8.  With what prudence does he caution us in the choice of our friends!  And with what strokes of nature (I could almost 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.”

9.  “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.”

10.  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 particularizes 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.

11.  “A faithful friend is a strong defence; and he that hath found such a one, hath found a treasure.  Nothing doth countervail a faithful friend, and his excellence is invaluable.  A faithful friend is the medicine of life; and they that fear the Lord, shall find him.  Whoso feareth the Lord, shall direct his friendship aright; for as he is, so shall his neighbour (that is, his friend) be also.”

12.  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.

13.  There is another saying in the same author, which would have been very much admired in an 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.”

14.  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 favor; if thou hast opened thy mouth against thy friend, fear not, for there may be a reconciliation; except for upbraiding, or pride, or disclosing of secrets, or a treacherous wound; for, for these things, every friend will depart.”

15.  We may observe in this and several other precepts in this author, those little familiar instances and illustrations which are so much admired in the moral writings of Horace and Epictetus.  There are very beautiful instances of this nature in the following pages, which are likewise written upon the same subject: