Two flames will become one, and two rivers, if they meet, willingly make but one stream. And are not all the faithful baptized with fire, and of the like temperature and condition? A faithful man affecteth nothing above the Lord; His image is the only object of his love; and does not every good man in part resemble that, and carry it about with him? Do not the sparkles of grace and wisdom appear in their faces? Is there not a kind of Divine influence in their speeches? They in some measure resemble their father, as dear children; and from the contrary ground the wicked are an abomination to the just. They will build up one another in their holy faith, consult for the good of the Church, and tell one another what the Lord hath done for their soul; yea, the very sight of a good man in the morning, a dream of him in the night, will make one walk with more cheerfulness all the day following. The face of the faithful is like the loadstone, it conveyeth strength to many, and yet is never the weaker, poorer; and as the one is reputed a great wonder in nature, so is the other as great a wonder in grace. (J. Barlow, D. D.)
The coming of an absent friend
Thechilling cold of winter makes the summer’s sun more pleasant; so doth long absence a friend’s personal presence. (J. Barlow, D. D.)
The faithful found in companies
And here may the profane learn a lesson or two, if they please, for this is the true cause why the faithful, like pigeons, flock to the house of God, and are to be found there in troops and companies. Is not that the congregation of the saints, and the royal exchange, where they all meet together? Again, they may see why some sigh in soul and desire to be loosed. For their best friends be gone to heaven before them, and Christ is absent from them (Php_3:20). (J. Barlow, D. D.)
Mindful of thy tears.
Tears
He seems not merely to speak of the former tears of Timothy shed at bidding Paul farewell (for tears are usually elicited at parting, comp. Act_20:37), but of his habitual tears under the influence of pious feeling. In this respect also he had him like-minded (Php_2:20) with himself. Tears, theflower of the heart, indicate either the greatest hypocrisy or the utmost sincerity. (J. A. Bengel.)
The power of tears
There is no power that man can wield so mighty as that of genuine tears. The eloquence of words is powerful, but the eloquence of tears is far more so. What manly heart has not been often arrested by the genuine sobs of even some poor child in the streets. A child’s tear in the crowded thoroughfare has often arrested the busy merchant in his hurried career Coriolanus, who defied “all the swords in Italy and her confederate states,” fell prostrate before the tears of his mother: “Oh, my mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Tears described
Tearshave been described as the blood of the wounds of the soul, the leaves of the plant of sorrow, the hail and rain of life’s winter, the safety-valves of the heart when too much pressure is laid on, the vent of anguish-showers blown up by the tempests of the soul.
