supplies, nor any bar to his exercise of friendship toward us.
3. A saint pours out his soul before God, because he is sure of secrecy there. How many things are there transacted between God and a holy soul, that he could never publish to the world! and many things also that concern his conduct in life, his embarassment of spirit, his difficulties, his follies, or the obstinacy, guilt, or follies of his friends or relatives, which prudence or shame forbid him to tell his fellow creatures: and yet he wants to spread thein all before God his best friend, God his dearest relative, the friend nearest to his heart. There may be circumstances and cases in life, especially in the spiritual life, which one Christian could hardly communicate to another, though under the strictest bonds and ties of natural, and civil, and sacred relation; though we may communicate these very affairs, these secret concerns, with our God, and unburden our souls of every care, without the least public notice.
We cannot be perfect secure of this with regard to any creature; for when we have experienced the faithfulness of a friend many years, he may possibly be at last unfaithful: unfaithfulness is mingled with our nature since the fall, and it is impossible any person can be infallibly secure from it. Psal. lxii. 9. Men of low degree are vanity,
