Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place. Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.
Amidst several beauties in those verses, I beg the Reader not to overlook that one of a man's own friend, and our Father's friend, and the neighbour that is near. For what friend like Christ, beloved of the Father? And who so near or dear among the neighbourhoods of life, as Jesus? Boaz said, in reference to this, There is a kinsman nearer than I. Rth 3:12. And so might every son and daughter of Adam say, when referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. For by marrying our nature and taking a portion of that nature into himself; He is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. Ephesians 5:30.