideration, if we do so welcome these earthly comforts, not as guests, but as in-mates; and as some that are importunte∣ly hospitable, so entertain our friends, that we cannot abide to give them leave to depart: Whereas we ought, according to the wise advice of our Se∣neca, (not much abluding from the counsel of that blessed Apostle with whom he is said to have interchanged Let∣ters) so to possess them, as those that make account to forgo them; and so forgo them, as if we possessed them still.
Notes
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1 Sam. 18 1.
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1 Ioh. 4. 16.
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Sen. Ep. 63.
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1 Cor. 7. 30, 31.